“Every Stitch and Thread Reflects Deep Concern”: The Organization and Operation of Military Shoe Services for the Eighth Route Army during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression
Zhang Zhichao.“Every Stitch and Thread Reflects Deep Concern”: The Organization and Operation of Military Shoe Services for the Eighth Route Army during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression[J].Journal of Sun Yat-sen University(Social Science Edition),2026,66(03):114-125.
Zhang Zhichao.“Every Stitch and Thread Reflects Deep Concern”: The Organization and Operation of Military Shoe Services for the Eighth Route Army during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression[J].Journal of Sun Yat-sen University(Social Science Edition),2026,66(03):114-125. DOI: 10.11714/jsysu.sse.202603013.
Military shoes were an essential military supply for soldiers to protect their feet from the cold and fight behind enemy lines, directly influencing the morale and combat effectiveness of the army during wartime. During the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the Communist Party of China (CPC) explored a model of military shoe service where local governments provided raw materials or funds, and women worked on a voluntary basis to make the shoes. In various bases, the military shoe service roughly formed a closed chain of organization and mobilization, task allocation, material distribution, payment, shoe sewing, collection and inspection, storage and management, and distribution and allocation. Each link was closely connected, but it inevitably encountered practical challenges such as material shortages, uneven quality, and price compensation conflicts. To address these issues, the CPC took measures such as refining military shoe standards, strengthening inspection and accountability, dynamically adjusting remuneration, optimizing burden distribution, and conducting labor competitions. The efficient operation of the military shoe service of the Eighth Route Army fully demonstrated the unique advantages of the CPC’s integrated military and political logistics operation model. Its value not only lay in meeting the shoe needs of the Eighth Route Army and exploring a coordinated strategy that balanced war demands and the interests of the masses, but also in activating the strength of resistance against Japanese aggression of rural women and building a fish-and-water bond between the military and the people.