The Nanchang Uprising a hundred years ago was of great significance to our country, as it marked the beginning of the process of the Communist Party of China independently leading the armed struggle and opened the prelude to the creation of a revolutionary army.
However, if we go back to 1924, we will find that the origins of the revolutionary contingent led by our party are even more profound. That year, at the suggestion of Mr. ***, preparations were made to create an ironclad fleet whose main task was to protect the Generalissimo's Mansion and the safety of the railway, and Zhou Gong was in charge of this preparatory work.
The main responsible persons of the contingent were all transferred from the Whampoa Military Academy by Zhou Gong, and it is worth mentioning that they are all members of our party. Subsequently, the ironclad convoy was formally established and became the first revolutionary force under the direct leadership of our party.
There are two captains before and after the team, one is Xu Chengzhang, who was an old party member in 1923, and was transferred to serve as the head coach of the striking workers' pickets during the general strike in Hong Kong and Province, and the position of captain was held by Zhou Shidi, the deputy captain.
In the wave of the National Revolution, Chen Yannian and Zhou Gong deeply realized the importance of mastering the revolutionary army. At the end of 1925, under the planning of Zhou Gong, the ironclad convoy was incorporated into Ye Ting's independent regiment as a backbone force, and Zhou Shidi served as the chief of staff of the independent regiment and the commander of the first battalion, becoming Ye Ting's right-hand man.
With the beginning of the Northern Expedition, Ye Ting's Independent Regiment took the lead as the advance team, and the first battalion led by Zhou Shidi walked at the forefront of the team, so it was praised by everyone as the "pioneer of the Northern Expedition".
In the Battle of Hesheng Bridge, in the face of the enemy defending on three sides, Zhou Shidi accurately grasped the fighter plane, and personally led more than 1,000 officers and soldiers of the independent regiment armed with bayonets to rush to the enemy camp, fought desperately with the enemy, and finally captured Hesheng Bridge, opening the last threshold to Wuhan.
In the Battle of Wuchang, he took the lead in writing a suicide note, and after the general attack was launched, he commanded the troops to erect a cloud ladder, and made a breakthrough in Tongxiangmen and attacked Nanchang City.
With the influx of a large number of Northern Expeditionary Army, the defenders in the city finally collapsed and all surrendered. Zhou Shidi's feat - "In ancient times, there were coffins carried out of the city, and now there are books to attack the city" - with the good news spread throughout Wuchang City.
After the victory of the Northern Expedition, the National Revolutionary Army carried out a huge expansion, and the head of the regiment Ye Ting was successfully promoted to the deputy commander of the 25th Division, and under the recommendation of Ye Ting, Zhou Shidi took over as the commander of the regiment.
However, no one expected that just a few months later, the revolutionary situation would undergo earth-shaking changes, and Lao Chiang and Wang Jingwei would launch counter-revolutionary coups in Shanghai and Wuhan successively.
Although Zhang Fakui, commander-in-chief of the front army, has no ** tendency for the time being, no one knows whether he will change in the future. One day at the end of July, division commander Li Hansoul specially talked to him, "Commander-in-Chief Zhang Fakui admires you very much, wants to reuse you, and hopes that you will follow him and stop following the Communist Party."
Zhou Shidi, who was unmoved by this, only vaguely responded to a few words, but deep down he felt that something big was about to happen. Sure enough, in the early morning of August 1, the higher-level party organization arranged for *** to come to the 73rd Regiment to tell Zhou Shidi the news of the Nanchang uprising and guide the uprising of the 25th Division.
After deliberation, they decided to take the team away in the name of field training during their lunch break. In the end, those who followed Zhou Shidi to Nanchang to participate in the uprising were the 73rd Regiment, the 75th Regiment and most of the 74th Regiment.
On the way, they repelled the blocking forces of Zhang Fakui and Li Hansoul, and arrived in Nanchang the next day, becoming an important part of the rebel army. After the reorganization of their troops, they still use the number of the 25th Division, Zhou Shidi served as the division commander, at this time ** was the political instructor of the 73rd Regiment, Lin Shuai was the company commander, Xu Guangda was the platoon commander, and Su Yu was the squad leader, it can be said that Zhou Shidi's status was higher than that of the marshal at this time.
Despite its large numbers, the Nanchang rebel army's march to the south did not go well, and the situation was exacerbated by non-combat injuries and the defection of the 10th Division. After the rebel army divided its forces, the 25th Division bravely resisted at Sanheba, but the main force southward also suffered heavy losses in the battle of Tangkeng.
At this time, in fact, the Nanchang uprising had failed. In late October, Zhou Shidi was instructed by Mr. Zhu to go to Hong Kong to find the party organization, report on the situation of the rebel army, and ask for instructions on the next step.
After arriving in Hong Kong, he overcame difficulties to find Li Lisan. However, while waiting for a reply from his superiors, he unfortunately contracted malaria, and due to the lack of money for medical treatment, the delay in receiving instructions from his superiors, and the dire situation in Hong Kong caused by the Canton Uprising, he finally decided to go to Nanyang to join his brother Chow Shi Jue, who was working in Malaysia.
There, he recuperated for half a year before he fully recovered. Later, after Zhou Shidi returned to China, although he lost contact with the party organization, he always insisted on the anti-Chiang struggle, and even went to prison for a time, but fortunately he was released after Song Qingling's rescue.
It was not until February 1934 that he returned to the **Soviet district and served as a military instructor at the Red Army University. After an organizational review, it was concluded that "Comrade Zhou Shidi's party age has been counted consecutively since 1924," thus affirming his revolutionary activities outside the Party in recent years.
Zhou Shidi later participated in the Long March and experienced the test of life and death. In 1935, the Red Army walked out of the grassland and prepared to march along the Bailong River to Lazikou, which had to pass through the plank road erected against the rock wall.
However, the plank road has fallen into disrepair and has long been dilapidated. After the sappers rushed to repair, Zhou Shidi still personally led the mule to explore the way. Unexpectedly, the mule broke through the plank road and fell into the river, and also dragged Zhou Shidi, who was holding the rope, down.
Everyone thought that Zhou Shidi sacrificed this time, but they didn't expect him to have a big life, and he was washed out of the river for several miles and successfully went ashore. This is also thanks to the good water nature he has cultivated since he was a child, and in the end he hurried to meet the large army.
Zhou Shidi, as the chief of staff of the Red Second Front Army after the victory of the Long March, partnered with Mr. He for many years, but in 1944, due to serious lung disease, he had to go to the rear to accept **.
After two years of recuperation, he finally returned to work in 1946. After the establishment of the North China Military Region in 1948, he served as the deputy commander and deputy political commissar of the First Corps
After the victory of the three major battles, the whole army was reorganized, and he served as the commander of the 18th Corps. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the commander of the Air Defense Force, and as the leader of the arms, he had a very high status.
However, in 1955, he was awarded the title of general, and Xu Guangda, who served as the commander of the armored corps, was awarded the rank of general as a representative of the Red Second Army.