In 1937, the main force of the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and the Red Army troops and guerrillas in 14 areas of the eight southern provinces were reorganized into the New Fourth Army.
It was during this special historical period that the officers and men of our army changed into the uniforms of the "National Revolutionary Army."
Twenty days after the reorganization order was issued, the Eighth Route Army was renamed the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
In just 20 days, the title of the Eighth Route Army has remained in the hearts of the commanders and fighters of our army and the masses of the people, and until now, people are still accustomed to calling it the Eighth Route Army.
The soldiers of the Red Army are nostalgic for the "Red Five Stars" and have a heartfelt resistance to the "Blue Sky and White Sun" badge, so for the officers and men of the Red Army, "changing clothes" is definitely not a pleasant thing.
In addition, in this reorganization, most of the Red Army generals have been demoted and used, and some have even been "demoted to three levels of officials", and officers and soldiers will inevitably have some emotions.
Fortunately, our army has always attached importance to political and ideological work and has a very high level of propaganda and education, so these problems have been quickly resolved.
Subsequently, according to the custom, the "National Government Military Commission" began to award senior generals to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.
At that time, Zhu Laozong was the deputy commander of the Second Theater and the commander-in-chief of the Eighteenth Army, and the rank conferred on Zhu by the Kuomintang was lieutenant general plus the rank of general.
What does it mean to add a lieutenant general to a general title?
At the end of the day, this is the problem posed by the "limited number of posts".
The number of generals in the Nationalist Army was limited in number, and at that time, the number of places for generals at the first and second levels of the National Revolutionary Army had reached the upper limit.
Therefore, "lieutenant general plus general title" is a kind of transition, or can be understood as "alternate general", until the number of generals is vacant, "alternate general" may be officially promoted to general.
The senior officers of the Eighth Route Army who were awarded the title of "lieutenant general plus general" were Liu Bocheng and He Long.
The reason for awarding them this rank was that before joining the CCP's armed forces, Liu Bocheng and He Long were former senior officers at the Kuomintang "army" level.
Liu Bocheng served as the commander of the Provisional Fifteenth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and He Long was the commander of the Provisional Twentieth Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
The Kuomintang also awarded the rank of lieutenant general to the following 10 people:
Guo Moruo, deputy director of the Political Department of the Central Military Commission, and director of the Third Department of the Political Department of the Central Military Commission;
Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, Ye Jianying, chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, and Xuanxia Father, General Counselor of the Eighth Route Army;
Commander Lin of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Liu Bocheng, commander of the 129th Division, He Long, commander of the 120th Division, and Xiao Ke, deputy commander of the 120th Division.
There was also Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army.
Xiang Ying, deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, and Zhang Yunyi, chief of staff of the New Fourth Army, were awarded the rank of major general.
The Nationalist government awarded a total of 21 generals of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army the rank of major general.
The other 19 major generals:
Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army;
Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Zhou Kun, chief of staff, Chen Guang, commander of the 343rd Brigade, Zhou Jianping, deputy brigade commander of the 343rd Brigade, Xu Haidong, commander of the 344th Brigade, and Huang Kecheng, deputy brigade commander of the 344th Brigade;
Zhou Shidi, chief of staff of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Lu Dongsheng, commander of the 358th Brigade, Zhang Zongxun, deputy brigade commander of the 358th Brigade, Peng Shaohui (rear), commander of the 358th Brigade, Chen Bojun, commander of the 359th Brigade, and Wang Zhen, deputy brigade commander of the 359th Brigade;
Xu Xiangqian, deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Ni Zhiliang, chief of staff, Wang Hongkun, commander of the 385th Brigade, Wang Weizhou, deputy brigade commander of the 385th Brigade, Chen Xilian, commander of the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade, Chen Geng, commander of the 386th Brigade, and Chen Zaidao, deputy brigade commander of the 386th Brigade.
Among those who were awarded the rank of major general by the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian later became the founding marshals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army;
Xu Haidong, Huang Kecheng, and Chen Geng became the founding generals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army;
Zhang Zongxun, Wang Zhen, Peng Shaohui, Chen Bojun, Chen Zaidao, Zhou Shidi, Chen Xilian, and Wang Hongkun became the founding generals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
At that time, Yang Yong, Yang Dezhi, Song Shilun, and He Bingyan were awarded the rank of colonel by the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government.
Eighteen years later, New China awarded these four generals the rank of general.
In addition, in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, some cadres were awarded corresponding ranks for contacts with the Kuomintang government and the army or for united front work.
For example, Major General Zhou Suyuan, Senior Counselor of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, Major General Tong Lusheng, and Major General Zhang Kewei;
The leaders of the local offices of the Eighth Route Army were also awarded military ranks, they were:
Major General Peng Xuefeng, director of the "Taiyuan Office," Major General Li Kenong, director of the "Shanghai Office," Major General Zhang Yunyi, director of the "Guangzhou Office," Major General Qian Zhiguang, director of the "Chongqing Office," Colonel Wang Lingbo, director of the Communications Office in Hunan Province, Colonel Wu Xiuquan, director of the Lanzhou Office, and so on.
Since the New Fourth Army was mainly reorganized from the Red Army guerrillas in the eight southern provinces, it could not be compared with the Eighth Route Army, so the Military Commission of the National Government only awarded a few main responsible persons of the New Fourth Army with titles.
In the years when the whole nation resisted foreign insults, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China took into account the overall situation, endured humiliation and heavy burdens, and made the greatest efforts to crack down on the Japanese aggressors.