In some film and television works that reflect the Anti-Japanese War, when the devils went out to sweep, when they heard that there was only "Tu Ba Road" in front of them, they immediately accelerated as if they had beaten chicken blood. However, if they heard that there might be an "old Eighth Road" ahead, they immediately shrank their heads and feet, even stopped advancing, and repeatedly sent people to reconnoitre. Why are devils afraid of the "old Eighth Road" but not the "Earth Eighth Road"? Today, I will tell you more about it.
The main force of the Eighth Route Army had heavy machine guns
First of all, whether it is the "Old Eighth Road" or the "Dirt Eighth Road", they are all anti-Japanese armed forces under the leadership of our party. The "Old Eighth Road" refers to the regular army of the 115th, 120th and 129th divisions, with neat hats and uniforms, and relatively complete weapons in their hands. The "Eighth Route of Soil" refers to the local armed forces of the Eighth Route Army, such as county brigades, district squadrons, and district squadrons, etc., many of whom do not even have military uniforms, and there are all kinds of weapons, such as broadswords, spears, hoes, and dung forks, and there are very few guns, and there are almost no machine guns. The main body of the militia is the "off-duty militia" of the counties and districts in the base areas, which are assembled and organized into a contingent with a certain combat effectiveness, which is mainly responsible for low-intensity combat tasks such as defending the townships, suppressing bandits and opposing special forces, and consolidating local political power.
The Japanese army also quickly discovered the difference between these two types of troops, and called them "Old Eighth Road" and "Earth Eighth Road" respectively. If you see many people on the opposite side who don't even have military uniforms and can't hear any machine-gun fire during the sweep, you will know that it is the "dirt road". However, if you find that the opponent's military hat and uniform are neat, and there are light and heavy machine guns, and even grenadiers, you will realize that the "old Eighth Road" is coming, and this battle is likely to be more fierce and less auspicious.
After entering the middle of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army's front continued to lengthen, and the problem of insufficient troops began to appear. In North China, for example, the Japanese army averaged only one soldier per square kilometer, and the Japanese army was forced to concentrate its forces in towns and lines of communication. In peacetime, the Japanese army dispatched troops to sweep the base areas behind enemy lines, and due to the limited number of troops, most of them were squadrons. Because against the "Dirt Eight Road", the squadron-level strength is enough. The Eighth Route Army sometimes sent regular troops to attack the Japanese puppet army behind enemy lines to carry out anti-sweeping operations, but the scale was not large, battalion/company units. A larger unit is not conducive to mobility, and a small and capable team is most suitable.
The local armed forces of the Eighth Route Army
Next, let's compare the specific weapons and equipment and staffing of the Japanese army (infantry squadron), the "old Eighth Road" (infantry battalion), and the "Tuba Road" (county brigade) to see how big the gap is.
The first is the Japanese infantry squadron, at this time due to the lack of troops, an infantry squadron was only about 160 people, and in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, a Japanese infantry squadron could reach 194 people. The main firepower is 6 Taisho 11 6.5 mm light machine guns + 6 89 50 mm grenadiers, and 2 92 7.7 mm heavy machine guns for garrison (fortress defense), which are generally transferred from the machine gun squadron under the jurisdiction of the infantry brigade. When a Japanese infantry squadron goes out to sweep, it usually leaves a part of the force (a small team) behind, and not all of them, after all, the lair must also be defended. It should be noted that in order to achieve the purpose of sneak attack when the devils sweep, they are generally lightly armed, and the ammunition they carry is not much, that is to say, the continuous combat ability is not strong.
Looking at the situation of the "old Eighth Road", the Eighth Route Army is very poor even if it is a regular army, with more than 100 people in an infantry company, only 2~3 light machine guns (machine gun models are more miscellaneous, mainly Czech), and there may be 1 50mm grenadier (homemade or captured trophies). Rifles are even more miscellaneous, with Hanyang-made, Zhongzheng, and 38 big covers. An infantry company could not confront an infantry squadron of the Japanese army, and an infantry squadron of the Japanese army required the strength of an infantry battalion of the Eighth Route Army. An infantry battalion of the Eighth Route Army has 300~400 people, close to 10 light machine guns and several 50mm grenadiers, and 1~2 7.92mm heavy machine guns. The models of heavy machine guns are also relatively miscellaneous, such as the Min 24 type, the 30 knots, the 92 type, etc., what is the use.
Japanese troops assembled
Finally, let's talk about the situation of the "Tuba Road", taking the county brigade as an example. According to the size of the establishment as commonly understood, the "county brigade" is equivalent to the battalion-level contingent of the regular army. In terms of numbers, there are quite a few hundred, but there is a general lack of military training and poor military quality. Most of the weapons and equipment are cold weapons, and most of the rifles are eliminated by the main forces, many rifles are smoothed, and there are few bullets. As for the heavy machine guns, don't think about it, there may be a few light machine guns, mainly crooked handles. The captured good machine guns, such as the Czech ones, needed to be handed over to the main forces, and the crooked handles were left in the local troops due to their poor performance.
From the comparison of the situation of the three sides, it can be seen that when an infantry squadron of the Japanese army went out to sweep, if there was an ambush of a battalion of regular troops of the Eighth Route Army in front, it would indeed be more auspicious. The Eighth Route Army took a devil by surprise by ambushing it in advance, first knocking out the devil's machine gunners, grenadier soldiers and commanders, and then using the advantage of numbers and firepower to severely damage the Japanese army, it depends on how much the devil can escape. But if the two sides fight an encounter, the devil can give full play to its main firepower when it is prepared, and it can still fight with the Eighth Route Army by taking advantage of its high military quality, but it is not easy for either side to defeat the other side, and there is a high probability that both sides will lose if they fight to the death.
But if it is a county brigade, even if the county brigade ambushes and ambushes in advance, it is impossible to severely damage the devils. Because the weapons and equipment are too poor, and the military quality of the personnel is also very different, after the devils are ambushed, they can quickly counterattack and suppress the county brigade with firepower. When facing the strength of an infantry squadron of the Japanese army, the role of the county brigade was to delay the movement of the Japanese army and cover the transfer of the masses in the base area through layers of sniping.