Campaign to Suppress Bandits in the border region of the

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

(湘鄂川边剿匪) was a counter-guerrilla / counterinsurgency campaign 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 ...

fought against the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

guerrilla left behind after the nationalist government withdrew from mainland China. The campaign was actually fought after 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 ...

was declared over by the PRC in Beijing a year earlier, and took place in the border regions of the following three Chinese provinces:

, and

, and resulted in communist victory. This campaign was part of Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Central and Southern China.

Order of battle

Nationalists (over 10,000) * Anticommunist Salvation Army of the Huan-

Border Region commanded by Qu Boping (瞿波平) *Military and Political Committee of the

Border Region commanded by Shi Xingzhou (师兴周) * Temporarily Organized 5th Division commanded by Cao Zhenya (曹振亚) Communists (18 battalions totaling more than 13,000) *Two battalions of the 421st Regiment of the 141st Army *2nd Battalion of the 422nd Regiment of the 141st Army *Units of the 423rd Regiment of the 141st Army *Units of the Independent Regiment of communist Enshi Military Sub-District. *Units of the Laifeng (来凤) county battalion.

Campaign

Communists decided to eradicate more than ten thousand nationalist guerrillas mostly consisted of bandits in the border region of Huan-

, in a vast area bordered by Laifeng (来凤) county in

in the north, Sangzhi (桑植) and Shuishun (水顺) in the east, Yongsui (永绥) county and Baojing (保靖) County in

in the south, and Youyang in the west. Communist western

Military Sub-District formed the Northern Front Bandit Eradication Command, and made plans with other communist forces in adjacent regions under the direction of communist

Military District. On October 15, 1950, communists attacked the nationalist stronghold in the Dragon (龙) Mountain in multiple directions. After more than twenty days of fighting, more than four thousand bandits were annihilated in the northern part of the Dragon (龙) Mountain by two battalions of the 421st Regiment of the communist 141st Division. In the meantime, communist troops of the communist Enshi Military Sub-District killed over nineteen hundred bandits of the nationalist Anticommunist Salvation Army of Huan-

Border Region in the Dragon (龙) Mountain. Another twelve hundred bandits also surrendered. The commander of the nationalist Anticommunist Salvation Army of the Huan-

Border Region, Qu Boping (瞿波平), with only several bodyguards left was eventually forced to surrender to the communists in November 1950 with the remaining survivors. To the southwest of the Dragon (龙) Mountain, the other band of bandits was also badly mauled by the attacking communists in the border region of

–

. As the nationalist survivors attempted to flee into

, they were beaten back by the communist forces of the communist Youyang Military Sub-District. The 2nd Battalions of the 422nd Regiment of the communist 141st Division launched a mop up operation with the help of other communist units and succeeded in killing more than nine hundred bandits. The nationalist commander of the bandit, Shi Xingzhou (师兴周), was eventually forced to surrender with the last survivors to the communists after holding out for more than twenty days. The remnant of the nationalist Temporarily Organized 5th Division fled to the north of Yongshun (永顺) County, where they were surrounded by units of the 421st Regiment and units of the 423rd Regiment of the communist 141st Division, and units of the Independent Regiment of communist Enshi Military Sub-District. In the battle at Nine Dragons (九龙) Mountain, Cao Zhenya (曹振亚), the commander of the nationalist Temporarily Organized 5th Division was killed and the surviving fifteen hundred nationalist guerrillas were completely annihilated. The campaign concluded with communist victory and in addition to annihilating over ten thousand bandits, including more than a hundred and ten nationalist commanders, the communists also managed to capture over seven thousand guns.

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,

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 ...

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:Hunan-Hubei Conflicts in 1950 Battles of the Chinese Civil War 1950 in China Military history of Hubei Military history of Hunan Military history of Sichuan Campaigns to Suppress Bandits

Order of battle

Campaign

See also

References