Campaign to the South of Baoding - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Campaign to the South of Baoding
Baoding
-Administrative divisions:Baoding prefecture-level city consists of 3 municipal districts, 4 county-level cities, 18 counties:-Demographics:The Baoding urban area has a population of around 1,006,000 . The population of the Baoding administrative area is 10,890,000. The considerable majority are...

(保南战役) consisted of several battles fought in regions south of Baoding

Baoding

-Administrative divisions:Baoding prefecture-level city consists of 3 municipal districts, 4 county-level cities, 18 counties:-Demographics:The Baoding urban area has a population of around 1,006,000 . The population of the Baoding administrative area is 10,890,000. The considerable majority are...

between the nationalists

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

and the communists during the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...

after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and resulted in the communist victory.

Prelude

In December, 1946, after the setback of the failed attempts to take Easy County (Yi Xian, 易县) and Full City (Man Cheng, 满城) regions, the nationalists

Kuomintang

redeployed their forces along the railroad from Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

to Baoding

Baoding

to fragment the enemy base into smaller pieces. However, when carrying out the new strategy, the nationalist

Kuomintang

force was overstretched and the region between Wangdu (望都) and Zhengding

Zhengding

Zhengding is a county in Hebei Province approximately 260 kilometers south of Beijing, China. It comes under the administration of nearby Shijiazhuang City and has a population of 594,000. Zhengding has been an important religious center for more than 1,000 years, from - at least - the times...

to the south of Baoding

Baoding

was thinly manned: the vast area of over 200 km stretch of land was only guarded by a detachment of the 32nd Division

Division (military)

A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

of the nationalist

Kuomintang

3rd Army and four regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

s of the nationalist

Kuomintang

5th Security Division

Division (military)

totaling 20,000 troops. The communists decided to take this advantage by launching a campaign aimed to sever the nationalist

Kuomintang

communication / transportation line in central Hebei

Hebei

' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

, thus cutting off the food supply for the nationalists

Kuomintang

in western Hebei

Hebei

Order of battle
Order of battle
In modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...

Nationalist

Kuomintang

order of battle

Order of battle

In modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...

The 3rd Army
- The 32nd Division
  Division (military)
  A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
The 5th Security Division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

Communist order of battle

Order of battle

The 2nd Column
The 4th Column
The Independent 1st Brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
The Independent 8th Brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

The Campaign

The communist 10th Brigade

Brigade

A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

, the 11th Brigade

Brigade

, the Independent 1st Brigade

Brigade

and units of the 3rd and 9th Military Districts were tasked with the main responsibilities of the campaign, while the 8th Independent Brigade

Brigade

would launch assaults along the railroad around Gaobei Hotel (Gao Bei Dian, 高碑店) region to the north of Baoding

Baoding

to tie down the nationalists

Kuomintang

in order to prevent them from reinforcing the nationalists

Kuomintang

in the south. The communist 2nd and 3rd Column would station at the Town of Sun City (Yang Cheng Zhen, 阳城镇) and White Bunker Town (Bai Bao Zhen, 白堡镇), waiting to ambush the nationalist

Kuomintang

reinforcements if there was any.

At the dawn on January 21, 1947, under the cover of heavy snow storm, the communist 10th Brigade

Brigade

and the 11th Brigade

Brigade

launched their surprise attacks on the Imperial Capital Village (王京村) and the town of Wangdu (望都), successfully taking the both nationalist

Kuomintang

strongholds and completely annihilated the nationalist

Kuomintang

garrison consisted of a battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

and a regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

of the nationalist

Kuomintang

5th Security Division

Division (military)

in the process. Meanwhile, the communist 1st Independent Brigade

Brigade

and communist units from the 3rd and the 9th Military Districts launched their offensives on the nationalist

Kuomintang

positions along the railroad. At night of January 21, 1947, the communist 4th Column had succeeded in penetrating into region between the town Xinle (新乐) and the town of Ding (定) County. On January 23, 1947, the communist 4th Column sent out a detachment to successfully take the region of Camp West Hotel (Zhai Xi Dian, 寨西店), while the bulk of its force was deployed along the railroad to ambush the nationalist

Kuomintang

reinforcement. On January 24, 1947, the nationalist

Kuomintang

reinforcement from Zhengding

Zhengding

consisted of a regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

of the 5th Security Division

Division (military)

and a portion of the nationalist

Kuomintang

32nd Division

Division (military)

was completely annihilated by the waiting communist 4th Column in the region of Shijiading (十家町). Learning the news of the disaster, the nationalist

Kuomintang

defenders of the town Xinle (新乐) was forced to abandon the town when the communist 1st Independent Brigade

Brigade

attacked. On January 28, 1947, the communist 4th Column launched the final assault on the besieged town of Ding (定) County, badly mauling the nationalist

Kuomintang

brigade

Brigade

defending the town. As the nationalist

Kuomintang

survivors attempted to flee, they were ambushed by the communist 2nd Column at Wangdu (望都) region, and the communist victory was complete with the conclusion of the campaign.

Outcome

The nationalists

Kuomintang

suffered more than 8,000 losses in their defeat, and the link between Shijiazhuang

Shijiazhuang

Shijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...

and Baoding

Baoding

was severed. Additionally, towns included Wangdu (望都), Ding (定) County, and Xinle (新乐) fell into the enemy hands, while the previously separated communist bases in the central Hebei

Hebei

and the border area of Hebei

Hebei

and Shanxi

Shanxi

' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....

was successfully linked up by the enemy to form a new base with much larger size.

Prelude

The Campaign

Outcome

See also