On July 7, 1937, the outbreak of the "Lugou Bridge Incident" marked the beginning of Japan's all-out war of aggression against China, the Kuomintang and the Communists quickly reached a cooperation agreement, the anti-Japanese national united front was formally formed, and the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was successively reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army, of which the main force of the Red Army in the northwest was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and the Red Army guerrilla units that insisted on guerrilla warfare in several southern provinces and regions were organized into the new Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, referred to as the "Eighth Route Army" and "New Fourth Army" respectively.
At the beginning of its establishment, the New Fourth Army did not have divisions, brigades and other structures, but was divided into four detachments, with a total strength of only more than 10,300 people. In January 1941, the Kuomintang troops were ordered to go north to the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army and its direct subordinate units, and the "Anhui Southern Incident" broke out. In late January 1941, the New Fourth Army headquarters was rebuilt in Yancheng, northern Jiangsu Province, and the former New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army units south of Longhai Road were unified and reorganized into seven divisions and one independent brigade, with a total strength of more than 90,000 troops.
After the reconstruction, the New Fourth Army developed rapidly, active in the heart of the enemy, and opened up the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines, such as central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Huainan, Huaibei, Anhuijiang, Eyu, Anhui, Xianggan, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and by the time of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in August 1945, the whole army had grown to more than 200,000 main forces and more than 100,000 local armed forces. However, at this time, the New Fourth Army had only five divisions, what was the reason?
First of all, when the Independent Brigade of the New Fourth Army was rebuilt for the New Fourth Army, it was formed by the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army under the guidance of the Fifth Brigade, and the brigade commander was Liang Xingchu, the commander of the later famous "Long Live Army". The Independent Brigade was transferred back to Shandong at the end of 1942 and broke away from the New Fourth Army.
The First Division of the New Fourth Army was organized by the Northern Jiangsu Command and its subordinate units, with the division commander Su Yu and political commissar Liu Yan. The First Division developed rapidly under the leadership of Su Yu, and in April 1941 the Central Soviet Military Region was formed, part of the main force was localized, and by October 1942, the Sixth Division and the First Division were internally merged, and the troops were unified under the command of Su Yu. At the end of 1944, Su Yu led the main force of the First Division to the south of Suzhou and Zhejiang to form the Suzhou-Zhejiang Military Region, the commander of the First Division was replaced by Ye Fei, and in April 1945, Ye Fei led the First Division to teach the brigade to go south to serve as the deputy commander of the Suzhou-Zhejiang Military Region.
In August 1945, the New Fourth Army consisted of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region, the Soviet Central Military Region, the Huainan Military Region, the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, the Huaibei Military Region, the Eyu-Anhui Xianggan Military Region, and the Anhui River Special Region, of which the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region and the Soviet Central Military Region were developed from the 1st Division and the 6th Division, and the remaining five military regions were composed of the 2nd Division, the 3rd Division, the 4th Division, the 5th Division, and the 7th Division, and the commanders of these five divisions were Luo Binghui, Huang Kecheng, Zhang Aiping, Li Xiannian and Tan Xilin.
Luo Binghui was a native of Yiliang, Yunnan, who had joined the Dian Army, participated in the Patriotic War and the Northern Expedition, and in 1929 led an uprising to join the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and served as the commander of the Red Ninth Army. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Luo Binghui served as deputy commander of the first detachment of the New Fourth Army, commander of the fifth detachment, deputy commander of the Jiangbei Command, deputy commander and division commander of the Second Division of the New Fourth Army, and after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he served as the second deputy commander of the Shandong Military Region and the second deputy commander of the New Fourth Army, and died of illness in 1946.
Huang Kecheng, a native of Yongxing, Hunan, joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1928 and participated in the Long March. When the Eighth Route Army was founded, Huang Kecheng worked at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and soon became the political commissar of the 344th Brigade, and later the political commissar of the Second Column of the Eighth Route Army, the commander and political commissar of the Jiluyu Military Region, the political commissar of the Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army, the commander and political commissar of the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army, and the commander and political commissar of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Huang Kecheng led the Third Division into the northeast, and served as deputy commander of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army and political commissar of the Second Corps of the Northeast Field Army. In 1955, Huang Kecheng was awarded the title of General.
A native of Daxian County, Sichuan Province, Zhang Aiping joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1929 and served as commander of the third detachment of the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army, brigade commander of the Ninth Brigade of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, deputy commander of the Third Division, commander of the Fourth Division and commander of the Huaibei Military Region during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In 1955, Zhang Aiping was awarded the title of general. A native of Huang'an, Hubei Province, Li Xiannian served as commander of the Yu'e Independent Guerrilla Detachment of the New Fourth Army, commander of the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, and commander of the Eyu-Anhui-Xianggan Military Region during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Tan Xilin, a native of Changsha, Hunan Province, was admitted to the Huangpu Fifth Phase, participated in the Northern Expedition War and the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and served as chief of staff of the Fourth Detachment of the New Fourth Army, commander of the Guerrilla Column in Jiangbei, brigade commander of the Sixth Brigade of the Second Division of the New Fourth Army, acting division commander and division commander of the Seventh Division during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In 1955, Tan Xilin was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.