Handan Campaign (邯郸战役), also known as Pinghan Campaign (平汉战役), short for Beiping-Hankou Campaign (北平汉口战役), is one of the largest clashes 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, a s ...

force and 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: The ...

force immediately after the end of

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 opposin ...

, which resulted in

victory.

Nationalist strategy

During the

Shangdang Campaign The Shangdang Campaign () was a series of battles fought between Eighth Route Army troops led by Liu Bocheng and Kuomintang troops led by Yan Xishan (aka Jin clique) in what is now Shanxi Province, China. The campaign lasted from 10 September ...

units of the

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

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, an ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

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 al ...

(晋冀鲁豫) Military Region succeeded in taking control over a 200 km section of the railway from

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 ...

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...

, and the adjacent regions along this section. Their

enemy were determined to dislodge the

force from their newly gained territory and planned an offensive that would significantly boost the

bargaining chips in the peace negotiation with the

opponent. The

side deployed around 145,000 troops in two echelons, and the first echelon mainly consisted of three armies from the 11th War Zone to strike northward from

Xinxiang Xinxiang ( ; postal: Sinsiang) is a prefecture-level city in northern Henan province, China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to its southwest, Kaifeng to its southeast, Hebi and Anyang to its north, Jiaozuo to its west, and the ...

(新乡) in two fronts: the

left front consisted of the Newly Organized 8th Army and the 30th Army, while the

right front consisted of the 40th Army and the 9th Combat Engineering Regiment. The second echelon also consisted of two fronts: In the south, the

32nd Army of the 11th War Zone would follow the 40th Army to

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

(安阳), and then would continue and linkup with the 3rd Army and the 16th Army of the

1st War Zone at

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...

. Once the three armies had joined their forces, they would continue push northward and linkup with the 92nd Army and 94th Army, which would strike southward from

, where these two

armies were previously airlifted to the ancient city. When the link up is completed, the previously

occupied territory would be firmly back into the

hands. The

success of the offensive would also secure the passage to

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 t ...

and guarantee the control of northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The commander of the

40th Army, Ma Fawu (马法五), was also the commander-in-chief of the 11th War Zone, while the commander of the

Newly Organized 8th Army, Gao Shuxun (高树勋), was also the deputy commander-in-chief of the 11th War Zone, and they were in charge of the entire operation.

Communist strategy

The

s plan was to concentrate a total of 60,000 regular army troops from the 1st Column, the 2nd Column, the 3rd Column, and units of Taihang (太行) Military Region,

(Ji-Lu-Yu, 冀鲁豫) Military Region, and Southern

(Ji-Nan, 冀南) Military Region to annihilate the enemy at the Fuyang (滏阳) region north the Zhang River (漳河), and south of

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

, with the help of another 100,000

militia. The strategy was to proceed in several phases: At the beginning,

units of the Taihang (太行) Military Region, units of

(Ji-Lu-Yu, 冀鲁豫) Military Region and local militia would destroy railways from the north of

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

, and harass the enemy to provide time for other

s to group. After the enemy has crossed the Zhang River (漳河), a detachment of the

force would immediately control the river crossing point, and thus cutoff the link between the enemy units at

and that had crossed the Zhang River (漳河). The enemy units that had crossed the Zhang River (漳河) would then be lured into the regions south of

and north of Zhang River (漳河) to be ambushed in the pre-selected spot. The enemy would be annihilated in a pincer movement that consisted of two fronts: the eastern front would consist of the

1st Column and units of

(Ji-Lu-Yu, 冀鲁豫) Military Region, while the western front would consist of the

2nd Column, 3rd Column, units from Taihang (太行) Military Region and Southern

(Ji-Nan, 冀南) Military Region.

Prelude

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 ...

begun their push on October 14, 1945. However, majority of the officers and soldiers of the Newly Organized 8th Army, the most capable fighting unit of the

force and thus tasked to bear the brunt of the fighting, were extremely resentful to

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 ...

and his

regime. The reason was that the troops originally belonged to

Guominjun The Guominjun (), a.k.a. Nationalist Army, KMC, also called the Northwest Army (西北軍) or People's Army, refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. History The Guominjun was ...

clique 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 ...

, but later defected to

. Unlike many

who collaborated 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 Th ...

and then rejoined the

regime after

, these troops remained firmly on the Chinese side throughout the conflict. Furthermore, unlike other

who stayed on the Chinese side during the conflict but were not under the direct control of

and remained independent instead, such as the case of

Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960, ) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in ...

Ma clique The Ma clique or Ma family warlords is a collective name for a group of Hui (Muslim Chinese) warlords in Northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia for 10 years from 1919 until 1928. Following the collapse ...

, New Guangxi Clique, and Sichuan clique, these troops were directly under control of

and his regime, just like Chiang's own troops. However, these troops of former

felt that their loyalty was not rewarded accordingly, and that they were discriminated against by

and his clique. Such sentiment seemed true because

had planned to 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 China for so long together through the eradication 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, a s ...

, which proved to be a fatal mistake. These former

's troops believed that

and his regime felt that they were expendable and used them just as tools of the civil war because instead of sending his crack troops such as the Newly Organized 1st Army,

only send the second-rate troops to fight alongside them, and moreover, they bore the brunt of the fighting instead of Chiang's own troops. Such resentment against

and his regime was exploited to the maximum by their

enemy in the latter stage of the

Campaign, resulting in their defection to the

side, which proved to be a significant factor that contributed to the

failure. To complete their plan, many

agents had already infiltrated the Newly Organized 8th Army prior to the campaign.

Order of battle

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: The ...

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 ...

1st Echelon: 7 Divisions with 45,000 troops *Newly Organized 8th Army deployed at

*The 30th Army deployed at

*The 40th Army deployed at

2nd Echelon: 100,000 troops *The 3rd Army deployed at

*The 16th Army deployed at

*The 32nd Army deployed at

*The 92nd Army deployed at

*The 94th Army deployed at

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, a s ...

60,000 regulars: *The 1st Column *The 2nd Column *The 3rd Column *Units of Taihang (太行) Military Region *Units of

(Ji-Lu-Yu, 冀鲁豫) Military Region *Units of Southern

(Ji-Nan, 冀南) Military Region Another 100,000 militia

First stage

By October 20, 1945, the

advance guards had occupied the positions at shore of Zhang River (漳河), covering the troops building the bridges at the crossing point. On October 22, 1945, the

force had crossed the Zhang River (漳河), where they were met head on with the

1st Column deployed south of

, and the first shot of the campaign had been fired. By October 24, 1945, all three

armies had cross the Zhang River (漳河), and under the heavy artillery bombardment, the 106th Division of the

40th Army assaulted the position of the 1st Brigade of the

1st Column, succeeding in breaking through after a day of fierce fighting, penetrating the

defense at region between Cuiqu (崔曲), Jiati (夹堤), and by the evening, had successfully pushed to Village of Gao (Gozhuang, 高庄), Nanpozi (南泊子) line. Unbeknown to the

force, the

force was luring them into their trap, and northern group and the southern group had already begun to encircle the enemy from three directions: south of

, west of Magnetic County (Cixian, 磁县) and east of Horse Head Town (Matouzhen, 马头镇). When the

force had reached the Magnetic County (Cixian, 磁县) and the Horse Head Town (Matouzhen, 马头镇), the

encirclement was complete, while at the same time, the river crossing of Zhang River (漳河) had also fallen into the

hands. Realizing that they were surrounded, the besieged

force retreated toward North and South Zuoliang (左良) and Cuiqu (崔曲), and directly appealed to

for help via radio.

, in turned, ordered the entire second echelon to be mobilized to help the besieged first echelon by sending everyone available. However, the

commanders of the second echelon were reluctant and more importantly, impossible to devote their force 100%, and instead, only send small detachments. On October 26, 1945, a portion of the

16th Army were sent from

, but they were stopped by the

units of the Taihang (太行) Military Region and other local militia units at Gaoyi (高邑). Meanwhile, the

32nd Army at

sent out a detachment to reinforce their besieged comrade-in-arms, but this reinforcement from the south was also stopped by the

force at Zhang River (漳河).

Second stage

At the dusk of October 28, 1945, the full-scale attack on the besieged

force begun. The

northern group targeted the

40th Army while avoiding direct confrontation with the

Newly Organized 8th Army. By October 30, 1945, the 106th Division of the

40th Army was nearly wiped out, and the

30th Army was also badly mauled. Meanwhile, the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Li Da (李达) personally went to the headquarters of the

Newly Organized 8th Army and successfully convinced its commander, the deputy commander-in-chief of the 11th War Zone, Gao Shuxun (高树勋) to defect to the

side. The defection of the most capable fighting unit of the

force struck a devastating blow on the

morale and worsened the situation for the remaining besieged

units. Sensing the opportunity, the

commander

Liu Bocheng Liu Bocheng (; December 4, 1892 – October 7, 1986) was a Chinese military commander and Marshal of the People's Liberation Army. Liu is known as the 'half' of the "Three and A Half" Strategists of China in modern history. (The other th ...

ordered the

1st Column and 3rd Column to open up the southern front and set a new trap along the road to lure out the besieged

units from their strongholds. On October 31, 1945, the

force escaped thru the opening in the south exactly as their

enemy had expected, and was besieged at regions along the Flagpole Zhang (Qigan Zhang, 旗杆漳), Xin Village (Xin Zhuang, 辛庄), and Horse Camp (Ma Ying, 马营) line when the

units of the Taihang (太行) Military Region and units of

(Ji-Lu-Yu, 冀鲁豫) Military Region stopped them at the northern shore of Zhang River (漳河). On November 1, 1945, a detachment of the

1st Column had taken the headquarters of the

40th Army at Flagpole Zhang (Qigan Zhang, 旗杆漳), capturing the

commander-in-chief Ma Fawu (马法五) alive and the

resistance ceased completely by the next day, while the

reinforcement on the road immediately withdraw back to their fortified positions behind the city walls upon hearing the new. The campaign ended on the November 2, 1945.

Outcome

The

victory of

Campaign was another heavy blow to the

after

, and strengthened the

position in the peace negotiation. Furthermore, the

victory had significantly slowed the

deployment along the railway from

and thus provided cover for other

forces to proceed to

. The most obvious

debacle was

's attempt to solve the

problem that had plagued China for so long together with the eradication of the

by reducing the

' power via reducing their military strength, which proved to be a fatal mistake, resulting in

units defecting to the

side. However, even Chiang's

adversary had admitted that Chiang could not and should not be excessively blamed for this because nobody else could do any better, including the

s themselves, had their positions being switched with that of Chiang and his

regime, because

was faced with a huge dilemma: for these troops, the only way to survive was to serve in the armed forces, and if these

' troops were not expanded in battles but discharged in peacetime demilitarization, they would be forced to join the

camp for survival anyway when they were out of jobs, as later proved in places such as

. When these experienced combat veterans with experience with modern weaponry joined the

force that was mostly illiterate peasantry army, the combat capability of the

force would be and had been significantly boosted, and obviously anyone would rather want them perished in fights against the enemy instead of helping the enemy when these troops were to be demilitarized, and

was no exception. Even if

had not made the fatal mistake of attempting to solve the

problem that had plagued China for so long together with the eradication of the

, the

offensive was destined to fail from the very beginning because Chiang and his

regime had made an even greater fatal mistake: launching an offensive too early with insufficient strength. As Chiang had soon painfully realized, the

regime simply did not have enough resource to deploy its troops in very short time span in the vast regions of

. When the surrounding countryside was dominated by the opposing

force, launching an offensive of the scale of

Campaign with what was currently available for the

side was simply unrealistically overambitious. Even

adversary did not blame on the

second echelon for not succeeding in rescue their besieged comrade-in-arms, because they were too far away, and in fact, the reinforcement sent by the

92nd Army and the 94th Army from

did not even meet any enemy before they were turned back due to the end of the campaign, achieving nothing except wasting valuable supply. These

commanders were loyal officers of troops of

's own clique and thus even their

enemy did not accuse them of being

' troops who were reluctant to carry out Chiang's order. In fact, these commanders of the

second echelon made a correct decision in only sending out detachments for reinforcement instead of everyone as they were ordered because they were already dangerously overstretched in regions surrounded by the enemy from countryside, and if everyone was sent out as ordered, then not only the urban centers would risk being taken over by the enemy due to the undermanned defense, those on the road would also risk being annihilated, not mentioning the fact that the great distance would mean the reinforcement would never be able to reach its destination in time. Therefore, the correct decision made by the commanders of the

second echelon had succeeded in preserve the

force of the second echelon, which was almost unscratched. The successful preservation of the force, in turn, would help the

regime later to buy time for troop deployment and strengthening the

positions.

References

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

, 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

, 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 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 Civil ...

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 People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

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

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) {{coord missing, Hebei Conflicts in 1945 Campaigns of the Chinese Civil War 1945 in China Military history of Hebei Handan