Chapter 49 Jinchaji: the first base behind enemy lines

When the Japanese army focused its main attention on conventional warfare on the frontal battlefield, the Eighth Route Army had gone deep into Shanxi to engage in guerrilla warfare.After the fall of Taiyuan in Shanxi, the Eighth Route Army began to concentrate its forces on the establishment of anti-Japanese enemy rear bases based on various mountainous areas in Shanxi.The first and the only base area officially recognized by the Eighth Route Army behind enemy lines was the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Anti-Japanese Base Area, which was opened up by nearly 3,000 people from the 115th Division led by General Nie Rongzhen with Wutai and Fuping as the center.Then, the Liu Bocheng Department of the 129th Division opened up the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Anti-Japanese Base Area, and the He Long Department of the 120th Division opened up the Jin-Sui Anti-Japanese Base Area.

These bases were established in the continuous crushing of the Japanese attack and consolidated after repeated raids by the Japanese army. After the spring of 1938, the Eighth Route Army was no longer limited to fighting in the mountains, but also decisively developed into the plain areas of Shandong and Hebei provinces that were considered unsuitable for guerrilla warfare, and established anti-Japanese armed forces and bases behind enemy lines. The establishment of the enemy's rear bases restrained a large number of Japanese troops, and strategically cooperated with friendly forces on the frontal battlefield, forcing the Japanese army to turn its main attention to consolidating the rule of the occupied areas, and temporarily stopped the strategic offensive on the frontal battlefield.

After the fall of Taiyuan, the main force of the Eighth Route Army began to divide its forces, went deep into the enemy's rear, and established mountainous bases.After the Battle of Pingxingguan, the main force of the 115th Division was transferred to fight in the southeast of Shanxi Province. The deputy division commander Nie Rongzhen led an independent regiment, a cavalry battalion and two incomplete companies. About 3,000 people were stationed in Wutai Mountain in northeastern Shanxi.At that time, Northeast Shanxi was completely surrounded by the Japanese army. The officers and soldiers marched in the snowy days, wearing only single clothes and trousers, and slept carelessly in the dilapidated temples where the wind was everywhere at night.When they arrived in the Wutai area, they found that officials from all counties had fled to the south, and only Song Shaowen, the magistrate of Wutai County, and Hu Renkui, the magistrate of Meng County, were still holding their posts in the county.With their assistance, the Eighth Route Army destroyed the puppet regimes in various places and established an anti-Japanese guerrilla base in Northeast Shanxi with Wutai as the center.It took more than a month for Nie Rongzhen's troops to successively occupy more than 10 counties in southern Chasan and western Hebei, forming a guerrilla zone in western Hebei with Fuping as the center.In central Hebei, the 691st Regiment of the 53rd Army of the Northeast Army, led by regiment leader Lu Zhengcao, refused to withdraw southward. It held an oath meeting in Xiaojiao Town, Jin County, and persisted in fighting in the name of the "People's Self-Defense Force". Gaoyang, Boye and other counties opened up anti-Japanese base areas in central Hebei. In November 1937, the base areas jointly established the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, with Nie Rongzhen as the commander and political commissar, under the jurisdiction of 4 military divisions.The Jizhong Military Region established later with Lu Zhengcao as the commander was under the unified command of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area is centered on Fuping and Wutai, where the border government and the military headquarters are located.There are mountains such as Mount Heng and Mount Wutai in this area. The roads are rugged and difficult to walk, easy to defend but difficult to attack. In late November 1937, the Japanese army besieged the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area from Pingsui, Zhengtai, and Pinghan Roads, but they were all repelled. The Japanese army killed and injured more than 1,000 people. After this battle, the base area was stabilized and consolidated.The conditions for the establishment of an anti-Japanese democratic regime in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region were ripe.

From January 10 to 15, 1938, the Jinchaji Border Region Military, Political and Civilian Congress was held in Fuping. Representatives of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, representatives of various troops, representatives of various mass organizations, ethnic minorities, and monks from Mount Wutai attended the meeting. The method of election established the Jinchaji Border Region Interim Administrative Committee, and elected Song Shaowen and Hu Renkui as the chairman and vice chairman.The Border Region Government was recognized by the Nationalist Government and officially began to operate.Banks, post and telecommunications offices, and arsenals have been successively established in the base area, which can make rifles, bullets, and grenades by themselves.

The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area is located between the Pingsui, Pinghan, Tongpu, and Zhengtai railways. The Japanese army regarded the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area as a confidant. In the base area, the Japanese army was determined to besiege Wuhan while attacking Wutai. After October 1938, the Japanese army launched an attack on the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines in North China and occupied all counties in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei except Fuping, but was quickly repelled by the soldiers and civilians in the base areas.Foreign countries once asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government about the situation of fighting behind the enemy lines. Wang Chonghui, the foreign minister at the time, gave the following answer: "Our army is still holding out behind the enemy lines in North China, and the Wutai Mountain base is still standing." In the base area, the Border Region Government was the first political organization established behind the enemy lines in North China, and had the same power as the provincial government. It was also the only anti-Japanese regime recognized by the CCP in Chongqing.

By the end of 1938, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region included more than 70 counties in Central Hebei, Western Hebei, Northeastern Shanxi, and Southern Chahar, with an area almost equal to that of Hebei Province and a population of nearly 12 million.