When we are no longer like students, holding history books in their hands to recall that heavy history, TV dramas and other film and television works have become the basis for us to intuitively feel that period of war.
In 1937, when the all-out War of Resistance broke out, we were particularly impressed by the Eighth Route Army, so in 1937,
At that time, the Eighth Route Army had three main divisions, and as the main force, how many troops were there in each of the troops divided into three divisions? Before understanding this issue, we need to be clear about what the Eighth Route Army is.
I. Eighth Route Army
Perhaps most people are very familiar with the three words of the Eighth Route Army, but some people may not know that the Eighth Route Army is actually the name of the Army at that time.
Although in the various films of the War of Resistance Against Japan, most people believe that the Eighth Route Army was the protagonist of the War of Resistance Against Japan at that time, in fact, the position of the Eighth Route Army in the battle was a temporary organized battle.
After the end of the war, it was immediately abolished, and it was not until the outbreak of a full-scale war, for the sake of the united front, that the title of the Eighth Route Army was given.
Although it was a command position, the Eighth Route Army at that time was not a central army, they were all local troops.
Because at that time, the situation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was a mixture of water and fire, although they agreed to the line of all-out war of resistance, their hearts were not aligned, especially Chairman Chiang Kai-shek had many considerations for the Communist Party.
Therefore, in the second cooperation negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the main force of the Red Army was reorganized into the name of the Nationalist Army, and this Eighth Route Army is what we often call the Eighth Route Army.
Chairman Chiang Kai-shek was not at ease with this army, so after the reorganization of the army, many rounds of negotiations were held on military strength and equipment.
2. The Chairman's concerns
After several negotiations, the Xi'an incident occurred, and it was precisely because of this accident that the chairman of the committee did not keep drilling the horns.
After the Xi'an Incident, Chairman Jiang demanded that the reorganized troops be organized into four regiments, and he believed that the strength of the eighth regiment was already more than 15,000 people, and there could be no more.
In February 1937, when the second change was in progress, Chiang Kai-shek indicated that the Red Army could be reorganized into three divisions and nine regiments, but it was not allowed to form a separate command structure.
From the many changes, we can see that Chairman Chiang Kai-shek has not really accepted these reorganized troops.
At that time, there were more than 70,000 people in northern Shaanxi alone, but the military strength of these 70,000 people also had to be divided into levels, although it sounded very large, but it included the "old and weak" and the local army.
There are 24,000 people in the Red Army, 11,500 in the Red Second Front, 14,800 in the Red Fourth Front, and 14,000 in the Northern Shaanxi Red Army.
Although not all of these are elite soldiers and good generals, this figure still caused discomfort to Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, so in the final finalization, the elite strength of the troops and the old and weak troops were divided.
Among them, the elite troops were reorganized into three divisions, six brigades, twelve regiments and 45,000 people directly under them, such as artillery and communications, and these three national defense divisions had a general commander, and the salaries and salaries were referred to the Central Army.
For our Red Army at that time, this was the best agreement we could guarantee our soldiers.
Because of the many changes, we have also fully recognized Chairman Jiang's opinion, so we have also made many concessions.
However, after several times and three times, the latest agreement was still not satisfied with the chairman of the committee, and in desperation, the issue of the army's leadership general offensive and the placement of Red Army personnel must also be re-repaired.
It was not until after the outbreak of the July 7 Incident that an agreement was finally reached on reorganizing the main force of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army has three divisions, namely the 115th Division, the 120th Division and the 129th Division, each with 14,000 men, while the headquarters directly subordinate unit has 3,000 men, for a total of 45,000 men.
The reorganization of the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army was actually carried out mainly by the original three major fronts, and although there was already an agreement in front of it at that time, it was not carried out strictly in accordance with the establishment.
The 115th Division was originally the First Army of the Red Army, but after reorganization, the original Red First Army was reorganized into the Red 15th Army of the 343rd Brigade, the Red 1st Division of the 344th Brigade and the Independent Regiment of the Division, and as for the Red 74th Division and part of the Red Army, the artillery cavalry and heavy battalions directly under the division were reorganized.
The combat strength of the third and third divisions
The 120th Division was composed of the former Second Army of the Red Second Front, the Sixth Army, the Independent First Division of the 28th Army, the Second Division, etc. The components of this army were more mixed, but the whole division was also 14,000 people, only belonging to the division headquarters, in addition to the above-mentioned artillery, cavalry and heavy battalions, it was also equipped with teaching regiments, special service battalions, and engineer battalions, which were more comprehensive than the 115th Division.
As for the 129th Division, it was composed of the 31st Army of the Fourth Army of the Red Fourth Front, the 30th Army of the 29th Army of the Red Army in Northern Shaanxi, and other units.
In addition to the strength of this division, in addition to the establishment of the second brigade and four regiments, it is also equipped with a direct division teaching regiment similar to that of the 120th division.
After the change, the participants in the united front, in addition to the regular Eighth Route Army, also had local troops in northern Shaanxi, and these troops probably had more than 10,000 people.
Although the rectification was not complete, it simply fought for the rights and interests of most people, so that they were not affected by military salaries and other issues in the war.
In addition, after communicating with Chiang Kai-shek, the finalized plan enabled the Eighth Route Army to receive sufficient logistical support in this war.
Fighting a war is a lot of things that consume many days on the battlefield, and there are no basic conditions, so it is a very cruel thing to rely on your hands to fight the enemy on the battlefield.
Looking at the development process of the Eighth Route Army, people can find that this army has grown from 30,000 or 40,000 people to nearly a million people.
It can be said that the appeal and charm of the army have been greatly improved.
If we say that this army is cultivated purely by equipment and supplies, it is really difficult to convince the people, because they are all attracted by their own abilities and performance in the war.
Without exception, these predecessors fought bravely in the battlefield and left very brilliant achievements in the history of China's War of Resistance.