Introduction:
Whether in the text "Flying to capture Luding Bridge" or in Chairman Mao's sentence "Dadu Bridge is covered with iron chains", we can intuitively feel the tragic degree of this war, and we are also full of admiration for the brave and fearless Red Army soldiers.
But there is something puzzling in this battle: Since the Kuomintang pulled down the board on the bridge, why didn’t it blow the chains off directly?
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek had already ordered the breaking of the bridge, but one of his subordinates did not support Chiang Kai-shek's actions, and even took various methods to protect the bridge openly and secretly, which led to the Red Army finally passing through Dadu River .
So who is Chiang Kai-shek's subordinate and what does it have to do with the Red Army?
This starts with Ludingqiao itself.
1. Luding Bridge
During the Qing Dynasty period, there was no bridge in the Dadu River. Merchants on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can only use ferries or ancient ziplines to engage in trade.
But this method is not convenient, and it is impossible to transport more goods, and the risk factor is also very high. If there is a long rainy day, the water volume of the Dadu River surges, and ships and cableways will be affected.
In this way, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot communicate with each other, and economic development will be hindered.
More importantly, if bridges are not built on the Dadu River, the Tibet region will not be fully grasped, which will have a significant impact on the court's rights.
So from an economic and political perspective, it is necessary to build bridges.
It was not until the Kangxi period that the court collected aid funds from more than a dozen provinces (about 40,000 taels of silver), and then the Luding Bridge was built on the Dadu River.
Since then, Luding Bridge has become the most important channel between Tibet and Sichuan.
After the Red Army started the Long March , they passed the hurdles and arrived at the Dadu River.
At this time, the Red Army faces a situation where there are pursuers behind and natural dangers in front of them. If we cannot cross the Dadu River in the shortest time, once the Kuomintang pursuers arrive, the Red Army will face the end of annihilation.
There are only two ways to cross the river, one is to take a boat and the other is to walk over Luding Bridge.
But it was the rainy season in May, the river was undulating and the Red Army did not have enough ships and time. If you want to cross the river, you can only choose the Luding Bridge road.
Red Army wanted to cross the river through Luding Bridge, and Chiang Kai-shek had already expected it. During the many battles with the Red Army, Chiang Kai-shek no longer dared to underestimate the Red Army. In order to make the Red Army's plan to cross the bridge bankrupt, Chiang Kai-shek thought of the most foolproof way: bomb the bridge.
But what he didn't expect was that just because of one of his subordinates, the plan failed in the end, and this person was Liu Wenhui.
2. Order the explosion of the bridge, Liu Wenhui was a warlord in Sichuan. He has been king in the Sichuan-Kang area for more than 20 years and has a loyal army of hundreds of thousands. In that chaotic era, such a huge strength was enough to live in a pampered place.
But what Chiang Kai-shek wanted was the entire Chinese regime, so he had to unite with local warlords and finally gain direct control over local forces.
So when Liu Wenhui was in the local emperor, Chiang Kai-shek sent the Kuomintang to infiltrate the Sichuan Army's territory, attempting to take the Sichuan Army back to the central government.
This behavior touched Liu Wenhui's interests, and there were more quarrels with Chiang Kai-shek. In addition, several battles with Liu Xiang (later King of Sichuan) injured his vitality, and Liu Wenhui could only turn his attention to Xikang (an old province of China).
former Xikang Province is bounded by Jinsha River , and the east and west sides are Sichuan and Tibet respectively. As the only link channel, only by protecting Luding Bridge can Liu Wenhui control the entire Xikang.
Once the Luding Bridge is blown up, the connection between Tibet and Sichuan will be interrupted. Not only will the territory be reduced, trade exchanges will be paralyzed.
More importantly, once the war with the Red Army ends, Chiang Kai-shek will throw Liu Wenhui aside. It is simply a delusion to expect Chiang Kai-shek to repair the Luding Bridge.
and Luding Bridge used more than 40 tons of iron in total. It was not easy for Chiang Kai-shek to repair it, let alone Liu Wenhui, who had been defeated by Liu Xiang.
In general, once the Luding Bridge is bombed, Liu Wenhui's retreat will be gone, and subsequent development will be a big problem.
So when Liu Wenhui received Chiang Kai-shek's order to bomb the bridge, he directly conveyed the order downward and asked his men to lead people to bomb the bridge. Although
did not say it clearly, everyone understood what Liu Wenhui meant and finally sent a squad to deal with the matter.
3. He bravely captured Luding Bridge, Chiang Kai-shek miscalculated
Seeing that the Red Army was about to arrive, Chiang Kai-shek asked about the situation of the explosion of the bridge many times. Liu Wenhui knew that there was no way to continue to delay, so he could only propose two solutions on the grounds of saving explosives:
1. First remove the wooden boards on Luding Bridge, so that as long as a machine gun is set up on the other side, the Red Army will not be able to cross the river.
2. If the wooden board is removed and it cannot be stopped, then pour oil on the chain and set fire to stop the Red Army from crossing the river.
After convinced Chiang Kai-shek, Liu Wenhui immediately ordered the wooden board to be removed, and the platoon responsible for blowing up the bridge was still the one who carried out the task.
But the Sichuan Army and the Red Army are not mortal enemies, especially after seeing that the Central Army had no choice but to deal with the Red Army, Liu Wenhui's men were also scared and carried out their mission in fear that the Red Army would suddenly attack.
When the Red Army arrived, Liu Wenhui's men had already withdrawn all the wooden boards, leaving only a few lonely iron locks on the Luding Bridge. The other end of the iron lock is the Kuomintang machine gun.
Faced with the predicament in front of him, the Red Army soldiers were not timid and walked towards the other end of Luding Bridge with wooden boards.
Although the machine gun caused great casualties to the Red Army, it did not exterminate the fighting spirit of the Red Army. As soon as it was about to reach the other side of the river, the Kuomintang fled in panic, and our army quickly passed the Dadu River and marched towards the next destination.
Originally, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use the Dadu River to trap the Red Army and achieve the goal of annihilation in one fell swoop. However, the Red Army was too strong in combat, and even if there were only a few iron chains, it could not dispel the Red Army's determination to cross the river.
After the founding of New China, many people have visited Luding Bridge to experience the sufferings of their ancestors in person. But when everyone saw the rapid flow of Dadu River and the shaking iron chains, they felt inexplicably powerless.
Even if there is no peaceful and prosperous era of pursuit, it is difficult to cross the Dadu River like our ancestors. When facing the test of life and death, the Red Army soldiers were able to successfully reach the other side of the river, which shows the courage and despair of the soldiers.
It is precisely because of such a firm belief that our party can win the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, and also show the prestige of New China during its many fight against foreign enemies.
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