Information about the 25,000-mile Long March

At the beginning of the campaign, the most brutal battle was encountered. From the winter of 1930 to the summer of 1933, Chiang Kai-shek launched four consecutive "encirclement and annihilation" campaigns against the Central Soviet Region in Jiangxi, all of which were unsuccessful. He accepted the lessons of the past, changed course, gave up the long drive into the combat mode, adjusted the deployment, take "steady and ruthless, step by step, repair towers and roads, and gradually advance" approach, attempting to form an encirclement, cut off the source of supplies in the Soviet Union, forcing the Red Army to carry out positional battles than the strength of the fight to consume. For the Red Army, the repeated defeat of Chiang Kai-shek this trick is actually nothing. Unfortunately, the Red Army had lost the correct leadership of Mao Zedong and was controlled by Wang Ming and other "left" opportunists, and the Red Army was finally forced to embark on an expedition.In late September 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mobilized one million troops and more than 200 airplanes, and launched the Fifth Encircle and Suppression of the Red Army bases. He appointed Gu Zhutong as the Commander-in-Chief of the North Road Army and Chen Cheng as the Commander-in-Chief of the North Road Army, leading the Third and Sixth Armies to attack the Soviet Union from the north to the south; at the same time, he bribed Chen Jitang as the Commander-in-Chief of the South Road Army, and sent two armies to blockade the borders of Jiangxi and Guangdong. The so-called political siege, cultural siege, economic siege, and transportation siege complemented the military siege of nearly one million troops. The Red Army, influenced by Wang Ming's "leftist" opportunist line, gave up its best tactics of maneuvering and fighting positional battles with the enemy, and could only maneuver between the fortresses, resulting in a passive situation. The Kuomintang army, relying on its superiority in strength, pushed forward five miles at a time and ten miles at a time, adding to the difficulties in the Soviet area. Chen Cheng and Xue Yue's troops gradually occupied Guangchang and Xingguo, forcing the Red Army to retreat to Baishui and Toupi to construct fortifications. Chiang Kai-shek saw that the Red Army took to fighting regular battles and fighting him with firepower, and became more and more energized. He also transferred heavy artillery to Jiangxi with his 10 columns of nearly 30 divisions of troops intensified the attack at the end of September, and captured Ningdu and other places, the Red Army suffered heavy losses. mid-October 1934, the main force of the Central Red Army, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th Corps, together with the rear organs **** more than 86,000 people were forced to start the breakout of the Long March from Changting, Fujian and Ruijin, Jiangxi, Yudu, etc.. Among them, there were 19,880 people in 1 Corps, 17,805 people in 3 Corps, 12,168 people in 5 Corps, 10,922 people in 8 Corps and 11,538 people in 9 Corps. In addition, there were two independent columns: the Military Commission Column of 4,695 men and the Central Column of 9,853 men. After more than 20 days of combat, the Red Army successively broke through the enemy's three blockades. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had already judged the Red Army's attempt to move westward, and on November 20, he appointed the warlord of Hunan He Jian as the commander-in-chief of the "Pursuit" army, commanding 25 divisions of troops to pursue the Red Army by five routes, and at the same time, he made the commander-in-chief of the "Suppression of the ****" in Guizhou, Wang Jialie, to send out his main force to the Xiangqian border to intercept the Red Army. At the same time, Wang Jialie, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou "Suppression of ****", sent his main force to the border of Hunan-Guizhou to intercept the Red Army, trying to "annihilate the Red Army in Xiangjiang River and the area east of Lishui River", and instructed the frontline troops: "strive for total annihilation, and don't allow the bandits to take root again". The Red Army encountered the most brutal battle in the Long March at the beginning: the Battle of the Xiangjiang River.

The enemy used the wide Xiangjiang River to form the fourth blockade, the Red Army was blocked by the Xiangjiang River in front of them, the Guangxi Army on the left, the Henan Army on the right, and the Central Army and Guangdong Warlords chasing after them, which made the situation very dangerous. 25th, the Central Military Commission issued an order to cross the Xiangjiang River, so that the Central Red Army would be divided into four columns, and quickly cross the Xiangjiang River to pass the enemy's fourth blockade. 26th, the main force of the Red Army of the 1th and the 3rd Army Corps On the 26th, the main force of the Red 1 and 3 Corps advanced rapidly, and the advance force of the Red 2 and 4 divisions each crossed the Xiangjiang River on the 27th between Xing'an and Quanzhou in Guangxi, and by the evening of the same day, the Red Army had taken control of both sides of the Xiangjiang River, which was 60 miles long from Jieshou to Pingshandu. At this time, the military column from the nearest Xiangjiang River crossing point is only more than 80 kilometers, if lightly loaded rush, can be rushed in a day. However, due to the narrow mountain roads, coupled with the follow-up troops carrying a large number of supplies from the Soviet Union, the action is slow, only 20 to 30 kilometers per day, a valuable opportunity lost in vain. 29 November, the enemy launched an attack on the Red Army is crossing the river. Red Army soldiers on both sides of the river, in order to cover the Party Central Committee safely across the river, and the superiority of the enemy launched a duel to the death. The Red Army's blocking position, the explosion of artillery shells and heavy bombs, many soldiers who were too late to construct fortifications were stunned, bleeding from the ears and nose. The single-equipped Red Army had to use flesh and blood to resist the indiscriminate bombardment by enemy airplanes and heavy artillery, and the cruelty of the battle can be imagined. But the slogan of "Defend the Central Column's Safe Crossing of the River" still resounded over the position. on December 1, the battle reached a white-hot level, and the enemy launched a full-front attack on me in an attempt to recapture the crossing and annihilate me in the middle of the halfway crossing. It was a battle of life and death, a contest of wills. The narrow road to meet the courage to win. Red Army soldiers hard with bayonets, grenades defeated the enemy company, battalion attack again and again, both sides of the Xiangjiang River sprinkled with the blood of countless Red Army soldiers, the ferry has always been firmly in the hands of the Red Army. By 17:00 on the same day, my central authorities and the Red Army troops finally crossed the Xiangjiang River. The Battle of the Xiangjiang River is the most magnificent and crucial battle since the Central Red Army broke through the siege, our army and the superiority of the enemy fought hard for 5 days and nights, and finally tore open the enemy's heavily fortified 4 blockade, crushed Chiang Kai-shek's attempts to encircle and annihilate the Red Army in the east of the Xiangjiang River. But the Red Army also paid a very heavy price, after crossing the Xiangjiang River, the Central Red Army and the two columns of the military commission, has been reduced to 30,000 people by 86,000 people at the time of departure.

Will the Red Army become "Shi Dakai II"? In January 1935, the Politburo of the Central Committee held the famous Zunyi Conference, which established the correct leadership of Mao Zedong. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek concentrated about 400,000 troops to the Zunyi area, and at this time the Central Red Army only 37,000 people, the face is very serious. In order to get rid of the enemy, the Red Army decided to quickly cross the Yangtze River to the west or northwest of Sichuan, and on January 19th, the Central Red Army started to move northward from Zunyi, and rushed towards Chishui in three columns. Since the enemy occupied Chishui City before me and I failed to attack the city, the Military Commission decided to first concentrate its main force to encircle and annihilate the four regiments of the Sichuan Army that were trailing behind. Due to the change of enemy situation, I failed to annihilate the enemy. In order to avoid being passive, the military committee decided to withdraw from the battle, west across the Chishui, to the southern region of Gulin, looking for an opportunity to cross the Yangtze River.In the early morning of January 29th, the main force of the Central Red Army in three columns west across the Chishui River (a crossing of the Chishui). But at this time the enemy has deployed 36 regiments of troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River, full blocking me northward, each way the enemy army to form a large encirclement approaching me. In this case, the central committee decided to suspend the implementation of the plan to cross the Yangtze River to the north, and to focus on Zanxi. 10 February, just when the main force of the Kuomintang was attracted to the border of Sichuan and Yunnan, the enemy strength in the northern region of Qianbei, the military committee decided to take refuge in the virtual, mobilize the enemy, turn the troops to the east, and then into the northern part of Qianbei, and then to look for opportunities to fight against Xue Yue's group in the rear chase. 18-21 February, the Central Red Army by Taipingdu, Erlangtan February 18 to 21, the central red army by Taipingdu, Erlangtan and other places east across the Chishui River (two crossing the Chishui), to the enemy force is relatively empty Tongzi area advancing. 24th I occupied Tongzi County, ready to seize Loushan Pass. Loushanguan is the most important mountain pass in the northern Guizhou big Loushan, is the only passage from Sichuan to Zunyi, since ancient times is a place of war, Guizhou warlord Wang Jialie deployed 4 regiments of troops here, 25th morning, the red 3 army on Loushanguan launched an onslaught, after a fierce battle, in the evening captured the Loushanguan. The enemy in order to retake the position, mobilized about 6 regiments of troops frantic counterattack, but were repulsed by my heroic Red Army soldiers. In the red 1, 3 legion's blow, the enemy fled south in fear. In order not to give the enemy a respite, the Red 1 and 3 Corps, despite fatigue, continued to Zunyi direction to start the pursuit and annihilation war, reoccupied the city of Zunyi, Qianjun abandoned the city and fled south. At this time, to Zunyi reinforcement of the enemy Wu Qiwei's two divisions of the lone army ventured, I decisively seized the opportunity, the Red 1 Corps with courageous action straight into the Wu Qiwei's command, the enemy fled in a panic to cross the Wujiang River, and cut off the pontoon bridge, the enemy has not yet crossed the more than 1,000 people and a large number of military supplies were captured by me. The Red 2 Corps also annihilated the enemy's 59th division at dusk, and the battle of Zunyi ended victoriously.

At the beginning of March, the enemy regrouped his forces and attacked Zunyi. Our army gave up Zunyi on March 10th. In order to mobilize the enemy, looking for opportunities, 16th, the Red Army in Maotai and nearby areas west of the Chishui River (i.e., the three crossing the Chishui), and then into the south of Sichuan, to the direction of the Gulin, the enemy in order to prevent me from crossing the Yangtze River in the north, hastily adjusted the deployment of the front blocking the rear pursuit. In the enemy again to the south of Sichuan will form a siege on me at the time, the Red Army under the command of Mao Zedong, and suddenly turned around to the east, on March 21 in Erlangtan, Taipingdu line of the four crossings of the Chishui River, to the south and quickly across the Wujiang River, directly approaching Guiyang. Chiang Kai-shek was busy deploying troops to defend Guiyang, the Red Army has taken advantage of the situation to march into Yunnan, and then skillfully crossed the Jinsha River to get rid of the hundreds of thousands of enemy troops in pursuit. In the Battle of Chishui, the Central Red Army, under the correct command of Mao Zedong and other correct command, will be the specialty of the campaign to play to the fullest, within five days to take Tongzi, Loushanguan, reoccupy Zunyi city, **** wipe out 20 regiments of the enemy, killed, wounded and captured more than 5,000 people, seized a large number of military supplies, the Red Army achieved the largest victory since the Long March, greatly encouraging the morale of the Red Army. Mao Zedong passed through the Loushan Pass, was touched by the majesty of the mountains and the bravery of the Red Army soldiers, and wrote a poem to describe his feelings: "The majestic pass is really like iron, and now the steps from the beginning to cross. From the beginning, the mountains are like the sea, and the sun is like blood." After the central red army crossed the Jinsha River, in the area of Huili rest and reorganization, and held a meeting of Huili, decided to continue to the north, with the red four-pronged army. Subsequently, the Red Army bypassed Xichang and made a part-time rush toward the Dadu River. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek in order to prevent the Central Red Army and the Red Army to meet, one side of the telegraph to the Sichuan army to prevent me from the Red Army to the south, the other side of the Xue Yue Department quickly crossed the Jinsha River to the north, and at the same time, Yang Sen Department to strengthen the defense force north of the Dadu River, trying to use the Dadu River, so that the Central Red Army to become a "second Shi Dakai".

On May 24, 1935, the Central Red Army passed through the Daliang Mountains and drove northward through heavy rain. The 1st regiment of the 1st Red Division, which served as the advance party, marched more than 80 miles in a hurry and first arrived at the Anshun field on the south bank of the Dadu River, eliminating two companies of the enemy defenders in a swift movement, capturing a valuable ferry and controlling the crossing. Dadu River is the largest tributary of Minjiang River, with craggy cliffs on both banks and fast-flowing water. Back then, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom general Shi Dakai led tens of thousands of troops to the south bank of the Dadu River, and was trapped by the Qing army at the Anshunchang crossing, and was finally wiped out. Now, the Red Army of China's Workers and Peasants has come here again, and whether it can cross the Dadu River is related to the lives of tens of thousands of Red Army soldiers. Anshunchang crossing 100 meters wide, the waves tossing, the other side of the river has a battalion of the 5th brigade of the Sichuan army defense, and has constructed fortifications, and the Red Army only a small boat, once into the force is too limited, but the military situation is urgent, there is no other choice. Red 1 regiment carefully selected 17 warriors, formed a river crossing commando, in order to strengthen the firepower of the machine gun company and the legion artillery battalion centralized to the ferry, and deployed the Red Army's famous artilleryman Zhao Zhangcheng and the "Red Army Corps" of the three special shooters, with two mortars and a number of heavy machine guns to support. Liu Bocheng, commander of the advance party of the Red Army, chief of the Red Army General Staff, and Nie Rongzhen, political commissar of the advance party of the Red 1 Corps, also came to the front line to command. 25 May morning, known as the pioneer of the Red 1 Corps in the command of Yang Dezhi, began to forcibly cross the Dadu River. In the red army artillery support, a small boat carrying the first batch of nine soldiers braved the rain of bullets, in the waves to the other side of the river, this thrilling scene, only extraordinary red army soldiers have such courage. The boat finally docked on the other side of the river, the warriors climbed up the steep bank of the river, supported by my artillery fire into the enemy fortifications, with the rapid arrival of the second boat warriors, a fierce rush to repel the enemy, control of the ferry. The enemy regarded as difficult to fly the natural danger of the Dadu River was finally opened by the Red Army a gap. However, due to the Anshun field current is too fast, can not build a bridge. 25 a whole day, only the red 1 regiment has not all crossed the river, and the enemy Xue Yue's department is to the Dadu River day and night rush. 26, the military committee decided to change to the northwest, and strive for control of the Luding Bridge crossing point, in order to achieve a strategic victory. 27, the red regiment in the regimental commander Wang Kaixiang, political commissar Yang Chengwu led by the speed of the forced march, to the direction of the Luding Bridge. Muddy mountain roads, heavy rain, and constantly attacked by the enemy, the Red 4 regiment with tenacious will, forced march 160 kilometers, in the morning of the 29th in the enemy reinforcements arrived before the arrival of the Luding Bridge. Luding Bridge is located in Luding County, Sichuan Province, is a famous wire bridge, the bridge is more than 100 meters long, 2.8 meters wide, consisting of 13 bowl-thick wire, the bridge has 9 chains, the top planks for the bridge, the remaining 4 on both sides as handrails. But at the moment, the face of the red 4 regiment of soldiers only 9 bare iron rope, the bridge deck boards have been removed by the enemy, under the bridge is a raging bubble roaring river, the opposite bank is the city of Luding, the enemy Sichuan army brigade 4, 38th regiment a long time ago to build a good fortification, the black holes of the muzzle of the guns pointing to the Luding Bridge. But the Red Army can always create amazing miracles. At 4:00 p.m., in the regiment's bugler in the exciting sound of the bugle, the bridge battle started. A variety of light and heavy firearms to the opposite bank issued a dense rain of bullets, 22 **** production party members and activists composed of the commando team climbed on the wire, to the other side of the bridge to climb, in the enemy's gunfire, some people were hit and fell off the bridge, but the commandos are still tenacious step by step close to the other side of the follow-up troops are laying planks on one side and follow up. Enemy fire at the bridge, but also failed to stop my commandos, they passed through the fire, quickly eliminated the bridge enemy, and support the follow-up troops captured the city of Luding. The success of the Luding Bridge has once again turned the Red Army into a safe place, free from the enemy's pursuit. To June 2, the Central Red Army main force all by Luding Bridge across the Dadu River.

Climbing snowy mountains and crossing the grasslandsThe Central Red Army continued its northward march after occupying the city of Luding, breaking through the enemy's Lushan and Baoxing defenses on June 8, 1935, and then crossing the Dajinshan Mountain, the first big snow mountain on the Long March. Most of the Red Army came from the southern subtropical region with hot and humid climate, and many of them had never seen a big snow mountain before, let alone climbed it. At the beginning of the snowy mountains, indeed very spectacular. Snow-capped, a red army climbed the snow-capped mountains silver, snow even days, days even snow, all the world of snow. Can really climb up, but do not feel beautiful at all. Dajinshan by the local people called the fairy mountain. They told the Red Army that only the immortals can climb over Dajinshan. If you could open your mouth on the mountain, the mountain god would strangle you to death. In short, Dajinshan was an incredible mountain. Birds can't even fly over it, and it's best for people to stay away from it, but the intrepid Red Army fights against fate.

To the front of the mountain, from the bottom of the mountain can be seen covering the mountain top of the snow, and it looks like a large piece of snow is not far away. At first, people didn't even realize they had to climb so high. After months of marching, food was scarce and people were exhausted. The climb seemed to be going well at first, then suddenly they entered a world of snow and ice. Snowy mountains stabbing people can not open their eyes, and there is no road, people sliding on the ice, fell down, to stand up, weak, some of them just so forever lying in the embrace of the snowy mountains.