The mainstay of the Central China War of Resistance

In 1937, after the outbreak of the all-out Anti Japanese War, the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang reached an agreement through negotiation. In October, the Red Army guerrillas in eight southern provinces were reorganized into the new Fourth Army of the national revolutionary army, with Ye Ting as the commander and Xiang Ying as the deputy commander. During the Anti-Japanese War, the New Fourth Army fulfilled its mission and fulfilled its trust, and truly became the mainstay of the Anti-Japanese War in Central China. As Mao Zedong commented, the New Fourth Army was "the Great Wall of the people of Central China".

After the formation of the New Fourth Army, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission, it went to the rear of the enemy in central China to carry out the war of resistance. This area is densely populated, rich in resources, and well-developed in transportation. It is also the location of the command center of the Japanese and puppet troops. The New Fourth Army carried out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines here, which dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army, played a role in strangling the overall situation according to the local area, and thwarted the Japanese army's attempt to "use war to support war. Especially after entering the stage of strategic stalemate, the New Fourth Army became the main force in the Central China War of Resistance. Before the New Fourth Army advanced into central China, the Japanese army had only two or three regiments stationed in Nanjing, Wuhu and Zhenjiang. After the New Fourth Army moved eastward, the Japanese army increased to 3 divisions; after the fall of Wuhan, the Japanese army added 2 divisions. At that time, the Central China Japanese army had 13 divisions and 3 independent brigades. The New Fourth Army fought against the Japanese Sixth Division in Wuhan, Huanggang and Huangpi; fought against the Japanese 15th Division in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Gaochun and Chaoxian; fought against the Japanese 58th Division in Hanchuan, Yunmeng and Qianjiang; fought against the Japanese 60th Division in Shanghai and Zhenjiang along the Beijing-Shanghai route; fought against the Japanese 12th Independent Brigade in Funing, Baoying, Jiangdu and Haimen areas of central Jiangsu; there were also several Japanese divisions and two independent brigades fighting for the New Fourth Army and the Kuomintang troops. During the Anti-Japanese War, the New Fourth Army fought more than 24600 times against the Japanese puppet troops, killed and wounded more than 293700 Japanese puppet troops, captured more than 124200 Japanese puppet troops, and contributed to the surrender of more than 54000 Japanese puppet troops. The New Fourth Army itself suffered more than 80000 casualties, including 350 martyrs at or above the regiment level.

In Central China, the New Fourth Army has successively established 8 anti-Japanese base areas, including Central Jiangsu, Huainan, Northern Jiangsu, Huaibei, Hubei-Henan border, Southern Jiangsu, Wanjiang, and Eastern Zhejiang, and established 38 administrative offices, more than 20 commissioner offices, and 164 counties. Democratic government. These base areas are located in the richest central and eastern part of China, involving 7 provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Henan, and Hunan, with an area of about 253000 square kilometers and a population of about 34.2 million. The New Fourth Army also continued to grow and develop during the War of Resistance Against Japan. By 1940, the New Fourth Army had grown from more than 10000 at the time of centralized reorganization to more than 90000. Although it suffered a serious setback in the Southern Anhui Incident in 1941, the New Fourth Army persisted and continued to develop despite difficulties. By the end of 1943, the New Fourth Army had grown to 160000; by the time of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the main force of the New Fourth Army had grown to more than 210000, the local troops had reached more than 97000, and the militia and self-defense forces had reached more than 960000, becoming an insurmountable iron wall for the Japanese army. During the counteroffensive, the New Fourth Army liberated 52 counties and captured 1381 enemy strongholds.

In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the New Fourth Army played a coordinated role in the frontal battlefield of the Kuomintang. In the early days of the National War of Resistance, the Kuomintang frontal battlefield was the main battlefield, which played an important role in resisting the crazy attack of the Japanese army. The New Fourth Army "undertakes the great task of cooperating with the main force, cooperating with the front, cooperating with the campaign, and cooperating with the battle", and has become "an iron hand to attract and restrain the enemy". During the battles in Xuzhou and Wuhan in 1938, the New Fourth Army was active in the battlefield behind enemy lines in central China. Strategically, it effectively cooperated with the Kuomintang's frontal battlefield and smashed the Japanese army's strategic attempt of "quick battle and quick decision. For example, in order to cooperate with the defense of Wuhan, the Jiangbei troops of the New Fourth Army actively destroyed the An (Qing) He (Fei) Highway and destroyed more than 100 Japanese cars, which made the transportation of Japanese military supplies difficult and delayed the process of Japanese occupation of Wuhan. In this year alone, the New Fourth Army advanced into the north and south of the Yangtze River and carried out extensive guerrilla warfare. It carried out more than 280 consecutive battles, killed and wounded more than 3200 Japanese and puppet troops, captured more than 600 people, destroyed more than 180 cars, overturned 2 trains, and destroyed more than 90 bridges. This seriously threatened the enemy's traffic lines and command centers, attacked the enemy's arrogance, and inspired the confidence of the military and civilians behind the enemy. At the beginning of 1941, the fourth and fifth divisions of the New Fourth Army effectively contained the Japanese troops attacking the Kuomintang army in southern Henan. In the same year, the New Fourth Army took the initiative to cooperate with the Kuomintang battlefield and launched an offensive against the enemy in the Battle of Zhengzhou and the Battle of Dwarkushan in Hubei. In the spring of 1943, when the Japanese army launched an attack on the Han Deqin Department of the Kuomintang in Northern Jiangsu, the Third Division of the New Fourth Army gave up its past suspicions. Before the war and during the campaign, it actively cooperated with the operation to cover the breakout and transfer of the Korean army, so that the Japanese attack had to end hastily in just four days.

China's Anti-Japanese War is an important part of the world anti-fascist war and the main battlefield of the world anti-fascist war. After the Anti-Japanese War entered the stage of strategic stalemate, the New Fourth Army forced the 160000 Japanese and 230000 puppet troops to stay in the occupied areas of central China and could not escape. Coupled with the heroic struggle of the eighth Route Army and the army and people of the whole country in the War of Resistance against Japan, the Chinese battlefield has been holding down nearly 30 divisions and regiments of the Japanese army, with a total of more than 100 million troops, containing the "northward advance" force of Japanese fascism, enabling the Soviet Union to concentrate its efforts on the western front to defeat German fascism, and creating conditions for people all over the world to win the victory in the anti-fascist war; it also delayed and limited the Japanese fascist's "southward advance" plan and scope, effectively supported the British and American Allied forces in the Pacific and Southeast Asian battlefields, and won time for the Allied forces to gradually gain strategic initiative. At the same time, the New Fourth Army also rescued 11 batches and 23 American pilots in the control area. For this reason, 5 members of the New Fourth Army died and many were injured.

In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the New Fourth Army provided the Kuomintang Army and the Allied Forces with experience in guerrilla warfare. Cheng Siyuan, who once served as the secretary of Li Zongren, the commander of the Fifth War Zone, said in his memoirs: On July 6, 1939, Li Zongren, who commanded the Xuzhou Battle, returned to Wuhan for treatment due to his old relapse. Zhou Enlai hosted a banquet in Wuhan to entertain him. "Li praised the New Fourth Army for its heroic battle near the southern section of the Jinpu Line." Later, "when issuing the Wuhan battle plan, according to the experience of the southern section of the Jinpu line, all troops were required to carry out large-scale guerrilla warfare while conducting positional warfare and mobile warfare, so as to contain the Japanese army and consume the enemy's effective strength."

On March 10, 1939, Ye Ting and Xiang Ying submitted to the Military Committee of the National Government a work report for the past year and the "Instructions for Operations against the Enemy." On May 10, He Yingqin, Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, gave instructions: "This report is quite valuable and can be used as information for our army's tactical research. If the Ministry of Military Order does not have the same report, it can send the full copy to the Ministry of Military Order." On June 6, Liu Fei, deputy director of the Military Order Department, gave instructions: "The contents of the report are based on actual combat experience and can be used as a reference for our guerrilla units. The summary is to be included in the teaching order." On June 7, Chiang Kai-shek telephoned Ye Ting and Xiang Ying, "All the work reports and instructions of March 10 have been read. The sections mentioned are quite insightful, and they have been ordered to choose a teaching order for our guerrilla troops to refer."

The guerrilla warfare experience of the New Fourth Army also spread abroad and became a reference for the Allies to persist in fighting against Japan in the enemy's rear. In the early days of the all-out war, Carlson, an intelligence officer at the U.S. Embassy in China, visited many battlefields in China. At the turn of the summer and autumn of 1940, he visited the New Fourth Army headquarters in southern Anhui. He highly appreciated the guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines by the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and repeatedly suggested to President Roosevelt that the United States should assist the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. After 1942, Carlson fought in the Pacific. The second assault detachment under his command used the guerrilla warfare experience of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army to carry out island guerrilla warfare and successfully attacked Makin Island. On May 19, 1942, the overseas Chinese in the Philippine People's Anti-Japanese Army formed the "48 Detachment", which was intended to use the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army as examples to carry out anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare. At the beginning, there was a heated debate about whether the Philippine islands could carry out an anti-Japanese guerrilla war. They learned from the experience of the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army, analyzed the specific situation of the Philippines, and believed that although the islands are subject to geographical restrictions, they are mountainous and forested. Relying on the support of the people, they can fight guerrillas. Since then, the "48 Detachment" has moved to 14 provinces and Manila City, conducting more than 200 large and small battles, and annihilating more than 2000 enemies. The "48 Detachment" has also grown from 52 to more than 700.