The Great Victory of Longgang: The First Anti-"Encirclement and Suppression" Battle of the Central Soviet Area

The main battlefield of the first counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet area is located in Longgang, Yongfeng County, Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province. The victory of Longgang and the capture of Zhang Huizan, commander of the 18th enemy Division, shocked China and foreign countries.
　　The army pressed the border and lured the enemy deep.
In early October 1930, the Central Plains War ended with Chiang Kai-shek's victory, which marked the end of the warlord melee. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was able to free up his hands to deal with the Soviet areas and the Red Army throughout the country, and made the Red Army of Zhu Mao the focus of his "encirclement and suppression" campaign. Chiang Kai-shek appointed Lu Diping, chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Government, as the commander-in-chief of the "encirclement and suppression" and the commander-in-chief of the army, navy and air force, the director of the Nanchang camp, and unified command of the enemy troops entering Jiangxi. At the beginning of November, Lu Diping formed three columns with a total of 100,000 people from seven divisions and one brigade: the first column commander Zhang Huizan, who commanded the 18th, 24th and new 13th divisions, located in Zhangshu and Fengcheng. Tan Daoyuan, commander of the second column, commanded the 50th division and the independent 14th brigade, located in Nanchang and Jingan. Luo Lin, commander of the third column, command the 77th Division, the new 5th Division and the 8th Division, located in Shanggao, Gaoan and other places. Lu Diping adopted the strategy of "advancing and pursuing for a long time, and attacking separately" in a vain attempt to wipe out the Red Army in the Yuanshui River Basin from Zhangshu to Fenyi.
How to deal with 100,000 enemy troops is an urgent problem facing all Red Army officers and men. Beginning on October 25, the General Front Committee of the Red Army and the Jiangxi Provincial Executive Committee held a joint meeting in Luofang, Xinyu, to focus on the strategic issues of the Red Army. At the meeting, the participants had a heated debate on the strategy of "fighting in the river" or "luring the enemy deep". Until the late night of the 29th, the meeting still did not reach a consensus. On October 30, the Red Army headquarters learned that the enemy had come out, and Mao Zedong held an emergency meeting of the General Front Committee and finally adopted the operational policy of "luring the enemy deep.
Mao Zedong's strategic policy of "luring the enemy into depth" is a precious choice of great strategic significance. This shows that the Red Army has got rid of the shackles of Li Lisan's "left" adventurous mistakes, and shows that Mao Zedong's military thought has taken a key step in the transformation from mountain guerrilla warfare to guerrilla warfare in the broader rural hinterland movement.
　　The first battle is carefully strategized.
Beginning on November 5, the Red First Army and the Red Third Army carried out strategic transfers in the Xiajiang Baqiu and Renhe areas across the Ganjiang River to the east. After the Red Army retreated to Huangpi and Xiaobu, Ningdu, the hinterland of the Soviet area, Mao Zedong presided over an enlarged meeting of the General Front Committee of the Red Army in Huangpi Zhongpai Village in early December. Party and government organs at all levels in the Soviet area actively implemented the spirit of the meeting, carried out emergency mobilization, and organized the masses to participate in the anti-"encirclement and suppression" work. On December 25, Mao Zedong, Zhu De and the headquarters of the Red First Army held a large-scale oath meeting in Xiaobu River Beach. Mao Zedong wrote a couplet for the conference: "The enemy advances and I retreat, the enemy is stationed in me, the enemy is tired and I fight, the enemy retreats and I chase, and the guerrilla warfare has the chance to win; stride forward and retreat, lure the enemy to go deep, concentrate troops, and destroy each one." The strategy and tactics of the Red Army are highly summarized. This was both a pledging meeting and a political mobilization meeting, after which the army and the people were rubbing their hands.
In order to be cautious in the first war, Mao Zedong and Zhu De carefully analyzed the situation of both the enemy and ourselves. They believed that, on the one hand, although the enemy claimed to be 100,000 people, they were not Chiang's own troops. Their internal contradictions were complicated and the front line was too long. At the same time, the two divisions of Zhang and Tan were guest troops, and they were domineering and arrogant. On the other hand, the Zhang and Tan divisions each have more than 10000 people, while the Red Army has more than 40000 people, and there are millions of people who sincerely support the revolution. Therefore, it is quite certain to destroy one enemy division at a time, and if the two divisions are destroyed, the counter-campaign against "encirclement and suppression" will be as strong as a bamboo. The Red Army Headquarters decided to target the two divisions of Zhang Huizan and Tan Daoyuan in the initial battle.
On December 28, after the main force of the Red Army moved to Yongfeng Junbu, it was detected that Zhang Huizan's division showed signs of attacking Longgang. On the 29th, Zhang Huizan stayed in Donggu with the 54th Brigade and led the Division and the 52nd and 53rd Brigade to attack Longgang. On the evening of the 29th, Mao Zedong and Zhu De held a military meeting at the Longbu Wanshou Palace and issued an order for the Red First Army to attack the enemy Zhang Huizan of Longgang, and issued a combat deployment.
　　Fight together to capture the enemy chieftain alive
In the early morning of the 30th, Mao Zedong and Zhu De braved the thick fog to climb the Huangzhuling Xiaobie Mountain command post at an altitude of more than 400 meters. At 7: 00 a.m., Zhang huizan's division took the 52nd brigade Huang regiment as the forward, followed by Li regiment, the 53rd brigade Chen regiment followed, and Zhu regiment as the defender. At about 8 o'clock, when Huang Tuan reached the Xiaobie Arch Bridge, 6 kilometers southeast of Longgang, he encountered the 7th Division of the Red 3rd Army advancing westward and fired the first shot of the Battle of Longgang. The enemy pounced on the Red Army, and the 7th Red Division fought back bravely. The commander of the 3rd Red Army, Huang Gonglue, ordered the 8th Red Division and the 9th Red Division to flank from the left and right sides. Dai Yue, commander of the enemy's 52nd brigade, ordered the Li regiment to also enter the position and gradually attacked me. By virtue of their weapon superiority, the enemy tried their best to prevent the Red 3 Army from advancing in the direction of Longgang, and the battle was in a stalemate for a while. Huang Gonglue sent people to the Huangzhuling command post to report the situation and asked for more troops. In view of the fact that the headquarters guard battalion had already been on the front line and there were no soldiers to send at the moment, Zhu De decided to "send no soldiers to the general" and send the chief of staff Guo Huaruo to the Red 3rd Army to assist in command and boost morale.
After the battle began, Yongfeng had more than 10,000 Red Guards and Young Pioneers fighting side by side with the main Red Army in the front line. At noon on the same day, Luo Binghui led the 12th Red Army to suddenly attack the 52nd Brigade from the left side of the enemy, and the battle situation began to change. Dai Yue urgently telegraphed Zhang Huizan for help. On one side, Zhang put all his eggs in one basket and personally commanded four regiments to attack our army in multiple ways. On the other side, he telegraphed the 54th Brigade in Donggu to rush to help. The enemy's repeated onslaught was repelled by our troops, and reinforcements were unable to arrive because they were blocked by our local forces.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, just as the fierce battle was raging, the Red 4th Army and the Red 3rd Army rushed down from the high mountains in the north to insert Zhangjiacho, cut off the enemy's retreat, and launched a fierce attack on the enemy of Longgang from behind. The two brigades of the 18th Division became the "lambs" of the Red Army to be slaughtered ". At about 4 pm, Zhu De launched a general attack, and immediately the guns were fired, killing the sky. Zhang Huizan's division concentrated its firepower on a dying struggle in an attempt to flee to Wangong Mountain. Luo Binghui immediately organized fire interception. Su Yu commanded the Red 64th Division and the Red 34th Division to cooperate with each other and press the enemy to the river. Soon, the red flag was successfully planted on the top of Wan Gong Mountain. With the cooperation of the 11th Division of the Fourth Red Army, the Red Army quickly attacked Chenggong Village and destroyed the enemy division in the Wanshi Ancestral Hall. The Red 10th Division quickly occupied the Guan Gong Temple next door and captured all the telecommunications personnel.
More than 9000 enemies were wiped out in the first World War in Longgang, and nearly 10,000 weapons of various kinds, a radio station and more than 1 million bullets were seized. Division commander Zhang Huizan fled to Wangong Mountain in costume, hiding in a small cave, and was captured alive while the Red Army was cleaning the battlefield. The good news of the capture of Zhang Huizan was quickly spread throughout Longgang, and the soldiers and civilians rushed to tell each other. Mao Zedong's joy was expressed in his words: "The sky was red and the sky was full of frost, and the heavenly soldiers were angry. The fog was full of Longgang and thousands of peaks were dark, calling in unison, and Zhang Huizan was caught in front of him".
After the victory of Longgang, the Red Army pursued the victory. On January 2 and 3, 1931, it annihilated half of Tan Daoyuan's division in Dongshao, captured more than 3000 officers and soldiers, and handed over more than 2000 guns. The Red Army won both battles in five days, wiping out more than 15000 enemy troops. In view of the fact that the defeat had been decided, Lu Diping, commander-in-chief of the "encirclement and suppression" campaign, had to order the troops to be retreated twice. In this way, the Kuomintang army's first large-scale military "encirclement and suppression" against the Red Front Army and the Central Revolutionary Base ended in a disastrous defeat. The Longgang Victory was the first decisive battle against "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Area. It was also the foundation-laying battle between the Central Soviet Area and the Chinese Soviet Republic, protecting the fruits of victory for the military and civilians in the revolutionary base area.

Source: Learning Times