Third encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet
Third encirclement campaign | |||||||
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Part of the Chinese Civil War | |||||||
Location of Jiangxi | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Chinese Communist Party
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
(Director-General of the Kuomintang) Chen Mingshu |
(Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Zhu De | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
300,000 | 30,000+ | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
30,000 | ? |
The third encirclement campaign (
Strategy
Merely three weeks after the defeat of the
Order of battle
Nationalist order of battle (300,000+ total)
- Left flank army group commanded by He Yingqingwould attack from Nancheng (南城)
- 5th Division commanded by Zhou Hunyuan (周浑元)
- 6th Division commanded by Zhao Guantao (赵观涛)
- 8th Division commanded by Mao Bingwen (毛炳文)
- 9th Division commanded by Jiang Dingwen
- 11th Division commanded by Luo Zhuoying
- 14th Division commanded by Chen Cheng
- 24th Division commanded by Xu Kexiang (许克祥)
- Right flank army group commanded by Chen Mingshu would attack from Ji'an, Yongfeng (永丰), Yue'an (乐安)
- 25th Division commanded by Sun Lianzhong
- 27th Division commanded by Gao Shuxun (高树勋)
- 47th Division commanded by Shangguan Yunxiang (上官云相)
- 52nd Division commanded by Han Deqin
- 54th Division commanded by Hao Mengling
- 60th Division commanded by Cai Tingkai
- 61st Division commanded by Dai Ji (戴戟)
- General Reserve
- 10th Division commanded by Wei Lihuang
- Urban Assault Brigade commanded by Li Yannian (general)
- 53rd Division commanded by Li Yunheng (李韫珩) would station at Ji'an
- Western Flank along the Gan River:
- 28th Division commanded by Gong Bingpan (公秉藩)
- 77th Division commanded by Luo Lin (罗霖)
- 34th Brigade of the 12th Division commanded by Ma Kun (马昆)
- Eastern Flank at the border region of Fujian-Jiangxi-Guangdong provinces:
- 49th Division commanded by Zhang Zhen (张贞)
- 56th Division commanded by Liu Heding (刘和鼎)
- Newly Organized 14th Brigade commanded by Zhou Zhiqun (周志群)
- Counterguerrilla garrisons in the regions including Zhangshu, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, Yihuang (宜黄), Nancheng, (南城), Lichuan (黎川):
- 1st Cavalry Division commanded by Guan Shuren (关树人)
- 23rd Division commanded by Li Yunjie (李云杰)
- 79th Division commanded by Lu Xiaochen (路孝忱)
- 5 wing of RoCAF:
- 1st wing
- 3rd wing
- 4th wing
- 5th wing
- 7th wing
- 1st
- Other nationalist forces mobilized as the second line units.
- First Front Army of Chinese Red Army
Campaign
On July 1, 1931, the nationalists began their offensive. The communists had not fully recovered yet from the last encirclement campaign and
To achieve their goal, communists planned to strike Futian (富田) from
In order to hide their true objective, the 35th Army and the 35th Division of the 12th Army of the Chinese Red Army pretended to be the communist main force and moved towards the Gan River to fool nationalists. The main communist force, meanwhile, swiftly moved to the region of Liantang (莲塘) at the night under the cover of the darkness on August 4, 1931 via passing through a twenty-kilometer gap in the nationalist lines between the nationalist divisions commanded Cai Tingkai and Jiang Dingwen. On August 7, 1931, communists succeeded in annihilating more than a brigade of troops from the nationalist 47th Division in the region of Liantang (莲塘), and soon afterward, badly mauling the nationalist 54th Division in Liangcun (良村). On August 11, 1931, communists succeeded in completely destroying four regiments of the nationalist 8th Division at Huangbi (黄陂), and after three consecutive defeats, the nationalist advance was checked temporarily.
Realizing the communist main force was moving eastward, the nationalist troops moving southward and westward were ordered to move eastward on August 9, 1931, in an attempt to sounding the communist main force in the region to the east of Junbu (君埠). The communists ordered their 12th Army (missing its 35th Division) of the Chinese Red Army to move toward Yue'an (乐安) to lure the nationalists northeastward, while the communist main force secretly returned to
Taking the opportunity, communists counterattacked, and the only nationalist offensive still remaining was successfully checked when the nationalist 60th Division and 61st Division were forced to be on the defensive and abandoned all offensive attempts. Communists were not satisfied with this success and did not consider it a victory, but a draw instead, and continued their offensive on other fronts. On September 7, 1931, they succeeded in destroying an entire brigade of the nationalist 9th Division in the region of Laoyingpan (老营盘), and on September 15, 1931, another brigade of the nationalist 9th Division and the entire nationalist 52nd Division were completely destroyed by the communists in the region of Fangshiling (方石岭). The nationalist commander of the 52nd Division, Han Deqin, was captured alive together with his staff, becoming the highest ranking nationalist commander captured, but they had successfully avoided being identified by disguising themselves as ordinary soldiers and each received two dollars in silver when released after the campaign. A total of seven nationalist divisions were badly mauled in the six battles, which communists themselves labeled as five victories and one draw, and nationalists suffered over 30,000 casualties. In addition, the communists also captured more than 20,000 rifles in their victory.
Aftermath
Capitalizing on their victory, communists launched their offensives into the nationalist dominated regions, further expanding their communist base in
See also
- Outline of the Chinese Civil War
- National Revolutionary Army
- History of the People's Liberation Army
- First encirclement campaign against Jiangxi Soviet
- Second encirclement campaign against Jiangxi Soviet
- Fourth encirclement campaign against Jiangxi Soviet
- Fifth encirclement campaign against Jiangxi Soviet