User:Zrnstnsr/West Route Army
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The West Route Army, formally known as the West Route Army of Chinese Red Army (simplified Chinese: 中国工农红军西路军; traditional Chinese: 中國工農紅軍西路軍), was a unit of the Chinese Red Army established in 1936, which consisted of main forces of the 4th Front Army. Due to continual changes of instructions and military errors, the West Route Army was devastated and forced to fight in guerrilla warfare.
West Route Army | |||||||
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Part of Chinese Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Chinese Red Army | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Units involved | |||||||
1st Front Army
4th Front Army
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1st Army
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Strength | |||||||
140,000+ | 21,800 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
25,000+ | 16,000+ |
In order to gain supplies from the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) decided to capture Ningxia and Gansu as base area. On October 24, 1936, the majority of the 4th Front Army, which had just joined with the 1st Front Army, started to cross Yellow River. Meanwhile, the Nationalists also advanced to sourthern Gansu and repeled the Red Army back to Yan'an Soviet. The forces located to the west of Yellow River was unable to return to Yan'an and assigned as the West Route Army. The army decided to pass through the Hexi Corridor to reach Hami to gain supplies and fought in Gansu for four months. The Ma clique who controlled Gansu launched waves of offensives and defeated the army decisively in early 1937. The army was forced to retreat east, and the leaders decided to disband the army on March 14, 1937. The remnants of the army divided to three parts and had to enter Qilian Mountains to flee from Ma clique's assault. Of the three parts of the remnants, only one part managed to reach Xinjiang and was later transported to Dihua, which is the only intact forces that managed to return to Yan'an.
The failure of West Route Army was a major failure of CCP during Chinese Communist Revolution. Of the 21,800 troops, over 7,000 were killed and 9,000 were captured recorded. Zhang Guotao, the leader of the 4th Front Army, was deposed since his route was considered as a major factor to the failure. CCP also made multiple attempts to rescue captured and lost soldiers after Xi'an Incident, with accumulatively over 4,000 returning to Yan'an.