Why do the Eighth Route Army’s hats have two buttons and the Red Army’s hats have red stars?

Basic information:

In the early days, both the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army fully wore the "Blue Sky and White Sun" cap badge. When the cap badge was replaced in 1937 (the original Red Army pure red five-star cloth cap badge), due to the Symbols of former "enemies", both armies have experienced incidents of soldiers resisting and even fleeing the unit as a result. The cap badge is provided by Nanjing (Chongqing) in accordance with the National *** Cooperation Agreement. In 1940, due to the Wannan Incident, which caused great anger among the entire New Fourth Army, the remnants of the New Fourth Army and the reconstructed New Fourth Army basically no longer used this cap badge.

In contrast, due to the substantial expansion of the Eighth Route Army's troops after 1940, which far exceeded the agreed size of three divisions, and the intermittent cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang, it was unable to obtain the resources that could only be provided by the industrial sector in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. Blue Sky and White Sun enamel cap emblem. More and more officers and soldiers do not have the Blue Sky and White Sun cap emblem on their caps but only have two imitation German mountain hat-style buttons. This is not "buttons instead of emblem", nor is it due to political reasons. In fact, soldiers of the Eighth Route Army after 1940 were quite free to wear cap badges. There were no regulations or recommendations, and they were not included in the evaluation of squad morale. Some soldiers wore the blue sky and white sun cap badge until 1948, when the Kuomintang collapsed.

Extended information

Eighth Route Army:

The Eighth Route Army, whose full name is the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, was later renamed the Eighteenth Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army and was affiliated with the National Revolutionary Army. The Sequence was an anti-Japanese force led by the Communist Party of China and one of the predecessors of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

On August 22, 1937, according to the agreement reached by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Military Commission of the National Government announced that the main force of the Red Army would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army and agreed to establish a general headquarters. ?

On August 25, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China issued an order announcing that the First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the Northwest Red Army would be reorganized into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, the Red Army The former enemy headquarters was changed to the Eighth Route Army General Headquarters, with Zhu De as commander-in-chief, Peng Dehuai as deputy commander-in-chief, Ye Jianying as chief of staff, Zuo Quan as deputy chief of staff, and the General Political Department of the Red Army was changed to the Political Department of the Eighth Route Army.

On September 11, the Military Commission of the National Government changed the name of the Eighth Route Army to the Eighteenth Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army according to the order of battle of the national army, navy and air force. Peng Dehuai was appointed deputy commander-in-chief. However, since the title of the Eighth Route Army has been widely spread among troops at all levels, and the name has become accustomed within the Eighth Route Army, the designation of the Eighth Route Army is still used to a certain extent, and the people are accustomed to calling this army the Eighth Route Army. In formal occasions, the title Eighth Route Army has always been used. Therefore, the title of the Eighth Route Army was used for a long time until the late period of the Liberation War.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Military Uniforms of the Eighth Route Army

Baidu Encyclopedia-Eighth Route Army