What do the military uniforms of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army look like?

Professor Xu Yan, Department of Strategic Teaching and Research, National Defense University, Clothing, Food, Housing and Transportation during the Long March

During the Long March, the Red Army left its base area and moved to fight in enemy-occupied areas, minority-inhabited areas or no-man’s land. In terms of transportation, housing, and transportation, we encounter difficulties that ordinary people cannot imagine. The cost of overcoming these difficulties is usually no less than the battles during the journey.

Before each main force of the Red Army set off on the Long March, most of them were supplied with military uniforms by the Soviet area government. The styles imitated the octagonal hats and Lenin uniforms of the Soviet Red Army, and were embellished with red cap badges and collar badges. However, rural base areas mostly rely on people to make clothes by hand, and the styles and colors are not completely standardized. Before the Central Red Army broke out from the Soviet area, each person was issued a new set of military uniforms. After nearly three months of fighting, most of them were worn out. After the Red Army occupied Zunyi, they rested for half a month. The uniform factory worked day and night to replenish one or two new sets of military uniforms for each person. After nine months of marching, they could not change their clothes. Most of them were in tatters when they arrived in northern Shaanxi. After the Fourth Red Army started its long march from the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area, it entered the desolate Sichuan-Kangbang Tibetan area for more than a year. Cloth was hard to come by, so the commanders and soldiers used wool and yak hide to make their own sweaters and leather jackets. When the three main forces of the Red Army met, the colors of the uniforms of the personnel of each unit were mixed, but the only unified symbol was that they still wore a red five-star and eight-pointed hat. The old man Xu Teli's Red Army hat was made by himself on the Long March.

The food supply during the Long March mainly came from local tyrants, and a small amount was provided by donations and loans. Raising food and fundraising became an important task for each army. The Central Red Army's Western Expedition coincided with the autumn harvest, and most landowners had full warehouses of grain, making it easier to confiscate and requisition. For poor peasants, the Red Army used money to buy grain and was not allowed to ask for it for free. The most food-deficient period during the Long March was when they entered the sparsely populated Sichuan-Kang ethnic minority area. The troops implemented ethnic and religious policies and were not allowed to attack local tyrants. They mainly purchased food through chieftains. The Tibetan, Qiang, Hui and Han ethnic groups in the Aba area made great contributions to supplying food to the 100,000 Red Army soldiers who passed by here. After Mao Zedong arrived in Yan'an, he once said that during the Long March in northwest Sichuan, we owed a debt to the Tibetan and Qiang people.

When the Red Army camped during its journey, they usually lived in private houses in areas where there were ordinary people. No matter how tired they were, the commanders and soldiers were still required to ensure that the tanks were full and the courtyards were clean. After entering the remote areas of the plateau, it was difficult to find private houses. In order to implement religious policies and not allow entry into temples, the troops had to camp in the wild. The most difficult stage of the accommodation is crossing the grass. Sometimes there is no dry ground to find at night, so many people have no choice but to sit on their backpacks and huddle back to back to keep warm. At dawn, some soldiers were holding guns in their arms and had fallen asleep due to cold and hunger.

The Red Army during the Long March was pursued and intercepted by a large number of enemy forces, and they mainly relied on rapid marching to get out of danger.

At that time, rubber shoes were a rare treasure, and cloth shoes were not wear-resistant. Each commander and soldier carried two or three pairs of straw sandals, and they made their own straw sandals during the march.