After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, our party resolutely put aside the contradictions with the Kuomintang authorities, put the interests of the whole nation first, transferred the main force of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army, and crossed the Yellow River to the east and went to Shanxi to fight against Japan.
However, what is less known is that the size of the Red Army at that time actually far exceeded the capacity of the three divisions of the National **.
In other words, after the reorganization of the Eighth Route Army, the number of Red Army troops actually exceeded the quota by 340,000 people.
So how did the Red Army grow to a size of nearly 80,000 men before it was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army? And how did this part of the supernumerary personnel be resettled later?
The three main forces of the Red Army met and the strength was restored before the Anti-Japanese War, and the Long March was a great feat in human history, but the price paid by the Red Army in the process was unprecedented. For example, in October 1934, the Red Army set out from Ruijin with 8680,000 people, but less than 30,000 remained after crossing the Xiangjiang River.
The Red First Army, which arrived in northern Shaanxi in October 1935, had only 7,000 men, including the Red Fourth Division, which was downsized from the Red Third Army; Even the number of the Red Army was canceled.
Fortunately, the Red 25th Army was the first to arrive in northern Shaanxi, and after meeting with the Red 26th Army and the Red 27th Army of the local Red Army, it was merged into the Red 15th Army.
After the Red First Army and the Red 15th Army Corps of 4,300 people joined forces, they regained the name of the Red First Army.
* The Red Army numbered more than 80,000 at the time of its departure, but only 7,000 people eventually arrived in northern Shaanxi, which is not accurate. Among the five corps of the Red Army, only the Red Eighth Army was canceled after the Battle of Xiangjiang and incorporated into the Red Fifth Army.
Subsequently, the Red Fifth Army was renamed the Red 5th Army, and the Red Ninth Army (renamed the Red 32nd Army) acted in coordination with the Red Fourth Front Army after the "grass division".
In March 1935, the Red Fourth Front Army began the Long March, under the jurisdiction of the Red 4th Army, the Red 9th Army, the Red 30th Army, the Red 31st Army, etc., with a total number of more than 80,000 people.
However, due to Zhang Guotao, the leader of the Red Fourth Front Army, insisted on going south to Sichuan, in the winter of 1935, the Red Fourth Front Army was forced to retreat to the mountainous areas of western Sichuan, including the Red 5th Army and the Red 32nd Army, with a total number of less than 40,000 people.
In contrast, the red commanded by **, Xiao Ke.
The Second and Sixth Army Corps remained at about 8,000 men after the Long March in November 1935.
In July 1936, red.
2. After the Sixth Army Corps and the Red Fourth Front Army joined forces, in order to strengthen their strength, the ** Military Commission ordered the Red Army to be combined.
The 2nd and 6th Army Corps and the Red 32nd Army were the Red Second Front Army. By October 1936, the three main forces of the Red Army had finally joined forces, with a total number of about 550,000 people.
In order to open up the channel for foreign aid, the Red 9th and Red 30th Armies under the Red Fourth Front Army, as well as the Red 5th Army of the Red First Front Army, formed the "Western Route Army", which was led by *** and other leaders to march to Xinjiang. However, in the battle with the "Ma Jiajun", this contingent of about 21,800 people suffered huge losses, causing the number of Red Army troops remaining in northern Shaanxi to drop to 33,800 at one point.
In textbooks and many film and television works, the number of the Red Army after its reorganization into the Eighth Route Army usually only explicitly mentions the existence of three divisions; As for the number of people in the early stage of the reorganization of the Eighth Route Army, various accounts are generally 30,000 or 40,000.
Ordinary people may mistakenly think that all the Red Army remaining in northern Shaanxi was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, but in fact, by 1937, the Red Army was already thriving in northern Shaanxi. Before the "Western Route Army" set out from northern Shaanxi to the "Xi'an Incident", Chiang Kai-shek was still mobilizing a large number of troops in an attempt to annihilate the Red Army in northern Shaanxi.
In order to strengthen its strength, our army first used the relatively surplus equipment in the main Red Army (mainly poor-performing guns seized from local warlords) to upgrade the Red Army guerrillas, Red Guards, and county Soviet guard battalions in northern Shaanxi and surrounding areas to regular Red Army, and gave them the names of Red 27, Red 28, Red 29, and Red 30 Armies respectively (although there were duplications), as well as the 1st and 2nd Independent Divisions of Northern Shaanxi, and the independence of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo.
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th regiments, with a total number of 8,700 people.
At the same time, the Red Army won a great victory in the Eastern Crusade, not only obtaining a large amount of money and food**, but also expanding more than 8,000 people in Shanxi.
At the end of 1936, after the outbreak of the "Xi'an Incident", in order to deal with the large-scale offensive of the ** army, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng invited the Red Army to assist in the defense near the Guanzhong area. The party took advantage of this opportunity to vigorously propagate the "joint anti-Japanese resistance" and attracted a large number of enthusiastic young people.
After the peaceful settlement of the "Xi'an Incident", the Northeast Army and the 17th Route Army took the initiative to give up part of their territory to the Red Army; For example, the CCP ** entered Yan'an County on January 13, 1937. This move effectively alleviated the serious supply difficulties faced by the Red Army and provided a guarantee for the expansion of the army.
Thus, as of August 1937, the total number of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi was 24,000 men of the Red First Army, 11,500 men of the Red Second Front, and 14,800 men of the Red Fourth Front. There were 10,000 personnel in organs and academies directly under the Red Army Headquarters, 14,100 people in the Red Army in northern Shaanxi that were not incorporated into the three main forces, and 5,600 survivors of the "Western Route Army", totaling about 80,000 people.
Chiang Kai-shek tried to limit our army by establishment and reached an agreement after a half-year-long conflict between the two sides. The peaceful resolution of the "Xi'an Incident" indicates that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party can consider jointly fighting the Japanese invaders.
Beginning in February 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party engaged in difficult negotiations for nearly half a year on the issue of the reorganization of the Red Army into the National Revolutionary Army.
However, Chiang Kai-shek and the leadership of the Kuomintang regarded the CCP's goodwill as a "surrender" or "recruitment" and did not see the CCP as an equal negotiator. Coupled with the fact that the Japanese threat to the Kuomintang was not very serious at that time, Chiang Kai-shek tried to limit the size of the Red Army to a very low level, so as to completely annihilate the Red Army with the help of the Japanese army.
Our party initially proposed that according to the scale of 80,000 people of the Red Army, it should be organized into a road army, with 4 armies, 12 divisions, and 36 brigades. However, this plan was firmly rejected by Chiang Kai-shek.
In the follow-up negotiations, our party made a compromise and proposed that only one road army be formed, directly under four divisions, 12 brigades, and 24 regiments. However, Chiang Kai-shek still thought that four divisions were too much, and only agreed to organize two divisions, 4 brigades, and 8 regiments, with a total number of up to 15,000 people; There is no unified command at or above the division level, and it is led by the Military Commission or the Xi'an camp.
Later, Chiang Kai-shek insisted on only three divisions, each with three regiments. According to him, although the Red Army was not reduced to the level of 3,000 men before the "Xi'an Incident", this was already a major concession.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek tried to interfere in the personnel issues of the Red Army, trying to change the nature of the Red Army. At the time of the initial contact, he proposed that if the Red Army was reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army, ** and ** would need to go abroad for inspection for half a year before rearranging, but this sinister intention was resolutely rejected by our party.
After the start of formal negotiations, Chiang Kai-shek first proposed to introduce a large number of political trainers into our army, but our party refused. Then, he proposed that all deputy posts and chiefs of staff above the regimental level should be held by ** officers, and even fantasized about letting the big spy Kang Ze serve as the deputy director of the Political Department. Although Chiang Kai-shek's approach was for the best purpose, it was his consistent means to weaken the position of our party in the army through personnel changes. After the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance, Chiang Kai-shek used this means to reorganize a number of heavily damaged warlord troops into the ** army.
From February 1937 to July 1937, the two sides reluctantly reached a plan to reorganize the Red Army into three divisions, 6 brigades and 12 regiments of the Eighth Route Army. However, when Ho Ying-chin reported it to Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek again refused.
** personally went to Lushan to interview Chiang Kai-shek, but Chiang Kai-shek still adhered to the "3 divisions and 9 regiments" plan, and tried to win over *** to sabotage our party's leadership over the army. Until the outbreak of the 77 Incident, the situation in North China was sharply tense, and Chiang Kai-shek urgently needed the Red Army to reorganize to resist Japan. So, on September 22, he finally agreed to release the previously finalized plan of the 3rd Division, 6th Brigade and 12th Regiment.
Some people believe that Chiang Kai-shek handed over to the Red Army the numbers of the three divisions of the Northeast Army that the Red Army had wiped out, with the intention of passing on "bad luck" to the Red Army. But in fact, the 115th Division belonged to the 67th Army, the 120th Division belonged to the 57th Army, and the 129th Division belonged to the 53rd Army; And the Red Army wiped out the 105th, 109th and 110th divisions. During the "Liangguang Incident", Chiang Kai-shek weakened the Northeast Army in the name of "reorganizing the army", and after the "Xi'an Incident", he took the opportunity to retaliate by reorganizing the 17 infantry divisions of the Northeast Army into 10, of which the numbers of three divisions were forcibly cut and quickly "sent" to the Red Army.
In order to break through Chiang Kai-shek's restrictions, our army independently created a new number system. According to the final plan, the main forces of the Red Army were reorganized into the 115th Division, with a total number of 15,500 people. The Red 2nd Division and the Red 4th Division of the original Red 1st Army Corps were reorganized into the 343 and 685 regiments of the 686 Brigade, while the former Red 15 Corps was reorganized into the 344 and 688 regiments of the 688 Brigade.
The main force of the Red Second Front Army was reorganized into 120 divisions, with a total of 14,000 people. The Red Second Army Corps and the Red 28th Army were reorganized into the 358th and 716th regiments of the 716th Brigade, the Red Sixth Army was reorganized into the 359th Regiment of the 717th Brigade, and the Red 32nd Army and the Headquarters Special Service Regiment were each reorganized into the 718th Regiment.
The units remaining in northern Shaanxi in the Red Fourth Front Army were reorganized into the 129th Division, with a total number of 13,000 men. The Red 4th Army was reorganized into the 385 regiments of the 769 and 770 brigades, while the Red 31 Army was reorganized into the 386 and 771 regiments of the 772 brigade.
The total number of these three divisions is about 42,500 people, plus about 46,000 people in the team directly under the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
However, in fact, after the reorganization of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army, the establishment of the 12 regiment was not strictly implemented. After the 1st Red Army was reorganized into the 343rd Brigade, the 1st Red Division, which was the main force of the Red Army, was taken out separately to form the 115th Independent Regiment. At the time of the reorganization of the 120th Division, the Red 32nd Army was divided into two parts, of which the 94th Division became part of the 359th Brigade, and the 96th Division was transformed into the 120th Division Teaching Corps. Relatively speaking, the Red Fourth Front Army basically transformed a corps of the Red Army into a brigade of the Eighth Route Army, but at the same time, the surviving personnel of the camp school and the Western Route Army of the Western Army were formed into the 129th Division Teaching Group. Thus, after the reorganization of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army, there were 16 regiments, including the headquarters artillery regiment.
When hearing the name of the Independent Regiment, many people will think of the 386 Brigade Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, the New Second Regiment, etc. in "Bright Sword". This situation was actually a forced measure to be taken in the event that Chiang Kai-shek refused to approve the new number, after the number of the Eighth Route Army had increased several times.
In 1937, however, the problem was not so serious.
Although the people have never officially recognized these "supernumerary arms", they insist on paying only 630,000 legal dollars per month according to the establishment standard of 12 regiments. For example, the 115th Independent Regiment of the 115th Division was obstructed by the officers of the Jin Sui Army when it crossed the Yellow River, and later it could only be sandwiched within the 686th Regiment to pass through.
In addition, in order to increase the number of divisions in the numbers of the three divisions as much as possible, our army has adjusted the units directly under the divisions. According to the establishment of **, the direct teams of each division include cavalry battalions, artillery battalions, engineer battalions, baggage battalions and special service battalions; Typically, the size of a battalion is a few hundred men.
However, the battalions directly under the Eighth Route Army were largely larger than those of the local Red Army corps and divisions. For example, the 120th Division Engineer Battalion has three battalions under its jurisdiction, with a total number of 1,400 people; The baggage battalion and special service battalion of the 120th Division also contain three battalions, which are actually equivalent to the establishment of a regiment.
By expanding the number of cadets and disbanding the redundant personnel, the Eighth Route Army successfully solved the problem of personnel placement. By forming three "black household" regiments and expanding the number of directly subordinate regiments as much as possible, the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army exceeded the 12 regiments in their establishment, and there were 10,000 more men. This is also the reason why there is a big difference in the number of people mentioned in different articles about the Eighth Route Army.
In view of the fact that the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region is not an absolutely safe rear area, and at the same time, it is not possible to rely on ** to provide protection, ** decided to retain part of the 115th Division, the 120th Division and the 718th Regiment, the 129th Division, and the 385th Brigade and 770 Regiment, a total of 9,000 people, to form the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Left-behind Corps. Therefore, the formation of the three divisions that actually crossed the Yellow River to the east was incomplete, and the figure of the total 36,000 men of the three divisions was also derived from this.
In the remaining 3Of the 40,000 people, many are administrative and logistical staff, and more than 2,000 are disabled people at Les Invalides. These people were not bound by the preparation of the agreement in the first place.
In order to properly accommodate the redundant personnel, the scale of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University was greatly expanded. After the reorganization, all 5,000 students of the Red Army University and the Red Army Instructor (formerly the Red Army Infantry School) became students of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University. At the same time, the surplus cadres and soldiers of the Red Army were also able to join the Kang Da study, and by February 1939, there had been 120,000 people have participated in the rotation training of Kang Da.
In fact, from the civil war to the war against Japan, it is a completely new challenge for our army and for the first country.
In fierce frontal battles, the Kuomintang army, with its experience and tactics accumulated in the civil war, often paid huge sacrifices but failed to achieve satisfactory results in the face of the Japanese army with strong firepower.
Our party has farsightedness and sagacity on this issue, and has its eyes on the needs of expanding the army in the future, and by allowing those cadres who are surplus in the Red Army to improve their quality as much as possible, they will become reserve personnel for future army expansion.
For this reason, the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University once expanded to 12 branches, and its scale was even comparable to the National Army School at that time. There were about 1,000 cadets in each branch, and nearly half of them were redundant Red Army cadres.
When all available means have been exhausted, our party is faced with the last resort, that is, to dismiss those redundant personnel who are really difficult to resettle.
Perhaps this move may be puzzling, especially given that the Eighth Route Army then began to grow in size and the number of cadres was clearly insufficient. However, in reality, the number of personnel in any army is dynamic. Even from 1937 to 1949, the size of our army continued to increase, but the specific individual personnel did not necessarily remain in the army.
Therefore, in 1937, our army also sent back to their places of origin some people who were not suitable to serve in the army due to age or physical reasons, and who were really unable to be resettled in northern Shaanxi. For example, Liu Shimo, deputy commander of the Red 4th Army, and Zhu Shuiqiu, former head of the guard regiment of the Military Commission, left the team due to injury and illness and never returned to Yan'an. Considering the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party at that time, the Kuomintang also welcomed such a "** practice" of our army.
Although in September 1937, there were only 360,000 people were thrown into the anti-Japanese battlefield, but with the rapid achievement of the "Pingxingguan Great Victory", our party and our army quickly gained a firm foothold in Shanxi.
With the evolution of the anti-Japanese war situation in North China, our army actively created many base areas and expanded the scale of new units.
This provided an opportunity for a large number of officers and men who were "idle" in northern Shaanxi to display their talents, and the Eighth Route Army then entered a period of all-round development.