Menglianggu Campaign
Encyclopedia
The Menglianggu Campaign (孟良崮战役) was a campaign fought between the nationalists
and the communists
during the Chinese Civil War
in the post-World War II
era and resulted in communist victory. The campaign was later used by the communists
as a specific battle example in their military science and history, as well as a propaganda piece. The battle mainly took place in Menglianggu
of Linyi region in Shandong Province.
and Shandong
. In the Shandong
theater of war, Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek
named Gu Zhutong
, the commander-in-chief
of the National Revolutionary Army
as the commander-in-chief
at the frontline, setting up his headquarter in Xuzhou
. Gu Zhutong
had 24 army
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 60 division
-sized reorganized brigades at his command, totaling 450,000+ troops. Out of the 450,000+ troops, over 330,000+ in 17 army
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 43 division
-sized reorganized brigades were deployed on the first line, organized into 3 corpses, the I, II, III Corps, spearheaded by the three crack units of the nationalist forces: 11th Reorganized Division, the 74th Reorganized Division and the 5th Army. Out of the 3 corpses, the I Corps commanded by Tang Enbo was the largest and strongest of all, with near 200,000 troops in 8 army
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 20 division
-sized reorganized brigades, and the I Corps was tasked with main assaults on the communists. Form late March, 1947 to mid April, 1947, nationalists succeeded taking control of the regions along the section of Jinpu railway
from Xuzhou
to Jinan
, and the entire southern Shandong
region.
The overconfident nationalists subsequently attacked the mountainous region in central Shandong
in late April, 1947 but suffered a setback for their carelessness in Tai'an-Mengyin Campaign, losing over 24,000 troops. However, such setback was rather minor that it could be ignored: a mere 5% loss out of the total mighty force. The nationalist continued their original plan of push the arc-shaped frontline continuously deeper into central Shandong
, and force the local communist force, the East China
Field Army
into a decisive battle in which the communist would be annihilated, or the communists would be forced to cross the Yellow River
to flee north if they chose not to engage in such a battle. The nationalist I Corps would attack toward Yishui (沂水) and Tanbu (坦埠) regions, and then join forces with the nationalist II and III corpses to attack northward and eastward, destroying the communist base in Shandong
. Five nationalist armies were deployed in the region border by Qingdao
– Jinan
Railway, Jinpu Railway
and Tai'an
in the south to support the three nationalist corpses, and another two nationalist army
-sized reorganized divisions were deployed in Yi (峄) County and Zaozhuang
respectively as reserves.
Order of battle
The nationalists totaled three corps with more than 400,000 troops while the communists totaled 10 columns (armies)
near 200,000 troops.
Nationalist
Communist
side included:
Commanders from Communist
side included:
Nationalist
After the destruction of the entire 72nd Reorganized Division in late April, 1947 in the Tai'an-Mengyin Campaign, nationalists became very cautious and concentrated their forces in their movements afterward. This new tactic resulted from the painful experience learned earlier was so successful that the communist plan of defeating the nationalist offensive in Shandong
by first destroying a portion of the nationalist force in the center of the frontline could no longer be realized. On May 4, 1947, communist high command radioed the East China
Field Army
that since it was impossible to fight large nationalist formations because the nationalists had concentrated their forces, the current tactic of waiting for an appropriate opportunity was very good. As long as there was the patient, there would always be the opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Two days later, the communist high command once again radioed the East China
Field Army
on May 6, 1947 to instruct the local communists on several important points: Never be impatient and never separate the concentrated forces, because as long as the concentrated force are ready to be mobilized, there would always be the opportunity to destroy the enemy. In according to the communist high command, the local communist commanders redeployed their forces in early May, 1947 by withdrew their main force eastward to the region to the east of Laiwu
and Xintai
, while the communist 2nd and 7th Columns originally planned to deployed to central China were redeployed to withdrew to Ju (莒) County
, and the communist 6th Column withdrew to Pingyi (平邑) in southern Shandong
. The communists were waiting to ambush the nationalist at the proper moment.
Chiang Kai-shek
had erroneously believed that the communist retreat was a sign of weakness and they were no longer able to fight any decisive battles, so on May 10, 1947, he gave the order to pursuit the enemy for eradication. Gu Zhutong
subsequently ordered the three nationalist corps under his command to gave a chase toward Boshan
and Yishui (沂水). Tang Enbo, the commander-in-chief
of the nationalist I Corps at the right flank abandoned the previously proven tactics of prudent push, and acted on his own without coordinate with the nationalist II Corps and III Corps by ordering the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division to advance toward Tanbu (坦埠) on May 11, 1947 from Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟) and Duo (垛) Village, in an attempt to take control of the region along the highway from Yishui (沂水) to Mengyin (蒙阴). To protect the flanks of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, Tang Enbo ordered the nationalist 7th Army and 48th Reorganized Division to advance toward Yishui (沂水) in the north, and the nationalist 65th Reorganized Division to guard Mengyin (蒙阴). The resulting rushing had dangerously overexposed the advancing nationalist units.
Field Army
immediately begun to analyze the situation and decided that it would be much better to first annihilate the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division because it was most dangerously exposed, and the gap between it and other nationalist units were the greatest, so it was easier to surround and destroy it. The commander of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was considered by many other nationalist commanders as arrogant because he was a favorite of Chiang Kai-shek
and was not at the good terms with them, especially with Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the 83rd Reorganized Division. Furthermore, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s relationship with his direct superior Tang Enbo was not extremely smooth either, so the communist predicted that if the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was under attack, other nationalist commanders would not be too enthusiastic in saving it. The rugged terrain would limit the mobility of the mechanized nationalist force while communists could take the geographical advantages to hide and move their troops. The nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was one of the top five crack unit of the nationalist force, and once it was completely destroyed, it would be a huge psychological blow to the nationalist morale and good propaganda piece for the communists. Another political reason to destroy the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was that its commander, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) had openly proclaimed his goal many times: to feed Chen Yi
to fish by driven Chen Yi
and his followers into the East China Sea
. Communists were therefore determined to destroy their nemesis.
After the communists had changed their mind on their targets, they immediately ordered a redeployment of their forces in the morning of May 12, 1947: they would concentrate at least a total of five columns (armies) to destroy the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division in the region bordered by Menglianggu
(孟良崮) Mountains in the north and Tanbu (坦埠) in the south. Communist forces that were on their eastward march were ordered to immediately march in the opposite direction to the east of Mengyin (蒙阴) for new tasks. Communist 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th and the Specialized Columns (armies) were tasked to attack the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, while the communist 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 10th Columns (armies) and local communist militias would be tasked to prevent nationalist units including nationalist 5th and 7th Army, 11th, 25th, 48th, 65th, 83rd Reorganized Divisions from reinforcing the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division by blocking them in the regions including Xintai
, Laiwu
, Linyi
, Lintai (临泰) and Riverine Sun (He Yang, 河阳) regions.
Field Army
ordered the communist 1st Column and 8th Column to take advantage of the local terrain and penetrate deep behind the enemy to sever the links between the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division and other nationalist units nearby. In the evening of May 13, 947, the communist 1st Column and 8th Column deployed a portion of their forces in front of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division for blocking actions, while the main forces outflanked the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division and penetrated into the nationalist line as planned. The 3rd Division of the communist 1st Column succeeded in taking Cao (曹) Village and highland to the north of the village, threatened Mengyin (蒙阴), and formed a defense position to block nationalist 65th Reorganized Division in the future to prevent it from reinforce the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division. The main force of the communist 1st Column succeeded in taking strategic positions including Yellow Dipper Peak Mountain (Huang Dou Ding Shan, 黄斗顶山), Yao (尧) Mountain, Celestial Horse Mountain (Tian Ma Shan, 天马山), and Border Plaque(界牌), severed the link between the nationalist 74th and 25th Reorganized Divisions. The nationalist 25th Reorganized Division attempted to breakthrough, but its attempt was beaten back by the stubborn enemy and the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division was forced to withdraw back to Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟) to regroup after suffering heavy casualties. The communist 8th Column divided its force into two portions, with a portion of the force taking strategic positions including Horizontal Mountain (Heng Shan, 横山), Old Cat’s Nest (Lao Mao Wo, 老猫窝) to the southeast of Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains, while the main force taking strategic positions including Peach Blossom Mountain (Tao Hua Shan, 桃花山), Nose Mountain (Bi Zi Shan, 鼻子山), and the Mountain of Heap of Rocks (Lei Shi Shan, 磊石山), thus successfully severed the link between the nationalist 74th and 83rd Reorganized Divisions as planned. Meanwhile, the communist 4th and 9th Column attack the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division head on, successfully checked the nationalist advance by taking regions including Yellow Deer Camp (Huang Lu Zhai, 黄鹿寨), Buddhist Mountain (Fo Shan, 佛山), Horse Herding Pound (Ma Mu Chi, 马牧池), Su Family’s Hotel (Su Jia Dian, 隋家店). The communist 6th Column operating behind the enemy line in southern Shandong
reached regions of Guanshang (观上) and White Wharf (Bai Bu, 白埠) to the southwest of Duo (垛) Village from Copper Stone (Tong Shi, 铜石) region in the morning of May 14, 1947 after a forced march.
Up to the point at which the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was first attacked by the enemy in the evening of May 13, 1947, the nationalists still did not realize how grave the situation was going to be, and the nationalist commanders were still prepared to carryout their original plan of taking Tanbu (坦埠) on the next day. On May 12, 1947, Tang Enbo ordered ordered Major General Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist army sized Reorganized 83rd Division to send out a regiment to reinforce nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, probing the enemy's weakness while performing its mission. MG Li sent out the (brigade sized) 57th Regiment of the (Division sized) Reorganized 19th Brigade of the Reorganized 83rd Division led by the regimental commander Colonel Luo Wenlang (罗文浪) to take Peach Flower Mountain (Taohuashan, 桃花山), 5 km
to the southeast of Menglianggu. However, the nationalist reinforcement was ambushed by the enemy, with the entire vanguard of the regiment being completely wiped out on May 12, 1947, with the battalion commander Major Wang Shouheng (王寿衡) being killed in action. The next day, the rest of the (brigade sized) 57th Regiment of the (Division sized) Reorganized 19th Brigade of the Reorganized 83rd Division was wiped out by the enemy after being cutting off from the rear, and the regimental commander Colonel Luo Wenlang (罗文浪) being captured alive by the enemy. The failure of taking Peach Flower Mountain (Taohuashan, 桃花山), 5 km
to the southeast of Menglianggu meant that the link between the nationalist Reorganized 74th Division and its most probably reinforcement had being severed.
After nationalist commanders learned on May 14, 1947 that nationalist strongholds including Celestial Horse Mountain (Tian Ma Shan, 天马山), Horse Herding Pound (Ma Mu Chi, 马牧池) and the Mountain of Heap of Rocks (Lei Shi Shan, 磊石山) had fallen into the enemy hands, they became aware that the enemy was planning to surround and destroy the 74th Reorganized Division, which subsequently retreated toward Menglianggu (孟良崮) Mountains and Duo (垛) Village. The communists chased after the nationalists retreating southward, with the communist 4th Column and 9th Column in the front, and after a night of battle, they succeeded in taking the region along Tang Family’s Valley (Ta Jia Yu Zi, 唐家峪子) and Zhao Family’s City (赵家城子). At dawn of May 15, 1947, Duo (垛) Village, the last nationalist stronghold had fallen into the hands of communist 6th Column (with the help of communist 1st Column). After fierce battle in the Menglianggu (孟良崮) and Lu (芦) Mountains, the communist 8th Column succeeded in taking Ten Thousands Springs (Wan Quan, 万泉) Mountain, thus linked up with communist 1st Column and 6th Column. By the end of May 15, 1947, the communist 1st, 6th and 8th Columns had succeeded in achieving their objective of completely cutting off the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, which was totally surrounded just like the communists had planned.
– Mengfang (蒙 防) Highway was located 4 km to the south. The mountain range was around 10 km in the east – west direction and there was no trees grown. There was not much grass either and water sources were nearly nonexistent. However, the nationalists believed these would not be a problem because reinforcement would arrive soon, but little did they know that the development of battles in the latter stage of the campaign was totally different. To reinforce the besieged 74th Reorganized Division, the nationalist high ordered nearby nationalist units to rapidly closing the distance between themselves and the Menglianggu
(孟良崮) mountains, including: the 11th Reorganized Division from Xintai
, the 65th Reorganized Division from Mengyin (蒙阴), the 25th Reorganized Division from at Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟), the 83rd Reorganized Division from at Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺), the 7th Army from at Riverine Sun (He Yang, 河阳), the 48th Reorganized Division from at Soup Head (Tang Tou, 汤头), the 5th Army from Laiwu
. The 20th Reorganized Division from Dawenkou (大汶口) was order to go to Mengyin (蒙阴), while other nationalist units from second line were also mobilized, in the hope of annihilating the communist in a decisive campaign in the regions of Mengyin (蒙阴) and Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺) regions.
After the failed attempt to breakout in the south, the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division withdrew to the Menglianggu
(孟良崮) mountains. The three regiments of the 58th Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was tasked respectively to secure the main peak of the Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains, Eagle’s Nest (Diao Wo, 雕窝) and Lu (芦) Mountain. The 51st Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was to secure Mount 520 and Mount 540, while the 57th Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was to secure Mount 570 (also designated as Mount 600 in other historical records). Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) setup his headquarter of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was on the eastern half of Mount 540, and repeatedly asked the nationalist high command for reinforcements. Chiang Kai-shek
believed that this was an excellent opportunity to annihilate the communist East China
Field Army
in a decisive campaign, so he ordered RoCAF
to airdrop supplies to the besieged nationalists, and also ordered a total of ten army-sized nationalist reorganized divisions spearheaded by the 25th Reorganized Division and 83rd Reorganized Division to reinforce the besieged nationalists. As a result, the strategies of both sides became obvious to the opposing forces: the communists intended to destroy the besieged nationalist 74th Reorganized Division while avoiding being attacked and wiped out from both fronts, while the nationalists intended to attack their enemy from both fronts, using their besieged force as a bait, which would held out long enough for the reinforcement to arrive. However, besieged nationalists could not hold as long as they were hoped to, because of the difficult landscape: the vegetation was sparse and there was not any water source. The rugged terrain meant that it was nearly impossible for the nationalist defenders to build any fortification and thus they were directly exposed to the enemy fire, suffering huge casualties. To compound the problem, most if not all heavy weaponries had to be abandoned because they could not be carried to the mountain tops. Furthermore, due to the lack of water, the water-cool machine guns could not function properly even after they were carried up to the mountain tops. The airdrop was completely insufficient to fulfill the daily need of the besieged force either.
ordered nearby nationalist forces to do their best to save the besieged 74th Reorganized Division, but the communists were aided by the internal fights among the nationalists. Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist 83rd Reorganized Division was a personal foe of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫), the commander of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, and he was not willing to commit fully to save his foe. In addition, Li Tianxia (李天霞) was very worried that the communists were using the besieged nationalist division as a bait to annihilate his own force, since his own division was not as tough as the 74th Reorganized Division, which could withstand the communist onslaught and survive. If Li Tianxia (李天霞)’s 83rd Reorganized Division were to be ambushed on the way in the open without any fortification on its way to save the besieged nationalist force, it would be certain that his weaker division would be completely destroyed. As a result, Li Tianxia (李天霞) only sent out a single regiment in a symbolic move, and just as he had expected, this regiment was completely destroyed by the waiting enemy. In contrast, the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division under the command of Huang Botao (黄伯韬) ventured out in full strength to carryout Chiang Kai-shek
’s order, and by May 14, 1947, they had reached the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, which was a merely 6 km away from Menglianggu
(孟良崮) region, the last natural barrier. Both sides were keenly aware that whoever controlled the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain would decide the outcome of the campaign, and both sent out their crack troop to take the commanding peak of the mountain.
The 16th Division of the communist 6th Column was tasked with capturing and securing the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, and its 48th Regiment was the vanguard. After a forced march with troops had to eat and even sleep while on the march, the communist 48th Regiment finally reached the eastern foothill of Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain. At the same time, a detachment of the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division also reached the western foothill of Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain. The 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 48th Regiment of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column under its commander Zhai Zuguang (翟祖光) scaled the cliff from the eastern slope, and after approximately 50 minutes, the communist company successfully occupied the commanding heights and other positions on the peak. Meanwhile, the nationalists were only 30 meters away, a minute of climbing, but very unfortunately, they were just a minute too late. The communist company immediately opened up everything they had, pouring dense fire power onto the approaching nationalists who almost succeeded, but was forced to make a hasty retreat after suffering dozen fatalities under enemy fire, and the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain would be firmly remain in the communist hand for the rest of the campaign. While the 48th Regiment of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column maintained the firm control of the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, adjacent positions including Ferocious Tiger (Menghu, 猛虎) and Ten Thousands Springs (Wan Quan, 万泉) Mountains were firmly in the hands of the rest units of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column. Although the nationalists launched attacks on the communist positions with battalions and regiments, all of them were successfully repelled. When Wang Bicheng (王必成), the commander of communist 6th Column recalled the situation in an interview 32 years later in Wuhan
, he still expressed the fear and appreciation of the communist luck: had the communists were a minute late and the nationalists were a minute earlier, the outcome of the Menglianggu (孟良崮) Campaign would be quite different. Su Yu
, the commander of East China
Field Army
who directed the campaign also expressed the same feeling numerous times.
personally issued another order once again to demand the 10 nationalist army-sized reorganized divisions reinforcing the besieged nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, but progress was extremely slow and by the fastest speed, it would still take days according the progress already made: the advance of 8 army-sized reorganized divisions and 2 division-sized brigades that were closest to the besieged 74th Reorganized Division were all completely checked in the morning of May 16, 1947 by the communist forces deployed on their ways to blocking them. The battles at Mengliangu (孟良崮) region were fierce after the communist launched their general assault in the afternoon of May 15, 1947, with most positions changing hands multiple times.
The communist 4th Column first took Mount 330, and then took the region in between Mount 520 and the western half of Mount 540, thus successfully cutting off the retreating route of the nationalists. Realizing the dangerous situation, the nationalists launched several counterattacks, but all were beaten back with stubborn enemy resistance. With the reinforcements from the communist 1st Column and 9th Column, the communist 4th Column further attacked and took Mount 520 by midnight, killing most of the defenders. The surviving nationalist defenders of Mount 520 fled to Mount 540, but the communists would not give them a break and continued their attack on Mount 540. A detachment of the communist 4th Column scaled the cliff of the western half of Mount 540 and outflanked the defenders and launched a surprise attack. The surprised nationalist defenders could not react in time and rapidly fled toward eastern half of Mount 540, and the nationalist commander Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was unable to stop his fleeing troops and his headquarter was dangerously exposed to the fire of the attacking enemy. Although the nationalist commander was able to make his timely retreat just in time from the eastern half of Mount 540 with rest of his staffs when he was forced to relocate his headquarter to Mount 570, but due to the heavy casualties of staff officers, the remaining headquarter was only a mere fraction of what it once was and could not function normally anymore like it used to. At the dawn of May 16, 1947, the nationalists counterattacked the western half Mount 540 held by the communists in waves under fire cover, and the strength of their attack forces eventually grew to regimental size from the original company size. Communist troops of the 4th Column guarding the mount were exhausted and the nationalists seemed to be able to achieve their objective. At the last moment, communist reinforcement from the 1st Column and 4th Column arrived just in time, and successfully destroyed the counterattacking nationalist forces. The nationalists, however, were able to successfully driven back the communist attacks headed by the communist 9th Column to the eastern half of Mount 540, but they were unable to prevent the communist 6th Column and 8th Column from attacking toward Lu (芦) Mountain after successfully destroying nationalist forces in the area.
The communist 9th Column launched another offensive simultaneously against the eastern half of Mount 540, Mount 570, and the main peak of Menglianggu
(孟良崮) mountains, with a portion of its force attacking the nationalists held eastern half of Mount 540 from the north and northeast, and the remaining forces attack the other two positions in the nationalist hands. By this time, the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division became disorganized and most units were fighting on their own after losing direct contact with the divisional headquarter over the phone, and orders and reports had to be sent via couriers and the few remaining radios. Due to the close proximity of the opposing sides and rapid enemy advance, the supplies and ammunitions airdropped by the nationalist air force in this stage of the war mostly landed on communist positions. The communists also utilized the prisoners-of-wars to operate the newly captured heavy artilleries pieces from the nationalists. The captured nationalist artillery crew was reluctant at the first and shelled the communist force attacking the nationalist position instead. After one of the artillery crew was executed in front of others, the prisoners-of-wars dared not to play anymore tricks and every round landed on its mark. By the 8:00 am of May 16, 1947, with nationalists strongholds at Eagle’s Nest (Diao Wo, 雕窝) and Lu (芦) Mountain falling into the enemy hands’, all nationalist positions on the surface with the exception of Mount 540 had fallen, and most of the defenders were forced into caves. At 1:00 pm, the communist 4th Column gathered five mountain gun
s and bombarded the eastern half Mount 540 while infantries advanced toward the nationalists held eastern half from the west. Meanwhile, the communist 6th Column also attacked the eastern half mount from the south. By 2:00 pm, Mount 540 had fallen and the nationalist 51st Brigade was completely destroyed. Meantime, units of the communist 6th Column and 8th Column cleared out the remaining nationalist defenders in their caves of Lu (芦) Mountain, completely destroying the surviving 3,000 troops of the nationalist 58th Brigade.
Nationalist
When the Communista sent one of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s own distant relatives (nephew) deliver the request for his surrender, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) refused and had the nephew executed. The Communists consequently sent captured nationalist prisoners of war back to continue to request Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s surrender, but the nationalist commander stubbornly refused and wanted to have them executed as well. However, his subordinates convinced him not to execute anyone else, as it would only help no one but the enemy propagandists. Still, the inevitable end was near. After learning the nationalist commander refused to surrender, the communists organized several assault teams to charge the nationalist commander’s hideout. Each communist assault team consisted of seven members, and a communist squad commander of the 2nd company of the 1st Battalion of the 69th Regiment of the 23rd Division of the East China
Field Army
named Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) was among the last assault team that finally reached their destination after all previous communist assault teams were killed. After fierce battle, the communist assault team only consisted of three members led by a deputy platoon commander when they reached the outside of the cave where Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s headquarter was located, and requested the nationalists inside to surrender. As others went out the cave to surrender, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) emptied his last magazine of ammunition on the communists, severely wounded the communist deputy platoon commander. This enraged the communists who fired back, and as Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was fleeing further into the cave, he was shot and killed along with several other nationalists by the submachine gun fire from the communist squad commander Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) in the assault team. The surviving nationalists shouted to the communist to stop firing because they would indeed surrender and threw out their weapons, and a total of eighty-three survivors came out hiding from the cave and nearby makeshift fortifications (mainly a waist-high stone wall constructed by the nationalists earlier). All were captured alive and led away to the prisoner-of-war camps.
By this time, the communist reinforcement led by a deputy divisional commander named Dai Wenxian (戴文贤) arrived, and seeing Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s cadaver, the communist deputy commander was very upset because capturing the nationalist commander alive would be much bigger and better political propaganda, and that was exactly how communists had wanted, so Dai Wenxian (戴文贤) asked angrily:”Who shot him? And Why?” Not knowing the nationalist officer killed was Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫), Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) angrily shouted back at his deputy divisional commander:”Why wouldn’t I shoot him when he was shooting at me? I would shoot back even if he was Chiang Kai-shek
!” The communist deputy divisional commander could not say anything more and had to excuse his soldier by asking him to help other to march the prisoners-of-war down the slope. Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) did not find out that he had killed Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) until years later. One of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s bodyguard named Zhu Fanyou (朱凡友) joined the communists after the campaign and became Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田)’s good friend after being assigned to the same squad. The two participated together in the remaining of the Chinese Civil War
and Korean War
, and then stationed together at Niechangshan (内长山) Fortification. In was only during this period when Zhu Fanyou (朱凡友) finally revealed to Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) that the nationalist commander he killed was Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫). Although Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s action well qualified him as a nationalist martyr, the nationalist regime honored its martyr in a different way by claiming that he committed suicide instead, as described in the eulogy titled “A summons to arms of Painfully mourning the (nationalist
) 74th (Reorganized) Division” (痛悼74师檄文) wrote by Chiang Kai-shek
, who claimed that over 20 nationalist commanders had committed suicide, while in reality, most of them were all killed in action on the frontline during the fierce fight against the enemy. Only the deputy commander of the Reorganized 74th Division, Major General Cai Renjie (蔡仁杰, 1902–1947), and the commander of the Reorganized 58th Brigade of the Reorganized 74th Division, Major General Lu Xing (卢醒, 1911–1947) committed suicide in the campaign.
ordered all communist units to search the battlefield again, and it was soon discovered that nationalist survivors were quietly hidden in a valley between the main peak of Menglianggu (孟良崮) and Mount 570, waiting for the communists withdraw from the battlefield so that they would be linked up with the nationalist reinforcement afterward. These nationalist troops were observed earlier by various communist units at the higher ground but all mistakenly believed that they were the friendly forces. As the communist 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th Columns approached the surviving nationalists who had run out ammunition, water and supplies, the only option the surviving nationalists had was to surrender and there was not much of a fight, and by 5:00 pm on May 16, 1947, the campaign was over.
While the battles were raging on at Menglianggu (孟良崮) region, other communist formations fighting in other areas had also successfully achieved their objectives of stopping the nationalist reinforcements. The communist 10th Column checked the advance of the nationalist 5th Army near Laiwu
, and the communist 3rd Column checked the advance of the nationalist Reorganized 11th Division at the Xintai
– Mengyin (蒙阴) Highway. The communist 2nd and 7th Columns checked the advance of the nationalist Reorganized 48th Division and the 83rd Division at the region of Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺), with the nationalist 83rd Division losing an entire regiment totaling around 1,000, half of the casualties nationalist reinforcement suffered. Other local communist militias threatened Linyi
, preventing the nationalists sending additional reinforcements. Under the orders from Gu Zhutong
and Chiang Kai-shek
, the nationalist reinforcements tried hard to reach the besieged Reorganized 74th Division, with some of the reinforcement reached within 5 km of Menglianggu (孟良崮), but due to the stubborn enemy resistance, the nationalist advance was finally checked and the fate of the besieged nationalists were sealed. The communist victory was also due to its ability to mobilize 200,000 civilian to support their war effort, a number greater than the actual number of combatants the communists could muster.
,Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was buried with full military honor after the campaign by his communist enemy, who had recognized his capability and contribution during Second Sino-Japanese War
. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was given the same treatment as the communist commanders of equal rank, though the funeral was not as elaborate as that of nationalists due to the communists’ lack of material wealth at the time: nobody could find a new, good and clean nationalist uniform for the general and getting one from the nationalists were certainly out of the question, so Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was buried with a new communist uniform instead. In an unprecedented move, the communists also allowed Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s nine subordinates captured in the campaign, including a brigade commander with the rank of major general and eight regimental colonels, to participate in Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s funeral. The nationalist commander’s funeral ceremony was held by Xie Shensheng (谢胜坤), the deputy political director of the political directorate of the 6th Column of the communist East China
Field Army
, who would have an equal rank had the military ranking system existed in the communist force. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s widow eventually returned to China and settled in Shanghai
after the communist revolution, where she spent rest of her life. Chiang Kai-shek
personally ordered Tang Enbo to be removed from his post and Major General Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist 83rd Reorganized Division court-martialled as the failure to save the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, and Li's position was filled with his deputy, Major General Zhou Zhidao (周志道).
The result of the campaign was a serious blow to the nationalist morale and a great piece of communist propaganda. The communists met the enemy with both the technical and numerical superiority head on, and the entire nationalist Reorganized 74th Division, one of the top five nationalist crack troop units, was completely lost with 12,000 of its 30,000 troops killed and the remaining 18,000 captured. The nationalist reinforcement also suffered 2,000+ fatalities averaging 500 fatalities per day in the four-day long campaign. The nationalist internal power struggle played an important role in the nationalist defeat because most nationalist commanders felt that Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was too arrogant that when he asked the help from other nationalist commanders with higher rank, he acted if he was giving out orders to those ranked above him. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) ‘s direct superior, Tang Enbo, for example, was scolded by his subordinate Zhang Lingpu (张灵甫) in a heated argument over the telephone and Tang was so enraged by the action of his subordinate that he withheld his troops for an entire day, providing the opportunities for the communists to regroup and strength their defense against the nationalist reinforcement. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was certainly more capable than most nationalist commanders of his time and he and his troops were proud of it, however, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) and many of his troops chose not to carefully hide their feelings and openly exhibit the feeling, and others were obviously resentful, resulting in the lack of enthusiasm to help Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) when he needed.
The nationalist “Plan of a Decisive Campaign in Central Shandong
” (Lu Zhong Jue Zhan Ji Hua, 鲁中决战计划) was in fact, a good battle strategy, as agreed even by their communist enemy, but the nationalist defeat meant that the nationalist original plan of annihilating their communist enemy in a decisive battle was impossible to reach, and the nationalist offensives against communist base in Shandong
had encountered a serious setback. The effect not only affected the battlefield in Shandong
, but also to a great degree, other battlefields as well, such as that of northern Shaanxi
. Had the nationalist reinforcements succeeded in rescuing their besieged comrades-in-arms, they would have also succeeded in annihilating the enemy’s main force. In this campaign, the nationalist top commanders performed well in that they had correctly adjusted their strategies according to the changing situation on the battlefield, almost succeeding in achieve their strategic objective, but unfortunately, the field commanders were unable to carry out their mission to the fullest and thus resulting in failure.
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
and the communists
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
during the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
in the post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era and resulted in communist victory. The campaign was later used by the communists
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
as a specific battle example in their military science and history, as well as a propaganda piece. The battle mainly took place in Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
of Linyi region in Shandong Province.
Prelude
From March, 1947, nationalists abandoned their original plan of all-out assault on every communist position, instead, they adjusted their strategy to a much more realistic one: concentrating on attacking the communists in northern ShanxiShanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
and Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. In the Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
theater of war, Generalissimo
Generalissimo
Generalissimo and Generalissimus are military ranks of the highest degree, superior to Field Marshal and other five-star ranks.-Usage:...
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
named Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong courtesy name: Moshan , was a Chinese military general and administrator of the Republic of China.-Early life and career:...
, the commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
as the commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
at the frontline, setting up his headquarter in Xuzhou
Xuzhou
Xuzhou , otherwise known as Pengcheng in ancient times, is a major city in and the fourth largest prefecture-level city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China...
. Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong courtesy name: Moshan , was a Chinese military general and administrator of the Republic of China.-Early life and career:...
had 24 army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 60 division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized reorganized brigades at his command, totaling 450,000+ troops. Out of the 450,000+ troops, over 330,000+ in 17 army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 43 division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized reorganized brigades were deployed on the first line, organized into 3 corpses, the I, II, III Corps, spearheaded by the three crack units of the nationalist forces: 11th Reorganized Division, the 74th Reorganized Division and the 5th Army. Out of the 3 corpses, the I Corps commanded by Tang Enbo was the largest and strongest of all, with near 200,000 troops in 8 army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized reorganized divisions totaling more than 20 division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized reorganized brigades, and the I Corps was tasked with main assaults on the communists. Form late March, 1947 to mid April, 1947, nationalists succeeded taking control of the regions along the section of Jinpu railway
Jinpu railway
The Tianjin–Pukou or Jinpu Railway runs from Tianjin to Pukou outside Nanjing in Jiangsu province.In September 1898 at a conference in London, British and German capitalists decided to build a railway from Tianjin to Zhenjiang. In May 1899, the Qing government agreed to the financing of the...
from Xuzhou
Xuzhou
Xuzhou , otherwise known as Pengcheng in ancient times, is a major city in and the fourth largest prefecture-level city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China...
to Jinan
Jinan
Jinan is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of the region from the earliest beginnings of civilisation and has evolved into a major national administrative, economic, and transportation hub...
, and the entire southern Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
region.
The overconfident nationalists subsequently attacked the mountainous region in central Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
in late April, 1947 but suffered a setback for their carelessness in Tai'an-Mengyin Campaign, losing over 24,000 troops. However, such setback was rather minor that it could be ignored: a mere 5% loss out of the total mighty force. The nationalist continued their original plan of push the arc-shaped frontline continuously deeper into central Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
, and force the local communist force, the East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
into a decisive battle in which the communist would be annihilated, or the communists would be forced to cross the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
to flee north if they chose not to engage in such a battle. The nationalist I Corps would attack toward Yishui (沂水) and Tanbu (坦埠) regions, and then join forces with the nationalist II and III corpses to attack northward and eastward, destroying the communist base in Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. Five nationalist armies were deployed in the region border by Qingdao
Qingdao
' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...
– Jinan
Jinan
Jinan is the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of the region from the earliest beginnings of civilisation and has evolved into a major national administrative, economic, and transportation hub...
Railway, Jinpu Railway
Jinpu railway
The Tianjin–Pukou or Jinpu Railway runs from Tianjin to Pukou outside Nanjing in Jiangsu province.In September 1898 at a conference in London, British and German capitalists decided to build a railway from Tianjin to Zhenjiang. In May 1899, the Qing government agreed to the financing of the...
and Tai'an
Tai'an
Tai'an is a prefecture-level city in western Shandong province, People's Republic of China.Centered around Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Laiwu to the northeast, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng to the extreme west and Jining to the south...
in the south to support the three nationalist corpses, and another two nationalist army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized reorganized divisions were deployed in Yi (峄) County and Zaozhuang
Zaozhuang
Zaozhuang is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province in Eastern China. The second smallest prefecture-level city in the province, it borders Jining to the west and north, Linyi to the east, and the province of Jiangsu to the south....
respectively as reserves.
Order of battleOrder of battleIn modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...
The nationalists totaled three corps with more than 400,000 troops while the communists totaled 10 columns (armies)Column (formation)
A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
near 200,000 troops.
NationalistKuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
order of battleOrder of battleIn modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...
- The 5th ArmyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
- The 7th ArmyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
- The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 11th Reorganized Division - The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 20th Reorganized Division - The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 25th Reorganized Division - The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 48th Reorganized Division - The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 65th Reorganized Division - The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 74th Reorganized Division- The divisionDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized 51st Reorganized Brigade - The divisionDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized 57th Reorganized Brigade - The divisionDivision (military)A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
-sized 58th Reorganized Brigade
- The division
- The armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
-sized 83rd Reorganized Division - Other nationalist units mobilized
CommunistCommunist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
order of battleOrder of battleIn modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...
- The 1st column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 2nd column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 3rd column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 4th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 6th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 7th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 8th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 9th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The 10th column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group.... - The specialized column (army)Column (formation)A military column is a formation of soldiers marching together in one or more files in which the file is significantly longer than the width of ranks in the formation...
of East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
(unit with armor, trucks, and artilleries) - Other communist local garrison units
Commanders
Commanders from NationalistKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
side included:
- Supreme Commander: GeneralissimoGeneralissimoGeneralissimo and Generalissimus are military ranks of the highest degree, superior to Field Marshal and other five-star ranks.-Usage:...
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
(Stationed in NanjingNanjing' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
)- Frontline Commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
: Gu ZhutongGu ZhutongGu Zhutong courtesy name: Moshan , was a Chinese military general and administrator of the Republic of China.-Early life and career:...
(Stationed in XuzhouXuzhouXuzhou , otherwise known as Pengcheng in ancient times, is a major city in and the fourth largest prefecture-level city of Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China...
)- Corps Commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
: Tang Enbo- Hu LianHu LianHu Lian was a Chinese Nationalist general, he participated the Northern Expedition, anti-communist Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War.- Whampoa Military Academy :...
(胡琏): Commander of the 11th Reorganized Division - Huang BaitaoHuang BaitaoHuang Baitao was a Nationalist general active in the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War, for which he was twice awarded the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, the highest honor a Chinese commander can achieve.-Early years and career:...
(黄伯韬): Commander of the 25th Reorganized Division - Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫): Commander of the 74th Reorganized Division
- Li Tianxia (李天霞): Commander of the 83rd Reorganized Division
- Hu Lian
- Corps Commander-in-chief
- Frontline Commander-in-chief
Commanders from Communist
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
side included:
- Chen YiChen Yi (communist)Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
(陈毅): Commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
and CommissarCommissarCommissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
- Su YuSu YuSu Yu was a Chinese Communist military leader. He was considered by many to be among the best commanders of the PLA only next to Lin Biao and Liu Bocheng. Su Yu fought in the Sino-Japanese War and in the Chinese Civil War...
(粟裕): Deputy Commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
, the actual architecturer of the campaign - Tan Zhenlin (谭震林): Deputy CommissarCommissarCommissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...
of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
- Wang Bicheng (王必成): commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the 6th Column (armyArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
) of the East ChinaEast ChinaEast China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field ArmyField armyA Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
- Wang Bicheng (王必成): commander-in-chief
- Su Yu
Strategies
The strategies of both sides had been changed from their original versions as the battles progressed.NationalistKuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
strategy
After the destruction of the entire 72nd Reorganized Division in late April, 1947 in the Tai'an-Mengyin Campaign, nationalists became very cautious and concentrated their forces in their movements afterward. This new tactic resulted from the painful experience learned earlier was so successful that the communist plan of defeating the nationalist offensive in ShandongShandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
by first destroying a portion of the nationalist force in the center of the frontline could no longer be realized. On May 4, 1947, communist high command radioed the East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
that since it was impossible to fight large nationalist formations because the nationalists had concentrated their forces, the current tactic of waiting for an appropriate opportunity was very good. As long as there was the patient, there would always be the opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Two days later, the communist high command once again radioed the East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
on May 6, 1947 to instruct the local communists on several important points: Never be impatient and never separate the concentrated forces, because as long as the concentrated force are ready to be mobilized, there would always be the opportunity to destroy the enemy. In according to the communist high command, the local communist commanders redeployed their forces in early May, 1947 by withdrew their main force eastward to the region to the east of Laiwu
Laiwu
Laiwu is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The smallest prefecture-level city in the province, it borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east and Tai'an to the southwest....
and Xintai
Xintai
Xintai is a county-level city administered under Tai'an prefecture-level city, in the Shandong province of eastern China. It is located about 50km to the southeast of the city of Tai'an.-Climate:...
, while the communist 2nd and 7th Columns originally planned to deployed to central China were redeployed to withdrew to Ju (莒) County
Ju County
Ju County is a county of Rizhao City, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.Ju County has a population of nearly 1.1016 million.The total area of 1952 square kilometers.-External links:*...
, and the communist 6th Column withdrew to Pingyi (平邑) in southern Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. The communists were waiting to ambush the nationalist at the proper moment.
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
had erroneously believed that the communist retreat was a sign of weakness and they were no longer able to fight any decisive battles, so on May 10, 1947, he gave the order to pursuit the enemy for eradication. Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong courtesy name: Moshan , was a Chinese military general and administrator of the Republic of China.-Early life and career:...
subsequently ordered the three nationalist corps under his command to gave a chase toward Boshan
Boshan District
-Description:BoShan is called a district in Zibo City, but actually BoShan is a small city on its own with a population of about 400,000 people. It is about 30 kilometers south from the urban center of Zibo City, Zhang Dian....
and Yishui (沂水). Tang Enbo, the commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the nationalist I Corps at the right flank abandoned the previously proven tactics of prudent push, and acted on his own without coordinate with the nationalist II Corps and III Corps by ordering the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division to advance toward Tanbu (坦埠) on May 11, 1947 from Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟) and Duo (垛) Village, in an attempt to take control of the region along the highway from Yishui (沂水) to Mengyin (蒙阴). To protect the flanks of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, Tang Enbo ordered the nationalist 7th Army and 48th Reorganized Division to advance toward Yishui (沂水) in the north, and the nationalist 65th Reorganized Division to guard Mengyin (蒙阴). The resulting rushing had dangerously overexposed the advancing nationalist units.
Communist strategy
On May 11, 1947, communists learned that the nationalist 5th Army and 48th Reorganized Division had taken regions including Mia Family’s Bent (Miao Jia Qu, 苗家曲) and Border Lake (Jie Hu, 界湖) by venturing out from Riverine Sun (He Yang, 河阳), and was advancing toward Yishui (沂水), thus was dangerously exposed. The communists decided to ambush these nationalist units and if possible, also ambush the nationalist reinforcement as well. After the order was already give, new intelligence revealed Tang Enbo’s plan and that the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was advancing toward Tanbu (坦埠). Communist commanders of the East ChinaEast China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
immediately begun to analyze the situation and decided that it would be much better to first annihilate the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division because it was most dangerously exposed, and the gap between it and other nationalist units were the greatest, so it was easier to surround and destroy it. The commander of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was considered by many other nationalist commanders as arrogant because he was a favorite of Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
and was not at the good terms with them, especially with Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the 83rd Reorganized Division. Furthermore, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s relationship with his direct superior Tang Enbo was not extremely smooth either, so the communist predicted that if the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was under attack, other nationalist commanders would not be too enthusiastic in saving it. The rugged terrain would limit the mobility of the mechanized nationalist force while communists could take the geographical advantages to hide and move their troops. The nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was one of the top five crack unit of the nationalist force, and once it was completely destroyed, it would be a huge psychological blow to the nationalist morale and good propaganda piece for the communists. Another political reason to destroy the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was that its commander, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) had openly proclaimed his goal many times: to feed Chen Yi
Chen Yi (communist)
Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
to fish by driven Chen Yi
Chen Yi (communist)
Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
and his followers into the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. Communists were therefore determined to destroy their nemesis.
After the communists had changed their mind on their targets, they immediately ordered a redeployment of their forces in the morning of May 12, 1947: they would concentrate at least a total of five columns (armies) to destroy the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division in the region bordered by Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
(孟良崮) Mountains in the north and Tanbu (坦埠) in the south. Communist forces that were on their eastward march were ordered to immediately march in the opposite direction to the east of Mengyin (蒙阴) for new tasks. Communist 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th and the Specialized Columns (armies) were tasked to attack the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, while the communist 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 10th Columns (armies) and local communist militias would be tasked to prevent nationalist units including nationalist 5th and 7th Army, 11th, 25th, 48th, 65th, 83rd Reorganized Divisions from reinforcing the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division by blocking them in the regions including Xintai
Xintai
Xintai is a county-level city administered under Tai'an prefecture-level city, in the Shandong province of eastern China. It is located about 50km to the southeast of the city of Tai'an.-Climate:...
, Laiwu
Laiwu
Laiwu is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The smallest prefecture-level city in the province, it borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east and Tai'an to the southwest....
, Linyi
Linyi
Linyi is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The largest prefecture-level city in Shandong both by area and total population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to the north, Tai'an to the northwest, Jining to the...
, Lintai (临泰) and Riverine Sun (He Yang, 河阳) regions.
74th Reorganized Division besieged
On May 11, 1947, the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division begun their push northward from Duo (垛) Village under the cover of nationalist 25th and 83rd Reorganized Divisions, and by May 13, 1947, it succeeded in taking regions including Yang family’s Camp (Yang Jia Zhai, 杨家寨), Buddhist Mountain Cape (Fo Shan Jiao, 佛山角) and Horse Herding Pound (Ma Mu Chi, 马牧池), and planned to take Tanbu (坦埠) on May 14, 1947. At the dusk of May 13, 1947, the high command of communist East ChinaEast China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
ordered the communist 1st Column and 8th Column to take advantage of the local terrain and penetrate deep behind the enemy to sever the links between the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division and other nationalist units nearby. In the evening of May 13, 947, the communist 1st Column and 8th Column deployed a portion of their forces in front of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division for blocking actions, while the main forces outflanked the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division and penetrated into the nationalist line as planned. The 3rd Division of the communist 1st Column succeeded in taking Cao (曹) Village and highland to the north of the village, threatened Mengyin (蒙阴), and formed a defense position to block nationalist 65th Reorganized Division in the future to prevent it from reinforce the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division. The main force of the communist 1st Column succeeded in taking strategic positions including Yellow Dipper Peak Mountain (Huang Dou Ding Shan, 黄斗顶山), Yao (尧) Mountain, Celestial Horse Mountain (Tian Ma Shan, 天马山), and Border Plaque(界牌), severed the link between the nationalist 74th and 25th Reorganized Divisions. The nationalist 25th Reorganized Division attempted to breakthrough, but its attempt was beaten back by the stubborn enemy and the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division was forced to withdraw back to Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟) to regroup after suffering heavy casualties. The communist 8th Column divided its force into two portions, with a portion of the force taking strategic positions including Horizontal Mountain (Heng Shan, 横山), Old Cat’s Nest (Lao Mao Wo, 老猫窝) to the southeast of Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains, while the main force taking strategic positions including Peach Blossom Mountain (Tao Hua Shan, 桃花山), Nose Mountain (Bi Zi Shan, 鼻子山), and the Mountain of Heap of Rocks (Lei Shi Shan, 磊石山), thus successfully severed the link between the nationalist 74th and 83rd Reorganized Divisions as planned. Meanwhile, the communist 4th and 9th Column attack the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division head on, successfully checked the nationalist advance by taking regions including Yellow Deer Camp (Huang Lu Zhai, 黄鹿寨), Buddhist Mountain (Fo Shan, 佛山), Horse Herding Pound (Ma Mu Chi, 马牧池), Su Family’s Hotel (Su Jia Dian, 隋家店). The communist 6th Column operating behind the enemy line in southern Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
reached regions of Guanshang (观上) and White Wharf (Bai Bu, 白埠) to the southwest of Duo (垛) Village from Copper Stone (Tong Shi, 铜石) region in the morning of May 14, 1947 after a forced march.
Up to the point at which the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was first attacked by the enemy in the evening of May 13, 1947, the nationalists still did not realize how grave the situation was going to be, and the nationalist commanders were still prepared to carryout their original plan of taking Tanbu (坦埠) on the next day. On May 12, 1947, Tang Enbo ordered ordered Major General Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist army sized Reorganized 83rd Division to send out a regiment to reinforce nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, probing the enemy's weakness while performing its mission. MG Li sent out the (brigade sized) 57th Regiment of the (Division sized) Reorganized 19th Brigade of the Reorganized 83rd Division led by the regimental commander Colonel Luo Wenlang (罗文浪) to take Peach Flower Mountain (Taohuashan, 桃花山), 5 km
KM
KM, Km, or km may stand for:*Kilometre *Kernel methods*Kettle Moraine High School*Khmer language *Kuomintang , a centre-right political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan...
to the southeast of Menglianggu. However, the nationalist reinforcement was ambushed by the enemy, with the entire vanguard of the regiment being completely wiped out on May 12, 1947, with the battalion commander Major Wang Shouheng (王寿衡) being killed in action. The next day, the rest of the (brigade sized) 57th Regiment of the (Division sized) Reorganized 19th Brigade of the Reorganized 83rd Division was wiped out by the enemy after being cutting off from the rear, and the regimental commander Colonel Luo Wenlang (罗文浪) being captured alive by the enemy. The failure of taking Peach Flower Mountain (Taohuashan, 桃花山), 5 km
KM
KM, Km, or km may stand for:*Kilometre *Kernel methods*Kettle Moraine High School*Khmer language *Kuomintang , a centre-right political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan...
to the southeast of Menglianggu meant that the link between the nationalist Reorganized 74th Division and its most probably reinforcement had being severed.
After nationalist commanders learned on May 14, 1947 that nationalist strongholds including Celestial Horse Mountain (Tian Ma Shan, 天马山), Horse Herding Pound (Ma Mu Chi, 马牧池) and the Mountain of Heap of Rocks (Lei Shi Shan, 磊石山) had fallen into the enemy hands, they became aware that the enemy was planning to surround and destroy the 74th Reorganized Division, which subsequently retreated toward Menglianggu (孟良崮) Mountains and Duo (垛) Village. The communists chased after the nationalists retreating southward, with the communist 4th Column and 9th Column in the front, and after a night of battle, they succeeded in taking the region along Tang Family’s Valley (Ta Jia Yu Zi, 唐家峪子) and Zhao Family’s City (赵家城子). At dawn of May 15, 1947, Duo (垛) Village, the last nationalist stronghold had fallen into the hands of communist 6th Column (with the help of communist 1st Column). After fierce battle in the Menglianggu (孟良崮) and Lu (芦) Mountains, the communist 8th Column succeeded in taking Ten Thousands Springs (Wan Quan, 万泉) Mountain, thus linked up with communist 1st Column and 6th Column. By the end of May 15, 1947, the communist 1st, 6th and 8th Columns had succeeded in achieving their objective of completely cutting off the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, which was totally surrounded just like the communists had planned.
Intentions revealed
Although surprised that their 74th Reorganized Division was surrounded, the nationalists were not scared, in fact, they were joyful at first because this could present the opportunity they had been waiting for: a decisive battle in which their communist enemy would be annihilated by the numerically and technically superior nationalists attacking from both sides. The 74th Reorganized Division would be in the center surrounded by the communists, while another nine army-sized nationalist reorganized divisions would be surrounding the communists in another siege. The nationalists believed that the 74th Reorganized Division was tough enough to withstand communist assaults and hold on to the final nationalist counterassault in which they would attack from both sides of the communists and annihilate the communists. The nationalist high command therefore ordered the 74th Reorganized Division to take its position in the Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains and wait for reinforcement. The main peak of Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains extended northwestward toward Mount 540, which was consisted of the eastern and western halves, and at the extreme northwestern end, there was Mount 520. The region named Eagle’s Nest (Diao Wo, 雕窝) was located in the east and Lu (芦) Mountain was located in the southeast. Wen (汶) River was to the north and LinyiLinyi
Linyi is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The largest prefecture-level city in Shandong both by area and total population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to the north, Tai'an to the northwest, Jining to the...
– Mengfang (蒙 防) Highway was located 4 km to the south. The mountain range was around 10 km in the east – west direction and there was no trees grown. There was not much grass either and water sources were nearly nonexistent. However, the nationalists believed these would not be a problem because reinforcement would arrive soon, but little did they know that the development of battles in the latter stage of the campaign was totally different. To reinforce the besieged 74th Reorganized Division, the nationalist high ordered nearby nationalist units to rapidly closing the distance between themselves and the Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
(孟良崮) mountains, including: the 11th Reorganized Division from Xintai
Xintai
Xintai is a county-level city administered under Tai'an prefecture-level city, in the Shandong province of eastern China. It is located about 50km to the southeast of the city of Tai'an.-Climate:...
, the 65th Reorganized Division from Mengyin (蒙阴), the 25th Reorganized Division from at Peach Village (Tao Xu, 桃墟), the 83rd Reorganized Division from at Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺), the 7th Army from at Riverine Sun (He Yang, 河阳), the 48th Reorganized Division from at Soup Head (Tang Tou, 汤头), the 5th Army from Laiwu
Laiwu
Laiwu is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The smallest prefecture-level city in the province, it borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east and Tai'an to the southwest....
. The 20th Reorganized Division from Dawenkou (大汶口) was order to go to Mengyin (蒙阴), while other nationalist units from second line were also mobilized, in the hope of annihilating the communist in a decisive campaign in the regions of Mengyin (蒙阴) and Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺) regions.
After the failed attempt to breakout in the south, the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division withdrew to the Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
(孟良崮) mountains. The three regiments of the 58th Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was tasked respectively to secure the main peak of the Menglianggu (孟良崮) mountains, Eagle’s Nest (Diao Wo, 雕窝) and Lu (芦) Mountain. The 51st Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was to secure Mount 520 and Mount 540, while the 57th Reorganized Brigade of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was to secure Mount 570 (also designated as Mount 600 in other historical records). Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) setup his headquarter of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was on the eastern half of Mount 540, and repeatedly asked the nationalist high command for reinforcements. Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
believed that this was an excellent opportunity to annihilate the communist East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
in a decisive campaign, so he ordered RoCAF
Republic of China Air Force
The Republic of China Air Force is the aviation branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The ROCAF's primary mission is the defense of the airspace over and around Taiwan...
to airdrop supplies to the besieged nationalists, and also ordered a total of ten army-sized nationalist reorganized divisions spearheaded by the 25th Reorganized Division and 83rd Reorganized Division to reinforce the besieged nationalists. As a result, the strategies of both sides became obvious to the opposing forces: the communists intended to destroy the besieged nationalist 74th Reorganized Division while avoiding being attacked and wiped out from both fronts, while the nationalists intended to attack their enemy from both fronts, using their besieged force as a bait, which would held out long enough for the reinforcement to arrive. However, besieged nationalists could not hold as long as they were hoped to, because of the difficult landscape: the vegetation was sparse and there was not any water source. The rugged terrain meant that it was nearly impossible for the nationalist defenders to build any fortification and thus they were directly exposed to the enemy fire, suffering huge casualties. To compound the problem, most if not all heavy weaponries had to be abandoned because they could not be carried to the mountain tops. Furthermore, due to the lack of water, the water-cool machine guns could not function properly even after they were carried up to the mountain tops. The airdrop was completely insufficient to fulfill the daily need of the besieged force either.
The critical minute
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
ordered nearby nationalist forces to do their best to save the besieged 74th Reorganized Division, but the communists were aided by the internal fights among the nationalists. Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist 83rd Reorganized Division was a personal foe of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫), the commander of the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, and he was not willing to commit fully to save his foe. In addition, Li Tianxia (李天霞) was very worried that the communists were using the besieged nationalist division as a bait to annihilate his own force, since his own division was not as tough as the 74th Reorganized Division, which could withstand the communist onslaught and survive. If Li Tianxia (李天霞)’s 83rd Reorganized Division were to be ambushed on the way in the open without any fortification on its way to save the besieged nationalist force, it would be certain that his weaker division would be completely destroyed. As a result, Li Tianxia (李天霞) only sent out a single regiment in a symbolic move, and just as he had expected, this regiment was completely destroyed by the waiting enemy. In contrast, the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division under the command of Huang Botao (黄伯韬) ventured out in full strength to carryout Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
’s order, and by May 14, 1947, they had reached the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, which was a merely 6 km away from Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
(孟良崮) region, the last natural barrier. Both sides were keenly aware that whoever controlled the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain would decide the outcome of the campaign, and both sent out their crack troop to take the commanding peak of the mountain.
The 16th Division of the communist 6th Column was tasked with capturing and securing the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, and its 48th Regiment was the vanguard. After a forced march with troops had to eat and even sleep while on the march, the communist 48th Regiment finally reached the eastern foothill of Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain. At the same time, a detachment of the nationalist 25th Reorganized Division also reached the western foothill of Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain. The 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 48th Regiment of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column under its commander Zhai Zuguang (翟祖光) scaled the cliff from the eastern slope, and after approximately 50 minutes, the communist company successfully occupied the commanding heights and other positions on the peak. Meanwhile, the nationalists were only 30 meters away, a minute of climbing, but very unfortunately, they were just a minute too late. The communist company immediately opened up everything they had, pouring dense fire power onto the approaching nationalists who almost succeeded, but was forced to make a hasty retreat after suffering dozen fatalities under enemy fire, and the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain would be firmly remain in the communist hand for the rest of the campaign. While the 48th Regiment of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column maintained the firm control of the Yellow Cliff (Huang Ya, 黄崖) Mountain, adjacent positions including Ferocious Tiger (Menghu, 猛虎) and Ten Thousands Springs (Wan Quan, 万泉) Mountains were firmly in the hands of the rest units of the 16th Division of the communist 6th Column. Although the nationalists launched attacks on the communist positions with battalions and regiments, all of them were successfully repelled. When Wang Bicheng (王必成), the commander of communist 6th Column recalled the situation in an interview 32 years later in Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
, he still expressed the fear and appreciation of the communist luck: had the communists were a minute late and the nationalists were a minute earlier, the outcome of the Menglianggu (孟良崮) Campaign would be quite different. Su Yu
Su Yu
Su Yu was a Chinese Communist military leader. He was considered by many to be among the best commanders of the PLA only next to Lin Biao and Liu Bocheng. Su Yu fought in the Sino-Japanese War and in the Chinese Civil War...
, the commander of East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
who directed the campaign also expressed the same feeling numerous times.
Fall of the nationalist headquarters
Realizing that they were being in endangered being surrounded from behind, as well as facing counterassault in front if 74th Reorganized Division was not destroyed immediately, the communists decided that they must destroy the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division in time, at all cost, so the communists launched their general assault in the afternoon of May 15, 1947. The communist redeployed their forces, with the communist 1st Column in the west, the communist 4th Column in the north, the communist 6th Column in the south, the communist 8th Column in the north, and the communist 9th Column in the northeast, attacking the besieged nationalist 74th Reorganized Division at five fronts simultaneously. Realizing that the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division was in danger of being wiped out if reinforcement could not arrive in time, in the morning of May 16, 1947, Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
personally issued another order once again to demand the 10 nationalist army-sized reorganized divisions reinforcing the besieged nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, but progress was extremely slow and by the fastest speed, it would still take days according the progress already made: the advance of 8 army-sized reorganized divisions and 2 division-sized brigades that were closest to the besieged 74th Reorganized Division were all completely checked in the morning of May 16, 1947 by the communist forces deployed on their ways to blocking them. The battles at Mengliangu (孟良崮) region were fierce after the communist launched their general assault in the afternoon of May 15, 1947, with most positions changing hands multiple times.
The communist 4th Column first took Mount 330, and then took the region in between Mount 520 and the western half of Mount 540, thus successfully cutting off the retreating route of the nationalists. Realizing the dangerous situation, the nationalists launched several counterattacks, but all were beaten back with stubborn enemy resistance. With the reinforcements from the communist 1st Column and 9th Column, the communist 4th Column further attacked and took Mount 520 by midnight, killing most of the defenders. The surviving nationalist defenders of Mount 520 fled to Mount 540, but the communists would not give them a break and continued their attack on Mount 540. A detachment of the communist 4th Column scaled the cliff of the western half of Mount 540 and outflanked the defenders and launched a surprise attack. The surprised nationalist defenders could not react in time and rapidly fled toward eastern half of Mount 540, and the nationalist commander Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was unable to stop his fleeing troops and his headquarter was dangerously exposed to the fire of the attacking enemy. Although the nationalist commander was able to make his timely retreat just in time from the eastern half of Mount 540 with rest of his staffs when he was forced to relocate his headquarter to Mount 570, but due to the heavy casualties of staff officers, the remaining headquarter was only a mere fraction of what it once was and could not function normally anymore like it used to. At the dawn of May 16, 1947, the nationalists counterattacked the western half Mount 540 held by the communists in waves under fire cover, and the strength of their attack forces eventually grew to regimental size from the original company size. Communist troops of the 4th Column guarding the mount were exhausted and the nationalists seemed to be able to achieve their objective. At the last moment, communist reinforcement from the 1st Column and 4th Column arrived just in time, and successfully destroyed the counterattacking nationalist forces. The nationalists, however, were able to successfully driven back the communist attacks headed by the communist 9th Column to the eastern half of Mount 540, but they were unable to prevent the communist 6th Column and 8th Column from attacking toward Lu (芦) Mountain after successfully destroying nationalist forces in the area.
The communist 9th Column launched another offensive simultaneously against the eastern half of Mount 540, Mount 570, and the main peak of Menglianggu
Menglianggu
Menglianggu is the name for a region in Mengyin County, Linqi, Shandong Province, belonging to the Meng Mountains in Eastern China.During the Song Dynasty, General Meng Liang once stationed his army in this mountain. People later named the place after the general due to his immense popularity...
(孟良崮) mountains, with a portion of its force attacking the nationalists held eastern half of Mount 540 from the north and northeast, and the remaining forces attack the other two positions in the nationalist hands. By this time, the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division became disorganized and most units were fighting on their own after losing direct contact with the divisional headquarter over the phone, and orders and reports had to be sent via couriers and the few remaining radios. Due to the close proximity of the opposing sides and rapid enemy advance, the supplies and ammunitions airdropped by the nationalist air force in this stage of the war mostly landed on communist positions. The communists also utilized the prisoners-of-wars to operate the newly captured heavy artilleries pieces from the nationalists. The captured nationalist artillery crew was reluctant at the first and shelled the communist force attacking the nationalist position instead. After one of the artillery crew was executed in front of others, the prisoners-of-wars dared not to play anymore tricks and every round landed on its mark. By the 8:00 am of May 16, 1947, with nationalists strongholds at Eagle’s Nest (Diao Wo, 雕窝) and Lu (芦) Mountain falling into the enemy hands’, all nationalist positions on the surface with the exception of Mount 540 had fallen, and most of the defenders were forced into caves. At 1:00 pm, the communist 4th Column gathered five mountain gun
Mountain gun
Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for use in mountain warfare and areas where usual wheeled transport is not possible. They are similar to infantry support guns, and are generally capable of being broken down into smaller loads .Due to their ability to be broken down into smaller...
s and bombarded the eastern half Mount 540 while infantries advanced toward the nationalists held eastern half from the west. Meanwhile, the communist 6th Column also attacked the eastern half mount from the south. By 2:00 pm, Mount 540 had fallen and the nationalist 51st Brigade was completely destroyed. Meantime, units of the communist 6th Column and 8th Column cleared out the remaining nationalist defenders in their caves of Lu (芦) Mountain, completely destroying the surviving 3,000 troops of the nationalist 58th Brigade.
NationalistKuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
commander’s death
When the Communista sent one of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s own distant relatives (nephew) deliver the request for his surrender, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) refused and had the nephew executed. The Communists consequently sent captured nationalist prisoners of war back to continue to request Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s surrender, but the nationalist commander stubbornly refused and wanted to have them executed as well. However, his subordinates convinced him not to execute anyone else, as it would only help no one but the enemy propagandists. Still, the inevitable end was near. After learning the nationalist commander refused to surrender, the communists organized several assault teams to charge the nationalist commander’s hideout. Each communist assault team consisted of seven members, and a communist squad commander of the 2nd company of the 1st Battalion of the 69th Regiment of the 23rd Division of the East ChinaEast China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
named Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) was among the last assault team that finally reached their destination after all previous communist assault teams were killed. After fierce battle, the communist assault team only consisted of three members led by a deputy platoon commander when they reached the outside of the cave where Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s headquarter was located, and requested the nationalists inside to surrender. As others went out the cave to surrender, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) emptied his last magazine of ammunition on the communists, severely wounded the communist deputy platoon commander. This enraged the communists who fired back, and as Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was fleeing further into the cave, he was shot and killed along with several other nationalists by the submachine gun fire from the communist squad commander Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) in the assault team. The surviving nationalists shouted to the communist to stop firing because they would indeed surrender and threw out their weapons, and a total of eighty-three survivors came out hiding from the cave and nearby makeshift fortifications (mainly a waist-high stone wall constructed by the nationalists earlier). All were captured alive and led away to the prisoner-of-war camps.
By this time, the communist reinforcement led by a deputy divisional commander named Dai Wenxian (戴文贤) arrived, and seeing Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s cadaver, the communist deputy commander was very upset because capturing the nationalist commander alive would be much bigger and better political propaganda, and that was exactly how communists had wanted, so Dai Wenxian (戴文贤) asked angrily:”Who shot him? And Why?” Not knowing the nationalist officer killed was Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫), Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) angrily shouted back at his deputy divisional commander:”Why wouldn’t I shoot him when he was shooting at me? I would shoot back even if he was Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
!” The communist deputy divisional commander could not say anything more and had to excuse his soldier by asking him to help other to march the prisoners-of-war down the slope. Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) did not find out that he had killed Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) until years later. One of Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s bodyguard named Zhu Fanyou (朱凡友) joined the communists after the campaign and became Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田)’s good friend after being assigned to the same squad. The two participated together in the remaining of the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
and Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, and then stationed together at Niechangshan (内长山) Fortification. In was only during this period when Zhu Fanyou (朱凡友) finally revealed to Ge Zhaotian (葛兆田) that the nationalist commander he killed was Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫). Although Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s action well qualified him as a nationalist martyr, the nationalist regime honored its martyr in a different way by claiming that he committed suicide instead, as described in the eulogy titled “A summons to arms of Painfully mourning the (nationalist
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
) 74th (Reorganized) Division” (痛悼74师檄文) wrote by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, who claimed that over 20 nationalist commanders had committed suicide, while in reality, most of them were all killed in action on the frontline during the fierce fight against the enemy. Only the deputy commander of the Reorganized 74th Division, Major General Cai Renjie (蔡仁杰, 1902–1947), and the commander of the Reorganized 58th Brigade of the Reorganized 74th Division, Major General Lu Xing (卢醒, 1911–1947) committed suicide in the campaign.
Conclusion
After the news of their commander’s death was known, the nationalist morale collapsed completely and the battle soon ended in the cloudy afternoon on May 16, 1947. The communist had fired over 33,000 rounds of artillery shells on the nationalist position at Menglianggu (孟良崮), a shock to the nationalists who believed their communist enemy lacked artilleries and could not achieve such dense firepower. As the communist units reported the nationalist casualties, the total number did not add up right: there was a difference around 10,000 between the sum and the supposed strength of the nationalist Reorganized 74th Division. Su YuSu Yu
Su Yu was a Chinese Communist military leader. He was considered by many to be among the best commanders of the PLA only next to Lin Biao and Liu Bocheng. Su Yu fought in the Sino-Japanese War and in the Chinese Civil War...
ordered all communist units to search the battlefield again, and it was soon discovered that nationalist survivors were quietly hidden in a valley between the main peak of Menglianggu (孟良崮) and Mount 570, waiting for the communists withdraw from the battlefield so that they would be linked up with the nationalist reinforcement afterward. These nationalist troops were observed earlier by various communist units at the higher ground but all mistakenly believed that they were the friendly forces. As the communist 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th Columns approached the surviving nationalists who had run out ammunition, water and supplies, the only option the surviving nationalists had was to surrender and there was not much of a fight, and by 5:00 pm on May 16, 1947, the campaign was over.
While the battles were raging on at Menglianggu (孟良崮) region, other communist formations fighting in other areas had also successfully achieved their objectives of stopping the nationalist reinforcements. The communist 10th Column checked the advance of the nationalist 5th Army near Laiwu
Laiwu
Laiwu is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. The smallest prefecture-level city in the province, it borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east and Tai'an to the southwest....
, and the communist 3rd Column checked the advance of the nationalist Reorganized 11th Division at the Xintai
Xintai
Xintai is a county-level city administered under Tai'an prefecture-level city, in the Shandong province of eastern China. It is located about 50km to the southeast of the city of Tai'an.-Climate:...
– Mengyin (蒙阴) Highway. The communist 2nd and 7th Columns checked the advance of the nationalist Reorganized 48th Division and the 83rd Division at the region of Green Camel Temple (Qing Tuo Si, 青驼寺), with the nationalist 83rd Division losing an entire regiment totaling around 1,000, half of the casualties nationalist reinforcement suffered. Other local communist militias threatened Linyi
Linyi
Linyi is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The largest prefecture-level city in Shandong both by area and total population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to the north, Tai'an to the northwest, Jining to the...
, preventing the nationalists sending additional reinforcements. Under the orders from Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong courtesy name: Moshan , was a Chinese military general and administrator of the Republic of China.-Early life and career:...
and Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, the nationalist reinforcements tried hard to reach the besieged Reorganized 74th Division, with some of the reinforcement reached within 5 km of Menglianggu (孟良崮), but due to the stubborn enemy resistance, the nationalist advance was finally checked and the fate of the besieged nationalists were sealed. The communist victory was also due to its ability to mobilize 200,000 civilian to support their war effort, a number greater than the actual number of combatants the communists could muster.
Outcome
Unlike most other nationalist generals killed by the communists during the Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
,Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was buried with full military honor after the campaign by his communist enemy, who had recognized his capability and contribution during Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was given the same treatment as the communist commanders of equal rank, though the funeral was not as elaborate as that of nationalists due to the communists’ lack of material wealth at the time: nobody could find a new, good and clean nationalist uniform for the general and getting one from the nationalists were certainly out of the question, so Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was buried with a new communist uniform instead. In an unprecedented move, the communists also allowed Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s nine subordinates captured in the campaign, including a brigade commander with the rank of major general and eight regimental colonels, to participate in Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s funeral. The nationalist commander’s funeral ceremony was held by Xie Shensheng (谢胜坤), the deputy political director of the political directorate of the 6th Column of the communist East China
East China
East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...
Field Army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
, who would have an equal rank had the military ranking system existed in the communist force. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫)’s widow eventually returned to China and settled in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
after the communist revolution, where she spent rest of her life. Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
personally ordered Tang Enbo to be removed from his post and Major General Li Tianxia (李天霞), the commander of the nationalist 83rd Reorganized Division court-martialled as the failure to save the nationalist 74th Reorganized Division, and Li's position was filled with his deputy, Major General Zhou Zhidao (周志道).
The result of the campaign was a serious blow to the nationalist morale and a great piece of communist propaganda. The communists met the enemy with both the technical and numerical superiority head on, and the entire nationalist Reorganized 74th Division, one of the top five nationalist crack troop units, was completely lost with 12,000 of its 30,000 troops killed and the remaining 18,000 captured. The nationalist reinforcement also suffered 2,000+ fatalities averaging 500 fatalities per day in the four-day long campaign. The nationalist internal power struggle played an important role in the nationalist defeat because most nationalist commanders felt that Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was too arrogant that when he asked the help from other nationalist commanders with higher rank, he acted if he was giving out orders to those ranked above him. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) ‘s direct superior, Tang Enbo, for example, was scolded by his subordinate Zhang Lingpu (张灵甫) in a heated argument over the telephone and Tang was so enraged by the action of his subordinate that he withheld his troops for an entire day, providing the opportunities for the communists to regroup and strength their defense against the nationalist reinforcement. Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) was certainly more capable than most nationalist commanders of his time and he and his troops were proud of it, however, Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) and many of his troops chose not to carefully hide their feelings and openly exhibit the feeling, and others were obviously resentful, resulting in the lack of enthusiasm to help Zhang Lingfu (张灵甫) when he needed.
The nationalist “Plan of a Decisive Campaign in Central Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
” (Lu Zhong Jue Zhan Ji Hua, 鲁中决战计划) was in fact, a good battle strategy, as agreed even by their communist enemy, but the nationalist defeat meant that the nationalist original plan of annihilating their communist enemy in a decisive battle was impossible to reach, and the nationalist offensives against communist base in Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
had encountered a serious setback. The effect not only affected the battlefield in Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
, but also to a great degree, other battlefields as well, such as that of northern Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
. Had the nationalist reinforcements succeeded in rescuing their besieged comrades-in-arms, they would have also succeeded in annihilating the enemy’s main force. In this campaign, the nationalist top commanders performed well in that they had correctly adjusted their strategies according to the changing situation on the battlefield, almost succeeding in achieve their strategic objective, but unfortunately, the field commanders were unable to carry out their mission to the fullest and thus resulting in failure.
See also
- List of battles of the Chinese Civil War
- National Revolutionary ArmyNational Revolutionary ArmyThe National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
- History of the People's Liberation ArmyHistory of the People's Liberation ArmyThe history of the People's Liberation Army began in 1927 with the start of the Chinese Civil War and spans to the present, having developed from a peasant guerrilla force into the largest armed force in the world.-Historical background:...
- Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil WarThe Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...