On the Eighty-Eighth Brigade and the Sino-Soviet-Korean triangular relationship - A glimpse at the international antifascist united front during the war of resistance against Japan

The Anti-Japanese United Army, originally a CCP-led armed force, retreated to the Soviet Union during the later phase of the War of Resistance against Japan due to the deteriorating situation and the loss of contact with the CCP Central Committee and CCP organizations in Northeast China. Once in the Soviet Union, it came under the command of the Soviet Army. Against this background, the Eighty-Eighth Brigade (the Anti-Japanese United Army Training Brigade) was established and became a special force of the Soviet Far Eastern Command. Based on a recommendation by Zhou Baozhong, the commander of the Eighty-Eighth Brigade, and recognition by the Soviets, Kim Il-sung gradually emerged as the leader of the Koreans in the Soviet training camp. During the last phase of the War of Resistance against Japan, Zhou Baozhong planned to expand the Eighty-Eighth Brigade so that it could cooperate with and assist the Soviets and the CCP in liberating Northeast China from Japanese control. But due to diplomatic considerations, after the end of the war Stalin disbanded the Eighty-Eighth Brigade. The Soviet Army air-dropped small advance teams into Manchuria to provide it with reconnaissance and guidance. The core members of the brigade were assigned to various departments of the Soviet Far Eastern Army to assist in the Soviet military occupation of Manchuria. Together with some Korean guerrillas, Kim Il-sung returned to Korea, severing organizational relations with the CCP and becoming a force upon which the Soviet Occupation authority relied. The history of the Eighty-Eighth Brigade reflects an important aspect of the antifascist alliance in the Far East during World War II and demonstrates the delicate triangular relations among China, the Soviet Union, and Korea.