Editor's note
Eighty-five years ago, in order to resist the Japanese aggressors, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army and the newly organized Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army and rushed to the front line of the War of Resistance. In commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, China Military Network WeChat will successively launch a series of articles to take you to understand many little-known details of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army not only had divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, platoons, squads, but also columns and detachments. So what kind of formation are these columns and detachments? How many people are in a column or detachment?
Let's start with the columns
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army and some local armed forces and guerrillas formed columns. For example, the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army, the First Column of the Eighth Route Army, the Taiyue Column of the Eighth Route Army, and the advance column of the Eighth Route Army advancing into the northeast are not uniform; some have jurisdiction over detachments, some have jurisdiction over brigades, and some have jurisdiction over divisions, brigades, or regiments.
In December 1937, in order to open up the anti-Japanese base area in southern Hebei, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army transferred three infantry companies and a machine gun company, including the 1st Company, the 5th Company, and the 10th Company, from the 769th Regiment; One cavalry platoon was drawn from the 769th Regiment, the 771st Regiment, and the 772nd Regiment to form a cavalry company, and a total of five companies formed the "Eighth Route Army's Eastward Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column" (abbreviated as "Eastward Column" or "Eastern Column"). When the "Eastern Column" was first established, there were only 5 companies and more than 500 people, that is, the strength of 1 reinforced battalion. By February 1939, the "Eastern Column" had grown to 2 detachments with a total of 6 regiments. Soon it was reorganized into 3 regiments, the detachment was abolished, and it became a brigade-level column.
Chen Zaidao, commander of the anti-Japanese guerrilla column of the Eighth Route Army advancing eastward
During this period, the Eighth Route Army had quite a few columns reorganized from brigades. In May 1940, the troops of the Eighth Route Army in Southern Hebei District were reorganized, and the former Youth Column was organized into the New Fourth Brigade, and the former Eastward Advance Column was organized into the New Seventh Brigade, each with three regiments under its jurisdiction. In addition, according to the plan for streamlining the troops formulated by the 120th Division and the Northwest Military Region of the Jin Dynasty in December 1941, it can be seen that the column and brigade were formed at the same level at that time. But there are also columns of a higher level than brigades. For example, when the Shandong Column of the Eighth Route Army was established in December 1938, it had 10 detachments and more than 20 regiments under its jurisdiction. By the autumn of 1940, the Shandong Column had reorganized its troops into 4 brigades, 3 detachments and 2 regiments. Therefore, the Shandong column is clearly one level higher than the brigade. The "Zhang Column" (Commander Zhang Zongxun, Political Commissar Zhang Pinghua), established in June 1939, had a high starting point and was composed of the Independent First Brigade and the Independent Second Brigade.
In October 1939, the first column of the Eighth Route Army and the Shandong column organs were merged into office
The columns of the New Fourth Army are also not uniform in their formation and size; some have jurisdiction over detachments, some have jurisdiction over brigades, and some have jurisdiction over brigades or regiments, and they are also not fixed. For example, the Jiangbei guerrilla column of the New Fourth Army was reorganized into three brigades in August 1939 and expanded into three regiments in March 1940 into brigade-level columns. After the South Anhui Incident, it was reorganized into the 6th Brigade of the 2nd Division of the New Fourth Army.
The eastward advance column of the New Fourth Army was ready to go
There is no strict distinction between columns and detachments of the New Fourth Army, and some columns are also called detachments. For example, the first, second, and third columns of the New Fourth Army reorganized by the southern Anhui troops are also called the New 1st, 2nd, and 3rd New Detachments.
Generally speaking, the columns of the New Fourth Army were mostly at the brigade level. For example, the advancing column of the New Fourth Army has jurisdiction over four regiments, and the three columns of the Northern Jiangsu Command and the coastal defense column each have three regiments. These columns were significantly one level higher than regiments, but some were only at regimental level. In mid-March 1941, the Third Detachment of the New Fourth Army (reorganized by the Jiangnan People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army in early March) was officially reorganized into the 18th Brigade of the 6th Division: the 1st Column was changed to the 53rd Regiment, and the 1st and 5th Detachments were the first and second battalions of the regiment; The second column was changed to the 52nd regiment, and the second and sixth detachments were the first and second battalions of the regiment; The third column was changed to the 54th regiment, the third and fourth detachments were the first and second battalions of the regiment, and the third guard battalion was changed to the third battalion of the regiment. These columns were clearly at regimental level. There are also individual columns with a higher level of formation than brigades. For example, the Yu'e Advance Column of the New Fourth Army of which Li Xiannian was commander had 11 regiments in 2 detachments (brigades) at the end of 1940, with 15,000 men. After the South Anhui Incident in January 1941, the column was reorganized into the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army. In addition, the Fourth Column and the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army were also reorganized into the Fourth and Third Divisions of the New Fourth Army after the South Anhui Incident.
The New Fourth Army advanced to the former headquarters of the 23rd Detachment of the column
During the Liberation War, the field columns of the Chinese People's Liberation Army generally commanded three divisions or brigades. In November 1948, the Central Military Commission issued a general decree stipulating the organizational establishment and unit numbers of the whole army, and changing the name of the field column to the army.
Let's look at the detachment again
When the Eighth Route Army was first reorganized, there was no detachment formation. As the Eighth Route Army moved out of North China and advanced behind enemy lines, many independent detachments were soon established to meet the needs of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. There are many names of these detachments, some named after the area of activity, some named after the leader, some named after the serial number, and some named after the arms, such as the Jinpu detachment, the Yellow River detachment, the canal detachment, the Dongjin detachment, the Suluyu detachment, the Daqingshan detachment, the Song Shilun detachment, the Qinlai detachment, the fifth detachment, and so on. Detachments are usually subordinate to brigades or divisions and military districts, and their composition is not uniform, fixed, and the number of personnel varies, and it is generally formed by several battalions or companies. For example, at the end of September 1937, with the second battalion of the 716th Regiment of the 358th Brigade as the backbone, the Yanbei Detachment of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army (also known as the Song Shilun Detachment) was formed, and in January 1938, the detachment was expanded into five battalions. Some detachments initially had only one company, but on December 12, 1937, Wang Naigui's detachment was formed on the basis of one company of the 769th Regiment.
In the early days, the detachment of the Eighth Route Army was only at the regimental and battalion levels, but later the ranks expanded rapidly and were upgraded to the brigade and regiment levels. On February 10, 1938, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army decided to form an advance detachment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army on the basis of one company each of the 771st Regiment of the 386th Brigade and the 129th Division Teaching Regiment. When the advance detachment was first established, the strength was less than one battalion, and only more than half a year later, on September 21 of that year, the 129th Division decided to expand the advance detachment into a brigade-level detachment.
On May 14, 1938, based on the 715th Regiment of the 358th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the divisional cavalry battalion and the 4th guerrilla detachment of the War Action General Association, the Daqingshan Detachment (also known as the Li Jingquan Detachment) was formed, with 3 battalions and 1 detachment under its jurisdiction. In May 1939, the Daqingshan Detachment was reorganized into the Cavalry Detachment of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, with three battalions under its jurisdiction. In May 1940, the cavalry detachment was expanded into 3 regiments and 1 detachment.
In November 1938, some leaders of the Daqingshan detachment took a group photo
According to Xu Qianqian and Zhu Rui's "Report to Mao Zedong, Wang Jiaxiang, Zhu De, and Peng Dehuai on the Plan for the Expansion of Shandong Troops," the six regular detachments to which the Shandong Column belonged at that time had a maximum of 6,500 men and a minimum of only 1,500 people.
On August 29, 1940, Zhu Rui proposed the expansion plan of the Shandong Column in "On the Fourth Phase of the Shandong Column's Army Consolidation Plan to All Detachments and Report to the Central Military Commission and Other Telegrams": "Each main detachment: One detachment should replenish the existing two regiments with 7,000 men, the second detachment with 5,000 people, the third detachment with 7,000 people, the fourth detachment with 8,000 people, and the fifth detachment with 10,000 men (five regiments). There were 2,000 members of the Vertical Special Service Regiment, 2,500 members of the Kangda Independent Regiment, 2,000 people (2 regiments) of the Bing Detachment and Tai [Tai] Mountain Detachment, 3 regiments (5,000 people) of the Yimeng Detachment, 5,000 men of the Longhai Detachment, and 6,000 men of the 3 regiments of the Ninth Detachment. "It can be seen that according to the army reorganization plan, most of the detachments to which the Shandong column belongs, except for a few who have only 2,000 people, have more than 5,000 people, and the regiments under their jurisdiction are equivalent to brigade-level establishments.
In addition, on 1 November 1940, Huang Kecheng's "Telegram to Mao Zedong and Other Messages on the Reorganization of the First Detachment of the Fifth Column into the First Brigade for Teaching" and Li Yu and Luo Shunchu's "On the Reorganization of the Original Detachment of the Shandong Column into a Brigade and the Establishment of a New Detachment to Peng Dehuai, Zuo Quan, and Other Telegrams" both reorganized or reorganized the detachment into brigades, indicating that the detachment and the brigade are of the same level. In October 1944, the Shandong Military Region decided to reorganize the former New 111th Division of the Northeast Army from August 3, 1942 into a coastal detachment, which still had jurisdiction over the 3rd regiment. However, there were also detachments that were reorganized into regiments, such as the Third Detachment of the 120th Division after a long campaign, which was greatly reduced, and was reorganized into the Eighth Regiment in Jingle Nanyu Village in early November 1941, which was organized into the 358th Brigade.
On September 1, 1944, the CPC Central Committee decided to form the "Independent No. 1 Guerrilla Detachment of the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army" (referred to as the "Southbound Detachment") with more than 5,000 people from the main force of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The 359th Brigade left about 5,000 troops as the second echelon and waited to go south.
Before the departure of the "southbound detachment," Chairman Mao Zedong, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De, and Commander Wang Zhen inspected the troops in Yan'an
Unlike the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army had a detachment from the moment it was reorganized. In October 1938, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party held negotiations on the reorganization of the Jiangnan guerrillas of the Red Army into the New Fourth Army, and on November 6, Mao Zedong proposed that the New Fourth Army "organize two divisions, four brigades, and eight regiments," but Chiang Kai-shek did not agree. On 14 December, the CPC Central Committee again asked Ye Ting to propose to the Kuomintang that the New Fourth Army should organize seven detachments, and "it is best for each detachment or above to compete to become two columns." On the pretext that the guerrillas of the Red Army in the south were not regular units and could not be organized according to the number of divisions, Chiang Kai-shek also proposed that "personnel must be sent for inspection, and the number of guns should be decided." Later, after an agreement with He Yingqin and others, the New Fourth Army did not have divisions, brigades, or columns, and directly administered four detachments; on December 27, Xiang Ying reported to the CPC Central Committee: "The Fourth Army is organized into four detachments, and the detachments are equal to brigades." On December 30, Mao Zedong approved the establishment. On January 8, 1938, He Yingqin officially approved the establishment. Each detachment had two regiments under its command, two or three thousand people. Soon, a fifth detachment and a sixth detachment were formed, each with three regiments under its jurisdiction.
After that, the New Fourth Army established many independent detachments to meet the needs of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. These detachments have a large number of names, different numbers and uniform levels of establishment. For example, advance detachments, guerrilla detachments, Hanhe detachments, Yanjiang detachments, southern Anhui detachments, Chaohu detachments, etc., are mostly regiment-level formations. Some detachments are only equivalent to the battalion level, such as the Ganquan detachment, the Liuhe detachment, etc.
With the development of the troops, the establishment level of the detachment was also upgraded with the continuous expansion of the ranks. For example, in October 1938, when the guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army, of which Peng Xuefeng was the commander and political commissar, was established, it had jurisdiction over three brigades and one guard company, with 1,020 people, which could only be regarded as regiment-level units. In February 1939, it had three regiments under its command, which were brigade-level. By the end of 1939, the guerrilla detachment had grown to 4 guerrilla headquarters and 3 main regiments, 1 special service regiment, 3 independent regiments, a total of 12321 people, enough for the shelf of 1 division.
In September 1939, cadres at and above the regimental level of the guerrilla detachment of the New Fourth Army took a group photo
The detachments of the New Fourth Army are generally lower than the columns, but some detachments are on a par with the columns. For example, the first, second, and third columns of the New Fourth Army reorganized by the southern Anhui troops are also called the New 1st, 2nd, and 3rd New Detachments.
In the late Sino-Japanese War, detachments of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army were successively reorganized into brigades or regiments. By the end of the War of Resistance, most of the detachment's numbers were canceled. The few detachments that retained the number of Fan were also reorganized into brigades or divisions in the early days of the Liberation War. For example, the first detachment of the Henan Military Region was renamed the first brigade of the first column of the Central Plains Military Region (Pidingjun brigade) in November 1945. The coastal detachment of the Shandong Military Region, renamed the first detachment of the Northeast Advance Column when the War of Resistance was won, marched to the northeast; In January 1946, it was renamed the 19th Brigade of the 7th Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army, and soon reorganized into the 3rd Division of the 1st Column of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army. In June 1945, the Second Detachment of the Eighth Route Army, composed of the 359th Brigade and other units, left Yan'an and went south to resist Japan under the leadership of Commander Liu Zhuanlian and Political Commissar Yan Fusheng. In mid-September, Liu Zhuanlian, who was on his way south, ordered them to advance northeast. Liu Zhuanlian led his troops to Shenyang in early winter, and the troops restored the number of the 359th Brigade, Liu Zhuanlian was appointed commander of the 359th Brigade of the Northeast People's Self-Defense Army (later renamed the Northeast Democratic United Army), and Yan Fusheng was appointed political commissar.
In June 1946, in order to celebrate the victory of the anti-bandits, cadres at and above the regiment level of the 359th Brigade of the Northeast Democratic Alliance Army took photos in Jiamusi
(Author: Xu Ping, an expert in military history)
Produced by China Military Network WeChat (zgjw_81).
Author: Xu Ping
Editor: Li Yujie