Huayue Archives - The Chinese Invincible Northern Field Army

Author: Zhang Hongtao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: In the history of the People's Liberation Army's campaigns, there was once a valiant army that was once as renowned as the Four Major Field Armies. Together with the Four Major Field Armies, it formed the five main field armies of our army. This valiant army was the only strategic mobile force directly under the leadership of the Central Military Commission—the North China Military Region Field Army. The North China Military Region Field Army was formed by reorganizing and reconstituting the main forces of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance and a part of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Military Region. In the early stages of the War of Resistance, in accordance with the agreement between the Communist and Kuomintang parties, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was ordered to be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which was composed of the 115th, 120th, and 129th Divisions, among which the 115th Division was particularly famous for its victory at the Battle of Pingxingguan.
As the situation of the War of Resistance developed, the Kuomintang's main front suffered heavy defeats, and Japanese forces advanced unchecked, creating vast vacuums in areas occupied by Japanese and puppet forces. To strike at the enemy in the rear and strengthen itself, Mao Zedong, with his foresight, ordered the Eighth Route Army to penetrate into enemy-occupied areas and widely open up rear battlefields. The 115th Division divided into two groups, with one part, under the command of the Political Commissar of the Division Nie Rongzhen, advanced into the Wutai Mountain area in Shanxi, establishing the Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area as a foothold. There, they engaged in a long and arduous struggle against the Japanese, puppet, and KMT forces for eight years.
During the eight years of the War of Resistance, Nie Rongzhen commanded the vast military and civilian forces of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, actively operating in the broad rear battlefields, gaining fame in the 100-Battalion Campaign, inflicting heavy casualties on Japanese forces at Huangtuling, and killing the Japanese general Abe Noboru, known as the "Flower of the Famous Generals." In military history, they left behind a series of glorious records. They not only destroyed the enemy but also strengthened themselves. The Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area was praised by Mao Zedong and the Central Military Commission as the "Model Base Area" and was even visited and praised by international friends concerned about China's War of Resistance and dedicated to peace.
What was even more far-reaching was that the unprecedented development of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's anti-Japanese armed forces laid a solid foundation for the development of the North China Military Region Field Army. The 19th and 20th Corps, which later became renowned for their prowess in the North China battlefield, were the historical extension of the Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Armed Forces. From the Red Army to the 115th Division, from the 115th Division to the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and from the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region to the North China Military Region, different historical stages gave this main force different historical missions. The difficult and winding process of its growth and development formed a microcosm of the development history of our army.
Each main force has its own heroic predecessors, which is a characteristic of our army's main forces. Each main force also has a series of glorious victories, which is another feature of the main force.