After the Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi, the whole army totaled 40,000 people, such a huge army could not survive in this sparsely populated place in northern Shaanxi, food could not be supplied, and ammunition was even more scarce.
The good news came, Zhang Xueliang detained Chiang Kai-shek, and under the mediation of Zhou Enlai, Chiang Kai-shek promised to form an anti-Japanese united front, and the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and all 40,000 people went to the front line in North China to receive military pay to resist Japan. The three divisions were the 115th, 120th, and 129th divisions.
Lin Biao, commander of the 115th Division, as Chairman Mao's confidant and favorite general, has more than 15,000 soldiers in the 115th Division, including Yang Chengwu, Li Tianyou, Liu Yalou and other tiger generals, stationed in central Shanxi.
He Long, commander of the 120th Division, led 10,000 troops and garrisoned southwest Jinxi.
Liu Bocheng, commander of the 129th Division, led 10,000 people to garrison North China and was at the forefront of the Anti-Japanese War. During the entire War of Resistance, the 129th Division won the most, fought the most with Japan, and annihilated the most enemies.
The scope of activities of the 129th Division is in the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area, with an area of 180,000 square kilometers and a population of 24 million, because it is in the enemy-occupied area, so the anti-Japanese situation is not optimistic, on the one hand, it has to face the Japanese army's counter-encirclement and suppression, and on the other hand, it has to destroy the supply lines of the Japanese army, the 129th Division has never been ambiguous in its war, such as the night attack on Yangming Fort, the Shentouling ambush, the battle of Xiangtangpu, the battle of Huangyadi, the battle of Guangyang, etc., all made the Japanese army pay a heavy price, and later in the battle of the hundred regiments, The 129th Division even played the prestige of the Eighth Route Army on the front line of the Zhengtai Railway.
From 1937 to 1945, the 129th Division eliminated 420,000 Japanese puppet troops, liberated 109 county seats, and fought 19,777 battles of all sizes. In addition, the 129th Division was only 12,000 when it was first established, but it grew to 300,000 after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, which was also the later Jinlu-Henan Field Army, and the generals who came out of the 129th Division were countless, including 2 marshals, 3 generals, 18 generals, 48 lieutenant generals, 295 major generals, and even Grandpa Deng was from the 129th Division.
The 120th Division has been stationed in the barren southwest of Shanxi, the development of the troops is slow, the main task is to encircle the entire head of Yan'an, the entire Anti-Japanese War period 120th Division did not show much face, but also annihilated more than 50,000 Japanese troops, their greatest merit is to defend the Party Central Committee, defend Yan'an, and protect the safety of Chairman Mao. After the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the 120th Division developed into the Northwest Field Army, and the commander was Peng Dehuai, who led the troops as He Long, turned to logistics work.
The 115th Division just began to garrison the central part of Shanxi, after the victory of Pingxingguan, under the suggestion of Chairman Mao, the 115th division of troops all the way into North China, all the way into Shandong, began a long guerrilla war behind enemy lines, eight years of resistance against Japanese aggression, the 115th Division did not have many major battles, but small battles were frequent, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the 115th Division annihilated more than 100,000 Japanese troops, and itself developed from more than 10,000 people to more than 500,000, that is, the third field army, the predecessor of the fourth field army