Pingjin Campaign

{{unreferenced|date=January 2011}} {{Campaignbox Chinese Civil War}} '''Pingjin Campaign''' ({{zh|s=平津战役|t=平津戰役|p=Píngjīn Zhànyì}}), known as the '''Battle of Pingjin''' to the [[Kuomintang|Nationalist Government]], was part of the three major campaigns launched by the [[People's Liberation Army]] during the late stage of the [[Chinese Civil War]]. It began on November 29, 1948, and ended on January 31, 1949, lasted a total of 64 days. This campaign is one of the three (The other two being [[Huaihai Campaign]] and [[Liaoshen Campaign]]) campaigns that marked the end of nationalist dominance in northern [[China]]. The term Pingjin refers to the cities [[Beijing|Bei''ping'']] (now Beijing) and [[Tianjin|Tian''jin'']]. ==Background== The Nationalist Government abandoned [[Chengde]], [[Baoding]], [[Shanhai Pass]] and [[Qinhuangdao]] to retreat to Peiping (now [[Beijing|Beiping]]) and Tientsin (now [[Tianjin]]) on November 1948. They stationed six armies with eighteen divisions in Beiping, five armies with sixteen divisions in Tianjin and one army with eight divisions in [[Zhangjiakou]], preparing to retreat further to the Huahai battlefield or west back to the [[Inner Mongolia]] region should the situation turn worse. At the same time, the [[People's Liberation Army]] Northeast Field Army led by [[Lin Biao]] and [[Luo Ronghuan]] entered [[Shanhai Pass]] immediately after the [[Liaoshen Campaign]] was over. They followed the Chinese Communist Central Military Committee's principle and encircled the Nationalist forces in the [[North China Plain]]. ===First stage=== The campaign began on November 29, 1948, when the People's Liberation Army attacked [[Zhangjiakou]], which changed the deployment of Nationalist Army as they sent the moblilized 35th Army to reinforce [[Zhangjiakou]]. The People's Liberation Army turned to strick Miyun shortly after, threaterning the city of Beiping. The Nationalists, being caught by surprise, shifted three armies from Tianjin to Beiping to improve the defense of the city, and ordered the 35th Army to return to Beiping. However, the 35th Army was cut off in [[Xinbaoan]] en route to Beiping. By now the People's Liberation Army had cut off the connection between Peking and Tianjian, and accomplished the encirclement against the above areas, which cut off the line of retreat for the Nationalists to the south and west. Although the nationalist regular force was caught by surprise, the nationalist intelligence organization made a swift response that almost changed the course of the war, and hence the nationalist fortune. On December 7, 1948, Communist IV Field Army Headquarter was moved to Meng Family's Tower (Mengjialou, 孟家楼) region of Ji (蓟) County in [[Hebei]]. Nationalist undercover agents successfully bypassed the communist garrison and infiltrated the residence of [[Lin Biao]], the communist commander. They succeeded in killing Lin's bodyguards, but retreated without having found Lin. ===Second stage=== After the 35th Army was encircled in Xinbaoan, the Nationalist troops in west of Peking launched desperate attack to west, hoping to remove the Communist encirclement on the 35th Army. But while in action, the Nationalist reinforcements were encircled as well. The 16th Army and five divisions from the 104th Army were all destroyed. The People's Liberation Army then launched Xinbaoan Campaign shortly after, captured the city the very next day and destroyed the 35th Army. On the 23rd, the Communist destroyed majority of 50,000 Nationalist forces that sallied out in northeast of Zhangjiakou. Beginning on January 2, 1949, the People's Liberation Army gathered up their offensive forces in [[Tianjin Campaign]]. The final attack was launched on January 14, and after 29 hours of intense action, the defenders 62nd Army and 86th Army, total up to ten divisions of 130,000 men were completely wiped out. The Tianjin garrison commander Chen Changjie was captured alive. The Nationalist 17th Army Group and five divisions from the 87th Army in [[Tanggu]] retreated on January 17 via ocean. ===Final stage=== [[Image:PLA Enters Peking.jpg|thumb|300px|People's Liberation Army enters [[Peking]]]] After Tianjin had been captured by the Communists, the Nationalist defenders in Beiping were in a hopeless situation. Under immense pressure, [[Fu Zuoyi]] decided to negotiate with the People's Liberation Army for a peaceful settlement for the city. The 260,000 troops inside the city began to exit the city to the People's Liberation Army for reorganization. On January 31, the People's Liberation Army entered Beiping to take over. The Pingjin Campaign was over. Beiping, soon to be the capital of the new [[People's Republic of China]], was renamed Beijing. ==See also== *[[List of Chinese battles#Modern China|List of Battles of Chinese Civil War]] *[[National Revolutionary Army]] *[[History of the People's Liberation Army]] *[[Chinese Civil War]] ==External links== *[http://www.wiki.cn/wiki/%E5%B9%B3%E6%B4%A5%E6%88%98%E5%BD%B9 平津战役] *[http://big5.huaxia.com/zt/js/06-033/541926.html 改寫平津歷史？？平津戰役] {{coord missing|Hebei}}