| Yangtze River Crossing campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theChinese Civil War | |||||||||
 ThePeople's Liberation Army on top of thePresidential Palace after the fall ofNanjing in April 1949 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Tang Enbo Bai Chongxi | Liu Bocheng Deng Xiaoping Chen Yi | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 700,000 | 1,000,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 430,000 | 60,000 | ||||||||
TheYangtze River Crossing campaign (Chinese:渡江战役) was a military campaign launched by thePeople's Liberation Army to cross theYangtze River and captureNanjing, the capital of theNationalist government of theKuomintang, in the final stage of theChinese Civil War. The campaign began at night on 20 April, and lasted until 2 June 1949, concluding after the fall of Nanjing andShanghai to the Communist forces, which eventually resulted in theexile of the Nationalists to the island of Taiwan.
Between the end of 1948 and the beginning of 1949, the Nationalist government suffered consecutive defeats against theChinese Communist Party (CCP) in theLiaoshen campaign, theHuaihai campaign and thePingjin campaign. On 21 January 1949,Chiang Kai-shek stepped down as thePresident of the Republic of China and was replaced byLi Zongren.[1][2] The area north of the Yangtze River was firmly in control by the Communists by spring of 1949. In the second plenary session of the7th Congress, the Communist forces were renamed as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as part of the reorganization efforts in preparation for the campaigns in south China.[3]
In April 1949, representatives from both sides met inBeijing and attempted to negotiate a ceasefire. While the negotiations were ongoing, the Communists were actively making military maneuvers, movingSecond,Third andFourth Field Army to the north of the Yangtze in preparation for the campaign, pressuring the Nationalist government to make more concessions. The Nationalist defenses along the Yangtze were led byTang Enbo and 450,000 men, responsible forJiangsu,Zhejiang andJiangxi, whileBai Chongxi was in charge of 250,000 men, defending the portion of the Yangtze stretching fromHukou toYichang.[4]
The Communist delegation eventually delivered an ultimatum to the Nationalist government. After the Nationalist delegation was instructed to reject the ceasefire agreement on 20 April, the PLA began gradually crossing the Yangtze River on the same night, launching a full assault against Nationalist positions across from the river.[5]
Between 20 April and 21 April, 300,000 men from the PLA crossed from the north to the south banks of the Yangtze River.[6] Both the Second Fleet of theRepublic of China Navy and the Nationalist fortress inJiangyin soon switched sides to the Communists, allowing the PLA to penetrate through Nationalist defenses along the Yangtze.[7] As the PLA began landing on the south side of the Yangtze on 22 April and securing the beachheads, the Nationalist defense lines began to rapidly disintegrate.[6] As Nanjing was now directly threatened, Chiang ordered a scorched earth policy as the Nationalist forces retreated towardHangzhou and Shanghai. The PLA stormed across Jiangsu province, capturingDanyang,Changzhou andWuxi in the process. As the Nationalist forces continued to retreat, the PLA was able to capture Nanjing by 23 April without encountering much resistance.[6]
Meanwhile,HMSAmethyst of the BritishRoyal Navy drifted into the fray and was set upon by PLA artillery. She was soon supported by HMSsLondon,Consort andBlack Swan. After a series of artillery duels and negotiations,Amethyst managed to escape.
On 27 April, the PLA capturedSuzhou, threatening Shanghai. In the meanwhile, the Communist forces in the west began attacking Nationalist positions inNanchang andWuhan. By the end of May, Nanchang,Wuchang,Hanyang were all under the control of the Communists.[6] The PLA continued to advance across Zhejiang province, and launched theShanghai Campaign on 12 May. The city center of Shanghai fell to the Communists on 27 May, and the rest of Zhejiang fell on 2 June, marking the end of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign.[8]
After the successful conclusion of the campaign, Chairman Mao wrote apoem that has since been set to music and remains popular throughout mainland China.
鍾山風雨起蒼黃，
百萬雄師過大江。
虎踞龍盤今勝昔，
天翻地覆慨而慷。
宜將剩勇追窮寇，
不可沽名學霸王。
天若有情天亦老，
人間正道是滄桑。
Wind howls and rain falls upon the Bell Hills in twilight,
A million gallant warriors shall cross the river tonight.
Like a Tiger Crouched and a Dragon Coiled we outshine our glorious past!
As Heaven Turns and the Earth Churns, the World upside-down at last!
Hark! We cross, we chase our foe who flee to our advance,
We shall not be the crowned monkey, not a single chance.
If the Heavens above had Heart and Soul then Heaven itself shall age!
In the Azure Seas and the Mulberry Fields, Mankind has turned a page.
In 1954,Tang Xiaodan directed the filmReconnaissance Across the Yangtze (渡江侦察记) starringSun Daolin.[9] Based on the exploits of the PLA officerXiong Zhaoren and his unit,[10] it glorifies the Communists' victory in the campaign.[9] A major hit in China,[10] it won the Ministry of Culture's Best Film Award in 1957 and was remade in colour during theCultural Revolution.[9]
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