Site of the Fourth Counter-Encirclement Campaign of the Central Soviet Area

Site of the Fourth Counter-Encirclement Campaign of the Central Soviet Area

The site of the Fourth Counter-Encirclement Campaign of the Central Soviet Area is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Site of the Fourth Counter-Encirclement Campaign of the Central Soviet Area

The site includes the former headquarters of the First Front Red Army in Zuofang and the site of the victory at Dengxian Bridge.

In December 1932, the Kuomintang launched the fourth "encirclement" campaign against the Central Soviet Area. On New Year's Day 1933, in order to win the fourth counter-encirclement, eliminate enemy strongholds within the base area, consolidate the base, accelerate the sovietization of regions such as Jinxi, Zixi, Yujiang, and Guixi, expand the Central Revolutionary Base, Commander Zhu De led the First Front Red Army to take an oath of allegiance in Lichuan County and launched the Jinxi Campaign. The headquarters was stationed in the Hougong Village area of Zuofang Town, Jinxi. The Jinxi Campaign was the prelude to the Red Army’s fourth counter-encirclement campaign, a model example of veteran proletarian revolutionaries Zhou Enlai and Zhu De skillfully applying Mao Zedong’s military thought. It played a decisive role in securing victory in the fourth counter-encirclement, opened up the connection between the Central Soviet Area and the Northeastern Jiangxi Revolutionary Base, and strengthened the Red Army. This campaign was hailed by the Central Military Commission as “the prelude to crushing the Kuomintang’s fourth encirclement,” a great victory of Mao Zedong’s military thought, and an immortal chapter in the history of the Chinese people’s revolutionary struggle.

In February 1933, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De led the First Front Red Army, following Mao Zedong’s flexible and mobile strategy and tactics, determining the Red Army’s actions based on the actual situation of the war, turning passivity into initiative. During the battle, they fully leveraged the great strength of local Red Army forces, mass armed groups, and the general populace to harass the enemy, disrupt communications, and support the operations of the main Red Army forces. Exploiting the enemy’s arrogant belief that they could force a decisive battle with the main Red Army forces, they misled and maneuvered the enemy, concentrated their main forces, chose advantageous battlefields, and pioneered the Red Army’s tactic of large-unit ambush warfare. With superior forces, they successively achieved major victories at Dengxian Bridge – Huangpi, creating a glorious precedent in the history of Red Army warfare for large-unit ambush battles never seen before. The victory in this anti-encirclement campaign further enriched the Red Army’s combat experience, demonstrated the correctness of Mao Zedong’s strategic and tactical thinking, and reflected the outstanding organizational and command abilities of veteran proletarian revolutionaries such as Zhou Enlai and Zhu De.

On October 7, 2019, the site of the Fourth Counter-Encirclement Campaign of the Central Soviet Area was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Address: Hougong Village, Zuofang Town, Jinxi County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province; Dengxianqiao Village, Gugang Township, Le’an County

Opening Information: Open to the public

Hougong Village: Hougong Village...... More details about Hougong Village++

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units