Eighth Route Army

The Eighth Route Army (simplified Chinese: 八路军; traditional Chinese: 八路軍; pinyin: Bālù-Jūn), officially titled as the 18th Group Army , was a group army nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China, established in 1937 as part of the Second United Front against Japan.

Eighth Route Army
Eighth Route Army fighting on the Futuyu Great Wall, Laiyuan, Hebei, 1938. Photograph by Sha Fei.
Active	1937–1947
Country	China
Allegiance	Chinese Communist Party
Branch	National Revolutionary Army
Type	Route Army
Role	Infantry
Size	600,000
Part of	CPC Central Military Commission Nationalist Government Military Affairs Commission
Garrison/HQ	Shanxi and Shaanxi
Colors	Grey and White Uniform
March	Military Anthem of the Eighth Route Army
Engagements	Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War
Commanders
Commander	Zhu De
Deputy Commander	Peng Dehuai
Insignia
Arm badge, as Eighth Route Army
Arm badge, as 18th Group Army
Flag, as 18th Group Army

In July 1937, the Presidium of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party issued an order for the Chinese Red Army to reorganize into the National Revolutionary Army and stand by for the anti-Japanese front line.

Former site of the Eighth Route Army Office in Guilin.

However, in practice, the Eighth Route Army was under the exclusive command of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and operated independently of the Kuomintang (KMT) central military command. Unlike most NRA units, which were directly overseen by the Nationalist Government, the Eighth Route Army maintained separate political and operational structures aligned with CCP objectives.

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 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 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.

History

Chinese propaganda poster depicting the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi.

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 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.^[1]: 122 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.^[1]: 122

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 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.^[2]: 69

The Eighth Route Army was also responsible for the reeducation of Japanese POWs, and defectors during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In November 1940, the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army established the Yan'an Japanese Worker and Peasant School. On May 15, 1941, the school was officially opened at Baota Mountain, Yan'an.^[3]

Several notable Japanese soldiers joined the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Including Hideo Miyagawa, ^[4] Kobayashi Kancho,^[5] and Maeda Mitsushige, the first Japanese to join the Eighth Route Army during the war.^[6]

In October 1941, 35 Japanese in Yenan, including Oyama Mitsuyoshi, took an oath to officially join the Eighth Route Army.^[7]

Organization

1937

In August 1937, the Eighth Route Army had three divisions.

Division	Commander	Order of battle	Commander	Troop strength
115th Division	Lin Biao	343rd Brigade	Chen Guang	15,000
		344th Brigade	Xu Haidong
		Independent Regiment	Yang Chengwu
120th Division	He Long	358th Brigade	Lu Dongsheng	14,000
		359th Brigade	Chen Bojun
		Teaching Regiment	Peng Shaohui
129th Division	Liu Bocheng	385th Brigade	Wang Hongkun	13,000
		386th Brigade	Chen Geng
		Teaching Regiment	Zhang Xian (张贤)

1940

In Winter 1940 the Eighth Route Army had increased to 400,000 soldiers.

Division	Commander	Order of battle	Commander	Troop strength
115th Division	Chen Guang	1st Teaching Brigade	Peng Mingzhi	70,000
		2nd Teaching Brigade	Zeng Guohua [zh]
		3rd Teaching Brigade Western Shandong Military Region	Yang Yong
		4th Teaching Brigade Western Lake Military Region	Deng Keming [zh]
		5th Teaching Brigade	Liang Xingchu
		6th Teaching Brigade Shandong and Hebei Military Region	Xing Renfu [zh]
		Southern Shandong Military Region	Zhang Guangzhong [zh]
Shandong Column	Zhang Jingwu	1st Brigade	Wang Jian'an	51,000
		2nd Brigade	Sun Jixian [zh]
		3rd Brigade	Xu Shiyou
		5th Brigade	Wu Kehua [zh]
		1st Detachment	Hu Qicai [zh]
		4th Detachment	Zhao Jie
		5th Detachment	Wang Bin (王彬)
120th Division Western and Northern Shanxi Military Region	He Long	1st Independent Brigade 4th Military Subarea	Gao Shiyi (高士一)	51,000
		2nd Independent Brigade 2nd Military Subarea	Peng Shaohui
		358th Brigade 3rd Military Subarea	Zhang Zongxun
		2nd Shanxi Youth Column 8th Military Subarea	Han Jun [zh]
		Cavalry Detachment	Yao Zhe
129th Division	Liu Bocheng	Taihang Mountain Military Subarea	Liu Bocheng	56,000
		386th Brigade Taiyue Mountain Military Subarea	Chen Geng
		Southern Hebei Military Subarea	Chen Zaidao
Shanxi, Hebei and Chahaer Military Region	Nie Rongzhen	1st Military Subarea	Yang Chengwu	100,000
		2nd Military Subarea	Guo Tianmin
		3rd Military Subarea	Huang Yongsheng
		4th Military Subarea	Xiong Botao [zh]
		5th Military Subarea	Deng Hua
		3rd Column Middle Hebei Military Region	Lü Zhengcao
		Advanced Detachment	Xiao Ke
Shaanxi Left Behind Corps	Xiao Jinguang	385th Brigade	Wang Weizhou [zh]	22,600
		359th Brigade	Wang Zhen
		1st Security Brigade	Wen Niansheng [zh]
		Security Command	Gao Gang
Others		2nd Column Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region	Yang Dezhi	50,000
		4th Column	Peng Xuefeng
		5th Column	Huang Kecheng

See also

• Guerrilla
• National Revolutionary Army
• People's Liberation Army