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Fight to the last man and one shot! Dong Zhentang: The commander of the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" who is not afraid of sacrifice

author:CCTV News

The series of reports "Struggle for a Hundred Years road, a new journey, a number of popular figures", today take you to know Dong Zhentang, commander of the Red 5 Army Corps, who is known as the "iron stream defender" of the Red Army's Long March.

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Dong Zhentang was born in 1895 to a peasant family in Hebei. He graduated from the Baoding Army Officer School in 1923. After graduation, he joined Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, and was later incorporated by the National Revolutionary Army as the brigade commander of the 73rd Brigade of the 26th Route Army. 

Fight to the last man and one shot! Dong Zhentang: The commander of the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" who is not afraid of sacrifice

After the "918" incident, he opposed Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "taking care of the outside world before inside the country", and his thinking became more and more inclined to revolution. In December of the same year, Dong Zhentang and others led more than 17,000 officers and men of the 26th Route Army to hold the Ningdu Uprising and join the Red Army. The rebel forces were organized into the 5th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and Dong Zhentang served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the corps and the commander of the 13th Army, and later as the commander of the corps.

Fight to the last man and one shot! Dong Zhentang: The commander of the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" who is not afraid of sacrifice

He joined the Communist Party of China in 1932. In October 1934, Dong Zhentang led his troops to participate in the Long March, and the Red 5th Army served as the most arduous rearguard task, and made great achievements in ensuring that the main force of the Central Red Army went north, and the Red 5th Army was awarded the honorary title of "Iron Stream Rearguard". 

Fight to the last man and one shot! Dong Zhentang: The commander of the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" who is not afraid of sacrifice

On January 12, 1937, Dong Zhentang led his troops to fight the enemy in Gaotai County, Gansu Province, fighting until the last person was shot, and died heroically on the 20th. He was 42 years old.

Fight to the last man and one shot! Dong Zhentang: The commander of the "Iron Stream Rear Guard" who is not afraid of sacrifice

Song Xiuying, director of the Dong Zhentang Deeds Exhibition Hall in Xinhe County, Hebei Province: The revolutionary feelings of the communists who fought bravely and did not fear sacrifice are worthy of our in-depth study and inheritance, and will always inspire us to strive for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

(Edited by Zhao Hanqing)

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