Campaign of The North China Plain Pocket - Strategies - The Communist Strategy

The Communist Strategy

The communists were originally divided on the withdraw strategy. On June 2, 1946, the political commissar, Zheng Weisan (郑位三) of the communist force telegraphed Mao Zedong to report the initial strategy, suggesting that the bulk of the force should attempt to enter Wudang Mountains in western Hubei, and when the situation allowed, entering Sichuan. The remaining force would split into two parts with one part remain in the region to fight a guerrilla war. The other part would strike southwestward, first reaching Hunan because it was easier to cross the Yangtze River in comparison to the Yellow River. On June 14, 1946, the political commissar, Zheng Weisan (郑位三) of the communist force telegraphed Mao Zedong for a second time for an update, claiming that there were two opinions, and the first one insisted on staying in the region to fight a guerrilla war south of the Yellow River in Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and even to expand south of the Yangtze River when situation allowed. This opinion was objected by the second one which preferred to withdraw to North China Plain because it was simply to difficult to stay in the original region. On July 19, 1946, Yan'an replied by claiming that there were two possibilities, one was the northern withdraw was successful, and the other the withdraw was impossible, so that preparation must be made to achieve the first objective whenever possible, and to be safe, plans must be also made to create new communist base if the northward withdraw was not possible.

In accordance with the instructions from Yan'an, the local communists made the decision to breakout westward with the bulk of the existing force. There were two parts of the plan, and the first was to push toward regions via Inner Township County (Nei Xiang, 内乡), Xichuan (淅川) and Jingzi Pass (Jingzi Guang, 荆紫关) via Funiu Mountain guerrilla base, and after the nationalist force guarding Xuchang was forced to redeploy, the communist force would then cross the railroad and rivers to reach the communist base in Taiyue (太岳) region via Lushi (卢氏) and Luoning (洛宁). If unsuccessful, then the communists would fight a guerrilla war from its guerrilla base in the Funiu Mountains and then expanded to Qinling, gradually reaching southern Gansu or Shaanxi to link up with the communists in these bases. In case of unable to achieve this first objective, the communists were also prepared to enter Wudang Mountains by crossing the Xiang (襄) River to create new communist base, and when the situation permitted, entering southern Gansu via Sichuan, but the first objective should be achieved whenever it was possible. The second part of the plan involved leaving at least 10,000 troops behind in central and eastern Hubei to fight a guerrilla war and if the guerrilla warfare was not sustainable, then the communist force remained in central Hubei would breakout into Wudang Mountains, and eastern Hubei would breakout to southern Anhui.

To carry out the plan, the communist force was divided into three forces along different routes. The communist Right Route Force would attempt to breakout in northwestern direction to reach the communist base in the border area of Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces after crossing the Beijing – Hankou railroad between Xinyang and Guangshui. The communist Left Route Force would attempt to breakout in southwestern direction by crossing the same railroad between Garden (Huayua, 花园) and Xinyang, reaching the town of Qiyi (祁仪) south of Tanghe (唐河) county. The Eastern Route force was tasked to fake as the main force and attract the enemy for three days in order to guarantee the rest of the force had crossed the Beijing – Hankou railroad. Afterward, the Eastern Route Force was to go eastward, reaching the communist base in the border area of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.