Central Plains War - Outbreak

Outbreak

The confrontation erupted in mid May. Battles in the north were generally in Henan and Shandong and battles in the south were mainly in the area of Yuezhou, Changsha and Hunan province.

With the assistance of its air force, Chiang's Central Army struck first with several major offensives. The Northwest Army, being the strongest in the coalition, crushed Gen. Chen Cheng and Chiang's forces in Gansu at the end of May, and Chiang was almost captured as he was inspecting the front line, but the Northwest Army could not capitalize on its victory as the Shanxi Army was unable to support it in time. This led the Northwest Army to go on the defensive. Later, in Kaifeng, the Northwest Army repulsed Chiang's attack and nearly surrounded his forces.

In August the Shanxi and Northwest armies had a major clash with Chiang's forces while attacking Xuzhou. Losses for both sides exceeded 200,000. Again, however, the Northwest Army did not receive support from the Shanxi Army in time and fell short of complete success. The Shanxi Army retreated from Jinan and took heavy casualties while crossing the Yellow River.

Meanwhile on the southern battlefields, the Guangxi Army captured Yueyang, but Chiang's forces cut them off from behind, eventually forcing them to withdraw back to Guangxi. In Shandong the Shanxi Army captured Jinan on June 25. After defeating the Guangxi Army in Hunan, the Nanjing government decided to launch a major counteroffensive on Shandong. Landed in Qingdao, Chiang's forces re-took Jinan on August 15. Chiang's army then gathered in Gansu and Shaanxi province and launched the final offensive against the Northwest Army between the end of August and the beginning of September.

On September 18 Gen. Zhang Xueliang declared his support for Chiang Kai-shek. Two days later Zhang's Northeast Army entered the Shanhai Pass. These turn of events resulted in coalition of Yan and Feng collapsing almost immediately. The Shanxi Army withdrew to the north of the Yellow River, while the Northwest Army was totally defeated. On November 4 Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang announced their retirement. Yan fled to Dalian and Feng's troops were annexed by Zhang. The conflict was now over.