1893, my father was born in a poor rural area in Xuzhou City, Shandong Province. In his early years, he entered the army school run by Beiyang warlords. Later, he was promoted to the third phase of the Artillery Division of Baoding Military Academy, and received strict military warfare technical education and training.
During the period of 1924, my father served as the company commander of Feng Jun, and participated in the independence negotiations of Outer Mongolia under the leadership of Xu Shuzheng during his tenure. When the Northern Expedition broke out, my father joined the Northern Expedition Army. 1928 served as the head of the 48th Division of the National Revolutionary Army1283rd Regiment of the 42nd Brigade. Later, he served as a brigade commander in 1930, a teacher in 193 1 4 1 and was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
At the beginning of 1935, Chiang Kai-shek's "pursuit" of the Central Red Army was repeatedly defeated. He was afraid that the Red Army Corps II and VI, which were active in western Hunan and western Hubei, would join the Central Red Army in Guizhou and urgently mobilize the sixth column 1 100000 people to "encircle" the Red Army Corps II and VI. My father was then the commander of the 4 1 Division and the commander of the first column, commanding the Kuomintang army to wage fierce battles with the Red Army in Honghu and other places. 1June, 935, the Red Sixth Army under the command of General Xiao Ke surrounded Xuanen County, and Wuhan Hangyuan telegraphed that my father came to Phoenix to help the north from the station. This secret message was intercepted and deciphered by the Red Army, and then it was decided that He Long and Ren, together with the main force of the Gongliu Army, would March for dozens of kilometers, feint Xuanen with a small number, and ambush Dayuan with the main force.
12 In June, the 4th1Division of the Kuomintang, with two brigades as pioneers, set out for Xuanen via Bao Zhong. My father led the division headquarters and a brigade directly under it, namely 123 brigade with Huang as the brigade commander, and then followed up. The next morning, the Kuomintang vanguard troops entered the red army ambush circle, and the red army suddenly opened fire, dividing the enemy marching column into several sections, breaking them one by one and adowa them. As soon as my father arrived in Bao Zhong, the surrounding mountains were occupied by the Red Army, and this division was compressed in the ravine of Goupiling. The Red Army, which occupied favorable terrain, launched shelling, the 4 1 division radio station was destroyed, and the chief of staff was shot and killed. Later, Huang saw that the situation was not good and led the remnants to flee. Father's head and body were injured by shrapnel and captured by the Red Army. Within two days, the Red Army annihilated more than 4,000 people of the Kuomintang 4 1 Division and created a great victory in Bao Zhong. Up to now, a monument commemorating this great victory still stands in Bao Zhong.
Zhang Huizan, commander of the Kuomintang Lieutenant General and the enemy column of the "encirclement and suppression" Red Army, met my father when he set out from Changsha to "encircle and suppress" the Central Red Army. He was captured by the Red Army and executed. After my father was captured by the Red Army, he thought he was going to die.
My father never imagined that the Red Army not only didn't kill him, but also patiently educated him to save him and let him work as a teacher in the Red Army School.
Father never imagined that when he gave lectures to Red Army commanders and soldiers, Xiao Ke, Wang Zhen and other senior Red Army generals would also attend. He was confused by the shock! He was moved by the policies of the Red Army, ashamed of his past, and even more gratified and encouraged by the Red Army's trust in him. He dedicated all his military knowledge and combat experience and became one of the most recognized teachers in the Red Army School at that time. 1987 On the eve of my visit to the United States for cooperative scientific research at the invitation of the National Institutes of Health, I went to see General Xiao Ke, bid farewell to him and listened to his teachings. Xiao Lao was in good spirits that day. He talked about my father and said, "Your father is a professional soldier and a patriotic soldier. He has rich combat experience and military knowledge. He was expelled from Mongolia after he failed to participate in the negotiations between the warlords and outer Mongolia. After many days of hard tests in the desert, he overcame the difficulty of not having food and water. These viability are also necessary for soldiers. He has these experiences and we must learn from him. "
The Red Army took good care of him during the Long March under such difficult conditions. The Red Army gave him the treatment of a corps-level cadre, equipped him with mules as mounts, and equipped him with secret service personnel to take care of his life. Boss He, Comrade Ren and General Xiao Ke all regard him as a friend and talk about the past and the present together. General Xiao Ke once told me that during the Long March, when conditions permit, he personally cooked steamed pork and invited my father to eat it. He was glad that he met such a group of Red Army leaders in the Long March and saw the light of justice and the hope of the nation from them.
When crossing Yulong Snow Mountain, his mount slipped, and he fell into a ravine with deep snow and was seriously injured. The officers and men of the Red Army risked their lives, and Qi Xin pulled him up from the desperate situation and saved the Kuomintang general who had fought with the Red Army from the brink of death. The Red Army used its spiritual light and life to save my father from the reactionary camp to the revolutionary ranks. General Xiao Ke personally said to me: "Your father's world outlook was changed in the struggle between blood and fire in the Long March."
Following the Long March of the Red Army, my father experienced an extremely sharp struggle from disappointment to fear, and gradually merged into a torrent of revolution.
1935165438+10. In order to preserve its strength, the Red Army decided to break through the Long March. Before the Long March, the head of the Red Army Corps asked my father about the deployment of Kuomintang troops in the north, and he provided the relevant information as far as he knew. After careful analysis and research, referring to the information provided by his father, the Red Army headquarters made a strategic decision to go south to Hunan and break through the defense lines of Yuan (Jiang) and Li (Shui).
It was difficult to supply materials during the Red Army's Long March. The leader of the Red Army reliably conveyed the news that my father was still alive in the army to his mother Deng Juexian, who lived in Hankou at that time. Mother was very surprised when she received a letter from her father saying that she was safe. She learned of the difficulties of the Red Army from the letter and immediately sold all the valuables at home. She bought penicillin, binoculars, watches, compasses, fountain pens and other military supplies through the political relations of the Kuomintang, and prepared to give them to the Red Army. The problem is that the route of the Red Army is very confidential and unpredictable. How can I send something to the Red Army? She learned that Chiang Kai-shek had asked Hunan warlord He Jian to be responsible for exploring the whereabouts of the Red Second Front Army at that time. He Jian and my father are both in Baoding Phase III, and my mother and He Jia are fellow villagers in Hunan. She used these relationships to inquire about the whereabouts of the Red Army from the director of the intelligence department under He. Then, You Yong, who was desperate for money, was hired at a high price to deliver goods to the Red Army in batches. A legendary figure who lived in the Long March for 18 months, British missionary Bo Fuli wrote a book "The Self-report of a detained missionary", which was translated into Chinese by Comrade Zhang. The book tells a story: Bo Fuli was detained by the Red Army, hoping that the church members would send money and materials to redeem him as soon as possible. Bo Fuli said to the judge (referring to the Red Army cadre in charge of him): "In addition to money, there are four loads of things, about 400 kilograms. Is this enough? " "Mr. Becker has tried his best to send so much money and things, and it is impossible to think about it any more." "No," said the judge, "you are mistaken. These things are not from Mr Becker, but from General Zhang Zhenhan's family. He wants to send more things. " My father's self-report confirmed that the money and materials handled by my mother were indeed handed over to the Red Army. Fifty years after the victory of the Long March, with the guidance and help of General Xiao Ke and Comrade Zhang Guoqing, I got in touch with Father Bofuli, who lives in Manchester, and he wrote me three letters. At the age of 90, he recalled arguing with my father about religious belief and freedom during the Long March. He said my father was an atheist, but he believed in the truth.
1936 At the turn of spring and summer, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps arrived in Jinsha River. The roaring river blocked the way of the Red Army, and the ships had already been confiscated by the Kuomintang army. Mr. He, who is thinking about the strategy of crossing the river, sent someone to find my father and asked him what good strategy he had. Father looked at the surrounding ecological environment and suggested cutting bamboo into bamboo rafts and letting them cross the river. This suggestion was approved by Mr. He, that is, one officer was ordered to cut the bamboo raft, and another officer continued to search for ships upstream and downstream. With the concerted efforts of officers and men Qi Xin, 20,000 troops successfully crossed the river. There is also a story in the biographies of this point: the Red Army marched to Longshan County and fought fiercely with the enemy, but it could not be captured for a long time. The enemy set up two bunkers at the pass, and the guns fired fierce machine guns and flames, blocking the way forward of the Red Army assault troops, and the Red Army soldiers who kept charging sacrificed and fell. At this point, only two usable mortars were seized from the enemy. Boss He called my artillery dad and asked him if he could get rid of the two bunkers with these two shells. Father immediately made a visual measurement, adjusted the gun position angle and said, "OK, fire!" " "The Red Army soldiers caused two loud noises, two enemy bunkers exploded, and the gunfire came to an abrupt end.
After the Red Army arrived in Yan 'an, his father continued to be cared for by the Party and the Red Army. President Mao Zedong met with him, and Vice President Zhou Enlai expressed cordial concern for his life and said that he would try his best to take my mother over. My father made friends with a large number of leaders of the * * * Party, such as,,, Li, etc. At the same time, he continued to work for the military education of the Red Army. General Xiao Ke told me that at that time, everyone was supplying the system, and my father got special care, and Yang Guang (silver dollar) was available every month. Every time my father gets paid, the generals will let him go to the farmhouse to buy some food and drink to improve the food.
My mother Deng Jue, originally from Changsha, was born in a scholarly family. She is a typical Hunan temperament, aggressive and affectionate. Father was captured by the Red Army, and his life and death are unknown. Military and political dignitaries of the Kuomintang and many friendly people advised the beautiful young Mrs. Zhang to remarry, but my mother resolutely refused. Since learning that my father is still living in the Red Army, she has not hesitated to sell her precious property and try her best to support her. After the Red Army arrived in Yan 'an, she made careful preparations in all aspects, dressed as a peasant woman, and came to Xi 'an from Hankou alone to ask for the help of the Northwest Army. She came all the way to Yan 'an to find her husband and meet my father. After she arrived in Yan 'an, she was appeased and cared by Zhou Enlai and other leading comrades. When it became clear that the country was cooperating with Japan for the second time, my mother decided to leave Yan 'an first and return to Chiang Kai-shek's area. Before he left, it was Comrade Zhou Enlai and others who proposed the travel expenses and arranged for people to be sent to the Northwest Army sector for safe handover.
1937, under the pressure of * * * producers and the people of the whole country to resist Japan and save the nation, Chiang Kai-shek accepted the conditions of national * * * cooperation to resist Japan. President Mao Zedong met my father in Zaolin and advised him to return to Chiang Kai-shek's area to continue the work of the anti-Japanese national united front. After repeated thinking, my father accepted the arrangement of the Party and returned to Hankou via Xi 'an with the "family allowance" personally arranged by Comrade Zhou Enlai, which started another milestone in his life. (The author is the son of Zhang Zhenhan)