The Strategic Principle of Protracted War

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the CPC put forward the comprehensive line of all-out War of Resistance and formulated the strategic policy of the protracted war. In August 1937, the “Resolution on the Present Situation and the Tasks of the Party” adopted by the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau held by the CPC Central Committee in Luochuan, Northern Shaanxi, clearly pointed out that "this war of resistance will be an arduous and protracted war."

And how would the strategic policy of protracted war be implemented?  In August 1937, the CPC Central Committee drew up the “Establishment of the Strategic Plan and Operational Principles for the Anti-Japanese War”, pointed out that, according to the analysis of the general situation of the enemy and ourselves and considering the basic strategic principles of the enemy and ours, the following principles of warfare against Japan should be established:

(1) The basic principle of our strategy should be a protracted defensive war, but we should seize the right moment to launch a counter-offensive on all fronts to drive the Japanese out of China; (2) In terms of battles, we should apply the policy of implementing battles of  quick decision and battles of annihilation as far as possible; (3) Our pivotal strategy should be mobile warfare, but decisive attacks should be carried out at the right place and at the right time by concentrating absolutely superior forces and weapons, avoid the protracted war of attrition; (4)We should set up strong fortifications in the necessary strategic points or in important political and economic centers, and allocate enough troops to annihilate the enemy; (5) All our fighting positions should be arranged in such a way that we can avoid single-line construction; instead we should concentrate our forces on a narrow front and extend the depth of our operations, and the operational principles of any garrison task should be swift and active;  in general we should oppose the pure and rigid defense tactics; only by adopting active actions can our forces complete the garrison task; (6) Strategically our battle campaigns should take place within interior lines, but tactically fight guerrilla warfare campaigns at the exterior lines and seek opportunities so as to annihilate the enemy forces; (7) The guerrilla war should be expanded extensively covering a vast territory, fighting zones should be established both in the front lines of the enemy and behind the enemy lines; disperse the enemy forces, confuse them, tire the enemy, clear up the enemy's espionage capabilities, destroy the enemy’s logistic source facilities, adopt warring tactics which seek favorable conditions and opportune time, thus create favorable conditions so that our main guerrilla force could annihilate the enemy which is in movement.

"Only under the above-mentioned operational principles can we maintain a protracted war and annihilate the enemy and win the War of Resistance.” From May to June 1938, Mao Zedong delivered a speech titled “On Protracted War”, which summed up the experience of the 10 months since the all-out War of Resistance began, this speech pooled the wisdom of the whole Party, and systematically expounded the general principles of the Protracted War of Resistance. Mao Zedong pointed out that the Sino-Japanese War was specifically a war of life and death between semi-colonial and semi-feudal China and imperialist Japan, fought in the 1930s.

On the one hand, since Japan possessed a strong power and China was weak militarily, the contrast of forces between the powerful and the weak determined that the war could not be won quickly but it could only be a protracted war. On the other hand, Japan was a small country, its war was reactionary and barbarous, and it would become more and more isolated internationally; China was a large country, its war was progressive and just, and it would enjoy more and more support internationally. China had a politically mature Communist Party and it had anti-Japanese base areas and people's army which represented the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation and people. Therefore, the final victory would belong to China.

Mao Zedong emphasized that "the army and the people are the foundation of victory”. In other words, People's War was necessary to defeat Japanese aggression. Mao Zedong also scientifically predicted the development process of the Anti-Japanese War, that is, the Anti-Japanese War would go through three stages: strategic defense, strategic stalemate, and strategic counter-offensive. Among them, the stage of strategic stalemate would be the most critical stage for the final victory of China's Anti-Japanese War. If we could persevere in the War of Resistance, in the united front and in the protracted war, in this stage China would gain the power to change its status from weakness to strength.

The strategic thought of protracted war expounded by Mao Zedong revealed the law of development of the Anti-Japanese War and advocated the strategic battle principles that must be carried out to persist in the Anti-Japanese War and strive for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, which had had a positive impact on the strategic guidance of the Anti-Japanese War across the country.