What is the "Little Long March" led by Xu Haidong?

If you look at the map of the Red Army's Long March, you will find that there is a lonely red line from southern Henan to northern Shaanxi-most of the Red Army, including the Central Red Army and the main forces of the Second and Fourth Army, went north along the snowy mountains and grasslands in western Sichuan, while the route of the Red 25 Army's Long March commanded by Xu Haidong and others was more concise, and it went straight into the north from the hinterland of the Central Plains, so some people called it the "Little Long March".

The strength of this team did not decrease during the Long March, but it increased.

This team paid a heavy price in the Long March, and the main leaders were either seriously injured or sacrificed.

This team established a new base area in the Long March, including quite perfect county and township local organizations.

In this wonderful expedition, Wu Huanxian, the three main leaders of the 25th Red Army, died on the way. Cheng Zihua went to work in the local area before he was awarded the title in 1955, and Xu Haidong became the representative of this Red Army in the eyes of later China soldiers. He commanded the Red Fifteen Army to fight successively with the Kuomintang Central Army, the Northeast Army, the Northwest Army, the Shaanxi Army and Ma Jiajun, until the Kuomintang army heard of Xu Haidong and ran away. Chiang Kai-shek became angry from embarrassment and called "Xu Haidong one of the great evils of civilization".

In p>1941, when Hana no Chi, a Japanese journalist, wrote The Water Margin in Yan 'an, he called Xu Haidong "Tai Zong" in the Red Army, while edgar snow, an American journalist, wrote in "Red Star over China": "Of the military leaders of the China * * * production party, I am afraid no one can be more famous than Xu Haidong, and certainly no one can be more mysterious than him."

Xu Haidong is an extremely brave general with extraordinary military wisdom. Since the Northern Expedition attacked Tingsi Bridge, he was wounded nine times in the war, with 17 bullet holes in his body. His grasp of the terrain and fighters is almost natural. Even if he is outnumbered, he often wins more prisoners than his own troops. Someone described Xu Haidong's command art as follows: "In the battles he commanded, there were few failures. And his favorite tactic is a surprise attack, which always attacks the center from the other side and rear, causing the enemy to retreat by surprise. His tactics are called grabbing the enemy's heart from the ribs. " Therefore, when facing Xu Haidong, few opponents want to know whether they are fighting a "tiger" or a "cunning fox".

The Red 25th Army came from Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and it was originally a part of the Red Fourth Army. After the fourth large-scale "encirclement and suppression" of the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Soviet areas by the Kuomintang, the Fourth Army of the Red Army had to withdraw from the Hubei, Henan and Anhui Soviet areas in October 1932 and carry out a strategic shift to the northwest. At this time, the Red 25th and 27th Divisions and independent regiments stayed in the Soviet area to cover the main breakthrough, which was the predecessor of the Red 25th Army.

The Red Fourth Army troops left behind in Hubei, Henan and Anhui once used the titles of Red 25th Army, Red 27th Army and Red 28th Army. This army gradually recovered after hard fighting. In April 1933, it was unified into Red 25th Army, with commander Wu Huanxian, political commissar Dai Jiying, deputy commander Liao Rongkun (later Xu Haidong) and director of political department Gao Jingting, with a total strength of more than 12, people. However, in the subsequent Qiliping battle and the defense war in the central areas of northeastern Hubei and northwestern Anhui, there were only 3, troops left, and they were forced to withdraw to northwestern Anhui for reorganization, and then moved to northeastern Hubei.

in April p>1934, the ministries of the 15th Red Army met in Baoziyan, Shangcheng County, Henan Province, and reorganized, with Xu Haidong as the commander and Wu Huanxian as the political commissar. The Red 25 Army, which retreated to Hubei, Henan and Anhui, fought like a wounded tiger in the "encirclement and suppression" of the Kuomintang army.

After the Party Central Committee, which was in an emergency, judged the situation, Zhou Enlai sent experienced Cheng Zihua to Hubei, Henan and Anhui, requesting the Red 25th Army to make a strategic shift.

on November 16th, 1934, the main force of the 25th Red Army set out from Hejiachong, luoshan county, Henan, and made a strategic shift to Tongbai Mountain in the north. Xu Haidong recalled that the total strength of the troops before departure was 2,987.

Before the departure, the Red 25th Army fought fiercely with the 17th and 117th Divisions of the Northeast Army of the Kuomintang army and the Liu Zhenhua Division of the Henan warlord, and seized more than 1 guns alone. This war scared Liu Zhenhua to retreat without a fight. On the second day after the start of the Long March, the Red Army successfully passed the Pinghan Line and began to enter the Tongbai Mountain area.

It is worth noting that before the departure of the Red 25th Army, the troops were reorganized and reduced from two divisions to three infantry regiments and one pistol regiment to simplify the command level. At the same time, out of respect for the Central Committee, I heard that Cheng Zihua had served as a teacher in the Central Red Army, and Xu Haidong suggested that Cheng Zihua be the adapted commander, and he was only the deputy commander. This decision was approved by the provincial party committee, but the humble Cheng Zihua knew Xu Haidong's struggle experience in Hubei, Henan and Anhui, so he gave him precious trust in military command almost without reservation, which made the operational command of the Red Fifteen Army not fluctuate and chaotic.

The journey of the Long March is tortuous. The Red 25th Army, which arrived in Tongbai Mountain area, soon found that it was too close to Wuhan, and the strength between the enemy and ourselves was too great to establish a base area. After discussion, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Provincial Party Committee, which was stationed with the army, decided to divert into the Funiu Mountain area in western Henan.

at this time, Xu Haidong will show his magic again. First, he turned around and defeated Liu Guitang, the Kuomintang chasing unit that had been following him. Later, he personally led a team to feint Zaoyang, forcing the main force of the Kuomintang army to return to the defense, then flaunting a gun and leading the team for three days and three nights, and entered the edge of the Funiu Mountain area. Liu Guitang was originally a habitual bandit, nicknamed "Liu Heiqi". The Kuomintang army followed the Red Fifteen Army behind him, with the intention of borrowing its rich mountain combat experience to avoid being in the middle. Who knows that Xu Haidong did not ambush, but turned around and beat him head on, and immediately defeated him.

However, in the plain and hilly areas, the mobility of the Kuomintang army was obviously higher than that of the Red Army, and finally it reached the mountain pass before the Red Army went deep into Funiu Mountain. This time, it was Pang Bingxun, a veteran of the nationalist army.

on November 26th, 1934, the 224th regiment of the former echelon of the 25th Red Army entered the vicinity of Qiligang, Dushu Town, Fangcheng, ready to cross the highway, and the rear end was always fighting with the chasing enemy. However, the 4th Army of Pangbu actually arrived two hours ago, and suddenly attacked the Red Army marching team violently, and the Red Army hastily turned to defense. At this time, the weather was very cold, and many Red Army soldiers' guns could not be fired because the bolt was frozen. At this critical juncture, Wu Huanxian, the military political commissar, drew a broadsword from the traffic team members and led the troops directly under him to the enemy to engage in hand-to-hand combat. The nationalist army was proud of hand-to-hand combat, but it had never seen such a desperate team from top to bottom as the Red Army, and its morale was frustrated for a while. And Xu Haidong had led the guard DiErErSanTuan sniper pursuer, then immediately ordered to run away from the enemy, straight ahead, his timely Huiyuan surprised the enemy, the two sides into a fierce battle. Some villagers recalled: "After hearing a gunshot on Qiligang in Zhuangshang, I saw the flag of the Red Army fall, and then I saw a Red Army carrying a red flag and rushing forward twice in a row. The Red Army soldiers fought bravely and were not afraid of death, and they rushed to Baitu Cliff."

after a fierce battle, the 25th Red Army repelled the enemy's ambush. That night, he bypassed the enemy's defense line under the guidance of local villagers. Two days later, he fought fiercely with the enemy in the Li River area again, basically repelling the enemy's interception and tail chase and entering the Funiu Mountain area. In these two battles, the Red Army suffered hundreds of casualties.

After the bloody battle in Dushu Town, the Kuomintang was very angry. It mobilized the 19th Route Army and other troops to enter the Funiu Mountain area, and strictly ordered the local local tyrant Bie Tingfang to divide his troops and keep his mouth shut, and control all the fortresses in an effort to annihilate the Red Army in this area.

In fact, while they were busy, the Red Army had already left Funiu Mountain. On the evening of December 5th, the Red 25th Army put the enemy Chen Pei's long-planned blocking defense line behind its back, and went straight to Tiesuoguan at the junction of Henan and Shaanxi, thus entering Shaanxi. There are abundant products here, the enemy forces are not concentrated yet, and the conditions for the Red Army's activities are much better than those in Henan. On the 8th, Xu Haidong led the avant-garde pistol regiment to start the first battle in Shaanxi, annihilated a battalion of the 42nd Division of the Third Division on the defensive, and occupied Yujiahe, a small town in the mountain, the next day. The provincial party committee held its second standing committee here and started the work of establishing a new base area.

However, the most severe battle in the Long March of the Red 25th Army is waiting for Xu Haidong and his team here.

According to an eyewitness, "At 1 o'clock that morning, the military leaders were in a meeting, and gunshots suddenly sounded in the direction of Qili Yinling in the back mountain. Then, Cheng Zihua and his men came out of the south room with guns and ran directly towards the mountain ..."

It turned out that it was Lieutenant General Chen Pei of the 6th Division of the Kuomintang Army who personally led the team and suddenly launched an attack on the Red Army in Shaanxi. Chen Pei is a first-year student of Whampoa Military Academy. He is a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek and has a strategic mind. After his plan to protect the province and stop the Red Army's long March into Shaanxi failed, he concluded that the Red Fifteen Army would "go to Longju Village via Walnut Ping and Yujiahe River", so he deployed three regiments to take shortcuts and finally caught up with the Red Army in Yujiahe River. In the encounter, the enemy preempted me to seize the Dongshan Aokou, and formed a situation of Taishan topping the Red Fifteen Army.

However, the Red Army reacted very quickly. Xu Haidong immediately led the 223 regiment, which the whole army could fight best, to bravely rush into the enemy group. After a fierce attack, he simply regained the Dongshan Aokou from the enemy. Then, the 224 and 225 regiments ran to seize the highlands on the north and south sides of Aokou, occupying a geographical advantage. It should be said that the formation of Chen Pei's troops was loose during the March, resulting in only one regiment on the battlefield at the time of the war and being hit by three regiments of the Red Army at the same time, which was a big mistake. But after all, he is a valiant soldier, and immediately organized the other two regiments to pounce and re-compete for the depression. In the end, the Red Army won the battle-Chen Pei couldn't imagine that the Red Army actually had more than 1 machine guns, and the ammunition was extremely sufficient. The Kuomintang army was completely unable to lift its head and could only retreat.

Thanks to the Northeast Army acting as the "transport captain" for the Red Army along the Hubei, Henan, Anhui and Long March, the excellent equipment of the Red 25 Army mainly came from capture.

Despite the victory, the Red Army was somewhat surprised by Chen Pei's second attack, which caused Xu Haidong and Cheng Zihua to be injured successively in this battle, and both of them were seriously injured. Cheng Zihua's hand was pierced, and he was unable to direct the battle for a time, while Xu Haidong was hit by a bullet from the enemy below his eyes and went through the back of his neck, which was extremely serious.

the battle of yujiahe was one of the most tragic battles in the long March of the red fifteen army, and it was also one of the most disastrous battles for cadres. however, since then, the red fifteen army has basically mastered the initiative to fight against the enemy, and quickly established the guerrilla base areas in Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi with Zhen' an as the center.