Guojiahe Battle: What is the explanation for the negative impact of the Red Army's victory?
In history, there are many heroes who died at an early age, and their contributions are often difficult to be known to the world. Their stories are often forgotten, and it becomes difficult to find accurate information.
Take Wu Huanxian as an example, he was the leader of the Jute Uprising and the soul of the Red 25th Army. Under his leadership, the Red 25th Army completed the Long March and reached northern Shaanxi. However, he died in August 1935, so many people only know Xu Haidong's historical position in the Red 25th Army.
This is not to blame Xu Haidong, but to feel sorry for Wu Huanxian. General Han Xianchu once said that the person he admired most in his life was Wu Huanxian. Wu Huanxian is also a talented person with both military and political excellence.
However, as good as he is, he has also made some mistakes. After the battle of Guojiahe in 1932, he made an over-the-top decision and became suspicious of the deputy army commander, division commander and regiment commander, which led to their later misfortunes.
In October 1932, after the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region suffered the fourth anti-"encirclement and suppression" defeat, the main force of the Red Army withdrew westward, leaving behind more than 20,000 soldiers. Although the number was large, in reality only two regiments of the 25th Division of the 75th Army of the Red Army and three regiments of the 9th Division of the 27th Army of the Red Army were actually combat-ready.
The remaining troops consisted of recruits and wounded and sick numbers, with different numbers and confusion in command. In contrast, fifteen divisions and a brigade with a total of 80 regiments were placed around the Soviet zone, and the situation was very serious.
Wu Huanxian initially tried to concentrate his forces to fight more and fight less, and pushed the enemy back all the way, so he gathered five main regiments to attack two regiments of the enemy's 89th Division in the Guangshan area, but suffered a defeat, ** hundreds.
This situation made the Red Army feel uneasy, and in order to solve the command problem, on November 29, 1932, a group of cadres who remained in the Soviet area held a meeting at Huang'an Tanshu Gang and decided to unify and reorganize all departments into the Red 25th Army.
The Red 25th Army was led by army commander Wu Huanxian and political commissar Wang Pingzhang, with two divisions under its jurisdiction and seven independent guerrilla divisions to cooperate with the main force.
Their morale is rising, and they hope for a chance to defeat the enemy. At this time, the enemy was also mobilizing. ** After the last victory, the 89th Division continued its offensive, capturing a number of towns and cities, forcing the Red Army in the region into the mountains to fight guerrillas.
Under these circumstances, Lao Chiang ordered the 89th Division to be transferred to "encircle and suppress" the Red First Army, while the 35th Division of Ma Hongkui's division took over the defense area. The 35th Division was transferred to Ningxia Province when Ma Hongkui went to Ningxia Province to assume the chairmanship, and now there are only more than 4,000 old, weak, sick and disabled left, which is relatively weak among the ** troops besieging the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region.
Therefore, Wu Huan first targeted the 35th Division.
In that war-torn era, the Red 25th Army's sphere of influence had been narrowed to the southern district of Guangshan and the Ziyun district of Huang'an. Guojiahe is an important stronghold in the southern district of Guangshan, and if it cannot be conquered, then the southern district of Guangshan will be lost sooner or later.
Therefore, Wu Huanxian was eager to capture Guojiahe. Two regiments of the enemy's 89th Division withdrew from Guojiahe, and the 205th and 207th regiments of the 35th Division came to take over.
After consulting with the two division commanders, Xu Haidong and Yao Jiafang, Wu Huan first decided to annihilate the enemy army while it was still unstable. On the evening of March 5, 1935, Wu Huan first arranged combat missions in the pheasant cage, Xu Haidong commanded the Red 74th Division and the Military Special Service Battalion to be responsible for the main attack, and Yao Jiafang commanded the Red 75th Division to occupy the commanding heights of Moyun Mountain northeast of Guojiahe to prevent the arrival of reinforcements.
In addition, there was a regiment as a general reserve, ready to respond. However, Wu Huanxian did not trust Yao Jiafang, so he did not hand over the main attack task to the Red 75th Division, but let the division's political commissar Gao Jingting monitor it.
This is the background to the tragedy that followed.
When Xu Haidong was reconnoitring in Guojiahe Township, he found that there were three roads leading to the outside world in the area, among which the northeast road was the fastest to withdraw to Xinji County, and the enemy was likely to choose this road to escape.
So he asked Huang Xunan to lead the 220th Regiment and the special battalion of the military headquarters to ambush in the northeast, and the 222nd Regiment to feint to attack the southwest under the leadership of Cheng Qibo. In the early morning of March 6, the 222nd Regiment launched an attack near Yangren Rock, quickly captured the high ground, and then launched an offensive on the front, taking the enemy by surprise.
The enemy thought that the main force of the Red Army was coming from the southwest, so they retreated to the northeast, which was exactly what Xu Haidong wanted. The 220th Regiment and the Special Service Battalion of the Army, which were ambushed in the northeast, suddenly appeared and killed Li Hanyuan, the commander of the 104th Regiment of the 207th Brigade.
A fierce battle attracted the independent regiment and the guard battalion near Guojiahe, who volunteered to cooperate with the main force of the Red 25th Army, and happened to encounter the remnants of the enemy fleeing to the northwest.
Almost all of the remnants were disarmed, and only a few fled back to the county seat of Xinji. The battle lasted only a few hours, but the results of the Red Army were remarkable. Li Hanyuan, commander of the enemy's 207th Regiment, and more than 100 of his subordinates were killed, and more than 2,000 were taken prisoner.
The Red Army captured a large amount of booty, including one mountain cannon, eight mortars, 12 machine guns, more than 2,000 long and short guns of various types, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition, which solved the urgent need of the Red Army for the shortage of guns and ammunition.
The Red 25th Army itself suffered only seven casualties and more than thirty wounded, and the exchange ratio of this battle was exciting. However, there are also two sides to victory, and it can have a completely different effect.
The battle of Guojiahe was an important victory achieved by the Red 25th Army since its establishment, which successfully deterred the enemy army and made the first army dare not challenge for a period of time. After the war, the Red 25th Army took the opportunity to expand the size of the army and improve its overall strength.
The great victory in this battle boosted the morale of the troops, and the young and middle-aged people in the surrounding areas also joined the Red Army one after another, improving the combat effectiveness of the troops. However, this victory also brought some changes to Wu Huanxian, and he began to underestimate the enemy, believing that the other ** combat effectiveness was weaker, which led to the later suffering.
After the enemy's 35th Division was driven away, Wu Huan first thought that the situation was stable, but then began to have internal suspicions, which led to the misfortune of some cadres of the Red 25th Army such as Liao Rongkun, Yao Jiafang, Cheng Qibo and others.
In good times, many people are easy to get carried away, and only after the baptism of setbacks can they really calm down. Just as the Red 25th Army experienced many defeats, Wu Huan began to adjust its strategy first.