In the previous section, we have already mentioned Xu Xiangqian’s strategy of encirclement and reinforcements. This is to lay siege to Mojiao Tower and suck out and reinforce the enemy. If we say that the results of this battle were not ideal because some military leaders advocated both siege and reinforcement, making the mistake of equally dividing the troops, then Xu Xiangqian’s point was Xu Xiangqian’s point in the four major battles against the Kuomintang troops in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base areas. The tactics of reinforcement warfare have been used to perfection.
In the autumn of 1931, Chiang Kai-shek was defeated in his third "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Central Soviet Area. He was still unwilling to accept defeat. On the one hand, he actively arranged a new attack on the Central Soviet Area, and on the other hand, he gathered heavy troops in the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui regions, with more than ten divisions added. to more than fifteen divisions. However, due to the September 18th Incident, which triggered a rising anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang wave across the country, the conflicts within the enemy intensified. In the Kuomintang army in the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui regions, since Ji Hongchang was forced to resign at the end of August, the relationship between the former Northwest Army and Chiang Kai-shek conflicts have also developed. For a time, Chiang Kai-shek was in trouble both internally and externally, so his deployment for the "encirclement and suppression" of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui base areas was delayed.
At this time, that is, in November 1931, the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was proclaimed in Qiliping, Huang'an. Xu Xiang was the commander-in-chief and Chen Changhao was the general political commissar.
After the establishment of the Front Army , it actively carried out external offensives in accordance with the guidelines set by the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Central Branch. In the eight months after November 1931, Xu Xiangqian led the commanders and fighters of the Red Fourth Front Army to fight four battles in a row.
The first battle was the battle of Huang'an. The tactics are: surround the point and call for reinforcements.
Huang'an County is the most prominent location of the enemy on the southern front close to the center of the base area. It is surrounded by the base area and guerrilla zones on all sides. The defending enemy is the 69th Division of the Kuomintang's miscellaneous army Zhao Guanying, whose combat effectiveness is not very strong. However, the division commander Zhao Guanying is a local snake in Hubei, treacherous and cunning. He built a large number of fortifications in the city of Huang'an, and the defense was relatively tight.
There are still four enemy divisions on the flanks and rear of Zhao Guanying's department to provide support. The Macheng to the east of Huang'an is garrisoned by the 31st Division; the Songbu to the southeast is garrisoned by the 30th Division; the Huangpi to the south is garrisoned by the 33rd Division; the Xiaogan to the southwest is garrisoned by the Fourth Division. The Fourteenth Division was stationed. The enemy's front-line troops in the southern part of the Red Army base are deployed in the shape of a "mountain".
Zhao Guanying's combat effectiveness is not strong, but the city defense is strong and there are reinforcements to support him. Obviously, it would be unfavorable to attack Huang An's enemies head-on.
Xu Xiangqian and the leaders of the front army decided to attack the enemy's "mountain" and adopt the tactics of "siege and reinforcements" to surround Huang'an, attract enemy reinforcements, and gather and annihilate them in the wild to crush the enemy's "encirclement and suppression" deployment on the southern front. In the first step of the
campaign, the 12th Division attacked the enemy's stronghold in the west of the city, and the 11th Division and the Huang'an Independent Regiment pulled out the Taohua and Gaoqiaohe strongholds in the south of the city, cleared Huang'an's peripheral strongholds, and cut off the enemy's access to Songbu and Huangpi. transportation lines.
On the night of October 11, various units of the Red Army set out from Qiliping and arrived at designated locations as planned, respectively launching attacks on enemy strongholds or preparing for reinforcements. After 10 days of fighting, the enemy's outer strongholds were removed and enemy reinforcements in Macheng, Huang'an and Songbu were annihilated. The first step of the campaign plan was successfully completed. The second step of the
campaign began, which was to tighten the encirclement and attract reinforcements to the enemy. Xu Xiangqian believes that the purpose of encirclement and calling for reinforcements is to focus on calling for reinforcements. This is a critical stage in the campaign.
Xu Xiangqian's specific deployment is: assign the Huang'an Independent Regiment to the 12th Division to tighten the encirclement of Huang'an's enemy defenders, and deploy the 11th Division and the Huangma Red Guards to the south of Huang'an and to the north of Songbu and Huangpi Three positions were built in the Xiaofeng Mountain, Wuyun Mountain, and Zhangshan areas in preparation for reinforcements, with the 30th Regiment as the general reserve team.
In order to restore the connection with Songbu and Qiting and change the situation of being surrounded, Huang'an's defenders organized successive attacks to the south, but were all counterattacked by the Red Army. In the two battles, the Red Army captured more than a thousand enemies. The enemy will be beaten as soon as they come out, and if they don't come out, they will be trapped in the city, which is a waste of time. When enemy planes came to drop food, they often dropped it on the Red Army's positions. The hungry enemies ran out to grab food, and were killed and wounded by the Red Army. Zhao Guanying was so anxious that he called for rescue frequently.
Sure enough, within 10 days of the siege by the Red Army, reinforcements came to the enemy.
One day, the Red Army received intelligence: Two brigades of Ge Zhenshan's 30th Division in Songbu attempted to reinforce northward via the Yongjia River.
The enemy was mobilized. Xu Xiangqian was very excited and immediately decided to use the troops of the 11th Division to lure the enemy deep into the enemy's main position. Before the enemy entered the main position, he would concentrate his forces to outflank and annihilate them from both wings.
On December 7, the 33rd Regiment of the 11th Division of the Red Army met the enemy at Xiaofeng Mountain. Once in contact, they withdrew to the second position in the Wuyun Mountain and Zhoujia'ao areas. After occupying Peach Blossom Shop, the enemy attacked Zhoujia'ao at dawn on the 8th. After the troops of the 11th Division killed and wounded the enemy, they withdrew to the third position in Zhangshan. Seeing that the Red Army was retreating steadily, the enemy advanced all the way. After entering the Zhangshan area, the main position of the Red Army, the 30th and 31st Red Regiments ambushing on both wings launched a fierce counterattack against the enemy, annihilating most of one enemy regiment and leaving the rest. The enemy fled back to Songbu overnight.
The enemy's first reinforcement failed.
Then, the enemy organized a second reinforcement. This time, the enemy used four brigades to reinforce Huang'an in two ways from the line between Songbu and Qiting. The enemy was coming fiercely and had many troops. Xu Xiangqian was determined to open his pocket wider and boldly let the enemy enter the third position - Zhangshan and Zhaishan areas. He concentrated the main force of the Red 11th Division, the Jute Red Guards and the general reserve force to implement the two-wing attack. Outflank, encircle and annihilate the enemy.
On December 19, two groups of enemies entered the Zhangshan area. On the 20th, under the cover of superior firepower, the enemy stormed the Red Army's Zhangshan position. The fifth company of the Red 31st Regiment was negligent in its defense. The enemy once broke through the forward position and forced into the command post of the Red 11th Division. If the enemy succeeds, the next step will directly endanger the security of the Red Army headquarters. Under this circumstance, Xu Qianqian, as the commander-in-chief, personally took the headquarters pistol battalion and rushed to the forward position. He mobilized the 35th Regiment of the 12th Division to cooperate with the 33rd Regiment to attack the enemy from Wangjiawan east of Zhangshan Mountain. The right wing encircled the enemy, and the 30th Regiment of the General Reserve detoured to the enemy's left. The 32nd Regiment cooperated with the 31st Regiment to violently counterattack the enemy from the front of Zhangshan.
This is a fierce battle. Up and down the mountain, the enemy and ourselves were fighting each other, and the sound of killing was loud. The surrounding people, Red Guards, and guerrillas also joined in the battle, and their shouts shook the valley. After half a day of bloody fighting, the Red Army successfully counterattacked and annihilated more than 2,000 enemies, turning the tide of the war.
The next morning, the Red Army troops divided into two groups, attacked the enemy, and pushed into Songbu, completely defeating the enemy's reinforcements.
After the enemy reinforcements were defeated, Zhao Guanying had no way to escape. He had no choice but to wait for death. Therefore, Xu Xiangqian decided to take the third step: attack Huang'an in general and eliminate the enemies at the point.
On the morning of December 22, the headquarters of the Fourth Red Army flew over Huang'an with a "Lenin" aircraft. The enemy thought they were airdropping supplies, so they ran out of the fortifications to grab things. The result was some propaganda and two big bombs. The 35th Regiment of the 12th Red Division took advantage of the enemy's chaos and captured Kezi Mountain in the north of the city. At night, the general attack began. The 35th Regiment first broke into the enemy's position from the northwest corner of the city. Seeing that the city had been broken, enemy commander Zhao Guanying organized a "death squad" and asked an entourage to dress up in his appearance and ride out on his big white horse. However, he himself disguised himself in a coat and took advantage of the darkness to sneak out from the west gate. slipped away. However, Zhao Guanying slipped out of the west gate and was taken prisoner as soon as he reached the river.
The Battle of Huang'an lasted 43 days, and more than 15,000 enemies were wiped out. In this battle, Xu Xiangqian successfully used the "encirclement point to attack and support" tactic, and for the first time achieved a major victory in capturing the enemy's stronghold defended by the entire division.
The second battle was the Battle of Shang (Cheng) and Huang (Sichuan).
In early 1932, when the people across the country launched an anti-Japanese upsurge to oppose the Japanese imperialist invasion of the three eastern provinces, the Kuomintang stepped up its attacks on the revolutionary base areas. In the Hubei, Henan, and Anhui regions, heavy enemy troops were concentrated in the southeastern part of Henan. Among them, Zeng Wanzhong's 12th Division is located in the Huangchuan area, and one part is located in Beiyagang on the Shanghuang Highway in the south of the city; Chiang Kai-shek's Tang Enbo's 2nd Division and Tang Yunshan's 33rd Independent Brigade are located in Beiyagang, southeast of Beiyagang. Fuliudian, Tofu Shop, and Wangjiaji are on the highway; Chen Yaohan The main force of the 58th Division is located in Shangcheng, and one part is located at Hefeng Bridge on Shanghuang Highway in the north of the city; Dai Minquan's 45th Division is located at The Gushi area is at odds with Shanghuang's enemy.The enemy's intention is to first control the Shang, Huang, and Gu areas at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, and use the Shanghuang Highway as the backbone to form an isolation zone through the area south of Shang City, the northeastern district of Macheng, and all the way to Macheng to separate Hubei and Henan. The two base areas of Bian and Wanxi are easy to defeat in the "encirclement and suppression" campaign.
Xu Xiangqian and the leaders of the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army decided to concentrate their forces to break through the Shang and Huang areas, seize the mall, and connect the east and west parts of the base area. The first step of the battle: "cut in half" the enemy's second division.
On January 19, the Red Army first launched an attack on the enemy in North Asia Port and wiped out one part of the enemy. Then, it occupied Tofu Shop, Jiangjiaji, Renheji, Hefengqiao and other places. The enemy's Second Division and the 33rd Independent Brigade fled in panic to Huangchuan. The Red Army completely controlled all the roads between Shang and Huangchuan, and at the same time cut off the connection between Shangcheng and Gushi, leaving the enemy's 58th Division in a state of isolation in Shangcheng. .
The mall has strong fortifications and concentrated troops, making it difficult to attack by force. Xu Xiangqian decided to "siege the city and fight for reinforcements", besieging the mall instead of attacking it, and waiting for opportunities to move near the Shanghuang Highway to annihilate the enemy who came for reinforcements.
Xu Xiangqian used a force to form a posture of encircling the mall. Before they could attack, enemy reinforcements arrived.
html On February 7, the Huangchuan enemy gathered 3 divisions and another brigade with a total of 19 regiments, and sent aid to the mall in separate ways. On the right are the 2nd Division and the 76th Division, advancing along Shanghuang Highway. On the left are the 12th Division and the 33rd Independent Brigade, heading south via Gaodian on Huanggu Avenue. Xu Xiangqian transferred the main force of his troops overnight to the high ground around Tofu Shop to seize positions and take charge of the frontal blockade. He also deployed the troops of three divisions to the left and right sides to take charge of outflanking the two flanks. html On February 8th, the battle started. The 12th Red Division, responsible for the frontal blocking mission, tenaciously withstood the enemy's attack. The 73rd Red Division, which was responsible for the detour mission, detoured towards the enemy from the east and wiped out one enemy regiment before being blocked by the enemy. The Red 10th and 11th Divisions successfully detoured from the left wing and surrounded the enemy headquarters of Tang Enbo's 2nd Division and Zeng Wanzhong's 12th Division, suddenly cutting off the enemy's retreat on the right.The enemies suddenly became confused and fled one after another. The Red Army took advantage of the situation and launched a fierce counterattack, chasing them to the vicinity of Huangchuan, wiping out more than 4,000 enemies and surrendering more than 2,000 guns. Tang Enbo 's second division was a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. This time it suffered an annihilating attack, and Tang Enbo was dismissed as a result.
After the enemy's reinforcements were defeated, the defenders of the mall were in panic. They abandoned the city overnight to break out of the siege and fled to Macheng. The Red Army then conquered the mall.
Shanghuang Battle was another important battle after the victory of Huang'an. In the second step of the battle, Xu Xiangqian correctly adopted the siege and reinforcement tactics, defeated Chiang Kai-shek's direct troops, and conquered the mall without a fight.
The third battle is the battle of Sujiabu. This battle achieved an unprecedented victory since the founding of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Red Army. The tactics are still the same: siege the city and fight for reinforcements.
After the Battle of Shanghuang, the Fourth Red Army stopped in the Gushi area and decided to march eastward to attack the enemy and expand its base eastward.
The enemy's deployment at this time is: the enemy Chen Tiaoyuan's department in western Anhui has deployed 12 regiments on the front line from Lu'an to Huoshan , with Sujiabu as the hub and forming a first-line defense along the east bank of Pihe River . At the same time, the enemy's second-line troops still have three divisions and two brigades, which are located in the areas of Hefei, Qianshan, and Bengbu, which are relatively far away from Lu'an and Huoshan. There is a huge gap between the enemy's first and second lines.
Faced with the above enemy situation, Xu Xiangqian's deployment was: the three main divisions of the Red Army would all cross the Pihe River eastward, encircle Hanfudu, Sujiabu, and Qingshandian between Lu'an and Huoshan from the side and rear, and attack Liu and Huo. The enemy comes to help.
On the evening of March 21, Xu Xiangqian led his troops to secretly cross the Pihe River. Immediately, the 73rd Division besieged Qingshandian, and the remaining troops radicalized northward. On the morning of the next day, the 10th Division marched to Yincaowa and encountered two enemy regiments from Sujiabu who sent to Qingshandian to aid. The Red Army immediately launched a fierce attack on the enemy, defeated the enemy, and took advantage of the victory to surround Sujiabu. The 11th Division continued to advance north, and with the cooperation of the Lu'an Independent Regiment, completed the siege of Han Ferry.
Within three days, Xu Xiangqian commanded the troops to complete the plan to divide and surround the enemies in Qingshandian, Sujiabu, and Han Ferry.
After completing the encirclement of the enemy, Xu Xiangqian was not in a hurry to attack.He believed that, first, the enemy strongholds were all well-built with strong fortifications, and our army's firepower was not strong, so a hard attack would cause heavy losses and would not be worthwhile. Especially in Sujiabu, the wall is two feet high and one foot and five feet thick. There are nine thirty-foot-high blockhouses built around the wall, which are condescending and have intensive firepower. The trench is one foot deep and thirty meters wide, with bamboo towers outside the trench. The walls and other defensive facilities are up to 70 to 80 meters wide. This place is a hard nail between Lu'an and Huoshan. It will be difficult for me to win by force. Second, and more importantly, the purpose of our army's encirclement is to bring reinforcements. There are not many enemy troops in Huoshan, so the possibility of dispatch is low; there are many enemies in Lu'an, which is my main direction to attract reinforcements and attack the enemy. Therefore, while Xu Xiangqian commanded the troops to continue encircling the point, he deployed a small number of troops south of Huoshan to monitor the enemies in the city, while the 31st and 32nd regiments of the Red 11th Division were deployed from Lu'an to Han Ferry. The Yangangtou and Fantong Bridge lines between , Sujiabu and Sujiabu occupied favorable terrain and built fortifications with the cooperation of local armed forces. Prepare to attack the enemy's reinforcements in the direction of Lu'an. The 29th Regiment of the 12th Division is the general reserve team.
On March 31, enemy reinforcements were indeed dispatched. In view of the critical situation, Yue Shengxuan, commander of the enemy's 46th Division, organized enemies from Lu'an and Huoshan to send reinforcements at the same time in an attempt to attack the Red Army from the north and south and rescue the besieged enemy forces. However, the enemy's wishful thinking failed.
Four enemy regiments dispatched from Lu'an, under the cover of aircraft, broke through the Red Army's Majia'an and Pingtougang positions, and their leading troops penetrated into the Liangshuijing and Guijiafen areas northeast of Sujiabu. Faced with the crisis, Xu Xiangqian immediately ordered the 10th Division that besieged Sujiabu to strictly blockade the enemy to prevent the enemy from breaking out. At the same time, he quickly ordered the 29th Regiment of the General Reserve Team to go into battle and fight with the 11th Division, which was responsible for blocking the rescue mission. Attacking from the east and west, the enemy regiments that fled into the Liangshuijing and Guijiafen areas were wiped out, and their regiment leader Chen Peigen was captured alive. One of the remaining enemies fled to Korea to ferry, and the other fled back to Liu'an in a hurry.
The enemy's Second Guard Brigade sent to the south by Huoshan was defeated by the 73rd Red Division in the Shilipu area. During the battle, the enemies in Qingshandian took advantage of the Red Army's 73rd Division's reinforcements and risked their lives to break out of the encirclement. Most of them were wiped out, and the rest fled into Sujiabu.
6. After Huo Yuan's enemy was hit by this blow, he was unable to provide any more reinforcements. The enemy defenders in Sujiabu and Hanfudu were besieged for a month. They were running out of ammunition and food. They were in great panic. More and more people surrendered with guns.
When besieging the enemy, something like this also happened: In order to save tens of thousands of residents in the stronghold from starving to death, the Red Army reached an agreement with the enemy and successively took out tens of thousands of hungry, crying men, women, and children. The political department of the Red Army Proper placement with local party committees demonstrated the noble revolutionary humanitarian spirit of the Red Army.
The enemy was already in danger. Yue Shengxuan, commander of the enemy's 46th Division, repeatedly called for help from Anhui Provincial Chairman Chen Tiaoyuan. Chen Tiaoyuan had to ask Chiang Kai-shek for help frequently.
html In late April, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Li Shiding, acting commander of the Seventh Division, as the commander-in-chief of the "communist suppression" campaign in western Anhui. He led five regiments of the Seventh Division, two regiments of the Twelfth Division, two regiments of the Fifty-seventh Division, and four regiments of the Fifty-fourth Division. Three regiments, together with two regiments of the First Guard Brigade, a total of 15 regiments with 20,000 people, received massive reinforcements from Hefei.With so many enemies coming, should we fight? Xu Xiangqian and the leaders of the front army believed that although the number of reinforcements to the enemy was large, the divisions from far away were tired and their morale was low. We were waiting for work and our morale was high, so it was possible to defeat the enemy's reinforcements.
Therefore, Xu Xiangqian and political commissar Chen Changhao decided to leave two regiments and, with the cooperation of local armed forces, continue to besiege Sujiabu and Han Ferry respectively. Concentrate the main force of the two divisions and rely on the favorable terrain at the Fandaoqiao and Qijiaqiao lines west of Lu'an to prepare for the enemy. The area is hilly and densely wooded. There is a steep tug-of-war across the north and south, which is a good battlefield for mobile annihilation of enemies. Immediately, the 73rd Division was deployed in the area east of Fantong Bridge to build fortifications to act as a frontal blocker; the main forces of the 10th and 11th Divisions were deployed on both wings of the 73rd Division, waiting for opportunities to outflank; a battalion of the 73rd Division and the Lu'an Independent Regiment were deployed To the east of the steep tug-of-war, they pretended to resist and lure the enemy deeper. On May 1, after luring the enemy troops into contact with the enemy, they retreated while fighting. The 19th Brigade, the main force of the enemy's 7th Division, followed the Red Army, crossed the steep tug-of-war, and stormed the position of the 73rd Red Division. After using the fortifications to inflict heavy damage to the enemy, the Red Army launched a fierce counterattack against the enemy, causing chaos among the enemy forces.Coincidentally, it rained heavily for several days and the river swelled. The enemy's 19th Brigade, which had been hit hard by the Red Army, retreated hastily. The enemy's follow-up troops who did not know the situation continued to surge forward. The enemy's troops and horses on both sides of the steep tug-of-war trampled on each other. The 73rd Red Division took advantage of the situation and charged in. Countless enemies were hit by bullets and fell into the water. Most of the 19th Brigade was wiped out.
The enemy's follow-up troops on the west bank of the river, seeing the defeat of the leading brigade, hurriedly seized the highlands of Laoniukou and Poshanling in an attempt to continue their stubborn resistance. At this time, the Red Army's left and right wings had completed the task of outflanking the enemy from behind and completely surrounded the enemy. Xu Xiangqian then issued a general attack order. The seven regiments of the Red Army, together with the guerrillas and the Red Guards, made multiple assaults. They violently penetrated, divided, and surrounded the enemy, and broke into the depths of the enemy. They destroyed the enemy's command system in one fell swoop and captured the enemy's commander-in-chief Li Shiding alive. . By 5 p.m., the battle was over and all more than 20,000 enemy troops were wiped out.
During the battle, the defenders of Sujiabu and Hanhuidu risked their lives several times to break through, but were blocked by the Red Army's siege troops. After the enemy's reinforcements were destroyed, the enemy in these two strongholds lost reinforcements outside and no food and ammunition inside. Under our military pressure and political offensive, they all surrendered. When the Sujiabu defenders surrendered their guns, a surrender ceremony was held, with guns arranged neatly in the main square; officers and soldiers lined up to greet the Red Army.
In this battle, which lasted 48 days, the Red Army wiped out more than 30,000 enemy people, captured more than 18,000 enemy officers and soldiers below the commander-in-chief Li Shiding, and seized more than 15,000 rifles, machine guns, 4,250 machine guns, 4 mountain cannons, and mortars. With 440 html doors, 5 radio stations, more than a thousand portable rifles, and countless military supplies, they liberated the vast area east of the Pihe River.
's victory is unprecedented.
In this battle, Xu Xiangqian further used the "encirclement and reinforcement" tactics to mobilize the enemy to eliminate it on the move. When besieging Sujiabu, the Red Army persisted for more than 40 days and finally mobilized a large number of enemies to come to the rescue. In the face of the superior enemy, Xu Xiangqian remained calm, commanded his troops to wait for work, and implemented powerful roundabout tactics, thus quickly annihilating all enemy reinforcements and forcing all trapped enemies to surrender.
After winning three consecutive battles, the Red Army took advantage of the victory and solved the fourth battle very easily.
During the Red Army's battle in the Sujiabu area, the enemy Zhang Fang's 20th Route Army stationed in Huangchuan, took advantage of the opportunity to invade south, occupied our Shuangliu Shu and Renhe Ji areas, built fortifications and prepared to continue to advance. After Xu Xiangqian returned to the mall and learned of the situation, he immediately decided to annihilate the enemies in Shuangliu Shu and Renhe Ji and regain the southern base areas of Huangchuan and Guangshan.
html On June 12, Xu Xiangqian first sent his division out of the south of Guangshan to contain Gao Ziju's newly formed 12th Division; and the 11th Division secretly inserted into the Putaji and Pengdian areas north of Guangshan and south of Huangchuan to cut off Huangchuan. Defend the enemy's contact with Shuangliu Shu and Renhe Ji, and prepare for reinforcements; use the 12th Division to attack Shuangliu Shu, and use the 73rd Division and the International Regiment of the Young Communist Party to attack Renhe Ji. Because the enemy's defense system was suddenly separated by me, the enemy surrounded by Shuangliu Shu and Renheji was isolated. In only 5 days, the battle ended successfully. In total, 8 regular enemy regiments and a reactionary militia regiment were wiped out, nearly 10,000 enemies were killed, injured, and captured, and more than 7,000 guns were surrendered.From November 1931 to mid-June 1932, Xu Xiangqian commanded four consecutive battles and achieved brilliant victories. In the four battles, a total of more than 60,000 enemy troops were wiped out, including nearly 40 regiments of regular regular troops that were wiped out. The enemy's third "encirclement and suppression" campaign against the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base areas was crushed before it even started. The Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base areas have been rapidly expanded. The main force of the Red Army has grown to two armies and six divisions. Four independent divisions and an international regiment of the Young Communist Party have also been formed. The local armed forces and Red Guards have also grown to more than 200,000 people, creating It marked the heyday of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base areas.
In the victory of the four battles, the correct use of tactics is very important, and can even play a decisive role in the victory of the battle. Among the four battles, the Huang'an, Shanghuang, and Sujiabu battles, the main tactics were "encirclement and reinforcements." Through this method of warfare, the goal of destroying a large number of enemies was achieved.
Why should we implement "encirclement and rescue"? Xu Xiangqian replied: It was forced by the situation. This is how he understood the problem in detail:
"We want to implement the policy of external offensive, but the troops are small and the equipment is poor. 'Beggars and Dragon Kings are competing for treasures', which is incomparable."We lack the enemy's superior equipment. Our equipment is very backward. We have no cannons and very little explosives. We have some hand grenades, most of which are homemade horsetail grenades . They have very little lethality and will not fall off even if they are thrown into a tree. The enemy has deep ditches and high fortifications, and they must be defended with strong defenses. The city walls of Huang'an, Shangcheng, and Sujiabu are both high and thick. They also have suspension bridges, moats, gates, gun towers, and battlements. They are as tightly guarded as iron barrels. generally. We lack the firearms to attack the city. Can we attack it? If we force the troops to climb the city, many people will die. If a hard attack doesn't work, then use your brain and think of a way. The way is to "encircle the point to bring reinforcements" and annihilate the enemy in the field. Although our army's equipment is poor and its siege power is insufficient, it is good at movement and field warfare. Therefore, relying on the base area, a small force was first used to surround the protruding and isolated enemy stronghold, and the enemy stronghold was surrounded for several days. The enemy's food and cooking supplies were exhausted, and emergency rescue was naturally called for. Estimating which direction the enemy's reinforcements would come from, our main force selected the battlefield in advance, took advantage of the favorable terrain, built fortifications, and waited for work. Reinforcements are coming, but they are moving in the wild. The foothold is not stable, which gives me the opportunity to annihilate them. After the reinforcements are eliminated, the defending enemy will be frightened and will be in chaos without fighting. Our army can take advantage of the situation to deal with the enemy at the point. Facts have proved that "encircling a point and calling for reinforcements" is an important tactic that maximizes one's strengths and avoids one's weaknesses. When used properly, it can achieve the effect of defeating the strong with the weak, and defeating the many with the few. "
