Yetaishan Campaign - First Stage

First Stage

Yetai Mountain (Yetai Shan, 爷台山) located at the southern tip of the Qiao (乔) Mountain Range at the border of Chunhau (淳化) and Yao (耀) Counties was the southern gate of the Communist base in Shaanxi, and its main peak was 1,300 meters above sea level. Beginning on July 15, 1945, Hu Zongnan redeployed his forces in Henan, Xi'an, along the Yellow River westward to part of Xunyi (旬邑), Tongguan (同官), Chunhau (淳化) and Yao (耀) Counties, reaching a total of nine divisions. On July 21, 1945, the nationalist 2nd Cavalry and Temporarily Organized 59th Divisions suddenly launched a surprise attack on this strategic location, as a probe attack to discover the weakness of the Communist defense, as well as the reaction of Communists and the general public. On July 23, 1945, the nationalist 3rd Reserve Division also joined the attack on the enemy. After a series of small but fierce battles that continuously lasted a week, the numerically and technically inferior local Communist garrison withdrew on July 27, 1945 into the heart of their base in Shaanxi, and the nationalists succeeded in taking control of the mountain and 41 hamlets to the west of the mountain.

The Communists organized a temporary headquarters for counteroffensive at Horse Fence (Malan, 马栏). Zhang Zongxun was appointed as the commander-in-chief, Wang Shitai (王世泰) and Wang Jishan (王近山) as the deputy commanders-in-chief, Xi Zhongxun as the political commissar, Tan Zheng (谭政) as the deputy political commissar, and Zhang Jingwu (张经武) as the chief-of-staff, and Gan Siqi as the director of the political directorate. A total of eight regiments of Communist New 4th Brigade, 358th Brigade, 1st and 2nd Training Brigades and 1st Garrison Brigade were deployed to counterattack.