Eighth Route Army

Eighth Route Army
Eighth Route Army fighting on the Futuyu Great Wall, Laiyuan, Hebei, 1938. Photograph by Sha Fei.
Active1937–1947
Country China
Allegiance Chinese Communist Party
Branch National Revolutionary Army
TypeRoute Army
RoleInfantry
Size600,000
Part ofCPC Central Military Commission
Nationalist Government Military Affairs Commission
Garrison/HQShanxi and Shaanxi
ColorsGrey and White Uniform
MarchMilitary Anthem of the Eighth Route Army
EngagementsSecond Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War
Commanders
CommanderZhu De
Deputy CommanderPeng Dehuai
Insignia
Arm badge, as Eighth Route Army
Arm badge, as 18th Group Army
Flag, as 18th Group Army
In July 1937, the Presidium of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party issued an order for the Chinese Red Army to reorganize into the National Revolutionary Army and stand by for the anti-Japanese front line.
Former site of the Eighth Route Army Office in Guilin.

The Eighth Route Army (simplified Chinese: 八路军; traditional Chinese: 八路軍; pinyin: Bālù-Jūn), officially known as the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, was a group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party, nominally within the structure of the Chinese military headed by the Chinese Nationalist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Eighth Route Army was created from the Chinese Red Army on September 22, 1937, when the Chinese Communists and Chinese Nationalists formed the Second United Front against Japan at the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, as the Chinese theater was known in World War II. Together with the New Fourth Army, the Eighth Route Army formed the main Communist fighting force during the war and was commanded by Communist party leader Mao Zedong and general Zhu 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 the People's Liberation Army in 1947, after the end of World War II, as the Chinese Communists and Nationalists resumed the Chinese Civil War.