- Battle of Tangtou–Guocun
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Tangtou-Guocun
partof=theChinese Civil War
place=Jiangsu ,China
date=December 21 ,1945 -December 30 ,1945
result=Communist victory
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1= ?
commander2= ?
strength1= 4,000
strength2= 20,000
casualties1= 4,000
casualties2= Several hundred|The Battle of Tangtou-Guocun (塘头郭村战斗) was a series of clashes between the nationalists and the communists during the
Chinese Civil War in the immediate post-World War II era inJiangsu ,China and resulted in thecommunist victory.Prelude
Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of World War II between the
communist s and the nationalists inChina , this conflict also rooted from the fact thatChiang Kai-shek had realized that his nationalist regime simply had neither the sufficient troops nor enough transportation assets to deploy his troops into the Japanese-occupied regions ofChina . Unwilling to let thecommunist s who had already dominated most of the rural regions inChina to further expand their territories by accepting the Japanese surrender and thus would consequently control the Japanese occupied regions,Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Japanese and their turncoat Chinese puppet regime not to surrender to thecommunist s and kept their fighting capabilities to “maintain order” in the Japanese occupied regions, fighting off thecommunist s as necessary, until the final arrivals and completion of the deployment of the nationalist troops. As a result, most members of the Japanese puppet regimes and their military forces rejoined the nationalists.However, it must be noted that most of these former nationalists turned Japanese puppet regime forces were not from
Chiang Kai-shek ’s own clique, but instead, they were mainly consisted of troops of warlords who were only nominally under theChiang Kai-shek ’s beforeWorld War II , since they were nationalists in name only and mostly maintained their independent and semi-independent status. These warlords were only interested in keeping their own power and defected to the Japanese side when Japanese invaders offered to let them keep their power in exchange for their collaborations. After theWorld War II , these forces of former Japanese puppet regimes once again returned to the nationalist camp for the same reason they defected to the Japanese invaders. Obviously, it was difficult for Chiang to immediately get rid of these warlords for good as soon as they surrendered to Chiang and rejoined nationalists, because such move would alienate other factions within the nationalist ranks, and these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords could still help the nationalists to gain more territories by holding on to what was under their control until Chiang completed the deployment of his own troops to takeover.Chiang Kai-shek ’s objective was to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plaguedChina for so long and the problem of the extermination ofcommunism together, which proved to be an extremely fatal mistake for him and his nationalist regime later on, as shown in this conflict.
=Nationalist Strategy=In accordance with his strategy to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plagued
China for so long and the problem of the extermination ofcommunism together,Chiang Kai-shek and his followers had hoped that these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords who rejoined the nationalists would be able to hold on to the regions long enough for Chiang to deploy his own troops by holding offcommunist s. If thecommunist s were victorious in such conflicts, however, the result would still benefit to Chiang and China because the power of these warlords would be reduced as their military forces were smashed by thecommunist s, and the warlord problem plagued China for so long could thus be greatly reduced, while at the same time,communist s would be weakened by the fights and Chiang's own troops would have easier time to take control.For the former nationalist turned Japanese puppet regime forces, these warlords and their troops had no problem of following
Chiang Kai-shek ’s orders, and they were eager to prove themselves. These warlords and their troops were well aware that due to the collaboration with the Japanese invaders during theSecond Sino-Japanese War , they were well hated by the general population inChina , including those nationalists who refused to surrender to the enemy and fought the enemy until the eventual victory. Therefore, in the impending demilitarization afterWorld War II , they were certainly be disarmed and discharged, which would probably be the best outcome and the power of these warlord would be reduced or even completely eliminated as a result.Chiang Kai-shek ’s ordering them not surrendering to thecommunist s and fighting off thecommunist s was a savior for them because by carrying out such orders, these warlords and their troops could legitimize themselves and thus retain their power by fighting thecommunist s who were targeted as rebels byChiang Kai-shek and his nationalist regime.Communist StrategyThe
communist strategy was much simpler than that of the nationalists because there was not any huge division within thecommunist rank like that of the nationalist. Thecommunist s already earned considerable popular support by being the only Chinese force left in the region fighting the Japanese invaders and their puppet regime after the nationalist withdrew, and after successfully establishingcommunist bases in the rural regions where better life was provided to the general populace in comparison to that of Japanese occupied regions, the general Chinese populace agreed that thecommunist s were well deserved to represent theChina to accept the invaders’ surrender in the region and takeover the regions occupied by the invaders.The Battle
After those former nationalist-turned Japanese puppet regime force had rejoined the nationalists after the end of
World War II , they refused to surrender to the communists, the only Chinese force in the region according toChiang Kai-shek ’s order. This had obvious lead to numerous clashes with the communists and the local population that strongly supported the communists, and eventually the full scale battle between the two sides erupted in December, 1945.The communist 7th Column of the
New Fourth Army and the IndependentBrigade of the communist CentralJiangsu Military District joined their forces in attacking the positions held by the former nationalist-turned Japanese puppet regime force who rejoined the nationalist, and with strong popular support, the communists easily overwhelmed their nationalist adversary and by the time the battle concluded in the end of December 1945, over sixteen major cities, towns and vast area along the highway fromYangzhou toTaizhou, Jiangsu including Yiling (宜陵), Embankment Head (Tangtou, 塘头) and the Village of Guo (Guocun, 郭村) had fallen into communist hands.Outcome
Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of
World War II between thecommunist s and the nationalists inChina , this conflict also showed thatChiang Kai-shek ’s attempt to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plaguedChina for so long and the problem of the extermination ofcommunism together proved to be a fatal mistake. Although the result of the campaign turned out exactly likeChiang Kai-shek and his subordinates had predicted, and consequently the power of the warlords in this region was indeed reduced as their military forces were smashed by the communists, so that the warlord problem plaguedChina for so long was thus reduced for this particular region, andChiang Kai-shek ’s secondary objective was achieved here, any positive gains obtained by the nationalists were negated by the politic fallout. The reason was that this success of achieving the secondary objective came at a huge cost in nationalists’ loss of popular support in this region formerly dominated by the Japanese, because the local population had already blamed nationalilsts for losing the regions to the Japanese invaders, while reassigning these former Japanese puppet regime forces as the nationalist forces to fight the communists, the only Chinese force left in the regions, only further alienated the local populace and strengthened the popular resentment toChiang Kai-shek and his nationalist regime.ee also
*List of battles of the Chinese Civil War
*National Revolutionary Army
*History of the People's Liberation Army
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