The hard battles of the Red Army were fought on various battlefields.
Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun commanded the 6th Division of the Red 3rd Army and the 21st Division of the Red 8th Army to resist the attack of five divisions of the Kuomintang Army in the northeast of Xingguo, while the 4th and 5th Divisions of the Red 3rd Army resisted the attack of nine divisions of the Kuomintang Army in the banqiao, Yiqian and Shicheng areas south of Guangchang City.
At that time, the Red Army had an average strength of less than 4,000 men per division, was extremely short of ammunition, and was extremely poorly equipped. The Nationalist army, on the other hand, had an average strength of 9,000 men per division, sufficient ammunition and excellent equipment. Despite this, Bogu, Li De, and others still wanted the Red Army to continue to fight with the Kuomintang army.
In early August, the enemy continued to advance south, with each column equipped with a Bufu-type 13th Mountain Artillery Company and a Mortar Company. The Red 3rd Army (owed to the 6th Division) was ordered to block the enemy troops entering Shicheng from the south in the area north of Guanqiao, on the basis of the favorable terrain of the important barrier leading to the north of Shicheng, The Toad Village, and the Gao Hu Pass to tighten the throat of the enemy army to the south.
At that time, Peng Dehuai ordered the Red 5th Division to garrison the positions at the northern end of Gaohu'an and Banqiao, and resolutely block the enemy's southward advance; the 14th Regiment was at the eastern end of Shangwei, which was the first echelon; the 15th Regiment was at the southern end of Gaohu'an, which was the second echelon; and the division command was in Zengjia platoon. The Red 4th Division is on the right wing of the Red 5th Division, and is located in Thrush Mountain, Dongjiabian, Laozhai, Protection Mountain (locally known as Baofeng Mountain), and candle-shaped areas, and the division command is located in Makeng. The 34th Division of the Red 5th Army was deployed in the Red Army's alert zone north of Gaohu'an, as the right wing of the Red 5th Division.
Gaohu'an is a hill located in the north of Yiqian and northeast of Banqiao Town, nearby are mostly hills of varying heights, surrounded by majestic mountains in the south, and the terrain is dangerous, which is a hole to restrain the enemy's southward advance. At that time, the Red Army built bunker fortifications in front of the post and in the area of Gao Hu'an, and the bunkers between the tops of each hill were connected by scattered trenches, covered with five layers of trees, covered with a thick soil of up to one meter and a half, and were rebuilt with three roads outside the deer. The main fort is surrounded by a group of small fortresses hidden from the left and right.
In order to fight this battle well, Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun set up the headquarters of the Red 3 Corps at the southern end of Gao hu'an and personally inspected the positions at the front, and specially instructed Huang Zhen, commander of the 13th Regiment of the Red 5th Division, who was guarding the main position around Gao Hu'an: The position must be strengthened and can withstand the bombardment of enemy aircraft and artillery; the personnel must strengthen ideological mobilization and enhance their determination and confidence in holding firm; and Gao Hu'an's terrain is dangerous, and it is necessary to take advantage of this favorable terrain to condescend to beat him down.
Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun, accompanied by Li Tianyou, commander of the Red 5th Division, and Chen Ajin, political commissar, went to the Red 14th Regiment, where Xie Zhenhua, political commissar of the Red 14th Regiment, and Wang Mingchang, regimental commander, reported the situation to Peng and Yang.
Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun inspected the fortifications of the forward positions and instructed while looking at them: "The positions must still be strengthened and must withstand the bombardment of enemy aircraft and artillery." Forward positions should strengthen the erection of obstacles, the digging of outer trenches, the laying of mines, and the setting up of bamboo sticks and deer poles." "It is necessary to strengthen the ideological mobilization of the entire regiment personnel, enhance the determination and confidence of the commanders and fighters to stand firm, and step up all kinds of combat support work."
During the meal, the cook put a bowl of chicken on the dinner table to entertain Peng Dehuai, Yang Shangkun, etc. Peng Dehuai saw it, and with a straight face, severely criticized Xie Zhenhua: "The troops are so hard, they still eat chicken, can they eat it?" I don't eat! ”
Yang Shangkun saw that Xie Zhenhua could not get off the stage, and hurriedly smiled to break the siege: "Forget it, anyway, the chicken has been killed, and it will not live anymore." Don't eat more wasteful, this time just eat it, the next is not an example. ”
At that time, the task of building fortifications was very heavy and urgent. Although there were local mass organizations and some masses even donated their own door and bed boards to jointly build positions, set up obstacles, and store water and grain in bunkers, the supply of salt, medicine, and guns and ammunition was extremely difficult due to the enemy's blockade.
In particular, the mountain was full of stones, and there was a lack of tools, and it was very difficult to dig, and the commanders and fighters had blood bubbles on their hands. In addition, the hot water is precious, not to mention taking a bath and washing your face, sometimes even drinking water is more difficult. The officers and men could not stay up, so they drank water from a backwater pond full of cow dung next to the pit. At night, there are mosquito bites...
At 8 o'clock on August 6, the main enemy force attacked the Position of Gaohu'an guarded by the Red Army, first bombarding more than a dozen aircraft in turn, followed by artillery bombardment, and then infantry attacking. Under the command of regimental commander Huang Zhen, the Red 13th Regiment calmly responded to the battle, causing hundreds of corpses of the attacking enemy to retreat. The Red 14th Regiment, led by regimental commander Wang Mingchang and political commissar Xie Zhenhua, attacked the enemy from the right wing to the north, causing the enemy to retreat.
Unfortunately, Wang Mingchang died, and Yao Pin took over the position of regimental commander. At noon, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the enemy launched several consecutive attacks on the Positions of the Red Army in dense formations. The commanders and fighters of the Red 4th and Red 5th Divisions fought bravely, cooperated closely, and fought fiercely with the enemy all day long, causing heavy casualties in the enemy's left column and failing to advance one step.
The stones at the top of the Hill guarded by the Red 3Rd Army and the GaoHu'an Position were all blown loose, all of which were very thick and empty, and as soon as they stepped on it, they immediately fell into it very deeply. The smoke of the war drifted with the wind. The smell of burnt paste, blood and corpses washes the nose.
Most of the fortifications were also destroyed and collapsed by enemy artillery fire, and several thick logs were blown into pieces, and buried in the mud and rocks of the hills. In the grinning crater, broken spears, blood-stained bandages, crooked steel helmets, and deflated kettles were discarded. The corpses lacking arms and legs were densely packed, bloody, lying on their sides and lying vertically, all over the place.
At this time, Peng Dehuai judged that after the enemy's left column was injured at Gao Hu'an, it would definitely use the right column to attack the incense burner village and goose-shaped position on the west side of the Red Army's Gao Hu'an, and the enemy's left column would also carry out an auxiliary assault in the direction of Gao Hu'an; therefore, Peng Dehuai ordered that the focus of the Red Army's defense be moved to the incense burner village and the goose shape.
Sure enough, at 8:00 a.m. on August 7, the enemy's right column moved from Laihe Ridge, Gaozu Ridge and its southeast to the western end of Banqiao in three ways, and its main force advanced from Thrush Village to the east of Gao hu'an. At 9 o'clock, the enemy began to shoot at the goose-shaped position of the Red Army with concentrated artillery fire. The Red Army, with three regiments of infantry, repelled four successive enemy attacks, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.
At 13:00, the Red Army position was destroyed by enemy artillery fire, and the machine gun bullets were also exhausted, and when the enemy army took advantage of the Red Army reinforcements to be blocked by artillery fire, the goose-shaped position was captured. The enemy's left column also took the opportunity to occupy the red army's high ground south of Zhongsha. The Red 4th Division's counter-assault was ineffective, and it confronted the enemy.
After half a month of fierce fighting, the Red 3rd Army completed the task of blocking the attack, was ordered to abandon the front-line positions of Toad Village and Gao Hu'an, and successively moved to the Wannian Pavilion and the front of the station to continue to block the enemy's southward advance.
The battle of Gaohu'an was the most vicious battle since the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign; the strength of the enemy's six divisions poured more than 2,000 rounds of various shells and more than 5,000 grenades on the Red Army's positions; although the enemy army seized the Red Army positions north of Gaohu'an, it made its 89th Division lose its combat effectiveness and had to withdraw from the battle. Chen Cheng, in his later book "History of the Five "Encirclement and Suppression" Battles," called the battle an "unprecedented sacrifice" since the "advance and suppression." Due to the passive defense of fortresses against fortresses, the Red Army also suffered heavy losses, with more than 1600 casualties, including two cadres at or above the regimental level.
Nevertheless, the Battle of Gaohu'an was still a victorious battle since the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign. Liu Zhijian, director of the Propaganda Department of the Shihong 3rd Army, wrote the battle song "Battle of Gao Hu'an," and after the lyrics were changed by Yang Shangkun, they sang loudly among the troops: "In the battle of Gao Hu'an, we won and crushed Chiang Kai-shek's main six divisions. Tenacious garrison, heroic resistance, continue to carry forward the spirit of heroism, victory belongs to us! ”
After the Battle of Gao Hu'an, the Red 3rd Army engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy at the Wannian Pavilion. In the fierce battle, Chen Ajin, political commissar of the Red 5th Division, and He Fusheng, director of the Health Department of the Red 3rd Army, were killed.
In the face of the enemy's situation, on August 26, Zhu De, in the name of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, issued instructions to Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun on the deployment of the current combat operations, saying: "The enemy Chen (Cheng) Route Army is deploying to attack north of Yiqian; Li (Yannian) column is concentrating in the Pengkou and Bichuan areas to prepare for an attack on Hetian and Tingzhou; the Zhou (Hun Yuan) column captured Laoyingpan yesterday on the 25th, and there is a possibility of continuing to attack Xinghao and Xingguo. In order to hinder the enemy's advance, it was decided that the 3rd Army (missing the 6th Division) and the 15th Division would resist the continued attack of the Chen Route Army in the area north of Yiqian. ”
At dawn on August 28, the great battle began, and the enemy concentrated three columns of Fan Songfu, Luo Zhuoying, and Tang Enbo, a total of seven divisions, under the cover of more than 20 aircraft and nearly 100 cannons, launched a full-line attack on the positions of the Red 3rd Army.
The commanders and fighters of the Red Army, determined by their strong determination and conviction to "shed the last drop of blood for the defense of the Soviets," fought fierce battles against the enemy, especially in the two positions of the protective mountain and the candle- shaped positions, which were particularly fierce.
When the enemy occupied the first defensive position of the Red Army, it was followed by Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division, Fu Zhongfang's 67th Division, and Fan Songfu's 79th Division, and then occupied the second defensive position of the Red Army. The Red 3rd Army was forced to retreat south to the front of the post and its northern end to organize a defense and confront the enemy.
The Central Revolutionary Military Commission sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun, saying that they would "hold or abandon" Yiqian and that they would decide according to the situation of the battle.
On the night of August 30, the battle for the defense of Yiqian began. At 5 o'clock in the morning, enemy aircraft and artillery bombarded the Red Army positions in turn, and then the infantry threw themselves into the charge and conquered the Baofeng Mountain position defended by the Red 5th Division and the Red 4th Division in one fell swoop. Subsequently, the enemy clamped down and suppressed the two flanks of the Red Army with some of its strength, while the main force took advantage of the gap left by the Red Army's lack of ammunition and thin firepower to march straight along the road. The Red Army resisted one after another, and fought and retreated. At noon, the street was occupied by the enemy army, and a bunker was built.
After three days of fierce fighting, the Red Army once again suffered heavy casualties, including 452 casualties and more than 1,900 soldiers in the Red 3rd Army and the 15th Division, and consumed a large amount of ammunition. Zhang Yi, chief of staff of the Red 4th Division, also defected to the enemy.
The loss of the post front caused the eastern and northern fronts of the central base area to be broken through by the enemy, so that the defense of the western and southern fronts was more difficult.
On September 1, Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun wrote a letter to the heads of the regiments, summarizing the battles of Gaohu'an, Wannianting, and Yiqian. It was pointed out that the reasons for the losses suffered by the station were that the orders were not resolutely carried out, and because the front of the position was too wide and lacked great depth, the enemy army broke through a little and shook the overall situation.
At this time, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission instructed the Red 3rd Army: "The task in September is to prevent the enemy from north of Shicheng, and to order the construction of a defensive zone between Yiqian and Shicheng for mobile defense." The first defensive area should hold the enemy back for a week, assaulting the enemy flank and advancing troops below one division; but not preparing for the defensive battle of Shicheng, but preparing for a total retreat. ”
After Peng Dehuai and Yang Shangkun received instructions from the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, they organized the Red 4th and Red 5th Divisions and the 15th Division of the Red 5th Army to establish the first, second, and third defensive zones from the southern end of Saoqian to Shicheng, preparing to resist the enemy army with a movement defense step by step.
In the six-way "encirclement and suppression" of the enemy army, Bogu and Li De took the strategy of "dividing the troops and holding the mouth" and "defending the whole line", as a result, the Red Army, except for Gao Hu'an and Wenfang, won a small victory, yu was defeated, and the Soviet area was occupied by the enemy army in a large area. By mid-September, the Central Soviet Area had shrunk to only Ruijin, Huichang, Yudu, Xingguo, Ningdu, Shicheng, Ninghua, and Changting counties, and the defeat was decided.
At this time, due to Li Deto's illness, Bogu was discouraged, and since August, the orders of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission were only issued by Zhu De. In this way, Zhu De paid special attention to preserving the effective strength of the Red Army and demanded that all the corps adopt "movement defense" as much as possible.
On September 22, Peng Dehuai followed the instructions of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission and used one division to garrison the positions east of Zhonghua Mountain and Luojiafeng, and two divisions to garrison the area west of Zhonghua Mountain and Luojiafeng.
On October 4, the Red 3rd Army withdrew from the battle after killing and wounding the enemy in the Bakou and Changle areas. Chen Cheng ordered Huang Wei's 11th Division and Li Shusen's 94th Division to attack Shicheng together with Xing Zhennan's 4th Division, Huo Yuzhang's 14th Division, and Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division. The units of the Red 3rd Army fought a joint enemy attack in and around Shicheng.
On the day when the enemy occupied Shicheng, Zhu De, in the name of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, ordered that local corps take over the defensive tasks of the main Red Army on each front, and successively withdrew the Red 1st Army, the Red 3rd Army, the Red 8th Army, the Red 9th Army, and the Red 5th Army from their positions and concentrated on the Ruijin, Yudu, and Huichang areas. The Red 3rd Army was ordered to replenish personnel, cadres, and ammunition in the first concentration area until October 12, complete the consolidation of troops, and strengthen military and political training. On the morning of the 14th, the area of Shuitouwei, Shixiba, Chetouwei, Hetian and Xianxiaguan in the northeast of Yudu was concentrated.
At this point, the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in the Central Soviet Region had completely failed.