The "Hundred Regiments War" refers to a large-scale offensive and anti-"sweeping" campaign launched by the Eighth Route Army behind enemy lines in North China during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China. This was the largest and longest-lasting campaign launched by the Eighth Route Army in North China during the stalemate phase of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Commemoration of the Battle of the Hundred Regiments
In order to better understand this famous battle, we will use the data to take stock of the "Hundred Regiments War" below, which will have a clearer understanding of its war process and brilliant achievements.
Data in the context of the war
First of all, let's take a look at the background of the launch of the "Hundred Regiments War", which can be summarized by 1 world pattern change and 2 domestic backgrounds:
On April 9, 1940, before the Start of the Hundred Regiments War, German fascists captured Denmark and raided Norway, thus repelling the Anglo-French coalition and occupying all of Norway. Germany then invaded all of Western Europe, and the countries of Western Europe surrendered. There was a major change in the world pattern: the whole world was shrouded in fascist forces.
Germany's victory on the European battlefield spurred Japan's ambitions to quickly annihilate China and dominate the Pacific. Taking advantage of the defeat of Britain and France on the Battlefield in Europe, they forced France and Britain to completely blockade the Sino-Vietnamese border, the Burma Road, and cut off China's various supplies, which reduced China's arms imports by about 51% at that time, which made China's War of Resistance more difficult.
Relief of the Hundred Regiments War Memorial Hall
At a time of major changes in the world pattern, the Japanese invaders who invaded China and the Kuomintang reactionaries began to target the Communist-led army, creating two domestic backgrounds for the "Hundred Regiments War" to be launched.
After the winter of 1939, the Japanese army implemented the "cage policy" of "using railways as pillars, highways as chains, and bunkers as locks", and the Zhengtai Railway as the main line. The Japanese army firmly believed that the Zhengtai Railway was an "inaccessible" area and used it to blockade the bases in North China in an attempt to destroy the anti-Japanese base areas.
From 1939 to 1940, the Kuomintang launched a military offensive against the Eighth Route Army and the Communist-led troops, thus providing an opportunity for the Japanese army's "cage policy" and causing the anti-Japanese base areas to fall into a very difficult period.
Stills from the film "Battle of the Hundred Regiments"
On May 1, 1940, the Japanese army launched the Battle of Zaoyi and decided to occupy Yichang, threaten Chongqing, and shake the will of the Nationalist government to resist the war. The Japanese army implemented a policy of political inducement to the Nationalist government, resulting in an unprecedented crisis of surrender in the country.
Data from the course of the war
In the face of the above-mentioned changes in the world pattern and the predicament created by the Japanese aggressors and Kuomintang reactionaries to our Party, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Declaration of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Current Situation in Commemoration of the Third Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" on July 7, 1940.
The declaration called for "the whole country to step up its unity to overcome this danger and difficulty". The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army decided to put into practice the well-conceived idea of breaking the Zhengtai Road, attack the lines of communication behind the enemy lines, deal a powerful blow to the enemy's North China Front, and smash Japan's attempts to improve the situation in the whole country. The "Battle of the Hundred Regiments" thus began.
From the deployment of the war to its process, the "Hundred Regiments War" presented 3 big data, that is, the participating units were composed of three major groups of the Eighth Route Army, namely the 120th Division, the 129th Division, and the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region; the entire campaign was divided into three stages.
Stills from "Battle of the Hundred Regiments"
The first phase, from August 20, 1940 to September 10, 1940, focused on the destruction of Zhengtai Road. The participating groups fought in concert, first attacking the eastern section of the Zhengtai Railway, destroying bridges and communication lines east of Niangziguan; then attacking the western section of the Zhengtai Railway, destroying the Pingliao and Yuliao Highways, and finally completely paralyzing the western section of the Zhengtai Railway.
Finally, it attacked the northern section of the Tongpu Railway and some major roads west of the railway, cutting off the northern section of the Tongpu Railway and the roads from Xinxian to Jingle and Fenyang to Lishi. More than 50 regiments of troops were dispatched to cooperate with the operations of the Zhengtai Railway and the northern section of the Tongpu Railway, and attacked the Pinghan, Pingsui, Beining, Tongpu Southern Section, and some major highways, as well as Japanese strongholds, and contained a large number of Japanese troops.
The second phase, from September 22, 1940 to October 1940. The main objective is to further expand the results of the battle. During this stage, the three groups jointly carried out three campaigns, namely the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region mainly carried out the Battle of Lailing, the 129th Division mainly carried out the Battle of Yuliao, and the 120th Division mainly broke the Tongpu Railway.
The third stage, the counter-sweeping phase, which began in October 1940. Because the Japanese army was beaten to shame and anger in the first two stages, from October 6, they carried out retaliatory "sweeping" of the anti-Japanese base areas in North China, in a vain attempt to attack the main force of the Eighth Route Army and destroy the base areas. On October 19, 1940, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army ordered the various regions to carry out anti-"mopping-up" operations.
Battle map of the Hundred Regiments War
All anti-"sweeping" operations were divided into: anti-"sweeping" in southeastern Jin, anti-"sweeping" in the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, and anti-"sweeping" in northwestern Jin, with a total of 3 anti-"sweeps" unfolding. By January 24, 1941, all Japanese troops had returned to their original strongholds, and the anti-sweeping campaign was over.
The smooth and effective conduct of the "Hundred Regiments War" is inseparable from strong organizational support. Take a look at the combination of generals who took part in this campaign:
Main commanders: Peng Dehuai, Zuo Quan; Commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region: Nie Rongzhen; Commander of the 120th Division He Long and Political Commissar Guan Xiangying; Commander of the 129th Division Liu Bocheng and Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping.
Among them, there should be 4 marshals who were awarded marshals after liberation, namely Peng Dehuai, Nie Rongzhen, He Long, and Liu Bocheng. And if Zuo Quan had not been sacrificed and Guan Xiangying had not died of illness, he would certainly have been a senior general of our army; Comrade Deng Xiaoping was one of the later leaders of our country.
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai personally came to the front line to direct the operation
What kind of battle was fought in the "Hundred Regiments War" with organizational support? It can be summarized by four "most": that is, "The Battle of the Hundred Regiments was the battle in which our army participated in the largest number of troops, the largest scale, the longest time, and the richest results in the War of Resistance Against Japan." ”
Battle results data, confirming the results
As long as you read a set of data, you can confirm that in the "Battle of the Hundred Regiments", our army finally achieved brilliant results:
On December 10, 1940, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army announced that in the three and a half months from August 20 to December 5, the Eighth Route Army in the "Hundred Regiments War" fought a total of 1,824 large and small battles, killing and wounding 20,645 Japanese troops, 5,155 puppet troops, capturing 281 Japanese troops, 1,407 puppet troops, 47 Japanese automatic armament surrenders, and 1,845 puppet troops, a total of 46,380 people.
5,942 guns (guns) and 53 guns of various kinds were seized; 474 kilometers of railways, 1,502 kilometers of highways, 213 bridges, 37 railway stations, 11 tunnels, more than 217,000 rails, more than 1,549,000 sleepers, more than 109,000 telephone poles, and more than 424,000 kilograms of telephone lines were destroyed; 5 coal mines and 11 warehouses were destroyed.
General Zuo Quan
In addition, large quantities of other military materiel were seized and destroyed. The loss of Japanese puppet troops, if you add more than 2,000 people killed and wounded in the Battle of Fuwang of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and more than 2,500 people killed and wounded in the anti-"sweeping" campaign in northwestern Jin, it will reach more than 50,880 people.
Of course, the Eighth Route Army also suffered casualties in the Hundred Regiments War, of which 17,000 were casualties and more than 20,000 were poisoned. The 129th Division suffered the most serious casualties, with 7,362 casualties and 450 missing casualties in the division's units, and 7,812 casualties in the battle of the Hundred Regiments of the Division.
In short, using data to take stock of the "Hundred Regiments War" will give a clearer understanding of its war process and brilliant achievements. We should pay high tribute to the heroes who participated in the "Hundred Regiments War" and learn from the fearless spirit of our revolutionary predecessors in fighting bravely and well and not being afraid of sacrifice in order to fight against the aggressors and defend the homeland. Inherit their fine traditions, do their own work well, and strive to build a strong motherland.
The Hundred Regiments Battle Monument
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