From Central Plains To Northern Jiangsu: The Arrival Of The Stage Of Resistance Against War And The Eastward Shift Of Central China’s Center Of Gravity

After the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance,most of North China fell and the focus of the war shifted to Central China.Wuhan became the center of China’s war of resistance.In early 1938,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to send the main force of the Eighth Route Army to the south to develop the Central Plains in order to defend Wuhan and the northwest areas,but it failed to materialize.After the battle of Wuhan,Japan did not carry out large-scale attacks again,but instead focused on enemy-occupied areas.In fact,the stage of resistance against Japan had come.However,this was not accurately recognized at the time.Combined with the discussion of the phase transition of resistance against war of resistance,the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a strategic decision to vigorously develop Central China.The center of gravity still lies in the Central Plains with Henan as the main body.As a matter of fact,the arrival of the stalemate stage and the lag of the CPC’s understanding of this change result in the fluctuation of the CPC’s choice of development focus.According to the Communist Party of China’s anticipation of the situation of the Anti-Japanese War,after the battle of Wuhan,there will be a large area of central China will continue to fall,become the war zone and behind the enemy.Considering all conditions,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China continues to choose the Central Plains as the center of gravity for developing Central China.On the edge of the occupied areas in Central China,namely the areas of Henan,Anhui,Soviet and eastern Anhui on both sides of the Jinpu Road,the situation was very favorable to the development of Communist forces.The anti-Japanese forces that entered these areas grew rapidly.At the same time,most of the Central Plains had not been conquered,and a large number of Kuomintang troops had gathered,which was not conducive to the growth of the Party’s power.Therefore,the center of gravity for developing Central China has actually shifted to both sides of Jinpo Road.From September to October 1939,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China determined that the phase of resistance against War had "conditionally" arrived,and positioned Northern Jiangsu as the main direction of development,with the focus of development on both sides of Jinpu Road.Henan,Anhui,Jiangsu and eastern Anhui became important starting points for the development of Northern Jiangsu.After the southern Anhui Incident,the arrival of the stage of stalemate was completely determined,and the center of gravity of developing Central China was completely determined to be northern Jiangsu.The choice of the center of gravity for the development of Central China was determined by the CPC’s understanding of the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War,and the focus was on the judgment of the arrival of the strategic stalemate stage of the Anti-Japanese War.Thus,the choice of development focus experienced the change from Central Plains to Northern Jiangsu.