Chapter 6: Fierce Battle at Gulingtou
The Red 18th Regiment is desperately holding on a small highland near Gulingtou in Quzhou.
The Red 18th Regiment retreated from the blocking position of Xinwai in the morning, and the battle of Xinwai caused heavy casualties to the 1,500-strong Red 18th Regiment. When retreating, there were more than 800 people left, and nearly half of the soldiers shed their blood on the main battlefield of Guanyin Mountain Nanmu Village and Chenjiabe.
When they retreated to Gulingtou near Quzhou, the 24th Division of the Guangxi Army caught up with them. The Guangxi Army was a steel army with the title of the 7th Corps, and although it had been heavily attacked by the Red 5th Division and the 18th Regiment in the Xinhuai blocking battle, it had suffered heavy casualties, but its equipment was good, and the soldiers were well-rested and fed. On the other hand, the officers and men of the 18th Regiment had been fighting continuously for four days and nights without rest, and after arriving at the Xinhuai blocking position, they had almost no time to rest before throwing themselves into battle. When they retreated to Gulingtou, the soldiers were extremely exhausted, hungry, cold, and short of ammunition, and with planes constantly bombing from above and the Guangxi Army attacking relentlessly from all sides, even though it was a main force regiment of the 3rd Red Army Corps, under such intense bombardment, it had reached the point of exhaustion. The current 18th Regiment now has only over 500 people left, almost everyone is wounded, bullets and hand grenades are all used up, many bayonets are bent, and the political commissar and main leaders of each battalion and company have already sacrificed themselves. The regiment commander Zeng Chunjian, who was seriously injured, led the soldiers to huddle on the battlefield, waiting for the final moment, the moment when they would shed their last drop of blood for the Soviet New China.
Liu Yimin led the bayonet company to rush forward and arrived at Gulingtou when the Guangxi army was reorganizing its troops, preparing to launch a final charge to completely annihilate the Red 18th Regiment defending the position.
Liu Yimin ordered the troops to halt and take a short rest, making preparations for battle.
Liu Yimin and Cai Zhong led Wang Dahu, Shen Nantang, Wang Xinyun, Zhao Runqing, and Wang Tongsheng to conduct a close-up observation. Upon seeing the formation of the Guangxi Army, Liu Yimin, who was then a doctoral student at the National Defense University, felt delighted: Judging from the flags, the Guangxi Army had about two regiments, although they were not severely damaged, they seemed to have reached the point of exhaustion. The two regiments had around 2,000 soldiers, who were reorganizing their troops, with over 2,000 people concentrated together in a very neat and dense formation. An officer was giving a speech, while wounded soldiers sat on the empty ground beside him. Possibly thinking there was no threat, the Guangxi Army's mortars and heavy machine guns were set up on simple fortifications next to the troops, with soldiers standing upright listening to the officer's speech. The gentle slope of the mountain was littered with corpses of both the Guangxi Army and the Red Army, looking extremely tragic.
What a good opportunity, if not grasped, even the heavens will scold oneself. Liu Yimin thought for a moment and immediately turned around to say to several people: "Opportunities are not to be missed, I have decided to lead the troops to launch a surprise attack on the Guangxi Army. Director Cai will take the communication personnel to report to the division commander, let the main force act quickly, and complete the encirclement of the Guangxi Army immediately. The sniper team controls the enemy's heavy machine guns and mortars, ensuring that the enemy's machine guns do not fire and the cannons do not roar. All the machine guns and submachine guns in the company are at the front, follow me to launch a surprise attack."
Director Cai said: "Liu Lianchang, we have too few people. Shouldn't we wait a little while? The main force will be here soon."
Liu Yimin looked at him and said, "No way, wait for the main force to arrive, the Guangxi army will deploy its formation. That's victory, but casualties will be heavy. Don't say anything else, execute the order."
Several rows of soldiers stood at attention together: "Yes!"
The deputy commander of the 24th Division, who led the pursuit, was extremely depressed. The 24th Division was ordered to occupy Xinwan with the 44th Division and launch a surprise attack on Jieshoutou, but unexpectedly, the Red Army's 5th Division arrived half an hour earlier than themselves. This half-hour delay allowed the 24th and 44th Divisions to attack Xinwan for three days, suffering heavy casualties. Finally, after the 5th Division withdrew, the 18th Regiment of the Red Army arrived. From the evening of the 30th to the morning of the 1st, the 18th Regiment was defeated, and the division commander ordered him to lead two main force regiments to pursue directly, while the rest of the troops stayed behind with the 44th Division in Xinwan to search for remaining enemies. Who knew that the main force of the division and the 44th Division would again engage in fierce combat with the Red Army's 34th Division, which arrived later? Just received intelligence that the artillery battalion carried by the 44th Division was also blown up by the Reds, suffering heavy losses. Thinking about how the 43rd Division and Independent Regiment of the Guangxi Army were fighting fiercely with the Red Army's 3rd and 4th Divisions in Guanghuapu, while two other divisions had already killed their way to Jieshoutou, pursuing the Communist Party's central organs and would achieve great merit. But he was stuck here being blocked by the already battered 18th Regiment of the Red Army. Every time they launched an attack, it seemed like they were about to win, but in the end, they were still driven out of their positions by the Reds. Thinking about it made him feel indignant and frustrated. Looking at his troops again, after several days of fierce battles, two elite main force regiments had suffered more than half casualties. These were all Guangxi soldiers who had participated in many major battles!
Thinking of this, Deputy Commander Kwei-chün shouted to the troops with a fierce killing intent: "Brothers, the Red Bandits have reached the end of their strength. Charge forward! Capture one and you'll be rewarded 10 big dollars, kill one and you'll get 5 big dollars. From me down, the regimental commander, battalion commander, company commander, and platoon commander will lead the charge. Whoever dares to retreat will be shot on the spot!"
At this time, the deputy officer reported that the sentry reported that the army group had dispatched a law enforcement team.
The deputy commander of the Gui Army turned his head and saw a company of soldiers, all holding guns, walking towards him under the leadership of a company commander. The first row was a machine gun squad, followed by a row of submachine guns. Upon closer inspection, the face of this company commander was extremely unfamiliar. He hastily asked what they were doing, and Liu Yimin replied that they were the law enforcement team of the Fourth Group Army. The deputy commander's mind turned quickly - something wasn't right. He had never heard of a group army dispatching a law enforcement team, and even if there was one, he hadn't seen this team leader before. It was well-known that the Gui Army only had one group army, with two corps and five divisions under its jurisdiction. The leaders were either classmates or comrades-in-arms from the unification of Guangxi War, mostly graduates of the Baoding Military Academy or Lu Rongting's model battalion. They all knew each other very well. Upon another glance, this small unit had dispersed into a combat formation, closing in on his own troops. The deputy commander suddenly realized that this was not the law enforcement team of the group army at all - it was clearly a Red Bandit squad disguised for a sneak attack! He quickly pulled out his gun and lay down on the ground, shouting: "Brothers, they're Red Bandits! Scatter and open fire!"
It's too late, everything is too late.
At the same time that Deputy Commander Gui fell, Liu Yimin picked up his submachine gun. With a loud shout, the soldiers of the Sharp Shooter Company simultaneously opened their shirts. Nine light machine guns, along with Liu Yimin and the platoon leaders' 34 submachine guns and dozens of rifles, fired together. As soon as the machine guns and submachine guns finished firing, the soldiers threw out dozens of hand grenades. Then came the chorus of reloaded machine guns and submachine guns, followed by another rain of hand grenades. Again and again, bullets whizzed through the air like a gust of wind, chasing after the shadows of the Gui army.
This was a standard massacre, with the Red Army holding the knives and the Guangxi Army being slaughtered. The Guangxi soldiers were completely terrified, falling down in rows like wheat being cut. Some of the quicker-reacting Guangxi soldiers managed to load their rifles, but just as they were about to fire, they would be hit by sniper bullets and fall to the ground. Only those who were standing a bit further away had time to scramble down or flee in all directions. But even fleeing was futile, as the bright sound of military bugles rang out, and nearly 4,000 soldiers from the Red Army's 34th Division closed in, armed with gleaming bayonets and machine guns.
On the heights, the Red 18th Regiment, which had been waiting for the KMT army to be defeated and was out of food and ammunition, heard the long-awaited charge bugle. Seriously injured Regimental Commander Zeng Chunquan suddenly stood up: "Comrades, our Red 34th Division has arrived! Bugler, blow the charge bugle, comrades, fix bayonets, follow me in a charge!" The more than 500-strong Red 18th Regiment charged down from the heights towards the scattered and fleeing KMT army.
Historians who evaluated this battle later believed that the classic surprise attack at Gulingtou achieved several perfection: First, the timing was perfect. The Guangxi Army was in its final assembly before the charge, with officers giving speeches and soldiers gathering together, bullets not even having time to be loaded into guns, artillery and heavy machine gunners standing in front of their fortifications, completely losing all defensive capabilities. Second, the disguise was perfect. Disguised as the enemy's military police law enforcement team, the sentries did not dare to inspect them and directly led the troops to the assembly point. Third, the firepower configuration was perfect. Machine guns and submachine guns were placed at the front, fanning out to sweep the area, rifles firing one round after another, then concentrated grenade attacks, covering machine guns and submachine guns as they changed magazines, then again machine guns and submachine guns fired in turns, followed by concentrated grenade attacks, without any intervals, a perfect combination. Fourth, the loss ratio was perfect. Except for the communication personnel protecting Director Cai to report back to the main force, 112 officers and soldiers participated in the surprise attack, with an enemy-to-our-strength ratio of about 20:1. The entire battle lasted less than 5 minutes, and the participating Red 34th Regiment did not suffer a single casualty. They annihilated two main force regiments of the Guangxi Army's 24th Division, killing over 2,500 people including the deputy division commander, capturing 120 people, adding to the previous number of enemy killed by the Red 18th Regiment in Gulingtou, a total of 3,400 people were annihilated. They captured 12 mortars, 12 heavy machine guns, 54 light machine guns, nearly 2,000 rifles and submachine guns, and countless ammunition. Historians all agree that this was the greatest victory achieved by the Red Army since the Long March. Some historians also believe that this battle laid the foundation for Liu Yumin to win the title of "Tactical Master" and "Surprise Attack Master".
The battle is over. The ground is littered with the bodies of Gui army soldiers and abandoned weapons. Warriors are busy clearing the battlefield, collecting arms and ammunition, and escorting prisoners.
A captive was muttering to himself, scolding the soldiers in a dialect from Guangxi that was hard to understand. The young soldier responsible for escorting him lost his patience and struck him with his rifle butt: "What are you mumbling about? Watch out or I'll kill you." The squad leader nearby saw this and immediately shouted: "Little Li, don't hit the captive! Have you forgotten our Red Army's discipline?" Little Li burst into tears and said resentfully: "Squad leader, look at the bodies of our comrades on the hillside above. When I see these white devils, I feel hatred and want to kill all these bad guys." The squad leader sighed, wiping away his tears, saying: "Let's go, don't violate our discipline."
Chen Shuxiang and Commissar Cheng Cuilin were inspecting the battlefield with the regimental and divisional leaders, watching the soldiers enthusiastically clearing the battlefield. Chen Shuxiang smiled at Commissar Cheng Cuilin and said: "Old Cheng, have you noticed that since Liu Yimin arrived, our luck has become incredibly good? Every battle yields spoils of war, if this continues, after a few more battles, the Red Army's problem with weapons and ammunition will be solved."
Cheng Cui and Lin Zheng also smiled and said, "Yes, the morale of the soldiers is very high, sweeping away the depression of being defeated since the Long March. It seems that the key to boosting morale is winning battles."
"Yes, that's how it has always been. The more victories a unit achieves, the greater its morale and combat effectiveness."
Cheng Cuilin, the political commissar, said: "When we were on Guanyin Mountain, I felt that our revolution had reached a dead end. Who would have thought that Liu Yimin would emerge and not only lead us to break through the encirclement but also win such a great victory? Whenever our Red Army is in danger, large numbers of heroes will emerge. Liu Yimin is one of our heroes. I must ask him about his views on our party."
"Alright, guard, summon Liu Yimin to see me."
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