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In July 1934, in the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression", the main force of the Red Army went north, and Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi lost contact, and they entered the most difficult period.
The Red 16th Division fell into a state of isolation and helplessness, and Lao Chiang seized this opportunity and ordered that the base area and the Red Army must be completely cleared within three months.
The enemy insisted on encircling and intercepting, and because it was outnumbered, the Red 16th Division suffered heavy losses, and it almost reached the point of withdrawing its establishment.
In such a situation, there is a person who stands up, and his name is Chen Shouchang.
Five months ago, he was elected as the first executive member, and then he resolutely served as the political commissar of the Red 16th Division, restored the establishment, and expanded the number of nearly 2,000 people.
However, such a young talent left the party and comrades prematurely.
What happened to him, and what else did he do before he died?
Take on the big responsibility
In July 1933, just two months before Lao Chiang launched the fifth "encirclement and suppression", Chen Shouchang was appointed secretary of the provincial party committee of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi.
In addition, ** also asked him to partner with Comrade Xu Yangang to serve as the political commissar and commander of the local military region respectively.
Their arrival immediately restored order to the locality, and then they plunged the military and civilians of the Soviet area into the intense struggle against "encirclement and suppression."
In February 1934, Comrade Chen was elected as a member of the executive committee, and at that time, the enemy was in hot pursuit, with the intention of driving them all out.
At this time, he took the initiative to take on the heavy responsibility and led everyone to break out of the encirclement and escape the pursuit of the enemy.
Soon, they moved to the vicinity of the secluded residence and ancestral village, and only stayed for about 1 month, when the enemy attacked again, and they had to find another place.
To add insult to injury, while looking for a new place to rest, Gao Yongsheng, the commander of the Red 16th Division, died heroically while covering the breakout.
The troops suffered heavy losses, more than 1,000 people were lost, and only one battalion remained after the entire unit, which was on the verge of being withdrawn.
But he did not give up, but persisted in his activities, and he firmly believed that as long as there were fighters who persevered in the struggle, they would never fail here.
However, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi region lost contact with **, and next, they could only rely on themselves.
Since the station had already been damaged by the enemy and could not be repaired for the time being, they did not know that the Red Army had already begun to transfer.
Therefore, they had to continue the struggle on the ground and hold their positions on the outskirts of the Soviet zone.
At that time, if you want to know the situation of **, you can only go through the newspapers of the authorities and watch **the pursuit**, and then you can roughly determine the situation of the main force of the Red Army.
Just when Comrade Chen was leading everyone to open up new Soviet areas and restore the armament of the Red 16th Division, the enemy became more and more arrogant, shouting slogans such as "cutting down the grass and eradicating the roots" and "digging three feet into the ground."
Soon they moved to southeastern Hubei and northwestern Jiangxi, and on the mountains of more than 1,600 meters, they established guerrilla units, maneuvered with the enemy, and pinned down the enemy troops.
Although they did not know the situation of the main force of the Red Army, they successfully cooperated with ** and alleviated the difficulties of their long march north.
In early November 1934, after a long journey, he, together with Xu Yangang, the commander of the Red 16th Division, and another political commissar, Fu Qiutao, found the authorities' newspaper.
Only then did they know that the main force of the Red Army had moved westward towards Hunan, and after receiving this precious news, they were determined to continue to cooperate with the main force in their activities, contain the enemy, and protect the fruits of victory.
Comrade Chen, like everyone else, has not had enough to eat for a long time, and can only live on wild vegetables, and after a long time, he is prone to malnutrition and his feet are swollen.
Even so, he insisted on going to the front line to command the troops to fight, and during that time, he took the Red 16th Division and operated in places from Chongyang to Linxiang.
While fighting the enemy, they moved southwest to deal with the enemy.
On November 8 of that year, they shifted their positions to the Tiger Cave in Gaoshi Township, which is the junction of Chongyang and Tongcheng.
There, they were besieged by two regiments of the **33rd Division, as well as local recalcitrant militias.
Faced with this situation, three days later, Comrade Chen and his team held a meeting overnight to analyze the tactics and tactics of the enemy, and on November 11, 1934, the battle began.
The battle lasted two days and two nights, and all the officers and men of the Red 16th Division withstood a total of seven enemy attacks.
On November 21, 1934, just when the enemy was returning and preparing for the 8th attack, Comrade Chen ordered Division Commander Xu to immediately lead the team to evacuate, and he took a small group of soldiers to cover.
Senior Commander Xu categorically did not expect that this would be the last time he and Political Commissar Chen would meet.
During the battle, he kept rushing to the front, igniting everyone's fighting spirit, and just as he was standing in the front line and observing the enemy, a bullet hit his right leg artery.
In an instant, his leg was bleeding nonstop, and Division Commander Xu who organized a retreat on the side was also shot and wounded.
In the face of more than 4,000 enemies, their more than 1,000 fighters were difficult to resist and attrition, and in the end, they had no choice but to withdraw from their positions.
The enemy kept an eye on Comrade Chen, and in order to confuse the enemy's vision, they put Comrade Chen's glasses on a comrade who had just died.
Subsequently, they were buried on the spot and loudly advertised that Commissar Chen had died.
When the enemy saw that their great distress had been removed, and that there were not many remnants left, they hastily gathered their troops and left.
Although the soldiers had done their best to treat Comrade Chen, due to the poor medical conditions at that time, his injuries deteriorated rapidly, and he died that night at the age of 28.
Comrade Chen Shouchang died young, but he made great contributions in the early days of the revolution, often completing tasks that took more time.
So, what activities was he involved in in the early days of the revolution?
Runaway Revolution
In 1930, Comrade Chen Shouchang worked under the leadership of *** and served as the chief of the 4th Section of the Special Branch.
Before that, he worked in the Special Section 2, which is known as the heart of the Communist Party of China.
Before he joined the party, when he was 14 years old, he refused a bank job arranged by his family and asked to join the army, and ran away from home for this reason.
However, he was recovered by his family on the same day, after which he followed his father to Anqing, where he learned telegraph technology.
And this also played a huge role in his later intelligence work in the party organization.
After 27, he expressed solidarity with the workers in Canton, revealing the telegrams exchanged between the authorities and the warlords to the strike command.
After his identity was revealed, he left Zhengzhou and joined the party organization in 1924, when he was only 18 years old.
Subsequently, he took part in more workers' movements and demonstrations, and together with his comrades, he forced the British to return the British concession to Hankow.
The experience of this period has demonstrated his ability to mobilize the masses and fight together with them.
With the defeat of the Revolution, he evaded the enemy's pursuit and arrived in Shanghai to start a new job.
At first, he worked for his uncle's electrical company, and under this cover, he continued to act, and worked as a secretary of the agency, responsible for English translation.
In November 1927, under the leadership of ***, he went to the nascent Turko, where he began an even more difficult struggle, and went to the Soviet Union to learn advanced ideas.
After returning from his studies, he immediately received the Special 4 subject, which was the most difficult time for him when he took over.
On December 17, 1930, their secret radio training class was discovered by the enemy, 12 comrades were captured, and the original section chief was organized and protected and temporarily stopped working.
He was originally engaged in the profession of electrician, so in the special 4th department, like a fish in water, he also established a special red radio station such as the radio to teach everyone the skills of deciphering the code.
His arrival changed the situation of backward information transmission within the organization, and at the same time, they could finally listen to the enemy's situation in time to make new decisions.
During that time, together with his comrades, he struggled on the invisible front, and in order to protect the radio, he disguised himself as a radio boss and had to move every six months.
Because of his excellent work ability, he is also known as one of the "three Chens" under the leadership of ***, and the other "two Chens" are Chen Geng and Chen Yangshan.
During his time at Tec, he lived a frugal life, often wearing a gray kaftan and a pair of glasses.
This kind of dressing up, firstly, disguised as a teacher, and secondly, also saves the party's funds.
He was very frugal in life, never smoked or drank, worked hard and simple, and in 1929 he married Ms. Hu Youdi for three years, and never bought new clothes.
During the defeat of the Revolution, the organization had financial difficulties, and the couple even sold their dowry jewelry as activity funds.
In terms of food and transportation, he is also reluctant to spend money, often a large bread is enough, except for urgent matters, he generally walks, never takes a car.
Even in those difficult times, he maintained an optimistic and positive attitude.
He once told his wife that it was okay for the young people of their generation to endure some hardships, and that the future would be fine, and that the good days were coming, and he firmly believed that his children would definitely see a bright future.
This is also why, during the period of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, he was able to lead his comrades to work hard and bring the Red 16th Division back to life.
In the process of establishing the new Soviet area, he also put in a lot of effort, at that time, how did he expand the popularity of nearly 2,000 people in a month and a half?
Perhaps, this has something to do with the way he communicates and gets along with the masses.
Ambition is unpaid
In April 1934, Comrade Chen Shouchang struggled in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, and under extremely difficult circumstances, he still expanded his popularity to nearly 2,000 people in a month and a half.
How did he do it, and how did people miss him after him?
In a difficult environment, Comrade Chen attached great importance to standing with the masses, and he often filled his stomach with grass roots and tree bark.
He must not have enough to eat, so he was often so hungry that he vomited yellow water, and his legs were swollen.
Deng Hong, the director of the Security Bureau beside him, couldn't stand it anymore, so he used the money he had saved from repairing clocks and watches to buy a bowl of noodles for him to eat.
As a result, Comrade Chen resolutely refused to eat it, and said that the bowl of noodles should be given to the wounded.
The local people respected him very much, and when they left, they often came to bring wild vegetables to them.
Comrade Chen insisted on paying them and thanked them all the time.
In the face of the enemy's pursuit, he is not afraid at all, he can always find a suitable place to take everyone to avoid danger.
For example, in the Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi periods, one day, he hid in a ditch under the bridge for more than an hour, regardless of the ditch soaking his clothes and shoes.
Sometimes, in order to avoid a sneak attack by the enemy, he would change places to rest every day, and even within a day, he would change places to rest.
It was his early revolutionary experience that made him know that the enemy was very cunning, and that they would do whatever it took to capture and kill their comrades.
As a comrade who leads everyone, he should be more careful about his own safety, so that he can better lead everyone out of the predicament.
He was shrewd, optimistic, and actively went among the masses to practice all kinds of theories, and it was precisely in this way that he was able to expand the popularity of so many masses in such a short period of time.
On the evening of the second day after his death, the commanders and fighters of the 16th Red Division and the special commission of southeastern Hubei held a memorial service for him and all the comrades who died in the battle.
At the meeting, everyone couldn't cry, Comrade Chen Shouchang is an excellent secretary of the provincial party committee.
He worked conscientiously and had a high prestige in the Soviet districts, and his sacrifice was a loss to the Soviet districts, as well as to the party and the people.
After the meeting, everyone put him and other martyrs into the coffins they bought with pooled money, and these silent soldiers were buried in Jintang Town, Chongyang County.
In the first battle of Tiger Cave, there were heavy losses, more than 400 officers and soldiers, and Xu Yan, the commander of the Red 16th Division, was also wounded.
Together with more than 100 comrades, he went to the base area of **cave**, and the remaining 700 people went to Jintang to rest.
At the beginning of 1935, Comrade Xu Yangang was discharged from the hospital and returned to the army, and at that time, a steady stream of new recruits entered their unit to increase the number of troops.
And this is the effort made by Comrade Chen during his lifetime, and his efforts still have a long-term impact after his death.
Knowing that in April 1935, the Red 16th Division had more than 2,500 people, and this team was miraculously reborn.
Subsequently, under the leadership of Division Commander Xu, the soldiers fought bravely to kill the enemy and knocked out a reinforced company, a reinforced battalion, and two regiments of the **105th Division, the original Northeast Army.
Looking up to this battle, they won three battles and three victories.
In order to commemorate Comrade Chen, who had led them, with the consent of the Special Committee of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi Districts, they built a Soviet district county, and the county government was set up in Jintang, and this county was called Chen Shouchang County.
However, due to the changes in the current situation and the needs of the revolution, the establishment of this county was not long, but it brought together more than 3,000 people.
It is very rare to be under such conditions, and if Comrade Chen knows about it, he will be very gratified.
Once, his brother was active in ***, but he died prematurely due to overwork.
And the father was worried that his youngest son would also leave him, so he renamed him "Chen Shouchang".
Although Comrade Chen Shouchang did not live as long as his father expected, his spirit and deeds will always be remembered by the people, and he lives in the hearts of the people.