Battle of Siping

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Siping
partof=the Chinese Civil War
place=Siping (city), Jilin, China
date=March 15, 1946 - March 17, 1946
result=Communist victory
combatant1=

combatant2=

commander1= Liu Handong 刘瀚东
commander2= Wan Yi 万毅
strength1= 3,000
strength2= 6,000
casualties1= 3,000
casualties2= 235|

The Battle of Siping (四平战斗), also known by communists as the Battle to Liberate Siping (四平解放战), was a battle fought between the communists and the Nationalist regime in Jilin, China for the control of Siping (city) during the Chinese Civil War. It took place immediately after the Red Army withdrew from the Siping in March, 1946, and resulted in a communist victory.

Prelude

On January 8, 1946, Liu Handong (刘瀚东), the commander of the nationalist 107th Division arrived at Siping (city) with over a hundred associates to discuss the city's transfer to the Chinese administration with the Red Army, which was still occupying the city at the time. Subsequently, on January 10, 1946, the nationalists created the Liaobei (辽北) Province, with Liu Handong (刘瀚东) named the chairman of the province, and nationalist provincial governmental member Li Chongguo (李充国) named the mayor of Siping (city).

The Nationalist regime had neither sufficient troops nor enough transportation assets to deploy its troops into the former Japanese-occupied regions of China, and they could not spare enough forces to hold the city long enough before reinforcements could arrive. The Nationalists at Siping recruited =bandits in the region, including bandits from the Good Under the Heaven (天下好) and Flying Over the Grass (草上飞) gangs to secure the local garrison=.

Enlisting the gangs angered the local populace which already blamed the Nationalists for losing the region to the Japanese invaders. As a result, the Nationalists lost popular support in the region, which was further exacerbated by the facts that bandits hired had fought the Nationalists both prior and during the war, and that the former had cooperated with the Japanese invaders.

The Nationalists recruited forces from the former Japanese puppet regime, such as the Iron Stone Units (Tie Shi Bu Dui, 铁石部队), to be part of the local garrison, which only increased the hatred from the local populace, which had suffered =under the Japanese puppet regime.

First nationalist offensive and counterattack

On January 25, 1946, Lü Zhengcao (吕正操), the commander-in-chief of the communist Western Manchurian Military District, and Li Fuchun (李富春), the political commissar of the communist Western Manchurian Military District, redeployed the communist 10th Brigade and the 24th Brigade to the Pear Tree (Li Shu, 梨树), Changtu, and Gongzhuling regions surrounding Siping (city).

In an attempt to eradicate the enemy and secure the city, the nationalists launched an offensive against the communists in late February, 1946. However, the former bandits proved no match for the combat-hardened communists that were veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War. When the Nationalist force, consisting of former bandits from the Pressuring Nine Dragons (Ya Jiu Long, 压九龙) gang, attacked the communist Siping Group and inflicted more than a dozen fatalities and injured a communist squadron commander, Cheng Bizhen (程秉贞), the communists quickly counterattacked, completely annihilating the attacking Nationalists.

The failed Nationalist attempt provided excellent excuse for the enemy to counterattack, and in a short period of several days, the Nationalist strongholds at Crouching Tiger Village (Wo Hu Tun, 卧虎屯), Maolin (茂林), Baokang (保康), and Twin Mountains (Shuang Shan, 双山) fell into enemy hands. All the nationalist garrisons guarding these strongholds were former bandits from various gangs, including the Old Second Brother (Lao Er Ge, 老二哥), Seven Stars (Qi Xing Zi, 七星子), Old Man Smile (Lao Tou Le, 老头乐) and Nine Provinces (Jiu Sheng, 九省) gangs. The nationalists were forced back on the defensive after their failure in the rural regions and the fighting temporarily stopped.

Communist capture of Siping

The clash resumed after theRed Army withdrew from Siping (city) on March 13, 1946. On March 15, 1946, the airport in the western suburb of the city had fallen into communist hands, and by the next day, the 6,000-strong enemy force had completed their siege of the city. At 4:00 AM on March 17, 1946, the assault on the city began. After ten hours of fierce battle, the city had fallen with its entire garrison defeated.

The Nationalist commander Liu Handong (刘瀚东) and his deputies, the former bandit chieftains Wang Dahua (王大化) and Wang Yaodong (王耀东) were captured alive, but a few of the defenders including the nationalist chief of security Zhang Dongkai (张东凯) and deputy chief of security Wang Yongqing (王永清) escaped by disguising as themselves as beggars. The enemy had also captured 69 machine guns, 32 artillery pieces, over two thousand firearms, near two dozen automobiles, over 300 military horses and large amount of supplies from the nationalist defenders. The Nationalists lost support from the local populace as a result of the defeat.

Nationalist counteroffensive

Chiang Kai-shek was furious that the city had fallen, and sent out a force to retake the city. By March 21, 1946, the Nationalists had taken Liaoyang, and by March 22, 1946, the nationalists took Fushun Tieling. On March 22, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Xiong Shihui (熊式辉), the chief nationalist administrator in Northeast China and Zheng Dongguo (郑洞国), the commander-in-chief of the nationalist force in Northeast China to launch a counteroffensive targeting Siping (city) from Shenyang, and to take Siping (city) before April 2, 1946. The Nationalist offensive was spearheaded by the New 1st Army and the 71st Army, and the Nationalist deputy commander-in-chief Liang Huasheng (梁华盛) was named as the frontline commander to set up headquarters at Tieling.

Chiang’s plan collapsed when melting snow turned the roads to mud, bogging down down the highly mechanized Nationalist force, making it unable to reach Siping (city). The Nationalists would suffer another defeat in the Jinjiatun Campaign soon after due to the harsh terrain, which was hostile to the highly mechanized force.

ee also

*List of battles of the Chinese Civil War
*National Revolutionary Army
*History of the People's Liberation Army
*Chinese Civil War

References

*Zhu, Zongzhen and Wang, Chaoguang, "Liberation War History", 1st Edition, Social Scientific Literary Publishing House in Beijing, 2000, ISBN 7801492072 (set)
*Zhang, Ping, "History of the Liberation War", 1st Edition, Chinese Youth Publishing House in Beijing, 1987, ISBN 750060081X (pbk.)
*Jie, Lifu, "Records of the Libration War: The Decisive Battle of Two Kinds of Fates", 1st Edition, Hebei People's Publishing House in Shijiazhuang, 1990, ISBN 7202007339 (set)
*Literary and Historical Research Committee of the Anhui Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, "Liberation War", 1st Edition, Anhui People's Publishing House in Hefei, 1987, ISBN 7212000078
*Li, Zuomin, "Heroic Division and Iron Horse: Records of the Liberation War", 1st Edition, Chinese Communist Party History Publishing House in Beijing, 2004, ISBN 7801990293
*Wang, Xingsheng, and Zhang, Jingshan, "Chinese Liberation War", 1st Edition, People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House in Beijing, 2001, ISBN 750331351X (set)
*Huang, Youlan, "History of the Chinese People's Liberation War", 1st Edition, Archives Publishing House in Beijing, 1992, ISBN 7800193381
*Liu Wusheng, "From Yan'an to Beijing: A Collection of Military Records and Research Publications of Important Campaigns in the Liberation War", 1st Edition, Central Literary Publishing House in Beijing, 1993, ISBN 7507300749
*Tang, Yilu and Bi, Jianzhong, "History of Chinese People's Liberation Army in Chinese Liberation War", 1st Edition, Military Scientific Publishing House in Beijing, 1993 – 1997, ISBN 7800217191 (Volum 1), 7800219615 (Volum 2), 7800219631 (Volum 3), 7801370937 (Volum 4), and 7801370953 (Volum 5)