Taiyuan Campaign

Taiyuan Campaign was a campaign fought between the s and s for the control of Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi province during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era, and resulted in the communist victory.

Prelude

After the end of the Central Shanxi Campaign, the majority of the province had fallen into the hands, and the nationalists were left with only two cities in entire Shanxi: Taiyuan, the provincial capital, and Datong. In order to completely annihilate their nationalist opponents and take control of the entire province, the communists decided to launch the Taiyuan Campaign by in mid October 1948. The communist commander Xu Xiangqian was put in charge, facing his adversary Yan Xishan, his nationalist counterpart who had just suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of Xu Xiangqian in the Central Shanxi Campaign, but this time, Yan was determined to put a good fight to the end and repeatedly claimed in public that he would die with the city of Taiyuan. Yan Xishan was right in that the communists under the command of Xu Xiangqian had a tough time in taking the city. The communists began to mass their troops in places including Qingyuan , Taigu and Yuci for the preparation of the attack on the provincial capital.

Order of battle

First Stage:
*Nationalists: 6 Armies totaling 20 s
**14 infantry divisions
**3 Columns
**3 Specialized Divisions
*Communists:
**Units of 7th Column
**Units of 8th Column
**Units of 13th Column
**Units of 15th Column
Second Stage:
*Nationalists: 2 Corps totaling 6 armies
**X Corps
**XV Corps
*Communists:
**Units of XVIII Corps
**Units of XIX Corps
**Units of XX Corps
**Units of the 7th Army
**Units of the 1st Artillery Division of the Fourth
**Units of the 3rd Artillery Division of the communist North China Military Region

Strategy

The nationalist defenders had some significant advantages in terms of geography: the rugged mountainous terrain strongly favored the defenders and prevented large numbers of attackers from being effectively deployed. When the attackers were forced to reduced their numbers, they were furthered confronted by a large numbers of complexes of fortifications and bunkers. The nationalist defense parameter bordered by the Yellow Camp and Zhou Family's Mountain in the north, Wuxiu and the Town of Little Hotel in the south, Rocky Thousand Peak in the west, and Han Mountain in the east. Within in this defense parameter, there were more than 5,000 large bunkers outside the city wall alone, and additionally, important positions such as regions of Ox and Camel Camp , Lesser Yaodong Head , Mountain Peak , and Zhuo Ma to the east of the city, the Twin Pagoda Temple to the southeast of the city, and Crouching Tiger Mountain to the northeast of the city were all fortified as bunker complexes. The nationalist 30th Army was airlifted from Xi'an to Taiyuan to further strengthen the urban defense, while the total nationalist artillery pieces gathered for the defense of the city was more than six hundred.

The defenders of Taiyuan itself first divided the city into four sectors, the eastern, western, northern and southern sectors, but this was soon further split into five when the eastern sector was further divided into northeastern and southeastern sectors. A total of eleven divisions were tasked to defend these five defensive sectors while another six divisions were used as mobile strike force. The rest three divisions were used as reserves. To counter the nationalist defense, on September 28, 1948, Xu Xiangqian decided the communist strategy of gradually annihilating the defenders in the outskirt of the city, hopefully when they were out of their fortifications, and then to take the city. The first step was to breach the nationalist defense from southeast and northwest, and preventing the use of the two airports by artillery bombardment. The second step would be taking the nationalist strongholds of Mountain Peak , Zhuo Ma , the Twin Pagoda Temple and others, and the last step was to take the city from northeast and southeast.

First Stage

In order to strengthen the defense of Taiyuan, Yan Xishan had to take as much food and able-bodies recruits as possible from the rural area, so on October 2, 1948, he sent out seven nationalist divisions to do so, and these divisions pushed southward in the region between the Fen River in the east and Tianjin-Pukou Railway in the west. By the next day, the nationalist 44th Division, 45th Division and units of the nationalist 72nd Division reached the region of the town around Little Hotel and the Village of Southwestern Shore while the nationalist 40th Division, 49th Division, and the 73rd Division reached the region of Autumn Village and Western Warm Village , and the nationalist 66th Division and the 69th Division reached the region of Red Temple . The communists decided to take this great opportunity of striking the enemy out in the open when they came out of their fortifications by launching Taiyuan Campaign ahead of the original planned schedule.

At the dawn of October 5, 1948, the communist 7th Column crossed the Fen River at Qingyuan , and struck eastward to the region north of the town of Little Hotel . In conjunction with the communist 7th Column striking eastward strike, the communist 15th Column struck westward to the north of Wuxiu Airport from Tai Gu and Yu Ci, , thus cutting off the escape route of the nationalist forces at Wuxiu Airport and Little Hotel region to Taiyuan. The communist 8th Column and 13th Column besieged the nationalist forces that had just took regions of Little Hotel and Southern Black Yaodong, . By the early morning of October 6, 1948, the nationalist 44th Division and 45th Division were completely annihilated, while the nationalist 49th Division and 72nd Division were badly mauled. Riding on these successes, the communist took Wuxiu Airport and approached the nationalist positions at Eastern Mountain from its southern flank. In accordance with the communist offensive in the Little Hotel region, communist 7th Column launched its own offensive against nationalists positions at the Phoenix Pavilion Ridge to the north of the city, annihilating a regiment of the nationalist 68th Division and a battalion of the nationalist 39th Division, and shelled the New Urban Airport to the north of the city. After eleven days of fierce battle, three nationalist divisions were badly mauled, suffering over 12,000 casualties, and the enemy was at the first defensive line of the city. Both sides took a brief break for regrouping.

On October 16, 1948, units of the communist 7th Column, 8th Column, 13th Column, and 15th Column attacked nationalists positions at Eastern Mountain simultaneously from both the south and the north. By October 19, 1948, nationalist stronghold at Eastern Mountain including positions at Black Camel , Stone Person Ridge , Greater Yaodong Head, , Greater and Lesser Northern Point , Elm Grove Level Ground , Meng's Family's Well , and Ox and Camel Camp . The defenders of the main peak of the Eastern Mountain , Mt. Rear , consisted of a regiment, was forced to surrender. Yan Xishan deployed the nationalist 30th Army and the 10th Column consisted of former Japanese troops to launch continuous counterattacks on the communist 7th Column under the artillery coverage, which averaged over 10,000 per day on a position that was merely three hundred square meters. After three days of fierce fighting and suffering extreme heavy casualties, the nationalists were finally able to dislodge the enemy and take back the position. However, the enemy would not give up so easily and was determined to take the position. By October 26, 1948, the communists readjusted their tactics and deployed units of the communist 7th Column, 8th Column, 13th Column, and 15th Column to once again take nationalist positions at Ox and Camel Camp , Lesser Yaodong Head , Mountain Peak , and Zhuo Ma . With air support, the defenders attempted to counterattack but without success, and even with the deployment of gas attack and incendiary rounds, the enemy was able to have the newly gained positions firmly in their hands.

After fierce battles of nineteen days, by November 13, 1948, all four nationalist stronghold at Eastern Mountain had been taken and the in addition to the 22,000+ casualties suffered, the defenders also lost an entire division when the nationalist 8th Column defected to the communist side. Meanwhile, units from the communist Central Shanxi Military Region also the town of Green Dragon to the north of the city, the Temple of Xu to the south of the city, and the South-North Dyke on the western bank of Fen River, thus further isolated the defenders by strengthening the siege. The nationalist commander of the 30th Army, Huang Jiaosong , was disillusioned with the nationalist regime and decided to defect, and the communists sent liaison officers into the city to help. However, the conspirators were sold out by one of Huang's subordinates, a divisional commander named Dai Bingnan and everyone involved were arrested. Based on the letters captured, Yan Xishan erroneously believed that the lead communist liaison officer, Jin Fu was Hu Yaobang, and eventually sent all of the captured conspirators to Chiang Kai-shek, who had all of them executed after failing to obtain any information from them. However, nationalists had committed a serious blunder that would cost them dearly for the rest of the Chinese Civil War: Commander Dai Bingnan was paid in huge amount of gold for his action but he was not allowed to be evacuated when the fall of the city was imminent. After the fall of the city, Dai Bingnan attempted to hide under a table in a house and carried the gold on him, but of course he was captured by the communists. After the much publicized propaganda of his capture and a humiliating public trail, Dai Bingnan was executed in public. The nationalist failure to save lives of informers such as Dai Bingnan had greatly alienated those within the nationalist own rank, and since then, most showed their objection to defection by either not joining in or leaving the defecting nationalist units, instead of revealing the conspirators. The idea to leave those informers behind was that since they had no way out, they would fight to the death in the face of communist attack, but this idea rumored to be approved by Chiang had backfired seriously, as proven later in many other similar incidents in the rest of the Chinese Civil War.

After the end of Liaoshen Campaign, the nationalist force in North China headed by Fu Zuoyi became almost exposed and isolated. The communists feared that if the city of Taiyuan was taken too early which would lead to the complete exposure isolation of the nationalist force in North China, the nationalists would withdraw and avoid annihilation. Furthermore, if the nationalist force in North China was redeployed elsewhere in China, the communists would have great difficulties later on. As a result, a decision was made to temporarily stop the offensive on the city to finish Pingjin Campaign first, and then take Taiyuan afterward. While the order was given on November 16, 1948 to stop the assault on the city itself, preparation was also done to further isolate the city. The I Corps of the communist North China Military Region acted accordingly by taking nationalist strongholds to the north of the city, including the Village of Su , Yangqu , the Orchid Village , and nationalist strongholds to the south of the city, including Huaqitou , Zhao Family's Village , Qi's Ditch , and nationalist stronghold to the east of the city, the Pine Tree Slope . While the defenders were forced into a region of 15 km centered at the city, the communists stopped their offensives and launched another round of psychological warfare by stepping up the political pressure and sending the relatives of the defenders to the front to ask the defenders to surrender. As a result, from December 1, 1948 thru March, 1949, over 12,000 defenders defected to the communists.

Second Stage

After the end of Pingjin Campaign, the I Corps, II Corps, and III Corps of the communist North China Military Region were renamed as the XVIII Corps, XIX Corps, and XX Corps respectively, while the 7th Column of the communist Northwestern was renamed as the 7th Army of the First Field Army. In March, 1949, the communist XIX Corps, XX Corps, an artillery division of the Fourth Field Army and another artillery division of the communist North China Military Region were sent to Taiyuan to assist the communist XIX Corps in taking the city. On March 17, 1949, the communists formed the Taiyuan Frontline Command headed by Xu Xiangqian to coordinated the upcoming attack on the city, and Xu was further assisted by Peng Dehuai when he joined the Xu on March 28, 1949. The total communist force totaled more than 320,000, achieving absolute numerical superiority. However, the communists soon realized that due to the mountainous terrain of Taiyuan that strongly favored the defenders, the increased number of communist troops only provided excellent target practice for the defenders of the city because the harsh terrain had prevented large number of attacking force from being deployed in great numbers. In order to avoid wasteful casualties, the communists were forced to reduce their attacking force back to the original level of 100,000 troops in the first stage of the Taiyuan Campaign while rest was deployed as reserves. However, the newly boosted force did provide a welcome relief for communist veterans of the first stage of the campaign, and they were replaced by the fresh communist forces newly arrived.

In the first stage of Taiyuan Campaign, Yan Xishan had lost over 40,000 troops, but he was able to rapidly replace the loss with large scale drafting, and decided to fight the communists to proclaiming that he would die with the city. The nationalist 83rd Division was airlifted from Yulin, Shaanxi to Taiyuan, and the nationalist force defending the city totaled more than 70,000 troops in six armies, which was reorganized into two corpses: the nationalist X Corps and the nationalist XV Corps. A total of twelve divisions were deployed in nationalist strongholds outside the city wall and two divisions were deployed within the city, while the rest of the division served as mobil strike force. However, Yan Xishan was well aware the end was near and he was by no means of having any confidience in the defense of the city and his public proclamation was nothing other than morale boosting only showpiece. On February 5, 1949, Yan Xishan betrayed his promise of dying with the city by fleeing the city via air, and left his trusted lietanents, Sun Chu , the commander of the nationalist X Corps and Wang Jingguo , the commander of the nationalist XV Corps as the and the deputy of the urban defense of Taiyuan. On March 31, 1949, the communist Frontline Command of Taiyuan decided to take good positions that could be used to assault the city by first continuously isolating and annihilating defenders in nationalist strongholds outside the city wall, and then taking the city by concentrating available forces. Units of the communist XX Corps and a division from the communist 7th Army would attack the defenders in the nationalist stronghold to the north of the city from northeast and northwest, and other divisions of the communist 7th Army and units of the communist XVIII Corps would attack the city from the east, and units of the communist XIX Corps would attack the city from south and southwest, while the communist XX Corps would attack the city from northeast and southeast. The 1st Artillery Division of the Fourth and the 3rd Artillery Division of the communist North China Military Region would be under the direct command of the communist Taiyuan Frontline Command, while the 4th Artillery Division of the communist North China Military Region would be attached to the communist XIX Corps and XX Corps.

On April 20, 1949, a general assault was launched and with strong artillery support, nationalist strongholds including New City , Crown Price's Head to the north of the city, Northern Fen River Bridge , Greater King's Village , Lesser King's Village to the southwest of the city, Village of Di and Old Soldiers’ Camp to the south of the city, Hao Family's Ditch and Scissors Bay to the east of the city. By April 22, 1949, the last nationalist stronghold outside the city wall had fallen into the enemy hands and the communists had completely annihilated four nationalist armies garrisoning these strongholds. The communist success meant that two critical locations, the two highest points, the Twin Pagoda Temple and Crouching Tiger Mountain were controlled by the attacking enemy. On April 22, the communists asked the surviving nationalist defenders of the city to surrender in order to minimize the destruction of the city, but their request was refused. In the early morning of April 24, 1949, after shelling the city with over 1,300 artilleries, the final assault on the city begun. The communist XX Corps first breached the city defense at the city wall to the east of the Lesser Northern Gate , and the communist XVIII Corps and XIX Corps soon breached the city defense elsewhere, and fierce street fights broke out within the city. By 9:00 a.m., the nationalist headquarter had fallen and the nationalist commander-in-chief Sun Chu and his deputy Wang Jingguo were both captured alive along with their Japanese advisory group headed by Nakamura and Iwata by the attacking communists. By 10:00 a.m., the fighting ended and the campaign concluded with the communist victory.

Outcome

The nationalist defeat in Taiyuan Campaign cost the nationalists over 135,000 troops and the most immediate result of the campaign was that the nationalist garrison at Datong totaling more than 10,000 realized that it was all over after witnessing the nationalist defeat in Taiyuan, and surrendered to the communists without a fight. Communist victory cost them 15,000 troops and it had not only completely ended the 38-year old reign of Yan Xishan in Shanxi, but also effectively ended the nationalist reign of Shanxi.

Shangdang Campaign

The Shangdang Campaign was a series battles fought between the Communist force under the leadership of Liu Bocheng and the nationalist Yan Xishan’s Kuomintang force from September 10, 1945 through October 12, 1945. Like all other communist victories in the clashes immediately after Japanese's surrender in World War II. The outcome of this campaign altered the course of the peace negotiation held in Chongqing from August 28, 1945 through October 11, 1945, resulting in Mao Zedong's favor instead of Chiang Kai-shek.

Prelude

After the end of World War II, the conflict between the communist and Kuomintang intensified and surfaced. Under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the second war zone Yan Xishan ordered the commander of the 19th Shi Zebo to lead the 19th , part of the 61st and other units totaled more than 17,000 to invade the communist base in the Shangdang region of southeastern Shanxi in the mid August, 1945. Three nationalist divisions were stationed in the largest city of the region, Changzhi, while the rest stationed in the following cities/towns: Xiangyuan , Changzi , Tunliu , Lucheng, Huguang and other counties, and from these newly established bases, the nationalists planned to take the entire southeastern Shanxi region from the communists. The communists were not to let that happen and mobilized 31,000 troops from the Taihang , Taiyue , and Southern Hebei military districts to prepare for the upcoming battles.
The communist commander Liu Bocheng was helped by his political commissar Deng Xiaoping, who was great in political motivation. Many communist troops worried about the safety of Mao Zedong, who was in Chongqing negotiating a peace treaty with Chiang Kai-shek. Deng Xiaoping told his soldiers that the greater the victory for the upcoming battle, the safer Mao Zedong would be, and the strong the position communists would have gained on the negotiation table. Deng’s bet was correct. In addition to political motivations, the communists also mobilized an additional 50,000 militia to help the logistics and to fill the vacancies left behind by the regular troops who went off fighting.

First Stage

The campaign officially started on September 10, 1945 when the first shot of the first battle was fired. The communist Taihang column first attacked Tunliu , while Taiyue and Southern Hebei prepared for an ambush. One next day, more than 6,000 nationalist troops from Changzhi, but the nationalist commander was extremely careful and once the contact with the communist force was made, the nationalist force immediately withdrew back to Changzhi. Although the communist ambush failed, but they did achieve in taking Tunliu on September 12, 1945. On September 13, 1945, the communist played the same trick again, with the Taihang attacking Changzi , while Taiyue and Southern Hebei prepared for another ambush. However, the nationalist commander Shi Zebo would not fall for the communists’ trick and did not sent out anymore reinforcement from Changzhi.
Realizing that their original plan would not work out, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping promptly changed their strategy from decimating the nationalist force to retake the lost regions, and consequently took the Xiangyuan , Changzi , Tunliu , Lucheng, Huguang and other counties by September 19, 1945, annihilating more than 7,000 nationalist troops in the process. The next day, communist force attacked garrisons outside Changzhi city from the south, east and west. The communists planned to let the nationalists escape to the north and ambush them on the way. Again, the communist plan failed to materialize when nationalist commander Shi Zebo at Changzhi would not fall for the communists’ trick and decided to hold out. When the attack on the city started on September 24, 1945, the communists failed to take the city due to the technical superiority of the nationalist defenders, and a stalemate was reached.

Second stage

After Yan Xishan learned the emergency his commander Shi Zebo at Changzhi had, he sent out reinforcement lead by the deputy commander-in-chief of the 2nd Army Group, Peng Yubin , who led the 23rd , the 83rd Army and other divisions totalling more than 20,000. Learning the news on September 28, 1945, the communists planned an ambush in the area between Tunliu and Xianghuan by leaving the Southern Hebei and local militia attacking Changzhi, while redeploying Taihang and Taiyue columns to the north.

On October 2, 1945, the nationalist reinforcement clashed with the waiting communist forces at a region northwest of Tunliu called the Ditch of the Wang's Family . After the initial battle, the nationalist reinforcement was besieged at regions along Old Master's Ridge , Nether Millstone Brain , and Elm Grove line. However, when the nationalists were suppressed into small regions, it turned out to be an advantage for them because communications became much more efficient due to shorter distance, and the nationalists were able to concentrate their superior firepower and utilize their technical superiority to the maximum by inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking communist force. The communists were forced to redeploy the Southern Hebei Column for reinforcement, leaving only the local militia attacking Changzhi. The communists also changed their tactic by attacking from 3 sides, leaving the north side open so that the enemy would escape to the north and thus be ambushed on the way. The tactic worked and on October 5, 1945, Peng Yubin escaped to the north exactly as the communists had hoped. His force was soon defeated, and Peng Yubin himself was killed at Siting by the waiting communist Taiyue column.

Third Phase

Learning his reinforcements were annihilated, the nationalist commander Shi Zebo at Changzhi planned to breakout to west on October 8, 1945 under the cover of darkness, hoping to reach Linfen. Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping immediately ordered Taiyue to move to Horse Wall from Siting to intercept the fleeing enemy. On October 12, 1945, the communist force caught up with the fleeing nationalist force at General’s Ridge and Peach River regions, decimating the demoralized enemy, capturing the nationalist commander Shi Zebo alive.

Conclusion

The Shangdang Campaign cost the Kuomintang 13 totaled more than 35,000 troops, with more than 31,000 out of the 35,000 being captured alive by the communists, including the commander, while the communists suffered more than 4,000 casualties. In addition to decimating the numerically and technically superior nationalist force with relatively light casualties, the communist force also obtained an important supply of weapons its force desperately needed by capturing 24 mountain guns, more than 2,000 machine guns, and more than 16,000 rifles, submachine guns, and handguns from its enemy.
The campaign had an additional importance to the communists in that it was the first campaign in which the communist force engaged in the regular mobile warfare and succeeded, marking the transition from the guerrilla warfare commonly practiced by the communists.

On the political front, the campaign was a great boost for the communist on the negotiation table at the peace talk in Chongqing just like other communist victories on the battlefield, and Kuomintang suffered accordingly, losing its bargaining chips and losing face in the public, which strongly urged the Kuomintang to produce results for the peace talk.

Order of battle Battle of South Shanxi

Chinese

1st War Area - Wei Li-huang
5th Army Group - Tseng Wan-chung
*3rd Corps - Tang Huai-yuan
**7th Division
**12th Division
*80th Corps - Kung Ling-hsun
**165th Division
**New 27th Division
*34th Division - Kung Ping-fan
14th Army Group - Liu Mao-en
*15th Corps - Wu Ting-lin
**64th Division
**65th Division
*98th Corps - Wu Shih-ming
**42nd Division
**169th Division
9th Corps - Pei Chang-hui
*47th Division
*54th Division
*New 24th Division
17th Corps - Kao Kuei-tze
*84th Division
*New 2nd Division
43rd Corps - Chao Shih-ling *
*70th Division
*New 47th Division
14th Corps - Chen Tieh
*85th Division
*94th Division
93rd Corps - Liu Kan
*10th Division

27th Corps -?
*?

Notes:

43rd Corps was formerly with 2nd War Area.

Sources:
* Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China.

Japanese

North China Front Army - Major General Hayao Tada
35th Division - Lt. Gen. Kumakichi Harada
21st Division - Lt. Gen. Hisakazu Tanaka
33rd Division - Lt. Gen. Shozo Sakurai
4th Cavalry Brigade - ?
1st Army - Lt. Gen. Yoshio Shinozuka
*36th Division - Iseki Mitsuru
*37th Division - Adachi Hatazo
*41st Division - Shimizu Noritsune
*9th Independent Mixed Brigade - Major General Kenkichi Ikenoue
*16th Independent Mixed Brigade - Major General Heiji Wakamatsu

Airforces:

1st Hikodan
90th Sentai
*Kawasaki Ki-48
*Mitsubishi Ki-30
10th I F Chutai
*Nakajima Ki-27
1 Reconnaissance Chutai / 15th Sentai

3rd Hikodan
32nd Sentai
*Light bomber unit.
44th Sentai
**Mitsubishi Ki-51
83rd Sentai
**Reconnaissance unit

Notes:
During the Chungyuan Operation the 1st at Ani airfield supported the ground operations of the 1st Army, while the 3rd Hikodan supported the operations of the 21st and 35th Divisions.

Sources:
* Hsu Long-hsuen and Chang Ming-kai, History of The Sino-Japanese War 2nd Ed. ,1971. Translated by Wen Ha-hsiung , Chung Wu Publishing; 33, 140th Lane, Tung-hwa Street, Taipei, Taiwan Republic of China.

* Sino-Japanese Air War 1937 – 1945
http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese.htm

Nanshan Colliery disaster

On November 13 2006 there was a large and fatal gas explosion at the Nanshan Colliery in Lingshi County, Jinzhong , Shanxi Province, China. Twenty-four people were killed. The mine was operating without any safety licence as its original had expired. While no official cause has emerged, the news agency claims the explosion was triggered by incorrect usage of explosives.

Luliang Campaign

Lüliang Campaign , also called Southwestern Shanxi Campaign , was a series of battles fought between the s and the communists in Lüliang region in southwestern Shanxi during the Chinese Civil War in the post War World II era, and resulted in the communist victory.

Prelude

In early November 1946, Hu Zongnan, the of the 1st War Zone in an attempt to concentrate force to attack the communist capital Yan'an, redeployed two reorganized s Shaanxi from southern Shanxi. Only two s were left for the local defense of southern Shanxi, and in Lüliang region with a total of ten counties, there was only one regiment of the 2nd War Zone, assisted by local security brigades totaling ten thousand. The communists decided to take this opportunity by taking the region and annihilating the garrison in the process.

Order of battle

Defenders: order of battle:
*4 s
*Local Security Brigades
Attackers: communist order of battle:
*The 4th Column of the communist Shanxi – Henan – Hebei – Shandong Military District
*The 2nd Column of the communist Shanxi – Suiyuan Military District
*8 regiments of the communist Taiyue Military District, including the 24th Brigade

Campaign

On November 22, 1946 the campaign begun as the communist unleashed their attacks. After a series of battles, the communists succeeded in taking strongholds including Daning , Forever Peace , Pu County, Stone Building , and heavily fortified towns Xi County and Middle Sun . Majority of the local garrison totaling more than five thousand were captured alive by the enemy, including the of the western Shanxi region of the 2nd War Zone, Yang Dengyuan , while the rest were killed. The rapid success of communist meant that a vast region bordered by the Yellow River in the west, the Datong – Pukou Railway in the east, Middle Sun in the north and the Ji County in the south had fallen into the enemy hands by December 12, 1946, and the rear of the units planned to attack Yan'an was gravely exposed, and thus seriously threatened by the enemy. The two reorganized s deployed from southern Shanxi to Shaanxi to attack Yan'an were forced to abandon their original objective and redeployed back to southern Shanxi, and Hu Zongnan was also forced to order another two s to attack Daning and Pu County from Linfen and Ji County in an attempt to retake the territory lost to the enemy.

Facing the counteroffensive, the communists formed a new command to better control all of the communist units in Lüliang region, and the three-men committee was consisted of Chen Geng , the and Xie Fuzhi, the political commissar of the 4th Column of the communist Shanxi – Henan – Hebei – Shandong Military District, and Wang Zhen, the of the 2nd Column of the communist Shanxi – Suiyuan Military District. The communists of the 4th Column decided to maximize the terrain advantage in their next move, since the local landscape was a great obstacle for deploying mechanized force for fast mobile warfare which the s were good at. The communists planned to lure the enemy deeper into the hostile terrain and annihilate enemy one small portion at a time, and one communist brigade was sent out to penetrate deep behind the enemy line, successfully severed the supply line. Meanwhile, eight regiments of the communist Taiyue Military District took Yuanqu and Flank City in a coordinated attack. Being attacked by the enemy from the front and rear, and as well as exhausting available supplies, the s attacking Lüliang region were forced to withdraw. On December 30, 1946, the communist 4th Column annihilated the rear guard, the 67th Brigade on the highway from the town of Pu County to Danning , and following the success, concluded the campaign by taking the town of Pu County on January 1, 1947, badly mauling the defenders in the process.

Outcome

The s lost over 10,000 troops in this defeat, which disrupted the overall plan to attack the communist capital Yan'an, and the original offensive schedule had to be postponed, thus providing the enemy with ample time to evacuate. Furthermore, the southwestern Shanxi was constantly under the enemy threat as a result of the defeat. The lack of corporation among s themselves was also an important contributor to the enemy’s success: the local Shanxi Yan Xishan was always fearful of Chiang Kai-shek’s takeover and thus refused to send out any of his own troops for reinforcement under the excuse of local areas would be threatened if his troops were sent to southwestern Shanxi to help Hu Zongnan.

Linfen Campaign

Linfen Campaign was a series of battles fought between the communists and the s during the Chinese Civil War to control the city of Linfen, and resulted in the communist victory.

Prelude

After the Yuncheng Campaign , Linfen was the only stronghold left in southern Shanxi. Linfen was ideal to defend: the city wall was 15 metre tall and 10 metre wide at the top, 25 – 30 metres wide at the bottom, and at the section of the Eastern Pass , there was a second wall of the same size, providing additional protection. There were a total of 31 clusters of bunkers around the city and additional strongholds within 3 – 7 km range in the outskirt. There were deep ditches both outside and inside city wall, and fortifications within the city. Located on the eastern bank of Fen River, the east, north and south directions were wide open, with little cover for the attacking enemy to hide.

The strategy was to hold on until reinforcement arrived and then counterattack, while the communist strategy was to take the city primarily using under ground tunnels since the communists lacked heavy artillery pieces.

Order of battle

Defenders totaling 25,000: order of battle:
*The 66th deployed in positions outside the city
*The 30th Brigade
*The artillery battalion of the 27th Brigade
*Two Security Brigades
*Two Training Regiments
*Security forces of adjacent 15 counties withdrew into the city of Linfen
Attackers totaling 53,000: communist order of battle:
*The 8th Column
*The 13th Column
*Units of the Taiyue Military District

First Stage

The s begun to airlift the 30th Brigade to Luochuan from Linfen on March 6, 1948 to strengthen the force in northwestern China. In order to prevent this, the communists decided to launch the campaign early and on March 7, 1948, the communist 24th Brigade of the 8th Column took the airfield south of Linfen after destroying two aircraft, thus cutoff the aerial link of the city. The s were forced to give up the airlift plan and the city was attacked by the enemy from three sides: east, north and south. The strongholds in the outskirt of Linfen including Cui Family’s Bump , Train Station , High River Hotel and Official Yao’s Temple fell into the enemy hands, and the futile attempt to counterattack and retake these strongholds were beaten back for more than thirty times. Afterward, the enemy approached the outer city of Linfen, the Eastern Pass , which was the barrier for Linfen, and the s desperately attempted to hold on this critical defensive stronghold.

From March 23, 1948 – March 27, 1948, the defenders twice successfully beaten back the attacks on Eastern Pass by the communist 13th Column. On April 1, 1948, the enemy adjusted tactic and the communist 37th Brigade of the 13th Column attacked from southeast and the communist 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column attacked from northeast simlutaneously, while the 4 underground tunnels were dug toward the city wall. On April 10, 1948, three of the four tunnels were filled with explosives and detonated simultaneously, succeeding in collapsing the city wall of the Eastern Pass section, and attacking communist 37th Brigade of the 13th Column and the communist 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column were able to swiftly taking the Eastern Pass , the outer city of Linfen, badly mauling the local defenders, the 66th .

Second Stage

On April 16, 1948, the battle mostly had switched to underground when the communist 8th Column and Taiyue Military District at eastern outskirt of Linfen and the 13th Column at southern outskirt of Linfen begun to dig 15 tunnels toward the city wall and an additional 40+ tunnels for cover. Taking the lesson learned from the loss of Eastern Pass , the defenders also begun to dig tunnels to counter the underground threat. In addition, under the cover of shelling with incendiary rounds and gas attacks, the 30th Brigade counterattacked the enemy with air cover. Although the counterattack was beaten back the enemy, and the s did succeed in destroying most of the enemy tunnels.

On May 1, 1948, the Xu Xiangqian changed their tactic by deploying the communist 13th Column to the east of the city to assist the communist 8th Column to attack the city, while the 22nd Brigade of the communist 8th Column and the 39th Brigade of the communist 13th Column were deployed to assist the communist regiment of the Taiyue Military District on the western bank of the Fen River to blockade the escape route of the fleeing enemy. On May 16, 1948, the 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column succeeded in extending two 110 metre-long tunnels directly under the city wall, filling one with 6,000 kg black dynamite and the other with 3,500 kg dynamite. On May 15, 1948 at 7:50 PM, the dynamites were detonated, blowing up two 50 metre wide gaps in the city wall and the assault team of the 69th Regiment of the communist 23rd Brigade was the first to ventured into the city and other communist units soon followed under the cover of heavy artillery fire. After fierce street fights, the battle ended after midnight when all of the defenders were either killed or captured, and the campaign concluded.

Outcome

The entire garrison of Linfen was lost, including the , Liang Peihuang 梁培璜, who was captured alive by the enemy. The fall of Linfen meant that the last stronghold in southern Shanxi was finally eliminated. The communist victory of Linfen Campaign resulted in the liniking up of the Lüliang communist base and Taiyue communist base, and the entire southern Shanxi region falling into the communist hands. The communist 23rd Brigade of the 8th Column played a significant role in the taking of Linfen and was honored as Linfen Brigade after the campaign.

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.