On August 20, 1940, Peng Dehuai launched the Hundred Regiments War that shocked China and foreign countries, which was of far-reaching and significant significance. It was the Eighth Route Army's first large-scale offensive against Japan in North China; it severely damaged the arrogance of the Japanese puppet army, coordinated with the Kuomintang's frontal battlefield operations, boosted the determination and fighting spirit of the military and people throughout the country to resist the war, curbed the undercurrent of the "surrender faction," had a major impact on the international community, delayed the pace of the Japanese army's southward advance, enhanced the military prestige and prestige of the Eighth Route Army, exposed the Kuomintang's lie that the Eighth Route Army "swims without attacking, and specializes in fighting friendly forces.", and is a major battle in which our army has achieved the richest results in the War of Resistance.
It is undeniable that the Hundred Regiments War was successful and victorious, but Chairman Mao had two voices about the Hundred Regiments War. Chairman Mao first affirmed the Hundred Regiments War, and also sent a telegram praising President Peng and saying, "Can we do such a battle again once or twice?" But soon after Chairman Mao made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and criticized the Hundred Regiments War, so why did Chairman Mao change his attitude?
Why did Peng Dehuai launch the Hundred Regiments War?
On 9 April 1940, Germany sent troops to occupy Denmark, followed by lightning raids on Norway, defeating the Anglo-French forces, and on 10 June, the Germans occupied all of Norway. After the German invasion of Western Europe in May, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, etc. surrendered, and the British mainland was seriously threatened. Germany's series of great victories in Europe stimulated the Japanese army, in order to quickly solve the Chinese problem and dominate Asia, the Japanese army was eager to cut off China's international supply lines, forced Britain and France to blockade China, Burma and China and India international supply lines, Britain and France were forced to submit to the Japanese army under pressure. On June 20, France agreed to blockade the Sino-Indian border, and on July 12, Britain agreed to block the China-Myanmar supply line.
At the same time that China's international supply lines were blocked, Japan stepped up pressure on Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government, and in May the Japanese army launched the largest Battle of Zaoyi since the Battle of Wuhan, launched the Battle of Liangkou in Guangdong, and occupied Yichang, thus threatening Chongqing and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to surrender. Under the economic blockade of Japan, military pressure and political temptation, the Kuomintang quietly sent representatives to contact the Japanese army in secret.
Seeing the Kuomintang wobbling, the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army believed that a great victory was needed to inspire the War of Resistance and at the same time put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek's government.
And my base does need a battle to break the deadlock. In the winter of 1939, Okamura Ningji implemented the cage policy to suppress the development of our Eighth Route Army, and the Japanese army formed a "cage" with railways and pillars, highways as chains, and bunkers as locks.
In the spring of 1940, Peng Dehuai, Zuo Quan, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Nie Rongzhen discussed a plan to destroy the Zhengtai Railway.
Because the meeting was discussing the destruction of the Zhengtai Railway, the meeting was quickly adopted, and Peng Dehuai issued orders to the 129th and 120th Divisions to attack and destroy the Zhengtai Railway in the name of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
Originally, it was only to prepare for the battle of about 20 regiments, but after the battle began, it achieved good results, more and more troops participated, and the development of the campaign became larger and larger, and eventually developed to a total of 105 regiments participating in the battle. In the three and a half months from August 20 to December 5, the Eighth Route Army launched a total of 1,824 large and small battles, with 20,645 casualties of the Japanese puppet army, more than 40,000 meters of railway tracks, more than 1,000 meters of bridges, and 2,440 telephone poles, achieving the greatest results of the Eighth Route Army since the War of Resistance.
There are two military experts in our army who have not supported it since the beginning of the Hundred Regiments War
In a telegram to Chairman Mao at the beginning of the Liberation War, Chen Yi said: "I think that our Party has not created many outstanding military figures in the past twenty years or so. Recently, Su Yu and Chen Geng have successively stood out and have a great future, and will advance side by side with Peng, Liu, and Lin, which is a great harvest for our party and the people. ”
Chen Yi pointed out that 2 of the 5 outstanding military experts of our army did not approve of the Hundred Regiments War. At the beginning, the 129th Division received an operational order to destroy the Zhengtai Railway, and Liu Bocheng and Chen Geng considered such an order to be normal, but the scale of the campaign gradually expanded, and the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was the main force in the Hundred Regiments War, and Liu Bocheng and Chen Geng of the 129th Division did not approve of launching the Hundred Regiments War. Later, under pressure, he led the 129th Division to participate in and command the Battle of the Hundred Regiments.
What made Liu Bocheng and Chen Geng most dissatisfied with the Hundred Regiments War was the later Battle of Guanjia'an, which was a battle after the strategic contraction and rest of the Hundred Regiments War, which was not large in scale, but had a great impact.
The Battle of the Hundred Regiments made the Japanese army ashamed and angry, and the Japanese army quickly gathered tens of thousands of troops against the Eighth Route Army according to the "sweep", and the 129th Division, which had just finished the Battle of Yuliao, was ordered to rest in hiding. In late October 1940, a Japanese Okazaki brigade of about 500 people blindly rammed into the arsenal of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, which was called "the pearl in the palm of the Eighth Route Army" by Zhu Laozong. The Japanese army set fire to it and fled, a move that completely angered the grumpy Mr. Peng, who ordered the 129th Division to annihilate the Okazaki Brigade, and when the Eighth Route Army came, the Japanese army quickly seized the Guanjiayuan natural danger.
Zuo Quan saw that the Japanese army had seized Guanjia'an, afraid that the 129th Division would suffer losses, and called the special task force regiment of the headquarters overnight, asking them to launch a sneak attack in advance at three o'clock in the morning. However, Guan Jia'an was dangerous and difficult to defend, and when he saw the soldiers falling down in rows, the commanders and fighters of the 129th Division were red-eyed, seriously injured and not in the line of fire, and the casualties were getting bigger and bigger, and Chen Geng could not sit still at first. Chen Geng called Peng Dehuai, Chen Geng meant to force the Japanese army to withdraw from Guanjia'an, and then choose favorable terrain to ambush, but Peng Dehuai did not agree, Chen Geng said that the Eighth Route Army could not afford to lose money in this way, and Peng Dehuai said that the troops who could not fight a hard battle had no future in the future (the 386th Brigade was praised as "the best brigade in China").
Chen Geng did not move, Liu Bocheng could not sit still, Peng and Liu quarreled on the phone, Liu Bocheng said that Peng Dehuai was a brute force, and Peng Dehuai's temper was much greater than Liu Bocheng's, he yelled at Liu Bocheng, who was 6 years older than him: "I tell you Liu Bocheng, I can't take guan jia'an, I revoke the number of the 129th Division, kill the head no matter how big or small." ”
This sentence completely turned the face, Liu Bocheng hardened his scalp, and finally because the Eighth Route Army's blocking troops did not stop the Reinforcements of the Japanese Army, the 129th Division did not go south to Guanjia'an and took the initiative to withdraw, more than 10,000 people did not annihilate a 500-strong Japanese army, and more than 2,000 casualties themselves were also suffered.
In the second stage of the Hundred Regiments War, because of the rich results achieved in the first stage, chairman Mao forgot to adhere to the policy of guerrilla warfare, was a bit blind and confident, and only cared about nibbling at the hard strongholds of the Japanese army.
Therefore, although Liu Bocheng and Chen Geng had a positive attitude towards the great victory of the Hundred Regiments War, they were not so comfortable in their hearts, and the 129th Division served as the main force in the Hundred Regiments War, with a total of 7812 casualties, most of which were caused by the completion of the strategic purpose of the first stage and the attack in the second stage.
Why did Chairman Mao criticize the Hundred Regiments War? I have to admire the great man's forward-looking vision
Nie Rongzhen, who participated in the Hundred Regiments War, commented on the Hundred Regiments War in his memoirs: "The results of the battle are enormous, and on the whole, they should be affirmative, but there are also major deficiencies and problems in the victory, first of all, there are problems in propaganda. This campaign was originally a campaign of sabotage on Zhengtai Road and other major lines of communication, but later the mind became hot, more and more troops were mobilized, the scale of the operation became larger and larger, the combat time was too concentrated, and hundreds of regiments were publicized to the outside world. ”
Nie Rongzhen's appraisal is very pertinent, not only affirming the achievements of the Hundred Regiments War, but also pointing out the problems existing in the Hundred Regiments War. This is precisely the case with Chairman Mao's criticism of the Hundred Regiments War. And the dissatisfaction of Chairman Mao is not only this, but also the lack of instructions from the Central Military Commission.
Chairman Mao was still very happy after the achievements of the Hundred Regiments War were reported to the Central Committee, and after everyone was immersed in the joy of victory, Chairman Mao fell into contemplation and criticized the Hundred Regiments War. Chairman Mao's dissatisfaction was caused by several points:
1. Exposing strength triggered a re-examination of the strength of our Eighth Route Army by the Japanese army:
Chairman Mao insisted on protracted warfare and guerrilla warfare, and in the later stages of the Hundred Regiments War, it had developed into a trench warfare and a tough offensive battle, which ran counter to Chairman Mao's guerrilla warfare and protracted warfare. He believes that the defeat of the Japanese army is a matter of time before it is lost, and the land is lost; the land is lost, and the land is lost. As long as the Japanese army is delayed, it will be victorious, and it is unrealistic to completely annihilate the Japanese army.
The chain reaction brought about by the Hundred Regiments War was enormous, with more than 17,000 casualties of the Eighth Route Army, and the sacrifice of zuo quan, chief of staff, due to the crazy retaliation of the Japanese army, the huge difficulties brought to the lives of the base areas and ordinary people, and the degree of difficulty is unimaginable to us. In March 1943, Peng Dehuai held a meeting of local cadres in Zuoquan County, and the local cadres attending the meeting were so hungry that they could not sit still, and Mr. Peng had to let everyone lie on the kang for the meeting, and at this time, three years had passed since the Hundred Regiments War, which showed how serious the difficulties caused by the Japanese army's blockade and prevention of our base areas were.
2, foreign publicity has become a big problem:
In fact, there is nothing wrong with launching the Hundred Regiments War, and the wrong propaganda problem is wrong, and external propaganda has become the Hundred Regiments War. At the same time that the military and the people of the whole country were excited, the Japanese army and Chiang Kai-shek panicked; the Japanese army saw that there was such a tough force behind them, and it was possible to organize a hundred regiments in a random campaign, so that the Japanese army thought that their "backyard" was not peaceful, re-examined and guarded against the strength of our Eighth Route Army, and made the Japanese army change its strategic direction and mobilize heavy troops to deal with the anti-Japanese base area of our Eighth Route Army.
What Chiang Kai-shek was most worried about was that our Eighth Route Army was "swimming without attacking" and was sneakily engaged in troops. Now, in the past three years, the Eighth Route Army has grown from less than 10 regiments to more than 100 regiments, which makes Old Chiang very panicked.
3. It developed into a strategic issue, but was not reported to the Central Military Commission:
When Peng Dehuai initially gave orders to the 129th and 120th Divisions from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, he also reported to the Central Committee that Peng Dehuai was about to launch and command a campaign, and the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the Central Committee knew about it, but the battle plan at that time was only to destroy the Zhengtai Railway and the main lines of communication, which was only a normal battle of the Eighth Route Army. However, later, more and more troops participated, the scale became larger and larger, and gradually evolved into a strategic issue, which must be approved by the Central Military Commission, and the Hundred Regiments War did not have the instructions of the Central Military Commission, which also caused Chairman Mao's dissatisfaction.
The launching and propaganda of the Hundred Regiments War made Chairman Mao vaguely uneasy, and sure enough, only a month after the Hundred Regiments War, the "Anhui Southern Incident" occurred.