CHAPTER III
BIRTH OF AN ARMY
在抗日战争初期，日军横扫华北，如入无人之境。中国军队往往在失去指挥的状况下，如乌合之众仓惶溃逃。国民党的将领们一心只想尽快撤到黄河以南。在所有的大小城市中，一时汉奸蜂起。中国处于危亡之中。
到一九三八年，除了共产党领导的八路军之外，日本人在华北几乎荡平了所有正规部队的抵抗。
In the early days of China's war against Japan, as I knew, the Japanese
swept over North China almost at will. The often leaderless Chinese troops
ran away in confusion and the general idea of the Kuomintang command was
to get over the Yellow River as fast as possible. Traitors and collaborators
sprang up in every town and China was in great peril.
By 1938, the Japanese had cleared North China of nearly all regular
opposition except a small force of the Communist-led 8th Route Army.
薄一波继续讲道：
“过去，蒋介石诬蔑八路军为‘匪军’；而在抗日战争的最初年月，唯一留在华北坚持抗日的，正是这些所谓的‘匪军’。
“除了八路军以外，当时在华北也还有其他的抗日武装。一九三七年夏天，国民党军队开始向黄河撤退时，那些隐藏多年并与上级党组织完全失去联系的地下共产党员们，捡起败兵遗弃的武器，站出来进行公开活动了。与此同时，中国共产党中央委员会发布命令，要求全体党员拿起武器，脱掉长衫，短装上阵，不论发生什么情况，一律不准撤过黄河。
“党中央与地下工作者之间，平时很少联系，或者根本没有联系。党中央分派联络人员到各大城市去张贴标语，散发传单。他们全力以赴，尽快地把党中央的指示传达到基层。党中央的指示号召工人、学生以及农民团结起来，立即撤离城市，开展游击战争。
“通过这种传达方式，有一部分党员接到了党中央的指示。那些没有接到指示的也自行采取独立行动。早在八路军出现于华北之前，共产党的地下工作人员就以各种名义组织了抗日游击队，如河北民军（或称敢死队）等等。这些队伍的前身，都是一些爱国团体，它们现在的领导人都是共产党员。
“另外还有一些开展游击活动的学生组织，有的在抗战以前就成立了，因为当时山西军阀阎锡山对蒋介石一味对日本人妥协退让有所不满。
"There were, however, other forces than this army in North China. In the summer of 1937 when the Kuomintang troops began their flight to the Yellow River, underground Communists, who had been in hiding for years and who were completely out of touch with the party, came out into the open and began to pick up arms disbanded by the retreating soldiers. At the same time, the Central Committee of the Communist party issued an order to all members to take off their long gowns, don short coats and pants, take up arms and under no circumstances to cross the Yellow River.
"There was little or no connection between the Central Committee of the party and its underground workers, but messengers and orderlies were dispatched to the large towns to post slogans, distribute handbills and spread the word as best they could. General instructions were for workers, students and farmers to unite, to evacuate the cities immediately and to help organize guerrilla warfare.
"Some party members were reached by this means, but those who were not often adopted independent action of their own. Even before the 8th Route Army appeared in North China, underground Communist workers had organized their own guerrilla units under various names, such as the Hopei Militia or the Dare To Die Corps. Only the leaders of such units were Communists and such groups were primarily of patriotic origin.
"In addition, there were also student groups which took up guerrilla warfare. Some of these groups had been organized before the war because of Warlord Yen Hsi-shan's dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek's continued appeasement of Japan.
“正好在西安事变发生之前，阎锡山把我从延安请来帮他训练这批学生。
“当一九三七年日军入侵山西时，阎锡山企图引诱学生们跟随他撤往晋南。我向学生们发出了与阎对抗的号召：‘跟我上山去！’
“他们之中大部分人都跟我走了。一九三七年夏天，我率领五个学生纵队上了太行山和太岳山。每一个纵队都由一名共产党员担任领导，这些党员都是刚从蒋介石的监狱里释放出来的。
“除了这支学生队伍之外，还有少数自发组织起来抗日的铁路工人和劳工自卫队也随我上了山。
“这些队伍实在不成其为军队，倒是有点统一战线的色彩。他们都是不愿跟随蒋介石军队撤过黄河的人们。我提出了这样的口号：‘宁可死在山西，决不逃难！’除了那些大官僚、大地主以及阎锡山政府之外，多数群众都志愿留下来抗日。
“当这一运动在山区开始展开之时，在平原上也同样兴起了抗日救亡运动。例如在河北省，由华北的教授和教师们发起组织了民军。不久，一个包括学生、少数地下共产党员以及民主人士组成的地方政府，在杨秀峰教授的领导下成立了。杨教授后来担任了边区政府的主席。在河南和鲁西也成立了类似的政府。
"Just before Chiang was kidnaped at Sian, Yen invited me to come down from Yenan and help him train these students.
"When the Japanese invaded Shansi in 1937, Yen tried to attract
them to follow him to the south. But I issued a countercall, saying: 'Follow
me into the mountains.?'
"Most came with me. In the summer of 1937 I led five columns of
these students into the Taihang and Taiyueh mountains. Each column as
led by a Communist worker, all of whom had only just been released from
Chiang Kai-shek's prisons.
"Besides this student army, small groups of railway workers and
labor defense units who had spontaneously organized themselves to fight
the Japanese followed me into the mountains.
"These bands - you could hardly call them troops - had a United
Front complexion and were composed of all those who did not wish to run
away and cross the Yellow River with Chiang Kai-shek's forces. As a slogan,
I used the words: 'Better to sacrifice to Shansi than be refugees.' Except
for the big officials, the big landlords and the government of Yen Hsi-shan,
most of the people stayed behind to fight.
"While this movement was going on in the mountains, a parallel
movement sprang up on the plains. In Hopei, for example, militia were
organized by professors and teachers of North China. Soon a local government,
composed of students, a few underground members of the Communist party
and liberals, was organized under the leadership of Professor Yang Hsiu-feng
who was later to become head of the Border Region government. Similar
governments came into being in Honan and in western Shantung.
“这些队伍与共产党并无多大关系，与八路军也毫无联系。其优点是与群众关系密切，缺点是没有集中统一的领导，同时也没有多少军事经验。这些队伍是由一枪未放过的学生和对战术一窍不通的教授，以及不懂军事和政治的农民组成的。它们面临着因无人指挥和领导而溃散，以及因不懂军事而被消灭的危险。
“这就是当时华北抗日运动的基本状况。一九三七年十一月，刘伯承将军率领八路军一二九师三个团，从陕西的黄土高原出发，东渡黄河，来到了太行山区。刘将军正是我们盼望已久的军事领导者。
“虽然刘伯承部队只有六千人，但他们都是中国最优秀的战士。他们全都参加过长征，骁勇善战，训练有素，尤其擅长游击战，并有高度的政治觉悟。在以往的国内战争时期，这三个团曾在鄂豫皖三省作战，在长江以北一带打过蒋介石。这支队伍的前身，是在一九二七年大革命失败后，由为数不多的地下共产党员组织起来的，开始时只有两条步枪。因此，在一定程度上，也可以这样说，目前拥有三十万众、占据了边区这一战略要地的八路军，就是靠这两条步枪起家的。这是我们常说的‘从无到有，从小到大’的一个例证。
“刘伯承的这支正规部队，与我领导的五个学生纵队进行了合并改编，后来又分派到各地的民军中。这次合编在华北建立了一条对日作战的阵线。”
薄一波最后引用了彭德怀将军的一句名言：“人民的力量好比是水，刘伯承将军的队伍如同是鱼，鱼儿只有在水里才能游动自如。”
"Besides these, there sprang up more or less spontaneously nearly
a hundred self-defense corps. At this time, all organizations were motivated
by a spirit of patriotism, a feeling of horror at Japanese atrocities
and an anger at the Kuomintang for retreating so quickly without putting
up much of a fight. Altogether, there were perhaps one hundred thousand
men.
"This force had little to do with the Communist party and no connection
at all with the 8th Route Army. Its strong point was its close relations
with the people; its weak point, its lack of unity, central leadership
and military experience. Such a force, composed of students who hardly
knew how to fire rifles, of professors who knew nothing of tactics and
farmers who knew neither tactics nor politics, was in danger of disintegrating
for lack of a directing head hid of being wiped out for the lack of technique.
"Such was the condition of resistance in North China, when, in
November 1937, General Liu Po-cheng led three regiments of the 129th Division
of the 8th Route Army from the bess country of Shensi Province on the
west, across the Yellow River and into the Taihang Mountains. Here was
the military leader we had been waiting for.
"Although Liu had only six thousand men, they were some of the best soldiers in China. All of them had been on the Long March They were technically skillful, well trained, especially in guerrilla warfare, and politically highly conscious. Members of the three regiments had all fought in Hupeh, Anhui and Honan, north of the Yangtze River against Chiang Kai-shek in the old civil war. They had been originally formed, after the failure of the 1927 Revolution, from a small band of underground Communists, equipped with two rifles. Thus, in a way, it can be said that the 8th Route Army of three hundred thousand men that today occupies this strategic Border Region, was born from two guns. In fact, these troops are illustrative of one of our favorite sayings: "From smallness to bigness; from nothing to something."
"These regulars of Liu's were combined with my five student columns
and then later sent among the various people's units. The combination
of these forces enabled North China to mold a front against the Japanese.
"The force of the people can be compared to water," Po concluded,
adopting a famous saying of General Peng Teh-hwai's; "the force of
General Liu to fish. Only in the water could the fish swim."