抗戰中期以後，山西敵後戰場的抗戰並非共軍專利，國軍也以搶糧戰進行頻繁的抗戰行動。1941年晉南會戰後，同蒲鐵路南段的國軍，被分割在交通不便的小股游擊根據地，日軍雖不容易再深入殲滅殘餘國軍，勢力嚴重衰退的國軍已難以威脅日軍。此時日軍的重要任務，除打擊逐漸壯大的共軍外，則是取得更多的糧食。尤其是麥收季節，日軍的例行工作是到廣大農村產麥區取糧。而國軍徵糧區是國軍與日軍兩方，或國、共、日三方勢力交錯之處，日軍甚至出動坦克車與數百兵力；有時也深入山上國軍游擊根據地糧源的山下搶糧，國軍必須被動反制。日軍的搶糧戰與防止國軍取得糧食的封鎖戰，以及國軍為了取糧，對日軍進行反封鎖戰與護糧戰，成為國軍與日軍之間頻繁、通常小規模、又不影響雙方均勢的戰爭現象。抗戰末期日軍勢力衰退，中共在廣大農村壯大，國軍也與中共頻繁進行搶糧戰，此時，山西敵後戰場的國軍作戰，已兼有抗戰與內戰的性質。

The Shanxi battlefield was not held exclusively by the Communist forces. From the middle of Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist army also fought to seize grains in their war efforts. After the Battle of Jinnan in 1941, the Nationalist army at the south section of the Datong-Puzhou Railway was divided into several small and unreachable guerilla bases. While the Japanese army could not completely eliminate them, the Nationalist forces were also too weak to threaten the Japanese. In addition to suppressing Communist forces, the Japanese attempted to obtain more grain. Especially during the harvest season, the Japanese army consistently took grain from large farmlands which were occupied by all forces. The Japanese set tanks and soldiers to plunder food resources from the Nationalist troops on mountain bases. A counter-fight by the Nationalists was inevitable. The battles for grain were frequent but small-scale and had no effect on the balance of power. For the Nationalist, the battle for grain was merely for survival, not to cause significant damage to Japanese. As the Japanese lost power in the later stage of the war, the Communist forces became stronger in rural areas. The battle for grains turned to conflicts between Nationalists and Communists. Therefore, the fights in Japanese-occupied Shanxi had a double nature-the resistance to Japanese and civil war.