Xinghua Campaign - Campaign

Campaign

Chiang Kai-shek allowed the former nationalists to rejoin his army. The former nationalists were given the instruction to fight the communists until the arrival of Chiang’s troops. The city of Xinghua, located in central Jiangsu, was guarded by the nationalists. The Japanese puppet regime force rejoined the nationalists, totaling more than 7,000, including the 22nd Division and local security regiments. The communist New Fourth Army was determined to take the city, and amassed units from the communists' Central Jiangsu Military District.

The communist units began to enter the positions for attack starting on August 26, 1945 and were ready two days later. On August 29, the first battle of the campaign began. The communists started to take nationalist positions along the outskirts of the city. The defenders were soon forced to abandon their strongholds outside the city wall and retreat into the city. At 8:00 pm on August 31, the assault on the city itself began, and under cover from mountain guns, the communists soon breached the city's defenses and penetrated the city. By the end of the following day, after fierce street fighting, the city fell into communist hands, concluding the Xinghua campaign.

The entire nationalist garrison of Xinghua was decimated. Out of the 7,000 defenders, around 2,000 were killed. The remaining 5,000, were captured alive, including the commander of the city's defense and of the Kuomintang's 22nd division. Also captured were 64 artillery units, 122 machine guns, and 3,324 repeating rifles, in addition to other weaponry and provisions. The communists' loss was extremely light in comparison: only 49 killed, and 325 wounded, including 40 officers wounded.