Part of the Chinese Civil War
The Battle of Luding Bridge () of 1935 was a controversial crossing of the Luding Bridge by the soldiers of the Fourth Regiment of the Chinese Workers and Peasants' Red Army during the Long March. The bridge, situated over the Dadu River in Luding County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China, was located about 80 kilometers west of the city of Ya'an and was a river crossing vital to the Red Army.
Overview of the bridge's role in the Long March.
Fleeing from pursuing Chinese Nationalist forces, the communists found that there were not enough boats to cross the Dadu River (Sichuan province). Thus, they were forced to use Luding Bridge, a Qing dynasty suspension bridge built in 1701. The bridge consisted of thirteen heavy iron chains with a span of some 100 yards. Thick wooden boards lashed over the chains provided the roadway across the bridge.
On the morning of May 28, 1935, the 4th regiment of Lin Biao's 2nd division, 1st Corps of the Chinese Red Army, received an urgent order from general headquarters: Luding Bridge must be captured on May 29, 1935, one day ahead of the original schedule.
The 4th regiment then marched 120 km in less than 24 hours. Along the way, they engaged and defeated numerous nationalist forces which blocked their path. On the dawn of May 29, 1935, Lin Biao's troops reached the bridge, only to discover that local warlords allied with the ruling Kuomintang had removed most of the planks on the bridge. Furthermore, Luding City itself was occupied by a regiment of troops from warlord Liu Wenhui's 38th Brigade, 4th brigade, under the 5th division of the 24th Corps. The brigade's commander, Li Quanshan (李全山), was also a wealthy opium dealer. This was a common business for many of the local warlord commanders. Li divided his regiment into two parts, with two battalions deployed inside Luding City, while another battalion was deployed some distance outside in the suburb. His defending forces still enjoyed numerical superiority over the attacking Red Army. The 4th regiment had lost considerable strength during the hurried 24-hour march - approximately two-thirds of the soldiers had fallen behind during the march - and only a battalion-sized force had reached the western bank of the Luding Bridge that morning.
Local warlord politics.
Relationship between local warlords.
A major factor that contributed to the Chinese Red Army's victory was that the local warlords were mainly concerned with Chiang Kai-shek and his plans to take over their territories, and they felt much less threatened by the Red Army's passing through. The area containing Luding bridge was controlled by the warlord Liu Wenhui (刘文辉), who fought the civil wars in Sichuan Province against his own nephew, the warlord Liu Xiang (刘湘). Liu Xiang managed to have nearly all of the other warlords in Sichuan join him in the struggle against his uncle. Chiang ostensibly remained neutral at the beginning of Sichuan's provincial conflicts in order to weaken the local warlords by letting them fight each other. Once the provincial warlords were weak and in disarray, Chiang's forces moved in and took over.
Gradually, it was apparent that the nephew would prevail over the uncle because the nephew was willing to take heavy troop losses in exchange for territory. The uncle was unwilling to sacrifice large number of his troops during initial skirmishes with his nephew. Knowing Liu Xiang would probably not survive a massive counterattack from Liu Wenhui, Chiang shifted his support to the nephew Liu Xiang. But the anticipated counterattack from Liu Wenhui never came. Liu Xiang eventually defeated his own uncle, Liu Wenhui, forcing the latter to retreat to Xikang Province. Chiang was then able to face a weak alliance of smaller warlords rather than confront a single strong warlord that dominated the entire province. As Chiang had expected, when Liu Wenhui's defeat became obvious, the smaller alliance of warlords soon existed in name only.
As a result of the provincial conflicts Liu Wenhui, like the other warlords, was extremely reluctant to commit his force in any significant numbers to fight the Red Army. Knowing that the communists were only passing by, Liu Wenhui, like other warlords, preserved his forces to fight other warlords in Sichuan. Strength preservation was vital to his survival: his force had been reduced to 20,000 from its previous peak of 120,000.
Relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and local warlords.
In addition to preserving forces to fight others, the local warlords were also keen to preserve their forces to keep Chiang out of their own territory. Prior to the Red Army entering Sichuan Province, Chiang's army had followed the Red Army into the neighboring Guizhou province, ostensibly to help the local warlord, Wang Jialie (王家烈), fight them. When the Red Army left Guizhou, Chiang's troops remained. Blamed for failing to stop the Red Army, Wang Jialie was removed by Chiang with the backup of his newly deployed troops in the province. The local warlords knew that they could return and regain control of their territory after the Red Army had left; however, if Chiang's army came, they would be removed for good. Therefore, despite Chiang's advisors' accurate prediction of the need of at least three regiments—and possibly four or five—of the local warlord's troops to stop a single Red Army regiment, the local warlord only deployed a single regiment at Luding Bridge. The main force was deployed to block Chiang's two regiments sent to reinforce the defense of Luding Bridge. The defenders of Luding Bridge were well aware of the political situation after witnessing the fall of the neighboring warlord in Guizhou province and were not willing to sacrifice their own lives for Chiang's potential take-over.
Following a divide and conquer tactic, Chiang awarded the local military command of the northern Dadu River region to a smaller Sichuanese warlord, Yang Sen (杨森). Yang Sen had allied with the second largest Sichuanese warlord, Liu Xiang. Together they began fighting against the biggest Sichuanese warlord Liu Wenhui. At the time of the Luding Bridge incident, the region was still under Liu Wenhui's control. Liu Wenhui's troops certainly would not take orders from the lesser rival Yang Sen. Although he received military, political, as well as financial support from Chiang Kai-shek, Yang Sen would not sacrifice his own troops by sending them to help Liu Wenhui stop the communists. Both were well aware of Chiang's divide and conquer strategy, and both held their main forces to prepare for Chiang's potential take-over. Knowing the local opium dependent warlord commanders were incapable of stopping the communist forces, Chiang tried to send more capable officers from his own officer corps to advise the local troops. These attempts were politely but unanimously rejected by all local Sichuanese warlords, as they feared Chiang's takeover.
Weaponry.
Numerous surviving Chinese Red Army veterans recalled that the weapons used by the local warlords guarding the bridge were far inferior to the weapons used by the Chinese Red Army, suggesting that the incident may have been exaggerated. While the Chinese Red Army soldiers had high morale and were brave, their superior weaponry was probably equally important:
Orders of battle.
Defender: Nationalists.
Supreme commander: Chiang Kai-shek, assisted by Liu Wenhui (刘文辉) and Yang Sen 杨森 (in name only).
The 24th Corps commanded by Liu Wenhui (刘文辉)
Chiang Kai-shek's forces did not reach the site in time to participate in the battle, though technically these forces were part of the provincial warlords' command.
Attacker: Communists.
Supreme commander: Mao Zedong, assisted by Zhu De and Zhou Enlai
The right (eastern) column of the 1st Corps commanded by Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen
The left (western) column of the 1st Corps commanded by Lin Biao
Due to the devastating attrition rate during the Long March, the communist forces were so under-manned that brigade designations did not exist at the time of the incident.
Lin Biao's role in the assault.
Lin Biao has commonly been given credit for direct command of the assault. However, the actual commander was the regimental political commissar Yang Chengwu. Lin Biao and other column commanders remained at their temporary headquarters 160 km away from Luding Bridge, and the task of taking the bridge was given to Lin Biao's vanguard unit, the 4th regiment, as it was 40 km closer to Luding. The regiment was led by commander Huang Kaixiang (黄开湘) and political commissar Yang Chengwu (杨成武). Credit was publicly given to Lin Biao during the Cultural Revolution, in which he was glorified to boost his popularity. Giving him direct credit for jobs accomplished by his subordinates was one of the standard propaganda techniques. During the Cultural Revolution, the actual commander, Yang Chengwu was jailed and persecuted under the direct order of Lin Biao.
The actual decision to capture Luding Bridge was made by Mao Zedong himself, at noon on May 26, 1935, with the help of Zhu De. When Mao and Zhu reached Anshunchang ferry, they found just four small boats. After moving a regiment across the river with the ferry, it became apparent that transporting the entire Red Army by ferry would take at least a month. Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist force, commanded by Xue Yue, was closing in fast, so it was decided that the main force would cross the Dadu River at Luding Bridge, 160 km upstream.
Mao decided that the Red Army would launch a two-pronged attack on Luding Bridge:
Mao had also prepared for the worst: if the two forces could not meet at Luding Bridge, Liu Bocheng and Nie Rongzhen would move into western Sichuan and there set up a new base.
Lin Biao had little to do with the planning or the direct battle maneuvers of the event. He probably provided logistical implementation for Mao's orders, and then dispatched his units to follow the plan. Lin Biao himself did not reach Luding Bridge until May 30, 1935, well after the end of the battle. Even Liu Bocheng reached Luding Bridge during the night of May 29, 1935, earlier than Lin Biao. However, Lin Biao can be credited with having the audacity, even recklessness, to order his troops to quickly march 160 km in 24 hours through hostile territory, and then, without rest, fight against an enemy of unknown strength.
Prelude to the battle.
On their way to Luding Bridge, the soldiers of the 4th regiment, 2nd division, 1st corps of the Chinese Red Army discovered that on the opposite bank, two regiments of the nationalist reinforcement were on their way to Luding Bridge. The nationalists were faster because they used torches at night, while the communists avoided them in order to move without being detected. When Red Army commander Wang Kaixiang and political commissar Yang Chengwu (杨成武) did finally decide to use torches, they were discovered by their adversaries.
Neither of the forces had any radio equipment, and the sound of the raging river made vocal communication impossible. Consequently, the nationalists used bugles for command and control. However, the communists successfully fooled the nationalists into believing that they were on the same side by using the bugle commands of Chiang Kai-shek's ally and designated regional commander, Yang Sen, in reply to the nationalists' signals. In the face of heavy rains, the nationalists stopped their march and camped. The communists pressed on, and the battalion-sized contingent arrived at the bridge first.
On the eastern bank, the right column already started their march to the Luding Bridge. The Nationalist 10th infantry regiment, 4th brigade was the closest opposing force to the communists, and began spreading out along the Dadu river. On May 27, 1935, the 2nd regiment of the 1st division of the communist force defeated the nationalist 10th regiment at Waba (瓦坝) after several hours of fierce fighting. The next day, after more than a 50 km march, the communist 2nd regiment successfully defeated the remaining units of the nationalist 10th regiment. On May 29, 1935, the communist 2nd regiment engaged the nationalist 11th regiment, and with the help of the communist 3rd regiment, which arrived after the battle began, completely wiped out the nationalist 12th regiment. The communist 2nd and 3rd regiments then proceeded to destroy the brigade headquarters located 25 km away from Luding Bridge. The nationalist commander of the 4th brigade, Yuan Guorui (袁国瑞), fled with his surviving staff to the surrounding mountains, from where they were unable to reestablish links with the rest of the nationalist forces after the bridge and the city were both taken by the communists. This left to Li