Battle of Sujiabu

The Battle of Sujiabu, the largest battle in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area

In the spring of 1932, the Kuomintang army stationed the 46th Division between Lu'an and Huoshan in southwestern Anhui and deployed defenses along the east bank of the Pihe River. , with Sujiabu as the hub, and the Kuomintang troops from other directions formed an encirclement against the Fourth Red Army and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area. Xu Xiangqian, the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Red Front Army, was determined to break through this line of defense in order to develop to the southeast.

On the evening of March 21, the Fourth Front Army led the 10th, 11th, 73rd Divisions and local troops to sneak across the Pihe River. At dawn on the 22nd, they unexpectedly crossed Qingshandian, Sujiabu, and Han. The three strongholds were divided and surrounded, and the enemy's reinforcements were annihilated. Because these strongholds were well fortified and difficult to capture, the Red Army decided to adopt a siege approach to attract enemies from Lu'an and Huoshan to come to their aid and annihilate them during the movement. In the next few days, the commander of the 46th Division, Yue Shengxuan, indeed ordered the Lu'an and Huoshan brigades to rush for reinforcements. However, they were ambushed by the Red Army on the way, and one of them was wiped out and then retreated; a regiment from Qingshandian tried to break through and was wiped out. Xu Xiangqian judged that after being hit by this attack, the enemies in Lu'an and Huoshan would not dare to send aid easily. The main enemy reinforcements may come from Hefei. In addition to using a force to continue besieging Sujiabu and Han Ferry, he would move the main force eastward to both sides of the Dou Tug River. , preparing to ambush Hefei to aid the enemy. In late April, Chiang Kai-shek appointed Li Shiding, commander of the 7th Division, as the commander-in-chief of the "anti-Japanese campaign" in western Anhui, and led more than 20,000 troops to march westward from Hefei. On May 1, its leading troops encountered the Red Army. The Red Army fought and retreated, leading the enemy into a steep tug-of-war. Just as the enemy group was crossing the river, the main force of the Red Army launched a fierce counterattack from both sides. The 217th Regiment of the 73rd Division took the opportunity to penetrate directly into the enemy's headquarters and captured Li Shiding alive. The enemy army lost its command and became chaotic, and was quickly wiped out. The enemies in Sujiabu and Han Ferry surrendered to the Red Army in despair.

This battle lasted 48 days. The Red Army captured 1 Kuomintang Army Wanxi Commander-in-Chief and Division Commander, 5 brigade commanders, 11 regiment commanders, more than 30,000 other officers and soldiers, and surrendered more than 10,000 guns. , the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Area has developed to more than 20 counties with a population of more than 3 million.