Major General Luo Tong
"The shore of the Yangtze River Huaihe , let us gallop across the Yangtze River, go deep into the enemy's backbone and win every battle, and there are calls for killing the enemy." The heroic New Fourth Army wrote an extremely magnificent poem in the great war of anti-Japanese national liberation, and the anti-Japanese base in southern Hubei opened under the direct command of Li Xiannian, the commander of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, is a brilliant chapter.
I basically participated in the entire process of this great struggle in the more than three years before Japan surrendered. My heroic 14th Brigade of the Fifth Division of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army (brigade commander Luo Houfu, political commissar Zhang Tixue ) was ordered to fly across the Yangtze River many times. At the forefront of the front battlefield of heavy Sino-Japanese confrontation, we rely closely on local party organizations and 3 million people in southern Hubei, and jump around and circumvent the north and south regions of the Yangtze River. We carried out the anti-Japanese guerrilla war in depth, opened up and adhered to the anti-Japanese base in southern Hubei, completed the strategic task of encircling the Japanese army from the southern line, and then made the battlefield in southern Hubei a huge bridgehead and rear base for our Eighth Route Army to advance to South China.
The situation in southern Hubei and the Xiajiakou incident
The southern Hubei is in the southeast of Hubei Province, with a complex terrain in the territory. It borders Hunan and Jiangxi in the south and Yangtze River in the north. The Guangdong-Hankou Railway and Hunan-Hubei and Hubei-Guangxi Highways run through the entire territory, tying the key points of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. It is an important barrier to the southeast of Wuhan, an important city in central China. It has a very important strategic position and has always been a place that military strategists must fight for when entering the Central Plains.
On the eve of the fall of Wuhan in 1938, the iron hooves of the Japanese invading army ravaged this beautiful and rich land. In order to fight against the Japanese army, the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee successively sent He Gongwei, , Zhao Qin, Liu Qing, Xu Baomin, Huang Quande and others to southern Hubei to lead the people to launch a vigorous anti-Japanese and national salvation movement. From October 1938 to the spring of the following year, the people's anti-Japanese guerrillas in southern Hubei sprung like mushrooms after a rain, with a population of 5,000. They armed themselves with guns discarded when the Kuomintang army retreated, fought against the Japanese army, punished traitors and bandits, and defended their hometown. Unfortunately, in January 1939, as soon as the policy of "preventing the communist, limiting the communist, and dissolving the communist" was released, these new anti-Japanese forces were soon strangled in the cradle. In June 1939, the Kuomintang committed the "Pingjiang Massacre", and the responsible person of the Communist Party of China Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi Special Committee was killed, the party organization in southern Hubei lost its superior leadership, and the revolutionary struggle was in difficult situations.
In June 1940, the Southern Hubei Party Organization was officially assigned to the leadership of the Party Committee of the Hubei-Henan Border Region. From then on, under the guidance of adhering to the united front and independence, the Party organizations and armed forces in southern Hubei entered a new stage of the anti-Japanese guerrilla war. In October of the same year, according to the instructions of the Border Region Party Committee, the Hubei-south Party delegation dispatched more than 20 Communist Party members to form the Hubei-south Anti-Japanese Advance Team. The captain of the advancing team was Zhang Shuguang and the political commissar was Li Ping. Under the leadership of Li Ping and Zhang Shuguang, the advancing team was active behind the enemies in the areas of Xianning , Chongyang , Puqi, Tongcheng , and Linxiang . Soon, this anti-Japanese armed force quickly grew to more than 50 people. In December, the Border Region Party Committee added more cadres and some armed forces to support the struggle in southern Hubei.
In the spring of 1941, the advancing team merged with the guerrillas along the river in Echeng and Wuchang to establish the Fifth Regiment of the New Fourth Army in Southern Hubei, and publicly launched the anti-Japanese flag of the New Fourth Army (Fifth Division) for the first time in southern Hubei. The Independent Fifth Regiment quickly developed to more than 200 guns. Under the leadership of the regiment commander Wang Su and political commissar Huang Quande, the anti-Japanese bases along the river in Echeng and Wuchang were further developed and consolidated. The Fifth Independent Regiment ambushed the Japanese army outside Wuhan and on both sides of the Guangdong-Han Road, destroying traffic, capturing traitors, punishing spies, killing ships, and seizing enemy goods, causing serious threats to the Japanese army.
In early July 1941, the Central County Party Committee of the Southern Hubei asked the 14th Brigade of the New Fourth Army to send its main troops to support their development of the guerrilla base along the Fanhu River in Echeng, and asked the 41st Regiment of the 14th Brigade, which I served as the political commissar, to cooperate with their Independent Fifth Regiment to attack Dushan and Zhazhou in Liangzihu. The regiment commander Qi Shaochuan and I divided the work. He led two companies to stay in eastern Hubei, and I took eight companies to southern Hubei.
Although the Fifth Independent Regiment in Southern Hubei is known as a regiment, it actually only has about 200 people. The main leading cadres of the Fifth Independent Regiment and the Central County Party Committee of Southern Hubei are all backbone sent by the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee to activities in southern Hubei and survived after many struggles.
In the early morning of July 8, I led the eight companies of the Forty-first regiment to set off from Wangjiafang, Huanggang, crossed the river through the west side of the group wind , and arrived at the Shangxiani area. This is the first time that a thousand people crossed the river to the south by the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army. The opposite of the Yaerhu in the past is Xia Jiawu.
The person who came to welcome us in the morning was Zhang Xian, the head of the Fanhu Working Committee. He told me: "Yesterday morning, the 5th Independent Regiment was attacked by the Japanese and puppet troops in Xia Jiajun. The losses were serious and the specific situation was unknown." I was shocked. Didn't the contact be very good? How could such a problem occur? Zhang Xian said that someone had sent to reconnaissance and someone would come to report the crash soon.
Soon, a young man of sixteen or seventeen years old came. He said that cadres of the Independent Fifth Regiment and the Central County Party Committee were surrounded by the enemy, and many people died in battle. He broke through the lake by swimming in the water. Afterwards, I realized that this young man was named Wang Zhijian, the son of Wang Jinsheng, the head of Wuchang County Party Committee. He is one of the few people who survived the Xia family's breakthrough. Judging from the sudden attack by the enemy in the fifth regiment, the enemy has paid attention to our actions. At that time, for our 41st Regiment crossing the river, the enemy's situation was unknown, and I didn't know it. In order to find out the situation, we rested for a whole morning and listened to the report. In the afternoon, I led my troops around Duandian, Huarong , and Gedian . We are in the crack, there is a lake in front and a river in the back, which is inconvenient to spread. Our team of thousands of people was very long. The Japanese army discovered us, but they did not dare to move for a moment; we did not want to fight a war that we were unsure of. After a demonstration, we crossed the river from Gedian to the north and returned to the Wangjiaji base in Zhangduhu.
Afterwards, I learned that after the bloody battle against Xia Jiawu, all the main cadres of the Central Committee of the Southern Hubei and the Independent Fifth Regiment were killed, and the team of about 200 people was completely lost. The story goes like this:
In the spring and summer of 1941, the development of the northern part of Wuchang County and the Fanhu Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Base Area in the southern suburbs of Wuhan directly threatened the Wuhan Japanese Central China Expeditionary Force headquarters. Therefore, since June, the enemy has concentrated the Japanese and puppet troops and used various means to repeatedly "mopping up" the Fanhu guerrilla base. On July 6, cadres of the Fifth Independent Regiment of Southern Hubei and the Central County Party Committee broke out of the "sweeping-up" circle of the Japanese and puppet troops for the fourth time and moved to the Gedian and Maijialing areas, preparing to go to the riverside to welcome the main force heading south on the north bank of the Yangtze River. That night, they set up a camp with only more than 100 people in Hujia Dawan to warn the enemy of Gedian, and then camped in Xiajiawang.
Xiajiakou is only 15 miles away from Gedian, and is located on the edge of Gangqiu surrounded by water on three sides. The operation of the Independent Fifth Regiment was immediately learned by the Japanese and puppet troops. On July 7, the enemy was found at the outpost at the west end of the village. The regiment commander Wang Su led the guard company to block the enemy. Huang Quande, secretary of the Central County Party Committee, commanded cadres to break through from the east of the village. At the east end of the village is a vast lake, and just a small wooden boat cannot solve the need to break through. County Party Secretary Peng Xianglian broke out with more than ten people of agency personnel, and several people with good water quality broke out; regiment commander Wang Su was injured, and the guards were injured if they were not killed; 18 cadres of the Central County Party Committee were captured; villager Xia Xinju and others were killed for covering the Central County Party Committee.
After Huang Quande and others were taken to Gedian, they were steadfast and unyielding in the face of the Japanese army's coercion and inducement, and all died heroically. When the Japanese army saw that He Yu (He Gongji), the United Front Work Minister of the Central County Party Committee, was a young man who had just turned 20 years old. He wanted to get some information from him, so he tempted him from many ways. He answered very simply: "You can break your head and your blood can flow. You will never be a slave to the destruction!" He also scolded the Japanese army as robbers and the puppet army as a national scum who recognized the thief as his father. Finally, the Japanese army of the Gedian Xuanfu team hung He Yu on the tree, poured gasoline all over his body, and forced many people to watch it, asking He Yu whether he would surrender. He Yu held his head high and answered the song of " March ", and all the viewers cried.Comrade He Yu died bravely! After Wang Su was injured and captured, the Japanese army took him to Chengguan, Echeng, to treat his injuries, and lured him to many parties to surrender, trying to "recruit" the New Fourth Army active in southern Hubei through him. Wang Su was unyielding and unyielding. The Japanese army was hit and bloody, and he was about to kill Wang Su in Echeng and throw his body into the Yangtze River.
When the Third Battalion of the Independent Fifth Regiment landed on a boat in Xuzhouzui from Baimazhou , the Japanese and puppet troops were ambushed on the shore due to traitors' reports. Under the command of battalion commander Xiong Huixiang, the commanders and soldiers of the third battalion fought with the Japanese and puppet troops, but eventually died heroically due to the huge gap in troops.
8 In August, when Qian Yuanjing, the Organization Minister of the Central County Party Committee, went to collect the missing people, he was also sued by a traitor and arrested and killed by the Japanese army.
Faced with the heavy losses of the cadres and army of the Southern Hubei Party, the leaders of the Fifth Division and the Party Committee of the Hubei-Henan Border Region decided to reorganize the Central County Party Committee of the Southern Hubei and rebuild the Fifth Regiment. In August, the Central County Party Committee of Southern Hubei was established and the Independent Fifth Regiment was rebuilt. Li Ping served as the leader of the Communist Party of China in southern Hubei.
After the troops returned to Huanggang from southern Hubei, the 174th Division of the Guangxi Army and the 8th Regiment of the 8th Regiment attacked me back to Longshan , Taodian, Fanggaoping and Iron Shop. My 40th, 41st and 42nd Regiments fought for self-defense, fought for a day and a half and a night, and moved smoothly. During the battle, the 41st Regiment occupied Huilongshan area, killing 2 people and injuring 11 people. After a retreat battle, the troops were trained to transfer.
In December, Li Xiannian led the 39th Regiment and 14th Brigade of the 13th Brigade to counterattack Xishui and wiped out Jiang Shaoyuan's detachment. I led a battalion of the 41st Regiment to expand the results, encircled and annihilated the stubborn army of Yangjiaqiao, and blocked the stubborn army from reinforcements. Our department returned to Xishui. At the end of December, a part of the anti-communist enemy was wiped out in Guangji and captured the pseudo-county magistrate of Guangji County. At this point, our 41st Regiment was not only equipped with neat equipment, but also trained troops in battles of attack, transfer and pursuit, and greatly improved its military quality. Soon, the Guangxi army launched anti-communist frictions and forced us to attack our bases such as Wangjiaji, Xinjiachong, Fanggaoping, Linjiadawan, Tiepu, Taodian, and Xishui and Guangji. My 41st Regiment moved to Xishui, Guangji, Huangmei , Susong , Taihu, Yingshan , Pohu , and Shucheng, implementing the tactic of moving forward and retreating, saving itself to annihilate the enemy in the movement, and fighting hard for 4 months.
In late April 1942, our regiment received a telegram from the division headquarters and returned to the area around Wangjiafang, Huanggang to stand by.
