Site of the Jigong Mountain Battle

Site of the Jigong Mountain Battle

The Site of the Jigong Mountain Battle is located in Xiaping Natural Village, Dongqiao Village, Anyuan Township, Ninghua County.

Due to the erroneous leadership of the "Left" deviationist executors within the Provisional Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Fifth Counter-"Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign suffered successive defeats, leading to the continual shrinkage of the Central Soviet Area. On May 16, 1934, Jianning County — a strategic location on the northeastern front line of the Central Soviet Area — fell to the enemy. By early June, the Red 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th Army Corps were forced to retreat southward from the northeastern front to a defensive line stretching through Ninghua, Shicheng, Changting, Ningdu, and Xingguo.

On June 1, 1934, a contingent of over 400 soldiers from the Red 9th Army Corps retreated from the direction of Jianning to Jigong Mountain in Mangdongqiao District, Pengpai County (present-day Dongqiao Village, Anyuan Township, Ninghua County). They established blocking positions on Jigong Mountain and surrounding areas to resist the advance of the Nationalist 94th Division. Fighting broke out at around 9:00 a.m. on the 3rd, when over 3,000 enemy troops launched a fierce assault on the Red Army's blocking positions on Jigong Mountain under the cover of mortar and heavy machine gun fire. The battle was extremely intense, with heavy casualties on both sides and the battlefield strewn with bodies. By around 5:00 p.m., apart from a small number of Red Army soldiers who managed to break through the encirclement, the majority were killed in action, their blood staining the slopes of Jigong Mountain.

Jigong Mountain is part of the central range of the Wuyi Mountains, specifically belonging to the Jigong Mountain branch. It covers an area of 19,000 square meters and stretches from north to south, serving as the boundary mountain between Dongqiao Village of Anyuan Township, Ninghua County, and Longtou Village of Junhekou Town, Jianning County. The county road connecting Yijia in Jianning and Anyuan in Ninghua runs from north to south across the mountain. Most of the original trenches and bunkers at the Site of the Jigong Mountain Battle have been heavily damaged and are now overgrown with weeds. The lower half of the mountain was originally covered with natural forest but was later cleared and replanted with Chinese fir and bamboo for forestry purposes. Parts of the site are now designated as ecological conservation forest.

Source: Party History Research Office of the Sanming Municipal Committee