The Eighth Route Army is the abbreviation of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. In 1937, after the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in accordance with the agreement reached between our army and Chiang Kai-shek, the Red Army decided to abolish the name and number of the Red Army and reorganize it into the National Revolutionary Army, and reorganize the three main forces of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army stationed in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region into the "Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army", referred to as the Eighth Route Army for short.
The Eighth Route Army set up a general headquarters, with Zhu Laozong as the commander-in-chief and Peng as the deputy commander-in-chief. It administers three divisions, namely the 115th Division, the 120th Division and the 129th Division.
In everyone's impression, Elder Zhu was always the commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, the first and only one. But in fact, in the history of the Eighth Route Army, before Zhu Laozong, there were two commanders-in-chief (commander-in-chief), and both were senior generals and top leaders of the Kuomintang.
The first commander-in-chief was Li Jishen.
Li Jishen was a legendary figure, a first-class general in the Kuomintang Army, who followed Mr. Zhongshan in his early years to make a revolution.
In January 1924, Mr. Zhongshan founded the Whampoa Military Academy, and Li Jishen was appointed as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Military Academy and later served as the vice president of the Whampoa Military Academy.
In 1925, Li Jishen served as the commander of the Fourth Army of the "Iron Army" of the National Revolutionary Army, and was the immediate superior of General Ye Ting.
In August 1927, Li Jishen was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. The Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army was expanded on the basis of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Army, the Fifth Army, the Eleventh Army, and the Sixteenth Army.
Mr. Li Jishen was just and righteous, and Chiang Kai-shek respected and hated him. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, he repeatedly opposed the rule of the old Chiang Kai-shek because he loved the country and the people, and was "permanently expelled from the party" by Chiang Kai-shek three times.
During the Liberation War, Li Jishen opposed Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship and the civil war, and he participated in the creation of patriotic organizations.
In January 1948, the patriotic organization was established, and Mr. Nakayama's wife was elected honorary head and Li Jishen was elected as the head.
In January 1949, Li Jishen and others published "Our Opinions on the Current Situation".
In June 1949, the Supreme Commander (Chairman) personally visited Li Jishen and asked him to serve as the vice chairman of the soon-to-be-established Central People's Government.
In this regard, Li Ji was deeply surprised, and he said with great concern: "I have killed countless revolutionaries, and in April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the 'April 12' incident in Songhu. At that time, I was blinded by his old Jiang, and I have killed many of your people! this....... ”
The supreme chief pondered for a moment and said solemnly: "At this time and another time, personal grievances are small things, and the affairs of the country are big things." "
In September 1949, Li Jishen was elected vice chairman. It is a vice-national level.
The second commander-in-chief was Chen Jitang.
Chen Jitang is a general of the Kuomintang. He was in charge of Guangdong Province for a long time. During the Northern Expedition, he was a subordinate of Li Jishen.
In January 1929, Li Jishen was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek at Tangshan for opposing Chiang Kai-shek's weakening of non-concubine forces. Chen Jitang expressed his support for Chiang Kai-shek. Soon, Chen Jitang was appointed commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army.
Chen Jitang ruled Guangdong Province for a long time and was known as the "King of the Southern Heavens". Chen Jitang ruled Guangdong for eight years and did make achievements. Under his presidency, Guangdong Province, especially Guangzhou, has made great progress in economic, cultural and municipal construction.
When he was in charge of Guangdong Province, Chen Jitang attached great importance to traditional education, and he demanded that all localities restore the sacrifice holes and pay homage to Guan Yue, shouting that "there is no way to save China without restoring inherent morality." He promoted Bible reading education in primary and secondary schools throughout the province and personally compiled the New Citizen Textbook. The first lesson of the textbook is 12 big words: Commander-in-Chief Chen loves me, I love Commander-in-Chief Chen.
In June 1936, Chen Jitang and Li Zongren of the Gui clan joined forces to oppose Chiang Kai-shek in the name of the "Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army".
After the failure of the anti-Chiang Kai-shek campaign, on the evening of July 18, 1936, Chen Jitang, after leaving the wilderness, with nearly 30 million oceans, full of depression, boarded the warship "Sea Tiger" from the Huangpu Yuzhu Fort and left Guangzhou in disgrace. Chen Jitang stepped down, and the Eighth Route Army's title was canceled.
After that, Chen Jitang went abroad to investigate. After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Jitang returned to China and served as a member of the Supreme National Defense Commission and the Strategy Committee.
In 1946, Chen Jitang was appointed chief executive and commander of the Hainan Special Administrative Region.
In April 1949, Chen Jitang was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the chief executive of Qiongya.
In April 1950, Hainan Island was liberated, and Chen Jitang went to Taiwan Province, China.
On November 3, 1954, Chen Jitang died of sudden cerebrovascular embolism at the age of 64
After the outbreak of the July 7 Incident, the general trend of the nationwide cooperative war of resistance, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed to the reorganization of the Red Army into the National Revolutionary Army, the name of the Eighth Route Army was also reused, and Zhu Laozong became the third commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army.
Soon, the Eighth Route Army was renamed the Eighteenth Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army according to the sequence of battles. But people still habitually call it the Eighth Route Army.