The battle of Yinji (尹集战斗) was a battle fought at the Yin Village (Yinji, 尹集) of Wuyang (舞阳) County in southern

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...

, and it was a clash between the

communist 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, ...

s and the former

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 ...

turned Japanese puppet regime force who rejoined the

after

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The battle was one of 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 main ...

in the immediate post

era, and resulted in

victory.

Prelude

Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of World War II between the

s and the

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, this conflict also rooted from the fact that

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

had realized that his

nationalist 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: Th ...

regime simply had neither the sufficient troops nor enough transportation assets to deploy his troops into the Japanese-occupied regions of

. Unwilling to let the

s who had already dominated most of the rural regions in

to further expand their territories by accepting the Japanese surrender and thus would consequently control the Japanese occupied regions,

ordered the Japanese and their turncoat Chinese puppet regime not to surrender to the

s and kept their fighting capabilities to “maintain order” in the Japanese occupied regions, fighting off the

s as necessary, until the final arrivals and completion of the deployment of the

troops. As a result, most members of the Japanese puppet regimes and their military forces rejoined the

. However, most of these former

turned Japanese puppet regime forces were not from

’s own clique, but instead, they were mainly consisted of troops of

warlords A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

who were only nominally under the

’s before

, since they were

in name only and mostly maintained their independent and semi-independent status. These

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

, these forces of former Japanese puppet regimes once again returned to the

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

, because such move would alienate other factions within the

ranks, and these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords could still help the

to gain more territories by holding on to what was under their control until Chiang completed the deployment of his own troops to take over.

’s objective was to simultaneously solve the

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

problem that had plagued

for so long and the problem of the extermination of

communism 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, ...

together, which proved to be an extremely fatal mistake for him and his

regime later on, as shown in this conflict.

Nationalist Strategy

In accordance with his strategy to simultaneously solve the

problem that had plagued

for so long and the problem of the extermination of

together,

and his followers had hoped that these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords who rejoined the

would be able to hold on to the regions long enough for Chiang to deploy his own troops by holding off

s. If the

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 the

s, and the warlord problem plagued China for so long could thus be greatly reduced, while at the same time,

s would be weakened by the fights and Chiang's own troops would have easier time to take control. For the former

turned Japanese puppet regime forces, these

and their troops had no problem of following

’s orders, and they were eager to prove themselves. These

and their troops were well aware that due to the collaboration with the Japanese invaders during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, they were well hated by the general population in

, including those

who refused to surrender to the enemy and fought the enemy until the eventual victory. Therefore, in the impending demilitarization after

, they were certainly be disarmed and discharged, which would probably be the best outcome and the power of these

would be reduced or even completely eliminated as a result.

’s ordering them not surrendering to the

s and fighting off the

s was a savior for them because by carrying out such orders, these

and their troops could legitimize themselves and thus retain their power by fighting the

s who were targeted as rebels by

and his

regime.

Communist Strategy

The

strategy was much simpler than that of the

because there was not any huge division within the

rank like that of the

. The

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

withdrew, and after successfully establishing

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 the

s were well deserved to represent the

to accept the invaders’ surrender in the region and takeover the regions occupied by the invaders.

Battle

On August 26, 1945, the 13th Brigade of the 5th Division of the communist

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...

decided to take Yin Village (Yinji, 尹集) of Wuyang (舞阳) County in southern

by force after the local defenders consisted of former

turned Japanese puppet regime force who rejoined the

after

refused to surrender. The 38th Regiment, 2 battalions of 39th Regiment, and 4 companies of the 4th Marching-on Regiment of the 13th Brigade of the 5th Division of the communist

attacked the village from both the east and the west. The communist 38th Regiment first annihilated a regiment of defenders at the outskirt of the village while at night, the two battalions of the communist 39th Regiment annihilated another regiment of defenders at Cypress Village Camp (Baizhuangzhai, 柏庄寨). After losing two regiments and all of strongholds outside the village, the remaining defenders lost the will to fight and escaped to Wuyang (舞阳) on August 27, 1945. The communists managed to capture more than 800 defenders alive and over 300 guns in their victory.

Outcome

Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of World War II between the

s and the

, this conflict also showed that

’s attempt to simultaneously solve the

problem that had plagued

for so long and the problem of the extermination of

together proved to be a fatal mistake. Although the result of the campaign turned out exactly like

and his subordinates had predicted, and consequently the power of the

in this region was indeed reduced as their military forces were smashed by the communists, so that the

problem plagued

for so long was thus reduced for this particular region, and

’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 nationalists 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 to

and his nationalist government.

References

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People's Publishing House in

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Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

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People's Publishing House in

Hefei Hefei (; ) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census and its built-up ( ...

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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 Ci ...

Party History Publishing House in

, 2004, *Wang, Xingsheng, and Zhang, Jingshan, ''Chinese Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

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) ...

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, 1993 – 1997, (Volum 1), 7800219615 (Volum 2), 7800219631 (Volum 3), 7801370937 (Volum 4), and 7801370953 (Volum 5) {{DEFAULTSORT:Yinji Conflicts in 1945 Battles of the Chinese Civil War 1945 in China History of Henan

Prelude

Nationalist Strategy

Communist Strategy

Battle

Outcome

See also

References