Why is the Eighth Route Army called the Eighth Route Army?

The "Road Army", also known as "Road", is a temporary operational and tactical command level formed during combat. It is usually abolished after the war. However, the Kuomintang Army retained it as a first-level combat command level during the ten-year civil war. The level was equivalent to or slightly higher than that of the army, and it exerted command functions at or above the army level.

Because the Kuomintang army has many factions and cannot complete the task of reorganizing the army at the same time, and the organization plan is very messy, the "Road Army" replacement army caused a lot of inconvenience during the use, so that the designation of most armies Still reserved. During the Central Plains War in 1930, some army numbers were adjusted, restored, and added. The "Road Army" and the army coexisted at the same time, making the already messy Kuomintang army organization even more complicated and confusing.

The Eighth Route Army was composed of the Cantonese troops who stayed in Guangdong during the Northern Expedition. Li Jishen and Chen Jitang served as commander-in-chief successively. During the melee between the new warlords, the Eighth Route Army's designation had always belonged to the Cantonese Army.

In June 1936, in order to resist the entry of Chiang Kai-shek's central army into Guangdong and Guangxi, Chen Jitang joined forces with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of the Guangxi clique to launch the "Guangdong and Guangxi Incident" against Chiang Kai-shek. In July, after the "Guangdong and Guangxi Incident" was resolved, the Kuomintang Military Commission abolished the Eighth Route Army. When the Red Army was reorganized, He Yingqin, Minister of the Military and Political Department of the National Government, gave this number to the Communist Party of China.

The symbol of the birth of the Eighth Route Army

On August 5, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government decided that the Red Army of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army. After Ye Jianying learned the full details of the decision, she immediately telegraphed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. On August 22, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government announced that the Red Army would be incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army, and the Eighth Route Army designation, which had been revoked during the Northern Expedition, would be awarded to our army. Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Military Commission, appointed Zhu De as commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army and Peng Dehuai as deputy commander-in-chief.

On August 25, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Zhou Enlai issued the "Order of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the Communist Party of China on the Reorganization of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army", announcing the Eighth Route Army and its 115 divisions and 120 divisions. division, the 129th Division and the numbers of the affiliated brigades; and appointed chief officers at all levels. This became the symbol of the birth of the Eighth Route Army.

Reference for the above content: People's Daily Online - The origin of the Eighth Route Army's designation