During the Long March, the officers and soldiers of the Red Army had to frequently engage themselves in battles, at the same time, they had to cope with the challenges of harsh natural environment, hence, it was hardly avoidable that some officers and men would get wounded in battles while others might fall ill under harsh natural conditions. The CPC Central Committee and the Red Army troops attached great importance to medical work. Before the Central Red Army set off for the Long March in early October 1934, the General Health Department of the Red Army transferred some medical backbones to urgently set up the Red Star Hospital, and let it march along with the Central Column. In addition, various army groups of the Red Army also established their own field hospitals and let them move along with their troops to provide medical service.

The Red Star Hospital consisted of three clinics, with the No. 1 Clinic responsible for collecting and giving medical treatment to cadres of the Central Organs. For instance, Before the Central Organs set off for the Long March, Dong Biwu, Deng Yingchao, He Zizhen and some others fell ill, and they were collected by the No. 1 Clinic for medical treatment and recuperation. The No. 2 Clinic mainly collected and gave medical treatment to cadres at regiment level and above; and the No. 3 Clinic collected and provided medical service to many unexpected wounded and sick officers and men sent to it.

The Red Army obtained medicine mainly by either capturing from the enemy or through procurement. However, along with the steady progress of the Long March, especially after the troops entered the ethnic groups inhabited areas in Sichuan and Xikang Provinces, medical supply became increasingly difficult. Under such circumstances, medical staff of the Red Army tried all possible means to do a good job of medical support. For instances, they collected medicinal herbs in the mountains to make up medicine deficiency. They also seized the time during the battle interval to give treatment to the wounded and the sick, and strived to perform surgical operations for a few seriously wounded soldiers. Without operating table, they used door-planks instead; without bandage, they tore their own quilts to strips to dress the wound; without anesthetics, they put a towel into the mouth of the wounded before surgical operation and asked them to bite it to bear the pain. Along the long and tortuous course of the Long March, the medial staff of the Red Army overcame many unimaginable difficulties to snatch many serious wounded soldiers and dangerously ill patients from the jaw of death, and preserved effective troop strength for the revolution.

Editor: Yan