The second encirclement campaign against the Shaanxi–Gansu Soviet was an encirclement campaign launched by the Chinese Nationalist government that was intended to destroy 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 ...

Shaanxi–

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

Soviet and its Chinese Red Army in the local region. It was responded by the

s' second counter- encirclement campaign at Shaanxi–Gansu Soviet (), also called by the Communists as the second counter- encirclement campaign at Shaanxi–Gansu Revolutionary Base (), in which the local Chinese Red Army successfully defended their soviet republic in the border region of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces against the Nationalist attacks from April 1935 to July 1935. Beginning in October, 1934,

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 ...

mobilized more than 40,000 troops of warlords of Shaanxi,

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 ...

, Ningxia, and

to launch the second encirclement campaign against Shaanxi–Gansu Soviet aimed to eradicate the local Communists. However, the Nationalist plan had multiple drawbacks; none of the warlords were willing to sacrifice their own troops and a unified command could not be formed because all were afraid of that the one in charge would sacrifice others. As a result,

at the distant south, hundreds or even thousands miles away, had to take the command, and due to other affairs that needed to be taken care of, as well as the warlord's lack of enthusiasm and cooperation, Chiang was unable to command effectively. It would take half a year since the first mobilization for the Nationalists to finally launch their first assault and the disconnection between the battlefields of the Nationalist high command had also prevented any timely decision to be made in real time, which would lead to the failure of the campaign. In contrast, the Communists adopted the strategy by concentrating their forces and fought in northern Shaanxi under a unified command. After the 42nd Division and the 84th Division of the Chinese Red Army had met up in Anding () county, a unified command was formed under the name of Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Northwestern Military Committee Frontline Command.

Liu Zhidan Liu Zhidan (4 October 1903 – 14 April 1936), also known as Liu Chih-tan, was a Chinese military commander and Communist leader, who founded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Base Area in north-west China, which became the Yan'an Soviet. Early life Li ...

() was named as the commander-in-chief while Gao Gang was named as the political commissar. In late April 1935, the Nationalists finally begun their uncoordinated and disorganized attacks, which were easily defeated by the Communists. After more than two months of fighting, Nationalists not only failed their original objective, but also lost half a dozen towns including Anding (), Yanchang (), Yanchuan (), Ansai (), Jingbian (), and Bao'an. After suffering more than 3,000 casualties, the warlords called off the any further military operations, and the campaign resulted in Communist victory. As a result of their victory, the previous two separate communist bases of the Shaanxi–Gansu Soviet, the one at the border region of Shaanxi and Gansu and the other in northern Shaanxi had been linked up to become a new one with larger size.

See also