Pingjin campaign
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Pingjin campaign | |
---|---|
Part of the China | |
Result |
Communist victory |
Territorial changes | Surrender of Beiping, Tianjin and vast areas of North China Plain to the Communists |
Chen Changjie (POW)
Guo Jingyun †
Luo Ronghuan
Nie Rongzhen
The Pingjin campaign (
.Background
By the winter of 1948, the balance of power in Northern China was shifting in favor of the
Prelude
In preparations for the campaign, the People's Liberation Army halted the advance of First Field Army toward Taiyuan. The attack on Hohhot were also held back as the Third Field Army was being deployed from Jining District toward Beiping.
Campaign
Zhangjiakou
On 29 November 1948, the People's Liberation Army launched an assault on
Xinbao'an
On their return from Zhangjiakou, the Nationalist 35th Army found themselves encircled by the Communist forces in Xinbao'an. Nationalist reinforcements from Beiping were intercepted by the Communist forces and were unable to reach the city. As the situation deteriorated, Fu Zuoyi attempted to negotiate secretly with the CCP beginning on 14 December, which was eventually rejected by the CCP on 19 December.[2] The PLA then launched an assault against the city on 21 December and captured the city the next evening. Commander of the 35th Army Guo Jingyun committed suicide as the Communist forces broke into the city, and remaining Nationalist forces were destroyed as they attempted to retreat back to Zhangjiakou.
Tianjin
After capturing both Zhangjiakou and Xinbao'an, the PLA began to amass troops around the Tianjin area beginning on 2 January 1949. Immediately after the conclusion of Huaihai campaign in the south, the PLA launched the final assault on Tianjin on 14 January. After 29 hours of fighting, the Nationalist 62nd Army and 86th Army and a total of 130,000 men in ten divisions were either killed or captured, including the Nationalist commander Chen Changjie. Remainder of the Nationalist troops from the 17th Army Group and the 87th Army that participated in the battle retreated south on 17 January by sea.
Surrender of Beiping
After the fall of Tianjin to the Communist forces, the Nationalist garrison in Beiping was effectively isolated. Fu Zuoyi came to the decision to negotiate a peace settlement on 21 January. In the following week, 260,000 Nationalist troops began to exit the city in anticipation for the immediate surrender. On 31 January, the PLA's Fourth Field Army entered Beiping to take over the city which marked the conclusion of the campaign.[citation needed]
Popular culture
The Chinese drama, New World (新世界) is set inside besieged Beiping.
See also
References
- ISBN 9780674287204.
- ^ a b Lew 2009, p. 126.
Sources
- Lew, Christopher R. (2009). The Third Chinese Revolutionary Civil War, 1945–49: An Analysis of Communist Strategy and Leadership. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-1135969738.
- Taylor, Jay (2009). The Generalissimo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674033382.
- Westad, Odd Arne (2003). Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 080474484X.
- Worthing, Peter (2017). General He Yingqin: The Rise and Fall of Nationalist China. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107144637.