Launched 20 August 1940 by Peng Dehuai (
彭德怀) with 105 regiments (
约一百个团 — hence the name) of the
八路军 against Japanese-held railways and strongpoints in north China. Hugely symbolic — the first large-scale Communist offensive of the war — but the scale drew heavy Japanese reprisals (
三光政策: 'kill all, burn all, loot all').
