Attempts To Deter Encroachment By Massive Military Counterattack

The Battle of the Hundred Regiments is an important battle in the history of the Chinese Communist Party and the military.There has been a long-standing debate within the Communist Party and the military about the understanding and evaluation of this battle.This article examines the battle,focusing on the following issues.Firstly,what strategic approach did Peng Dehuai and other leaders of the Eighth Route Army follow in organising the battle? Secondly,what were the factors that directly triggered the battle? Thirdly,why did the battle begin with the breaking of the railway and develop into a large-scale assault against the heavily fortified positions? Fourthly,what were the results achieved by the Eighth Route Army in the battle? Fifth,what impact did the battle have on the Japanese,the KMT government and the Eighth Route Army? On this basis,this paper will also attempt to re-evaluate the battle.The examination in this paper shows that from the end of the Wuhan Campaign to the beginning of the Battle of Hundred Regiments,Mao Zedong and Zhu De,Peng Dehuai and other leaders of the Eighth Route Army did not share the same focus on the issue of preserving their vested gains.This had a great impact on the different strategic military approaches ultimately chosen by the two sides.Peng Dehuai and others organised the Battle of the Hundred Regiments with the sole aim of breaking the Japanese encroachment.After the battle began,as the Japanese did not abandon some strongpoints in the base areas and assembled troops as expected to save the railways back,Peng Dehuai and others decided to turn their troops around and implement an attack to forcefully sweep them away.After the battle,although the Eighth Route Army made considerable gains,it also paid a high price.At the same time,the basic purpose of the campaign was not achieved and,on the contrary,the Japanese were spurred to launch even fiercer attacks on the Eighth Route Army and its base areas.This was due to the failure of Peng Dehuai and others to deal with the relationship between "gain" and "give up" on a strategic level,and to choose a strategic approach that was not entirely in line with the reality of North China.After the battle,Peng Dehuai and others had to adjust their military strategy to Mao’s ideas.And under such circumstances,Peng Dehuai’s continued emphasis on the feasibility and necessity of organising the Battle of Hundred Regiments was more or less out of place.