The Origin of "August 1st" Army Day

August 1st every year is the anniversary of the founding of the China People's Liberation Army, so it is also called "August 1st Army Day". On July 11th, 1933, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Union decided on August 1st as the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants on the basis of the recommendation of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission on June 3th. On June 15th, 1949, the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of China issued an order, taking the word "August 1st" as the main symbol of the military flag and emblem of the People's Liberation Army of China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this anniversary was renamed Army Day of China People's Liberation Army.

Origin:

On April 12 and July 15, 1927, after Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei launched the "Qing * * *" campaign in Nanjing and Wuhan, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Provisional Political Bureau in Hankou, and decided to use the National Revolutionary Army under the control and influence of the * * * production party to hold an armed uprising in Nanchang, and appointed Zhou Enlai as the secretary of the former enemy committee of the uprising leading organ.

On July 27th, 1927, Zhou Enlai held an important meeting in Nanchang attended by Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Yun Daiying, Peng Pai, Ye Ting, Nie Rongzhen and the leaders of Jiangxi Party organizations, and established a staff committee with Liu Bocheng as the head of staff and Zhou Enlai, Ye Ting and He Long as members. Under the rebel general command, by He Long as commander in chief, Ye Ting as former enemy commander in chief.

On August 1st, 1927, at 2: a.m., Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, He Long, Ye Ting, Liu Bocheng and other rebel forces launched an attack on the Kuomintang troops stationed in Nanchang. After more than four hours of fierce fighting, more than 3, people were wiped out, more than 5, guns were seized, more than one million bullets and several cannons were fired, and Nanchang City was occupied. On the morning of the same day, a joint meeting of members of the CPC Central Committee, representatives of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and overseas parties and departments was held in Nanchang, and the Declaration of the Central Committee was adopted. The China Revolutionary Committee of the Communist Party of China, composed of 25 members including Soong Ching Ling, Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting and Zhu De, was established, and the Declaration of the August 1st Uprising and other documents were adopted, proposing "Down with imperialism" and "Down with the old and the new". At the same time, the uprising troops were reorganized, still using the designation of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army, with He Long as the commander in chief. Because the enemy attacked Nanchang with heavy troops, the Central Front Committee decided that according to the scheduled plan of the Central Committee, the uprising troops left Nanchang from August 3 to 6, sent troops south, passed Linchuan, Yihuang and Guangchang, and went straight to Chaoshan area in Guangdong.

The uprising troops defeated the interception of the reactionary Kuomintang troops in Ruijin and Huichang, Jiangxi Province, and then passed through Changting, Shanghang, Fujian Province and Dapu, Guangdong Province. In late September,

Chaozhou and Shantou were occupied, and the main forces marched westward to Tangkeng through Jieyang. At the beginning of October, the westward troops and the troops staying in Chaoshan were besieged by superior enemy forces, most of the uprising troops were scattered, and some of them broke through to Hailufeng area to join the peasant armed forces in Hailufeng area; The other part, led by Zhu De and Chen Yi, was transferred to southern Hunan through southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong to carry out guerrilla warfare. In January 1928, with the cooperation of local party organizations and peasant armed forces in southern Hunan, the "Nianguan Uprising" was held in Yizhang. Because of the "co-suppression" by the superior enemy, the uprising troops and peasant armed forces withdrew from southern Hunan, and arrived in Jinggangshan in April of the same year to join forces with the troops led by Mao Zedong to form the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army, which was later renamed the Fourth Army of the Workers and Peasants Red Army.

after the success of the uprising, the front committee of the CPC Central Committee * * * issued the Declaration of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang leftists in accordance with the instructions of the CPC Central Committee that the uprising still called for revolution in the name of the Kuomintang leftists, exposing various crimes of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei betraying the revolution and expressing their determination to support Sun Yat-sen's "three major policies" and continue to fight against imperialism and feudal warlords. On the morning of August 1st, a joint meeting attended by members of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, representatives of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and overseas party departments was held, and the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang of China was established, and Deng Yanda, Soong Ching Ling, He Xiangning, Tan Pingshan, Wu Yuzhang, He Long, Lin Zuhan (Boqu), Ye Ting, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Guotao, Li Lisan, Yun Daiying, Xu Teli, Peng Pai and Guo Moruo were elected. Revolutionary Committee appointed Wu Yuzhang as Secretary-General, appointed Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, Liu Bocheng and other staff committees as military command organs, with Liu Bocheng as the chief of staff and Guo Moruo as the director of the General Political Department, and decided that the insurgents would still use the designation of the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army, He Long as commander-in-chief of the front army and Ye Ting as commander-in-chief of the front enemy of the front army. The 11th Army (under the jurisdiction of the 24th, 25th and 1th Division), with Ye Ting as the commander and Nie Rongzhen as the party representative; The 2th Army (under the jurisdiction of the 1st and 2nd Divisions), with He Long as the commander and Liao Ganwu as the party representative; In the 9th Army, Zhu De served as deputy commander and Zhu Kejing as party representative. The army * * * more than 2 people.

after the battle in Huichang, the insurgents turned back to Ruijin one after another, diverted eastward, passed through Changting and Shanghang in Fujian Province, and went south along Tingjiang and Hanjiang rivers. On September 22nd, the 25th Division of the 11th Army occupied Sanheba, dapu county, Guangdong Province. The main force continued to move southward and occupied Chaoan (now Chaozhou) and Shantou on the 23rd. During this period, Li Jishen, the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army of the Kuomintang Army stationed in Guangdong, ordered Qian Dajun's remnants to contain the 25th division, made Huang Shaohong's department attack Chaoan by Fengshun, and made Chen Jitang and Xueyue's three divisions form the Eastern Route Army with more than 15, people, and moved eastward from Heyuan to find the main force of the rebel army for a decisive battle. According to the above situation, the * * * Front Committee decided that the newly-built 3rd Division of the 2th Army would be stationed in Chaoshan area with the Revolutionary Committee, and more than 6,5 people would be concentrated to meet the eastward enemies. On September 28th, the main force of the rebel army met with the East Route Army in the vicinity of Shanhu (Yuhu) in Jieyang County, defeated it, then advanced to Tangkeng (now Fengshun City), and fought fiercely with the enemy again in Fenshui Village. By the 3th, the rebel army suffered more than 2, casualties and was unable to fight any more, so it retreated to Jieyang. That night, Huang Shaohong captured Chaoan. On October 3rd, the main force of the rebel army joined the revolutionary committee withdrawn from Chaoshan in quicksand (now Puning City), and continued to retreat to Haifeng and Lufeng areas. When passing through Lianhua Mountain near Zhongtan Village in the southwest of quicksand, it was intercepted by the Eastern Route Army again, and the fighting was endless, and most of the troops were scattered. The 25th Division stationed in Sanheba, after giving heavy damage to Qian Dajun's department, moved to Chaoan, and on October 5th, it joined the 1st Division of the 3rd Division evacuated from Chaoshan in Raoping County. Since then, these two troops, led by Zhu De and Chen Yi, have joined forces with the autumn harvest uprising troops on the Hunan-Jiangxi border led by Mao Zedong.

It was a long March, starting from Nanchang, passing through Fuzhou, Yihuang, Guangchang, Shicheng, Ruijin, Huichang, Changting, Shanghang and Tai Po, and occupying Chaozhou and Shantou on September 23rd and 24th, and it took more than a month to stop, while the vanguard troops had entered the Hailufeng area. Along the way, he won a battle in Rentian Village, north of Ruijin, and another battle in Huichang, annihilating more than one enemy division. Although the soldiers of the Guard are extremely tired, they are excited and always maintain high spirits to defend the safety of the Revolutionary Committee, the leading organ of the Rebel Army. I was the monitor of the guard at that time. After the occupation of Chaozhou, our platoon was ordered to stay there and take on the security tasks of the logistics department and the material warehouse. After withdrawing from Chaozhou, we crossed the Hanjiang River eastward and headed for Raoping. By Rao Ping, Comrade Zhu De had led the 25th Division and the Ninth Army Training Corps to retreat there from Sanheba, and we joined this team. Then, under the leadership of Zhu De and Chen Yi, they began to make a strategic shift in the direction of Fujian and Jiangxi. This is another long-distance March, passing through Raoping, Pinghe, Tai Po, Yongding, Wuping and Xinfeng to Nankang and Dayu. Due to continuous marching operations, the number of troops was greatly reduced, and some soldiers and cadres who were not determined were shaken by the revolution. They left the troops one after another. When they arrived in Nankang, there were more than 1, people left, and when they arrived in Dayu, there were only seven or eight hundred people left. Because of the impure composition of the troops and the lack of grassroots party member, the military discipline along the way was not good, so they reorganized the troops into a regiment, with Comrade Zhu De as the head and Comrade Chen Yi as the group instructor. I personally rectified the discipline of the army and strengthened political work. The bad elements were eliminated and the comrades who stayed were more determined. The situation has changed very quickly. After the old calendar year, we went to Yizhang in Hunan and wiped out the reactionary forces in the county, that is, we openly fought local tyrants, divided fields, established Soviet political power, officially raised the red flag of sickle and axe, and held a vigorous uprising in southern Hunan. Nanchang Uprising is an armed uprising with overall significance directly led by China's * * * production party. The first shot of armed resistance against the Kuomintang reactionaries was fired, which declared the firm position of the China * * * Producer Party to carry out the China Revolution to the end, and marked the beginning of the China * * Producer Party's independent creation of the revolutionary army and leadership of the revolutionary war. From then on, August 1st became the Army Day of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army and later the China People's Liberation Army. The Nanchang Uprising, because the enemy was too powerful objectively and lacked experience in subjective guidance, did not combine with the peasant movements in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi to carry out the agrarian revolutionary war. Instead, it went south to Guangdong alone in an attempt to open Haikou, win foreign aid, rebuild the revolutionary base areas, and hold the Northern Generation again. Coupled with two divisions, it was impossible to concentrate its forces to annihilate the enemy and became the enemy's one-by-one defeat. But the great historical achievements of this uprising are indelible. It has set up a clear banner of armed struggle in front of the whole party and the people of the whole country, and fully demonstrated the revolutionary spirit of China's * * * production party and the people of China who are not afraid of strong enemies and courageously advance. He criticized Chen Duxiu's right capitulationism with practical actions, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Kuomintang reactionaries and greatly inspired the revolutionary fighting spirit of the people throughout the country. It has made great contributions to the creation of a great people's army.