At the start of the civil war the 8th route army had about a million men . By the end of 1948 , this army totaled nearly three million men , the increase being accounted for partly by recruiting , but mostly by desertions from the kuomintang .

内战开始时，八路军只有一百万人左右，到一九四八年底，发展到近三百万人，部分原因是增募了新兵，但主要是补充了倒戈的国民党士兵。