New Fourth Army


The New Fourth Army was a military unit nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, established in 1937 as part of the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War. However, in practice, the New Fourth Army was under the exclusive command of the Chinese Communist Party and operated independently of the Kuomintang 's central military command. Unlike most NRA units, which were directly overseen by the Nationalist Government, the N4A maintained separate political and operational structures aligned with CCP objectives.
The New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army were the two main CCP military forces from 1938. The New Fourth Army was active south of the Yangtze River, while the Eighth Route Army was based in Yan'an in the northwest. Members of the New Fourth Army wore their badges on the left arm, with "N4A" and the soldier's unit and name listed on the badge.
After the Xi'an Incident, the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong formed a United Front against Japan, which was already in control of Manchuria and pushing into North China. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937 marked the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War.
In October 1937, an announcement was made that Red Army soldiers active in the eight provinces in southern China — those who did not embark on the Long March would be part of the New Fourth Army. The New Fourth Army was established on December 25, 1937 in Hankou, moving to Nanchang on January 6, 1938, when the detachments began marching to the battlefront. At the beginning, the New Fourth Army had four detachments and one task force battalion and numbered roughly ten thousand. Later the army moved to Anhui province. Ye Ting was the army commander, Xiang Ying the deputy army commander.
It was in theory a united front against Japan but in practice there was friction between Nationalist and CCP forces, which intensified in the fall of 1940, culminating in the New Fourth Army Incident with a full-fledged battle between the New Fourth Army and KMT National Revolutionary Army forces. Up until that point, most of the battles had been skirmishes. The army was fully reorganized after the incident and remained in active combat until the end of the war.

History

The Second Sino-Japanese War began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident. As part of the Second United Front of the CCP and the Nationalists against the invading Japanese imperial forces, the Chinese Red Army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.

1937–1938

In 1938, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd detachments began marching to the battlefront in southern Anhui and southern Jiangsu. The 4th detachment got northern and middle Anhui. Due to being in the back of the Japanese army, the New Fourth Army didn't eliminate very many Japanese troops at first. The majority of the time they were establishing base areas and enlisting new recruits. After the Japanese had occupied Wuhan the New Fourth Army took the opportunity to set up several guerrilla camps in the area.
In January 1938, the New Fourth Army formed its Battlefield Service Troupe. The group did propaganda work among soldiers, peasants, and other local people, teaching songs and other performances.

1939–1940

In 1939 the Japanese Army stopped attacking the Nationalist forces on a large scale. The New Fourth Army was restricted to the south of the Yangtze River. In order to establish a new base area the New Fourth Army sent an advance team to Northern Jiangsu and clashed with guerrillas of the Nationalist forces there. In the battle of Huangqiao the New Fourth Army destroyed the 89th Army and the 33rd division of the Nationalist forces. The Eighth Route Army also dispatched the 4th detachment's 12,000 men to support the New Fourth Army.

1941–1943

In January 1941, in what became known as the New Fourth Army incident the Nationalist forces surrounded and destroyed the headquarters of the New Fourth Army in retaliation, losing the New Fourth Army about 8,000 men. The commander of the New Fourth Army was also caught.
The Chinese Communist Party made a strong protest and announced the rebuilding the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu. In Jiangsu, it again expanded. At this time the New Fourth Army had already had seven divisions and 90,000 soldiers. Between 1941 and 1943, the New Fourth Army fought mainly with the Japanese and lost a portion of the Army's base areas. Because of heavy losses the 6th Division's designation was revoked.

1944–1945

By the end of the war, the New Fourth Army had fought 22,000 battles against the Japanese in central and southern China. Because the New Fourth Army operated in pockets among the Japanese forces, collaborationist regimes, and the Nationalist Forces, it often engaged in action and fought against Japanese mopping-up campaigns.
The New Fourth Army established base areas that covered three 253,000 square kilometres and which had a population of three million. By 1945, the New Fourth Army had grown to 215,000, with a further 97,000-strong local military force.
Due to a lack of troops the Japanese ceased actively attacking the New Fourth Army. Several fierce battles erupted again between the New Fourth Army and the Nationalist forces. In order to quickly occupy northeast China political commissar Huang Kecheng ordered the 3rd Division's 35,000 men to leave his base area.

Overall Campaign

In April 1938, the New Fourth Army had 10,329 direct troops. By July 1945, the army's strength had swelled to 215,325 direct troops, 97,547 local armed forces, and 960,603 militiamen. From May 1938 to May 1946, the New Fourth Army fought 24,617 battles against Japanese and Chinese collaborationist troops, claiming to have killed or wounded 117,605 Japanese troops and 176,101 collaborationist troops and captured 2,022 Japanese troops and 122,181 collaborationist troops. Additionally, 30 Japanese troops and 60,825 collaborationist troops defected to the New Fourth Army. Casualties of the New Fourth Army fighting against the two units from May 1938 to January 1946 reached 51,602.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, there were frequent frictions between Communist and Nationalist troops. From March 1940 to June 1945, the New Fourth Army fought in 3,212 battles in Anti- operations, claiming to have annihilated 143,320 troops and suffered 30,544 casualties.

1946–1947

In the summer of 1946 the Chinese Civil War broke out. The Nationalist forces attacked the 5th Division first and occupied the division's base area successfully. However, in middle Jiangsu Su Yu's 1st Division miraculously won despite having fewer forces and wiped out 56,000 Nationalist soldiers. Later, because of a lack of troops the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 7th Divisions had to withdraw to Shandong in the winter of 1946. In January 1947 the New Fourth Army and Shandong Military Region of the People's Liberation Army were merged into the East China Field Army.

Headquarters

The New Fourth Army Headquarters was located at No. 332-352, Shengli Street, Jiang'an District, Wuhan. The site was renovated by the Wuhan People's Government in 2005. On March 5, 2013, it was named a Major National Historical and Cultural Sites.

Main leadership

Personnel

Guerrillas

Most of the New Fourth Army's military officers were guerrillas of the Chinese Red Army, others being from the 8th Route Army. Experience from China's Civil War led to them rapidly expanding their forces at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the eight years of the war officers with excellent abilities were usually promoted faster. For example, general Zhang Aiping was only a battalion commander of Chinese Red Army in 1934 but had become a division commander of the New Fourth Army by 1945.

Military education

With the rapid expansion of the size of the army a large number of junior officers and newly recruited students needed training. Because of a lack of teachers the Eighth Route Army dispatched hundreds of military instructors to the New Fourth Army in two separate occasions. From 1940 to 1942 the New Fourth Army built and established six military training schools in the battlefield. These military training schools were collectively referred to as branches of the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University.
SchoolPrincipalEstablishment timebelongs toNumber of periodsNumber of the Cadets
4th branch schoolPeng Xuefeng1940.34th Division75000
5th branch schoolChen Yi1940.113rd Division43000
8th branch schoolZhang Yunyi1941.52nd Division43000
9th branch schoolSu Yu1942.51st Division53300
10th branch schoolLi Xiannian1942.25th Division55000
10th branch school Tan Xilin1945.37th Division1600

Organization

In the first three years of its existence the New Fourth Army operated independently with the regiment as its basic unit. After the New Fourth Army Incident the army was reorganized into seven divisions and nineteen brigades.

1938

In the spring of 1938 the Chinese Red Army's surviving guerrillas in the South were organized into the New Fourth Army's four detachments.
DetachmentCommanderOrder of battleCommanderTroop strength
1st DetachmentChen Yi1st regimentFu Qiutao2300
1st DetachmentChen Yi2nd regiment2300
2nd DetachmentZhang Dingcheng3rd regiment1800
2nd DetachmentZhang Dingcheng4th regimentLu Sheng1800
3rd DetachmentZhang Yunyi5th regimentRao Shoukun2100
3rd DetachmentZhang Yunyi6th regimentYe Fei2100
4th Detachment7th regimentYang Kezhi 3100
4th Detachment8th regimentZhou Junming 3100
4th Detachment9th regimentGu Shiduo 3100
4th DetachmentPistol regiment3100