Chapter 24 Mao Zedong resoundingly stated: "The soldiers and the people are the foundation of victory"

After the start of the all-out war of resistance, the Chinese people, who suffered from the disaster of the war, longed for the victory of the war every day.However, can China win?Can you win quickly?How can we win?How is the war going?Everyone is at a loss for these questions.Moreover, all these questions continue to linger in people's minds with every victory or defeat, advance and retreat in the course of the war.Especially since the Battle of Xuzhou, these problems have become more prominent and acute. From December 1937 to May 1938, the Chinese army and the Japanese invading army launched a large-scale battle, the "Battle of Xuzhou", in the vast area of ​​Jinpu Road, north and south, centered on Xuzhou.The battle went through three stages: the initial defense battle along the Jinpu line, the battle of Taierzhuang, and the breakout of Xuzhou.At the beginning of the battle, the pro-Japanese faction represented by Wang Jingwei advocated the "theory of subjugation" and national defeatism everywhere, saying that "our so-called resistance has no other content, and its content is only sacrifice. After the sacrifice, our goal of resistance has also been achieved." gone."

But at the end of the second phase of the battle, that is, in early April 1938, the Chinese army won the Taierzhuang victory, destroying the main force of the fifth and twelfth elite divisions of the Japanese army, and annihilating more than 20,000 enemies. The biggest victory since the War of Resistance. Dazed by this victory, Chiang Kai-shek developed a mentality of quick victory, thinking that only a few Taierzhuang-style victories could hold off the Japanese army, and there was no need to mobilize the broad masses of the people for a protracted war.They declared: the battle of Xuzhou after the victory in Taierzhuang was a "quasi-decisive battle", "this battle is the enemy's last struggle", "we won, and the Japanese clan lost their position spiritually, and could only wait for the doomsday judgment".It seems that victory in the war of resistance is just around the corner.

However, the reality is harsh.At the beginning of the Battle of Xuzhou, the KMT's 600,000 troops fell into a passive position. They were blocked, divided, and surrounded by the enemy. On May 19, Xuzhou fell. As the "theory of quick victory" evaporated, the "theory of national subjugation" raised its head again.The descendants of Yan and Huang are confused about the prospect of confronting Japan. Prior to this, Mao Zedong had written a series of works on the study of China’s revolutionary war and revealed the laws of revolutionary war. The attitude of the Communist Party towards war: Communists oppose unjust wars, support and participate in just wars, and eliminate unjust wars through just wars.

In "Strategic Issues in Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Warfare", Mao Zedong clarified the dialectics of strategy and tactics. The Chinese Communists have formed a concept in the long-term struggle with the enemy: to despise the enemy strategically, and to pay attention to the enemy tactically.The two go hand in hand.Only by despising the enemy strategically can we build up the belief of daring to fight and dare to win; only by paying attention to the enemy tactically can we destroy the enemy piece by piece and win the final victory step by step. In Yan'an, Mao Zedong took time out of his busy schedule and stayed at his desk for 9 days to complete the famous programmatic document guiding the War of Resistance-"On Protracted War" in one go.He revealed the law of the Anti-Japanese War, drew a complete blueprint for the whole process of the Anti-Japanese War, cleared the fog in people's minds, and answered people's doubts.

Mao Zedong believed that war also has objective laws independent of human will.Those who guide war must study the laws of war and respect the objective laws of war in order to guide practice correctly.Based on his understanding of the laws of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Zedong clearly pointed out: "The Anti-Japanese War is a protracted war, and the final victory belongs to China." why? Mao Zedong pointed out: Because "the Sino-Japanese war is not any other war, but a desperate war between semi-colonial and semi-feudal China and imperialist Japan in the 1930s. This is the basis of the whole problem. "

He analyzed: In this war, China and Japan have four contradictory characteristics: the enemy is strong and we are weak; the enemy is small and we are big;The first characteristic determines that Japan can run rampant in China for a while, and China cannot win quickly, and there is still a difficult road to go; the last three characteristics determine that China will not perish.Those who argue for national subjugation only see the side that is not good for China, while those who argue for quick victory see the opposite, so neither is correct. Based on the laws of the movement of contradictions, Mao Zedong predicted that China's protracted war of resistance would go through three stages: strategic defense, strategic stalemate, and strategic counteroffensive.

In the first stage, the Japanese army took advantage of its military superiority to make a massive attack and occupied many large cities and communication arteries in China. However, due to the shortage of troops, China's guerrilla warfare will take advantage of the emptiness behind the enemy and will have a general development. The second stage is the stage of strategic stalemate. This stage lasts quite a long time, encounters the most difficulties, and the war is very cruel. However, it is the pivot of the entire war where the enemy is strong and we are weak.The combat form at this stage is mainly guerrilla warfare, supplemented by mobile warfare.But guerrilla warfare can be won, and the people will carry out a strategic counter-offensive to regain lost ground.

Those who argue for quick victory do not know that war is a contest of strength, and that there is no basis for a strategic decisive battle before the balance of power between the two sides in the war has changed to a certain extent. Mao Zedong pointed out earnestly: "Whether China will become an independent country or a colony will not be determined by whether the big cities are lost in the first stage, but by the extent of the efforts of the whole nation in the second stage. For example, persist in the War of Resistance, adhere to the United Front and Persist in a protracted war, and China will gain strength from weakness to strength during this stage."

How to carry out a protracted war and how to win the war? Marxism tells people: the masses of the people are the creators of history.Mao Zedong applied this fundamental view of historical materialism to the revolutionary war, and prescribed a "prescription" that "in addition to seeking foreign aid as much as possible, the main thing is to mobilize the people of the whole country to launch a people's war."He resoundingly stated: "The soldiers and the people are the foundation of victory." "The deepest source of the power of war lies in the masses."

"Only by mobilizing the people of the whole country will create a vast ocean in which the enemy will be wiped out, create remedial conditions to make up for defects such as weapons, and create the prerequisites for overcoming all difficulties." Mao Zedong’s series of scientific analyzes on the situation and future of the war in "On Protracted War" are of great significance for unifying the strategic thinking of the Communist Party of China and even the people of the whole country, and strengthening the confidence of the military and civilians in the whole country in the war of resistance.

After "On Protracted War" was published, the Communist Party used various methods to publicize and popularize the idea of ​​protracted war to the people. Zhou Enlai, then deputy director of the Political Department of the Kuomintang Military Commission, read "On Protracted War" immediately after receiving it, wrote an editorial and sent it to the "Xinhua Daily" published by the party in Wuhan, and explained "On Protracted War" to the people in the rear. ", and gave many reports on "On Protracted War" to all walks of life in Wuhan, and the audience was full. Mao Zedong's teacher Xu Teli was then the director of the Changsha Office of the Communist Party of China. After receiving "On Protracted War", he gave a report to the people of Hunan in the Changsha Theater.The audience in the big theater was packed. "On Protracted War" also had a major impact on the KMT's decision-makers. Zhou Enlai introduced the basic ideas of the book to Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of staff of the Kuomintang, and presented this booklet.After reading it, Bai expressed his deep appreciation, thinking that this is the way to defeat the enemy, and recounted it in Chiang Kai-shek.Chiang Kai-shek also agreed.Therefore, Bai Chongxi, known as "Little Zhuge", summed up the spirit of "On Protracted War" into two sentences: "Accumulate small victories into big victories, trade space for time." After obtaining the consent of Zhou Enlai, the Kuomintang Military Committee issued an order to the whole country, using it as the military strategic guiding ideology of the National War of Resistance. "On Protracted War" was widely distributed in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, and the Kuomintang officers and soldiers studied Mao Zedong's military thought from top to bottom. "On Protracted War" also received strong international repercussions. After the book was translated into foreign languages ​​and published, people all over the world rushed to buy it, and many international publications reprinted and commented on it. "Comintern" once published a paper commenting: "In history, no one has explained military issues and war issues so thoroughly. This is an epoch-making book." These illustrate the powerful persuasion and influence of the 50,000-word essay "On Protracted War". "On Protracted War" became a military masterpiece. In "On Protracted War", Mao Zedong also revealed the relationship between objective conditions and subjective efforts.He said: "The people who guide the war cannot go beyond the limit permitted by the objective conditions and expect the victory of the war. ... The stage of the war commander's activities must be built on the basis of the objective conditions. However, they can use this stage to direct many. Vibrant, majestic and majestic drama." During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Zedong was a brilliant director. He directed the great drama of the War of Resistance Against Japan, making the entire war follow the procedures he designed, from strategic defense, strategic stalemate to strategic counteroffensive, and finally won the national war.