Campaign To Suppress Bandits in Northeast China - Communist Strategy

Communist Strategy

Communists, like their nationalist counterparts, also made a grave miscalculation, but in comparison to the nationalists, the communists were very quick in correcting their miscalculation and avoided disasters nationalists had suffered. The communist miscalculation was only made in the initial stage when they first ventured into Northeast China after World War II: during the start of their Campaign to Establish Communist Base in Northeast China, communists were eager to expand their force in region, but most of the communist force sent to Northeast China did not reach their final destination, especially after the Battle of Shanhai Pass. Although the communists managed to sent more than 270,000 troops to Northeast China, most of them were contained in Rehe, Chahar, Suiyuan by the nationalist forces. Although most of these areas belonged to the communist Northeast China Military Region, the communist force contained there was not much of help in supporting their comrades in Manchuria. The problem of the lack of soldiers was further compounded by the need to enlist troops who knew the local area and as a result, the communists made into Manchuria made grave miscalculation in concentrate on expanding their numbers by enlist the help of local bandits. However, the economically deprived communists were obviously no match for the better conditioned nationalists who could provide more resources, and as a result, when the communists begun to abandon large cities in Northeast China in their retreat, most bandits that first temporarily sided with communists defected to the nationalists in battalions and regiments, or even in brigades. For example, in a single communist base to the north of Changchun alone, over 33,200 former bandit-turned communist troops turned against the communists by the end of December 1945.

Communists responded rapidly to the situation. At the end of November 1945, communists in the communist base to the north of Changchun held its conference on bandit eradication, and decided to sent out communist guerrillas to the regions with weak communist control. In addition to military operations, the communist guerrillas were also charged with political tasks of mobilizing local populace, especially the lower class peasantry, to fight bandits. On 2 December 1945, Songjiang (province) communists leaders held a conference for the similar purposes, and decided to stop expanding communist forces purely based on numbers. Instead, the communist force would be strengthened by political purification. These two tactics became the foundation bases on which the communist bandit-eradication campaign strategies would later develop, which eventually expanded into three major parts:

The first part was to send a large number of communist cadres to the rural area (eventually totaled over 12,000) to mobilizing the local populace. Once the local population was rallied to the communist side, the nationalist agents hidden among the local population became increasingly difficult to survive, and the intelligence source of bandits was severed. In addition, bandits’ secret base in remote locations hidden in the forest and mountains were revealed by the local populace, thus cutting off bandits’ supply. The second part was to increase political pressure against the bandits by continuously launching psychological / propaganda / political assaults on the bandits, pressuring them into surrender. The military part was mainly involved in concentrating force to fight bandits, targeting the largest bands of bandits first, so that when they were exterminated, it would send shockwaves to smaller bands of bandits. Construction of fortifications was a must to protect the communist controlled area. Mobile strike force was also a must in pursuing the bandits, and cavalries, troops riding in vehicles and trains were assigned this task. Land reformed had played a very important role in the eventual communist victory because when the tenant peasants obtained their own land, their support for the communists strengthened.

In accordance with their strategy, communists reorganized their forces. In Songjiang (province), Military and Administrative Committee was formed, with Zhang Xiushan (张秀山) as the secretary, and bandit extermination command was also formed, with order to exterminate bandits given. In Heilongjiang, communists decided to strengthen their control of Keshan, secure Baiquan (拜泉), and then take Yi’an (依安), and finally, relief Dedu (德都) that was under siege. Communists of other region in Northeast China also made plans to exterminate bandits before the complete withdraw of Red Army. From 20 December to 28 December 1945, Hejiang communists decided on their meetings to exterminate bandits in Yilan (依兰) and Huachuan (桦川) Counties. To strengthen their force in the campaign, communists deployed regular army from other area, including Shandong 7th Division, 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army, Tiansong (田松) Squadron, and 359th Brigade. These regular units would fight side by side with the ten thousand member strong communist militia established during the campaign.