The Huaihai campaign (), or Battle of Hsupeng (), was the second of the three major campaigns that was fought between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Civil War. The campaign started when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the CCP launched a major offensive against KMT forces operating between the city of Xuzhou and Huai River areas on 6 November 1948, and ended on 10 January 1949 with the destruction or surrender of major KMT forces in the region.
The Huaihai campaign was the most important campaign of the Chinese Civil War as it resulted in the heaviest losses of KMT forces. Following the end of the campaign, the CCP had captured a vast area of territories north of the Yangtze River and threatened the defence of Nanjing, Shanghai and Wuhan directly.
Background 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 the face of the rapidly deteriorating military situation in the Northeast, the Nationalist government decided to go on a strategic defence and deploy their forces on both sides of the Tianjin–Pukou Railway to prevent the PLA from advancing south toward the Yangtze River.When opportunity arises, the KMT will seek to engage and destroy the CCP forces in a decisive battle.
PLA strategy Su Yu (粟裕), the acting commander of the East China Field Army proposed an plan to the CCP Central Military Commission (CMC) to maintain operational momentum following the Jinan campaign and proceed southwards to seize more territories before the onset of winter. He wanted a thrust southwards towards to secure cities of Huaian (淮安), Baoying (宝应), Gaoyou (高邮) along the Grand Canal followed by the coastal cities of Haizhou (海州) and Lianyungang (连云港). He dubbed it the 'Huaihai' Campaign. Mao Zedong agreed to this plan but included the destruction of the KMT 7th Field Army at Xin'an (新安, present day Xinyi, Jiangsu) as an additional objective.
Mao Zedong further expanded this initial plan by ordering the Central Plains Field Army under Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping to advance from the west to attack eastwards to capture Zhengzhou (郑州), Suxian (宿县) and Bengbu 蚌埠 in order to isolate Xuzhou.
It was the first time the CCP coordinated and executed a multi-army group operation. On 1 Nov, 1948, it was decided that Chen Yi and Deng Xiaoping will have operational command of this campaign.
The aim of this campaign was not about the seizing of territories but the destruction of major KMT forces (numbering 800,000 men) to prevent their withdrawal south of the Yangtze River.
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 (华东野战军) – 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 (中原野战军) – 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 12th Army) were under the command of the General Suppression Headquarters of Xuzhou Garrison. 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 （刘峙） GHQ Xuzhou Garrison Forward Headquarters – Du Yuming (杜聿明) 20th Corps – (杨干才) 133rd Division 134th Division 107th Corps – ] (孙良诚) 260th Division - surrendered to the CCP on 13 Nov in the vicinity of Suining (睢宁) 261st Division - refused to surrender and destroyed on 14 Nov. 2nd Field Army (第二兵团) – Qiu Qingquan (邱清泉) 5th Corps – Xiong Xiaosan (熊笑三) 45th Division 46th Division 200th Division 70th Corps – Deng Junlin (邓军林) 32nd Division 96th Division 139th Division 72nd Corps – Yu Jinyuan (余锦源) 34th Division 122nd Division 233rd Division 74th Corps – Qiu Weida (邱维达) 51st Division 57th Division 58th Division 12th Corps – Shu Rong (舒荣) 112th Division 238th Division 116th Corps – Tan Xin (谭心) 287th Divison 288th Division 6th Field Army – Li Yannian (李延年) 39th Corps – Wang Boxun (王伯勋) - evacuated from Northeast and attached to 6th Field Army 91st Division 103rd Division 147th Division 54th Corps – Que Hanqian (阙汉骞) - evacuated from Northeast and attached to 6th Field Army 8th Division 198th Division 291st Division 96th Corps – Yu Zhaolong (于兆龙) 141st Division 212th Division 99th Corps – Hu Changqing (胡长青) 92nd Division 99th Division 268th Division 7th Field Army – Huang Baitao (黄百韬) 25th Corps – Chen Shizhang (陈士章) 40th Division 108th Division 148th Division - destroyed in the defence of Suxian on 15 Nov 1948. 44th Corps – Wang Zejun (王泽浚) 150th Division 162nd Division 63rd Corps – Chen Zhang (陈章) 152nd Division 186th Division 64th Corps – Liu Zhengxiang (刘镇湘) 156th Division 159th Division 100th Corps – Zhao Zhidao (周志道) 19th Division - destroyed in the battle of Jinan. 44th Division 63rd Division 8th Field Army (formerly 4th Pacification Zone) – Liu Ruming (刘汝明) 55th Corps – Cao Fulin (曹福林) 29th Division 74th Division 181st Division - attached to 2nd Field Army for the defence of Shangqiu (商丘), destroyed between 7-8 Nov 1948 at Zhanggongdian (张公店) 68th Corps – Liu Ruzhen (刘汝珍) 81st Division 119th Division 143rd Division 13th Field Army (第十三兵团) – Li Mi (李弥) 8th Corps – Zhou Kaicheng (周开成) 42nd Division 170th Division 237th Division 9th Corps – Huang Shu (黄淑) 3rd Division 166th Division 253rd Division 115th Corps – Si Yuankai (司元恺) 39th Division 180th Division - reconstituted from remnants that did not defect with the 3rd Pacification Zone 16th Field Army (第十六兵团) – Sun Yuanliang (孙元良) 41st Corps – Hu Lincong (胡临聪) 122nd Division 124th Division 47th Corps – Wang Xiafeng (汪匣锋) 125th Division 127th Division 2nd Rapid Response Column – Chen Shijun (陈仕俊) 3rd Pacification Zone – Feng Zhi'an (冯治安) 59th Corps – Liu Zhensan (刘振三) 38th Division - defected to the CCP on the night of 8 Nov 1948 180th Division - defected to the CCP on the night of 8 Nov 1948 77th Corps – Wang Changhai (王长海) 37th Division - one regiment defected to the CCP on the night of 8 Nov 1948 132nd Division - defected to the CCP on the night of 8 Nov 1948 12th Field Army (第十二兵团) – Huang Wei (黄维) 10th Corps – Tan Daoshan (覃道善) 18th Division 75th Division 114th Division 14th Corps – Xiong Shouchun (熊绶春) 10th Division 83rd Division 85th Division 18th Corps – Yang Botao (杨伯涛) 11th Division 49th Division 118th Division 85th Corps – Wu Shaozhou (吴绍周) 23rd Division - defected to the CCP 110th Division - defected to the CCP 216th Division 4th Rapid Response Column – Yin Zhongyue (尹钟岳)
Campaign
Preliminary Moves (Oct - Nov 1948) On 22 Oct, 1948, the CCP's Central Plains Field Army launched their attack on Zhengzhou (郑州) and captured it within the day. Thereafter Kaifeng (开封) fell on 24 Oct. Following discussions with the CMC, the Central Plains Field Army now split into 2 with (1) 4 columns advancing to assemble at Yongcheng (永城) area and prepare to disrupt the Tianjin–Pukou Railway and (2) 2 columns moving south to delay and disrupt the KMT 12th Field Army which was moving to reinforce Xuzhou.
The East China Field Army continued to deploy their forces southwards from Jinan and planned to launch their attack on the KMT 7th Field Army on the evening of 8 Nov.
Within the KMT, there were differing views on the defence plan. Xuzhou, although strategically valuable was deemed to be hard to defend and easily isolated. The alternative was withdraw further south to realign the defence to the Huai River at Bengbu. In the end, Chiang Kai Shek decided to centre the defence around Xuzhou.
On 5 Nov, 1948, the KMT issued the latest defence orders; the 16th Field Army was to redeploy from Mengcheng (蒙城) to reinforce Xuzhou, the 7th Field Army at Xin'an (新安, present day Xinyi, Jiangsu) was to withdraw to the east of Xuzhou, the 2nd Field Army was to defend west of Xuzhou and the 13th Field Army at Caobaji (曹八集) and Daxujia (大许家) areas was to tuck in closer to defend east of Xuzhou. In addition, the 12th Field Army at Zhumadian (驻马店) in Henan was also ordered to reinforce Xuzhou.
First Encirclement (6–22 November 1948) As the KMT 7th Field Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Huang Baitao began its redeployment to Xuzhou on 6 Nov, they were delayed by the single bridge crossing across the Grand Canal at Yunhe (运河镇) as well as the need to link up with the 44th Corps/9th Pacification Zone which was withdrawing from Haizhou (海州) about 60 km away. Realizing that the 7th Field Army was moving, units of the CCP East China Field Army brought forward their attack and began pursuing the 7th Field Army on the night of 6 Nov.
The 7th Field Army began crossing the Grand Canal on the morning of 7 Nov. The order of crossing was 64th Corps, Army HQ, 44th Corps, 100th Corps and 25th Corps. 63rd Corps was the rearguard and will cross separately at Yaowan (窑湾). However by the night of 8 Nov, the 100th, 25th and 63rd Corps remained on the east side of the Grand Canal and the advance elements of the East China Field Army began attacking the bridgehead. The crossing continued under fire throughout 9 Nov until the bridge was blown.
On the night of 8 Nov, three quarters of the 3rd Pacification Zone which had been defending Grand Canal about 20 km the northwest of the 7th Field Army defected. The 13th Field Army at Caobaji (曹八集) and Daxujia (大许家) areas had withdrawn as planned towards Xuzhou, further exposing a large gap in the withdrawal route for the 7th Field Army.
Huang Baitao decided to reorganize his forces in Nianzhuang (碾庄) before proceeding westwards. A defensive perimeter was set-up with 100th Corps defending the west, 25th Corps to the north, 44th Corps to the south and 64th Corps to the east. The perimeter was 3 km in depth and 6 km in length. His last troops, the 63rd Corps, was unable to cross the Grand Canal at Yaowan and remained cut-off from the rest of the 7th Field Army. It was destroyed in-situ by the CCP's 1st Column between 10-12 Nov 1948.