New Fourth Army Incident
Part of theSecond Sino-Japanese War and theChinese Civil War
Date (1941-01-07) (1941-01-13)January 7–13, 1941 (6 days) Location Maolin,Jing County,Anhui province,Republic of China Result Nationalist tactical victory Communist propaganda victory
Belligerents
Republic of China KMT	Republic of China CCP
Commanders and leaders
Gu Zhutong Shangguan Yunxiang Huang Baitao	Ye Ting (POW) Xiang Ying † Yuan Guoping †
Units involved
3rd Military Region 32nd Army Group	New 4th Army
Strength
80,000	9,000
Casualties and losses
2,000+ casualties[1]	7,000 dead, captured, or missing

TheNew Fourth Army Incident (Chinese:新四軍事件), also known as theSouth Anhui Incident orWannan Incident (Chinese:皖南事變), occurred in China in January 1941 during theSecond Sino-Japanese War, during which theChinese Civil War was in theory suspended, uniting theChinese Communist Party (CCP) andNationalists under aUnited Front against theJapanese. It is significant as the end of substantive cooperation between the Nationalists and the CCP. Today,ROC andPRC historians view the New Fourth Army Incident differently. From the ROC point of view, the CCP attacked first and the incident was a punishment for its insubordination; from the PRC view, it was Nationalist treachery.^[2][3]

In the fall of 1940, the CCP'sNew Fourth Army attacked Nationalist forces underHan Deqin. Also, Gregor Benton's bookNew Fourth Army argues the CCP first attacked the Nationalists and the Nationalists fought back.^[3]

For PRC historians the incident began in December 1940, whenChiang Kai-shek orderedEighth Route Army and theNew Fourth Army to withdraw fromAnhui andJiangsu to the north of the old Yellow River track in a month. In response, the CCP only agreed to move the New Fourth Army troops in SouthernAnhui (Wannan) to the northern shore of theYangtze River. On 4 January, the 9000-strong force started to move fromYunling Township inJing County towards Jiangsu, planning to cross the river along three routes.^[4]

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On January 5, the CCP forces were surrounded in Maolin Township by a Nationalist force of 80,000 led byShangguan Yunxiang and attacked days later. After days of fighting, heavy losses – including many civilian workers who staffed the army's political headquarters – were inflicted on the New Fourth Army due to the overwhelming numbers of Nationalist troops. On January 13,Ye Ting, wanting to save his men, went to Shangguan Yunxiang's headquarters to negotiate terms. Upon arrival, Ye was detained. The New Fourth Army's political commissarXiang Ying was killed, and only 2,000 people, led byHuang Huoxing andFu Qiutao, were able to break out.

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Chiang Kai-shek ordered the New Fourth Army disbanded on January 17, and sent Ye Ting to a military tribunal. However, on January 20, the Chinese Communist Party inYan'an ordered the reorganization of the army.Chen Yi was the new army commander.Liu Shaoqi was the political commissar. The new headquarters was in Jiangsu, which was now the general headquarters for the New Fourth Army and theEighth Route Army. Together, they comprised seven divisions and one independent brigade, totalling over 90,000 troops.

Because of this incident, according to the CCP, the Nationalist Party of China was criticized for creating internal strife when the Chinese were supposed to be united against the Japanese; the CCP, on the other hand, was seen as heroes at the vanguard of the fight against the Japanese and Nationalist treachery. Although as a result of this incident, the CCP lost possession of the lands south ofYangtze River, it drew the party support from the population, which strengthened their foundations north of Yangtze River.

According to the Nationalist Party, this incident was retribution to numerous occasions of treachery and harassment by the New Fourth Army.

The novelistMao Dun's storyFushi is about this incident.

• Outline of the Chinese Civil War

• Benton, Gregor.New Fourth Army: Communist Resistance along the Yangtze and the Huai, 1938–1941. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. 949 pages.ISBN 0-520-21992-9.
• This articles uses the translation of thecorresponding Chinese-language article, retrieved on August 24, 2006.

• Conflicts in 1941
• National Revolutionary Army
• Military operations of the Chinese Civil War
• 1941 in China
• Military history of Anhui
• Military controversies
• Ambushes in China
• January 1941 in Asia
• New Fourth Army
• Ambushes of World War II

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