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Eighth Route Army
Eighth Route Army fighting on the FutuyuGreat Wall,Laiyuan, Hebei, 1938. Photograph bySha Fei.
Active	1937–1947
Country	China
Allegiance	Chinese Communist Party
Branch	National Revolutionary Army
Type	Route Army
Role	Infantry
Size	600,000
Part of	CPC Central Military Commission Nationalist GovernmentMilitary Affairs Commission
Garrison/HQ	Shanxi andShaanxi
Colors	Grey and White Uniform
March	Military Anthem of the Eighth Route Army
Engagements	Second Sino-Japanese War,Chinese Civil War
Commanders
Commander	Zhu De
Deputy Commander	Peng Dehuai
Insignia
Arm badge, as Eighth Route Army
Arm badge, as 18th Group Army
Flag, as 18th Group Army

TheEighth Route Army (simplified Chinese:八路军;traditional Chinese:八路軍;pinyin:Bālù-Jūn), also known as the18th Group Army, was agroup army nominally under the banner of theNational Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China, established in 1937 as part of theSecond United Front against Japan. In practice, the Eighth Route Army was under the exclusive command of theChinese Communist Party (CCP) and operated independently of the Kuomintang (KMT) central military command. Unlike most NRA units, which were directly overseen by the Nationalist Government, the Eighth Route Army maintained separate political and operational structures aligned with CCP objectives.

The Eighth Route Army was created from theChinese Red Army on September 22, 1937, when the Chinese Communists and Chinese Nationalists formed theSecond United Front against Japan at the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, as the Chinese theater was known inWorld War II. Together with theNew Fourth Army, the Eighth Route Army formed the main Communist fighting force during the war and was commanded by Communist party leaderMao Zedong andgeneralZhu De. Though officially designated the 18th Group Army by the Nationalists, the unit was referred to by the Chinese Communists and Japanese military as the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army wore Nationalist uniforms and flew the flag of the Republic of China and waged mostly guerrilla war against the Japanese, collaborationist forces and, later in the war, other Nationalist forces. The unit was renamed thePeople's Liberation Army in 1947, after the end ofWorld War II, as the Chinese Communists and Nationalists resumed theChinese Civil War.

The Eighth Route Army consisted of threedivisions (the 115th, which was commanded byLin Biao, the 120th underHe Long, and the 129th underLiu Bocheng). During World War II, the Eighth Route Army operated mostly inNorth China, infiltrating behind Japanese lines, to establish guerrilla bases in rural and remote areas. The main units of the Eighth Route Army were aided by localmilitias organized from the peasantry.

Shortly after theMarco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, the Eighth Route Army advanced into the Japanese rear in North China, establishing the Taihang resistance base area.^[1]: 262

After its fall 1938 victory in theBattle of Wuhan, Japan advanced deep into Communist territory and redeployed 50,000 troops to theShanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region.^[2]: 122 Elements of the Eighth Route Army soon attacked the advancing Japanese, inflicting between 3,000 and 5,000 casualties and resulting in a Japanese retreat.^[2]: 122

The Communist Party's liaison offices in cities under Nationalist control such asChongqing,Guilin andDihua (Ürümqi) were called Eighth Route Army Offices.

Ethnic Koreans who fought in the Eighth Route Army later joined theKorean People's Army.

In theYan'an base area in September 1938, the Eighth Route Army established its first film group.^[3]: 69

The Eighth Route Army was also responsible for the reeducation of Japanese POWs, and defectors during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In November 1940, the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army established the Yan'an Japanese Worker and Peasant School. On May 15, 1941, the school was officially opened at Baota Mountain, Yan'an.^[4]

Several notable Japanese soldiers joined the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Including Hideo Miyagawa,^[5] Kobayashi Kancho,^[6] and Maeda Mitsushige, the first Japanese to join the Eighth Route Army during the war.^[7]

In October 1941, 35 Japanese in Yenan, including Oyama Mitsuyoshi, took an oath to officially join the Eighth Route Army.^[8]

In August 1937, the Eighth Route Army had three divisions.

In Winter 1940 the Eighth Route Army had increased to 400,000 soldiers.

• Guerrilla
• National Revolutionary Army
• People's Liberation Army

• Eighth Route Army
• 1937 establishments in China
• Anti-fascist organizations in China
• Armies led by the Chinese Communist Party in World War II
• Armies of the National Revolutionary Army
• Military units and formations established in 1937
• Military organizations associated with the Chinese Communist Party
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1947

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