The Battle of Niangziguan (Niangziguan Zhandou, 娘子关战斗) was a battle fought between the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and the

nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

in the post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

era and resulted in communist victory. The battle was a critical one in Zhengtai Campaign that helped to determine the outcome of the campaign. Order of battle *Nationalist (1,000 total) ** Shanxi 4th Security Regiment *Communist (2,000 total) **7th Brigade of Shanxi- Chahar-

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

Military Region Niangziguan (literally means Women's Pass, with Niangzi means women, and Guan means pass) was a strategically important pass that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The nationalist 4th Security Regiment of Shanxi, totaling around 1,000, defended the pass. On April 24, 1947, the communist 7th Brigade of the Shanxi- Chahar-

Military Region reached the pass, but instead of immediately attacking the defenders’ positions, the attackers sent out troops to outflank the defenders and penetrated the defenders’ position under the cover of darkness in the night. At 3:00 AM on April 25, 1947, communist forces finally attacked under the cover of artillery shelling. The defenders immediately came out of their fortifications to counterattack, but this proved to be a great mistake: venturing out of their fortifications allowed the defenders to be sealed off by the attacking enemy into several isolated groups that could not support each other, and without the fortifications, the stranded defenders were annihilated within three hours. The communist victory ensured the control of the strategic pass and secured the safe passage of future troop movements for themselves while blocking the passage of nationalists, thus helped the communist to achieve final victory in Zhengtai Campaign.

References

*Zhu, Zongzhen and Wang, Chaoguang, ''Liberation War History'', 1st Edition, Social Scientific Literary Publishing House in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, 2000, (set) *Zhang, Ping, ''History of the Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Chinese Youth Publishing House in

, 1987, (pbk.) *Jie, Lifu, ''Records of the Liberation War: The Decisive Battle of Two Kinds of Fates'', 1st Edition,

People's Publishing House in Shijiazhuang, 1990, (set) *Literary and Historical Research Committee of the

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, ''Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

People's Publishing House in Hefei, 1987, *Li, Zuomin, ''Heroic Division and Iron Horse: Records of the Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

Chinese Communist The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

Party History Publishing House in

, 2004, *Wang, Xingsheng, and Zhang, Jingshan, ''Chinese Liberation War'', 1st Edition, People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House in

, 2001, (set) *Huang, Youlan, ''History of the Chinese People's Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Archives Publishing House in

, 1992, *Liu Wusheng, ''From

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an) ...

: A Collection of Military Records and Research Publications of Important Campaigns in the Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Central Literary Publishing House in

, 1993, *Tang, Yilu and Bi, Jianzhong, ''History of Chinese People's Liberation Army in Chinese Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Military Scientific Publishing House in

, 1993 – 1997, (Volum 1), 7800219615 (Volum 2), 7800219631 (Volum 3), 7801370937 (Volum 4), and 7801370953 (Volum 5) {{DEFAULTSORT:Niangziguan Conflicts in 1947 Battles of the Chinese Civil War 1947 in China Military history of Shanxi

See also

References