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The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communist elements of the National Revolutionary Army splintered and mutinied in the
Nanchang Uprising The Nanchang Uprising () was the first major Nationalist Party of China–Chinese Communist Party engagement of the Chinese Civil War, begun by the Chinese Communists to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang. The Kuomin ...
. The Red Army was reincorporated into the National Revolutionary Army as part of the Second United Front with the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
to fight against the
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the later stages of the Chinese Civil War.


History


Formation (late 1920s)

In the summer of 1926, the CCP took over the two divisions of the
Chinese Nationalist Party The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Taiw ...
forces and led a military mutiny. Nationalist forces General He Long commanded the 20th Corps to join them. They had a total of 20,000 soldiers and planned to occupy Guangzhou. However, they were defeated before they reached Guangzhou with only a few thousand men surviving the battle. Zhu De led a column of survivors to Hunan Province to fight in the
Autumn Harvest Uprising The Autumn Harvest Uprising was an insurrection that took place in Hunan and Kiangsi (Jiangxi) provinces of China, on September 7, 1927, led by Mao Tse-tung, who established a short-lived Hunan Soviet. After initial success, the uprising w ...
where they were defeated again. After the failed uprisings, Mao Zedong took over command of the 1,000 survivors and established a
revolutionary base area In Mao Zedong's original formulation of the military strategy of people's war, a revolutionary base area ( ''gémìng gēnjùdì''), or simply base area, is a local stronghold that the revolutionary force conducting the people's war should attem ...
in the
Jinggang Mountains The Jinggang Mountains (), historically rendered as Chingkang Mountains are a mountain range of the Luoxiao Mountains System (罗霄山), in the border region of Jiangxi and Hunan Provinces. The range lies at the junction of four counties - Ni ...
. The two armies joined forces in the following year. In the winter of 1927, the CCP planned to conquer Guangzhou; however, the uprising failed and thousands of insurgents were killed by the Nationalist forces of General Li Jishen. Between 1928 and 1929, the CCP launched multiple uprisings. Although most of them failed, several small-scale units were created, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De's Fourth Army, which totaled about 6,000 men in the summer of 1928 and fought in Jiangxi Province. Also in the summer of 1928, Peng Dehuai, the Nationalist forces Regimental Commander, led a military mutiny. A
Nanchang Uprising The Nanchang Uprising () was the first major Nationalist Party of China–Chinese Communist Party engagement of the Chinese Civil War, begun by the Chinese Communists to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang. The Kuomin ...
survivor, He Long, also created an army in his hometown, with former government soldiers as the main fighting force.


Early success (early 1930s)

In early 1930, more red armies were created and the number of red soldiers grew rapidly. By the summer of 1930, the Chinese Red Army had grown to more than 100,000 soldiers and had several base areas, such as in southern and northern Jiangxi Province, western
Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
, and eastern Hunan Province, among others. Peng Dehuai's Fifth Army attacked and occupied
Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and th ...
, the capital of Hunan Province. After the attack, Jiangxi Province became the largest base area of the Chinese Red Army. In the autumn of 1930,
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
's Seventh Army left its base area in
Guangxi Province Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...
. In 1931, the Chinese Red Army defeated the Nationalist forces three times with a large-scale attack, causing the Nationalist forces to lose nearly 100,000 soldiers. Several smaller red armies came together and formed a group army. In the summer of 1931, General
Zhang Guotao Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979), or Chang Kuo-tao, was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Com ...
arrived at the Fourth Red Army's base area and took over the army. Most of the Fourth Red Army's senior officers were killed by him, including
Xu Jishen Xu Jishen () (March 10, 1901-November 1931) was a member of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. He was born in Lu'an, Anhui Province. In 1919, he participated in the May Fourth Movement. In 1920, he went to Anqing. In April 1921, he jo ...
,
Zhou Weijiong Zhou Weijiong (; 1908–1931) was a member of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. He was born in Shangcheng County, Henan Province (his birthplace is now part of Jinzhai County, Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landl ...
, and Xiaofang. Similar movements also occurred in western Hubei Province; in the spring of 1931,
Xia Xi Xia Xi (; 17 August 1901 – 28 February 1936), also known as Man Bo () and Lao Xia (), was an early leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the 28 Bolsheviks. Biography Xia was born in Yiyang, Hunan Province. He studied at ...
took over He Long's army and killed most of his senior officers including
Duan Dechang Duan Dechang (; August 19, 1904 – May 1, 1933) was a member of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. He was born in Nan County, Yiyang, Hunan Province. He joined the Communist Youth League of China in June 1925 and the Communist Party ...
. In the fall of 1932, the Nationalist forces gathered 300,000 soldiers to attack the Fourth Red Army. Most of the Nationalist forces' future generals participated in this battle such as
Huang Wei Huang Wei (; 1904–1989) was a Chinese Nationalist military general who fought in the Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War. Early life and career Huang was born into a rural intellectual family in Guixi, Jiang ...
,
Du Yuming Du Yuming (; 28 November 1904 – 7 May 1981), was a Kuomintang field commander. He was a graduate of the first class of Whampoa Academy, took part in Chiang's Northern Expedition, and was active in southern China and in the Burma theatre of th ...
,
Sun Li-jen Sun Li-jen (; December 8, 1900November 19, 1990) was a Chinese Nationalist (KMT) general, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. His military achie ...
, and others. Having lost more than half of its soldiers, the Fourth Red Army was defeated and had to retreat from its base area. He Long's Third Army also sustained significant loses, with more than 10,000 soldiers losing their lives after leaving western Hubei Province. During this time, there were also several battles between the Nationalist forces and Jiangxi Province's First Red Army. In the spring of 1933, the First Red Army defeated the Nationalist forces' fourth large-scale attack and eliminated two and a half of its elite divisions. Several of the Nationalist forces' generals were also captured. In 1933, the Fourth Red Army arrived at Sichuan Province and recruited more than 80,000 soldiers. This caused Sichuan Province's warlord Liu Xiang to gather 200,000 troops to attack the Fourth Red Army in autumn.


Defeats (mid 1930s)

In 1934, the Nationalist forces purchased new German weapons and launched a fifth large-scale attack on the Red Army's base area in Jiangxi Province. The First Red Army lost more than 50,000 soldiers in this battle and had to leave Jiangxi Province to establish a new base. This was the beginning of the
Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese Nat ...
. About 30,000 soldiers were left to defend the base areas in southern China. During the same time, the Fourth Red Army defeated Liu Xiang's attacks, who lost more than 80,000 soldiers in battle. Before the First Red Army began the Long March, Xiao Ke's Sixth Legion arrived at eastern
Guizhou Province Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to the ...
and joined forces with He Long's Third Army. After this, the Third Army changed its designation to Second Legion. In the autumn of 1935, the First Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi Province with only 6,000 soldiers after losing more than 80,000 along the way. During this same time, the Fourth Red Army moved to northern Sichuan Province and planned to attack
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provi ...
. By the end of 1935, they had lost more than 40,000 soldiers and were defeated. Therefore, they were forced to move to southern
Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
and wait for He Long's Second Legion and Sixth Legion to arrive.


Formation of a new Army (late 1930s)

In the summer of 1936, the Second Legion, the Sixth Legion and the Thirty-Second Army formed a new group army. It was named the Second Red Army and He Long was tasked with being its commander. The Second Red Army and Fourth Red Army arrived in north Shaanxi Province in the autumn of 1936. Around the same time, roughly 21,000 soldiers from the Fourth Red Army attacked Gansu Province, wanting to find a way to the Soviet Union. By the end of 1936, they were defeated by the Nationalist forces' General
Ma Bufang Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general. General Ma started an industrialization pro ...
, with more than 6,000 soldiers being captured. Only
Xu Xiangqian Xu Xiangqian (November 8, 1901 – September 21, 1990) was a Chinese Communist military leader and one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army. He was the son of a wealthy landowner, but joined the Kuomintang's National Revolutio ...
and other senior officers survived. Because of this great failure, the Fourth Red Army's Commander in Chief
Zhang Guotao Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979), or Chang Kuo-tao, was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Com ...
was stripped of his military power. When the anti-Japanese war broke out on July 7, 1937, the communist military forces were nominally integrated into the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units. The First Red Army was integrated into the 115th Division of the Nationalist forces. The Second Red Army was integrated into the 120th Division of the Nationalist forces. The Fourth Red Army was integrated into the 129th Division of the Nationalist forces. These three divisions had 45,000 soldiers in all. 10,000 soldiers were left to defend the base areas in northern Shaanxi. In southern China, the New Fourth Army's 10,000 soldiers acted as a guerrilla force. At the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War, these two armies contained one million armed men. After the Communist Party assumed power in 1949, veterans of the Red Army were venerated in
mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...
culture and are distinguished from those who joined to fight with the Communist Party after the integration with the Nationalists, or during the second civil war.


Major events

* August 1, 1927:
Nanchang Uprising The Nanchang Uprising () was the first major Nationalist Party of China–Chinese Communist Party engagement of the Chinese Civil War, begun by the Chinese Communists to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang. The Kuomin ...
* 1927:
Autumn Harvest Uprising The Autumn Harvest Uprising was an insurrection that took place in Hunan and Kiangsi (Jiangxi) provinces of China, on September 7, 1927, led by Mao Tse-tung, who established a short-lived Hunan Soviet. After initial success, the uprising w ...
* 1927:
Guangzhou Uprising Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong ...
* 1930 to 1931: First Encirclement Campaign * 1931: Second Encirclement Campaign * July 1931: Third Encirclement Campaign * 1932 to 1933: Fourth Encirclement Campaign * 1933 to 1934: Fifth Encirclement Campaign * 1934 to 1936:
Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese Nat ...
《中國國民黨史》:“赤匪自稱這次流竄為長征。這次長征開始於民國二十三年十月,到二十四年一月,紅軍主力已到達貴州的遵義。”


Main leadership


Main leadership of the Red Army headquarters

In May 1933, the Chinese Red Army began to build a military regularization system. They established the Red Army headquarters on the front line to command operations.


Commanders of group armies

The Chinese Red Army often claimed they had three group armies, although, by 1931, the Second Red Army was much smaller than the other two.


Main leadership of base areas

In 1930, the Chinese Red Army had established several base areas. Though the designations of the Red Army changed frequently, the main leadership of base areas did not change significantly.


Personnel


Military rebellion

In the early phases of its establishment, most of the Chinese Red Army's military officers were made up of former officers of the Nationalist forces, with most of them joining the Red Army secretly between 1925 and 1928. Many of these officers were killed in the first years of the war. The largest rebellion was the
Ningdu Uprising The Ningdu revolt (), also known as the Ningdu uprising (), was a rebellion by the 26th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China in Ningdu County, Jiangxi Province on December 14, 1931. 17,000 soldiers of the 26th Rou ...
which occurred in the winter of 1931. General Dong Zhentang, head of the 26th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army and his 17,000 soldiers were the first to join the First Red Army. After the uprising, the Nationalist Party strengthened its control over the army, making launching a military rebellion more difficult. Despite this, General
Zhang Guotao Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979), or Chang Kuo-tao, was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Com ...
, who regarded the former officers of the Nationalist forces with disdain, lead an attack in the summer of 1931 which killed more than 2,500 of the Fourth Red Army's middle and senior officers who originated from the Nationalist forces.


Ranks and titles

The Chinese Red Army had no ranks. Officers and soldiers were considered equal. Early on, the officers were elected by the soldiers; however, during the later parts of the war this system was eliminated. From regiment to army, the command system at each level had four commanders: commander, political commissar, chief of staff, and director of political department, with the political commissar holding the most power.


Military education

As the number of former officers of the Nationalist forces that made up the Red Army decreased throughout the war, the Red Army began to develop military education for the new officers who were formerly farmers. Each base area established its own military academies, usually using captured enemy officers as teachers. The enterprise was very successful, and by 1936 most of the Red Army's military officers were former farmers.


Purges

In 1931, commanders determined that there were a number of spies in the Red Army. This issue became particularly prevalent when the First Red Army's Chief of Staff Zhu Yunqing was assassinated by a spy in a hospital. After this, each Red Army began to judge and execute the officers and soldiers who were suspected. In 1931, the First Red Army executed about 4,000 men. The Fourth Red Army and Third Red Army also executed thousands of officers, especially senior officers. These purges were likely one of the reasons why the Third and Fourth Armies were rapidly defeated in 1932.


Militia

Typically a Red Army's base area was surrounded by enemy forces. To protect the base area from enemy attack, the Red Army recruited red guards. The red guards were commanded by officers of the local
soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. When large-scale war broke out, the red guards were responsible for the logistical support of the Red Army and supplied new soldiers for the Red Army. For example, in the winter of 1932, Xiao Ke's Eighth Army had 2,200 red soldiers and 10,000 red guards. The red guards' officers were not always loyal. In the spring of 1933, one of the red guards' officers killed 29th Army's commander Chen Qianlun and surrendered to the Nationalist forces.


Organization

Usually each Chinese Red Army's army or legion had three or two infantry divisions. Each division has three infantry regiments and one mortar company. In different time the number of one division's soldiers is different. In the beginning every division had about 1000 or 2000 men. From 1933 to 1936, one division usually had about 5000 or 6000 men.


1928

After several uprisings, the Chinese Red Army had several armies in the summer of 1928.


1930

The Chinese Red Army became stronger than before during the summer of 1930.


1932

In the summer of 1932, the Chinese Red Army had formed three main forces before the Fourth Encirclement Campaign.


1934

The Chinese Red Army had nearly 200,000 men in the winter of 1934.


1936

Most of Chinese Red Army had arrived in northern Shaanxi Province by autumn 1936. Only a minority of them stayed in southern China.


Equipment


Rifles

The Chinese Red Army's weapons were all captured from the enemy army, with the most important and useful weapon being the rifle. In the winter of 1934, the First Red Army's twelve divisions had 72,300 soldiers and 25,300 rifles. Compared to the First Red Army, the Fourth Red Army had more rifles which allowed it to recruit many new soldiers in Sichuan Province. However, the local forces lacked rifles. In the summer of 1934,
Xun Huaizhou Xun may refer to: China Note: in Wade–Giles, Xun is romanized Hsün *Xun (surname) (荀), Chinese surname * Xun (instrument), Chinese vessel flute made of clay or ceramic * Xun, Hequ County (巡镇), town in Hequ County, Shanxi, China *Xun County ...
's Seventh Legion had 6,000 soldiers but only 1,200 rifles, which lead to the Seventh Legion's quick defeat when they attempted to attack Fuzhou.


Machine guns

Typically every Chinese Red Army's regiment had one machine gun company, with every company having six or more machine guns. The machine gun equipment rate of the Red Army was no less than that of the Nationalist forces' elite troops. This was one of the important reasons why the Red Army was able to defeat the Nationalist forces on many occasions. The most common machine guns were the
MG08 The ''Maschinengewehr'' 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during ...
,
ZB vz. 26 The ZB vz. 26 was a Czechoslovak light machine gun developed in the 1920s, which went on to enter service with several countries. It saw its major use during World War II, and spawned the related ZB vz. 27, vz. 30, and vz. 33. The ZB vz. 26 influe ...
,
M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the ...
, and Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun.


Cold weapons

Due to the lack of rifles, the Chinese Red Army was forced to use cold weapons such as broadswords, spears, sabres, and so on. In particular, most of the soldiers from the Red Army's militia troops were armed with cold weapons at all times. In the autumn of 1930, Zeng Zhongsheng commanded 30,000 red guards who were armed with cold weapons. Despite the overwhelming numbers of red soldiers, 1,000 opposing troops armed with rifles were able to defeat Zeng Zhongsheng's forces.


Submachine guns

The submachine gun used by the Chinese Red Army was the
MP 18 The MP 18, manufactured by Theodor Bergmann ''Abteilung Waffenbau'', was arguably the first submachine gun used in combat. It was introduced into service in 1918 by the German Army during World War I as the primary weapon of the ''Sturmtruppen' ...
. The MP 18s were captured from the Nationalist forces which had purchased them from Germany. The Red Army's elite troops often used these weapons in order to rapidly defeat the enemy forces.


Artillery

The Chinese Red Army made use of artillery seized from the enemy forces. Most of the time the Red Armies only had mortars, with typically every army having three to five mortars. During the summer of 1930, Peng Dehuai's Fifth Army captured two 75mm mountain guns in Yuezhou, but they lacked the required ammunition.


Aircraft

In the spring of 1931, the Fourth Red Army captured a Nationalist forces' reconnaissance aircraft in eastern
Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
. The pilot, Long Wenguang, joined the Red Army and assisted them in attacking the enemy army. Before the Fourth Red Army retreated from its base area, the aircraft was concealed by local farmers and was found again in 1951. The First Red Army also captured two reconnaissance aircraft in 1932.


References

{{Authority control Military units and formations established in 1928 1928 establishments in China Military history of China History of the Chinese Communist Party People's Liberation Army