After the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, in order to resist the common enemy, the process of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party was accelerated, and the National War of Resistance finally broke out, and the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party realized the second cooperation.
In mid-September, according to the battle sequence, the Nationalist Government changed the "Route Army" to the "Group Army" and renamed the name of the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army to the Eighteenth Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
In the early days of the establishment of the Eighth Route Army, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai served as the chief and deputy commanders respectively, and had three main divisions under their jurisdiction: Lin Biao, commander of the 115th Division, and Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division; He Long, commander of the 120th Division, Xiao Ke, deputy commander of the 120th Division; Liu Bocheng, commander of the 129th Division, and Xu Xiangqian, deputy commander of the 129th Division.
The 115th Division is under the jurisdiction of the 343rd Brigade, with Brigade Commander Chen Guang and the 344th Brigade under Brigade Commander Xu Haidong; the 120th Division under the jurisdiction of the 358th Brigade, with Brigade Commander Zhang Zongxun (originally scheduled to be Brigade Commander Lu Dongsheng not yet in office), the 359th Brigade with Brigade Commander Chen Bojun; and the 129th Division under the 385th Brigade, Brigade Commander Wang Hongkun, and the 386th Brigade under Brigade Commander Chen Geng.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xu Haidong and Chen Geng were awarded the rank of general, Zhang Zongxun, Chen Bojun and Wang Hongkun were awarded the rank of general, and General Chen Guang died a year before the award.
So, in light of the comparison of the combat participation and combat achievements of the various brigades in the early days of the Eighth Route Army's establishment, what was the ranking of the combat strength of these six brigade commanders on the battlefield at that time? The combat strength mentioned here is also the military command ability.
First of all, Chen Bojun and Wang Hongkun, the advantage is not in military command, especially Chen Bojun, who went to the party school to study not long after serving as the commander of the 359 Brigade, and then he was more inclined to education work, and held important positions in Kang University and Military Academy, and was not good at military command.
The other four: Chen Guang, Xu Haidong, Zhang Zongxun, and Chen Geng, all of whom have served as military commanders for a long time, especially Chen Guang, Xu Haidong, and Chen Geng, all have the ability to take charge of themselves.
Chen Guang served as the acting commander of the Red First Army Corps and the acting commander of the 115th Division, whether it was on the Long March or during the Anti-Japanese War, he commanded many classic battles, and was a famous general in the army.
Xu Haidong became famous in the Red Army, was the first to lead the team to complete the Long March to reach northern Shaanxi famous generals, during the Anti-Japanese War has held important positions in the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, there is no lack of outstanding achievements, but the health is ill, in 1940 can no longer command the troops to fight, quit the front line, and then in a state of recuperation for a long time.
The 386 Brigade during the Anti-Japanese War was too famous and had a lot of achievements, which was closely related to Chen Geng's command ability, Chen Geng, who was famous all over the world during the Huangpu Military Academy, once again became the focus of the Anti-Japanese War, commanding the 386 Brigade to perform miraculous feats and annihilate countless enemies, and the Japanese army posted a revenge slogan of "Specializing in the 386 Brigade".
On the whole, the command ability of the six brigade commanders is Chen Geng, Chen Guang, Xu Haidong, Zhang Zongxun, Wang Hongkun, and Chen Bojun.