On September 25, 1933, the Junior International Division, which was resting in Nakou, received an order from the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, and the division commander Chen Guang read out the order to the crowd: "The 15th Division should stay in Guangchang and quickly leave the appropriate location in Lichuan to build fortifications and cover the concentration of the Eastern Army." ”
After deliberation, Chen Guang arranged for Lu Zimei's 45th Regiment to move southwest of Lichuan to block nationalist reinforcements for a large force.
After the rest of the Units of the International Division of the Young Communists completed the task of transporting the cover stations, they were officially assigned to the command system of the Eastern Army. Under the command of Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan, Chen Guang and Xiao Hua led the 43rd and 44th regiments to move closer to Taining County with the Eastern Army via Zefang.
On October 5, the main force of the Eastern Army received orders from Taining to the saltpeter area north of Lichuan. After arriving at the town of Saltpeter, Peng Dehuai deployed the Young Communist International Division at Zixi Bridge and south of Tantou City as a left wing to cover the attack of large troops.
Battle of Zixi Bridge
The town of Saltpeter is an important town guarding the main traffic route of the Nanli Highway, where the Huang Zixian Brigade of the Kuomintang 24th Division is firmly stationed, and a large number of bunkers and trenches have been built on the north bank of Zishui, forming two tight defensive lines, which is very unfavorable to our army's attack.
However, according to the ideas of Bogu and Li Dezhi, who were in power at the Central Military Commission at that time, the Red Army could already fight a hard-hitting war with the enemy, and in the mentality of rushing to recover Lichuan, they urged the Eastern Army to quickly conquer the saltpeter, continue to cut off the communication between the various departments of the Kuomintang, and retake Lichuan in one fell swoop.
On October 9, Peng Dehuai issued an order to attack, and the main force of the Eastern Army began to launch a fierce attack on Qiaotou Village, which lasted for a whole day, the Red Army launched 4 charges, 2 into hand-to-hand combat, and then due to the fierce enemy fire, it was never able to take the attack point of Qiaotou Village.
On the 10th and 11th, the Kuomintang Air Force began to bomb the Eastern Army, and the troops had to withdraw to the nearby valley for cover, although they braved artillery fire for a time to attack the vicinity of the enemy bunkers, but they still failed to take the position.
The Kuomintang built bunkers in the occupied Soviet areas
On the 12th, the enemy troops in the direction of the southern city sent 3 divisions of troops to support the saltpeter, and the Eastern Army Command decided to change the combat strategy, temporarily withdraw from the vicinity of the saltpeter, and annihilate the nearby enemy forces first.
Within a few days of the Eastern Army's maneuvering, the Nationalist general Xue Yue personally led a large force of 4 divisions to Tantou City, and incorporated the 3 divisions led by Zhou Hunyuan into his unified command, forming a force of up to 26 regiments from Zixi Bridge to Tantou City.
At this time, the International Division of the Young Communist Party was stationed in the southern line of Chiyuan and Luyou, and the situation was precarious. On October 18, under the dispatch of Peng Dehuai, the 3rd and 13th Divisions of the Fifth Red Army had already moved to the north of the Kuomintang army's defensive line, and the commander of the regiment, Dong Zhentang, personally sat in command to support the International Division of the Young Communist Party (that is, the 15th Division of the Red Fifth Army).
Under the orders of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the main force of the Red Army once again gathered in Lichuan, and it was the Red First Army of lin biao, the strongest main force of the Central Red Army, ---. Bogu and Li De's intentions were already very obvious, that is, to fight a decisive battle with the Nationalist army in Lichuan.
Li De, Bogu
In this way, the main forces of the Central Red Army, the Red I, the Red III (i.e., the Eastern Army), and the Red V Corps, all gathered here and launched an attack on October 22 while the rest of the Nationalist reinforcements had not yet arrived and the fortifications had not yet been completed.
Under the orders of his superiors, the International Division of the Young Communists bravely launched an attack on the enemy troops at Zixi Bridge, but Xue Yue's defense was very strict, relying on fortifications to hold the position tightly, so that the International Division of the Young Communists reduced its number by more than 400 people in the first charge.
The battle lasted until the next day, and the Nationalist defenders did not suffer much loss, but at this time, Peng Dehuai received information from the Nationalist 79th Division to help. He immediately adjusted his troops and arranged for two divisions to go to sniper reinforcements, while the main forces of the Young Communist International Division and the Red 13th Division continued to attack Zixi Bridge.
On October 26, after several days of fierce attacks, although the Kuomintang reinforcements were greatly damaged, they were difficult to annihilate for a while, but they contained a large number of troops of our army. The attack on the zixi bridge side has never made any progress.
The International Division of the Young Communists and the Red 13th Division suffered great losses in the counterattack of a large number of enemy fortresses, and they would also be bombarded by enemy aircraft, and the continuous attacks made the soldiers very tired, the Young Communist International Division suffered more than a thousand casualties, and the Red 13th Division was reduced by nearly half.
In this situation, after Peng Dehuai and others reported to the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, Bogu and Li De finally realized that they did not have the conditions for a decisive battle with the main force of the Nationalist army at this time, and gave up their intention to win the fifth "anti-encirclement and suppression" victory in one fell swoop.
Under the orders of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the Red First Army was transferred to the Huangyuanchuan area for combat, and the Eastern Army and the Red Fifth Army retreated to Hufang and other places to build fortifications and carry out repairs, and the target was still directly aimed at Lichuan. The Young Communist International Division was deployed in Tuancun between Lichuan and Deshengguan.
In November 1933, the Young Communist International Division stationed in tuancun welcomed their second division commander, and Chen Guang was transferred to Wu Gaoqun, commander of the 2nd Division of the Red First Army.
Although Wu Gaoqun was just 23 years old, he participated in the old revolution of the Nanchang Uprising and made great contributions to the establishment of the Jinggangshan revolutionary base area. He was brave and tenacious in combat, had excellent military qualities, and was a commander specially transferred by the Central Committee in order to further enhance the combat effectiveness of the International Division of the Young Communist Party.
However, what no one could have imagined at that time was that the Battle of Tuancun was Wu Gaoqun's first battle after taking office, but it was also the last song of his life.