Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
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The ‘’’Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army”” was an anti-Japanese guerrilla army in the Northeast part (Manchuria) of China after the occupation of Manchuria by Japan in 1931. It was organized by the Manchuria branches of the Chinese Communist Party(CCP). However, it lost direct contact with the CCP headquarter in Yen’an, and was supported by the Soviet Union.
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[edit] History
After Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931, the Chinese Communist Party organized anti-Japanese guerrilla units, and formed the Northeastern People's Revolutionary Army. Despite party disapproval, some party members joined or rendered assistance to various Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies fighting the Japanese and the forces of Manchukuo.
In 1934, after the defeat of the Volunteer Armies, all these Communist Party units were reorganized into the single Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, with Zhao Shangzhi as its Commander-in-Chief. This force continued the struggle against the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo. In 1935, the party officially changed policy, and began creating a united front, absorbing most of the remaining anti-Japanese forces in Manchuria and some Korean resistance fighters including Kim Il-sung. The army was organized into Yang Jingyu's 1st Route Army, Zhou Baozhong's 2nd Route Army, and Li Zhaolin's 3rd Route Army. They claimed to have 45,000 members.
Despite years of fighting, the army was gradually worn down by the pacification campaign of the Japanese. Yang Jingyu died on February 23, 1940, and Zhao Shangzhi was killed in 1942, during a Japanese encirclement campaign. Remnants of the Army retreated into the USSR and were incorporated into the Soviet Red Army. In 1945, they returned to Manchuria as part of the Red Army's August Storm Campaign, with Zhou Baozhong as commander. Some army units of Manchukuo declared uprising to join the army.
After World War II, most of its army was combined into the People's Liberation Army of China for the subsequent civil war.
[edit] Affiliation
Officially, this army was lead by the Chinese Communist Party. In reality, they did not directly to report to the CCP center in Yen'an due to geographical separation. Their only contacts with the CCP in Yen’an were through the CCP representatives in Communist International, Kang Sheng and Wang Ming.
Japanese created a strip of “No Man Land” to prevent CCP-led Eighth Route Army to infiltrate into Manchuria.
They were supported and instructed by the USSR, who for its own interest supported this army to tie drag the forces of its potential Japanese enemy. Their uniforms were copies of the uniform of the Soviet Red Army.
[edit] Components
The army was a mixture of various sources, with the same objective – expelling Japanese out of Manchuria. They were communists, common students and peasants, former army men belonging to warlord Zhang Xueliang, and even bandits. The former bandits played an important role in the guerrilla war by using their skills in the mountains. Most of the high and middle rank officers had the communist membership, including former bandit leaders.
[edit] Korean in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
The army contained a lot of Korean, both the Koreans in Chinese Manchuria, and the Koreans from the Korean Peninsula. In the Korean Peninsula, there were virtually no organized armed riots to the Japanese colonists, and some Koreans chose the Chinese Manchuria as a place to fight with Japanese. For example, among the legendary “Eight Girls Jumping Into the River” (a squad of girl guerrillas, aged from 13 to 23, after a long fighting with overwhelming Japanese army who mistook them as a main guerilla body, finally all jumped to the riser for suicide), three were Koreans. Kim Il-sung was a middle-rank officer in this army, and won some reputations in some battles. After the war, some Korean nationals in this army became the first generation of the leaders of North Korea. Kim Il-sung became the highest leader of North Korea. Someone suspected that the leader Kim of North Korea was not a real anti-Japanese guerrilla officer Kim Il-sung, but used the name of Kim Il-sung after the real Kim was killed. However, the Army’s commander, Zhou Baozhong wrote that he only knew one Kim Ill-sung.
[edit] Heroic Deeds
Across the Taiwan strait, both sides highly admire the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. However, in the mainland of China, this army is viewed as one of the CCP-led anti-Japanese efforts to add credits for CCP in the war, while history books in Taiwan admire the heroic deeds of the army without mentioning their relationship with CCP.
The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army really experienced extreme hardship. Japan sent one of its best army, close to one million soldier to Manchuria, which was essential to Japan during the war time. A Chinese Communist leader, Peng Zhen, equalized the hardship of the army at the same level as long march.
Besides legendary commanders Yang Jingyu and Zhao Shangzhi, a female officer called Zhao Yiman(1905-1936) was revered by many Chinese as a symbol of the national salvation.
