In those difficult times, a Red 17th Army, composed of more than 3,000 people, swore to defend the revolutionary cause to the death. They experienced fierce battles and heavy defeats, and the troops were eventually forced to disintegrate. However, in the discrete Red 17th Army, a thrilling story was bred. The army commander and political commissar became traitors, but a company commander broke through and reorganized with extraordinary courage and wisdom, and eventually became the founding general. The fate of this army shuttles through the ups and downs, how touching is its story? What kind of hardships did the brave soldiers of the Red 17th Army go through? Read on to discover the deeper layers of this tragic history.
The birth of the Red 17th Army: the hope of Soviet power in the southeastern Hubei base area
In the summer of 1933, a wisp of war burned all over the southeast of Hubei Province. After the Nanchang Uprising in 1927, the vast revolutionary army of workers and peasants was frantically suppressed by the Kuomintang reactionaries, and could only continue to fight by guerrilla warfare throughout the country. In order to develop guerrilla warfare into a powerful movement, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to build a new base area in southeastern Hubei.
In May of that year, Zhou Enlai and other proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation were assigned by the central government to lead the remnants of the guerrillas in the base areas on the Hunan and Jiangxi borders to open up a new battlefield in southeastern Hubei. Under extremely difficult circumstances, they entered southeastern Hubei with great difficulty, joined forces with local guerrillas in July, and finally established the Soviet government of southeastern Hubei Province in December of that year.
However, it was not easy to seize power in southeastern Hubei, and the Kuomintang reactionaries increased their troops one after another in an attempt to extinguish the base areas in this area in one fell swoop. In order to cope with the enemy's attack, in August 1933, Zhou Enlai presided over the Second Congress of Soviets in Southeast Hubei Province. The congress decided to form an independent guerrilla force to jointly resist the "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang reactionaries. In this way, under the leadership of Chen Changhao as the commander-in-chief, the Red 17th Army came into being.
According to the arrangements of the conference, the Red 17th Army was composed of three divisions, the 9th, 10th, and 11th Divisions, and was organized into one infantry brigade and two independent divisions, with a total of more than 3,000 people. Zhang Tao, who was appointed as the commander of the army, was already a veteran of the Dijiu battle at that time, and as the commander of the 5th Army Corps of the Red Army, he led the officers and soldiers to bravely kill the enemy and made many meritorious achievements. Fang Buzhou is an experienced political worker, and the addition of the two has undoubtedly added a lot of combat effectiveness to the Red 17th Army.
With a complete guerrilla force, the military defense of the southeastern Hubei Soviet region was immediately strengthened considerably. In the winter of that year, Su Yu led the guerrillas in the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi border base area to join the Red 17th Army in southeastern Hubei and added a reliable main force to the latter. At the same time, the reorganization of local armed forces began in various parts of the Soviet zone to assist the Red 17th Army in the fight against the enemy. At a time when the military strength is becoming stronger and stronger, the Soviet region in southeastern Hubei is looking forward to the fact that this new army will open up even broader prospects for the revolutionary cause.
Breakthrough miraculous feats in transfer operations: the decisive battle of Mushi Port creates a turning point for victory
Although the Red 17th Army did not have too many troops at the beginning of its establishment, it still achieved some results under the careful deployment of the older generation of revolutionaries such as Zhou Enlai. At the end of 1933, the local water conservancy association led the Kuomintang army to invade the southeastern Hubei Soviet region, but was severely attacked by the Red 17th Army and suffered heavy losses. This battle not only cleared away the remnants of the Kuomintang reactionaries in southeastern Hubei and strengthened the confidence of the Red Army soldiers in winning the final victory.
However, at the very beginning of the creation of the Red 17th Army, the Kuomintang reactionaries realized its threat. At the beginning of 1934, Chiang Kai-shek personally mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and launched a "meeting suppression" against southeastern Hubei. In the face of such a huge force, it was impossible for the Red 17th Army to hold on, and it had to leave the Soviet zone and turn into guerrilla warfare.
In this way, the Red 17th Army began a long transfer. On the land of southeastern Hubei Province, they waged a battle with the Kuomintang reactionaries. Although there was a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us, the Red 17th Army relied on the support of the masses of the people and consistently marched straight into the enemy's encirclement. No matter how rough the river is or the mountain is steep, it can't stop them from moving on.
Just when the Red 17th Army was almost exhausted, a turning point appeared. The army commander Zhang Tao learned that the enemy had concentrated a large amount of military supplies in Mushi Port, and in order to make up for the current shortage of military supplies, he decided to launch a surprise attack on this place. Under the command of Zhang Tao, the Red 17th Army took advantage of the enemy's negligence to take precautions, outflanked the past, and captured Mushi Port in one fell swoop. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the Red 17th Army annihilated more than 700 enemies and captured a large amount of arms and cotton, which greatly alleviated the current urgent need.
This victory undoubtedly greatly encouraged the Red 17th Army, which not only reversed the passive situation, but also accumulated strength for the next expedition. So Zhang Tao ordered people to expand the fortifications in Mushigang and carry out a large-scale rest. The Red Army soldiers used the captured cotton to make new clothes and prepare for the next round of fighting.
However, the cosy atmosphere did not last long. Seeing that the Red 17th Army had stayed in Mushi Port for 7 days, Guo Rudong realized his negligence and immediately dispatched heavy troops to surround him. A decisive battle is inevitable.
Compared with the overly optimistic ideas of Zhang Tao and others, the reality is far more cruel. Although the victory at Mushigang had strengthened the Red Army's combat effectiveness, the Red 17th Army was still in a very difficult situation compared to the superior strength of hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops. Unable to fully suppress the enemy, Zhang Tao had to order the whole army to break through the encirclement.
The encounter with the enemy is coming. The two sides fought fiercely for several days at Mushi Harbor, and the Red Army finally succeeded in breaking through at a certain price with excellent tactics. In this battle, Wang Yixun's heavy machine gun company was particularly heroic, and fought a difficult way to survive in the rain of bullets. Subsequently, the Red 17th Army began to flee for its life one after another, and finally entered the canyons of the Purple Mountain after several turns.
Far from the base area, the Red 17th Army was brutally destroyed by the enemy
After breaking through in a difficult battle, the Red 17th Army entered the remote Zijin Mountains. The terrain here is complex and the ravines are crisscrossed, which is an ideal place for the Red Army to develop guerrilla warfare. But just when the Red 17th Army temporarily took off its battle robes and accumulated strength, an unexpected disaster suddenly struck.
In the spring of that year, the enemy deployed a large number of armed forces on the periphery of the Purple Mountain, in an attempt to completely wipe out the Red 17th Army in one fell swoop. Due to Zhang Tao and Fang Buzhou's negligence, the enemy actually blended into the troops and secretly captured the main generals of the Red 17th Army. On a sunny day, just as the officers and men of the Red 17 were having a picnic in a mountain stream without worry, they were suddenly attacked by the enemy.
It turned out to be an elaborate conspiracy. The enemy had already secretly deployed a large number of armed forces, and when the Red 17th Army relaxed its vigilance, they took advantage of the situation and captured Zhang Tao, Fang Buzhou and other highest-level generals of the Red 17th Army in one fell swoop. In the face of the enemy's sudden attack, the Red Army soldiers were caught off guard and finally had to evacuate the Purple Mountain amid heavy casualties.
For some time after that, the Red 17th Army turned to guerrilla warfare in northwestern Hubei in order to find and rescue the captured leading cadres. It's a pity that it was in vain, and the Red 17th Army, which lost its leadership from the commander, gradually fell into a passive situation. At the same time, Zhang Tao and others were severely tortured by the enemy and imprisoned in a dark and damp dungeon on the Immortal Peninsula.
Just when the fate of the Red 17th Army was in a difficult situation, Guo Rudong seemed to see a good opportunity to eliminate the Red 17th Army in one fell swoop. So he ordered a general attack on the remaining forces of the Red 17th Army and personally deployed a large ambush in the area of Wang Wenyi. In fact, after the Red Army was forced to evacuate the Purple Mountain, Guo Rudong had already predicted that they would withdraw to the northwest of Hubei, and Wang Wenyi was located on the road that must be passed, which was the perfect place to carry out an ambush.
Wang Wenyi, a long and narrow valley known as "Xiaolong in Western Hubei Province". The valleys here were rugged and rugged, and the terrain was extremely unfavorable for the Red Army. But it was in this realm full of the shadow of death that a decisive battle that determined the final fate of the Red 17th Army kicked off.
Lay out Wang Wenyi's trap and hit the main force of the Red 17th Army
Under Wang Wenyi's terrain, Guo Rudong really laid a net. He divided tens of thousands of national troops into several routes and outflanked the Red 17th Army in different directions. At the same time, a large number of armed forces were secretly planted, waiting for an opportunity to carry out a surprise attack. In order to force the Red Army to take the bait, Guo Rudong also deliberately planted a large number of eyes and ears in the Wang Wenyi area to closely monitor the whereabouts of the Red 17th Army.
Sure enough, after several tosses, the Red 17th Army finally arrived at Wang Wenyi as promised. The remnants of this once-heroic contingent now have less than a thousand men left, and the march is miserable. When they entered the narrow valley with their tired bodies, the firepower of the national army, which had been lying in ambush on both sides, poured down in an instant. The Red Army was caught off guard and bogged down in encirclement.
Guo Rudong's strategy really worked, and the Red 17th Army almost fell into the danger of annihilation. Under the ravages of bullets and bullets, the Red officers and men were defeated and retreated, and had to break through the siege desperately. In this battle, the Red 17th Army suffered heavy losses, and the already dilapidated troops were even worse.
In the face of such heavy losses, the Red 17th Army had no choice but to stay away from southeastern Hubei and move to the areas of western Hunan and southern Jiangxi to continue to persist in guerrilla warfare. However, even simple survival is a luxury, and this once heroic force is now struggling to survive on a pittling scale.
In the final analysis, all the tragedies stem from the fatal blow of the troops being captured by high-ranking generals. Without the core of leadership, the Red 17th Army fell into confusion and turmoil. In addition, Zhang Tao and others were beaten and tortured in prison, and their body and mind have long been no longer the true colors of heroes in the past. What is ridiculous is that just when the Red 17th Army was almost wiped out, Zhang Tao and Fang Buzhou actually waved their flags and surrendered to the enemy.
In the face of the clever words and beautiful temptations of the Kuomintang reactionaries, the two finally chose to betray the revolution and became traitors. As the supreme commander of the Red 17th Army, Zhang Tao changed his heroic image in the past, not only bowed to the enemy, but also actively served him, becoming an outright traitor. And Fang Buzhou was given a lot of money by the enemy, served in Wang Jingwei's puppet regime, and became a pro-Japanese lackey.
In this way, the commander-in-chief of the Red 17th Army not only left the revolutionary cause personally, but became the executioner of the revolution, which undoubtedly made matters worse.
With the complete collapse of the top command, the Red 17th Army has undoubtedly existed in name only. Just when it was about to completely fade away from the stage of history, a company commander from the grassroots stepped forward to turn the tide, and finally reinvigorated this dying army and became a member of the founding generals, which was the later famous military strategist Yin Changheng.
Company commander Yin Changheng turned the tide and reorganized the remnants of the troops
Just when the Red 17th Army was on the verge of extinction, a company commander named Yin Changheng stepped forward and reversed the decline of this army. At that time, Yin Changheng was just an ordinary company commander of the Red 17th Army, but after Wang Wenyi's fiasco, he became the key person to save the Red 17th Army with his extraordinary wisdom and foresight.
After the Battle of Wang Wenyi, the Red 17th Army almost collapsed. From division-level cadres to soldiers, they were all in shock. At this juncture, Yin Changheng realized that only by reorganizing the team could he inject new vitality into the resurgence of the Red 17th Army. So he resolutely relinquished his command and ran around to gather the remaining strength.
The situation at that time was very difficult, and the Red 17th Army had long since been divided and fought on its own. Some troops hid in the countryside and mingled with the people; Some of them simply broke down, and some even fled back to their hometowns. In the face of such a tragic situation, Yin Changheng was not discouraged, but immediately set out to investigate the remnants of the Red 17th Army, and used his prestige and appeal to reunite them.
After some efforts, Yin Changheng finally gathered the remnants of the Red 17th Army together and reorganized them in strict accordance with the establishment. Under his careful deployment, the remnants of the Red 17th Army quickly regrouped and regained their combat capability. As a veteran Red Army, Yin Changheng knew that it would be difficult to continue in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, so he decided to lead the remnants of the Red 17th Army across the ocean and transfer to the Sichuan-Yunnan area to continue to persist in guerrilla warfare.
In this way, in the spring of 1935, the remnants of the Red 17th Army under the command of Yin Changheng began a long journey westward. On the way, they continued to absorb stragglers along the line, and the strength of the troops gradually grew. Finally, after entering Sichuan and Yunnan, the remnants of the Red 17th Army joined forces with the local Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and were incorporated into the sequence of the Red Second Front Army.
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From this moment on, Yin Changheng began to hold senior positions in the Red Second Front Army, and the remnants of the Red 17th Army under his command were also integrated into the larger armed forces. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation that followed, Yin Changheng performed many miraculous feats, not only leading officers and soldiers to bravely kill the enemy, but also presiding over the decision-making of many major military operations.