Deepening Research on the Chinese Communist Party’s Resistance War Behind Enemy Lines in North China

On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, and the Japanese army launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. Japan’s choice of North China as the breakthrough point for its full-scale invasion was no accident; it was the result of long-term investigation and multifaceted consideration. North China occupies a special geographical position and is rich in mineral resources. It can be said that once the Japanese army controlled North China, it held the transportation and resource lifelines of northern China and seized the strategic initiative on the Chinese battlefield. Faced with Japanese aggression, the Chinese Communist Party, under the extremely harsh conditions in North China, advocated the policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, established anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, waged flexible and mobile guerrilla warfare, persisted in protracted resistance, coordinated with the frontal battlefield, and became the mainstay of the entire nation’s War of Resistance. In recent years, with the application of new historical materials such as Chinese and foreign archives, newspapers, diaries, and memoirs, research results on the history of the War of Resistance have been greatly enriched. On this basis, research on the Chinese Communist Party’s resistance war behind enemy lines in North China can be further deepened and expanded in the following areas.

1937年7月7日，卢沟桥事变爆发，日军发动全面侵华战争。日本选择华北作为全面侵华的突破口，并非偶然，而是经过了长期的调查和多方考虑。华北地理位置特殊，矿产资源丰富。可以说，日军掌控华北，就意味着掌握了中国北方的交通和资源命脉，控制了中国战场的战略主动权。面对日军的侵略，中国共产党在华北极端艰苦的条件下，倡导抗日民族统一战线政策，建立敌后抗日根据地，开展灵活机动的游击战争，坚持长期抗战，与正面战场互相策应，成为全民族抗战的中流砥柱。近年来，随着中外档案、报刊、日记、回忆录等新史料的运用，抗战史的研究成果得到极大丰富。在此基础上，中国共产党华北敌后抗战的研究还可以在以下几方面进一步深化拓展。

Strengthen research on the Chinese Communist Party’s establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front in North China

加强对中国共产党建立华北抗日民族统一战线的研究

In the North China region before the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance, the National Government nominally held sovereignty, but in reality most areas were under the control of local warlords such as Song Zheyuan, Yan Xishan, and Han Fuju. After the full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance, these local warlords in North China held differing positions toward the invading Japanese army and the Nanjing National Government, leading to continued power struggles among local grassroots regimes after the Japanese instigated the North China Incident [1]1 The “Three-Thirds System” (三三制) was a policy for the composition of anti-Japanese democratic political power in the base areas, under which Communist Party members, progressive non-Party figures, and centrists each occupied approximately one-third of the positions., to the extent that during the defensive stage of the War of Resistance the frontal battlefield suffered successive defeats and large swaths of North China fell to the enemy. By the stalemate stage of the War of Resistance, the National Government was virtually a power vacuum in North

全面抗战爆发前的华北地区，国民政府名义上有统治权，但实际上大部分地区都在宋哲元、阎锡山、韩复榘等地方实力派的控制之下。全面抗战爆发后，华北地方实力派在对待侵华日军和南京国民政府的态度上立场不一，导致日军策动华北事变后地方基层政权仍在争权夺利，以至于抗战防御阶段正面战场节节败退，华北大片领土沦陷。到了抗战相持阶段，国民政府在华北几乎是权力真空，难以担当起抗日重任。

North China was not only the front line of the Japanese invasion of China and an arena of competition among regional warlords, but also a field of contention among the interests of the great powers. Britain, the United States and other countries all had economic interests and strategic ambitions in North China. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Britain and the United States, each acting out of their own considerations of interests in China, both supported China’s War of Resistance and attempted to penetrate North China through diplomatic and military means, while simultaneously observing the war situation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in order to formulate subsequent policies toward China. In the summer of 1944, Chinese and foreign journalists organized the Northwest Visiting Group to travel to Yan’an, and soon afterward the U.S. Army Observer Group also arrived in Yan’an. They witnessed the Chinese Communist Party’s construction of the border regions and the achievements of the War of Resistance, thereby strengthening their resolve to support China’s War of Resistance.

华北不仅是日军侵华的前线和地方实力派的角逐场，同时也是大国利益的博弈场。英国、美国等国都在华北有经济利益和战略企图，太平洋战争爆发后，英国、美国等国出于各自在华利益考量，既支持中国抗战又试图通过外交、军事等手段渗透华北，同时观望国共两党的抗战情势以制定后续的对华政策。1944年夏，中外记者组织西北参观团访问延安，不久美军观察组也抵达延安，他们见证了中国共产党的边区建设和抗战成果，增强了支援中国抗战的决心。

While the Chinese Communist Party was winning the support of regional warlords and the international community in North China, it also mobilized the masses to join the resistance against Japan, securing not only the support of the people in the base areas but also leading the struggle against the enemy in the Japanese-occupied areas. This included both the activities of underground Party organizations hidden in major cities such as Beiping and Tianjin, and the secret Party organizations for resistance scattered in the villages of the occupied areas. The Chinese Communist Party actively implemented the policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front and won the support of patriotic masses.

中国共产党在华北争取地方实力派和国际社会支持的同时，也发动民众投身抗日，不仅获得了根据地群众的支持，还领导了日占区的对敌斗争。这其中既有隐身北平、天津等大城市的地下党活动，也有分散在日占区乡村中的抗日秘密党组织，中国共产党积极开展抗日民族统一战线政策，获得了爱国民众的支持。

Focusing on North China allows us to understand the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front from a broader perspective. It was reflected not only in promoting consensus among the upper echelons of the Kuomintang for united resistance against Japan, in winning the alliance of regional warlords and various types of anti-Japanese armed forces, in leading the struggle of underground Party organizations in the occupied areas, and in mobilizing grassroots masses to resist Japan, but also in coordinating foreign relations and winning over international anti-Japanese forces. Amid the complex and chaotic situation, how the Chinese Communist Party demonstrated a broad vision and shouldered its historical mission, how it united all forces that could be united in different circumstances and implemented the Anti-Japanese National United Front, are all questions worthy of in-depth investigation.

聚焦华北，可以在更广阔的视野下认识中国共产党的抗日民族统一战线政策，它不仅体现在推动国民党高层形成团结抗日共识、争取与地方实力派以及各类抗日武装的联合、领导沦陷区地下党组织开展斗争、动员基层群众抗日等方面，还体现在协调对外关系，争取国际反日力量上。在纷繁复杂的形势下，中国共产党如何展现大局观、担当历史使命，如何针对不同情况团结一切可以团结的力量、践行抗日民族统一战线，都是值得深入考察的。

Expanding Research on the Chinese Communist Party’s Operations behind Enemy Lines in North China

拓展对中国共产党在华北开展敌后作战的研究

In late August 1937, the main forces of the Red Army led by the Chinese Communist Party accepted reorganization by the Nationalist Government and formed the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. After the reorganization was completed, the 115th Division, the 120th Division, and the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army were ready to set out. The soldiers left Yan’an, crossed the Yellow River, and advanced along the Datong-Puzhou Railway toward Xinkou, entering the front line of the War of Resistance in northern Shanxi. In September of the same year, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army used the advantages of mountainous terrain to ambush Japanese troops, achieving the great victory at Pingxingguan. This shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility and greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese people in their resistance against Japan. In the summer and autumn of 1940, the Eighth Route Army, centering on the Zhengding-Taiyuan Railway, organized regular troops, local guerrilla forces, and militiamen to launch the Hundred Regiments Offensive, which lasted more than three months and struck at Japanese strongholds along the railway line. The Hundred Regiments Offensive pinned down the main forces of the Japanese army and most of the puppet troops on the North China battlefield during the stalemate phase of the War of Resistance, greatly relieving pressure on the frontal battlefield and establishing the important position of the battlefield behind enemy lines. In 1945, the Chinese Communist Party led a general counteroffensive on the battlefield behind enemy lines, annihilating the main forces of the Japanese army in North China, cutting off the Japanese supply routes, and achieving a major victory in the struggle against the enemy.

1937年8月下旬，中国共产党领导的红军主力部队接受国民政府改编，组成八路军和新四军。改编完成后，八路军第115师、第120师、第129师整装待发，战士们出延安、渡黄河，沿着同蒲铁路向忻口进发，进入山西北部的抗日前线。同年9月，八路军第115师利用山地优势伏击日军，获得了平型关大捷，打破了日军不可战胜的神话，极大鼓舞了中国人民的抗日士气。1940年夏秋之际，八路军又以正太铁路为中心，组织正规军、地方游击队和民兵展开长达3个多月的打击日军铁路沿线据点的百团大战。百团大战在抗战相持阶段牵制了日军在华北战场的主力部队和大部分伪军，极大缓解了正面战场的压力，确立了敌后战场的重要地位。1945年，中国共产党领导敌后战场的全面反攻，歼灭华北日军主力，切断了日军的后援交通路线，取得了对敌斗争的重大胜利。

The Chinese Communist Party’s operations behind enemy lines in North China included not only the major battles of great significance mentioned above, but also numerous daily mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare actions. The terrain of North China is complex, with plains and mountainous areas interwoven. Tunnel warfare, landmine warfare, and sparrow warfare were all forms of struggle against the enemy adapted to specific terrain conditions. North China’s railways crisscrossed the region. The Japanese army controlled transportation and attacked anti-Japanese forces by occupying key railway stations in cities and digging trenches and setting up sentry posts along the railway lines in the countryside. In response to the Japanese “cage policy,” the Eighth Route Army launched “transportation sabotage warfare” of varying intensity on the Zhengding-Taiyuan, Datong-Puzhou, Beijing-Hankou, and other branch railway lines, intercepting Japanese strategic materials, blocking the Japanese advance, and destroying Japanese sentry posts and strongholds along the railways. The resistance war behind enemy lines was not only active on the front lines of North China but also coordinated with the New Fourth Army’s battlefield in Central China. The North China anti-Japanese base areas and the Central China anti-Japanese base areas established a north-south information channel by transmitting information and transporting personnel through northern Jiangsu. In the second half of 1944, the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army organized a southward detachment of more than 4,000 men, which advanced behind enemy lines with the aim of opening up a strategic passage between North China and Central China.

中国共产党在华北的敌后作战，不仅有上述影响力重大的战斗，还有更多的日常运动战和游击战。华北地形复杂，平原和山区交错，地道战、地雷战、麻雀战都是针对特殊地形条件展开的对敌斗争。华北铁路交错纵横，日军通过在城市占领铁路重要站点、在农村铁路沿线挖壕沟设岗哨的方式，控制交通和打击抗日力量。针对日军的“囚笼政策”，八路军在正太线、同蒲线、平汉线以及其他铁路支线开展了不同程度的“交通破袭战”，截获日军战略物资，阻断日军进攻步伐，破坏铁路沿线的日军岗哨和据点。敌后抗战不仅活跃在华北抗日前线，还策应着新四军的华中战场。华北抗日根据地与华中抗日根据地通过苏北传递信息和运送人员，建立起南北信息通道。1944年下半年，八路军第120师组织了4000余人的南下支队，挺进敌后，也意在打通华北和华中的战略通道。

How did the Chinese Communist Party, squeezed among various political and military forces, sheltered by the “green curtain” of tall crops, and operating in the interlocking checkerboard of anti-Japanese base areas and Japanese-occupied areas, carry out operations behind enemy lines adapted to local conditions in North China? How did it guide anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in different places to implement flexible strategies and tactics? How did it gather together scattered anti-Japanese forces? How did it connect the anti-Japanese base areas of North China and Central China? How did it understand the relationship between the front and the rear of the War of Resistance? These are all questions worthy of in-depth exploration. Only by expanding the scope of research on the resistance war behind enemy lines can we better answer how the Chinese Communist Party continuously accumulated experience in war, gradually expanded the scope of the anti-Japanese base areas, effectively struck at the Japanese army, and shouldered the heavy responsibility of the War of Resistance.

中国共产党在各种政治和军事力量的夹缝中、在青纱帐的掩护下、在抗日根据地与日占区犬牙交错的形势下，如何在华北因地制宜开展敌后作战，如何指导各地抗日军民实施灵活的战略战术，如何将分散的抗日力量聚合起来，如何将华北与华中抗日根据地连接起来，如何理解抗战的前方与后方等，都是值得深入探讨的问题。拓展敌后抗战的研究范围，才能更好地解答中国共产党是怎样在战争中不断积累经验，逐步扩大抗日根据地的范围，有效打击日军并担负起抗战重任。

Advancing Research on the Chinese Communist Party’s Construction of Grassroots Political Power in North China

推进对中国共产党在华北建设基层政权的研究

The anti-Japanese base areas in North China led by the Chinese Communist Party grew and strengthened continuously in the struggle against the enemy. From the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei anti-Japanese base area to the establishment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan, Shanxi-Hebei-Henan, Southwestern Shanxi, and Hebei-Shandong-Henan anti-Japanese base areas, they provided strong rear-area support and strategic coordination for the War of Resistance. While establishing the anti-Japanese base areas, the Chinese Communist Party also placed great emphasis on political power construction. In 1939, to address the economic difficulties caused by the Japanese blockade, Yan’an took the lead in launching the Great Production Movement, and all anti-Japanese base areas followed suit, relying on their own efforts, which effectively reversed the economic downturn and provided an economic guarantee for victory in the War of Resistance. In 1940, the anti-Japanese base areas began to implement the “Three-Thirds System” [1]1 The “Three-Thirds System” (三三制) was a policy for the composition of anti-Japanese democratic political power in the base areas, under which Communist Party members, progressive non-Party figures, and centrists each occupied approximately one-third of the positions. principle of anti-Japanese democracy. This not only mobilized the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of soldiers and civilians from all strata but also advanced the democratic construction of political power, accumulating experience for the country’s peaceful and democratic construction after the war. The Chinese Communist Party also strengthened education in Marxist-Leninist theory in the anti-Japanese base areas, carried out study sessions on the international situation and the struggle against Japan, set up various types of study classes for cadres and soldiers at all levels, organized study experience exchange meetings and study propaganda activities, unified thinking, and consolidated strength, laying a solid ideological foundation for victory in the War of Resistance.

中国共产党领导的华北抗日根据地在对敌斗争中不断成长壮大，从晋察冀抗日根据地到晋绥、晋冀豫、晋西南、冀鲁豫等抗日根据地的建立，为抗战提供了有力的后方支持和战略配合。在建立抗日根据地的同时，中国共产党也非常重视政权建设。1939年，为解决日军封锁带来的经济困难局面，延安带头开展大生产运动，各抗日根据地纷纷效仿，自力更生，有力扭转了经济颓势，为抗战胜利提供了经济保障。1940年，抗日根据地开始实行抗日民主的“三三制”原则，不仅调动了各阶层军民的抗战积极性，也推进了政权的民主建设，为战后国家的和平民主建设积累了经验。中国共产党还在抗日根据地加强马克思列宁主义理论教育，开展国际形势和对日斗争学习，开办各级各类干部和士兵学习班，组织学习经验交流会和学习宣讲活动，统一思想、凝聚力量，为抗战胜利打下了坚实的思想基础。

The Chinese Communist Party’s construction of grassroots political power behind enemy lines in North China embodied the characteristics of democratic unity, strict discipline, and emphasis on efficiency. As academic circles pay increasing attention to grassroots issues, more and more scholars are focusing their research on grassroots political power behind enemy lines in North China. On the basis of existing research, further attention should be paid to the process of establishing grassroots political power, the administrative system of grassroots organizations, the role of grassroots cadres, the implementation of democratic policies, the means of凝聚 [n] the anti-Japanese base areas, as well as the construction of Party group organizations within grassroots political power, the establishment and role of grassroots Party branches, and the question of how the Party Central Committee directed the struggle against the enemy through grassroots political power. This will enable a deeper understanding of how the Chinese Communist Party gradually grew into the mainstay leading the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japan.

中国共产党在华北的敌后基层政权建设，体现了民主团结、纪律严明、讲求效率等特点。随着学术界对基层问题的关注，越来越多的学者聚焦华北敌后基层政权的研究。在现有研究基础上，应进一步关注基层政权的建立过程、基层组织的行政体系、基层干部的作用、民主政策的落实、抗日根据地的凝聚途径，以及基层政权的党团组织建设、基层党支部的建立和作用、党中央通过基层政权指导对敌斗争等问题，从而更深刻理解中国共产党如何逐步成长为领导中国人民进行抗日战争的中流砥柱。

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese Communist Party consistently adhered to a protracted war and resolutely opposed any discourse of surrender or compromise. Amid the complex domestic and international situation, the Chinese Communist Party proceeded from the overall situation, upheld the Anti-Japanese National United Front, united all forces that could be united, and sought support for the War of Resistance from all sides. In the military struggle against Japan, the Chinese Communist Party led the anti-Japanese military and civilian population to actively carry out mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. During the stage of stalemate in the War of Resistance, it pinned down the main forces of the Japanese army in North China, greatly relieving pressure on the frontal battlefield. Within grassroots political power, it actively carried out democratic construction, expanded grassroots organizations, and continuously grew in a harsh environment, demonstrating the Party’s combat effectiveness and vitality. Strengthening research on the Chinese Communist Party’s resistance behind enemy lines in North China will not only help deepen related research on the history of the War of Resistance and Party history, but will also more fully demonstrate the Chinese Communist Party’s role as the mainstay in the War of Resistance.

抗日战争时期，中国共产党始终坚持持久战，坚决抵制投降妥协论调。在错综复杂的国内外形势下，中国共产党从大局出发，坚持抗日民族统一战线，团结一切可以团结的力量，争取各方抗战支援。在对日作战中，中国共产党领导抗日军民积极开展敌后运动战和游击战，在抗战相持阶段牵制了华北日军的主力，极大缓解了正面战场的压力。在基层政权中，积极开展民主建设，扩大基层组织，在艰苦的环境中不断成长，体现了党的战斗力和生命力。加强对中国共产党华北敌后抗战研究，不仅有助于深化抗战史和党史的相关研究，更有助于充分展示中国共产党在抗战中的中流砥柱作用。

(The author is an associate professor at the School of History, Capital Normal University)

（作者系首都师范大学历史学院副教授）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧