| Fifth Encirclement Campaign |
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The Fifth Encirclement Campaign was a series of battles fought during the Chinese Civil War from September 25 , 1933 to October 1934 between Chiang Kai-shek 's Kuomintang (nationalist) and the Chinese communists. During this campaign, Kuomintang force has successfully overran the Communist base of Chinese Soviet Republic and forced the communists on the run, which would later known as the Long March . Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang called this campaign the Fifth Encirclement Campaign () at the time, while the Chinese communists call it the '''Fifth Anti-Encirclement Campaign''' (). PRELUDE After the failure of the 4th encirclement campaign in the spring of 1933, Chiang Kai-shek immdiately mobilized over half a million troops to for the next encirclement campaign. The nationalist troops eventually totalled more than a million, most of which was consisted of regional warlords' forces, and the largest was Guangdong warlord Chen Jitang 's force, totalled more than 300,000, (or 30% of the total nationalist force), which was mobilized to blockade the southern border of the Jiangxi Soviet. However, like most of the warlords who were half heartedly drawn to the campaign, they only wanted to keep their own power and did not actively participated in the fiercest battles, so they only participated in blockade and guard the newly occupied Communist regions after being conquered by Chiang Kai-shek's own troops, who did most of the fighting. Chiang Kai-shek took the job of the commander-in-chief of the campaign and sent up his headquarter in Nanchang . In addition to succeeding in mobilizing many warlords' troops, Chiang also adopted his German advisors' strategy, which involved the systematic encirclement of the Jiangxi Soviet region with fortified blockhouses. This method proved to be very effective. In an effort to break the blockade, the Red Army under the orders of the three man committee consisted of Bo Gu , Zhou Enlai and Li De ( Otto Braun ) besieged the forts many times but suffered heavy casualties with little success, resulting the Jiangxi Soviet shrunk significantly in size due to the Chinese Red Army 's disastrous manpower and material loss. FIRST PHASE The campaign officially started on headquarter on October 17 , 1933 , requiring his troops to follow the principle of ''on the defensive tactically, but on the offensive strategically'' in order to perfect his German advisors' strategy. In contrast, the communist leadership, namely, the three men committee, refused to adjust their tactics and still stubbornly and rigidly continued the futile fights between Kuomintang's blockhouses in the hope of defeating the enemy outside the communist base. The result was obivous, from September 25 , 1933 to the mid November 1933, not only the Chinese Red Army failed to achieve the unrealistic dream of defeating the enemy outside the communist base, but it also suffered great loss, while the nationalist force suffered very little under the protection of their fortifications. SECOND PHASE On December 11 , 1933 , a total of eight Columns of Kuomintang force ventured out their fortifications and begun the new offensive. The communist leadership not only failed to concentrated their forces by splitting the Chinese Red Army into two, but also decided to clash head on with the nationalist force with numerical and technical superiority. As a result, the communist force suffered once again without achieving any victories. By the end of January 1934, the warlords' forces begun to participate in the battles, and the forces of Fujian warlords struck from the east in coordination with the nationalist forces in the north and the south, further pressuring the communist force into smaller regions, inflicting severe casualties on the Chinese Red Army during the period between January 1934 and March 1934. THIRD PHASE On April 10 , 1934 , eleven divisions of the nationalist troops begun their attack on Guangchang (广昌), and the communists decided to concentrate a total of nine Divisions to defend Guangchang and hopefully, crush the enemy in the area north of Guangchang (广昌). Due to the nationalist numerical and technical superiorities, communist strongholds at Ganzhu (甘竹)、 Great Luo Mountain (大罗山)、 Yanfuzhang (延福嶂) fell. On the dawn of April 19 , 1934 , the communists launched an unsuccessful counterattack at the nationalist force at the Great Luo Mountain (大罗山), only to be driven off with heavy loss. On April 27 , 1934 , the nationalists launched their final assault on Guangchang (广昌), succeeding in taking it by the evening and inflicting over 5,500 casualties of its communist defenders on the same day. The remanents of the shattered communist defense force was forced to flee in the separate direction to the south and west under the cover of the darkness. FINAL PHASE The three men committee of the communist leadership deepened their mistake by further dividing its force into six different parts by early July 1934, still daydreamed being able to drive out the enemy, which was ruthlessly crushed by the harsh reality: On August 5 , 1934 , 9 Divisions of the nationalist force ventured out newly fortified positions on the occupied Communist regions, started another round of fierce assault, taking regions north of Yiqian (驿前), and soon the adjacent regions. By the late September 1934, the Chinese Soviet Republic was left with only Ruijin (瑞金)、 Huichang (会昌)、 Xingguo (兴国)、 Ningdu (宁都)、 Shicheng (石城)、 Ninghua (宁化)、and Changding (长汀) counties/towns. It was after this when Zhou Enlai 's spy ring within Chiang Kai-shek's headquarter in Nanchang succeeded in delivering important intelligence to the communists to reveal the dangerous situation the communists had faced and the decision to abandon the Jiangxi Salient was finally made, resulting in the beginning of the Long March . As a result of the communist failure to defeat the fifth encirclement, the largest communist base was lost and it was not until 15 years later would the communists be able to return. CONCLUSION The communist failure was mainly due to the extreme leftist policy of the new communist leadership which displaced Mao Zedong , and the critical mistakes the new leadership made included:
REFERENCES SEE ALSO
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