After the outbreak of the " July 7 Incident " in 1937, the Japanese invaders stepped up their pace of invasion of China, and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party also stepped up their cooperation to resist foreign enemies. Our party quickly proposed to the National Government the "Declaration on Cooperation of the Communist Party of China" to the National Government: It is willing to "cancel the Red Army number and be adapted into the National Revolutionary Army, and be under the jurisdiction of the Military Committee of the National Government, and set off on standby to serve as the front line of the anti-Japanese war." .
From August 28, the Military Commission of the National Government finally issued an order to reorganize the main force of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi into the "Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army", which is the Eighth Route Army we are familiar with.
In October of the same year, our party’s guerrillas from eight southern provinces were also adapted into the “New Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army”, which is the familiar New Fourth Army .
But there is a very strange thing here. Although is both "army", why did its development be very different later? When the rank was awarded in 1955, the Eighth Route Army produced nine marshals, but there was only one New Fourth Army. Why is that? There are many factors in the problem of compiling different . On the surface, although both have the word "army", they are actually very different. I mentioned their full name at the beginning. Eighth Route Army is the "Road Army", which is actually a higher level than the army. For example, the 26th Route Army that revolts in Ningdu Uprising and the 19th Route Army that in Songhu War are all examples. And on September 11, 1937, the Military Commission of the National Government once again ordered that the Eighth Route Army would be renamed The 18th Army , which was actually acknowledging that the Eighth Route Army was far stronger than an ordinary army. As for why we are used to calling the Eighth Route Army instead of the Eighteenth Group Army, this is mainly related to our party's desire to maintain a certain degree of independence and formality. It has little to do with the topic of this article, so I will not go into details. From the perspective of organization, the Eighth Route Army is a regular army, and the divisions and brigades are organized in layers. Look at the New Fourth Army again. This is an ordinary army in the Kuomintang number sequence. Both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party recognize it, and the commander of the army Ye Ting is also a candidate that both sides are satisfied with. The New Fourth Army also adopted the guerrilla army model. At the beginning, it had four detachments and a special agent battalion. The detachment went down to the regiment. So if you compare the New Fourth Army with the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army was similar to the division level and the detachment was similar to the brigade level. After the Southern Anhui Incident, the rebuilt New Fourth Army changed the detachment into a division, but at this time a large part of the troops were supported by the Eighth Route Army. Look at the commanders of the seven divisions under their jurisdiction, Su Yu, Zhang Yunyi, Huang Kecheng, Peng Xuefeng, Li Xiannian, Tan Zhenlin, and Zhang Dingcheng. Except for Su Yu, Tan Zhenlin and Zhang Dingcheng who have always insisted on carrying out guerrilla war in Jiangnan, the other four people arrived in Yan'an first and then ordered to go south. Huang Kecheng and Peng Xuefeng directly joined the New Fourth Army from the Eighth Route Army. In fact, when the New Fourth Army was preparing to be formed, the central government wanted to organize the New Fourth Army into a subordinate unit of the Eighth Route Army. Chairman Mao issued instructions on October 18 and November 6, 1937 to make the New Fourth Army affiliated to the Eighth Route Army and organized the Eighth Regiment of the Fourth Brigade of the Two Divisions. However, Chiang Kai-shek was unwilling to do so. At the beginning, the organization of the Eighth Route Army was stuck for a long time, so the organization of the New Fourth Army was also compressed. He Yingqin stated in the verification time that "the army was under command of Commander-in-Chief Chen." Commander-in-Chief Chen was the commander-in-chief of the 15th Army of the Third War Zone at that time. The senior Kuomintang leaders wanted to divide the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army into two independent teams, and strive to control the New Fourth Army in their hands, so as to weaken the strength of our party. However, their attempt was broken. The People's Army was different from those old warlords. The New Fourth Army was always the people's armed forces under the leadership of the Party. Of course, this matter is also a proof that the New Fourth Army is less organized than the Eighth Route Army. Eighth Route Army was adapted from the three main forces of the Red Army after experiencing the hardships and the three main forces of the Red Army and Shaanxi Northern Red Army . Their combat experience must be richer. In order to lead the troops out of the enemy's siege and blockade, the military capabilities required must be higher. So under the great waves, the Eighth Route Army generals were everywhere. Not to mention division and brigade-level cadres, but even a few regiment commanders each had great achievements. The predecessor of the New Fourth Army, the guerrillas in the Eight Southern Provinces were mainly behind enemy lines. What they need to think more is not how to fight against the enemy's large forces, but how to develop bases and survive in this way. Therefore, there are more political cadres who are better at developing organizations and uniting people's hearts. People like Xiang Ying, Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, , Tan Zhenlin and others are mainly famous for their outstanding political work. In addition to cadres, there is also a big gap between grassroots commanders and fighters. At the beginning of the reorganization, the Eighth Route Army had three divisions with 45,000, The four detachments of the New Fourth Army have a total of 10,300 people. Just look at the number of people, the New Fourth Army is smaller than one division of the Eighth Route Army. Judging from the early stages of the adaptation, it is normal for the Eighth Route Army to have more marshals than the New Fourth Army. In addition to the gap between the two troops at the beginning of their reorganization, the subsequent developments are also very different. In 1940, the Eighth Route Army developed to more than 400,000 people, and the New Fourth Army developed to more than 60,000 people, a proportion of nearly 7 times. The Southern Anhui Incident that broke out in 1941 caused a major blow to the New Fourth Army. The commander Ye Ting was captured; Deputy Commander Xiang Ying and Deputy Chief of Staff Zhou Zikun were killed by traitors after breaking through the encirclement; Director of the Political Department Yuan Guoping committed suicide to avoid delaying his comrades breaking through... He lost thousands of elites under his command. What's more excessive is that Chiang Kai-shek, who did this evil thing, wanted to take the opportunity to cancel the New Fourth Army number. Under the arguments of our party and the strong demands of the anti-Japanese people across the country, Chiang Kai-shek failed. 
different personnel
15 division, 15,000, 14,000, 120th division, 13,000, and more than 3,000 troops directly under the headquarters. In addition, there were more than 30,000 armed personnel who Chiang Kai-shek refused to provide them with the organization. development is different
In order to fight back, the central government decided not only to rebuild the New Fourth Army, but also to develop the New Fourth Army more powerful, and then transferred the Fourth Column and the Fifth Column in the Eighth Route Army to the New Fourth Army. By the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the New Fourth Army had 310,000 people and the Eighth Route Army had 1.02 million people. Although the proportion had decreased, the number of people was even larger. Why is this happening?
There are many reasons. In addition to the above-mentioned military source problem, there is also the activity area . The Eighth Route Army was mainly active in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Chahar, Shandong and other places. It was difficult for Chiang Kai-shek to implement effective rule before the War of Resistance.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army was placed under the jurisdiction of the Second War Zone. The commander of the theater, Yan Xishan , the Jin army retreated from Taiyuan to Linfen , and then retreated from Linfen to the western Shanxi District of Jin. He himself retreated past Yellow River , and was dormant in Qiulin Town, Yichuan County, Shaanxi Province for a long time. In this situation, he did not have much strength to cause trouble for the Eighth Route Army.
The environment in which the New Fourth Army was much worse. Jiangnan was originally an important basic foundation for Chiang Kai-shek. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, in addition to the Japanese invaders, Chiang Kai-shek's confidant troops were nearby the base areas. Moreover, the New Fourth Army was placed under the command of the Third War Zone. The actual commander of the Third War Zone Gu Zhutong has also been looking for opportunities to limit the development of the New Fourth Army.
In addition, command system is also a big factor. The Eighth Route Army had Chairman Mao, General Zhu and others in charge, and they cooperated well, and also had a complete development strategy and direction;
The New Fourth Army is much more complicated. Although Ye Ting was the commander of the army, the real power was mainly in the hands of deputy commander Xiang Ying. The two did not deal with it much. The two had a dispute during the Southern Anhui Incident. In the end, Xiang Ying underestimated the enemy's sinisterness, which led to the opportunity for breaking through the measures. The New Fourth Army was gradually unified after the reconstruction.
77 strategic areas at the beginning of the Liberation War: Shaanxi Gansu-Ningxia Shanxi-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan-Suishan
The four major field troops in the Liberation War. The New Fourth Army also formed the East China Field Army with the Eighth Route Army left behind in Shandong. The other three are the Eighth Route Army, and the North China Field Army is also the Eighth Route Army.
Based on these major reasons, the difference in the proportion of the marshals from the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army is more in line with the actual situation.However, it is worth mentioning that the first division commander under the New Fourth Army, as long as the ranks are all generals, and those who do not participate in the ranks are also qualified for generals. This is also a recognition of their contribution!
