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58-924: The Eighth Route Army was created from the Chinese Red Army on September 22, 1937, when the Chinese Communists and Chinese Nationalists formed the Second United Front against Japan at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, as the Chinese theater was known in World War II . Together with the New Fourth Army , the Eighth Route Army formed the main Communist fighting force during the war and

116-999: A Nationalist forces' reconnaissance aircraft in eastern Hubei. The pilot, Long Wenguang, joined the Red Army and assisted them in attacking the enemy army. Before the Fourth Red Army retreated from its base area, the aircraft was concealed by local farmers and was found again in 1951. The First Red Army also captured two reconnaissance aircraft in 1932. [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED]   People's Republic of China Second United Front The Second United Front ( traditional Chinese : 第二次國共合作 ; simplified Chinese : 第二次国共合作 ; pinyin : dì èr cì guógòng hézuò ; lit. 'Second Nationalist-Communist Cooperation')

174-650: A deeply disgruntled Zhang Xueliang kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in Xi'an to force an end to the conflict between KMT and CCP. To secure the release of Chiang, the KMT was forced to agree to a temporary end to the Chinese Civil War and the forming of a united front between the CCP and KMT against Japan on 24 December 1936. However, by the time Chiang arrived in Xi'an on 4 December 1936, negotiations for

232-518: A minority of them stayed in southern China. The Chinese Red Army's weapons were all captured from the enemy army, with the most important and useful weapon being the rifle. In the winter of 1934, the First Red Army's twelve divisions had 72,300 soldiers and 25,300 rifles. Compared to the First Red Army, the Fourth Red Army had more rifles which allowed it to recruit many new soldiers in Sichuan. However,

290-707: A new group army. It was named the Second Red Army and He Long was tasked with being its commander. The Second Red Army and Fourth Red Army arrived in north Shaanxi in the autumn of 1936. Around the same time, roughly 21,000 soldiers from the Fourth Red Army attacked Gansu, wanting to find a way to the Soviet Union . By the end of 1936, they were defeated by the Nationalist forces' General Ma Bufang , with more than 6,000 soldiers being captured. Only Xu Xiangqian and other senior officers survived. Because of this great failure,

348-571: A strategy of appeasing Japan while struggling for real national unity and over time sufficient strength to confront the Imperial army. This appeasement policy lasted for another six years". Even though his encirclement campaigns against the CCP resulted in their retreat and a 90% reduction in their fighting strength, he was unable to eliminate their forces entirely, and his policy of "internal pacification before external resistance" ( (in Chinese) : 攘外必先安内 )

406-474: A total of 20,000 soldiers and planned to occupy Guangzhou . However, they were defeated before they reached Guangzhou with only a few thousand men surviving the battle. Zhu De led a column of survivors to Hunan to fight in the Autumn Harvest Uprising where they were defeated again. After the revolt, Mao Zedong organized the rebels into a guerilla army, establishing a revolutionary base area in

464-404: A united front had been in the works for two years. The China Democratic League , an umbrella organization for three political parties and three political pressure groups , also agreed to take part in the united front formed by KMT and the CCP. As a result of the truce between KMT and CCP, the Red Army was reorganized into the New Fourth Army and the 8th Route Army , which were placed under

522-499: Is not an entity for fighting only. Its major task (or function) is to mobilize the masses. Fighting is only a means." This process involved the Red Army's significant responsibility for educating, organizing, and mobilizing the masses, functioning like the mobile embodiment of the Communist Party in addition to its military roles. Academic Cai Xiang writes that the Red Army's ability to function in this way helps explain why despite

580-770: The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or just the Red Army , was the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party from 1928 to 1937. It was formed when Communist elements of the National Revolutionary Army splintered and mutinied in the Nanchang Uprising . The Red Army was reincorporated into the National Revolutionary Army as part of the Second United Front with the Kuomintang to fight against

638-646: The Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945. In the later stages of the Chinese Civil War the Red Army splintered off once again and was renamed the People's Liberation Army . In the summer of 1926, the CCP took over the two divisions of the Chinese Nationalist Party forces and led a military mutiny. Nationalist forces General He Long commanded the 20th Corps to join them. They had

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696-481: The Jinggang Mountains . The two armies joined forces in the following year. In the winter of 1927, the CCP planned to conquer Guangzhou; however, the uprising failed and thousands of insurgents were killed by the Nationalist forces of General Li Jishen . Between 1928 and 1929, the CCP launched multiple uprisings. Mao Zedong and Zhu De led the organization and training of the Communist military, including

754-463: The puppet forces of the Japanese. The CCP under the leadership of Mao Zedong also began to focus most of their energy on building up their sphere of influence wherever opportunities were presented, mainly through rural mass organizations, administrative, land and tax reform measures favoring poor peasants ; while the KMT allocated many divisions of its regular army to carry out military blockade of

812-474: The CCP areas in an attempt to neutralize the spread of their influence until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong attempted to engage in peace talks. This effort failed and by 1946 the KMT and the CCP were engaged in all-out civil war. The CCP were able to obtain seized Japanese Army weapons in the Northeast – with Soviet acquiescence – and took

870-641: The CCP would call them "collaborators" and then attack to eliminate their forces. For example, the Red Army led by He Long attacked and wiped out a brigade of Chinese militia led by Zhang Yin-wu in Hebei in June, 1939. In December 1940, Chiang Kai-shek demanded that the CCP's New Fourth Army evacuate Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces. Despite the intense pressure, the New Fourth Army commanders committed insubordination by marching in an unauthorized direction and also missed

928-539: The Chinese Red Army had several armies in the summer of 1928. The Chinese Red Army became stronger than before and during the summer of 1930. In the summer of 1932, the Chinese Red Army had formed three main forces before the Fourth Encirclement Campaign. The Chinese Red Army had nearly 200,000 men in the winter of 1934. Most of Chinese Red Army had arrived in northern Shaanxi by autumn 1936. Only

986-851: The Eighth Route Army later joined the Korean People's Army . In the Yan'an base area in September 1938, the Eighth Route Army established its first film group. In August 1937, the Eighth Route Army had three divisions. In Winter 1940 the Eighth Route Army had increased to 400,000 soldiers. [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED]   People's Republic of China Chinese Red Army [REDACTED] China portal The Chinese Red Army , formally

1044-731: The Eighth Route Army were aided by local militias organized from the peasantry. After its fall 1938 victory in the Battle of Wuhan , Japan advanced deep into Communist territory and redeployed 50,000 troops to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region . Elements of the Eighth Route Army soon attacked the advancing Japanese, inflicting between 3,000 and 5,000 casualties and resulting in a Japanese retreat. The Communist Party's liaison offices in cities under Nationalist control such as Chongqing , Guilin and Dihua (Ürümqi) were called Eighth Route Army Offices. Ethnic Koreans who fought in

1102-665: The Fourth Army, which totaled about 6,000 men in the summer of 1928 and fought in Jiangxi . Also in the summer of 1928, Peng Dehuai , the Nationalist forces Regimental Commander, led a military mutiny. A Nanchang uprising survivor, He Long, also created an army in his hometown, with former government soldiers as the main fighting force. In the late 1920s, the Communist forces lacked resources and relied on guerilla tactics such as hit-and-run operations to compensate for their material limitations. In early 1930, more red armies were created and

1160-517: The Fourth Red Army in autumn. In 1934, the Nationalist forces purchased new German weapons and launched a fifth large-scale attack on the Red Army's base area in Jiangxi. The First Red Army lost more than 50,000 soldiers in this battle and had to leave Jiangxi to establish a new base. This was the beginning of the Long March . About 30,000 soldiers were left to defend the base areas in southern China. During

1218-611: The Fourth Red Army's Commander in Chief Zhang Guotao was stripped of his military power. When the anti-Japanese war broke out on 7 July 1937, the communist military forces were nominally integrated into the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China , forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units. The First Red Army was integrated into the 115th Division of the Nationalist forces. The Second Red Army

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1276-491: The KMT forces during the Battle of Taiyuan , and the high point of their cooperation came in 1938 during the Battle of Wuhan . However, the CCP submission to the chain of command of the National Revolutionary Army was in name only. The CCP acted independently and hardly ever engaged the Japanese in conventional battles. The level of actual coordination between the CCP and KMT during the Second Sino-Japanese War

1334-441: The Nationalist forces and Jiangxi's First Red Army. In the spring of 1933, the First Red Army defeated the Nationalist forces' fourth large-scale attack and eliminated two and a half of its elite divisions. Several of the Nationalist forces' generals were also captured. In 1933, the Fourth Red Army arrived at Sichuan and recruited more than 80,000 soldiers. This caused Sichuan's warlord Liu Xiang to gather 200,000 troops to attack

1392-435: The Nationalist forces' future generals participated in this battle such as Huang Wei , Du Yuming , Sun Li-jen , and others. Having lost more than half of its soldiers, the Fourth Red Army was defeated and had to retreat from its base area. He Long's Third Army also sustained significant loses, with more than 10,000 soldiers losing their lives after leaving western Hubei. During this time, there were also several battles between

1450-506: The Nationalist forces. The Chinese Red Army made use of artillery seized from the enemy forces. Most of the time the Red Armies only had mortars, with typically every army having three to five mortars. During the summer of 1930, Peng Dehuai 's Fifth Army captured four 75mm mountain guns in Yuezhou, but they lacked the required ammunition. In the spring of 1931, the Fourth Red Army captured

1508-536: The Nationalists and the CCP and both sides concentrated on jockeying for position in the inevitable Civil War. It also ended the Second United Front formed earlier to fight the Japanese. Afterwards, within the Japanese occupied provinces and behind enemy lines the KMT and CCP forces carried on warfare with each other, with the CCP eventually destroying or absorbing the KMT partisan forces or driving them into

1566-540: The Party and the military was further institutionalized by the establishment of the Central Military Commission . In the view of the Communist Party, participation of the masses in the Red Army was significant beyond the direct concerns of manpower and material support. It was also viewed as a political process through which the masses would evolve into "masters of the state." According to Mao, "[T]he Red Army

1624-407: The Red Army recruited red guards. The red guards were commanded by officers of the local soviet . When large-scale war broke out, the red guards were responsible for the logistical support of the Red Army and supplied new soldiers for the Red Army. For example, in the winter of 1932, Xiao Ke 's Eighth Army had 2,200 red soldiers and 10,000 red guards. The red guards' officers were not always loyal. In

1682-412: The army. Most of the Fourth Red Army's senior officers were killed by him, including Xu Jishen , Zhou Weijiong , and Xiaofang. Similar movements also occurred in western Hubei; in the spring of 1931, Xia Xi took over He Long's army and killed most of his senior officers including Duan Dechang . In the fall of 1932, the Nationalist forces gathered 300,000 soldiers to attack the Fourth Red Army. Most of

1740-460: The article The Democratic Movement within the Army , written during the Second Sino-Japanese War , Mao Zedong discussed the Red Army's political work and stated, "Through the democratic movement under centralized leadership, we were able to achieve a high degree of political unity, improve lives, and improve military technology and tactics, which are our three main purposes." This view of democracy in

1798-468: The autumn of 1930, Deng Xiaoping 's Seventh Army left its base area in Guangxi . In 1931, the Chinese Red Army defeated the Nationalist forces three times with a large-scale attack, causing the Nationalist forces to lose nearly 100,000 soldiers. Several smaller red armies came together and formed a group army. In the summer of 1931, General Zhang Guotao arrived at the Fourth Red Army's base area and took over

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1856-429: The command of the National Revolutionary Army . The CCP agreed to accept the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, and began to receive some financial support from the central government run by KMT. In agreement with KMT Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region and Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region were created. They were controlled by the CCP. After the commencement of full-scale war between China and Japan, CCP forces fought in alliance with

1914-838: The deadline to evacuate. Added to this were the attacks by the CCP on the Kuomintang Forces in Hebei in August 1939 and in Jiangsu in October 1940, so they were ambushed and defeated by Nationalist troops in January 1941. This clash, which would be known as the New Fourth Army Incident , weakened but didn't end the CCP position in Central China and effectively ended any substantive co-operation between

1972-544: The end of the KMT's four-year alliance with the Soviet Union and its cooperation with the CCP during the Northern Expedition (aka First United Front ) to defeat warlords and unify China. In 1931 the Japanese launched its invasion and subsequent occupation of Manchuria . Chiang Kai-shek, who de facto led the central government of China, decided that China must avoid all-out war with Japan due to domestic turmoil and inadequate preparation. Therefore, he "pursued

2030-597: The first years of the war. The largest rebellion was the Ningdu Uprising which occurred in the winter of 1931. General Dong Zhentang  [ zh ] , head of the 26th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army and his 17,000 soldiers were the first to join the First Red Army. After the uprising, the Nationalist Party strengthened its control over the army, making launching a military rebellion more difficult. Despite this, General Zhang Guotao , who regarded

2088-411: The former officers of the Nationalist forces with disdain, lead an attack in the summer of 1931 which killed more than 2,500 of the Fourth Red Army's middle and senior officers who originated from the Nationalist forces. The Chinese Red Army had no ranks. Officers and soldiers were considered equal. Early on, the officers were elected by the soldiers; however, during the later parts of the war this system

2146-461: The local forces lacked rifles. In the summer of 1934, Xun Huaizhou  [ zh ] 's Seventh Legion had 6,000 soldiers but only 1,200 rifles, which lead to the Seventh Legion's quick defeat when they attempted to attack Fuzhou . Every Red Army regiment typically had one machine gun company, with every company having six or more machine guns. The machine gun equipment rate of the Red Army

2204-420: The military emphasized democratic centralism and avoiding what the Party deemed "extreme democracy[,] or anarchism ." In May 1933, the Chinese Red Army began to build a military regularization system. They established the Red Army headquarters on the front line to command operations. The Chinese Red Army often claimed they had three group armies, although, by 1931, the Second Red Army was much smaller than

2262-431: The most recruits. Women's Organizations were mobilized to provided support to the dependents of Red Army soldiers and to prevent women from "pulling on [their menfolk's] tails" to forestall their enlistment. Coerced recruiting was explicitly forbidden. As the number of former officers of the Nationalist forces that made up the Red Army decreased throughout the war, the Red Army began to develop military education for

2320-437: The new officers who were formerly farmers. Each base area established its own military academies, usually using captured enemy officers as teachers. The enterprise was very successful, and by 1936 most of the Red Army's military officers were former farmers. In 1931, commanders determined that there were a number of spies in the Red Army. This issue became particularly prevalent when the First Red Army's Chief of Staff Zhu Yunqing

2378-408: The number of red soldiers grew rapidly. By the summer of 1930, the Chinese Red Army had grown to more than 100,000 soldiers and had several base areas, such as in southern and northern Jiangxi, western Hubei , and eastern Hunan, among others. Peng Dehuai's Fifth Army attacked and occupied Changsha , the capital of Hunan. After the attack, Jiangxi became the largest base area of the Chinese Red Army. In

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2436-467: The other two. In 1930, the Chinese Red Army had established several base areas. Though the designations of the Red Army changed frequently, the main leadership of base areas did not change significantly. In the early phases of its establishment, most of the Chinese Red Army's military officers were made up of former officers of the Nationalist forces, with most of them joining the Red Army secretly between 1925 and 1928. Many of these officers were killed in

2494-569: The same time, the Fourth Red Army defeated Liu Xiang 's attacks, who lost more than 80,000 soldiers in battle. Before the First Red Army began the Long March, Xiao Ke 's Sixth Legion arrived at eastern Guizhou and joined forces with He Long 's Third Army. After this, the Third Army changed its designation to Second Legion. In the autumn of 1935, the First Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi with only 6,000 soldiers after losing more than 80,000 along

2552-448: The soldiers from the Red Army's militia troops were armed with cold weapons at all times. In the autumn of 1930, Zeng Zhongsheng commanded 30,000 red guards who were armed with cold weapons. Despite the overwhelming numbers of red soldiers, 1,000 opposing troops armed with rifles were able to defeat Zeng Zhongsheng's forces. The Chinese Red Army used various types of submachine guns from Thompsons to MP 18s . They were captured from

2610-516: The spring of 1933, one of the red guards' officers killed 29th Army's commander Chen Qianlun and surrendered to the Nationalist forces. Usually each Chinese Red Army's army or legion had three or two infantry divisions. Each division has three infantry regiments and one mortar company. In different time the number of one division's soldiers is different. In the beginning every division had about 1000 or 2000 men. From 1933 to 1936, one division usually had about 5000 or 6000 men. After several uprisings,

2668-458: The war, including through mass mobilization campaigns operating behind enemy lines. At the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Red Army had 2 million militia members and 900,000 regular troops. In 1947, the Red Army was reorganized into the People's Liberation Army. It continued to operate as a guerilla army reliant on the support of the peasantry. By the time the People's Republic of China

2726-656: The war, other Nationalist forces. The unit was renamed the People's Liberation Army in 1947, after the end of World War II , as the Chinese Communists and Nationalists resumed the Chinese Civil War . The Eighth Route Army consisted of three divisions (the 115th, which was commanded by Lin Biao , the 120th under He Long , and the 129th under Liu Bocheng ). During World War II, the Eighth Route Army operated mostly in North China , infiltrating behind Japanese lines, to establish guerrilla bases in rural and remote areas. The main units of

2784-581: The way. During this same time, the Fourth Red Army moved to northern Sichuan and planned to attack Chengdu . By the end of 1935, they had lost more than 40,000 soldiers and were defeated. Therefore, they were forced to move to southern Gansu and wait for He Long 's Second Legion and Sixth Legion to arrive. In the summer of 1936, the Second Legion, the Sixth Legion and the Thirty-Second Army formed

2842-581: The weak industrial base in revolutionary China, a proletarian party nonetheless successfully developed. These ideas developed at the 1929 Gutian Congress The June 1930 Program for the Red Fourth Army at All Levels and the winter 1930 Provisional Regulations on the Political Work of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Army (Draft), which formally established Party leadership of the military. In

2900-408: Was assassinated by a spy in a hospital. After this, each Red Army began to judge and execute the officers and soldiers who were suspected. In 1931, the First Red Army executed about 4,000 men. The Fourth Red Army and Third Red Army also executed thousands of officers, especially senior officers. Typically a Red Army's base area was surrounded by enemy forces. To protect the base area from enemy attack,

2958-478: Was commanded by Communist party leader Mao Zedong and general Zhu De . Though officially designated the 18th Group Army by the Nationalists, the unit was referred to by the Chinese Communists and Japanese military as the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army wore Nationalist uniforms and flew the flag of the Republic of China and waged mostly guerrilla war against the Japanese, collaborationist forces and, later in

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3016-403: Was eliminated. From regiment to army, the command system at each level had four commanders: commander, political commissar, chief of staff, and director of political department, with the political commissar holding the most power. Red Army recruitment efforts often involved mass meetings and competitions between different villages, counties, or mass organizations on the basis of which could supply

3074-455: Was established on 1 October 1949, the PLA had 5.5 million personnel, primarily light infantry. After the Communist Party assumed power in 1949, veterans of the Red Army were venerated in mainland Chinese culture and are distinguished from those who joined to fight with the Communist Party after the integration with the Nationalists, or during the second civil war. In 1954, the relationship between

3132-492: Was integrated into the 120th Division of the Nationalist forces. The Fourth Red Army was integrated into the 129th Division of the Nationalist forces. These three divisions had 45,000 soldiers in all. 10,000 soldiers were left to defend the base areas in northern Shaanxi . In southern China, the New Fourth Army 's 10,000 soldiers acted as a guerrilla force. At the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War , these two armies contained one million armed men. The Red Army grew rapidly during

3190-513: Was minimal. In the midst of the Second United Front, the CCP and the Kuomintang were still vying for territorial advantage in "Free China" (i.e. those areas not occupied by the Japanese or ruled by puppet governments). The uneasy alliance began to break down by late 1938 as a result of CCP efforts to expand their military strength through absorbing Chinese guerrilla forces behind enemy lines. For Chinese militia who refused to switch their allegiance,

3248-523: Was no less than that of the Nationalist forces' elite troops. This was one of the important reasons why the Red Army was able to defeat the Nationalist forces on many occasions. The most common machine guns were the MG08 , ZB vz. 26 , M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle , and Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun . Due to the lack of rifles, the Chinese Red Army was forced to use cold weapons such as broadswords, spears, sabres, and other melee implements. In particular, most of

3306-545: Was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to resist the Imperial Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War , which suspended the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1945. In 1927 the Chinese Communists retaliated against Kuomintang following a betrayal of its members in Shanghai by National Revolutionary Army commander Chiang Kai-shek , which marked

3364-484: Was very unpopular with the Chinese populace, which caused widespread resentment and demonstration against the ruling KMT leadership and its regional warlord allies. In 1936, Chiang Kai-shek assigned "The Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang , leader of Northeastern Army , the duty of suppressing the Red Army of the CCP. Battles with the Red Army resulted in great casualties for Zhang's forces, but Chiang Kai-shek did not provide any support to his troops. On 12 December 1936,

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