Hongmen Xiaoshi Battle Site

Hongmen Xiaoshi Battle Site

The Hongmen Xiaoshi Battle Site is a classic red tourism attraction.

Xiaoshi, located in Hongmen Town, Nancheng County, was the site of the fifth "encirclement and suppression" campaign launched by Chiang Kai-shek against the Central Soviet Area in October 1933. On September 28, the enemy’s Northern Route Army’s Eighth Column, led by Zhou Hunyuan (with three divisions), occupied Lichuan, the northern gateway to the Central Base Area. Bo Gu, Li De, and others, who were then in control of the Red Army leadership, abandoned the correct strategic and tactical operations that Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai had successfully employed in the previous anti-encirclement campaigns. Instead, they adopted erroneous tactics such as "repelling the enemy beyond our borders," "fortress against fortress," and "positional warfare." Alarmed by the loss of Lichuan, they urgently sought to retake it and thus ordered the Eastern Army to attack the strategically important town of Xiaoshi near Nancheng, aiming to cut off communication between Zhou Hunyuan’s column and the enemy forces in Nancheng, as well as to recapture Lichuan.

The terrain made Xiaoshi a naturally defensible and hard-to-attack position. The enemy stationed there, the 24th Division under Huang Zixian (approximately four regiments), constructed two solid lines of defense using bunkers and connecting trenches. In addition, they built supporting fortifications, with the Xiaoshi town area being almost entirely fortified—making the Red Army’s offensive particularly difficult.

On October 8, 1933, the various Red Army units assigned to attack Xiaoshi moved into their designated positions. At dawn on October 9, the Eastern Army Command issued the attack order. That day, the Red Army launched four fierce assaults, including two hand-to-hand combats. The defending enemy used gasoline-soaked cotton wads as flaming illumination to resist stubbornly, and the Red Army’s attacks failed to succeed. From October 10 to 11, the Red Army continued to assault multiple times but was thwarted due to the strong defensive lines of the Xiaoshi enemy. It was not until October 13, when three enemy divisions from Nancheng moved to reinforce Xiaoshi, that Mao Zedong’s effective and correct combat strategies came into play. This forced the Eastern Army Command to decide: “Temporarily abandon the enemy at Xiaoshi, and instead focus on attacking and annihilating the enemy reinforcements approaching from Nancheng.” At 3:00 PM that afternoon, the Eastern Army began withdrawing from the Xiaoshi area, marking the end of the Xiaoshi Campaign. Although the Red Army fought bravely, the campaign ultimately resulted in significant losses due to the erroneous command of the "Left" leadership. However, the heroic resistance of the Red Army remains worthy of remembrance. On October 25 and November 1, 1933, the First Front Army ambushed the moving enemy forces—the 79th and 94th Divisions—near Xiaoshi twice, capturing more than 1,300 rifles, six light machine guns, one regiment commander, and over 1,400 soldiers.

The Xiaoshi Battle Site (including earthen artillery platforms and trenches), along with the temporary Red Army headquarters, are precious revolutionary historical heritage sites in our county. They serve as important venues for patriotic and revolutionary tradition education and are also rare red tourism resources in our region.

Hongmen Town: Located in the southeastern part of Nancheng County, Hongmen Town was formerly known as Xiaoshi Town, which served as the county seat of Nancheng during the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC), making it a veritable millennium-old town.

By the end of 2018, Hongmen Town covered a total area of 155.13 square kilometers, including 13,857 mu of arable land, 7,200 mu of orchards, 147,705 mu of forestland, and 20,000 mu of aquaculture water area, with a forest coverage rate of 70.4%. The town has one small (Type I) reservoir, four small (Type II) reservoirs, 87 hill ponds and dams, and 79 water weirs. There are 17 Party branches in the town... More detailed information about Hongmen Town++