Linfen-Fushan Campaign

Linfen – Fushan Campaign was a series battles fought in regions between Linfen and Floating Mountain in Shanxi, China between the s and the communists during the Chinese Civil War and resulted in communist victory.

Prelude

In the mid August of 1946, the s planned to redeploy four brigades from Shaanxi to Wing City and Linfen in southern Shanxi to push northward along the railroad in coordination with s pushing southward from Pingyao and Jiexiu , thus annihilating the communists in between at the Flooding Hole and Zhao’s City regions. The communists, in turn, deployed the 24th Brigade of the Taiyue Military Region to the north of Lingshi to stop the s from the north, while the communist main force was prepared to ambush the s from the south in regions between Linfen and Floating Mountain .

Order of battle

The order of battle: 5 Brigades totaling 11,500:
*The Reorganized 30th
*The 1st Brigade of the Reorganized 1st
*The 167th Brigade of the Reorganized 1st
The communist order of battle: 4 Brigades totaling 8,800:
*The 10th Brigade of the 4th Column
*The 11th Brigade of the 4th Column
*The 13th Brigade of the 4th Column
*The 24th Brigade of the Taiyue Military Region

Campaign

On September 22, 1946, the 167th Brigade of the Reorganized 1st and the 27th Brigade of the Reorganized 30th took Floating Mountain , and the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the 1st pushed eastward along the road from Floating Mountain to Linfen. A portion of the communist 13th Brigade of the 4th Column faked attack on Floating Mountain , while its main force, along with the communist 11th Brigade of the 4th Column suddenly surrounded the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the 1st at the Official Sparrow Village region between Floating Mountain and Linfen. After dark, the enemy launched their assault under the cover of darkness on the besieged s, and the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the 1st was subsequently wiped out.

Unaware that their besieged comrades-in-arms had already been annihilated by the enemy at the Official Sparrow Village region, on September 23, 1946, the 167th Brigade of the Reorganized 1st and the 27th Brigade of the Reorganized 30th abandoned Floating Mountain to reinforce their besieged comrades-in-arms from the east, while the 1st Brigade of the Reorganized 1st attempted to reinforce their besieged comrades-in-arms from Linfen. The communist 13th Brigade of the 4th Column managed to stop the reinforcement from the east, while the communist 10th Brigade of the 4th Column besieged the reinforcement from the west at the Chen’s Levee Village region. After the arrival of the main force of the communist 4th Column and the communist 24 Brigade of the Taiyue Military Region, the final assault begun at the dusk on September 23, 1946. After a fierce battle that lasted the entire night, the 1st Brigade of the Reorganized 1st was completely annihilated by next morning. Hearing the news of the defeat, the 167th Brigade of the Reorganized 1st and the 27th Brigade of the Reorganized 30th immediately gave up the fight and retreated to Linfen while the communist 13th Brigade of the 4th Column wisely chose not to pursuit, and the campaign was concluded.

Outcome

The defeat cost more than 5,000 casualties, and the original hope of eliminate the enemy by attacking simultaneously from the north and the south was crashed. However, the political and psychological impact was much more greater than the military defeat: the Nationalist Reorganized 1st Brigade, or nicknamed the "1st Brigade Under the Heaven" , was completely annihilated, with its commander lieutenant general Huang Zhengcheng captured alive by the communist enemy. After the campaign, the nationalist adopted the correct tactics of not engaging the enemy and hold on the strongholds behind the city walls, but although such tactics reduced loss, it had left vast rural area to the communists.