Huaihai campaign

After the fall of Jinan to the CCP on 24 September 1948, the PLA began planning for a larger campaign to engage the remaining Nationalist forces in the Shandong province and their main force in Xuzhou. In face of the rapidly deteriorating military situation in the Northeast, the Nationalist government decided to deploy on both sides of the Tianjin–Pukou Railway to prevent the PLA from advancing south toward the Yangtze River. PLA strategy Su Yu, the acting commander of the Eastern China Field Army proposed an operational plan to the CCP war council. The plan was to encircle the Nationalist Sixth and Seventh Army, which were still stationed in the Shandong province. The council quickly approved this plan and ordered the Central Plains Field Army under Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi (Commander of the Eastern China Field Army and liaison to the Central Plains Field Army) and Deng Xiaoping (Political Commissar of the Central Plains Field Army) to assault the Nationalist garrison in Henan and Anhui to breakthrough to Shandong. == Order of Battle ==

People's Liberation Army Two field armies of the People's Liberation Army were directly involved. The East China Field Army, holding the sector between Teng county and the East China Sea, was led by Chen Yi with Su Yu acting; the Central Plains Field Army, holding the region northwest of Xuzhou in Henan, was led by Liu Bocheng with Deng Xiaoping as commissar. Deployments • East China Field Army – Chen Yi, Su Yu (acting) • 1st Column – Ye Fei • 3rd Column – • 4th Column – Tao Yong • 6th Column – • 8th Column – • 10th Column – Song Shilun • Southwest Shandong Column – • Guangdong-Guangxi Column – Zeng Sheng • Special Forces Column – • Shandong Army – Xu Shiyou, Tan Zhenlin (acting) • 7th Column – • 9th Column – Nie Fengzhi • 13th Column – • Bohai Column – • North Jiangsu Army – Wei Guoqing • 2nd Column – Teng Haiqing • 11th Column – • 12th Column – Xie Zhenhua • Field Army Mobilization Command • North Jiangsu Military District – • Jianghuai Military District – • Central-South Shandong Military District – Fu Qiutao • Jiaodong Military District – Tan Xilin • Bohai Military District – • Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military District – Zhao Jianmin • Central Plains Field Army – Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping (Commissar) • 1st Column – Yang Yong • 2nd Column – Chen Zaidao • 3rd Column – Chen Xilian • 4th Column – Chen Geng • 6th Column – • 9th Column – Qin Jiwei • 11th Column – Wang Bingzhang • Field Army Mobilization Command • Henan-Anhui-Jiangsu Military District – Zhang Guohua • South Shaanxi Military District – • Tongbai Military District – Wang Hongkun • Hubei-Henan Military District – Wang Shusheng • West Anhui Military District – Zeng Shaoshan Republic of China Army All Nationalist forces involved in the battle except the defense ministry's directly commanded 12th army were under the command of the General Suppression Headquarters of Xuzhou Garrison, the Nationalist forward supreme command. Xuzhou Garrison also owned a considerable number of elements of ROC Air Forces stationed in Nanjing, Xuzhou, and Bengbu: either under the direct command of GHQ Xuzhou Garrison, or controlled straight through the mobilization of the Air Force Command authority. Deployments • General Suppression Headquarters of Xuzhou Garrison – Liu Zhi • GHQ Xuzhou Garrison Forward Headquarters – Du Yuming • 20th Corps – • 107th Corps – ] • 2nd Army – Qiu Qingquan • 5th Corps – Xiong Xiaosan • 70th Corps – Deng Junlin • 72nd Corps – Yu Jinyuan • 74th Corps – Qiu Weida • 12th Corps – Shu Rong • 116th Corps – Tan Xin • 6th Army – Li Yannian • 39th Corps – Wang Boxun • 54th Corps – Que Hanqian • 96th Corps – Yu Zhaolong • 99th Corps – Hu Changqing • 7th Army – Huang Baitao • 25th Corps – Chen Shizhang • 44th Corps – Wang Zejun • 63rd Corps – Chen Zhang • 64th Corps – Liu Zhenxian • 100th Corps – Zhao Zhidao • 8th Army (4th Pacification Zone) – Liu Ruming • 55th Corps – Cao Fulin • 68th Corps – Liu Ruzhen • 13th Army – Li Mi • 8th Corps – Zhou Kaicheng • 9th Corps – Huang Shu • 115th Corps – Si Yuankai • 16th Army – Sun Yuanliang • 41st Corps – Hu Lincong • 47th Corps – Wang Xiafeng • 2nd Rapid Response Column – Chen Shijun • 3rd Pacification Zone – Feng Zhi'an • 59th Corps – Liu Zhensan • 77th Corps – Wang Changhai • 12th Army – Huang Wei • 10th Corps – Tan Daoshan • 14th Corps – Xiong Shouchun • 18th Corps – Yang Botao • 85th Corps – Wu Shaozhou • 4th Rapid Response Column – Yin Zhongyue == Campaign ==

, and the southern one being the Huai-Hai campaign. Encirclement of Xuzhou (6–22 November 1948) As the Nationalist Sixth and Seventh Army began retreating to Xuzhou by crossing the Grand Canal, they were behind their original schedule. Lieutenant General Huang Baitao of the Seventh Army had to wait for three days before troops from the Ninth Pacification Zone arrived, and consequently several bridgeheads were unsecured prior to the crossing. On 8 November, 23,000 Nationalist troops defected to the CCP side, exposing the retreat route of the Seventh Army back to Xuzhou. == Aftermath ==

The heavy losses suffered by Whampoa-trained troops under the direct command of Chiang significantly weakened the position of Chiang in the Nationalist government. With pressure from former political rivals such as Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, Chiang announced his temporary retirement. As the PLA approached the Yangtze, the momentum shifted completely toward the CCP side. Without effective measures against PLA advance across the Yangtze, the Nationalist government in Nanjing began losing their support from the United States, as American military aid gradually came to a stop. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek, the President of the Nationalist government, stepped down on January 21, 1949. For the Huaihai Campaign, a special silver-plated copper medal was issued in the form of a badge with a star and rifles, which was awarded to Joseph Stalin and the city of Stalingrad. Films In 1991, the August First Film Studio released the epic war trilogy Decisive Engagement in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the CCP, the second film of which was centered on the Huaihai Campaign, starring Gu Yue as Mao Zedong, Zhao Hengduo as Chiang Kai-shek, Fu Xuecheng as Liu Bocheng, Liu Xitian as Chen Yi, Xie Weicai as Su Yu, Lu Qi as Deng Xiaoping, Xu Zhengyun as Du Yuming, Xu Huanshan as Huang Baitao and Sheng Zhong as Qiu Qingquan. The 2007 film Assembly was also based on the Huaihai campaign. More recently the Shanghai Film Studio (上海电影制片厂) made the 2009 film, The Founding of a Republic to commemorate the 60th year of the founding of the People's Republic of China; there was a scene dedicated to this campaign, also Assembly was initially set on this part of campaign, which the protagonist's group was sacrificed to save the whole regiment. ==See also==