A Certain Brigade of the 79th Group Army's "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company": The "Iron Torrent Rearguard" Is Unstoppable

A Certain Brigade of the 79th Group Army's "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company"——

The "Iron Torrent Rearguard" Is Unstoppable

■ PLA Daily Contracted Reporter Wang Lijun, Contracted Correspondent Wang Zhongwei

Company Profile

The company was born during the Autumn Harvest Uprising of 1927 and is a unit personally founded by Comrade Mao Zedong. During the revolutionary war years, the company fought in more than 810 campaigns and battles. In the Battle of the Xiang River, the company's officers and soldiers defended the safety of the Party Central Committee and central leadership with their blood and lives. In peacetime, the company has repeatedly distinguished itself in major missions including military exercises and flood relief operations, and was awarded the honorary designation "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company" by the former Shenyang Military Region.

Since the new era, the company's officers and soldiers have forged the gene of victory into their iron camp, and have poured their martial spirit and courage into the journey of strengthening the military, forming the iron company soul of "hearts of iron devoted to the Party, daring to fight hard battles, unity between officers and soldiers, iron discipline, and a fortress of strength."

At the Memorial Hall of the Red Army's Long March Battle of the Xiang River in Quanzhou County, Guilin, Guangxi, there is a relief wall depicting the scene of the Red Army forces rushing to cross the Xiang River. [File photo]

On the screen, a heart-stopping, life-or-death river crossing is unfolding on both banks of the Xiang River.

Not long ago, the officers and soldiers of the "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company" of a certain brigade of the 79th Group Army rewatched the documentary Iron Blood Xiang River. As they watched Red Army soldiers of similar age to themselves fall one by one into pools of blood, tears streamed down their faces.

If the story of the Red Army's Long March were compared to a heroic song, then the Battle of the Xiang River is undoubtedly its most agonizing movement. That mournful melody is filled with blood and fire, life and death, survival and annihilation—after this one battle, the Red Army paid a devastating price, with the Central Red Army reduced from more than 86,000 men at the start of the Long March to just over 30,000.

A military force's victory has always been soaked in sacrifice. In the Battle of the Xiang River, the predecessor unit of "Red Third Company"—the 2nd Company of the Guard Battalion of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission—bought time for the Party Central Committee to cross the river through iron-blooded blocking actions, earning the name "Iron Torrent Rearguard." After the battle, only 22 soldiers remained in the entire company; the rest had died heroically.

As heirs of this heroic unit, the officers and soldiers of "Red Third Company" have fused the red genes of "courage to win, courage to break through, courage to sacrifice" into their very bloodstream, charging forward on the journey of building and strengthening the military with an unstoppable posture.

In summer, this reporter visited "Red Third Company" and found the unit about to set out fully equipped for a field training site. Corporal Liu Yanlong, representing all the company's officers and soldiers at the brigade's Red Army Cultural Square, read aloud a battle petition, delivering a thunderous cry: "…If we are not victors, we are the vanquished!"

Ninety-two years ago, the same cry rang in the ears of Red Army soldiers.

In the early hours of November 28, 1934, the Battle of the Xiang River officially began, and the Central Red Army fought with its back to the wall in a desperate situation, rushing to cross the Xiang River. Late on the night of December 1, Comrade Zhou Enlai sent a telegram to the entire army in the name of the Central Bureau, the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, and the General Political Department: "If we are not victors, we are the vanquished; victory or defeat concerns the entire situation… I hope you will hold high the red flag and advance toward the front line."

Holding fast to the resolve and will of "if we are not victors, we are the vanquished," the Red Army soldiers built with their flesh and blood a corridor of life across a formidable natural barrier. The Xiang River thus became a geographic coordinate inscribed with the great spirit of "courage to win, courage to break through, courage to sacrifice."

Edgar Snow described the Red Army in Red Star Over China: "These men were not soldiers merely because they had to eat. These youths were willing to die for victory." Across ten thousand li, along the endless march, the Red Army ultimately prevailed in battles soaked in blood and tears.

"We who once created victory hunger all the more for victory and dare to win it." Liu Yanlong told this reporter that after becoming a soldier of "Red Third Company," he better understands the meaning of victory and the value of sacrifice.

In the Battle of the Xiang River, the predecessor unit of "Red Third Company" was responsible for covering the CPC Central Committee and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission organs as they broke through the blockade line. To fulfill the rearguard mission, they repelled 47 attacks by an enemy regiment over three days, and not one man retreated in the face of an enemy more than ten times their number. After the company commander and political instructor were killed, Third Platoon Leader Luo Yingchu took over command of the battle and fought until he gave his life for the revolution.

"Sacrifice is a soldier's greatest cost, but not a soldier's greatest contribution—a soldier's greatest contribution is victory." To preserve the spark of revolution, countless heroes like Luo Yingchu shed their last drop of blood. According to statistics, on the Long March, more than 100,000 soldiers fell on the road to the next victory.

Today, Liu Yanlong and his comrades carry forward the sacrificial spirit of their predecessors, charging again and again toward the shore of victory.

In one exercise, Liu Yanlong led his squad in a deep infiltration strike against a Blue Force target. After a long march under load, a large patch of skin on his back was rubbed raw by his weapon, the wound fusing with his combat uniform, each step accompanied by piercing pain. He gritted his teeth and walked at the front of the formation the entire way, destroying the "enemy's" key target on time alongside his comrades.

"For a soldier, facing death is not a philosophical abstraction—it is one group of people falling, and another group charging forward in an unbroken succession." Company Commander Hong of "Red Third Company" explained that during the war years, more than 1,400 officers and soldiers of the company shed their blood on the battlefield; in peacetime, the company's officers and soldiers have continued to strive for the cause of military strengthening, pouring out their sweat, with some even giving their lives. Today, before every major mission, the company's officers and soldiers sign pledges of resolve and life-or-death oaths, ready to fight at any moment and striving with all their strength for victory.

[Photo caption: Officers and soldiers of "Red Third Company" hone their combat skills in night combat and night training. Photo by Shang Caoquan]

Where Does the Confidence to Fight Come From——

"Victory Has Always Favored the Soldier Forged Through a Thousand Trials"

A live-streamed connection bound the heartstrings of "Red Third Company's" officers and soldiers tightly to the bloody battle once fought on the banks of the Xiang River.

The company organized a "Red Stories from Home" activity, encouraging officers and soldiers to actively seek out red landmarks in their hometowns. During one home leave, Sergeant Huang Jiajun visited the Memorial Park of Martyrs of the Red Army's Long March Breakthrough of the Xiang River in Xing'an County, Guilin, Guangxi, and became a "red livestreamer."

Standing on the mountaintop, Huang Jiajun and his comrades thousands of li away gazed together at the blue ripples of the Xiang River. Not far away, a bridge at the Jieshou Ferry crossing now spans both banks of the Xiang River.

What is today an open thoroughfare was once a formidable barrier in the Battle of the Xiang River. "The Red Army rushed to build a pontoon bridge at the crossing; the bridge had just been completed and the engineers had not yet made it ashore when enemy aircraft came to bomb it again. Broken planks, bamboo poles, oil drums, and the bodies of fallen soldiers jostled and crowded together in the icy rapids…"

With enemy troops blocking on the ground and aircraft strafing from above, the extreme hardship of the situation is easy to imagine. "Red Army commanders and fighters who had been on continuous forced marches were still able to cut a bloody path and complete the breakout," one soldier remarked with feeling.

Political Instructor Tai of "Red Third Company" immediately added: "The Battle of the Xiang River was extremely brutal. The Red Army's ability to make accurate judgments and resolute responses at a moment of extreme peril and danger stemmed from the most arduous, hazardous, and grueling of trials."

"Victory has always favored the soldier forged through a thousand trials." Political Instructor Tai told this reporter that as heirs of a heroic unit, "Red Third Company's" officers and soldiers continually push the limits in physical training and pursue excellence in skills training, forging a large number of battle-hardened "blade tips." In recent years, more than 20 personnel from the company have won gold and silver medals in competitions at various levels, and a total of 14 individuals have set or broken unit training records in mass military skills competitions.

In one live-force confrontation exercise that had reached a white-hot intensity, Staff Sergeant Second Class Yuan Ziyang led his entire squad in a series of point-clearing and obstacle-breaching actions. Upon reaching a heavily defended high ground, only 7 men remained in the squad. One fortified position after another was taken out, but comrades also fell one by one. When only 50 meters from the top of the high ground, Yuan Ziyang was fighting alone.

How could one man take out the remaining 2 fortified positions? At this critical juncture, the skills hammered out on the training ground became instinctive combat reflexes. He rapidly assessed the scene—5 meters away was a demolition charge; in a trench about 20 meters from the western fortified position was an anti-tank rocket.

Yuan Ziyang crawled forward to retrieve the demolition charge, then sprinted to the base of the fortified position before the "enemy's" fire could acquire him, and ignited the charge. He immediately turned and sprinted, leaped into the trench, picked up the anti-tank rocket, and in one fluid motion shouldered the tube, aimed, and fired. Within tens of seconds, Yuan Ziyang completed the mission with near-perfect tactical execution.

This heart-stopping charge gave Yuan Ziyang a deeper understanding of the sacrificial spirit of the revolutionary martyrs: "A true hero is someone who fights on without fear despite feeling fear."

[Photo caption: "Red Third Company" organizes officers and soldiers in a themed Party Day activity. Photo by Tang Pengcheng]

What Will Win on the Future Battlefield——

"Knowing How to Fight and Winning Battles Is True Courage"

In a glass cabinet in "Red Third Company's" honor room sits a situation map of the Battle of the Xiang River.

Each time he studies historical battle cases and gazes at the red arrows marking the Red Army's directions of advance, Company Commander Hong is reminded of a line from Harrison Salisbury's The Long March: The Untold Story: "Had it not been for the cumbersome, inappropriate, and superfluous baggage train trailing behind for as much as fifty miles, the Red Army could almost certainly have crossed the Xiang River."

Old Red Army veteran Pei Zhouyu once recalled with equal anguish: "When we saw that pile of junk, everyone was furious. Thinking back from the moment we set out, this pile of junk had dragged our teaching division, originally more than six thousand strong, down to just over two thousand… How could one not be heartbroken?"

The smoke of the Xiang River has long since cleared. Looking at today's battlefield, are we still encumbered and hamstrung by superfluous "pots and jars" (坛坛罐罐)?

A veteran soldier who had served in the company for many years told this reporter that in the past, field training was like moving house—accompanying support emphasized "the more the better," and temporary field quarters were built for show rather than function.

In order to shed every burden unrelated to combat effectiveness, the brigade's officers and soldiers have actively thrown themselves into the transformation of training, pursuing results through standardization, lightening of loads, and high mobility, ensuring the force can deploy at any time, advance when called upon, and win when it fights.

Tangible burdens are easy to shed; invisible shackles are hard to break. The constraints of habitual thinking and the accumulated ills of formalism still impede the improvement of combat effectiveness to a certain degree.

In one confrontation exercise, "Red Third Company's" officers and soldiers were tasked with a deep attack mission. Facing a solid defensive system constructed by the Blue Force, some proposed leveraging the company's physical fitness advantage to concentrate forces for a frontal assault, displaying martial spirit and courage.

However, careful study revealed that the Blue Force's fire system was heavy at the front and light at the rear, and that the flanking valley, though complex in terrain, was a weak point in the defense. The company decided on "a feint frontally, a surprise strike on the flank," and ultimately completed the mission with zero casualties.

As the new era's military training and war preparation advances comprehensively, the company's officers and soldiers have grown ever clearer through training: "Blind recklessness cannot be equated with 'the spirit of sacrifice'—knowing how to fight and winning battles is true courage."

In recent years, the atmosphere of genuine combat preparation in the company has grown ever stronger. Officers and soldiers hold monthly "Zhuge Liang Meetings" (诸葛亮会) and "Combat Reflection Meetings" without fail; everyone takes the podium and everyone studies tactics, from individual tactical movements to company-level offensive tactics—all are repeatedly deliberated and continuously refined.

Yuan Ziyang and several company backbone personnel designed and adjusted the training plan to avoid excessive fatigue caused by blindly "piling on volume." Under a scientifically controlled training tempo, early this year "Red Third Company" captured first place overall in the brigade's 5-kilometer armed cross-country competition for organic companies.

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Mountains and Rivers Shine with "Red Army Red"

■ Political Instructor of "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company," Tai Lirui

The starting point is red.

At the Sanwan Reorganization, the predecessor unit of "Red Third Company" was formally reorganized into the Special Service Company of the 1st Regiment, 1st Division, 1st Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. During the Long March period, the company was incorporated into the Guard Battalion of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, shouldering the special mission of protecting the Party Central Committee.

The memory is red.

In the Guard Battalion, there was a guard squad leader named Hu Changbao, who sacrificed his life to protect Comrade Mao Zedong. On the Long March, amid the mountains of western Sichuan, his choice to throw himself forward gave meaning to the words "a life lived with purpose, a death died with worth."

Hu Changbao was from Ji'an, Jiangxi, and joined the Red Army in 1930. In June 1935, after the Central Red Army seized the Luding Bridge in a flying assault and was advancing through the Chahegan area of Yingjing County, they were suddenly attacked by several enemy aircraft. The enemy aircraft came with unusual ferocity; the dull drone grew from distant to near, quickly becoming a deafening roar.

"Take cover!" As the sentry's cry rang out, bombs came screaming down from the sky. At this critical moment, Hu Changbao did not hesitate for an instant—he leaped up and threw Mao Zedong to the ground.

Dirt and rubble were hurled skyward by the blast wave; the roadside shrubs were shredded by shrapnel. A thick wave of acrid smoke and heat engulfed both men completely. When the situation stabilized, Mao Zedong had escaped unharmed, but Hu Changbao had been struck by several shell fragments, and the gray cloth of his military uniform over his abdomen was already soaked through with blood.

"Changbao!" Mao Zedong knelt down, cradled his head in the crook of his arm, and called out loudly for a medic: "Quickly, dress his wounds!" Hu Changbao waved his hand. His face was as pale as paper, his breath faint; with his last strength he spoke his final words: "Chairman, I'm done for… save the medicine, keep moving forward. I wish the revolution victory!"

Hu Changbao closed his eyes forever. Mao Zedong's tears poured forth. Because the military situation was urgent and enemy pursuers were close behind, the unit could not linger; his comrades buried his remains with tears in their eyes between two ancient tombs in Shengjiwan, Yingjing County.

Hu Changbao gave his life, and his blood stained the earth red. Later, the local people in the area of Niubei Mountain where he fell discovered a type of granite of exceptional hardness and a deep crimson color like blood, and named that shade of red "Red Army Red" (红军红).

The bloodline is red.

More than 90 years have passed. Though the fires of war have long receded, the "Red Army Red" imprinted in the hearts of "Red Third Company's" officers and soldiers still burns as brightly as ever. As heirs of the Red Army, we will surely fuse the sacrificial spirit of our martyrs into our very lives, and with the hot blood of youth continue to write the story of heroes.

(Compiled by PLA Daily Contracted Reporter Wang Lijun)

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Looking Up Beneath the "Red Army Tree"

■ Sergeant of "Combat Fortress Steadfast Red Third Company," Tan Zhiyuan

In my hometown of Qujing, Yunnan, everyone knows the story of the "Red Army Tree."

In April 1936, as He Long and Ren Bishi led their forces through Malong's Lujiazhuang Village east of the city during the Long March, they were suddenly caught in an enemy air raid. At this critical moment, a Red Army battalion commander stepped forward, simultaneously directing soldiers to open fire and organizing the local people to disperse and take cover. After the battle, not one villager of Lujiazhuang was harmed, but the battalion commander was killed. The local people buried him with tears beneath a Yunnan hackberry tree (滇朴树) and called that tree the "Red Army Tree" to express their gratitude and remembrance of the Red Army.

Through all the passing years, the "Red Army Tree" has stood unbroken, its canopy full and spreading; the great spirit of the Long March has transcended time and continues without end. As a child, I visited the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Garden in Lujiazhuang, and gazing at that "Red Army Tree," the seed of military service quietly took root in my heart.

In 2019, I enlisted and came to "Red Third Company," flowing with red bloodlines. In that moment, I felt a strange resonance. Each generation has its own Long March road; the image of heroic predecessors fighting through blood and fire is also the beacon that lights our way forward.

In one live-force exercise, I led my squad in an infiltration and obstacle-breaching mission. While clearing a path, we suddenly discovered an unexploded ordnance. With only 8 minutes remaining before the general assault, I immediately ordered my comrades to withdraw to a safe area, then moved forward alone to calmly handle and neutralize the hazard. In the end, the squad cleared the attack route on time, seizing a critical window for the element's victory.

When the mission ended, I looked out toward the distant mountains and thought again of the lush, leafy "Red Army Tree" in my hometown. No matter how far I have traveled, it remains rooted deep in my soul, infusing me with courage and strength. On my next home leave, I will certainly go again to see that Yunnan hackberry tree standing firm through wind and rain—that "Red Army Tree" that has nourished me.

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How Great the Ambitions Born of Sacrifice

■ PLA Daily Reporter Zhao Qian

The Gui Mountains loom vast; the Xiang River flows wide. In 2019, in Bantang Village, Lianghe Town, Quanzhou County, Guilin, Guangxi, workers responsible for collecting Red Army remains excavated dozens of sets of remains from a cave called Ermu Cave beneath a cliff—85 years after the Battle of the Xiang River.

This was a Red Army unit that had been wounded in the bloody fighting. They had supported one another into the cliff cave to evade pursuit, but the enemy found them still. A thick smoke of mixed sulfur and chili pepper poured into the cave; the courageous soldiers, not one of them, surrendered—instead they huddled together and awaited the final moment of their lives.

The more glorious the victory, the more heroic the sacrifice. Comrade Mao Zedong once said: "Has history ever witnessed a Long March like ours? No, never." The Red Army announced the victory of this great expedition at the enormous cost of more than 100,000 casualties.

What does a soldier's sacrifice mean—for history and for the future, for the nation and for the people?

During the strategic withdrawal of the Central Red Army's main force, Liu Bojian, who remained in the Soviet area to continue the struggle, left a family letter before his heroic execution: "Your younger brother is prepared to sacrifice. To live is for China, to die is for China; I leave all else to fate…" What words of such piercing heartbreak, and yet of such power to move heaven and earth.

Fang Zhimin, the martyr who led his forces north to resist Japan in support of the Central Red Army's Long March, made a heartfelt declaration to his homeland from prison: "Where my blood flows, or where my bones are buried, perhaps a lovely flower will grow. You should regard that flower as the vessel of my sincerity!" He hoped that flower would nod up and down—that would be his warm salute to the patriotic fighters striving for the liberation of the Chinese nation; he hoped that flower would sway from side to side—that would be him summoning his strength to sing the song of revolution, encouraging the soldiers to press forward!

How great the ambitions born of sacrifice; dare to make the sun and moon shine anew. On the Long March road, there was almost a skirmish every day; on average, for every 300 meters advanced, one Red Army soldier fell. They ignited the spark of revolution with their lives, paved the road to victory with their blood, and through the choice to sacrifice the "small self" to forge the "great self," they awakened the people, tested the truth, and above all created history and opened a new chapter.

There are many more sacrifices that left no name behind, and whose remains have not even been found. But time cannot erase memory, and history never forgets the heroes who gave their lives for the nation. In many places where the Red Army once marched on the Long March, people have written the characters "red" (红), "army" (军), and "march" (征) into their names, as a deep memorial to those grievous sacrifices and the mighty power of life.

Today, though we are far removed from artillery fire and the smoke of battle, sacrifice is not far from us. To walk the Long March road of the new era well still requires every soldier to take up the rifle of our predecessors, carry forward the mission of heroes, fuse the spirit of sacrifice into the bloodstream and engrave it into bone and sinew, draw from red history the courage and strength to give one's life without hesitation, and continuously honor the martyrs with new achievements.

Layout Design: Fang Han, Yang Lei　Illustration: Yang Lei