Xu Xiangqian is one of the PLA generals who is best at fighting, and he dares to fight hard, dangerous and big battles. Dare to fight dangerous battles is one of the characteristics of his commanding operations. There was a battle that, decades later, still made him sigh.
This was the battle with the Sichuan Army's Guo Rudong unit in the summer of 1930.
In the spring of 1930, the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Red Army was reorganized into the First Red Army, with Xu Xiangqian serving as deputy commander and commander of the First Division.
Not long after the First Red Army was established, their superiors ordered them to quickly launch local uprisings around Wuhan to cooperate with the "national general riot centered on Wuhan", cut off Pinghan Road to advance into Wuhan, and prepare to unite the Second Red Army and The Sixth Red Army attacks Wuhan. When Xu Xiangqian heard this, his mind became enlarged. Later he said:
"The appetite is indeed big enough! To realize this plan, to be honest, it is impossible to have only a few troops. And we are an army in name, but in fact we only have 2,000 people. To make a plan, Giving tasks without measuring actual possibilities is called subjectivism and adventurism. We went west to the Ping-Han Railway, but we didn't think about having that little strength to attack Wuhan. How to fight? If you can reach the outside, it will be great to get one or two thousand guns. Who dares to attack Wuhan!"
However, he had to obey the orders of his superiors. In June, Xu Xiangqian led the Red 1st Division to march westward to Pinghan Road for the tenth time. First, they attacked Yangjiaji Station and eliminated two companies of Guo Rudong's Sichuan Army. After the war, the First Red Army moved to Huangchaifan and incorporated more than 300 people from the Red Guards in the rear and dozens of captive soldiers into the Red Army, bringing the total number of the division to more than 1,200.
However, Xu Xiangqian destroyed Guo Rudong's two companies, which was like poking a hornet's nest.
htmlIn late June, Guo Rudong sent a regiment from Guangshui to Zhengjiadian south of Yangpingkou, and another regiment also entered Xiaohexi from Huayuan, in an attempt to find the First Red Division to fight and retaliate.
After receiving information from the Xiaogan County guerrillas, Xu Xiangqian decided to adopt the tactic of luring the enemy into an ambush to eliminate the Zhengjiadian enemies near Yangpingkou.
Although Yangpingkou is close to the Pinghan Line, it has a good mass base and the terrain is conducive to the Red Army's concealment and attack. This was the first time Xu Xiangqian commanded his troops to ambush an entire enemy regiment. At the division cadre meeting, Xu Xiangqian made combat deployment and announced:
"Leading cadres at all levels must obey orders and follow command, take the lead in charging into battle, and fight this battle well."
28 evening, the troops set off from Huangchaifan and passed through the middle of the night. Marched urgently and met with the Xiaogan County guerrillas near Yangpingkou. Xu Xiangqian concealed his main force in the mountains around Fujiawan and Xinzhai, north of Yangpingkou and on the east coast of the flood, and formed a pocket formation. Then, he sent the division's special agent brigade and the Xiaogan guerrilla unit to go to Zhengjiadian to attract the enemy.
The next morning, the enemy troops were lured to engage in firefight with the enemy in Zhengjiadian. The enemy discovered that it was a small force of the Red Army and rushed out in full force. The secret service brigade and the guerrillas retreated while fighting. The enemy pursued them hard and chased them hard, finally entering the Red Army ambush circle.
Around ten o'clock, Xu Xiangqian ordered: "Fight!" In an instant, the main force of the Red Army ambushing on the surrounding mountains swooped down and cut the enemy regiment into three pieces. The enemy troops were suddenly attacked, panicked, and unable to keep track of their head and tail. The vanguard battalion and the rearguard battalion were quickly annihilated by the Red Army. A battalion in the middle section, led by the enemy commander, seized the high ground east of Fujiawan. During the battle, Xu Xiangqian and Chief of Staff Liu Ying led their troops to charge forward separately, with cadres at all levels taking the lead. Soon, Xu Xiangqian led the Red Army to surround the enemy regiment commander. After several fierce attacks, shouting on the battlefield, and sending prisoners to persuade them to surrender, the enemy commander saw that there was no way out, so he ordered the troops to surrender.
This battle lasted four hours. More than 1,200 enemies were killed and captured, and more than a thousand guns were surrendered. It was the first major victory for the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Red Army to annihilate an entire enemy regiment since its establishment.
However, this battle was still very tense for Xu Xiangqian. Many years later, when he talked about this battle, he still said:
"We fought this ambush battle bit the bullet. Because of that The army had never fought such a big battle at that time, and I was not very sure. Cadres at all levels took the lead, so the battle went smoothly. 1,200 of us achieved victory by annihilating 1,200 enemies. "
History of the Communist Party of China. The book "Ten Marshals: The Little-Known History of the Ten Commanders of the People's Liberation Army" published by the publishing house describes the characteristics of Xu Xiangqian's war and his little-known personal character. This book truly records the legendary battles of the ten marshals and their life experiences in peacetime. The story is full of twists and turns, the text is vivid, and many historical materials are published for the first time. It is the company's annual bestseller and once ranked first on China's best-selling military books list.
