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"There are thousands of mountains beside Luding Bridge, and the peaks reach the clouds for thousands of miles." This is a written by the ancients on the stone tablet standing on the west bank of Luding Bridge, depicting the majestic momentum and steep landform of Luding Bridge.
Luding Bridge was established during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty and witnessed many important historical moments. During the Long March of the Red Army, the people's soldiers did not choose to retreat in the face of the encirclement and interception of the Kuomintang army. They crossed the Chishui River four times, fought in southern Sichuan, crossed the Jinsha River, broke away from the siege, and headed north.
They came to Dadu River . This river lies like a natural barrier in front of Red Army . The river water is turbulent, and mountains on both sides are stacked. There is only one iron cable bridge in the middle of to pass through.
Luding Bridge
Chiang Kai-shek He keenly sensed the direction of the Red Army's march, so he arrived in the Dadu River area in advance for war deployment. He ordered Liu Wenhui's 24th Army to guard the iron chain bridge of Luding Bridge and intercept the Red Army to cross the river.
After receiving the order, Liu Wenhui just cooperated with the main force of the Kuomintang and removed the wooden boards from the bridge and turned the Luding Bridge into an iron chain bridge.
So why didn’t Liu Wenhui blow up Luding Bridge and not allow the Red Army to cross the river directly? What kind of considerations did he have and why did he choose to let the Red Army live?
Liu Wenhui "disobeyed" and Luding Bridge fell
On May 9, 1935, the Red Army confronted the Kuomintang in and for 6 days after crossing the Jinsha River, without any results. Then, they decided to give up the fight for Huili and continue north.
This period of time is an extremely favorable opportunity for the Kuomintang, and they can take this opportunity to annihilate the marching Red Army.
Chiang Kai-shek seized the opportunity. He was greedy and wanted to destroy the Red Army, but he did not want to lose any losses to his main force. So he turned his attention to the local warlords in Sichuan, Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui's local armed forces.
Chiang Kai-shek
In Chiang Kai-shek's view, "miscellaneous army" like Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui are most suitable for being a vanguard in "suppressing the Communist Party". If local troops cannot defeat the Red Army, they can be eliminated by the Red Army. On the contrary, they can beat the Red Army and use it to weaken the power of the Communist Party.
His move can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Wenhui's 24th Army to intercept the Red Army along the Dadu River. Later, in order to increase the first level of support, asked the regular army led by Xue Yue to follow closely and attack the Red Army with Liu Wenhui's troops. shows that he spent a lot of money.
Liu Wenhui felt very conflicted after receiving the order. He was afraid that Chiang Kai-shek would eat up his hard-earned family business on this ground, and he was afraid that the Red Army would occupy his territory. But as a soldier, he had to go to Hanyuan to personally supervise the military's operations.
Liu Wenhui in his later years
Speaking of Liu Wenhui, it is inseparable from the grudges between him and Liu Xiang.
Liu Wenhui was anti-Chiang among the warlords in Sichuan. This makes it difficult for him to have a say in front of Chiang Kai-shek. And Liu Xiang, who was also entrenched in Sichuan at that time, was a loyal fan of Chiang Kai-shek, and he was naturally more favored than Liu Wenhui.
The political concepts are different, and one mountain cannot withstand two tigers, and there is a big war between the two Lius.
1932, Liu Xiang prepared to unify Sichuan. The first target he wanted to eliminate was his cousin Liu Wenhui, and this plan was in line with Chiang Kai-shek's wishes. He secretly contacted military forces in various parts of Sichuan, formed an alliance with them, and then isolated Liu Wenhui and brought him to the enemy from both sides.
Then, Liu Xiang took the initiative to provoke the war. Liu Wenhui, who is weak, suffered repeated defeats, his troops were sharply reduced, his territory was occupied, and his vitality was severely damaged. By 1933, Liu Wenhui had to retreat to the Xikang area, and Liu Xiang officially became the king of Sichuan.
Xikang is a must-pass place for entering Tibet and has important military significance. With the Jinsha River as the dividing line, Sichuan and Tibet are on the east and west sides.As the only way to connect Xikang, only by protecting Luding Bridge can Liu Wenhui better control Xikang.
As soon as he arrived in Xikang, Liu Wenhui called on local people to grow opium and make a fortune in the national crisis. When was the most terrifying time, the annual output of opium in the area reached 60,000 to 70,000 tons.
Liu Wenhui
Liu Wenhui used the money from selling opium to recruit soldiers and quickly recovered his vitality. He also formed a new army, and his power gradually became larger. This forced Chiang Kai-shek to look up to him and ordered him to serve as the chairman of Xikang Province.
Therefore, when the Red Army passed by near Xikang, Chiang Kai-shek naturally thought of Liu Wenhui. He ordered Liu Xiang and Liu Wenhui to cooperate and snipe the Red Army along the Dadu River. If necessary, the bridge could be blown up to block the Red Army's plan to cross the river.
As for the architectural characteristics of Luding Bridge itself, there are a large number of iron chains on the bridge. initially estimates that it will cost more than 40 tons of explosives . Where did he get so much explosives to blow up the bridge, the expense of buying explosives is not small.
Therefore, in order to ensure his own interests, Liu Wenhui pretended to convey to his subordinates and asked his subordinates to lead people to bomb the Luding Bridge.
The subordinates actually understand that Liu Wenhui's intention is not to drink, and they do not take this order seriously, but sent a small number of troops to deal with it.
The Red Army was moving towards Luding Bridge at this time, and Chiang Kai-shek was closely following their movements. Not long after, the Red Army arrived near Luding Bridge, and he began to ask Liu Wenhui whether he would blow up the bridge according to the established plan.
Chiang Kai-shek
Liu Wenhui knew that he could no longer hide it. In order to make Chiang Kai-shek dispel the idea of bombing the bridge, he proposed two roundabout strategies to Chiang Kai-shek on the grounds of saving explosives from the troops:
One of them, you can remove the wooden boards on the Luding Bridge and then set up heavy machine gun on the other side of the river, so that the Red Army could not cross the river.
Secondly, you can add fuel to the iron chain. If the Red Army crosses the river through Luding Bridge, they will set fire, turn the bridge into a sea of fire and burn them to death.
Chiang Kai-shek thought about it again and said that Liu Wenhui's plan was feasible. In this way, he convinced Chiang Kai-shek with his silence.
After obtaining Chiang Kai-shek's permission, he ordered the removal of the wooden boards on Luding Bridge, and the platoon that was responsible for carrying out the task was the platoon that was preparing to explode the bridge.
Chiang Kai-shek and Liu Wenhui believed that Luding Bridge must be the burial place of the Red Army. Unexpectedly, things went against their wishes, and the two regretted it.
Right one is Liu Wenhui
Red Army used its tenacious will to force the Dadu River, captured Luding Bridge , successfully breaking down the tight defense line they arranged, passed Xikang, and successfully met with Red Fourth Army in western Sichuan.
Liu Wenhui was seriously frustrated in this battle. Not only did he fail to make a small plan in his heart, but the troops suffered huge losses.
After the war, he summed up a lesson: will definitely lose when listening to Chiang’s opposition to the Communist Party.
Luding Bridge was lost, and the Kuomintang was very angry and surprised, and Liu Wenhui was punished. The Second Infantry Brigade and the Xikang Commissioner's Office stationed in Sichuan also made special instructions on this: "All departments cannot publish the details of the failure of Luding County to the public. Liu Wenhui did not complete the established tasks in accordance with the instructions of superiors in the implementation of the construction of Jinsha River fortifications and the Dadu River blockade. His blind perfunctory responsibility was the direct cause of the failure of Luding County . now Liu Wenhui was punished once, and he could make meritorious service afterwards. The army he led must conduct internal reviews and then hold them accountable one by one. "
Faced with the net of heaven and earth laid by the Kuomintang, how did the Central Red Army break through many obstacles and successfully meet with Red Fourth Front Army ?
Yihai formed an alliance with her, and the Red Army embarked on a new journey, and after the Red Army crossed the Jinsha River in 1935, the National Army still pursued her relentlessly. In early May, the Central Red Army held an enlarged meeting in Huili and formulated the goal of continuing to go north to join the Red Fourth Front Army. meeting decided to appoint Liu Bocheng as the commander of advance team , allocate him a regiment of troops, and let him lead the team north to open the way for the follow-up troops.
Liu Bocheng
Liu Bocheng immediately led his team to explore the way north. After careful reconnaissance , it was found that the forces of the warlords stationed in the Sichuan-Kang area were mainly deployed on the main road from Xikang to Fulin. If our army wants to pass smoothly, needs to pass through the Yi ethnic area, then through Mianning County to reach Anshunchang , in order to get close to the Dadu River.
After learning about the specific situation, Liu Bocheng reported to the Central Military Commission as soon as possible. His proposal was approved by his superiors.
Liu Bocheng is an authentic Sichuan native . He worked for Sichuan warlords in the early days and was very familiar with the western Sichuan landforms, customs and customs, and the situation of the Yi gang.
He knows that all gangs in western Sichuan have their own arms. Although there are frequent fights between gangs, they can immediately unite and unite to the outside world when they encounter foreign invasions.
Due to the exploitation and oppression of the local national army, the Yi people always have certain prejudice against the Han army. In the past, the Han army would have suffered severe blows through the Yi area, and the possibility of smooth passage was almost zero.
1862, when the wing king Shi Dakai led his army through the Yi area, the entire army was wiped out with the Qing army in front and the Yi army behind.
Shidakai
In order to ease the relationship with the Yi people, after the Central Red Army captured the county town of Mianning
, Liu Bocheng ordered the leaders of the Yi area detained in prison to release them and specially invite them to drink.
Some Yi leaders knew some Chinese and could simply communicate with Liu Bocheng. He took this opportunity to publicize the Communist Party’s policies on ethnic minorities. Some Yi people have changed their views on the Red Army and the Communist Party.
On May 21, 1935, when Liu Bocheng led the Central Red Army advance team to pass through the Yi area under the jurisdiction of Gujijia, the local armed forces and the Red Army were in a stalemate.
However, he ordered that no matter how they treated the Red Army, we could never fire a shot or take action, so that the other party could see the sincerity of the Red Army.
It just so happened that Xiao Yedan, the helmsman of Guji's family, came to understand the situation. When he learned that the Red Army just wanted to borrow a way and did not intend to attack the Yi people, Shamal proposed to let the leaders of both sides become sworn.
On May 22, Liu Bocheng met Xiao Yedan. He told Xiao Yedan that the Red Army conquered the world for the oppressed people of China. The Communist Party has always respected the equality of all ethnic groups, and all ethnic groups are a family.
He also said: "We promise not to kill each other with our family, and we hope that everyone can unite and fight against the Kuomintang warlords together. When the Red Army returns in triumph, we will take everyone to pursue a happy life."
Xiao Ye Dan was very encouraged after hearing this and said: "If the Red Army passes by me, I can be fully responsible and ensure that you pass intact." After the talks, the two who had a lot of fun talks made blood to the Yi Sea and became brothers.
That night, Liu Bocheng hosted a banquet at the resident to entertain Xiao Yedan and his group, helped Xiao Yedan establish the Red Army Detachment, arranged a political commissar for him, and awarded him a military flag.
Then Xiao Yedan helped the Central Red Army pass through the dangerous Yi area, winning valuable time and opportunity for our army to successfully cross the river.
The Red Army captured Luding Bridge, and Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy was broken. Late at night on May 24, 1935, the advance team led by Liu Bocheng appeared in Anshun Field like a divine weapon descending from the sky.
At this time, the defending enemy in Anshun Field was still sleeping soundly. The Red Army wiped out all the enemies in less than 30 minutes and seized a ship crossing the river.
On the morning of the next day, the company commander of the 2nd Company of the Red 1st Regiment led 17 warriors to board the ferry, and amid the loud sound of trumpets, he crossed the thorns and rowed towards the other side.
Faced with the dense artillery fire of the enemy, the soldiers on the ship were not afraid of danger and accurately blew up the enemy's bunkers on the other side of the river. They took this opportunity to speed up the gliding speed in the dense rain of bullets and successfully arrived on the other side.
17 warriors fought bravely, the enemy was defeated and fled wildly. Afterwards, they used ferries to successfully send more than 10 soldiers to the other side and controlled the ferry of the Dadu River.
Later, our army found two ships downstream and kept transporting soldiers to the other shore. However, the Dadu River flows rapidly, and the enemy defending the other side still has remnants of forces, so crossing the river is very dangerous.
At this moment, Chairman Mao came to Anshun Field. Thinking of the painful history of Shi Dakai being completely wiped out here, he learned from history and immediately convened a meeting of the Central Military Commission to re-present the combat plan.
Liu Bocheng, Chen Geng and others led the Red 1st Division to attack Luding along the Dadu River. Wang Kaixiang, Yang ChengwuHang and others led the 4th Regiment of the Red 2nd Division to capture Luding Bridge.
On May 28, 1935, the 4th Regiment of the Red 2nd Division received a secret order from the headquarters on the marching road, demanding to capture the Luding Bridge before tomorrow, which was one day ahead of the original plan.
At this time, the 4th Regiment was 240 miles away from the destination Luding Bridge. After discussion, Wang Kaixiang and Yang Chengwu decided not to rest and rushed to Luding Bridge before 6 a.m. 29.
With the road was steep and there were enemy snipers, the 4th Regiment made history and arrived at the destination in just one day and one night.
Then, they quickly occupied the position west of Luding Bridge. Our army is so fast that Liu Wenhui's subordinates have no time to demolish the bridge board on the Luding Bridge, and the 4,100-meter-long Luding Bridge has 20-meter-long bridge board.
The bridge deck near the Red Army's position is all naked iron chains. The Dadu River under the bridge was like a roar of evil dragons, causing huge waves. The enemy troops were guarding the east bridge, shouting wildly with guns and live ammunition.
The enemy's arrogance inspired the fighter's fighting spirit. They expressed their willingness to participate in this battle of the Bridge as a vanguard. Wang Kaixiang convened a meeting of all cadres and explained the combat tasks.
2 Company 22 Communist Party members and activists formed an elite stormtrooper, with Liao Dazhu as the captain to attract and eliminate the enemy's firepower. Wang Youcai's third company is responsible for laying wooden boards on the Luding Bridge Deck.
The general attack time is set at 4 pm, and Wang Kaixiang and Yang Chengwu personally stood at the bridge to direct the battle.
22 Warriors faced the fierce artillery fire across the bridge, holding weapons in their hands, and rushing towards the enemy with bare iron ropes. The soldiers of the 3rd Company followed them, climbing iron chains and laying bridges.
Just as they were about to approach the east bridgehead, the enemy at the bridgehead suddenly set fire to the bridgehead, and for a moment, the flames soared into the sky. Yang Chengwu shouted loudly: " Comrades, it's the last moment. Show your brave spirit and rush over!"
Yang Chengwu
With the encouragement of Political Commissar Yang, the soldiers instantly ignited their fighting spirit. They rushed into the sea of fire regardless of everything and successfully climbed to the east bridge.
In the battle to capture Luding Bridge, it took only more than two hours to end with the Red Army's complete victory. The commando only suffered three casualties, and Luding Bridge was controlled by the Red Army. Under the leadership of Chairman Mao, the Red Army once again broke through the siege under the enemy's siege, successfully reversed the situation and turned the risk into a barrage.
Chairman Mao
You should know that the terrain of Luding Bridge is complex, and the enemy has far superior forces by the bridge than the Red Army, so there is no need to work hard. Our army was exhausted both physically and mentally when we attacked for a long distance. Even so, our army still won.
The victory of this battle is inseparable from Chairman Mao’s judgment of the situation, formulated a reasonable combat strategy for the Red Army, pointed out the correct direction for the Red Army to capture the Luding Bridge, and even more so from the revolutionary martyrs’ sacrifice of their lives for victory in the war.
For example, when the Red Army passed through the Yi area, Xiao Yedan's full help laid a solid foundation for our army to win the war later. But unfortunately, he was retaliated by the Kuomintang, set up a trap and sacrificed heroically, and failed to wait until the day when Liu Bocheng fulfilled his promise.
If Liu Wenhui heard Chiang Kai-shek's words at that time and blew up Luding Bridge according to the order, there would be no heroic deeds of the 22 Warriors who later used their flesh and blood to pave the way for the Red Army. His own selfishness indirectly helped the Red Army.
