What role did the Chinese communists play in the overall effort against the Japanese? Did they coordinate with the KMT or fight their own war?

What role did the Chinese communists play in the overall effort against the Japanese? Did they coordinate with the KMT or fight their own war?

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The Chinese communist were integrated into the KMT to form the 18th Army/8th Route Army as the Nationalists and communists were at a temporary truce. Chinese communists were also partisans and guerrilla fighters in Japanese occupied Chinese territory. I think there were some instances where Nationalists and communists still fought each other during the war.

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In theory yes, in practice, no. The Communists were fighting their own war, with partisans and ‘regular’ units, up north. The KMT was fighting in the south (more or less). Mao and Chiang met (August, 1945) to try and coordinate things, but in the end, both sides did what they pleased.

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