The Siping Campaign (四平战役) was a nine-month struggle 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, ...

and the Nationalists for Siping in

Jilin Jilin (; Postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three Provinces of China, provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, R ...

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 ...

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 main ...

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

era, and resulted in

victory.

Prelude

By the early June 1947, the

s had successfully isolated

Siping (city) Siping (), formerly Ssupingkai (), is a prefecture-level city in the west of Jilin province, People's Republic of China. Located in the middle of the Songliao Plain and at the intersection of Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, Siping covers an ...

in their Summer Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China, the

s decided to take the city despite the fact that they had totally lacked the experience of taking strongly defended cities that are heavily fortified, and it was obvious to both sides that the isolated city would be the next battlefield.

was defended by three divisions belong to two separate armies and the commander of the

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 ...

71st Army, Chen Mingren (陈明仁) was named as the

commander-in-chief of the urban defense. All three

divisions suffered greatly in earlier battles and none of them was fully manned. However, the

s had eradicated nationalists in the region from Tieling in the south and

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 ...

in the north, and most of these

forces had retreated to

. Chen Mingren (陈明仁) successfully recruited and incorporated these forces into his force, and every able bodied-man who had a governmental job was also recruited into the local garrison. Construction for additional fortifications and strengthening the current ones was also completed in very short span of time, and in a devoted effort, many bunkers were built by sacks full of wheat and starch of American aid. On June 3, 1947, Chiang Kai-shek flew to

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

and personally wrote to Chen Mingren (陈明仁) stating that

was a very important location in

Northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of ...

and if lost, the nationalists would not only lose

, but also endangering the rest of

, so the city must be defended at all cost, and Chen Mingren (陈明仁) was determined to hold the city, and the

reporters claimed the city as Chen Mingren (陈明仁)'s fortress after witnessing the extensive defensive complex built. On June 9, 1947, the enemy had completed its regroup outside the city for the upcoming attack. However, the

made a serious intelligence blunder in underestimating the defenders' strength by only assessing the total

strength as 18,000, and even Lin Biao had erroneously believed that there were only four fully combat capable

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

s with full strength in the city. The enemy had missed the significant intelligence including the defenders receiving airdrop of 400 tons of supplies and weaponry in more than 200 sorties from

, and the rapid new construction of the fortifications. The defenders' recruitment of previously defeated

forces into the local garrison was completely undetected by the enemy, and enemy did not expect the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

would actively participate in the first stage in support of the ground troops defending the city either. This serious intelligence blunder would have to be paid with an extremely heavy price later in the first stage of the campaign.

Order of battle

Defenders:

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 ...

order of battle In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...

: *First stage (more than 35,000 troops total): **The 87th Division of the 71st Army **The 88th Division of the 71st Army **The 54th Division of the 13th Army *Second stage:

units with more than 19,000 troops Attackers:

: *The 1st Column *The 7th Column *The 6th Column (First stage) *The 3rd Column (Second Stage)

First stage

On June 11, 1947, the

s begun their assault on the

positions outside the city, and on the same night, the airport at the western suburb of the city was taken by the

7th Column. On June 13, 1947, the

1st Column took

Xinlitun Xinlitun (),or Hsin-li-t’un, is a town within Heishan County in Jinzhou prefecture, Liaoning, China. It's in the north east of the prefecture about 100 km west of Shenyang city. During the Chinese Civil war, Xinlitun and other peripheral to ...

, and the

begun to attack enemy ground positions at a rate of near twenty sorties per day in order to support the defenders of the city. On June 14, 1947, Lin Biao ordered the 11th Division and the 12th Division of the

4th Column to strike south toward

and Fushun to distract

forces stationed in those cities from reinforcing

, and to take Fushun if possible. At 8:00 PM on June 14, 1947, the assault on the city itself had begun with five

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

s with near a hundred large caliber

pieces starting to bombard the city, even the 12 anti-aircraft artilleries in the

inventory were deployed to shell the city. The shelling shocked the

defenders since merely a year ago,

was still an extremely rare commodity for the

s, yet a year later the

firepower was greater than that of Japanese during

. Under the cover of intense

shelling, the

1st Column and 7th Column attacked the defenders from multiple directions. Forty minutes after the assault begun, the 2nd Division of the

1st Column breached the defense in the southwest, and by 2:00 AM on June 15, 1947, the 1st Division of the

1st Column also penetrated into the city from Haifeng Village (Haifeng Tun, 海丰屯). However, the

7th Column and the 3rd Division of the

1st Column failed to breach the defense, and

reserve launched multiple counterattacks on the enemy under the air cover, which had increased into more than twenty sorties per day. By June 16, 1947, the

s 1st Division and the 2nd Division inside the city had beaten back defenders' counterattacks for more than a dozen times, but in doing so, each suffered more than 1,500 casualties. The regions inside the city taken by the enemy was relatively small and only a thousand or so defenders were captured alive by the enemy, but situation for the defenders worsened on June 18, 1947, when the

7th Column breached the defense in northwest. The nationalists had underestimated the enemy's resolution to take the city, and defenders' stubborn resistance was equally out of expectation of the attacking

s as battle raged on with heavy casualties on both sides. By June 19, 1947, Lin Biao was forced to send the 17th Division and the 18th Division of the

6th Column to reinforce the

s fighting inside the city. With the newly arrived help, the enemy was able to take

strongholds at the Telecommunication Building, the Municipal Building, and the Central Bank Building, and the

headquarters of the 71st Army that was also the headquarters of the urban defense was besieged. There were many brick buildings in

and bricks made from black earth were extremely tough that when hit by 60 mm mortar rounds, there was only a dent left. The defenders capitalized on these strong buildings and turned them into formidable fortifications, and the

71st Army headquarters was located in one of such bunkers, with the entrance sealed by a jeep. In addition to wide field of view, there were also dozens bunkers and pillboxes protected by minefields around the buildings to strengthen the defense. On June 20, 1947, the 17th Division of the

6th Column unleashed its assault on the

headquarters, and by the evening, the enemy was dangerously close. Chen Mingren (陈明仁), the

commander-in-chief inside the headquarters was forced to evacuate into another alternate headquarters in a different bunker in the eastern half of the city, while his brother, Chen Mingxin (陈明信), the regimental commander of the Specialized Duties

Regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

71st Army, was left to defend the original headquarters. After three hours of fierce fighting, the headquarters fell and its defenders were annihilated. Chen Mingxin (陈明信), the regimental commander of the Specialized Duties

of the

71st Army, was captured alive by the enemy, and the stronghold that the nationalists claimed to withstand enemy attack for more than a month fell in just three short hours. The fall of the

71st Army headquarters had signaled the fall of the western half of the city into the enemy hands, but the enemy had paid a very heavy price: the 1st Division and the 2nd Division of the

1st Column, and the Independent 1st Division and the Independent 2nd Division of the

7th Column suffered heavy casualties that they were forced out of action, and Ma Renxing (马仁兴), the divisional commander of the 1st Independent Division of the

7th Column, became the highest ranked

officer killed in the campaign. After more than a week of fierce fighting, the enemy finally took western half of the city with heavy loss. Only then did the enemy realize the serious blunder of the underestimation of the defenders: the nationalists defending the city was not 18,000 like previously thought, but almost twice, totaling more than 35,000. On June 21, 1947, the enemy was forced to send their reserves to join the fight: the 16th Division of the

6th Column and the Independent 3rd Division of the

7th Column join the assault on the eastern half of city, and Hong Xuezhi, (洪学智), the commander-in-chief of the

6th Column succeeded Li Tianyou (李天佑), the commander-in-chief of the

1st Column in the last part of the fighting as the

commander in charge of taking the city. Chen Mingren (陈明仁), the

commander-in-chief of the urban defense, concentrated his remaining 20,000 strong force in the eastern half of the city, and by the evening of June 21, 1947, had successfully beaten back all enemy attacks. For the

s, it was impossible to achieve numerical superiority after sending in two divisions following the withdraw of four divisions, and the Independent 1st Division of the

7th Column withdrawn earlier was forced to be back in action again. The highest point in the

was a water tower, and the nationalists turned it into a formidable bunker manned by tough veterans of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

during

, and these sharpshooters armed with

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the ...

s had successfully beaten back attacks by an entire enemy

for four times. After concentrating over a dozen

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

s suppressing the

fire from the loopholes of the bunker to cover sappers setting up the explosives, the enemy finally neutralized the bunker in its fifth attempt. At the railroad crossing bridge, the defenders used an ingenious tactic by deploying beans: as three attacks by the

8th

of the 1st Column were beaten back, the enemy launched their fourth attack personally led by the regimental political

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means ' commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and E ...

Jin Ke (金可), and it appeared that the fourth attack might be successful. However, the defenders unleashed their secret weapon by opening two large sacks of beans which suddenly filled the ground. Everyone in the unsuspecting enemy assault team slid down and had very difficult time of getting up, and with beans on the ground, it was impossible to advance, retreat or reinforce, thus the enemy assault team was completely wiped out. Jin Ke (金可), the regimental political

of the

8th

of the 1st Column leading the fourth charge, was cut in half at the chest by a string of defenders'

fire in front of the regimental commander of the

8th

of the 1st Column, Guan Shanlin (关山林), and thus became the second highest ranked

officer killed in action during the campaign. The streets of

was covered with blood and soldiers of both sides frequently slid down, and the situation became desperate for the defenders that Chen Mingren (陈明仁), the

commander-in-chief of the urban defense, was preparing to commit suicide and had his

Browning Browning may refer to: Arts and entertainment * The Browning, an American electronicore band * ''Browning'', a set of variations by the composer William Byrd Places * Browning, Georgia, USA * Browning, Illinois, USA * Browning, Missouri, ...

pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...

ready. Chen Mingren (陈明仁) also ordered the defenders to burn every building after it was abandoned so that the attacking enemy would not be able to use it. After fierce battles, the last counterattack of the

71st Army was beaten back with heavy loss in the morning of June 23, 1947, but the

1st Independent Division of the 7th Column suffered equally and was forced out of action once again for the second time. Although the defenders could no longer launch anymore counterattacks to the smallest scale, they were still able to put up a good defensive fight in their fortifications, but as time dragged on, even the defenders themselves begun to have serious doubts how long before the city would fall into the enemy hands. The

s were overconfident that the city would fall for sure, and their New China News Agency had already issued a press release at the time, claiming that "…After 12 days of fierce fighting, the enemy ( nationalists) had suffered over 16,000 casualties and remaining survivors had nowhere to flee. The majority of the Siping had been under our (

) control, and Chiang's army had been annihilated, and our troops (

s) were expanding the military success…". On June 28, 1947, the

commander Chen Yi (communist) even sent a telegraph congratulating Lin Biao for taking the city. Nothing could be further from the truth as the situation suddenly turned drastically in

favor: on June 29, 1947, the

reinforcement rapidly approached the city thanks to their mechanization, the

93rd Army approached the city on the same day Lin Biao received the telegraph from Chen Yi (communist), while on June 29, 1947, the

New 6th Army took Benxi and from there pushed toward

, while the

53rd Army on the left of the New 6th Army also pushed toward

in unison. The highly mechanized

armies was able to bypass the enemy and thus not only the

reinforcement had avoided been ambushed by the enemy, now the enemy force attacking the city was threatened. The table had turned for the enemy. Lin Biao's choice was clear, on June 30, 1947, he ordered a general withdraw that concluded the first stage of Siping Campaign. The exhausted defenders had no strength left to give any chase and the

reinforcement did not pursuit the enemy either after reaching the city, and thus did not see any action, just like the five enemy armies to the south of the city originally planned to ambush them. The nationalists suffered over 19,000 casualties while the

suffered over 13,000 casualties. The nationalists had successfully beaten back the enemy and held the city. In addition to the enemy's grave underestimation of the defenders' strength, the associating indecisiveness of Lin Biao also contributed to the

success at the first stage of the campaign: Lin Biao was trying to increase the gain of the

Summer Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China by deploying seventeen divisions to the south of

in the hope of ambush

reinforcement, but this had not materialized. The seven remaining

divisions were simply not enough to take on the five technically superior

Divisions defending the city. Furthermore, only after suffering heavy losses, did the two more divisions were redeployed to join the fight, but by then the

s were unable to achieve any numerical superiority at all, following the withdraw of four divisions and earlier heavy losses. However, the

s would not forget their goal and they would be back with vengeance, as well as the valuable experience learned from this first attempt. For the nationalists, the city was still in their hands, but the

original plan to fight a decisive battle to annihilate the enemy at the gate of

was equally spoiled by Lin Biao's wise and timely retreat, and thus the first stage of the campaign ended in a stalemate.

Second stage

After their victory of the Autumn Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China, the

s set their sights on the

again in their Winter Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China, and this time they were ready and much better prepared. By this time, the nationalists in

had suffered greatly and

was only garrisoned by a mere 19,000 troops, without any hope of reinforcement. The first sign of trouble appeared when a transportation

of the

88th Division was ambushed on January 26, 1948, at Guo Family's Hotel (Guo Jia Dian, 郭家店) as the 500-men strong

attempted to transport grains to the city. Though the enemy attack was considered unlikely, the nationalists nonetheless doubled the strength of the

and assigned over a dozen trucks and over 100 horse-drawn carts to ensure the safe completion of the job. Learning the news, Luo Jie (罗杰), the deputy commander-in-chief of the

base at the border area of

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmo ...

and

, personally lead the units of the

18th

and the Mongolian

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

launched a long distance surprise attack before dawn on the unsuspecting

transportation

. In a short period of 40 minutes, over 70

soldiers were killed and more than 200 were captured alive by the enemy. The rest of the nationalists were able to successfully escape by trucks, but a truck and all of the 100+ horse-drawn carts full of grains had to be abandoned and left intact for the enemy in the hasty retreat. On February 27, 1948, the order was formally given to take the city and the commander-in-chief of the

1st Column, Li Tianyou (李天佑), the

commander in charge of last assault on the city nearly nine months ago, was put in charge again for the second time. Similarly, two

columns participated in the assault on the city nearly nine months ago, the 1st Column and the 7th Column, were tasked to take the city, with the help of the

3rd Column, while the

2nd Column, 6th Column, 8th Column, and 10th Column were deployed to stop any possible

reinforcement that never came, because the

strength was greatly reduced by this time. On March 4, 1948, the enemy assault on the

positions outside the city begun, and the

1st Division of the 1st Column took Haifeng Village (Hai Feng Tun, 海丰屯) and Xu Family's Yaodong (Xu Jia Yao, 徐家窑), while the 3rd Division of the

1st Column took

. The enemy had made significant gains on March 8, 1948, when most of the

positions outside the city wall fell in a domino effect: the 7th Division of the

3rd Column took the bunkers outside the eastern gate, while the 8th Division of the

3rd Column took the region of Red Mouth (Hong Zui Zi, 红嘴子). Meanwhile, the 19th Division of the

7th Column took the Third Line of Grove (San Dao Lin Zi, 三道林子). In order to find better positions for the artilleries to shell the defenders, the enemy took Shidao (师道) School, the airport and the Liu Family's Village (Liu Jia Tun, 刘家屯). At 7:40 PM on March 12, 1948, the final assault on the city begun. The

defense was soon breached in five fronts in the north, the east, and the west, and defenders had to resort to street fights for their last stand. By the next day, the

defeat was complete when the entire

garrison of more than 19,000 was totally annihilated by the attacking enemy, who declared the victory on 7:00 PM on March 13, 1948, after the mopping up operation was completed.

Outcome

The important strategic stronghold had fallen into the enemy hands with the

defeat, and the defenders lost over 35,000 troops, with more than 16,000 in the first major battle, and over 19,000 in the second battle. In addition to capturing the city, the enemy also captured enormous supplies from the nationalists, including 491

s, over 9,000 repeating rifles, over 779,000 rounds of ammunition, over 200

pieces, and over 11,000 rounds of

ammunition.

References

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Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

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

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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 ...

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 Riv ...

Committee of the

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 ...

, ''Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

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 ( ...

, 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 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

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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) *Harold M. Tanner, ''The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China: Siping, 1946''. Twentieth-Century Battles Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. 288 pp, ; review by Johnny Spence
H-War, H-Net Reviews. January 2014
{{coord missing, Jilin Conflicts in 1948 Battles of the Chinese Civil War 1948 in China History of Jilin

Prelude

Order of battle

First stage

Second stage

Outcome

See also

References