Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Dabieshan


Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Dabieshan was a counter-guerrilla / counterinsurgency campaign the communists fought against the nationalist guerrilla that was mostly consisted of bandits and nationalist regular troops left behind after the nationalist regime withdrew from mainland China. The campaign was fought during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era in the region of Dabieshan and resulted in communist victory. This campaign was part of Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Central and Southern China.

Order of battle

Nationalist :
Communist :
In order to eradicate the 17,000 strong People's Self-Defense Army of the Anhui – Hubei – Henan Border Region under the command of Wang Zongxian Fan Xun in the Dabie Mountain, communists deployed over 30,000 troops including 71st Division of the 24th Army, the 126th Division of the 42nd Army, two garrison brigades of the Northern Anhui Military District, three regiments of the Henan Military District, the Independent 3rd Division of Hubei Military District, and units of Huanggang Military Sub-District. A new command was created as the Hubei – Henan – Anhui Border Region Bandit Eradication Command. The communist second commander-in-chief of Hubei Military District of Central China Military Region, Wang Shusheng was named as both the commander-in-chief and the political commissar of the newly formed command in August 1949, and he was later to be awarded with rank of Senior General in 1955. On August 10, 1949, the communists made up their strategy in attacking the enemy in three fronts: east, west and south.
On September 5, 1949, communists launched their simultaneous attacks on the nationalist guerrilla mostly consisted of bandits and the nationalist stronghold Golden Camp, county fell into the communist hands on the same day. The bandits attempted to fight a guerrilla war in smaller formations and communists countered by eliminating their adversary's guerilla bases in regions including Liangban precinct of Golden Camp,, Green precinct of Shangcheng county, Muzi Shop of Macheng county,. Communists in the eastern front attacked regions around Golden Camp, county and Gushi. On September 30, 1949, the nationalist guerrilla headquarter in Hat Top Mountain 30 km to the south of Golden Camp, was discovered by a detachment of the communist 71st Division, who immediately attacked and annihilated the nationalist guerrilla consisted of mostly bandits. Soon after, another 1,700 bandits under the command of nationalist commanders Zhang Lianhe and Wang Yaonan were completely annihilated by the communists. The nationalist commander-in-chief Wang Zongxian and the first deputy commander-in-chief Fan Xun of the local nationalist guerrilla command were both captured alive.
In the meantime, communist force at the northern front concentrated attack in the region to the south of Shangcheng county, annihilated more than a thousand local bandits, including their commander, Feng Chunbo. Communist force at the southern front concentrated on the regions including Golden Camp,, Hemp City county, and Luotian, annihilated over 1,200 bandits under the command of Zhou Xiangbo and Rao Guodong,. By the end of November 1949, over 12,000 nationalists had been killed or captured, and nationalist force with strength over 100 troops no longer existed in the region, and the large scale military operation had thus turned into mop up operations of much less scale, with much increased political and propaganda pressure, which lasted until the end of the campaign.

Conclusion

In March 1953, the Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Dabieshan ended with communist victory. In addition to completely annihilating over 15,400 nationalist guerrilla troops, the communists also succeeded in capturing 81 artillery pieces, 13,883 firearms, and large amount of supplies.