Chinese Communist Army
The beginning of the Chinese Communist army can be traced back to the mutiny of the Nationalist 24th Division during August 1927. This formed the initial “regular” formation for the communists.
From the start the communist and Nationalists fought each other for 10 years until 1937 when the Japanese commenced a major offence in China. Due to the Japanese threat the Nationalists and Communists formed a “United Front”. From this point the two Communist armies fought under Nationalist control. This alliance remained until the Nationalist attacked the Communists “New 4th Army” in 1941, after this time the two forces fought the Japanese independently of each other.
Communists were not interested in smart uniforms and wore anything they could get their hands on. Initially they wore civilian clothes or uniforms which were taken from Warlord or Nationalists troops. After allying with the Nationalist in 1937 the Communists armies wore Nationalists uniforms. Even after the split in 1941 the Communists continued to wear these uniforms for want of anything better.
Russian support for the Communists until the end of WW2 was minimal as the Russians believed the Nationalist were the only organisation in China capable of engaging the Japanese.
Army Features:
The two main Communist formations were the New 4th Army and the 8th Route Army. The 8th Route Army consisted of three divisions, the 115th, 120th and 129th).
As expected the strongest feature of the Communist’s armies were their ability to infiltrate Japanese lines and to dissolve into the general population when threatened militarily.
The Communists formations lacked the most basic infrastructure associated with a modern military force such as artillery, transport (apart from animals), medical etc.
Possibly the most powerful weapon the Communists had against the Japanese was their ability disrupt the Japanese supply and attack small garrisons. Although at times the Communists did engage in prolonged conventional warfare against both the Nationalists and Japanese.
In many areas of China the Communists were genuinely popular with the peasant population. This provided a massive advantages for their guerrilla operations.
With the start of the Japanese main attacks in 1937 the 8th Route Army infiltrated behind Japanese lines in Northern China. As the Communists were forced to live off the civilian population their tactics required that their forces be economically sustainable from the surrounding areas they operated in. To ensure the total support of the local populations they would take control of all facets of their existence.
Areas under Communist control established local defence militias, and in time as a particular area became more integrated, portions of these militias would graduate into more independent formations and take on full time military duties. These militias provided a ready pool of semi trained troops for the full time forces.
The Communists always took care to ensure that the size of their military operation was sustainable by the local populations. As these bases of operations were located away from the larger cities it was not economical for the Japanese to continually suppress their operations.
Any equipment used by the Communists had to be captured from opposing forces.
Sources:
Chinese Civil War Armies 1911 – 1949: Osprey Military
War in Peace: magazine series