The Battle of Dazhongji (大中集战斗) was fought between the nationalists and 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 ...

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 immediate 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 in

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

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 ...

and resulted in 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, ...

victory.

Prelude

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

s and the nationalists in

, 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 China. Unwilling to let the

s who had already dominated most of the rural regions in China 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 nationalists. However, most of these former nationalists 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 nationalists 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 nationalists, because such move would alienate other factions within the

ranks, and these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords could still help the nationalists 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 China 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 nationalists 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 China, including those nationalists 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 nationalists because there were not any notable divisions within the communist rank like that of the nationalist. The communists 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 nationalists withdrew, and after successfully establishing communist 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 communists were well deserved to represent the Chinese to accept the invaders’ surrender in the region and takeover the regions occupied by the invaders.

The Battle

After those former nationalist-turned Japanese puppet regime force had rejoined the nationalists after the end of

, they refused to surrender to the communists, the only Chinese force in the region according to

’s order. This had obvious led to numerous clashes with the communists and the local population that strongly supported the communists, and eventually the full scale battle between the two sides erupted in the beginning of September 1945. The clashes was concentrated around the Great Central Village (Da Zhong Ji, 大中集), an important town of

Dongtai Dongtai () is a coastal county-level city under the administration of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China. It has a population of roughly 1,170,000 estimated for 2007. Out of the total population, about 260,000 live in the Dongtai urban core, others ...

and the communist units of the

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 ...

of the communist Central

Military District first took the outposts outside the Great Central Village (Da Zhong Ji, 大中集), and finally launched the final assault on the town on 13 September 1945. After fierce battle, the town fell on the same day and the entire garrison, the nationalist 7th

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

was completely annihilated, with majority of the troops killed, including the commander, Gu Zhenzhi (谷振之), while the surviving 1,500 were captured alive by the attacking enemy.

Outcome

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

s and the nationalists in China, 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 China 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 regime.

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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 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 ...

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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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