On December 27, 1930, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army began its first anti-encirclement war. This long march was an extremely difficult test for the Red Army soldiers who participated in it. Many people wonder why the mortality rate in cooking classes is so high. In the primary school Chinese textbook "The Golden Fishhook", it tells the story of an old squad leader of a cooking class who finally died of starvation while crossing the grass in order to protect the young soldiers. However, everyone knows that "three years of drought can't starve the cook", so why did the old squad leader of the cooking class die?During the Red Army's Long March, the soldiers of the cooking squad had to endure more hardships than ordinary officers and soldiers. Throughout the Long March, the mortality rate of soldiers in the cooking squad was the highest. So, what exactly causes this phenomenon?In fact, the ordinary infantry of the Red Army was already under extreme pressure.
During the Long March, each ordinary soldier needed to carry rifles, bullets, grenades, and basic baggage, with an average weight of thirty or forty pounds per person, and often walked forty or fifty kilometers of mountain roads a day. This arduous long march is not an accident in the details, but a whole year of continuous progress. For people who are in slightly worse physical condition, this is almost unimaginable torture. When the Red Army left the southern Jiangxi Soviet region, there were more than 80,000 combat troops, as well as more than 10,000 porters and people, and the total strength reached 100,000. However, by the time the Long March ended and arrived at Wuqi Town in northern Shaanxi, there were only seven or eight thousand people left in the Red 13th Army of the Red Army. Even if you add the Red Fifth Army and the Red Ninth Army that were pulled away by Zhang Guotao at that time, the total strength of the Red Army is only more than 10,000 people. From 100,000 to more than 10,000 people, the loss is more than 80%, such a rate is really shocking.
If it is said that ordinary soldiers with a weight of thirty or forty pounds have already fallen behind a large number of ** and left behind, then the situation in the cooking class is even more tragic. Not only did the soldiers in the cooking squad have to bear the same hardship as the infantry, but they also had to bear heavier cooking utensils and food, and they had less time to rest. In addition, officers and soldiers in cooking squads are usually in poor physical condition. Therefore, their ** situation is much more serious than that of ordinary soldiers. As a result, the soldiers in the cooking class during the Long March were subjected to greater loads, less rest time, and worse physical condition, and these factors led to their ** rate being much higher than that of ordinary soldiers. In this history, the cooking squad soldiers were probably the group of people who suffered the most. Just a marching iron pot weighs more than ten to twenty catties, and the rice noodles are also quite heavy.
Ordinary soldiers only need to carry backpacks, while cooking classes need to carry burdens, and the weight of each person is as little as forty or fifty catties and as many as seventy or eighty catties. Because of the excessive load, the physical exertion of the cooking squad is much greater than that of the infantry, and the physical burden is heavier, so the mortality rate is naturally higher. In addition, there are fewer breaks in the cooking class. Many people mistakenly believe that the infantry fights all day and shoots, but in fact this is not the case at all. Even in combat units, soldiers can participate in two or three battles a month is considered high-intensity, while ordinary infantry spends most of their time marching or resting. Take the Red Army during the Long March, for example, they spent most of their time on the march, not in battle. And the cooking class, although it is not required to participate in the battle, is more difficult in terms of marching. Every day before the infantry departed, the cooking squad had to get up early and start the march before the infantry departed.
After a certain journey, the cooking class has to stop to make a fire to cook. Usually as soon as the meal is prepared, the infantry arrives. The infantry hurriedly finished breakfast and continued to march so as not to delay the military operation. The cooking squad needed to quickly clean up, eat a few bites in a hurry, and then catch up with the infantry marching ranks. The Red Army, like the peasants of the ** period, ate only breakfast and dinner a day, and had no lunch. The same goes for dinner, the cooking squad needs to march to the infantry in advance, prepare a meal and wait for the troops to arrive. After the troops rested at night, the cooking squad had to pack up and clean up. In other words, the cooking squad gets up earlier than the infantry and sleeps later than the infantry. What's more, the infantry units would have several breaks of varying lengths during the daytime march, and in order to prepare dinner before the infantry, the cooking class could not rest and had to march as soon as possible.
Although the cooking class did not need to participate in the battle, it was more difficult on the march. In the days of the Red Army, young and strong soldiers were usually incorporated into combat units, and those who were too old or too young were incorporated into cooking classes. They were placed in the cooking class because they were not old enough to participate in combat. As depicted in "The Golden Fishhook", the old squad leader of the cooking class is close to 40 years old, while the younger soldiers are only in their teens, they are of different ages and have relatively poor physical strength. During the Long March, the cooking class faced the highest sacrifice rate because they were weaker in strength and carried more burdens. Even if they were able to make it to the northern Shaanxi Soviet region, their bodies often collapsed and they suffered from a variety of chronic diseases. The story of "Nine Cooks, One Marching Pot" became a famous part of the Red Army's Long March.
In it, Sasha recalled: "During the Long March, I served as a division chief in a company of the Third Army Corps, and our company had only nine cooks. At that time, we marched and fought every day, and in order to reduce the burden on the cooks, the superiors stipulated that each person was only allowed to carry forty catties, but they all set up an ambush and put grain in copper pots, and each person picked sixty or seventy catties of weight. At the party group meeting, they also made a suggestion to me that I only knew how to take care of the cooks, but not enough about the soldiers. What will happen to the troops if there is a shortage of food at the front?They all made these comments out of concern for the fighters, and I have nothing to say but let them pick more. However, the work of the cooking class is the hardest. When they rested, they had to boil water for the commanders and fighters to drinkWhen camping, they had to set up pots, chop firewood, wash vegetables, and cook rice, and could only sleep for two or three hours a night.
After the troops entered Guangxi, the mountainous areas were sparsely populated, and food became more difficult, which made the task of the cooking class even more arduous. They often had to trek several hills to the forefront of the army to buy millet. However, millet needs to be peeled before it can be eaten. Once, they found a small stone mill, and the squad leader was afraid that he would not be able to find the stone mill in the future, so he spent money to buy it from local residents. "During the Long March, the work of the cooks was extremely difficult. Not only do they have to carry heavy copper pots and other kitchen utensils on their backs, but they also have to take on the responsibility of cooking. After one of the cooks fell, another quickly picked up his copper pot and continued to cook for the warriors. However, he couldn't take a few steps and fell to the ground. In a short period of time, the two comrades died one after another, which was a heavy blow to the whole company. When the troops arrived in northern Shaanxi, the copper pot was on my shoulder.
The company commander bowed his head, and the soldiers were in tears, but I was already dry. Although all nine members of the cooking squad died, our company did not lose a single person due to starvation in the most arduous long march. The copper pot became a symbol of the martyrs and is still treasured in our company. War kills one person with sorrow, but when it kills millions, it's just cold statistics. It is a profound reflection on the brutal realities of war.