Chapter 38 Chapter 37 Have We Got the Sincere Support of the People?

On September 21, 1944, the ferry crossing southwest of Jiyuan on the Yellow River was filled with fog at night. In the dim night, officers and soldiers of the Third Regiment and Third Company of the Western Henan Anti-Japanese Detachment of the Eighth Route Army were looking for boats on the bank of the rolling yellow water.The Japanese and puppet troops had already destroyed all the boats on the banks of the Yellow River. The four wooden boats were secretly hidden by the Yellow River boatmen under the mud and sand in the river bend. Now they have dug out the boats.The Eighth Route Army took boats to attack the Japanese and puppet troops defending the ferry on the other side. The messy bombardment of the Japanese and puppet troops destroyed one boat, and the other three boats finally came ashore with the efforts of the boatmen. ——In any case, the Japanese and puppet troops would never have imagined that the Eighth Route Army would dare to cross the Yellow River to attack them after the Japanese army "mopped up" this area, even the regular Kuomintang troops disappeared.When the last ship of officers and soldiers crossed the Yellow River, the commander Pi Dingjun found that there was a row of puppet soldiers and local gentry standing on the bank of the Yellow River respectfully waiting for him. "The Chinese don't fight the Chinese, they want to fight against the Japanese at gunpoint." Pi Dingjun said to everyone, "We need to come and go to this place frequently. Let's make an agreement today and put my name on it!"

In the Henan-Central Battle to open up the line of communication to the mainland, the Japanese Twelfth Army defeated 400,000 troops in China's First Theater within a month. Except for a few counties near the border of Shaanxi and the Yellow River Flooding Area in eastern Henan, the Japanese occupied Henan. most of the region.After that, the main force of the Japanese Twelfth Army went south to participate in the Battle of Changheng, leaving only one division in the occupied area of ​​the Central Plains. ——There are at least two reasons why the Japanese army neglected their own rear. First, the scale of the operation to open up the lines of communication in the mainland was extremely large, and a large number of troops had to be mobilized. Under unavoidable circumstances, they could only use a small number of troops and some puppet troops to maintain the occupied areas. In terms of safety, there is a fluke; the second is that during the years of confrontation with the Japanese army along the Yellow River, the troops in the first theater of China devoted their energy to friction with the Communist Party’s anti-Japanese armed forces. Since 1942, the anti-Japanese base areas in the enemy's rear have fallen into an unprecedentedly difficult situation. From this, the Japanese army believes that the Communist Party's anti-Japanese forces have been severely weakened, and they are no longer able to launch offensive operations like the Hundred Regiments War.However, just as the Japanese army's operation to open up the mainland communication line began to extend southward, the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Communist Party immediately invaded the occupied area that was empty of Japanese troops from all directions, and ignited the flames of resistance behind the Japanese army's operations.

The Chinese Communists called their offensive "counter-offensive operations against Japan." On the 17th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a decision to march to the Central Plains: the Northern Bureau would mobilize troops from the Taihang and Taiyue military areas to launch an attack on the western Henan area as soon as possible. , Agreeing with the Central China Bureau’s suggestion, use part of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army to enter Su County, Xiao County, Xiayi, and Yongcheng to cooperate in operations, and strive to open up the connection between the anti-Japanese base areas in the east and west directions, and take the opportunity to occupy the new area. the area east of the Yellow River.

The Northern Bureau mobilized the Third Regiment, the 35th Regiment of the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, and the Western Henan Local Work Team to form the "Western Henan Anti-Japanese Detachment", with Pi Dingdu as the commander and Xu Zirong as the political commissar. Arrived at the Yellow River Ferry in the southwest of Jiyuan on the 11th, successfully broke through the natural barrier of the Yellow River, and then headed south, from the west of Xin'an to the Songshan and Jishan areas.The Japanese and puppet troops along the way intercepted and blocked the sudden attack of the Eighth Route Army. They were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army in Dongyangling, Yichuan, and the Japanese and puppet troops with dozens of casualties were forced to retreat.The underground CCP in the Yichuan area was ecstatic about the appearance of the Eighth Route Army.However, the people in this area have been ravaged by the Japanese army, the puppet army, the Kuomintang army, and bandits for years, and they are full of distrust of any army. There are walls in every village, and fortresses in villages, and they are organized to defend themselves with guns. ——This is the reason why the Japanese army pursued Tang Enbo's troops and the common people also attacked Tang Enbo's troops during the Battle of Central Henan.Now that the Eighth Route Army is here, the gates of the people's villages are still closed. No matter how you shout, saying that the Eighth Route Army is here to fight devils and pay Xian Dayang for food, there is still no answer.The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army endured hunger and hunger, resolutely not moving the crops of the people, and huddled in the village to sleep with their guns in their arms.Elderly people put food in baskets and hung them from the walls of the village, and the officers and soldiers took the food and put fresh ocean in baskets and hung them back.Before the troops set off, Deng Xiaoping, acting secretary of the Northern Bureau, once told the officers and soldiers that Tang Enbo used to rule Henan, but when the devils came, 400,000 troops were routed and 38 counties were lost in 37 days. One of the reasons was Tang Enbo's troops. Bullying the people, none of the people will help the Kuomintang army, so you have to think carefully about how to fight after crossing the river-"The battle must be fought, but it must be fought skillfully. If the battle is not big, it will win. Yu The people of the West are tough and loyal, and if they don’t fight the battles that should be fought, the masses will look down on them.”

Two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the three regiments decided to attack Dengfeng Airport, which was being built by the Japanese army.Once this airport is completed, it will be very detrimental to the operations of the Sino-US joint air force on the frontal battlefield.At present, there are more than 10,000 Chinese laborers arrested by the Japanese army to build the airport.The head of the regiment, Zhong Tingsheng, led the company, the ninth company, the machine gun company and the regiment headquarters to storm the airport, and the sixth company attacked Xiguan, Dengfeng County, and was responsible for cutting off the enemy's retreat.As soon as the gunfire from the third regiment rang out in the night, the Japanese and puppet troops guarding the airport suddenly fell into chaos.The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army shouted to the hard workers at the airport: We are the Eighth Route Army coming from the north of the Yellow River!Run home and go to August 15th!The hard workers poured out from the gaps in the barbed wire, shouting excitedly, "The Eighth Route Army has called it a day!"Officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army stormed the sentry towers and bunkers of the Japanese and puppet troops, ignited the explosives and equipment depots, and the Dengfeng Airport, which had not yet been built, fell into ruins.The story of the Eighth Route Army taking over the devil's airport began to spread among the people in western Henan, and villages opened their gates for the Eighth Route Army one after another.At Heishiguan near the Japanese-occupied Luoyang City, the Eighth Route Army raided and destroyed several strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops. It not only rescued thousands of Chinese laborers who were captured by the Japanese army to repair the railway, but also interrupted the traffic of the Longhai Railway for ten times. a few days.On the road from Dengfeng to Mi County, there is a place called Caocunling, where the Eighth Route Army ambushed more than 200 Japanese soldiers and more than 500 puppet troops. The brutal hand-to-hand combat continued until the sun went down. Most were wiped out.When the 35th regiment attacked a Japanese stronghold, a brigade of the Japanese army came for reinforcements. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army had to fight the Japanese army and finally killed more than a hundred enemies, but they also suffered heavy casualties.It was cold, and the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who fell on the battlefield were all in single clothes, with worn-out straw sandals on their feet, and all of them had dark and thin faces.

Through continuous fighting, the Anti-Japanese Detachment in Western Henan gradually eliminated the strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops, and established anti-Japanese democratic regimes in Yanshi, Gongxian, Yichuan, Dengfeng, Xingyang, Linru and other places.In the spring of 1945, the Western Henan Anti-Japanese Detachment was organized as the first detachment.In order to strengthen the anti-Japanese forces in western Henan, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to send troops to the south to continue to unite the people to strengthen the anti-Japanese forces and create and expand more anti-Japanese base areas.At the beginning of November 1944, the second detachment, with Han Jun as the commander and Liu Jukui as the political commissar, crossed the Yellow River from Xin'an to the west of Henan.At the end of November, the third and fourth detachments composed of troops from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region also crossed the Yellow River in Conglin County and arrived in the southwestern area of ​​Yiyang. They then divided into the east of Dengfeng and joined forces with the first detachment operating near Yichuan. meet.At the end of January 1945, the Sixth Detachment, mainly composed of troops from the Taihang Military Region, with Liu Changyi as the commander and Zhang Lixiong as the political commissar, crossed the Yellow River from Shexian County, crossed the Longhai Railway, and entered Mianchi in western Henan. area, join forces with the second detachment.At the end of February 1945, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to establish the Henan Military Region, with Wang Shusheng as the commander and Dai Jiying as the political commissar to lead the anti-Japanese struggle in the entire western part of Henan.

Teng Daiyuan, Chief of Staff of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, believed that the opening of the western Henan base area would enable the Eighth Route Army to rely on Funiu Mountain, control the Longhai and Pinghan lines, contain the enemies of Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Xuchang, and make Taihang, Taiyue, and eastern Henan, Hubei and Henan in North China. Anhui's anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines were connected.This will not only make it difficult for the Japanese army to launch a large-scale offensive on the frontal battlefield, but also prepare the conditions for the final victory of the War of Resistance.While the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Eighth Route Army advanced into the Central Plains, the New Fourth Army in Central China also launched a counterattack.Due to the opening of the mainland line of communication and operations on the Pacific battlefield, the number of Japanese invaders in Central China has been reduced from 14 divisions and an independent mixed brigade of about 210,000 at the end of 1943 to 1944. There were five divisions, one independent mixed brigade, five independent infantry brigades, five field supplementary teams and two detachments of about 170,000 people.In order to make up for the serious shortage of troops, the Japanese army vigorously supported the troops of the Wang puppet regime, causing the number of puppet troops in Central China to increase from 200,000 in 1943 to 350,000.

After the Southern Anhui Incident, the New Fourth Army developed rapidly with the support of the anti-Japanese people. By 1944, it had nearly 140,000 troops and could mobilize as many as 550,000 militiamen. The time has come. The Soviet Central Military Region successively conquered dozens of strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops in Gaoyou, Xinghua, Baoying, Dongtai, Taizhou, Rugao and other places.In early March 1944, Su Yu led the First Division to attack a large town called Cheqiao between Huai'an and Baoying.Cheqiao is an important stronghold for the Japanese and puppet troops to control the Baoying area. It is located in the southeast of Huai'an. The market town is located on both sides of the Jianhe River. It is about one kilometer long from east to west and about one kilometer wide from north to south.Su Yu believes that the capture of Cheqiao has three advantages: first, it can expand the connection between the four bases in central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Huainan, and Huaibei; The Joint Department of the 65th Division", and the joint is often a weak point in combat coordination. The New Fourth Army can make full use of this to win the battle; third, after the bridge is obtained, the Japanese army will not be able to do so because it is the edge of the defense zone. It will concentrate its forces to "sweep" so that the New Fourth Army can obtain a "relatively stable area."At midnight, officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Army divided into two groups, north and south, bypassing the outer strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops, and took only 25 minutes to attack the walled blockhouse, and then went straight into Cheqiao Town, dividing and surrounding the camps of the Japanese and puppet troops.After fierce street fighting, 483 puppet troops were wiped out, including 465 officers and soldiers below the rank and file of the Japanese army.In the northwest direction of Cheqiao Town, officers and soldiers of the First Division of the New Fourth Army began to block the Japanese reinforcements in Lujiatan and Hanzhuang.After the Japanese army entered the ambush circle, they first encountered dense minefields, and then were divided into several sections by officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Army.After fierce hand-to-hand combat, most of the Japanese army was wiped out, and the rest fled back to the stronghold.While the First Division was fighting, the anti-Japanese militiamen and people in Nantong, Haimen, Rugao and other places destroyed more than 700 kilometers of roads and blew up more than 50 bridges. The number of people who cooperated with the New Fourth Army reached 50,000. Not all day long.During the Changheng Battle of the Japanese army, the troops of the Soviet Central Military Region successively conquered the important ports along the Yangtze River, Shizhuang Port, Xinsheng Port, Zhangheng Port and Yong'an Island, which forced the Japanese army to interrupt the Yangtze River shipping.

The Third Division of the North Jiangsu Military Region of the New Fourth Army launched the Gaoyang Campaign in April 1944.Gaogou and Yangkou are two large market towns, occupied by the 72nd Brigade of the 36th Division of the puppet army, and this is the strategic contact point between the Huaihai and Yanfu districts.On the 19th, the battle broke out. Officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Army first attacked Gaogou and then Yangkou, and at the same time repelled eight reinforcements from the Japanese and puppet troops.After 16 days of bloody battles, 14 strongholds were conquered, more than 2,000 puppet brigades and brigades were annihilated, and more than 100 Japanese soldiers who came for reinforcements were killed and wounded.With the continuous deployment of the Japanese army, the New Fourth Army of the North Jiangsu Military Region continued to attack, conquering Chenjiagang, an important port in the south of Lianyungang, and Gaoliu Town, an important place in the south of the Longhai Railway, and even conquered the base where the Japanese army plundered the salt and cotton resources in northern Jiangsu. Hede Town.The troops of the Huai Navy District also attacked Lin Gongdu by the canal, opening up the connection between the two anti-Japanese bases in northern Jiangsu and Huaibei.

The Second and Fourth Divisions of the New Fourth Army of the Huaibei Military Region and the Huainan Military Region successively cleared more than 50 Japanese and puppet army strongholds between Siyang, Lingbi, and Suining from March 1944, and captured the Japanese-occupied Zhang Lou, the main stronghold for six years.Zhanglou is divided into the front building and the back building. It is located in the center of the Huaibei Anti-Japanese Base Area. It is surrounded by a polder wall more than four meters high. There are more than 20 bunkers along the wall. Outside the wall is an outer moat ten meters wide and four meters deep. , about 400 people from the Sixth Security Corps of the Puppet Army have been stationed for a long time.In June, the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army concentrated the strength of four regiments, together with the officers and soldiers of the Sisu Corps, first pulled out the Japanese and puppet strongholds outside Zhanglou one by one, and launched a general attack on Zhanglou on July 5.The Japanese and puppet troops urgently dispatched the Second Security Corps to come for reinforcements. After seven days of fighting, officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Army wiped out more than 290 Japanese and puppet troops, captured more than 530 puppet troops and five Japanese soldiers.Zhang Lou's conquest brought the entire Sibei area back under the control of the New Fourth Army.With the fourth division's westward march several times, the New Fourth Army controlled a vast area from Jinpu Road in the east, Shangbo Highway in the west, Longhai Railway in the north, and the bank of Guohe River in the south, liberating the population from the areas occupied by the Japanese and puppet troops. It reached 2.5 million, basically restoring the original size of the border areas of Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu.

The counter-offensive operations of the Seventh Division of the New Fourth Army and the East Zhejiang Army extended to the vicinity of Nanjing, controlled the 350-kilometer-long Yangtze River Defense, and formed a situation of encircling major cities such as Anqing and Wuhu.The Sixth Division of the New Fourth Army launched an offensive on the 30-kilometer-long front in Yixing and Changxing on the border between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, severely injuring a regiment of the puppet army, forcing the Japanese and puppet army to abandon twelve strongholds by the Taihu Lake and southwest of Changxing, and completely control the on the west bank of Taihu Lake.At the same time, the Sixteenth Brigade led by Wang Bicheng of the Sixth Division annihilated a battalion of the Seventh Division of the Puppet Army and captured Liulang Bridge in the suburbs of Nanjing.Then, following the instructions of the New Fourth Army to "launch guerrilla warfare to the southeast", the 16th Brigade launched the Zhoucheng Campaign in the southwest of Liyang, entered Lishui and Liyang, and even wiped out the strongholds of Nandu, Zhoucheng and Shezhu. More than 700 puppet troops controlled the entire area south of Liyang.The Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army, located in the border area of ​​Hubei, Henan and Anhui, has been under the attack of the Japanese and puppet troops for a long time.After the Japanese army launched a southward campaign to open up traffic lines, the Fifth Division successively captured Suiping, Runan and other counties on the Pinghan Road in the southern Henan area, and launched attacks on Jiayu, Yuezhou, Huarong, and Public Security at the junction of Hunan and Hubei. It posed a serious threat to the rear of the Japanese army advancing south. While the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army were attacking fiercely, the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Communist Party in various base areas were also launching counter-offensive operations. After hard work, the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Eighth Route Army has recovered its troop strength to the level before the Hundred Regiments War.Beginning in March 1944, the Taihang troops commanded by Li Da and Huang Zhen fought continuously. Yuanshi.In the three offensives launched in northern Henan, 36 strongholds of the Japanese and puppet troops were removed, 5,000 square kilometers of land were recovered, and more than 100,000 people in the Japanese-occupied areas were liberated.The Taiyue troops commanded by Xie Fuzhi and Wang Xinting invaded Taigu in February, captured Qinshui in April, and took control of Yuanqu and Jiyuan areas.Under the command of Yang Dezhi and Yang Yong, the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Eighth Route Army launched the Battle of Puyang, which dealt a heavy blow to Sun Liangcheng's troops who surrendered to the Japanese army. Hundreds of enemies were killed and more than 3,000 were captured. Sun Liangcheng was forced to abandon the defense zone and approach the Japanese army near Kaifeng. In this way, Puyang, Puxian, Fanxian, Guancheng and other places in the center of the bases of Hebei, Shandong and Henan are connected with the third, fourth, and fifth military divisions of the Eighth Route Army. The southern part of Hebei was the defense area of ​​the first independent and mixed brigade of the Japanese army stationed in Handan. Because of the huge demand for troops to fight through the mainland communication line, the Japanese army had to withdraw from Qingfeng County in the southern part of Hebei and was stationed by puppet troops instead.But as soon as the Japanese army left, the false magistrate of Qingfeng County abandoned the city and fled, and the county seat was occupied by the Eighth Route Army County Brigade.Qingfeng is located in the northeast of Puyang, Henan, with convenient transportation and rich in wheat.Unwilling to lose Qingfeng, the Liaison Minister of the Japanese Army, Jiro Kato, who occupied Handan, organized a nearly 5,000-strong "Southern Hebei Anti-Communist and Security Coalition Army".Kato believed that the recovery of Qingfeng was a typical example of "maintaining law and order", so he notified the false county magistrates, false police chiefs, and Japanese military liaison officers from 13 nearby counties to come to Qingfeng to participate in the promotion of "communist suppression experience" conference.At the same time, it was decided that on May 29th, a feast would be held in the county seat, a stage would be set up to sing operas, and the "Celebration of the Restoration of Qingfeng County City Ceremony" would be held.However, on the day when the "Grand Ceremony" was held, the Eighth Route Army suddenly fought back.The Eighth Route Army that launched this attack was not just a county brigade, but a large number of troops besieging the city on all sides.Zeng Siyu, commander of the Eighth Military Division of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, and Duan Junyi, political commissar, assembled the Seventh Regiment of the Eighth Military Division and the special agent company and artillery company directly under the military division, together with Qingfeng, Nanle, Weihe, and Guancheng , Kunwu, Shanghe and other county brigades decided to launch a joint attack on Qingfeng County.On the evening of the 29th, under the leadership of Battalion Commander Xiang Lizhi, the Commando of the Second Battalion and the Fifth Company first captured the northeast corner of the city wall; then, the First Battalion, led by Battalion Commander Li Guangqian, ascended the city from the southeast corner, and then went straight to the west gate of the city. , swept away the enemies on both sides of West Street.The fence of the puppet county government in Qingfeng is surrounded by brick walls several meters high, and there are blockhouses and gun towers at the four corners. Inside the fence are the puppet county magistrate, the puppet police chief, and Japanese military advisers.The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army opened fire, and the 92 infantry artillery and the 82 mortar bombarded the encircled village together. Eighteen soldiers from the fifth company formed a commando team, led by platoon leader Zhu Huaiquan to carry out an assault on the encircled village.Squad leader Duan Yusheng and soldier Zhang Jinxiang took the lead to approach the gun tower and occupied the ground floor of the gun tower with the corpses of the puppet soldiers killed. Soldiers Li Kuan and Wang Jinbao then boarded the wall.The puppet troops inside the wall of the village fought fiercely, and the commando members Jiang Dehua, Li Kuan and Wang Jinbao were killed in battle.The fourth squad leader Qi Hongchen followed up, braved the rain of bullets, climbed to the top of the gun tower, and threw bundles of grenades into the gun tower.During the fierce battle, nine commandos were killed and seven wounded.The puppet troops in the encircled village launched counterattacks several times under the supervision of the Japanese army advisers, but they were all beaten back by the officers and soldiers of the fifth company.At the same time, under the command of Deputy Company Commander Chen Jingyu, officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army violently dug the back wall of the east room, and three rows rushed in through the dug hole in the wall, annihilating all the more than 20 Japanese and puppet troops in the east room. After capturing Nanwu, the Japanese and puppet troops retreated to Westinghouse to resist.In the chaos, the remnant enemies in the siege dug out the wall, officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army surrounded and wiped out from all sides, captured hundreds of enemies, and more than 100 Japanese and puppet soldiers who escaped from the siege were also surrounded and wiped out in a nearby village.In this battle, the Eighth Route Army killed more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet soldiers, captured more than 1,300 puppet soldiers, and captured more than 30 people including the Japanese brigade counselors and Japanese advisers from Feixiang County and Cheng'an County.I heard that the Eighth Route Army had recaptured Qingfeng County, and the common people rushed to demolish the city walls and bunkers with shovels on their shoulders, and then used oxen to pull away the captured Japanese and puppet army vehicles.This battle was described as a "tragedy" scene by the Japanese military history: On May 29, the Qingfeng incident broke out.This was a tragedy when the Japanese army changed their security... That night, all the staff were gradually going to bed when they were suddenly attacked by the Communist army.When the security team set up defenses on the city wall, the county town was completely surrounded, and a fierce battle was launched immediately.At three o'clock in the evening, the communist army broke through the Dongguan Pass and rushed into the city.Immediately, the security teams dispatched from various counties rushed here and there, in a state of chaos, completely losing their will to fight.As a last resort, Captain Natori ordered everyone to break through, but it is very difficult to break through two or three layers of encirclement... The counter-offensive operation of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong began with the fight against the Wuhua Cultural Department of the puppet army.After the 12th Army of the Japanese Army stationed in Jinan was transferred to participate in the operation to open up the mainland communication line, only the 59th Division expanded from the independent mixed 10th Brigade and the 5th and 6th Division remained in Shandong. Understaffed infantry brigades.At this time, there were a large number of puppet troops in Shandong. Except for the puppet troops of Liu Guitang, Zhao Baoyuan, and Qi Xieyuan who followed the Japanese army into Shandong after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, most of them were former Kuomintang troops who surrendered to the Japanese army. Among them, Wu Huawen, Rong Ziheng, Zhang Buyun and other ministries have certain combat effectiveness. Wu Huawen's new Fourth Division and Shandong Security First Division surrendered to the Japanese army in January 1943 and was expanded into the "Shandong Front Army for Peace and National Salvation". "Sweep" operations.After the Japanese troops were transferred away, the Wuhua Cultural Department became the preferred target of the Eighth Route Army due to its large defense area and scattered fronts.Luo Ronghuan, commander and political commissar of the Shandong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, transferred seven main regiments from the Luzhong and Binhai Districts. When the Fifth Brigade's extended forces had not yet completed the defense, it suddenly launched a siege on Wuhua's Ministry of Culture on March 25.The Wuhua Ministry of Culture did not have the support of the Japanese army. The defense line was split into several sections, and the troops were caught off guard. They lost more than 7,000 troops within a month, and soon withdrew from Shandong.The Eighth Route Army captured forty strongholds and twelve cottages one after another, liberated 300,000 people in more than a thousand villages and towns, controlled most of the mountainous areas in central Lu, and expanded the maneuvering area of ​​the Eighth Route Army troops. After severely injuring the Ministry of Culture of Wuhua, the Eighth Route Army fought continuously. On June 11, it captured several Japanese and puppet strongholds in the southern Qun area, cutting off the road from Linqu to Yishui.Then he moved to Mengyin and Feixian County, wiped out a teaching brigade of the puppet army's third front army, and broke the blockade line set up by the Japanese puppet army around Mengshan.Then attacked the south of Yishui City, cut off the road from Yishui to Linyi, and formed a siege to Yishui from the north, south and west.Yishui is an important town in the mountainside of Yimeng. It connects Yishui-Qingzhou, Yishui-Linyi, Yishui-Boshan, Yishui-Mengyin, Yishui-Juxian highways, reaches the coast of the Yellow Sea in the east, and leads to Yimeng in the west. Shangu, Linyi, an important place in the south of Dalu, connects to the Jiaoji Railway in the north.After the Japanese army occupied Yishui in 1939, an airport and solid fortifications were built here. The Japanese military command and secret service agencies were stationed in the city.In order to capture Yishui, the Luzhong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army mobilized four main regiments, special battalions of the military region, and several militias: the first and second battalions of the fourth regiment were responsible for attacking artillery towers and strongholds; the third battalion was responsible for annihilating the enemies in the city; One is responsible for fighting aid outside Mengyin City; the spy battalion is responsible for attacking the south of the city; local armed forces besieged various strongholds outside the city. The city walls of Yishui were high and thick, and the Eighth Route Army was short of explosives necessary to attack the city.The workers who dug coal in the coal mine controlled by the Japanese army risked their lives to smuggle it out for the Eighth Route Army from the mine.They hid the explosives in their lunch boxes or on their bodies. Many workers were brutally killed when they were found out by the Japanese and puppet troops when they came out of the well. Thousands of kilograms of explosives were produced.After the explosives were divided into several kilograms of explosive packages and distributed to the blasters, the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army holding the explosive packages looked solemn, as if they were holding the souls of the workers. On August 15, the sound of explosions from the Fourth Regiment's attack on the southeast artillery building became the signal for a general offensive, and officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army rushed towards Yishui City.The assault team of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Regiment was blocked by the trench in front of the turret. The squadron 1, led by squad leader Zhang Keyou, set up a bridge and charged. All Japanese soldiers were killed.Peng Changgeng, the squad leader of the Second Company who was in charge of attacking the southwest artillery tower, said to the soldiers around him when he was delivering the explosives, if I die, you will go on!Under the cover of machine guns, his figure quickly disappeared into the smoke.Then, a huge explosion sounded, and the remains of the Japanese army rose into the air together with gravel.In the northeast artillery building, the Japanese army released a large amount of poison gas, and more than 30 officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were poisoned and unconscious.The battalion commander Liu Zhenjiang was very angry, and led the officers and soldiers of the fourth company to rush forward with poisonous gas and bayonets, and started hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese inside and outside the gun tower.After the Japanese army was wiped out, the poisoned soldiers were rescued, and Battalion Commander Liu was killed in hand-to-hand combat. After the gun towers at the four corners of the city wall were basically cleared, officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army rushed into the city from various gates. After fierce street fighting, most of the Japanese and puppet troops in the north of the city were wiped out, and the remnants of the enemy retreated to a small solid enclosure.The captured puppet soldiers took turns shouting outside the small enclosure, urging the puppet soldiers inside to surrender, and soon guns were thrown out.At midnight, only the central gun tower where the Japanese army resisted remained in Yishui City.The commandos of the Eighth Route Army failed to blast several times. The company commander Fan Jungeng who commanded the attack was injured, and the platoon leader Liang Lanqing died.At the critical moment, the deputy platoon leader Wan Baoquan stepped forward.He tied a fifty-kilogram explosive package to a long pole, and approached the gun tower inch by inch under the cover of machine gun fire. When he pulled the explosive package on the gun tower, he could no longer avoid it. The huge explosion was earth-shattering and brave. Wan Baoquan and the Japanese soldiers in the blockhouse died together. On the evening of the 17th, the siege of Yishui, which lasted for a day and two nights, ended. The Eighth Route Army killed and injured 83 Japanese soldiers and more than 800 puppet troops. The largest puppet army in southern Shandong is the "Tenth Army for Peaceful National Salvation" Rong Ziheng's department.Rong Ziheng is the son of Rong Zhen, the governor of the puppet Hebei Province. He graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy. Surrender to the enemy in June.The troops of the Lunan Military Region of the Eighth Route Army attacked from a long distance, first annihilating Rong Ziheng's puppet third division Liu Guitang's department, and then attacking Rong Ziheng's headquarters entrenched in the surrounding mountains.After a day and night of fierce fighting, all of Rong Ziheng's second division and another regiment were annihilated, and Rong Ziheng and the commander of the second division Liu Guozhen were killed, basically controlling the southern Shandong area. The large-scale counter-offensive operations of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong terrified the Japanese and puppet troops, so they had to gather troops to try to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army for a decisive battle.After unsuccessfully "sweeping" the Binhai area, the retreating Japanese and puppet troops were divided into two groups: one was the 47th Division of the puppet army Wu Huawen and an independent brigade, and the other was the 43rd Division of the 59th Division of the Japanese Army. Brigade and Pseudo Guard.In the ambush of the Eighth Route Army, most of Wu Huawen's troops were killed or injured, and the troops scattered in all directions. Chen Sankan, the puppet brigade commander, was killed, and only more than 200 people fled back to Ju County.The journey of the Japanese army was even more tragic. When they were ambushed, the troops were congested on the road and could not advance or retreat. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, more than fifty Japanese soldiers were stabbed to death by the Eighth Route Army, including Okada, the commander of the fifth squadron of the 43rd Brigade. healthy.Kiyoshi Kusano, the captain of the 43rd Battalion of the Japanese Army, led hundreds of Japanese soldiers to fight here and there, and finally hid in a temple for a concubine to resist.This Niangniang Temple used to be a place where the nearby people went to market. After the Japanese army occupied this area, the Niangniang Temple became a killing field for the Japanese army. Every day when the market was held, the Japanese army publicly killed anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians at the temple fair.Therefore, after learning that the devil was besieged by the Eighth Route Army in the Niangniang Temple, thousands of people nearby came to condolences to the Eighth Route Army with mung bean porridge and white flour pancakes.When the Japanese army commander Kusano Kiyoshi led his team to break through, he had just run to the bank of the Yi River when suddenly the shouts of killing sounded from all directions, hand grenades rained down on his head, and bayonets gleamed in front of his eyes.The Japanese soldiers who managed to escape the snares and sneak into the green gauze tent were hunted back and forth by Chinese farmers holding hoes, and most of them were hacked to death or captured.Kiyoshi Kusano climbed up an isolated mountain with the few dozen remaining soldiers to defend it. In desperation, he finally saw a rescue force of 2,000 people led by the head of the brigade himself and covered by 13 fighter planes in the sky. He was terrified. Kiyoshi Kusano survived by chance.In this battle, more than 300 Japanese soldiers were killed and 31 were captured; more than 1,000 puppet soldiers were killed and more than 400 were captured.When the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the common people were cleaning the battlefield, they found a big burden. They thought it was the soft gold and silver looted by the Japanese army. When they opened it, they found it was full of fingers! ——This is the helpless way for the Japanese army to deal with the war dead in the later period of the war: cut off their fingers in a hurry, so that they can be sent back to the country and returned to their relatives. When the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army launched a large-scale counterattack on the battlefield behind the enemy lines, the mentality of a small number of Kuomintang troops who were in the Japanese-occupied area behind the enemy lines and whose position was vacillating also underwent subtle changes.After the Battle of Central Henan, the 3rd Battalion of the 139th Regiment of the Japanese 110th Division was stationed at a place called Zhaizi Street in Yichuan, western Henan. Find the Japanese army and ask for the establishment of the "People's Self-Defense Corps"-the reason is of course to deal with the Eighth Route Army.The Japanese army immediately agreed and expressed their support.On August 25, the "People's Self-Defense Corps" held a banquet to celebrate its official establishment, and the leaders of the Japanese army were specially invited to participate.The Japanese officers who participated in the banquet included: Captain Yoshihiro Ouchi, Captain of the 3rd Battalion of the 139th Regiment, Lieutenant Sakaki Osashi, Captain of the 11th Squadron, Lieutenant Kai Jiro, Captain of the Machine Gun Squadron, and Second Lieutenant Nobuzo Murase, the Deputy Commander of the Battalion , Second Lieutenant Hejiu Jiafu, military doctor, second lieutenant Saburo Ugami, chief accounting officer, Kenichi Kanazawa, chief intelligence officer, and others.The dishes were served several times, the wine was over for three rounds, and at the time of the reunion, the person who came in with the dishes suddenly buckled the dish bowl on the head of the Japanese officer, and violent gunshots rang out at the same time, and within a few seconds all the Japanese officers All fell in a pool of blood. ——The mastermind of this scam was actually Guo Shaoxu, chief of the adjutant office of Wang Lingyun, commander of the Second Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force who was fighting in Burma.Commander Wang is from Yichuan, and his mother wrote a letter requesting to take her to Sichuan to avoid the war. Commander Wang sent Adjutant Guo, who is also from Henan, to sneak back to his hometown to handle this matter.Seeing the brutal Japanese army, Adjutant Guo secretly colluded with the officers of the local army and made up and staged this "Hongmen Banquet" himself. Lieutenant Hirano Hayashisaku, who succeeded the captain of the third brigade, recorded in his diary: The headquarters of the Self-Defense Force is located at the east end of Zhaizi Street, only about 500 meters away from the Japanese barracks. In addition, as many as eight people were entertained, and it was daytime, and the opponent was a Self-Defense Regiment cooperating with the Japanese army. The enemy situation was very calm at that time. So those who went to the banquet did not bring guards.At 3:00 p.m., Self-Defense Captain Hong Shaozhi and his colleagues left the meeting and walked outside.Feeling strange, Lieutenant Sakaki walked out of the house out of fear, but was completely surrounded by the self-defense regiment and was shot dead on the spot.At this time, the servant who stayed in the room after the meal brought fruit and watermelon shot everyone in the chat and laughing from behind with a pistol hidden on his body, and the room suddenly turned into hell.When the Japanese army arrived, the battalion captain and others were completely dead. Some people's heads were chopped off. It seems that they were mainly killed with pistols and sticks.According to the Chief Accountant, Second Lieutenant Yu Gao, it is estimated that poison had been given during the banquet. As for why such strange things happened, the Japanese side believes that there are two main reasons: one is that the Central Plains of China is "a place where the capital was established in ancient times, where dramas and songs were popular, and there is a chivalrous style"; The wolves 'generally expand their power behind their backs'. Although the number of anti-Japanese armed forces of the Communist Party is still less than one tenth of that of the Kuomintang army, according to preliminary statistics in the middle of 1944, the regular army strength of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army has reached an unprecedented scale of more than 500,000 people. Nearly a million. The large-scale counterattack of the Communist Party's anti-Japanese armed forces made the Japanese and puppet troops panic and disturbed, and also surprised the Nationalist government.When the Japanese army summed up the battle in Henan, it seemed that a big mistake had already been made: "Although this battle hit the Chongqing army in North China, it reduced the troops to secure the occupied area and weakened the pressure of the Japanese army on the Communist army, thus affecting the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The balance of power between the two sides. In this regard, it seems necessary to proceed from a more far-reaching point of view to explore.” ——At this time, the Japanese should be thinking about the future.Whether it is due to its firm anti-communist stance or out of concern about the prospect of long-term occupation of China, the Japanese's remarks are quite forward-looking. The Communist Party's anti-Japanese armed forces openly claimed to "strike back against Japan," and the battle reports of the Communist Party's anti-Japanese armed forces against Japan flew in like snowflakes every day. Chiang Kai-shek finally realized that the armed forces possessed by the Communist Party were no small matter, because without considerable strength, they dared not take the initiative Launch an attack on the Japanese army?Under Chiang Kai-shek's strict order, the national government's intelligence department invested huge financial and human resources, but still failed to find out the family background of the Communist Party—this time the intelligence said that the Communist army had more than 400,000 people. It is said that the Communist Party already has an army of two million.Whether it is the military command or the central command, they are all worried about a reality: the Communists and the Chinese people have almost merged into one. If we want to accurately calculate the military power of the Communist Party, do the militias in the base areas count?Those people who support the Communist Party—they can become the Eighth Route Army in an instant as long as they pick up a gun—do they count? Suddenly, one thing made Chiang Kai-shek's mood worse: US Vice President Wallace visited Chongqing and formally made a request to the Nationalist Government on behalf of the US government: to send a US military observation team to Yan'an. ——美国人拋开其坚定的反共立场，对中国共产党人表现出前所未有的关注，这种关注的产生与正在进行的战争，与未来世界的政治格局紧密相关。 从军事上讲，随着世界性反法西斯战争的进程以及美军在太平洋战场上的逐步推进，美国人意识到：攻击日本本土将成为结束战争的最后步骤，而中国大陆将是美军攻击日本本土的重要军事基地。可是，日军发动打通大陆交通线的大规模作战后，战场上呈现出的状况加剧了美国人对中国军队素质低劣的担忧。然而，与国民党军一再溃退不同的是，共产党抗日武装对日作战频频取胜，其战斗意志和作战能力令美国人刮目相看。美国人有这样一个作战计划：美军将于适当时机在中国沿海登陆，以切断日军的侧翼，进一步孤立日本本土；同时在将来攻击日本本土时，以中国大陆作为美国陆军的出击地。目前，中国沿海地区均被日军所控制，美军一旦发动登陆作战，必然需要中国方面的接应，如同盟军在诺曼底登陆时需要法国抵抗组织接应一样，而美国人认为，作战能力低下的国民党军队不能担负此任，善于敌后作战且战力顽强的共产党抗日武装——无论其数量还是质量——完全有可能在那个历史时刻成为美军的盟友。另外，美军中缅印战区司令部也希望获得关于中国共产党的信息：如果八路军、新四军得到更好的武器，战斗力将能达到何等水平？又能产生什么样的作战前景？——在缅甸方面作战的美军军官并不在意政见分歧或是意识形态差异，只要美国能够彻底战胜日本，只要在这一过程中将美军的死伤降至最低。他们认为，如果共产党军队真的比国民党军队能打仗，美军将很乐意与他们一起分享美式野战干粮、咖啡罐头以及世界一流的武器装备。 从政治上讲，美国人已经开始设想战后的亚洲格局。鉴于对苏联的警惕，美国人不希望苏联成为控制未来亚洲以及中国的主宰，而遏制苏联对中国的影响，最为重要的因素是中国共产党。美国人热望战后能够将延安和重庆都控制在手。——对于重庆的控制似乎已不成问题，但控制中国共产党人则需要美国人的主动和努力。现在，中国的全面抗战正处于微妙的历史时刻，抓住这一有利时机密切与中国共产党人的关系，美国人也许能够从中获得长远利益。美国人的设想基于这样一个基本判断：中国共产党人绝不是国民党舆论所宣称的一群游荡在边缘地带的“匪”，而是一个由信仰坚定、组织严密的政治和军事精英以及无数意志超常坚忍的战斗员组合起来的强大的政治集团。这样一个政治集团必将在中国未来的历史进程中扮演举足轻重的角色。 就延安来说，加强与美国的联系，让美国人清楚的了解中国共产党以及八路军、新四军的抗战情况，也是非常必要的。 一九四三年六月，美国驻华使馆秘书戴维斯将他准备的一份备忘录递交史迪威，并把副本送达美国国务院。在备忘录中，戴维斯阐述了向延安派出美军观察团的理由，但是到了年底此事仍然没有回音。一九四四年一月，戴维斯又写了一份备忘录，再次强调派观察团去延安的理由，其中竟然有“可以遏制蒋企图以内战消灭共产党的愿望”一条。这份备忘录被转交到罗斯福那里，戴维斯认为只有总统才能促成这件事： 我们需要在尚受欢迎时，立即派遣一个军事和政治观察团去共产党中国以搜集敌人情报，帮助并准备从这个区域采取某些有限的军事行动，获得对共产党军队实力的准确估计，报告俄国在华北和满洲的军事行动，如果俄国进攻日本的话，并估计华北和满洲发展成为一个单独的中国国家的可能性——或者甚至于成为俄国的卫星国。蒋对于共产党的封锁和随之而来的隔绝迫使他们倾向于俄国。美国观察团将打破隔绝，减少依赖俄国的倾向，并同时可以遏制蒋企图以内战消灭共产党的愿望。大元帅（蒋介石）自会反对派遣美国观察团去共产党中国，不能通过寻常的外交和军事途径来获得他的许可。应由总统直接作出请求，他能运用我们充足的讨价还价的力量来克服任何初期的拒绝。 罗斯福总统对这一建议很感兴趣，立即指示马歇尔督办此事。二月，罗斯福致电蒋介石，说他“很愿意看到一个观察组派到共产党地区，以增加关于中国北部和东北的日军情报来源”，并希望得到蒋介石的支持与合作。蒋介石在复电中表示，会尽量使美国人的愿望得以实现。但他附加的条件是：美国观察团的巡回路线，只能在重庆政府控制的区域，或是有重庆军队驻扎的地区中选择。蒋介石把延安排除在外的心理美国人很清楚，即极力阻止美国人与中国共产党中枢发生任何形式的接触。三月九日，罗斯福再次致电蒋介石，说美国将在短时间内派出观察团，并通报说筹备观察团事宜的美国军官是戴维·包瑞德上校，行动代号为“迪克西使团”。——迪克西，原是对美国南北战争期间南部反叛各州的统称。蒋介石和他的幕僚们像猜谜似的猜来猜去，最后认为，美国人这一行动代号的真实含义是暗指延安。 蒋介石要求把“观察团”降格为“观察组”。 美国人才不在乎是“团”还是“组”。 美国中缅印战区司令部赋予延安观察组的任务是搜集如下情报： 日军陆军和空军的战斗序列； 汪精卫伪军的战斗序列； 共产党军队的力量、位置、组织部署、装备状况、训练状况和战斗力； 共产党在敌军内部和敌占领区中情报工作能力的利用和发展； 共产党官员的全部名单； 日军在中国北部机场、空防力量、情报目标、轰炸损失情况； 中国北部的气候、经济情况； 共产党军队和敌军的作战行动； 共产党对战争所能作出的贡献的估价； 共产党控制地区目前的扩展情况（附带地图加以说明）； 援助共产党军队以增强他们战斗力的价值最有效的方法； 海军情报； 共产党军队的战斗序列； 共产党战争能力的潜在贡献的估价。 一九四四年七月二十二日，延安迎来了第一批美军观察员： —架带有美军标志的飞机在中国西北黄土沟壑中小城延安的上空盘旋……在这之前，因为很少有飞机在这里降落，这个中国共产党中枢所在的偏僻小城没有可以称得上机场的设施。那个被称作“机场”的地方只能算是一片较为平坦的空地……但是，还是出事了。飞机轮子刚刚接触到地面的时候，左轮猛地撞上了一个看似松软但实际上很坚硬的黄土堆，飞机立即向左倾斜，瞬间变成了一团带着尖利叫声的巨大黄色烟尘，烟尘在接近那片空地尽头的时候戛然而止，机头戳在地上几乎竖立起来，左侧的机舱裂开了个大窟窿。显然没有受到严重伤害的驾驶和乘坐飞机的数名美国军人惊魂未定地从飞机里爬了出来，他们立即感受到耀眼的阳光和浓烈的黄土气味…… 这些美国人是：戴维·D·包瑞德上校，美军观察组组长；约翰·S·谢伟思，美国驻华大使馆二等秘书，中缅印战区司令部政治顾问；梅尔文·A·卡斯伯格少校，军医；雷·克罗姆林少校，美军航空兵；约翰·C·卡特尔上尉，美军航空兵；查尔斯·G·斯特尔上尉，美军信号兵；亨利·S·惠特尔西上尉，美军步兵；安东·H·雷米尼赫军士，美国空军参谋。 延安的《解放日报》刊登了名为《欢迎美军观察组的战友们》的社论，不但称美军观察组到达延安，“是中国抗战以来最令人兴奋的一件大事”，而且社论标题上的“战友们”三个字是毛泽东亲自加上的。朱德总司令用延安自产的面包款待了这些美国人。周恩来表示，这架美国军机是负伤的英雄，没有受伤的观察组成员也是英雄。晚上，延安军民兴致勃勃地观看了美军观察组带来的电影——汽油发电机轰轰作响，银幕上是一个鸭子一般走路的美国流浪汉，在落魄的流浪汉身后是那个距离延安异常遥远的国度里闪闪烁烁的摩登时代。 第二批美军观察员抵达后，美国人便开始了工作。 他们聆听了八路军副总司令彭德怀的报告《八路军七年来在华北抗战的概况》，新四军代军长陈毅的报告《新四军在华中七年的作战状况》，叶剑英关于敌后作战以及共产党抗日军队编制和装备的报告，聂荣臻和林彪向他们介绍了抗日根据地的情况。美国人还在南泥湾观看了八路军训练和军事演习，参观了抗日军政大学以及专门为日军战俘开设的工农学校。他们对共产党情报工作的缜密和完备感到吃惊，更令他们有些意外的是，他们可以共享来自各个抗日根据地的所有有价值的情报。美军观察组成员还分成若干小组，奔赴共产党人创建的抗日根据的了解情况，艰苦的行程长达数月之久。他们在危险的日占区之间穿行，前往晋察冀根据地的小组曾与日军遭遇，观察组成员惠特尔西上尉阵亡于中国山西的一个偏僻村庄附近。 ……对中国共产党领导人作为一个群体的总的印象也许会使人感到某种兴趣，因为他们所代表的党的重要性在不断增长，而且毫无疑问，美国将来应付中国局势时是必须把这个党考虑在内的……所有这些人都有着明明白白的强烈的信念，比较软弱的人早已离开了他们，那些留下来的人都相信他们是在为某种值得的东西而奋斗。他们的真诚、忠贞和决心是显而易见的……与所有这些品质有关的，既然没有更恰当的词，就可描述为坚忍不拔。你会了解到，他们是有耐心的（他们在这方面经受了长期的、艰苦的磨炼）；他们会进行妥协，如果这是最符合党的长远利益的话；而在有需要时，他们将进行战斗；如有必要，他们会是强硬的、毫不留情的……关于中国共产党领导人的总的印象是：他们是一个团结的群体，他们是朝气蓬勃的、成熟的、讲求实际的，他们无私地献身于崇高的原则，并具有胜任领导工作的巨大才能和坚强品质。这种印象——我想还有他们既往的经历——把他们置于高于当代中国别的任何群体的地位。 ——约翰·S·谢伟思 此次旅行中搜集到的给人印象最深的事实之一是军民的团结一致。越接近前线，这种团结越是牢固。每一次当我看到士兵和农民接触时，不论是个别的接触，还是许多人在一起，他们间的真诚的友谊都是显而易见的……村民们在供给士兵所需的物资时十分慷慨大方，而所有食品都是按价付钱的。清晨，战士们离开村子前清扫垃圾，把用作床铺的门板放好，把东西摆得丼井有条……地雷战成了民兵的有效武器，以致在许多地区日本人不敢冒险远离他们的碉堡，而在他们远离碉堡时，他们不得不离开道路走河床……当我在敌后八路军的一个下属地区时，我们这组人中的军人每天都能告诉我，我们周围敌人活动的准确消息。这些消息是从民兵组织那里得到的……当八路军攻打一个碉堡时，不仅知道碉堡内火器的确切数目和型号，日军和伪军的确切数目，而且在许多情况下甚至知道这些士兵的姓名……许多仗是在夜间打的，战场的地形又坎坷不平，因此有土生土长熟悉当地每一寸土地的人作向导使八路军战士大受其益…… ——梅尔文·A·卡斯伯格 向延安派遣观察组一事，表明美国政府正在改变其敌视中国共产党的政策，特别是“当时大多数住在重庆的美国人对国民党极端厌恶，他们认为国民党的状况已经糟得不能再糟了”。于是，“在美军联络飞机开始飞往延安之后，所有能找到一个官方借口的人都希望去延安一次，这种旅行变得非常时髦。神秘和新奇使得刚刚被重新发现的共产党人变得很有魅力”。一时间，“共产党人的纸币、邮票、土布、地毯和挂毯，都成了热门货”。美国人开始“一厢情愿地假定共产党人都是些出色的好人”。 “出色的好人”这句话，出自一名美军飞行员之口。在美军观察组抵达延安后不久，一位名叫吉姆的美军飞行员在空战中被击中，他跳伞逃生落在距日军据点不远处的农田里。共产党人的抗日游击队与据点里的日军拼死对抗，于混战中把他救起并藏了起来。护送吉姆去延安的路程，用了整整三个多月，其间多次从日军的碉堡旁穿过，他得到了八路军战士的精心照顾和保护。在延安养好伤后，吉姆又被送往重庆。重庆方面认为，这个美国大兵被共产党洗了脑，不让他接触任何人，但美军观察组抵达延安后，共产党不再是忌讳的话题，于是吉姆便成记者们争相采访的对象。这个普通的美国青年出现在记者面前时着装古怪：身上穿的是薪新的美军制服，脚下却是一双中国土布鞋，头上是一顶灰色的土布棉帽子，他说鞋子和帽子是救他命的那位游击队员送给他的。面对记者的追问，吉姆表示“他是反对共产主义的，认为共产主义是胡说八道”；可是“共产党看来确实为农民做好事”，而他在中国见到的每一个共产党人，与他之前所受到的关于共产党的宣传，说的根本不是同一群人。离开延安的时候，他告诉八路军总司令朱德，虽然你们自己还不知道，但你们“确实不是共产党人，也不可能是共产党人”，因为你们的“所作所为完全像是一个出色的好人”。 从延安回到重庆的美军观察组得出了这样的结论：“中共已经深深地贏得了群众的广泛支持，这使共产党不可能被消灭掉；从这一基本事实中，我们必须得出结论，在将来的中国，中共必将占有一定的、重要的地位……除非国民党像共产党这样进行政治和经济改革，并以此证明，它有能力竞争领导人民的地位（国民党中至今没有一个人显示愿意或者有能力这样做的迹象），几年之内，中共将成为中国的支配性力量。” 一九四四年，国民党中枢的焦灼日见严重。这不仅是因为国民党军在前方连续不断的作战失利，共产党抗日武装于敌后战场的连连得手以及共产党人国际声誉的骤然提升，更多不安来自重庆政府控制区内发生的种种社会危机。这些危机令战争中的苦难中国更加动荡不安。 抗战初期从内地迁往大后方的工业曾蓬勃发展，但此时大后方私营的民族工业占百分之九十以上，资本却只占全部资本的百分之六十，不足百分之十的官僚买办资本竟然占据了百分之四十。在官办企业统治市场的情况下，资源和运输等行业受到严重垄断，民族企业经营分散，设备落后，势力单薄，难以为继。私营民族企业倒闭的主因是赋税太重。一九四三年，重庆的八百七十一家工厂中，停工和减产的达二百七十家；广西的多数矿山也倒闭了，原因是政府强行采购的价格只有成本的三分之一。 国民政府实行战时经济体制，本是为了首先确保战争的需求，但这一体制很快便成为官僚资本中饱私囊的机遇。社会财富迅速向权力家族聚集，由蒋介石的姐夫、财政部部长孔祥熙控制的银行，战争期间存款增加了六倍，其中外币和黄金占百分之四十。而且，官僚资本控制的银行，贷款的百分之九十用于商业而不是工业，因为商业投机的利率极高且能迅速获利，这又使得愿意投资地方工业的民间私人银行被一一挤出市场。当时中国的报纸上直截了当地说，把经济危机归罪于私营商人是不公平的，官员们才是最大的罪犯。 大后方的农业生产也迅速萎缩，粮食产量锐减。土地高度集中和地主的残酷盘剥，使得大批农民丧失了基本的生存条件，加上战争和灾荒，一九四四年鄂北的灾民数量达到二百万，陕西和河南三百万，而在陪都所在的四川，灾民和难民人数竟然高达三千万之巨。遍地流民的悲惨景象被各国记者传播出去，令世界为之震惊。 经济危机带来了严重的通货膨胀，支撑财政的美元汇率首先崩溃了。抗战开始时，法币和美元的汇率是三比一，一九四一年为二十比一，一九四四年变成了二百比一。但是，财政部部长孔祥熙坚决否认中国存在通货膨胀，他说中国人出大价钱买东西与通货膨胀无关，那是他们自愿的。 美国陆军