What do the two buttons on the Eighth Route Army’s hat mean?

The Eighth Route Army is an anti-Japanese force. In history, there are countless records of heroic deeds of the Eighth Route Army, but what I mainly want to talk to you about is the clothing of the Eighth Route Army. From some film and television dramas, we can see that as the Eighth Route Army, everyone must wear uniform uniforms, and the Eighth Route Army’s hats are very distinctive. Each of their hats has two buttons, so you know the Eighth Route Army What do the two buttons on the hat mean?

The style of the Eighth Route Army military uniforms is fixed - the style of the National Revolutionary Army, only distinguished by the "Eighth Route Army" and "New Fourth Army" cloth armbands worn on the left arm. The clothing styles of cadres and soldiers differ only slightly in the pockets. The cadres had two extra pockets sewn on. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army wore a straight rounded dome hat with a small cap badge of the Communist Army on it.

But this is not the case in reality. According to common practice, the equipment of a regular soldier of the Eighth Route Army should include an Eighth Route Army cap, uniform, shoes, leggings, bullet belt, grenade bag, belt and quilt. , usually two pairs of shoes. Accessory equipment also includes dry food bags and bowl bags. But in fact, it is difficult to match the standard.

Officers can also send out extra bags or horse traps, or more fashionably, they are called picture bags. This can barely be regarded as a reflection of the difference between officers and soldiers.

Let’s start from the beginning. The Eighth Route Army’s military cap may be the most common Eighth Route Army equipment. Many soldiers are only issued a military cap and an armband when they enter the army. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army wore armbands. It is rectangular, with a standard size of 8.5cm to .5cm, with a white cloth base and printed in blue with the word "八路" in the middle. Everyone is familiar with armbands, why is the military cap the most common equipment for Eighth Route Army soldiers? First of all, my personal speculation is that the military caps were the same as those of the Communists at that time. They just changed the cap badges of the Communists into buttons. This inventory was large, and only the Eighth Route Army took over several uniform warehouses discarded by the Jin army in Shanxi. a lot of. It’s also very strange, but also simple. The warehouse manager at that time stole and sold many of the uniforms, but kept only the hats. Could it be that he knew beforehand that the Eighth Route Army was short of military hats? It's just a joke, mainly because no one wants the military hat. The most important thing is that the Eighth Route Army cap saves raw materials and is eye-catching. Although it is a personal opinion, the Eighth Route Army is famous for its poverty. It is a standard cadre image for local armed cadres in counties and districts to wear an Eighth Route Army cap. At that time, the Eighth Route Army rewarded Local troops who have made meritorious cooperation in the battle are also rewarded with 2 military hats and 2 military caps. I looked again and again and found that this battle was an attack by the Eighth Route Army in the Yutai area of ??Shandong Province. More than 80 Japanese and puppet troops were eliminated. With such a reward, one can get it. And the other one, Happy and Poor, indeed lives up to his reputation.

Next, let’s talk about military uniforms. The style of the Eighth Route Army’s military uniforms is generally fixed, but the materials and colors vary greatly. During the Anti-Japanese War, the environment was very difficult. Each anti-Japanese base area under the leadership of the Communist Party of China could only make military uniforms from local materials according to their own conditions, and the fabrics and dyes each base area came into contact with were different. Some guerrillas behind enemy lines don't even have military uniforms, and the civilian clothes of the masses are their military uniforms. The military uniforms of the Eighth Route Army generally came from two sources. One was produced by the army and local clothing factories, and the other was confiscated. The Eighth Route Army military uniforms commonly use coarse homespun cloth produced by local farmers, and the dyeing is standard "Eighth Route Gray". This is the Eighth Route Army's dress that we often see in film and television works, but in reality, it is not so good.

Based on the information I have on hand, the colors of the Eighth Route Army uniforms are at least four commonly used colors: yellow, yellow-green, grass green, and gray. As for the fabric, it is the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, and each base area has the final say. , the representative one is that the military uniforms of the four military divisions of the Shandong Military Region are very distinct and cannot be confused.

For example, for yellow-green military uniforms, the Sophora japonica flowers harvested in spring are crushed, mixed with dyes and mixed thoroughly. In this way, the dyed cloth has bright colors and does not fade after washing. Nie Rongzhen explained the reason for choosing yellow-green: Yellow means that we are the descendants of the Yellow River and the backbone of the Chinese nation; green is a symbol of evergreen life. Nonsense, he dreamed of dyeing it gray, but the raw materials were not available, and plant ash was not easy to get.

In Shandong, when the troops from the Bohai Navy Region and the Jiaodong Military Region join forces, the troops are clearly divided and their colors are inconsistent.

The Eighth Route Army also has a kind of standard clothing in the style of armed workers behind enemy lines, consisting of a Chinese tunic jacket and gray trousers. The clothing is similar to casual clothing and is easy for ordinary people to wear. It is suitable for disguised reconnaissance and approaching vanguard soldiers. However, the production quantity of this type of clothing is not large. , the former style can only be seen in a few old photos.

The Eighth Route Army uniforms shown in current film and television works are neat and uniform, but in reality it is not like this at all. The Eighth Route Army Headquarters and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Cavalry Regiment, Guard Regiment and other headquarters directly affiliated with the Northern Bureau, Border Region *** Party Committee, Anti-Japanese The equipment of the Military and Political University, Xinhua News Agency and other institutions, as well as the quilts and clothing of the Eighth Route Army General Logistics Department's quilt factory, were finally put on the market. Most of the photos and film materials left behind were based on them, so they did not lose much to the Eighth Route Army. , the difference between front-line combat troops and beggars is not very serious. The Kuomintang government has a very good reputation for discriminating against miscellaneous soldiers. For example, the Central Army was raised by the wife of the main wife. For example, the Jinsui Army and the Northeast Army were raised by their younger mothers, and the Eighth Route Army was raised by their stepmothers.