Section 4 Establishing Military Post Office

To meet the requirements of military communication in the resistance war, military post office was set up especially serving for military officials and soldiers. After "Sept 18 Incident" Japan accelerated the invasion of China. The Republic Government assumed that China-Japan war inevitable. So it set up post department to train military post officials when establishing communication institute in Jan 1934, which was merged into the special training class in the Central Army Official School and continued to transfer post official to be trained, cultivating lots of military post staff.

After the "July 7 Incident" in 1937, the War of Resistance against Japan started, military post was officially set up. The whole military post system was managed and instructed by the General Post Bureau of Communication Ministry. It undertook military post business. By June 1939, the range of military post became wide, business became large. So "Military Post Supervisory Department" was set up in the department of services, which supervised military post. Its director was held by the Chief inspector of the General Post Bureau simultaneously. Inspector and military post staff were taken by post staff, so the work ran smoothly. Military post organization was mainly to set up post inspection Section in the location where the chief commander was, and responsible for the military Post inside the area. According to the necessity, branch section of Military Post Inspection was set up under it.

The Military Post Offices set up in branch sections were divided into two kinds. One was the mobile military post office which was set up where division or higher level stationed. The other was the station military post office which was set up in transportation hub or appropriate area, used for communication between troops and for local military organizations. Military post substation was set up where there was less business. The business of military post office equaled to that of ordinary post office. To be convenient to officials and soldiers, according to national military post regulations, one official was appointed as military post contact Person to each battalion or higher level unit. Military post liaison stations were set up in some areas, which were responsible for transferring mails. Post offices and agencies where troops stationed were also appointed as military post offices simultaneously.

The establishment of military post organizations was totally according to the requirements of military activities, the amount of it changed from time to time. In general it was stable. Take the General Inspection Section as an example, at the beginning of the resistance war, it was established according to the 4 mainlines of transportation, and changed to according to the battle areas. By the end of 1938, there were total & general inspection sections, Zhejiang, Henan, Jin Shan, Gan Wan, Hubei, Xiang E, Guangdong and Yue Gui. By 1939, 4 general inspection sections were added in Sichuan-Guizhou, Doughai, border area of Hubei-Anhui, Jizhong. In Feb. 1942, Chinese Expedition Troops entered Burma and turned to India, military post office also entered India and Burma. In Sept. 1942, it established military post inspection section in India, which was upgraded to general inspection section in Sept. 1944. Before the victory of the resistance war, there were total over 10 general military post inspection sections, and 89 branch sections.

At the beginning of the resistance war, there were only few battle areas, the original post offices could meet the requirements by replenishing manpower, so few military post offices were set up. By the end of 1938, there were only 35 military post offices. After 1939, the range of battle areas extended and transferred to mountain areas, guerrilla warfare was widely carried out. The necessity of setting up post office in the military increased. It was decided by then that, all troops higher than battalion should set up military post office. Therefore the number of military post offices established increased. By the end of 1939, it increased to 124, 179 by 1940. On the eve of the victory of resistance war, there were total 251 military post offices, 170 military post substations, 211 military liaison stations, l,959 concurrent military post offices.

For 8 years of the resistance war, military officials and soldiers left their native places, fought bravely with blood shedding, they were urgent in obtaining the information and passion. Starting from view of the resistance war, China Post undertook the duty of carrying out military post. By Aug. 1945, there were total 709 military post staff and post soldiers. During the 8 years, military post offices of the whole country sent and received 325,800,000 mails, delivered 396,600,000 mails. The General Post Bureau paid about 700 million Yuan for military post expenditure. The burden was heavy, its contribution was great.

Since "Sept. 18 Incident" when Japan invaded northeast areas and after 'July 7 Incident" When Japan wildly invaded China, China Post was deep in the calamity as the whole nation and nationalities. It faced complex situation and vicious environment. China Post tried hard to shore up the post, dealing with Japanese invader and the puppet government and undertaking necessary struggles. Under the inspiration of patriotism spirit in the resistance war, post staff all stuck to their positions, persisted, fought and sacrificed, their work was excellent. Especially those in the occupied areas in North China, Central China, South China, including military post staff, feared no violence and fought with Japanese and the Puppet government in diversified ways, some were even murdered. Post staff made use of the contradictions between different imperialistic countries to undertake "protecting post" movement, which in some way delayed the Process of Japanese and the puppet government taking over the post. Under the leadership of Communist Party of China, Shanghai post workers set up "Promotion Society of Protecting Post", and started struggles against taking over post and refusing to hang the flag of the puppet government for many times. Many post workers made use of the convenient condition of post to secretly send and deliver leaflets and newspapers of the resistance war, and struggled by slowing down. The achievements of China Post staff in the War of Resistance against Japan  will  be  recorded  in the  history.