"Red Second Front Campaign Chronicle - Complete History of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Part 2)"

Author: Xu Zhanquan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Since its founding, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army has always been subjected to continuous attacks and "encirclements" by the superior Nationalist Party forces. Under the unfavorable situation of "the enemy is strong and we are weak," the survival and development of the Red Army, apart from objective factors, depended crucially on the correctness of the subjective guidance of its leaders. If the subjective guidance aligned with objective realities and the strategic tactics were applied appropriately, the Red Army could turn weakness into strength, break the "encirclements" of the Nationalist Party forces, and expand the strength and development of the army and revolutionary bases. The victories of the Red Army in the Central Revolutionary Base Area and in the first, second, and third anti-"encirclement" campaigns fully demonstrated this point. Conversely, if the subjective guidance deviated from objective realities and the strategic tactics were misapplied, it would lead to disastrous consequences for the Red Army. The reason the Red Army 3rd Corps left the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area for Qiandong was precisely because of the incorrect strategic guidance, which led to the failure of the fourth anti-"encirclement" in the Hunan-Hubei Base Area and necessitated a strategic relocation.
After the "September 18th Incident," the wave of anti-Japanese salvation swept across the country, and the slogan "Pointing guns outward, uniting against Japan" became the strong voice of the people. However, Chiang Kai-shek, then President of the Nationalist Government and Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission, stubbornly adhered to the reactionary policy of "First pacify the internal enemy before resisting the external enemy," unwilling to accept the failures of the first, second, and third anti-"encirclement" campaigns against the Red Army and revolutionary bases. He actively mobilized troops and prepared for new "encirclements." In the summer of 1932, Chiang Kai-shek personally took command as the commander-in-chief of the "Suppression of Bandits" in Henan, Hubei, and Anhui provinces, gathering over 400,000 troops to launch an unprecedented fourth anti-"encirclement" against the Hunan-Hubei and Hubei-Anhui revolutionary bases and the Red Army. Among them, the left flank of the "encirclement" army, consisting of 11 divisions and over 7 brigades totaling more than 100,000 personnel, focused on attacking the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area. At that time, the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area roughly covered a vast region west of the Jingguang Railway and north of Dongting Lake, Yuanjiang River, and Xiushui River in Hunan and Hubei provinces.
After the failure of the Great Revolution, in line with the land revolution and armed struggle against the Nationalist Party's reactionary forces decided at the "August 7th Conference," the Hubei Central Committee and the Hubei Western Committee led by the Communist Party of China organized autumn uprisings in counties such as Mianyang, Gong'an, Shishou, Zaoyang, Hanchuan, Huarong, Dangyang, and Jingmen, establishing multiple guerrilla units. They established the Communist Party of China Hunan-Hubei Western Front Committee led by He Long and the Communist Party of China Hubei Western Committee led by Zhou Yiqun, creating the Red Army 4th Corps in the Hunan-Hubei Border Area and the Central Independent Division of the Hubei Red Army (later expanded into the Red Army 6th Corps). During this period, the Hubei Northern Committee and the Badong County Committee separately led the establishment of the Red Army 26th Corps and the Red Army 49th Corps. Through arduous struggles, these revolutionary armed forces established multiple bases in areas such as the Hunan-Hubei Border Area, Honghu, Xiangyang-Zaoyang-Yicheng, Badong-Xingshan-Zigui, and North Hubei. These bases (including the Red Army) were collectively referred to as the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area because they were all led by the Communist Party of China Hunan-Hubei Committee and later the Communist Party of China Hunan-Hubei Central Bureau. Among them, the Honghu Base Area, being the largest and the site of the leadership of the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area, became its representative. The Nationalist Party forces' "encirclements" of the Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base Area also focused on the Honghu region. After the first, second, and third anti-"encirclement" struggles, the Honghu Revolutionary Base Area had expanded to a vast area of over 250 kilometers east-west and over 100 kilometers north-south by 1932, with a population of nearly three million. The Red Army 3rd Corps had grown to include three divisions—the 7th, 8th, and 9th—with a total of over 15,000 personnel and over 11,000 types of firearms. Including local Red Army units and popular armed forces, the revolutionary armed forces of the Hunan-Hubei Base Area reached a total of 30,000. P2-3