主题：【原创】8月15日纪念：敌后战场的伟大功绩，仍待还原史实 -- 春秋的老胡

What both interested and puzzled me was how a small band of guerrillas, isolated in one of the poorer sections of China, without any outside help, could not only fight an eight—year war behind the Japanese lines and survive, but come out of that war so strong that they could challenge American-trained and equipped armies of Chiang Kai-shek for control of China. The Kuomintang and even some American congressmen had often declared that the Communists had never fought the Japanese; if that were true——and it might be—-then by what methods had they survived and how were they abie to fight against Chiang Kai-shek now, if in that eight-year period they had done no fighting against the national enemy?

It was more than a reporter’s normal curiosity that made me inquire into these events; I also had a personal interest in finding out how the Reds had lived behind the Japanese lines. In August 1937, after the Japanese captured Peiping, I had sneaked through their lines and after a somewhat adventurous journey joined the troops of Chiang Kai-shek then gathering in North China to do battle. All through the surnmer of 1937 I had retreated with Chiang’s soldiers both across the North China Plain and through the mountains of Shansi. In one terrible retreat through Shansi I had seen the armies of Chiang almost completely collapse, soldiers throw away their weapons and officers grab all available transportation, abandon their troops and rush to the rear. At that time, it had seemed as if China could not possibly resist and as if North China had been completely abandoned into the hands of the enemy. Chiang's soldiers had been driven from the area, and all organized resistance in the north seemed at an end. Yet even while Chiang’s troops and I were fleeing the north, the Communists were infiltrating into position behind the Japanese lines where it had appeared to me no Chinsese soldiers could possibly operate.

How had they survived?

It seemed to me that here was not only a great story, but a profound human experience. Here also was the answer to the riddle of why Communisrn was having such great successes in China today. From the fight of the people of North China behind the Japanese lines, one could gain many clues as to who was going to win the war in China ——--the Communists or Chiang Kai-shek. Finally, it seemed to me that in the history of these years there were many lessons to be learned, not only political and military, but human and philosophic, as well.

To find an answer to these questions……