Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
Encyclopedia
The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (: 東北抗日聯軍 :동북항일련군 or 동북항일연군) was an anti-Japanese guerrilla army in the Northeast part (Manchuria
) of China after the occupation of Manchuria by Japan in 1931. It was organized by the Manchuria branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, it lost direct contact with the CCP headquarter in Yan’an, and was supported by the Soviet Union, and Comintern
. And many Korean communists and anti-Japanese activists who defected to Manchuria joined NAJUA.
. Despite party disapproval, some party members joined or rendered assistance to various Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies
fighting the Japanese and the forces of Manchukuo
.
In 1934, after the defeat of the Volunteer Armies, all these Communist Party units were reorganized into the single Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, with Zhao Shangzhi
as its Commander-in-Chief. This force continued the struggle against the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo
. In 1935, the party officially changed policy, and began creating a united front, absorbing most of the remaining anti-Japanese forces in Manchuria and some Korean resistance fighters including Kim Il-sung
. The army was organized into Yang Jingyu
's 1st Route Army, Zhou Baozhong
's 2nd Route Army, and Li Zhaolin
's 3rd Route Army. They claimed to have 45,000 members.
Despite years of fighting, the army was gradually worn down by the pacification campaign of the Japanese. Yang Jingyu died on February 23, 1940, and Zhao Shangzhi was killed in 1942, during a Japanese encirclement campaign. Remnants of the Army retreated into the USSR and were incorporated into the Soviet Red Army. In 1945, they returned to Manchuria as part of the Red Army's invasion of Manchuria, with Zhou Baozhong as commander. Some army units of Manchukuo declared uprising to join the army.
After World War II, most of its army was combined into the People's Liberation Army of China for the subsequent civil war.
due to geographical separation. Their only contacts with the CCP in Yan’an were through the CCP representatives in the Communist International, Kang Sheng
and Wang Ming
.
Japanese created a strip of “No Man Land” to prevent the CCP-led Eighth Route Army
from infiltrating Manchuria.
They were supported and instructed by the USSR, which supported this army to tie up the forces of its potential Japanese enemy. Their uniforms were copies of the uniform of the Soviet Red Army.
, and even bandits. The former bandits played an important role in the guerrilla war by using their skills in the mountains.
Most of the high and middle rank officers had Communist Party membership, including former bandit leaders.
Kim Il-Sung
, later to become leader of North Korea
, was a high-rank officer in this army, and attained a distinction that he invaded China-Korea border and attacked Japanese police station in Bochonbo 1939. It was widely reported by Korean presses such as Donga Ilbo and he became famous in Korea as one of prominent leaders of anti-Japanese movement. After the war, some of the Korean nationals in this army became the first generation of the leaders of North Korea
. It was suggested by South Korean source that Kim, the leader of North Korea, was not the same as the anti-Japanese guerrilla officer Kim Il-Sung, but used the name of Kim Il-sung after the real Kim was killed. But recently it is mainly refuted even in South Korea because such a story was made up by South Korean military government, whose members were generally Japanese soldiers or Japanese officials.
Besides Kim Il-Sung, An Gil, Kim Chaek
, Choi Yong-Geon
and Kang Geon were also Korean high-rank officers of NAJUA, later assumed high positions in North Korea.
, Baek Seon Yeop , and Jeong Il-Gwon, who later became the full generals in South Korean Army and (after 5.16 coup) high rank officials in South Korean government. And Manchkuo army had a special troop, Jiandao Teshedui (間島特設隊, 간도특설대), which consisted mainly of Koreans. They assumed the most difficult tasks to attack NAJUA.
As the offensive of Japanese army got fierce, NAJUA got heavy casualty. Many of their soldiers were dead or taken prisoner. Moreover, Japanese military intelligence allured or tortured NAJUA prisoners to convert to Japanese side. The converted one assisted Japanese to attack their ex-comrades. In his autobiography, Segiwa Deobuleo (세기와 더불어), Kim Il-Sung recalled that such conversions of ex-comrades were more painful than Japanese fierce offensive or tough climate in Manchuria. By these reasons, NAJUA could not make activities in Manchuria any more. By the order of CPC, NAJUA escaped to the USSR. There, they were formally incorporated to the Red Army
, as the 88th International Brigade. But they kept the organization of NAJUA. The troops remaining in Manchuria were totally annihilated by Japanese. The escaped troops stayed in USSR until the war ended. After Japan surrendered, Koreans and Chinese went back to their own countries and began the revolutionary activities there.
A Chinese Communist leader, Peng Zhen
, compared the extreme hardship suffered by the army with the Long March
.
Besides legendary commanders Yang Jingyu
and Zhao Shangzhi
, a female officer called Zhao Yiman
(1905–1936) was also revered by many Chinese as a symbol of the national salvation.
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
) of China after the occupation of Manchuria by Japan in 1931. It was organized by the Manchuria branches of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, it lost direct contact with the CCP headquarter in Yan’an, and was supported by the Soviet Union, and Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. And many Korean communists and anti-Japanese activists who defected to Manchuria joined NAJUA.
History
After Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931, the Chinese Communist Party organized anti-Japanese guerrilla units, and formed the Northeastern People's Revolutionary ArmyNortheastern People's Revolutionary Army
After the Empire of Japan invaded and occupied the Northeast in 1931, the Chinese Communist Party organized small anti-Japanese guerrilla units, and formed their own Northeastern People's Revolutionary Army, dedicated to social revolution, but these were dwarfed by the Anti-Japanese Volunteer...
. Despite party disapproval, some party members joined or rendered assistance to various Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies
Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies
After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and until 1933, large volunteer armies waged war against Japanese and Manchukuo forces over much of Northeast China....
fighting the Japanese and the forces of Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
.
In 1934, after the defeat of the Volunteer Armies, all these Communist Party units were reorganized into the single Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, with Zhao Shangzhi
Zhao Shangzhi
Zhao Shangzhi was born in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, China. He participated in the "May 30 Movement movement" in 1925, and joined the Communist Party of China in the same year. In November 1925, he went to study in the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou.After September 18, 1932 he took the...
as its Commander-in-Chief. This force continued the struggle against the Japanese pacification of Manchukuo
Pacification of Manchukuo
The Pacification of Manchukuo, was a campaign to pacify the resistance to the newly established puppet state of Manchukuo between the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies of Manchuria and later the Communist Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and the Imperial Japanese Army and the forces of the...
. In 1935, the party officially changed policy, and began creating a united front, absorbing most of the remaining anti-Japanese forces in Manchuria and some Korean resistance fighters including Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
. The army was organized into Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu , was a Chinese Communist, commander-in-chief and political commissar of the New First Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, in the guerrilla war in Manchuria against the Japanese campaign to pacify Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-...
's 1st Route Army, Zhou Baozhong
Zhou Baozhong
Zhou Baozhong was a commander of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army resisting the pacification of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan....
's 2nd Route Army, and Li Zhaolin
Li Zhaolin
Li Zhaolin 李兆麟 , known earlier as Li Chaolan 李超兰, was the founder and leader of the 3rd Route Army, a division of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War....
's 3rd Route Army. They claimed to have 45,000 members.
Despite years of fighting, the army was gradually worn down by the pacification campaign of the Japanese. Yang Jingyu died on February 23, 1940, and Zhao Shangzhi was killed in 1942, during a Japanese encirclement campaign. Remnants of the Army retreated into the USSR and were incorporated into the Soviet Red Army. In 1945, they returned to Manchuria as part of the Red Army's invasion of Manchuria, with Zhou Baozhong as commander. Some army units of Manchukuo declared uprising to join the army.
After World War II, most of its army was combined into the People's Liberation Army of China for the subsequent civil war.
Affiliation
Officially, this army was led by the Chinese Communist Party. In reality, they did not directly to report to the CCP center in Yan'anYan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
due to geographical separation. Their only contacts with the CCP in Yan’an were through the CCP representatives in the Communist International, Kang Sheng
Kang Sheng
Kang Sheng , Communist Party of China official, oversaw the work of the People's Republic of China's security and intelligence apparatus at the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. He was a close associate of Mao Zedong and remained at or near the pinnacle of power for decades...
and Wang Ming
Wang Ming
Wang Ming was a senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party and the mastermind of the famous 28 Bolsheviks group. Wang was also a major political rival of Mao Zedong during the 1930s, opposing Mao's nationalist deviation from the Comintern and orthodox Marxism and Leninism lines...
.
Japanese created a strip of “No Man Land” to prevent the CCP-led Eighth Route Army
Eighth Route Army
The Eighth Route Army was the larger of the two major Chinese communist forces that formed a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China which fought the Japanese from 1937 to 1945. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Communist...
from infiltrating Manchuria.
They were supported and instructed by the USSR, which supported this army to tie up the forces of its potential Japanese enemy. Their uniforms were copies of the uniform of the Soviet Red Army.
Components
The army was a mixture of various sources, with the same objective – expelling Japanese out of Manchuria. They were communists, students and peasants, former troops of the warlord Zhang XueliangZhang Xueliang
Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsüeh-liang , occasionally called Peter Hsueh Liang Chang in English, nicknamed the Young Marshal , was the effective ruler of Manchuria and much of North China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin, by the Japanese on 4 June 1928...
, and even bandits. The former bandits played an important role in the guerrilla war by using their skills in the mountains.
Most of the high and middle rank officers had Communist Party membership, including former bandit leaders.
Koreans in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
The army contained a large number of ethnic Koreans, both the Koreans from Manchuria, and Koreans from the Korean Peninsula. By 1918, there were virtually no organized armed revolts against Japanese colonisation on the Korean Peninsula and many Koreans chose Manchuria as a place to resist Japanese Imperialism. Two of the legendary “Eight Girls Jumping Into the River” were Korean Chinese. This was a squad of girl guerrillas, aged from 13 to 23; after a long firefight with overwhelming Japanese forces who mistook them for a much larger unit, finally they all jumped into the river, drowning themselves.Kim Il-Sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
, later to become leader of North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, was a high-rank officer in this army, and attained a distinction that he invaded China-Korea border and attacked Japanese police station in Bochonbo 1939. It was widely reported by Korean presses such as Donga Ilbo and he became famous in Korea as one of prominent leaders of anti-Japanese movement. After the war, some of the Korean nationals in this army became the first generation of the leaders of North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
. It was suggested by South Korean source that Kim, the leader of North Korea, was not the same as the anti-Japanese guerrilla officer Kim Il-Sung, but used the name of Kim Il-sung after the real Kim was killed. But recently it is mainly refuted even in South Korea because such a story was made up by South Korean military government, whose members were generally Japanese soldiers or Japanese officials.
Besides Kim Il-Sung, An Gil, Kim Chaek
Kim Chaek
Kim Chaek was a North Korean hero and politician.Born in Sŏngjin, Kim joined the guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation in 1927 and fought alongside Kim Il-sung in Manchuria. He joined the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in 1932. He defected to the Soviet Union to escape the Japanese...
, Choi Yong-Geon
Choi Yong-kun
Choi Yong-kun was the Korean People's Army chief commander from 1948 to 1953 North Korean defence minister from 1953 to 1957, and the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea from 1957 to 1972. Choi Yong-kun was born in T'aech'ŏn County in North Pyongan,...
and Kang Geon were also Korean high-rank officers of NAJUA, later assumed high positions in North Korea.
Retreat to USSR
At the peak of NAJUA activity, NAJUA had a force of 10,000 troops. They launched the guerrilla warfare in the rear of Japanese army, who was invading the main land China. Japanese army realized that NAJUA was the main threat to their operation in the mainland China. So Japanese army, together with Manchukuo army, began the operations to sweep NAJUA in mid-1930. Like NAJUA, Manchkuo army included many Korean officers who betrayed their fatherland and pledged their loyalty to Japan. Such Korean officers were Park Chung-HeePark Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
, Baek Seon Yeop , and Jeong Il-Gwon, who later became the full generals in South Korean Army and (after 5.16 coup) high rank officials in South Korean government. And Manchkuo army had a special troop, Jiandao Teshedui (間島特設隊, 간도특설대), which consisted mainly of Koreans. They assumed the most difficult tasks to attack NAJUA.
As the offensive of Japanese army got fierce, NAJUA got heavy casualty. Many of their soldiers were dead or taken prisoner. Moreover, Japanese military intelligence allured or tortured NAJUA prisoners to convert to Japanese side. The converted one assisted Japanese to attack their ex-comrades. In his autobiography, Segiwa Deobuleo (세기와 더불어), Kim Il-Sung recalled that such conversions of ex-comrades were more painful than Japanese fierce offensive or tough climate in Manchuria. By these reasons, NAJUA could not make activities in Manchuria any more. By the order of CPC, NAJUA escaped to the USSR. There, they were formally incorporated to the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, as the 88th International Brigade. But they kept the organization of NAJUA. The troops remaining in Manchuria were totally annihilated by Japanese. The escaped troops stayed in USSR until the war ended. After Japan surrendered, Koreans and Chinese went back to their own countries and began the revolutionary activities there.
Contemporary Attitudes in the PRC and ROC
The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army remains highly regarded on both sides of the Taiwan strait. However, in mainland China, this army is generally viewed as a CCP-led anti-Japanese outfit, while history books in Taiwan frequently admire the heroic deeds of the army without mentioning their relationship with CCP.A Chinese Communist leader, Peng Zhen
Peng Zhen
Peng Zhen was a leading member of the Communist Party of China.-Biography:Born in Houma , Peng was originally named Fu Maogong....
, compared the extreme hardship suffered by the army with the Long March
Long March
The Long March was a massive military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang army. There was not one Long March, but a series of marches, as various Communist armies in the south...
.
Besides legendary commanders Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu
Yang Jingyu , was a Chinese Communist, commander-in-chief and political commissar of the New First Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, in the guerrilla war in Manchuria against the Japanese campaign to pacify Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-...
and Zhao Shangzhi
Zhao Shangzhi
Zhao Shangzhi was born in Chaoyang, Liaoning Province, China. He participated in the "May 30 Movement movement" in 1925, and joined the Communist Party of China in the same year. In November 1925, he went to study in the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou.After September 18, 1932 he took the...
, a female officer called Zhao Yiman
Zhao Yiman
Zhao Yiman ; 1905—August 2, 1936) was a Chinese fighter in the resistance against Japanese forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became a part of the World War II. She fought in China's northeast where she was captured and executed by Japanese forces in 1936...
(1905–1936) was also revered by many Chinese as a symbol of the national salvation.
See also
- Chinese Red Army
- Korean independence movementKorean independence movementThe Korean independence movement grew out of the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. After the Japanese surrendered, Korea became independent; that day is now an annual holiday called Gwangbokjeol in South Korea, and Chogukhaebangŭi nal in North Korea.-Background:In...
- Japanese Imperialism
- Chinese Soviet Republic