He, the first Red Army division commander to sacrifice on the Long March!

The Battle of Baishi

was the first battle during the Long March of the Central Red Army

The "One-Armed Division Commander" Hong Chao

unfortunately sacrificed his life in this battle

He was the first division commander to die on the Long March of the Central Red Army

He began his military career at the age of 18

Bravely fought and unfortunately lost his left arm

Hong Chao

was born in 1909

in a poor peasant family in Huangmei, Hubei

He lost his father at a young age

and experienced the hardships of life

In 1927, under the arrangement of the party organization

18-year-old Hong Chao went to Wuhan

and began his military career

From the Xiangnan Uprising

to the various battles against the "encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Area

his brave figure was present in every charge

In the battle of Caotaigang in 1933

Hong Chao's left arm was hit

and he had to amputate it to avoid infection

Though he lost an arm

his fighting spirit remained undiminished

The soldiers called him the "One-Armed Division Commander"

In October 1934

after the failure of the fifth "encirclement and suppression"

the Red Army was forced to make a strategic retreat

and began the Long March

By the banks of the Yudu River, the villagers tearfully bid farewell

Hong Chao led the 4th Red Division on the journey

The "One-Armed Division Commander" who led by example

was only 25 years old at the time of his sacrifice

On October 21, 1934

Hong Chao led the 4th Red Division

as the vanguard of the Central Red Army's right flank

into Baishi Village, Xinfeng County, Jiangxi

They encountered enemy resistance

The first battle on the Long March of the Central Red Army

The Battle of Baishi began

The Red Army soldiers charged forward bravely, like a hot knife through butter

The remaining enemies hid in a dirt enclosure in the village and stubbornly resisted

Hong Chao knew well

that every minute of delay

increased the danger for the troops behind him

He decisively ordered

to use mortars to destroy the dirt enclosure

As soon as he finished speaking

a stray bullet hit Hong Chao in the head

He fell at the first blockade set by the enemy

at just 25 years old

His comrades, filled with grief and anger, annihilated the remaining enemies

On the 25th, the Central Red Army crossed the Tao River

breaking through the enemy's first blockade

At 96 years old, his son visited the martyr's burial site

to pay respects to his "25-year-old" heroic father

After Hong Chao's sacrifice

due to the urgency of the war

his comrades entrusted a villager to bury him

As time passed

the martyr's burial site gradually faded into the river of history

and the family searched for many years without success

Until 2006

the descendants of martyr Hong Chao

learned the exact location of the martyr's grave

from a program on China Central Television

……

On the eve of Qingming in 2026

96-year-old Hong Kaixian, disregarding his children's advice

insisted on coming to Baishi Village

to "visit" his father Hong Chao

"Dad, in the past you suffered a lot for the revolution

now life is better

I really want you to see today's happy life"

He set out but died before achieving success

Long makes heroes' tears fill their collars

25 years old

should have been a time of youth and dreams for the future

But Hong Chao and countless young Red Army soldiers

fell just as they set out

They used their young lives

to tear a hole in the enemy's defenses

opening a path for the Red Army's strategic retreat