E-Yu-Wan Border Region Military Commission Arsenal: Forging Iron Wings in the Deep Mountains of an Ancient Temple

Deep in the Dabie Mountains, amid vast green peaks, an old site converted from an ancient temple stands in silence. The morning bells and evening drums have long since stilled; only mottled stone walls and gnarled ancient trees remain, whispering across the passage of time of an extraordinary past—this was the military-industrial fortress of the E-Yu-Wan (Hubei-Henan-Anhui) Revolutionary Base Area during the Agrarian Revolutionary War: the E-Yu-Wan Border Region Military Commission Arsenal.

In those years of raging warfare, this arsenal hidden within an ancient temple not only put into practice the resounding pledge of "arduous struggle and self-reliance (艰苦奋斗、自力更生)," but also carved a unique mark in the history of the republic's defense industry through its legendary participation in restoring the Red Army's first aircraft, the "Lenin."

In the late 1920s, the E-Yu-Wan Revolutionary Base Area was engulfed in the smoke of war. Nationalist Army forces mounted heavy "encirclement and suppression (围剿)" campaigns, and an ironclad blockade severed the base area from the outside world. The Red Army fought frequently, firearms suffered enormous attrition, and captured weapons were mostly incomplete. The difficulty of weapons resupply became a sword hanging over the Soviet area.

At the end of 1930, in order to break the blockade and arm the Red Army, the E-Yu-Wan Special Committee made the decisive decision to consolidate repair teams and ammunition production points from Qiliping in Huang'an County, Hubei; Jianchanghe in Xinxian County, Henan; and Tangjiahui in Jinzhai County, Anhui, at "Fo'er Temple" in Xinxian County, Henan. The legend of the E-Yu-Wan Border Region Military Commission Arsenal manufacturing weapons deep in the mountains thus began.

At the time, the more than 60 workers in the factory were mostly of blacksmith and carpenter backgrounds. The workshops were largely the old rooms of the ancient temple; the tools were only a few furnaces, several bellows, and some iron hammers. The workers converted stone mills into powder-grinding machines, used water power to drive simple machine tools, used wooden molds to make grenade casings, and converted household looms into bullet assembly machines. It was precisely through these "primitive" means that in the spring of 1931, the arsenal's first batch of "imitation Hanyang-made (仿汉阳造)" rifles came off the line and were rushed to the front. By the summer of 1932, this deep-mountain arsenal had repaired more than ten thousand firearms, produced over 4,800 rifles, tens of thousands of grenades, and reloaded more than 210,000 rounds of ammunition. Behind these figures lay countless nights of blazing furnace fires, condensing the blood, sweat, and devotion of the workers.

The most celebrated chapter of this arsenal was undoubtedly its participation in restoring the Red Army's first aircraft—the "Lenin." In February 1930, Nationalist pilot Long Wenguang made a forced landing in the Soviet area. Faced with this unprecedented piece of "high-technology" equipment, the workers used calipers and rulers to take measurements by hand, hammered with iron mallets, and forged at the furnace, and managed, within the simple confines of the ancient temple, to complete a thorough restoration and modification of the aircraft. They were responsible not only for the aircraft's routine maintenance and parts supply, but also took on the task of manufacturing matching bombs and ammunition for this "blade in the sky." In the end, the "Lenin" had a red five-pointed star painted on its fuselage and, lifted up by their efforts, returned to the blue sky. It was not only the Red Army's first combat aircraft, but also an immortal monument to the E-Yu-Wan defense industry workers' challenge of limits and indigenous innovation (土法创新), embodying the heroic aspiration that "even in the deep mountains, iron wings can be forged (深山亦能锻铁翼)."

In the autumn of 1932, the main force of the Fourth Front Army undertook a strategic withdrawal, and the furnace fires of Fo'er Temple were forced to go dark. At the moment of departure, the workers hid equipment and tools in mountain caves and buried them deep in the fields. Many resolutely stayed behind, took up the weapons they had just repaired, coordinated with the troops to wage guerrilla warfare, and used their own bodies to cover the withdrawal of the main force, writing their loyalty to the very last moment.

Today, the site of the E-Yu-Wan Border Region Military Commission Arsenal, designated a Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit, stands quietly amid green mountains and verdant valleys. The simple tools on display in the exhibition hall, the restored weapons, and the model of the "Lenin" aircraft silently recount that era of fierce and stirring combat. This arsenal within a deep-mountain ancient temple was not only a weapons supply station for the Red Army, but also a vivid portrait of soldiers and civilians united in heart to resist a powerful enemy together. The furnace fires and sounds of hammering in that ancient temple, together with the image of the "Lenin" soaring through the blue sky, have been transformed into an immortal spiritual totem, inspiring later generations to press forward with courage and resolve.