Campaign to the North of Nanchuan County

The Campaign to the North of Nanchuan County , Sichuan, was part of the Campaign in Southwestern China launched by the communists against the s in the region to the north of Nanchuan County during the Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era, and resulted in communist victory.

Order of battle

Defenders: order of battle:
*The XIV Corps
*The XV Corps
*The XX Corps
Attackers: communist order of battle:
*The III Corps of the Second under Chen Xilian and Zhang Linzhi
*The V Corps of the Second under Yang Yong and Su Zhenhua
*The 47th Army of the Fourth under Cao Lihuai and Zhou Chiping

Campaign

The Campaign to the North of Nanchuan County begun on November 1, 1949 when the communists launched the Campaign in Southwestern China in multiple fronts against their adversary. By mid November, 1949, one of the communist attacks on the XIV Corps and XX Corps had succeeded in breaching the defense on both flanks, resulting in Youyang , Xiushan and Enshi falling into the enemy hands. By November 21, 1949, 4 s of the XIV Corps in the regions to the east of Salty Abundance in Hubei were completely annihilated by the enemy. The remaining s was forced to retreat westward by crossing the Black River . The communist III Corps and the 47th Army then turned their attention to the XV Corps and the XX Corps retreated to the region north of Nanchuan County by respectively crossing the Black River at regions including Gong’s Beaches , White Horse , Tukan , and north of Peng’s Waters . The major escape route to Qijiang in the west for the s were severed.

Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing had realized the enemy’s intention of besieging Chengdu and Chongqing by striking behind the line from western Hunan and western Hubei via Sichuan and Guizhou, and thus immediately ordered Hu Zongnan to conclude Qinling Campaign by withdrawing from the defensive line, and enter Sichuan from and Greater Ba Mountain in order to avoid being isolated and surrounded by the enemy. The XV Corps and the XX Corps were redeployed to strengthen the defense of Nanchuan county and the region to its east in order to secure the retreat of Hu Zongnan’s troops. In order to counter the move, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping ordered the communist V Corps and the 10th Army to push toward Luzhou and Yibin from southwestern Guizhou, while the communist III Corps and the 47th Army to cross the Black River to push toward Nanchuan county and help other communist forces to besiege and annihilate the XV Corps and XX Corps. By October 28, 1949, the communist forces had fulfilled their tasks by badly mauling the two corpses in the region to the north of the county, thus successfully concluded the Campaign to the North of Nanchuan County.

Outcome

This campaign of was a part of the Campaign in Southwestern China, and the s were defeated, losing over 60,000 in the process. The termination of the Qinling Campaign by withdrawing Hu Zongnan’s troops from defensive line meant that the s had lost a natural geographical barrier in the northern front, while the southeastern front was not improved either. As a result, the situation for the s further worsened in the Campaign in Southwestern China.