用外语讲党史故事（英文篇）｜王树声西渡嘉陵江

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今年是中国共产党成立一百周年，全党上下正在积极开展党史学习教育。南通大学外国语学院以支部为单位，组织党员教师用英语和日语编译中国共产党党史故事，把红色资源作为坚定理想信念、加强党性修养的生动教材，讲好党的故事，加强革命传统教育、爱国主义教育、青少年思想道德教育，把红色基因传承好，确保红色江山永不变色。

Crossing the Jialing River to the West Led by Wang Shusheng

After the great victories against the six Kumingtang forces, the Red Army in Sichuan-Shaanxi Area was basically restored to its heyday. In early November 1934, leaders of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Armyheld a political work conference in Maoyu Town, Tongjiang City, and reached the conclusion that the central tasks were to break through the enemy’s “encirclement and annihilation of Sichuan-Shaanxi”, to get all the people of Sichuan under the protection of Red Army, and to win the first victory in the Northwest. In mid-November, all the cadres above the regiment level attended a military meeting in Qingjiangdu Town, Bazhong City, where they focused on making strategies and plans about how to break through the enemy’s “Encirclement and Annihilation of Sichuan-Shaanxi”. At the meeting, Zhang Guotao insisted that as a result of the fierce fights against the Kumingtang forces, the Fourth Front Army in the home base was too exhausted to keep on fighting. He proposed that the Fourth Front Army should push its forces into the south of Gansu and move its base there. In other words, they intended to abandon the base area in Sichuan-Shaanxi and sought development elsewhere. In January 1935, when the Fourth Front Army was engaged in the Guangyuan-Zhaohua Battle, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China instructed the Fourth Front Army in telegraph that the army should concentrate its main force to attack the west of Jialing River to coordinate the advancement of the Chinese Central Red Army toward north. Accordingly, the Fourth Front Army launched the Jialing River Battle in order to develop its forces towards the border of Sichuan and Gansu as well as to cooperate with military operations of the Chinese Central Red Army in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou.

The Jialing River is one of the four famous rivers in Sichuan Province. It is a rare natural barrier with deep water and rapid current. The Sichuan warlord sent massive troops for blockage and guard. In order to cross the river safely and timely, the Commander, Xu Xiangqian, the Vice Commander, Wang Shusheng, and the Commander of the 33rd Army, Wang Weizhou, together with their advisers, tramped along the eastern bank of the Jialing River for about 400 li to survey the terrain, investigate the enemy and search for proper ferry. Finally, they decided to cross the river by force from two places between Cangxi and Lang.

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Under the order of the front-line headquarters headed by Wang Shusheng, they crossed the river simultaneously in three teams on March 28 and 29. In early April, the Fourth Front Army laid siege to Jianmen Pass from the east, west and south. As the throat of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the terrain is extremely important in strategy and it’s known to all that “one man who hold this pass can guard against ten thousand enemies”. Wang Shusheng asked to mobilize the mortar battalion from the Red Fourth Army headquarter to destroy the enemy's position. In the meantime, under the cover of mortars and machine gun fire, the 31st Army on the right cooperated with the 30th Army, fought fiercely for half a day, and finally got through the Jianmen Pass, wiping out more than 3,000 defenders, and completely destroying the enemy’s last barrier on both sides of Jialing River. The battle of Jialing River, which lasted for 24 days, ended successfully on April 21. 12 enemy regiments with a total of more than 10,000 troops were defeated, 9 counties (Langzhong, Nanfang, Jiange and Zhaohua, etc.) were conquered and a vast area of 200 or 300 li on both sides of the Jialing River was under our control. The victory of the Jialing River Campaign was a prologue to the Long March of the Fourth Front Red Army.

The heroic fighting of the Fourth Front Red Army in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Area strongly supported the actions of the main force of the Red Army and the strategic shift of the Long March. As Xu Xiangqian said, "Had the Sichuan-Shaanxi bases not functioned as a bridge, more difficulties would have been in the way and greater losses would have been caused when the Red Army were making a major strategic shift." 

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翻译 | 黄云

 审校 | 曹雁华

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排版｜郑馨

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