Author: Tai Shi Xiaosheng
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >, completed the first phase of the Eastern Crusade to fight in western Fujian - Peng Dehuai decided to take Pengkou as a breakthrough point to retake Liancheng</h1>
The breach of the Quanshang Tuwei liberated a large area of land in Qingliu and Naturalization Counties.
On July 24, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission ordered the main force of the Eastern Army to accelerate southwards, forcing the enemy in Liancheng to fight a decisive battle with the Red Army, seeking to eliminate one of cai Tingkai's 19th Route Army in order to alleviate the future difficulties on the southern front.
The defenders of Shiliancheng were the 78th Division of the 19th Route Army. The district headquarters is the main division of the 19th Route Army, with jurisdiction over two brigades and three regiments, and the division headquarters has other battalions of artillery, axle load, and special agents, with a total strength of more than 10,000 people, German-style equipment, sophisticated weapons, well-trained, able to attack and defend, and is a kind of equipment division in the Kuomintang army.
When Peng Dehuai received the order to attack Liancheng, Teng Daiyuan was falling ill, and in the pain of illness, he received one subjective and imaginary telegram after another from the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, which made Teng feel very irritable in his heart. While instructing him to recuperate, Peng Dehuai took some of his reconnaissance personnel to the front line and personally inspected the terrain of Liancheng and the deployment of the Kuomintang army.
After a day of on-the-spot investigation, Peng Dehuai found that if the Red Army attacked from north to south in accordance with the regulations of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, the Red Army was completely in a position of upward attack, the terrain was very unfavorable, and if it controlled Pengkou, it could not only cut off the rear communication line of the District Shounian Division, but also coerce the left side of Liancheng and the northwest side of Longyan.
Therefore, Peng Dehuai decided to take Pengkou as a breakthrough point and mobilize the enemy of Yingxi liancheng to come to the rescue and eliminate them in the movement. After the decision, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan immediately relayed the urgent telegram Zhu De and Zhou Enlai to Xiang Ying and proposed a battle plan to attack Pengkou. With the support of Zhu and Zhou, Peng and Teng's battle plan was approved. On July 29, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan issued the "Operational Order for Attacking Pengkou".
On the night of July 29, Zhang Xilong, Peng Xuefeng, and Zhou Jianping led the Red 19th Division to attack the Pengkou and Yingxi defenders at the same time. After Receiving two urgent calls, Ou Shounian ordered Zhong Jingrui to lead his 466 regiment to reinforce Yingxi and Pengkou, and on the other hand, he told Cai Ting that the main force of the Red Army was attacking Liancheng, and the peripheral troops were surrounded. "Cai Ting's life expectancy is to restore the telegraph area, and he wants him to die."
Although the Huang Kang battalion of the Pengkou defenders had only four companies, they occupied a dangerous terrain and strong fortifications. The Red Army attacked for a day, and the casualties were not small, but it failed to capture. In the evening, the troops withdrew from the fighting. Peng Dehuai held a military democratic meeting and mobilized officers and men to come up with ideas and ways to think of them. That night, a night attack was taken, and finally before dawn, Pengkou was conquered and the Huang Kang camp was completely annihilated. When Pengkou was in a hurry, Ou Shounian sent his 466th Regiment to Chi Aid, and the 467th Regiment (owed 1 battalion) of the enemy at Yingxi also poured all its strength to reinforce Pengkou.
On the morning of July 31, Xun Huaizhou and Le Shaohua, who were on the task of fighting aid, commanded the 13th Regiment of the Red 5th Division to seize Guichu Mountain on the east side of Pengkou and annihilated the 466th Regiment of Zhong Jingrui, who intended to seize the commanding heights of Pengkou. By the afternoon of the battle, Ding Rongguang's 467th Regiment of the Yingxi defenders was also annihilated, and the regimental commander Ding Rongguang, the regiment deputy two, and the battalion commander were captured, and one enemy battalion commander was killed. The Red Army took advantage of the victory and occupied Yingxi.
After the Battle of Pengkou, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan immediately ordered the main force of the Eastern Army to move to the southeast of Liancheng and prepare to besiege Liancheng and attack and aid the enemy.
In Liancheng's district, he was shocked to learn that two of his regiments had been annihilated by the Red Army. That night, all four regiments around liancheng were shrunk into the city. On the one hand, he built fortifications overnight, and on the other hand, he was anxious for Cai Tingkai. Cai Tingkai ordered Ou Shounian to abandon Liancheng and withdraw to Yong'an, ordered Shen Guanghan's 60th Division stationed in Xinquan to withdraw to Longyan, and ordered Mao Weishou's 61st Division stationed in Quanzhou and Yongchun to send 1st Brigade to Datian and Yong'an to cover the retreat of the district division.
On August 1, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan sent a telegram to Xiang Ying, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai, and put forward a battle plan, with one unit attacking Liancheng or blasting the position, and the other at appropriate locations to eliminate the reinforcements of the enemy in the movement, and preparing to fight a vicious battle with the enemy, reclaim the Longyan, Yong'an, and Shanghang areas, and consolidate the southeast front.
On the same day, the commanders and fighters of the Eastern Army held a meeting to commemorate the "August 1st" Founding Day and the Victory Ceremony at the Lower Fort southeast of Liancheng. The congress put forward slogans such as "Lay down the city" and "eliminate the 78th Division." At the meeting, in the name of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, the military flag was awarded to the troops of the Red 3 Corps at all levels. The atmosphere of the meeting was very warm, and the mood of the commanders and fighters was high.
Just as the Eastern Army was about to attack Liancheng, on August 2, Ou Shounian led four regiments and troops directly under the division to evacuate Liancheng in a hurry, and camped in Gutian that night. The next day, when the pursuing troops of the Eastern Army arrived, just as the enemy was assembling and departing, in a hurry, the people and horses were in chaos, and the officers and men abandoned their weights and fled.
The Red 19th Division and the Red 34th Division charged fiercely and annihilated a regiment of the enemy. The vanguard of the Red Army continued to pursue. At noon, the district department fled to Xiaotao for dinner, and while it was eating, the Red Army chased after it again, and the district department was in chaos, and many people were annihilated, and the remaining enemies were panicked and confused, one by one, they only hated their father and mother for having two feet, and after a day and night of running wildly, they fled into Yong'an City before they could catch their breath.
The Eastern Army did not spend a single shot and recaptured Liancheng. At the same time, the Xinsu District, which stretched for hundreds of miles in Quanshang and Qingliu, completed the first phase of the Eastern Expedition to fight in western Fujian, that is, conducted a 10-day rectification training in liancheng territory.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > ii, the second phase of the Eastern Crusade to fight in western Fujian - the Eastern Army quickly destroyed the enemies in Yangkou, Shunchang, and Jiangle</h1>
On August 9, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission demanded that the Eastern Army "sabotage its plans and strike at the flanks of Jiang Le and Shao Wu before the enemy's deployment is completed, so as to strive for more favorable conditions for the decisive battle in the future." Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan received a telegram from the Central Revolutionary Military Commission. Shunchang and Jiangle in northern Fujian are difficult to cross the water, lack of equipment, shortage of supplies, far from the rear, and it is very difficult to complete the task.
Therefore, the two proposed to the Central Revolutionary Military Commission that the second stage of the Eastern Army's operation should be to take The Road to Ninghua and assemble Jianning, which could not only act secretly and be conducive to attacking the enemies of Shaowu, Guangguang, and Jiangle, but also take advantage of the enemy's attack on Lichuan, "annihilating one or two of its divisions and giving the fifth 'encirclement and suppression' the first blow," and at the same time, "mobilizing the enemy on the northern front and disordering its deployment." However, peng and Teng's opinions were not adopted by the Revolutionary Military Commission.
On August 13, Xiang Ying again ordered the Eastern Army to quickly destroy the enemies in Yangkou, Shunchang, and Jiangle, and asked the Eastern Army to quickly take the road of Naturalization and Xia Mao and cross the Shunchang River and the Jiangle River.
On August 15, Zhu De and Zhou Enlai issued an order to reorganize the Eastern Army, and due to the scorching heat of the Eastern Army, the number of wounded and sick people increased sharply, and the number of troops was greatly reduced, and it was decided to integrate the 6th Division of the Red 3rd Army and the 61st Regiment of the 21st Division of the Fujian Military Region into the Eastern Army. The two troops then moved south from the Lichuan area of Jiangxi and the Taining area of Fujian.
On the same day, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan ordered Zhou Zikun and Zeng Risan to lead the Red 34th Division to garrison Liancheng, while the rest of the men and horses carried out the second phase of the operation, attacking the Shaxian, Jiangle, Shunchang, and Nanping areas, opening up new base areas in central Fujian and northern Fujian, and threatening Fuzhou.
On August 19, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan led the main force of the Eastern Army to naturalized territory. The Red 6th Division, led by Shi Hongchao and Chen Ajin, which was reorganized from the Xingguo Model Division, also rushed to the north of the border between Taining and Jiangle. Peng and Teng studied the operational deployment of the troops in naturalization, and decided to attack Yangkou at the junction of Yanping (present-day Nanping) in Shunchang with the main force, threaten Fuzhou, and mobilize the 19th Route Army in order to annihilate it in the movement.
After that, they arrived at the banks of Jinxi and Futun Creek in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River and rested for half a month to raise funds. Then annihilate Liu Heding's 56th Division, and then attack Shaowu. Zhu De and Zhou Enlai approved the plan.
On August 23, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan led the main force of the Eastern Army into the territory of Shaxian County, and quickly occupied Xiamao, an important town in the northwest of Shaxian County. Peng and Teng issued marching orders to attack Yangkou and Yanping at 23:10 on the same day. Ling Zhou Jianping led the main force of the Red 19th Division and the Red 5th Division to capture Yangkou, Zhang Xilong and Peng Xuefeng led the Red 4th Division to attack Yanping from Xiayang, and Hong Chao and Chen Ajin led the Red 6th Division and the 61st Regiment of the Red 21st Division to attack Wan'an Zhai and plagiarize Moshi.
On August 26, the main force of the Eastern Army did not attack the county seat of Shaxian County, but captured Yangkou in Shunchang County and Xiayang in Nanping County, two important commercial ports in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, and defeated three regiments of Liu Heding's 56th Division.
Yangkou and Xiayang were not far apart, and the Eastern Army captured a lot here. After Yangkou and Xia Yangke, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan ordered Zhou Jianping and Lü Zhenqiu to command the Red 19th Division to attack Shunchang, Hong Chao and Chen Ajin to lead the Red 6th Division and the 61st Regiment of the Red 21st Division to attack Jiang Le, Zhang Xilong and Peng Xuefeng to lead the Red 4th Division, and Xun Huaizhou and Le Shaohua to lead the Red 5th Division to besiege Yanping.
At this time, in order to prevent the Red Army from attacking, Liu Heding built strong fortifications in Shunchang, Jiangle, and Yanping. Yanping is located in central Fujian, the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, Han Nanping County, the Ming and Qing dynasties for Yanping Province, has always been known as "Iron Yanping, Copper Shaowu".
After peng Dehuai analyzed the terrain and enemy situation in Yanping and Shunchang, he decided to "besiege the city and provide reinforcements." Liu Heding saw that Yanping was besieged, and while stepping up the construction of fortifications, he asked Cai Tingkai for help. Xiao Jinguang, commander of the Min-Gansu Military Region, sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai and proposed that "it is estimated that the enemy will be stubbornly defended, so our main force should not be stuck under the fortified city, but should be applied flexibly."
At this time, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission issued a telegram to Peng Dehuai to "blockade Yanping" within a certain period of time. Peng Dehuai felt that Xiao Jinguang's view was correct, and immediately declared to the Central Revolutionary Military Commission that "attacking the city is not the key, destroying the enemy is the goal, and only by crushing its reinforcements can it be possible to gain the city."
On August 30, Peng Dehuai ordered the Red 19th Division to attack the city of Shunchang, and the Red 4th and 5th Red Divisions to meet the enemy reinforcements in order to capture Yanping. For the convenience of command, Peng Dehuai moved the headquarters to Maodi in Yanping.
After Cai Tingkai received an urgent telegram from Liu Heding, in order to preserve his own strength, he did not send troops for a long time, and Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Cai Tingkai to help him. Under Chiang Kai-shek's strict orders, Cai Tingkai ordered shen guanghan of his 60th division to advance from Longyan to Yong'an; ordered Mao Weishou's troops of the 61st division to concentrate on standby from Quanzhou to ShaXian via Datian; and ordered his reinforcements Tan Qixiu to immediately go up the Minjiang River from Fuzhou and approach Yanping via Shuikou, Youxikou, and Xiadao.
On September 3, Peng Dehuai ordered the Red 4th Division and the 13th Regiment of the Red 5th Division to intercept the enemy's 19th Route Army Supplementary Division along the north bank of the Minjiang River and straight to the direction of Shuikou. The Red 13 Regiment marched to the north bank of Xiadao Town, captured Tanbu's former guard platoon, and learned from the interrogation of the prisoners that Tanbu's group of people were divided into several steamers, and had just arrived at Xiadao Wharf, some of them went ashore to eat, and some were still on the ship.
The 13th Regiment of the Red 5th Division immediately launched an attack on the Tan Regiment, and the 10th Regiment of the Red 4th Division also crossed the river from upstream to cooperate. Under the attack of the troops on both sides of the Red Army, about one battalion was annihilated, and the rest fled to the mouth of the water. The Red 4th Division pursued to shuikou and re-attacked two enemy battalions.
On September 5, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan reported to the Red 1st Front that due to the terrain, Yanping City was inconvenient to blockade and attack.
After the Eastern Army won the Battle of Xia Dao, it rested for four days, and the men and horses went straight to Xiqin in Yanping. At this time, the most elite unit of the 19th Route Army, Mao Weishou Division, entered Shaxian County from land and water, and its 366th Regiment of Zheng Weiyi also rushed to Xiqin, together with a battalion of the 78th Division and a battalion of the 52nd Division, from Qingzhou in Shaxian County to Xiqin. Known as the "Iron Army", Zheng Weiyi regiment was the most effective unit in the 19th Route Army.
At 8:00 a.m. on September 18, the 13th Regiment of the 5th Division of the Vanguard of the Red 3rd Army encountered the Zheng Regiment at Qinshan. Cane Mountain is a great desolate mountain with thatched grass. In order to seize the initiative, the commanders and fighters of the Red Army fought fiercely with Zheng Tuan's men and horses in order to compete for the main peak, regardless of the fatigue of the night march. The Zheng regiment was defeated under the brave charge of the red army commanders and fighters, and the red army pursued it fiercely while launching a political offensive, and the Zheng regiment finally surrendered its weapons one by one. The 336th Regiment of the "Iron Army", which claimed to be the most effective of the 19th Route Army, was annihilated.
In this battle, the Red 13th Regiment created a new record of annihilating the enemy and a regiment in the movement with the strength of one regiment, and the Red 13th Regiment was awarded the glorious title of "Heroic Model Regiment". According to the soldiers of the captured 336 regiment, "You are really powerful, our regiment is a grand iron army, and in Shanghai we fought with Japanese devils with bayonets to wipe out the Japanese. ”
Liu Heding, who was besieged by the Red Army in the cities of Jiangle and Shunchang, ordered his troops to prepare for a breakthrough due to the lack of ammunition and food in the city. When Chiang Kai-shek learned of this, he sent an urgent telegram to Liu that he had gathered five divisions to prepare for the aid of Fujian. In this way, Liu Heding canceled the plan to break through, and the Eastern Army continued to besiege the cities of Jiangle and Shunchang.
<h1 class ="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > Third, the situation caused by the Eastern Army threatening Fuzhou - The 19th Route Army decided to take the road of stopping the civil war and uniting with the Communists to resist Japan</h1>
The successive defeats of the 19th Route Army and the situation caused by the Eastern Army to threaten Fuzhou also put the officers and men of the 19th Route Army in a difficult situation.
At that time, the leaders of the 19th Route Army, Jiang Guangding and Cai Tingkai, in the face of successive losses, realized that if they continued to participate in the "encirclement and suppression" of the Red Army, the final result would be that victory would also weaken their strength, and defeat would not exist. After some consultation, Chiang Kai-shek and Cai decided to take the road of stopping the civil war and uniting with the Communists to resist Japan. At this time, Chen Mingshu, the founder of the 19th Route Army, and others also sent people in Hong Kong to contact the CCP.
It turned out that on the evening of August 30, Huang Qixiang invited Chen Mingshu, Li Zongren, Li Jishen, Peng Zexiang, Liu Bozhong, Mai Zhaoshu, and others who were brewing anti-Chiang Kai-shek to dinner.
At the time of eating, an evening newspaper was delivered, and everyone was surprised to see the strike report, and the newspaper published the news that the 19th Route Army was attacked by the Red Army led by Peng Dehuai in western Fujian and suffered a major defeat, telling the story of the collapse of the entire division of the District Shounian Department in Liancheng, and the defeat of Tan Qixiu's troops at Yanping and the withdrawal of shuikou. He also said that the Red Army could soon go to Fuzhou. This news made Chen, Li, and others very anxious. If the Red Army defeated the 19th Route Army, the anti-Chiang Kai-shek thing would become empty talk.
Several people urgently consulted, so they decided to send Mei Gongbin to Shanghai to meet with the Chinese Communists, and Sent Chen Gongpei to Fuzhou to ask the 19th Route Army to stop its operations against the Red Army, and then go to the front line to connect with the Red Army. Without further ado, Mei and Chen got up on the same day and went north.
After Mei Gongbin arrived in Shanghai, the CPC Central Committee had already moved to Jiangxi, so the negotiations were not concluded. After Chen Gongpei arrived in Fuzhou, he met Jiang Guangding and Cai Tingkai and conveyed Chen Mingshu's intentions. Jiang and Cai also thought it was feasible. Jiang and Cai again had a secret discussion and invited Chen Gongpei to go to the Yanping front to talk with the Red Army.
Jiang and Cai were not familiar with Chen, and they only knew that Chen Had worked in the 4th Army during the Northern Expedition, and because they were sent by Chen Mingshu, there was no doubt about them. After Shang obtained Chen Gongpei's consent, Jiang Guangding wrote a secret letter on red silk to Zhu De and Zhou Enlai wishing for peace talks. Chen immediately disguised himself as a farmer and sewed the letter into his clothes. After that, Cai Tingkai personally took Chen to Shuikou, secretly signed a release note, and ordered Situ Fei, commander of the 1st Brigade of the Supplementary Division, to send someone to escort him.
On September 22, at Wangtai, 60 miles southwest of Yanping, Chen Gongpei met with Peng Dehuai and Yuan Guoping, director of the Political Department, and handed over to Peng a handwritten letter from Jiang and Cai. Peng felt very sudden about Chen's arrival. Teng Daiyuan said: "If the 19th Route Army comes to seek peace, it is not a good thing, but the matter is very important, and it should be consulted by the central authorities." ”
That evening, Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan sent telegrams to Xiang Ying, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai, asking Chen Gongpei who Chen Gongpei was, and at the same time copied the contents of Jiang Guangding's and Cai Tingkai's letters calling for a joint effort with the Red Army to "overthrow imperialism and its greatest instrument, Chiang Kai-shek," and put forward their opinions on the negotiations. That is, in the principle of the "Declaration of Common Resistance against Japan", the 19th Route Army was first required to withdraw from part of the defensive line, the blockade policy should be abolished, and then it would be discussed to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek.
That evening, Zhou Enlai called back, saying that Chen Gongpei, whose original name was Wu Ming, had joined the Communist Party of China and had left the party, and agreed with Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan's opinion, asking Yuan Guoping to go to Xiqin to meet Chen Gongpei. At 1:00 a.m. on September 23, the Central Bureau of the Soviet District also called Back Peng and Teng.
There were three instructions in the telegram: 1. to stop the military offensive and economic blockade; 2. to release political prisoners and guarantee the freedom of the anti-imperialist movement; and 3. to issue a declaration of resistance against Japan and Chiang Kai-shek. The central bureau's cable also reminded Peng and Teng to guard against the deception of the 19th Route Army's peace talks, and also asked Peng and Teng not to mention demands that could not be accepted for a while. At 8:00 a.m. on the 24th, Xiang Ying sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan, once again stressing the main points of the negotiations.
Peng Dehuai and Teng Daiyuan warmly welcomed Chen Gongpei to dinner, filled pork and eggs with a large washbasin, and continued negotiations after the meal.
Peng Dehuai said that the 19th Route Army was right to resist Japan, and it was wrong to come to Fujian to "suppress the Communists, and this is also Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy -- that is, "suppressing the Communists" and eliminating the 19th Route Army, which is a double-edged sword that is beneficial to Chiang Kai-shek. Peng Dehuai talked about these meanings with the three articles in the August 1st Declaration. Chen said that the 19th Route Army wanted to oppose Chiang Kai-shek and resist Japan, and without chiang kai-shek it could not resist Japan.
Peng Dehuai nodded and said yes, then said: "To resist Japan, we must oppose Chiang Kai-shek, because Chiang Kai-shek is implementing the traitorous policy of 'foreign countries must first be at home.' Only resistance to Japan can stop the civil war. ”
About the author: Taishi Xiaosheng, a lover of history, is especially passionate about reading and writing party history and military history. I have always wanted to look back at history more clearly, look at history more rationally, and write history more fluently.
The majority of history buffs are welcome to exchange axes.