Editing He Long (section)

===Communist guerrilla===
[[File:He Long in NRA uniform.jpg|thumb|He Long in the [[National Revolutionary Army]] (1939)]]
After the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, He turned down an offer by the CCP Central Committee to study in Russia and returned to Hunan, where he raised a new force in 1930.<ref name="WH34" /> His force controlled a broad area of the countryside in the Hunan-Hubei border region, around the area of [[Hong Lake|Lake Hong]], and organized this area into a rural soviet. In mid-1932 Kuomintang forces targeted He's soviet as part of the [[Fourth Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet|Fourth Encirclement Campaign]]. He's forces abandoned their bases, moved southwest, and established a new base in northeast [[Guizhou]] in mid-1933.<ref name="L4950">Leung 49-50</ref>

In 1934 [[Ren Bishi]] joined He in Guizhou with his own surviving forces after also being forced to abandon his soviet in another Encirclement Campaign. Ren and He merged forces, with He becoming the military commander and Ren becoming the commissar.<ref name="L50">Leung 50</ref> He joined the [[Long March]] in November 1935, over a year after forces led by Zhu De and [[Mao Zedong]] were forced to evacuate their own [[Jiangxi Soviet|soviet in Jiangxi]].<ref name="CW162" /> He's ability to resist the Kuomintang was partially due to his position on the periphery of Communist-controlled territory.<ref name="Lew 11"/> While on the Long March He's forces met Communist forces led by [[Zhang Guotao]] in June 1936, but both He and Ren disagreed with Zhang about the direction of the Long March, and He eventually led his forces into [[Shaanxi]] to join Mao Zedong by the end of 1936. In 1937 He settled his troops in northwestern Shaanxi and established a new headquarters there.<ref name="L50" /> Because the Second Army of the Chinese Red Army under He Long's command was one of the few Communist forces to arrive in Yan'an mostly intact, his force was able to assume the responsibility of protecting the new capital after their arrival.<ref name="Lew 11"/>

When the Red Army was reorganized into the [[Eighth Route Army]] in 1937, He was placed in command of the 120th Division.<ref name="CW162" /> From late 1938 to 1940 He fought both the Japanese army and Kuomintang-affiliated guerrillas in [[Hubei]].<ref name="L50" /> He's responsibilities increased during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], and in 1943 he was promoted to be the overall commander of Communist forces in [[Shanxi]], Shaanxi, [[Gansu]], [[Ningxia]], and [[Inner Mongolia]].<ref name="CW162" /> By the end of [[World War II]] He commanded a force of approximately 175,000 troops across northwestern China. He's most notable subordinates included [[Zhang Zongxun]], [[Xu Guangda]], and [[Peng Shaohui]].<ref name="D43">Domes 43</ref>

He was successful in expanding Communist base areas throughout the period of World War II. Part of He's success was due to the social confusion caused by Japan's [[Operation Ichi-Go|Ichi-Go offensive]] in the areas of China that Japanese operations effected. He was frequently able to expand Communist areas of operation by allying with local, independent guerrilla forces who were also fighting the Japanese. He's experience fighting the Kuomintang and the Japanese led him to question Mao's unconditional emphasis on the importance of ideological guerrilla warfare at the expense of conventional tactics and military organization.<ref name="CW163">''China at War'' 163</ref>

In October 1945, one month after the Japanese surrender, the command of He's forces was transferred to [[Peng Dehuai]], which operated as the "Northwest Field Army". He became Peng's second-in-command, but spent most of the rest of the [[Chinese Civil War]] in central CCP headquarters, in and around [[Yan'an]].<ref name="D43" /> After the Japanese surrender, in 1945, He was elected to the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Central Committee]], and his influence rose within both the military and the communist political system. Near the end of the Chinese Civil War He was promoted to command the [[First Field Army (China)|First Field Army]], which was active in [[Southwest China]].<ref name="CW163" /> After the Communists won the civil war in 1949, He spent most of the 1950s in both civilian and military roles in the southwest.<ref name="L50" />

[[File:Deng Xiaoping, He Long and Zhu De.jpg|thumb|He Long with [[Deng Xiaoping]] (left) and [[Zhu De]] (right) (1949)]]