Memorial Site of the Battle of Dushu Town Fought by the 25th Red Army

The Memorial Site of the Battle of Dushu Town Fought by the 25th Red Army

The Memorial Site of the Battle of Dushu Town Fought by the 25th Red Army is a cultural relic protection unit of Henan Province.

The Memorial Site of the Bloody Battle of Dushu Town by the 25th Red Army is located at Qiligang in Dushu Town, 24 kilometers northeast of Fangcheng County, Henan Province, on the south side of the Xuchang-Nanyang Highway. It commemorates the site where the 25th Red Army fought fiercely and achieved victory against the enemy during the Long March.

After the Central Red Army was forced to begin the Long March due to the failure of its fifth counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign, on November 16, 1934, nearly 3,000 soldiers of the 25th Red Army, under the leadership of Commander Cheng Zihua, Political Commissar Wu Huanxian, and Deputy Commander Xu Haidong, held high the banner of the Second Advance Detachment of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army to Resist Japan in the North. They were also ordered to evacuate the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Base Area (Hejiachong, Luoshan County, Henan Province) and set out on the Long March. Along the way, they broke through the encirclement and pursuit of the Nationalist army. On the 26th, they arrived within the territory of Fangcheng and were confronted and blocked by the 40th Army of the Nationalists led by Pang Bingxun and local landlord militias at Qiligang in Dushu Town. The brave soldiers of the 25th Red Army fought fearlessly and tenaciously. After a day and night of fierce battle, they finally broke through the encirclement, turned the crisis into safety, swiftly advanced into the Funiu Mountain area, and completed their strategic transfer to northern Shaanxi, laying the foundation for welcoming the Central Red Army's northward advance.

The Battle of Qiligang in Dushu Town fought by the 25th Red Army came at the cost of nearly 100 lives and over 200 seriously wounded (including Liu Huaqing, who was only 18 years old at the time and already serving as head of the Organization Section of the 25th Red Army’s Political Department, who was injured in this battle). It repelled the fierce combined assault of tens of thousands of Nationalist infantry and cavalry, preserving the vital strength of the Red Army. On October 22, 1997, Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, listed the “Bloody Battle of Dushu Town” alongside other pivotal battles of the Red Army’s Long March—such as the four crossings of the Chishui River, the clever crossing of the Jinsha River, the seizure of the Luding Bridge, the campaign in the Wumeng Mountains, and the fierce battle on the Jialing River—during his speech at the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. In November 1996, with the approval of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, the Fangcheng County Party Committee and County Government established the Monument to the Battle of Dushu Town Fought by the 25th Red Army at the site of the Red Army’s battle in Qiligang. The monument was completed in November 1997. Shaped like a bayonet, the monument embodies the spirit of the “bloody battle.” The body of the monument stands 25.34 meters tall, symbolizing the 25th Red Army and the historical context of 1934. Leaders such as Liu Huatao and Cheng Zihua personally inscribed the monument’s text. It is a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Henan Province