Original: Chen Xiaoxing Red Star Story
Pay attention to the public number of the military police camp
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On October 1, 1949, at Tiananmen Square, the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong asked how many people were still alive from Jinggang Mountain. Some say there are more than a hundred.
His father, Chen Guang, was fortunate to be one of them, then deputy chief of staff of the Fourth Field Army, while Siye was still liberating southern China.
Some of the comrades who participated in the Jinggangshan struggle were in northern Shaanxi.
Front row from left: Luo Ronghuan, Tan Xilin, Chen Guang, Yang Lisan, Chen Shiyu, Song Yuhe, Lin Biao.
In the back row, 1 Zhao Erlu on the left, 5 Sun Kaichu on the left, and 6 Mao Zedong on the left.
For the sake of liberation, the dry revolution
His father, Chen Guang, was born on February 24, 1907, to a poor peasant family in Liyuan Fort (now Fuxing Village, Liyuan Township), Yizhang County, southern Hunan.
There are many mountainous areas in southern China, among which the Wuling Mountains at the junction of Xianggan and Guangdong are not only the watershed of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River system, but also the boundary of climate, folklore and administrative division. After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms that year, in order to conquer Lingnan Baiyue, he built a ninety-mile avenue to cross the Wuling Ridge and go straight down the North River to Shaoguan. When the Sui Dynasty was reunified, Yizhang jianxian county, Yizhang thus became the key to Shonan, known as "Chu Yue Kong Dao" since ancient times. Liyuan Fort is one of the three forts of Yizhang built by the officials and troops in the early years of the Ming Dynasty to protect the border and the people.
During the Great Revolution, the peasant movement in Hunan was in full swing. Yizhang County established the CCP's party organization in 1924, and it was the seeds sown by Mao Zedong. Deng Zhongxia, the early leader of the CCP, was a Yizhangren.
Liyuan Chen's surname is a descendant of the officials and soldiers in the early Ming Dynasty, but Chen Guang's family is in the middle of the road. Chen Guang's parents had 12 children, and only two of his brothers and sisters were supported. Due to his family's poverty, he only attended primary school for three years. He has strong vitality, height and strength after growing up, stubborn personality, heroic and righteous, and has a lot of prestige among the young people in the village.
In 1926, when the Northern Expeditionary Army passed through Yizhang, when the peasant movement in Hunan was vigorous, peasant associations were established in various townships, and Chen Guang was appointed as the leader of the township Red Guards. After the "Ma Ri Incident", Chen Guang was wanted, went out to hide, hid 12 guns before leaving, and returned to his hometown in the winter.
Chen Dongri, who was of the same ethnic group as Chen Guang, was a cadet of the Officer School of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army, a member of the Communist Party of China in 1925, and participated in the Northern Expedition. After the Nanchang Uprising, after the defeat of the main force to Chaoshan, he was ordered to return to his hometown to organize peasant armed forces, and in the winter of 1927, he introduced Chen Guang to join the Communist Party of China.
In early 1928, Zhu De and others led the remnants of the Nanchang Uprising from northern Guangdong through Mangshan into Yizhang, and on the way encountered a Red Guard, led by Chen Guang. The troops were stationed at Liyuan Fort with the Red Guards, and Zhu De and others were at Chen Dongri's home, and according to the suggestion of Hu Shaohai, a member of the Yizhang CPC committee, they agreed on a plan to outwit Yizhang, which coincided with the Nianguan and was known in history as the "Nianguan Rebellion." Chen Guang raised 12 guns, and Zhu De left them a few more guns to respond at Liyuan Fort. With the success of the Yizhang rebellion, the townships took up uprisings one after another. Chen Guang led the Red Guards to riot at Liyuan Fort, beating up local tycoons, burning land titles, and confiscating the guns of the guards of the Foreigners Mineral Company, and the Red Guards already had more than forty guns. When the "door-to-door regiment" (armed forces of local tycoons and inferior gentry) came to "encircle and suppress" Liyuan Fort, Chen Guang led the Red Guards to calmly respond to the battle, concentrated their guns on mobile use, held out all day, repelled the "door-to-door regiment," and showed a certain military ability.
Chiang Kai-shek dispatched the Hunan warlord Xu Kexiang to attack, and Xu Kexiang led 6 regiments from Shaoguan to the north, lined up along the Xiangyue Avenue, and were broken by Zhu De's troops with the cooperation of the Yizhang Peasant Army, which was known in history as the "Pingshi Victory". After the "Pingshi Victory," the flames of the uprising quickly burned throughout Shonan, forming a "Shonan Uprising" throughout the seven counties, in which the counties and townships fought local tyrants, divided up the land, eliminated the militia armed groups, established the party and the government, and divided the armed forces for three months. Historians commented that without the Shonan Uprising, there would have been no Zhumao Red Army division. In this battle, Chen Guang led the Red Guards to spy on intelligence, lead the way, and break the bridge to block the attack, and actively cooperated with the main force.
After the Xianggui War, Chiang Kai-shek was able to dispatch 7 divisions to "encircle and suppress" the Shonan Uprising. When the soldiers pressed the border, the young Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China made a ridiculous decision, ordering the burning of houses within ten miles along both sides of the Xiangyue Avenue and scorching earth to resist the enemy. Chen Guang's simple instincts made him resist this "left-leaning" mistake and brought out more than 120 Red Guards to follow Zhu De's troops into Jinggangshan. After the Zhumao Red Army joined the division, Chen Guang was incorporated into the 29th Regiment of the 10th Division of the 4th Red Army (formed by the Yizhangnong Army) as the commander of the special agent company.
On the way in, Chen Guang was dismissed from his post and transferred to the teaching camp as a squad leader because he had beaten the local tycoon without asking for instructions. During the training, there was an "August failure". The cause was that seeing that the Jinggangshan peasant army had harvested in autumn, the Yizhang peasant army that had been allocated land also wanted to return to the countryside for autumn harvest, and as a result, the 29 regiments collapsed. At that time, his fellow villagers persuaded Chen Guang to return to his hometown together, and Chen Guang said: "I am already the sworn enemy of the local tycoons and inferior gentry, even if I die in the Red Army." Later, most of the peasant troops who returned to their hometowns died, and only about twenty people survived to the founding of the country, and only Chen Guang and two others who returned to Jinggangshan were still alive at the time of the founding of the country.
"From the Pawn"
Han Feizi said, "The prime minister will rise from the state pastor, and the fierce general will be sent from the pawn."
After teaching the battalion training, Chen Guang became a platoon leader in the 31st Regiment and later promoted to company commander. After the main force of the Red 4th Army descended on Jinggangshan, a unit was suddenly attacked by the enemy and was scattered, Chen Guang went with the 28th Regiment, and the company commander asked him to be a flag bearer. The flag bearers are the fighters who are one of the best in a hundred, and when they fight, they have large targets, and they are not allowed to bend down, and the casualty ratio is very high. It was not until after the Battle of Dabaidi, at Donggu, that he transferred his organizational relationship to the 1st Column (formerly the 28th Regiment). Thus began his military career in this main force.
From Chen Guang's experience of hiding guns privately, participating in riots, defending Liyuan Fort, resisting the "Left" inclination strategy, insisting on returning to Jinggangshan, and letting the company commander of the 31st Regiment not do anything, preferring to be a flag bearer in the 28th Regiment, Chen Guang's life orientation is reflected. Chen Guang consciously chose the road of armed struggle and was very determined to throw himself into the revolution and seek liberation.
The Red 4th Army moved to gannan and western Fujian, and when it re-entered Fujian in May 1929, Chen Guang had been promoted to platoon commander. In October, he was already a company commander when he went on an expedition to Meixian County, northern Guangdong, and this was the third time Chen Guang had joined the Red Army to become a company commander, this time as a company commander of the 28th Regiment.
Northern Guangdong was defeated, and in order to cover the retreat of the main force, Chen Guang was ordered to block four regiments of the enemy Guangdong army with one company, which was obviously a very dangerous task. Chen Guang completed the task, but he was injured himself, which was the first time he was injured, and received a verbal praise for this. Chen Guang wrote his autobiography while reviewing cadres in Yan'an, and when he wrote about the award, he received two verbal praises, which was one of them.
The other time was in February 1930, during the Battle of Shuinan Duty Xia, Chen Guang sacrificed himself to save Lin Biao. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek ordered tang yunshan brigade to "encircle and suppress" the Red 4th Army, and in the fierce battle, Lin Biao's headquarters was once surrounded, and at the moment of crisis, Chen Guang was determined to "sacrifice himself to save his superiors" and led his troops into a heavy siege to rescue Lin Biao, and he was seriously injured. After this battle, Lin Biao met Chen Guang.
At that time, due to the limitations of conditions, the rewards and punishments recorded in the case were limited, and the merits and faults of the officers and men of the Red Army were mainly manifested in the promotion of their posts, meritorious promotions, and those who lost were transferred or dismissed. Looking at the resumes of plaster generals, there are not many who can continuously rise to the position of military commander of the main force, but live to the founding of the country.
After returning to the team after recovering from injury, Chen Guang was promoted to deputy detachment leader. In June, the Tingzhou Formation established the Red 1st Army, and Chen Guang served as the detachment leader of the 1st Column of the Red 4th Army. In mid-August, when he besieged jiang's Dai Douheng brigade in Wenjia City, he was seriously injured in the leg and the bullet was stuck in the bone. After opening Ji'an in October, he underwent three surgeries to remove the warhead, but due to injuries, he did not participate in the first anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. In Ji'an, the 1st Column was changed to the 10th Division, with jurisdiction over the 28th, 29th, and 30th Regiments, with Chen Guang as the commander of the 30th Regiment. In the winter, Chen Guang was transferred to the head of the 28th Regiment. At the time of the second anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, Chen Guang was already the chief of staff of the 10th Division.
In August 1931, the third anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign began. In the Battle of Gaoxingwei of the Red 4th Army, the 11th Division suffered heavy casualties, and the division commander Zeng Shi'e was killed. After the war, Wang Liang, commander of the 10th Division, transferred the 11th Division to serve as the commander of the division. The troops of the 12th Division were transferred to the 11th and 10th Divisions, and the commander of the 12th Division, Geng Kai, was transferred to the 10th Division as the commander of the division. Soon, Geng Kai was killed, and Chen Guang was promoted to the commander of the 10th Division. Many sources record that Chen Guang succeeded Geng Kai as the commander of the division, thinking that it was the 12th Division, but did not know that Geng Kai had been transferred to the commander of the 10th Division, although it was not long.
After the victory of the third anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, some profound changes have taken place in the domestic political situation. On the one hand, due to the "918" incident, the "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army failed, and Chiang Kai-shek was forced to go to the wilderness, and for a while he was unable to organize a new "encirclement and suppression." On the other hand, the CPC Central Committee was forced to transfer to the Central Soviet Region because of traitors, and in the face of the victory against "encirclement and suppression" and the weakening of the pressure of the Nationalist army, the "Left" line once again rose. Politically, Mao Zedong's leadership was ostracized, and six offensive campaigns were launched militarily.
In February 1932, the Red Army attacked Ganzhou, which could not be attacked for more than a month, with heavy casualties and the reorganization of the troops. Lin Biao was promoted to commander of the Red 1st Army, Wang Liang was appointed commander of the Red 4th Army, and Zhou Kun was the commander of the 11th Division.
In April, after the Red Army opened Zhangzhou, Wang Liang, Chen Guang, and Zhou Kun took photos in Zhangzhou. This is the earliest surviving photograph of Chen Guang.
Chen Guang, Wang Liang, Zhou Kun.
At that time, there was a saying circulating in the Central Soviet Region: "Lin Biao's three guns, Chen Guangzhou Kun and Wang Liang", that is, these three people were called "three heavy machine guns" fighting against the enemy.
In May, the Red Army marched south to Guangdong and Gansu to fight against the Guangdong Army in Nanxiong, which was a rare and vicious battle, and Chen Guang was wounded again, but no details were seen.
Looking at the resumes of military commanders during the war years, the number of injuries is quite important.
Chen Guang was wounded a total of ten times during the agrarian revolution, and the number of injuries was quite high. According to the weapons of the year, the ratio of casualties was 1 to 3, but for each additional injury, the probability of death was not simply added up, but much higher. For comparison, the division commanders of the Red 1st Army at the same time, Zeng Shi'e, Geng Kai, Wang Liang, Xun Huaizhou, wu Gaoqun、...... They were all division commanders who died at that time, Wang Liang was already the commander of the Red 4 Army when he died, and when Xun Huaizhou and Wu Gaoqun sacrificed, they were already reorganized division commanders.
In the autumn, Chen Guang was transferred to the commander of the 11th Division, and was wounded at the Battle of Jianlitai.
In January 1933, Chen Guang was wounded again at the Battle of Fengshanpu at the Battle of Jinzi. Probably because of his injuries, there is no record of him participating in the fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign.
In the early spring of 1933, after Chiang Kai-shek stabilized his interior, he launched the fourth "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Red Army. Although it was only half a year, the Red Army at this time was no longer what it used to be. In late February, in the Huangpi ambush, the Red Army completely annihilated nearly two divisions of the 52nd and 59th Nationalist Army, capturing more than 10,000 people under division commanders Li Ming and Chen Shiji. In late March, caotaigang attacked and annihilated nearly one whole division of the 11th division of the Nationalist army.
The victory of the fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign marked another step in the scale of the Red Army's operations.
In order to adapt to the new operational situation, in early June 1933, the Red Army was reorganized again, and the formation formed by this reorganization continued until the end of the agrarian revolution period, thus becoming an important reorganization of the Red Army. The reorganization was carried out in Fujita, Le'an Prefecture, and was called the "Fujita Formation".
On August 1, in commemoration of August 1st, the Red Star Medal was awarded, and Chen Guang received a second-class Red Star Medal. The Red Army has only awarded thirty or forty second-class Red Star medals, which are extremely precious.
The reorganization abolished the abolition of the first-level military structure, and the regiment directly administered the division and changed the small regiment to a large regiment.
The Red 3rd Army was organized into the 1st Division, the Red 4th Army was organized into the 2nd Division, and the 10th, 11th and 12th Divisions of the former Red 4th Army were organized into the 4th, 5th and 6th Regiments. The so-called small regiments, without battalions, were under the direct jurisdiction of the regiments in the area of four or five companies. The 28th, 29th and 30th regiments of the former 10th Division were changed to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Red 4th Regiment, with 3 companies per battalion. This kind of establishment is basically equivalent to the establishment of the Kuomintang concubines. There were still 3 divisions at that time, and later it was time to form the 9th Army.
At the time of the reorganization, the commander of the 2nd Division was Xu Yangang, the former commander of the 3rd Red Army, who was replaced by Wu Gaoqun in September, and in November Wu was again transferred with Chen Guang, Chen Guang returned to the 2nd Division as a division commander, Chen Guang had been a division commander in the 10th and 11th Divisions (that is, the 4th Regiment and 5th Regiment), and the political commissar Liu Yalou was an old partner.
At this time, the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign had begun.
During the "Fujita Formation", Chen Guang was ordered to go to Yudu to form the "Young Communist International Division". Xiao Hua, who was the political commissar of the division, said that when a unit is formed, the foundation laid by the chief officer is very crucial, and the style of the chief officer will directly affect the work style of the unit. Originally only a local unit of the Young Communist Division, after being trained in actual combat, the first battle, it dared to fight the bayonet, was praised by Zhu De as the "first test of the iron fist", and was quickly upgraded to the main Red Army 15th Division, organized into the 5th Army. During the Long March, the 15th Division was incorporated into the 1st Army, and after the Battle of Xiangjiang, it was withdrawn, and the remnants were supplemented to the 1st Division and the 2nd Division. Although the Young Communist Division had only existed for a year and a half, a number of republican generals had emerged from it: Xiao Hua, Peng Shaohui, Cao Lihuai, Chen Zhengxiang, He Tingyi, Wu Dai, Jiang Yonghui, and 15 others (23 in one statement), not counting the two division commanders Chen Guang and Wu Gaoqun.
Wu Gaoqun was transferred to the 15th Division as the commander of the division, and the 15th Division was killed in another direction of operations across the river.
As commander of the Red 2nd Division, Chen Guang went through almost the whole process of the Fifth Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" campaign and the Long March of the Red Army, from November 1933 to November 1935, a full two years. These two years, especially the year of the Long March, were the most brilliant years of the Red 2nd Division.
Because Chen Guang had an accident in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was not rehabilitated until 1988, which was not shown in the military history of nearly forty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After the 1990s, there were not many people familiar with him, and even fewer texts could be found, of which "Memoirs of Geng Biao" was a rare treasure. From "Memoirs", we can get a close look at the details of the battles, their interactions, and their character from the pen of an old predecessor. For space limitations, only a few paragraphs have been extracted and inserted in italics below.
During the Battle of Daxiongguan in the early stage of the Fifth Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign, Geng Biao served as chief of staff in the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division. During the Battle of Daxiong Pass, the 3rd Regiment was ordered to occupy a commanding height somewhere southeast of Daxiong Pass, and to prepare for the breakthrough of the main force, and was temporarily under the command of the 2nd Division. In the process of advancing the 3rd Regiment, the opinions of the regiment leaders were divergent, and the casualties of the 3rd Regiment broke out after breaking out.
"Afterwards, Master Chen Guang and Political Commissar Liu Yalou immediately went to the three of us, and Master Chen Guang, who had always been slow-talking, became angry, pointed at our noses and asked: 'After a big defeat, how did you do it?' After inquiring about the situation, Master Chen Guang said: "Comrade Geng Biao's suggestion is correct. Three days later, I was transferred to the Fourth Regiment as regimental commander. ”
Geng Biaoyuan was in the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division, and the 2nd Division was a friendly neighbor, and he should have seen it during the battle, and he had the impression that Chen Guang "always spoke slowly and softly", and this time "angry" was due to "fighting a big battle" and suffered heavy casualties. Geng Biao hinted that it was Chen Guang who had sent him to the 4th Regiment as the regimental commander. The battle was fought in mid-November 1933 in Nanfeng County, north of the Central Soviet District. Because of the implementation of the policy of "resisting the enemy outside the gate of the country", the fighting was extremely fierce, and in less than two months, the 4th Regiment had already sacrificed two regimental commanders, Xiao Taoming and Qia Panbiao, and Chen Guang was also wounded in this battle.
As a result, Chen Guang and Geng Biao became close comrades-in-arms, going through the entire fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" and the early stage of the Long March, until the Zunyi Conference.
In January 1934, at the "Second National Congress of the Chinese Soviets" held in Ruijin, Chen Guang was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee.
At the end of August 1934, the Battle of Pengkou Wenfang in Fujian Province was the only annihilation battle in the entire fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" operation, in which the Red 2nd Division was the main attack, and the 4th Regiment served as the interspersed. During the night battle, after Geng Biao organized his troops and firepower, he raised his shell gun and shouted: "Cadres and party members come with me!" "Personally lead the assault troops to charge." In the end, the enemy was completely annihilated, and 1600 enemy were captured. The news of the red 4 regiment's victory in the battle made Commander Chen Guang very happy. He called me, first praised me for his bravery and excitement, and especially praised me for leading the charge. Then the conversation turned:
'Did you make the mistake of knowing or not knowing?' ’
'Huh?' ......’
I heard that you brought cadres and party members up to fight the charge, in case you were defeated, how much would you lose? ’
I understood what he meant and said sincerely: 'I admit it.' ’
'Okay. Master Chen Guang said with trust: "This time, I punish you to write an article entitled "Opposing Individual Bravery", which emphasizes the spirit of collective heroism." Write within three days. ’”
In the 1st Corps, lessons learned must be carefully learned after the battle. However, Chen Guang's phone call was rare in the "left" political atmosphere at that time.