Datong-Jining Campaign
Encyclopedia
Datong
-Jining
Campaign (大同集宁战役) was a series of battles fought between the nationalists
and the communists
mainly in northern Shanxi
and the surrounding regions during the Chinese Civil War
in the post-World War II
era. The main battlefield was centered around two cities, Datong
and Jining
.
had broken out in full scale on June 22, 1946, the communists had many difficulties. Zhangjiakou
, the capital of the communist base in border area of Shanxi
-Chahar
-Hebei
was sandwiched between nationalist strongholds both in the east and the west. The nationalist stronghold Datong
in the west was guarded by the nationalist 38th Division
, the 5th Cavalry
Division, the 6th Cavalry Division and some local security forces totaling 20,000. In an attempt to eliminate the nationalist threat of Zhangjiakou
, the communist decided to first take the nationalist stronghold of Datong
in the west by concentrating a total of thirty regiment
s from nine brigade
s, and out of the nine brigade
s, five brigades were to be deployed to assault the city itself, while the remaining four brigades were deployed at regions of Zhuozi Mountain (Zhuo Zi Shan, 卓资山), Earth Castle (Tu Cheng Zi, 土城子), Merchant Capital (Shang Du, 商都) and Cool Castle (Liang Cheng, 凉城) near Jining
to stop and ambush the nationalist reinforcement.
:
Attackers: communist order of battle
:
and by August 4, 1946, the defenders were forced to withdrew behind the city wall after suffering more than 2,000 casualties. The enemy begun their assault on the city itself on September 14, 1946 and by September 4, 1946, Northern Pass (Bei Guan, 北关), Train station at the Western Pass (Xi Guang, 西关) in the outskirt of the city had fallen into enemy hands. By this time, the nationalist 35th Army, two divisions of the nationalist 3rd Army, and 4 nationalist cavalry divisions totaling more than thirty thousand attempted to reinforce the besieged Datong
by attacking communist held Jining
from Hohhot
in three fronts. The communists, in turn, decided to deploy three brigade
s and local militia to continue the siege of Datong
while the rest of force totaling more than forty thousands would be deployed to fight the nationalist reinforcement.
After taking Zhuozi Mountain (Zhuo Zi Shan, 卓资山) to the west of Jining
on September 10, 1946, the nationalist the Newly Organized 31st Division, the 11th Division, and the 17th Division attempted to attack Jining
from north and west under the air cover, but they were beaten back by the communists. On September 11, 1946, the communists launched a counteroffensive on the nationalist reinforcement retreating toward Crouching Dragon Mountain (Wo Long Shan, 卧龙山) and Head Bad Mountain (Nao Bao Shan, 脑包山), badly mauling the nationalist 11th Division and the 17th Division, killing more than 5,000 nationalist troops. On September 12, 1946, the nationalist 101st Division followed by the Newly Organized 32nd Division and the Newly Organized 4th Cavalry Division came to take Jining
in full force. By September 13, 1946, the nationalist reinforcement reached Jining
and begun their attack on the city, and the communists were forced to abandon the city in the evening on the same day. By September 16, 1946, the communists withdrew their siege on Datong
and the campaign concluded with nationalists suffering over 12,000 casualties and the communists suffered several thousand casualties.
, the nationalists did not besiege the city and thus the enemy defending the city were able to withdraw. However, such mistake was intentional because the nationalist commander Fu Zuoyi
was not willing to sacrifice his own troops for Chiang Kai-shek
and Yan Xishan
. Similarly, Yan Xishan
was not willing to sacrifice his own troops for Chiang and Fu Zuoyi
either. As a result of lack of corporation, the enemy was able to successfully withdraw, and eventually returned with vengeance and the lessons learnt in this campaign, and the nationalists would consequently have to pay a heavy price later.
However, their enemy had suffered equally if not greater because although the communists had managed in inflicting greater number of casualties on the nationalists, they had failed to achieve their original goal of capturing Datong
and Jining
. The communist failure was mainly due to the grave underestimation of the enemy strength. Not only the communists had failed to achieve absolute numerical superiority, which by Mao Zedong
’s definition at the time, should be at least three or four times than the opposing sides, and with absolute technical inferiority as in the case of this campaign, it should even be five or six times. As a result of failing to achieve absolute numerical superiority, the communist troops with absolute technical inferiority lost in this campaign were the cream of the crop: these were the combat hardened veterans with great experiences resulted from years of fighting. Although the communists were able to later boost their strength by drafting local militia into their regular army which swelled to a much larger size than it was before the campaign, there was a fatal flaw of the newly formed communist force: those militia were only good at guerilla tactics and had no knowledge on regular warfare, and as result, both the individual fighting capability and the fighting capability as military formations of these new troops were greatly inferior than that of veterans killed in the campaign. Additionally, many if not most of these new guerrilla fighters were illiterate and could not operate modern weaponry captured from the nationalists, and since most of the combat hardened veterans with experience were killed, there were not enough trainers to train these new troops either. These factors led the communist loss of Zhangjiakou
later in the Battle of Zhangjiakou, and the result this campaign is therefore classified as a stalemate at the best if not a communist defeat.
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
-Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
Campaign (大同集宁战役) was a series of battles fought 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
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
mainly in northern 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....
and the surrounding regions 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...
in the post-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...
era. The main battlefield was centered around two cities, Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
and Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
.
Prelude
After the Chinese Civil WarChinese 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...
had broken out in full scale on June 22, 1946, the communists had many difficulties. Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou, also known also by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province of North China, adjacent to Beijing to the southeast. Its administrative area has a population of 4.35 million, and covers...
, the capital of the communist base in border area of 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....
-Chahar
Chahar (province)
Chahar , also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar, or Qahar, was a province of China in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of eastern Inner Mongolia. It was named after the Chahar Mongolians....
-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...
was sandwiched between nationalist strongholds both in the east and the west. The nationalist stronghold Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
in the west was guarded by the nationalist 38th 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 Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
Division, the 6th Cavalry Division and some local security forces totaling 20,000. In an attempt to eliminate the nationalist threat of Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou, also known also by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province of North China, adjacent to Beijing to the southeast. Its administrative area has a population of 4.35 million, and covers...
, the communist decided to first take the nationalist stronghold of Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
in the west by concentrating a total of thirty 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 from nine 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...
s, and out of the nine 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...
s, five brigades were to be deployed to assault the city itself, while the remaining four brigades were deployed at regions of Zhuozi Mountain (Zhuo Zi Shan, 卓资山), Earth Castle (Tu Cheng Zi, 土城子), Merchant Capital (Shang Du, 商都) and Cool Castle (Liang Cheng, 凉城) near Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
to stop and ambush the nationalist reinforcement.
Order of battle
Defenders: nationalist order of battleOrder 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 38th DivisionDivision (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 CavalryCavalryCavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
Division - The 6th Cavalry Division
- A security regiment
- The 35th Army
- The Newly Organized 31st Division
- The 11th Division
- The 17th Division
- Two divisions from the 3rd Army
- 4 cavalry divisions
- The 101st Division
- Newly Organized 32nd Division
- The Newly Organized 4th Cavalry Division
Attackers: communist 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...
:
- Units from the 2nd Column of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-ChaharChahar (province)Chahar , also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar, or Qahar, was a province of China in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of eastern Inner Mongolia. It was named after the Chahar Mongolians....
-HebeiHebei' 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...
Military Region - Units from the 3rd Column of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-ChaharChahar (province)Chahar , also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar, or Qahar, was a province of China in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of eastern Inner Mongolia. It was named after the Chahar Mongolians....
-HebeiHebei' 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...
Military Region - Units from the 4th Column of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-ChaharChahar (province)Chahar , also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar, or Qahar, was a province of China in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of eastern Inner Mongolia. It was named after the Chahar Mongolians....
-HebeiHebei' 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...
Military Region - Independent 1st Brigade of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-Suiyuan Field Army - Independent 3rd Brigade of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-Suiyuan Field Army - The 358th Brigade of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-Suiyuan Field Army - The cavalry Brigade of the communist ShanxiShanxi' 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....
-Suiyuan Field Army - Local militia units
The Campaign
On July 31, 1946, the communists launched their assaults on the nationalist outposts outside DatongDatong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
and by August 4, 1946, the defenders were forced to withdrew behind the city wall after suffering more than 2,000 casualties. The enemy begun their assault on the city itself on September 14, 1946 and by September 4, 1946, Northern Pass (Bei Guan, 北关), Train station at the Western Pass (Xi Guang, 西关) in the outskirt of the city had fallen into enemy hands. By this time, the nationalist 35th Army, two divisions of the nationalist 3rd Army, and 4 nationalist cavalry divisions totaling more than thirty thousand attempted to reinforce the besieged Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
by attacking communist held Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
from Hohhot
Hohhot
Hohhot , is a city in north-central China and the capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, serving as the region's administrative, economic, and cultural centre....
in three fronts. The communists, in turn, decided to deploy three 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...
s and local militia to continue the siege of Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
while the rest of force totaling more than forty thousands would be deployed to fight the nationalist reinforcement.
After taking Zhuozi Mountain (Zhuo Zi Shan, 卓资山) to the west of Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
on September 10, 1946, the nationalist the Newly Organized 31st Division, the 11th Division, and the 17th Division attempted to attack Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
from north and west under the air cover, but they were beaten back by the communists. On September 11, 1946, the communists launched a counteroffensive on the nationalist reinforcement retreating toward Crouching Dragon Mountain (Wo Long Shan, 卧龙山) and Head Bad Mountain (Nao Bao Shan, 脑包山), badly mauling the nationalist 11th Division and the 17th Division, killing more than 5,000 nationalist troops. On September 12, 1946, the nationalist 101st Division followed by the Newly Organized 32nd Division and the Newly Organized 4th Cavalry Division came to take Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
in full force. By September 13, 1946, the nationalist reinforcement reached Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
and begun their attack on the city, and the communists were forced to abandon the city in the evening on the same day. By September 16, 1946, the communists withdrew their siege on Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
and the campaign concluded with nationalists suffering over 12,000 casualties and the communists suffered several thousand casualties.
Outcome
For the nationalists, the campaign was a failure because although the nationalists were able to beat off enemy attacks on the two cities, majority of rural area in the region had fallen into the enemy hands, and the nationalists defenders of the two cities were isolated, which greatly drained the nationalists resources later as the nationalists attempted to re-supply the isolated cities, resulting in nationalist defense lines overly stretched. Furthermore, the nationalists were infatuated with conquering as much land as possible instead of inflicting heavy casualties on their enemy, resulting in enemy being escaped with relatively few numerical losses in comparison to that of nationalists themselves. One of such nationalist blunders made in the campaign was that in their attack on JiningJining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
, the nationalists did not besiege the city and thus the enemy defending the city were able to withdraw. However, such mistake was intentional because the nationalist commander Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi was a Chinese military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, Fu surrendered the large and strategic garrison around Beiping to Communist...
was not willing to sacrifice his own troops for Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
and Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
. Similarly, Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
was not willing to sacrifice his own troops for Chiang and Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi was a Chinese military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, Fu surrendered the large and strategic garrison around Beiping to Communist...
either. As a result of lack of corporation, the enemy was able to successfully withdraw, and eventually returned with vengeance and the lessons learnt in this campaign, and the nationalists would consequently have to pay a heavy price later.
However, their enemy had suffered equally if not greater because although the communists had managed in inflicting greater number of casualties on the nationalists, they had failed to achieve their original goal of capturing Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
and Jining
Jining, Inner Mongolia
Jining District is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulaan Chab, a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 km² and is in the southern foothills of the Yinshan mountains...
. The communist failure was mainly due to the grave underestimation of the enemy strength. Not only the communists had failed to achieve absolute numerical superiority, which by Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
’s definition at the time, should be at least three or four times than the opposing sides, and with absolute technical inferiority as in the case of this campaign, it should even be five or six times. As a result of failing to achieve absolute numerical superiority, the communist troops with absolute technical inferiority lost in this campaign were the cream of the crop: these were the combat hardened veterans with great experiences resulted from years of fighting. Although the communists were able to later boost their strength by drafting local militia into their regular army which swelled to a much larger size than it was before the campaign, there was a fatal flaw of the newly formed communist force: those militia were only good at guerilla tactics and had no knowledge on regular warfare, and as result, both the individual fighting capability and the fighting capability as military formations of these new troops were greatly inferior than that of veterans killed in the campaign. Additionally, many if not most of these new guerrilla fighters were illiterate and could not operate modern weaponry captured from the nationalists, and since most of the combat hardened veterans with experience were killed, there were not enough trainers to train these new troops either. These factors led the communist loss of Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou, also known also by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province of North China, adjacent to Beijing to the southeast. Its administrative area has a population of 4.35 million, and covers...
later in the Battle of Zhangjiakou, and the result this campaign is therefore classified as a stalemate at the best if not a communist defeat.
See also
- List of battles of the Chinese Civil War
- National Revolutionary ArmyNational Revolutionary ArmyThe National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
- History of the People's Liberation ArmyHistory of the People's Liberation ArmyThe history of the People's Liberation Army began in 1927 with the start of the Chinese Civil War and spans to the present, having developed from a peasant guerrilla force into the largest armed force in the world.-Historical background:...
- Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil WarThe 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...