Ningxia Campaign

Ningxia Campaign
Part of the Chinese Civil War
Date September 5, 1949 - September 24, 1949
Location Ningxia, China
Result Communist victory
Belligerents

National Revolutionary Army

People's Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Ma Dunjing 马敦静 Yang Dezhi
Li Zhimin 李志民
Strength
75,000 75,000
Casualties and losses
40,000+ Low

The Ningxia Campaign (宁夏战役) was a series of battles fought between the nationalists and the communists during Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era, and resulted in the communist victory.

Contents

Order of battle

Nationalist order of battle:

The following units were deployed in the beginning, but later on, did not participate in fightings:

Communist order of battle:

Campaign

After their defeat in Lanzhou Campaign, Ningxia was no longer the concern of the nationalist commander-in-chief of northwest China Ma Bufang, who was busy worrying protecting his home base Qinghai. The nationalist deputy commander-in-chief of northwest China Ma Hongkui fled to Hong Kong via air, and left his son, Ma Dunjing (马敦静) in charge to make a last stand against the communists. The nationalists organized three lines of defense in the regions including Zhongwei, Lingwu, Tongxin (同心), Jingyuan (靖远), Jingtai (景泰), Zhongning (中宁) and Jinji (金积), and deployed over a hundred sixty thousand troops for the upcoming campaign, but the nationalist strategy was ruined by the disagreements among themselves. Five out of the eight armies deployed were Ma Bufang’s force, and they were much more concerned about keeping their own strength to retreat to and guard the inevitable communist advance to their home base in Qinghai, and thus did not put in any real effort to protect Ma Hongkui’s Ningxia. These troops of Ma Bufang simply felt that they had done more than enough as they did the bulk of fighting in Lanzhou Campaign, and was worried that if they devote fully in fighting in Ningxia, they would risk being cutting off by the enemy and would never be able to return home. Consequently, Ma Bufang’s force refused to take any orders from Ma Dunjing (马敦静) and never participated in any fighting at all, despite being deployed initially by Ma Dunjing (马敦静) under previous agreements between Ma Bufang and Ma Hongkui. As a result, only seventy five thousands nationalist troops did the fighting, and the result was disastrous as the nationalists could achieve neither the numerical nor the technical superiority.

The communists launched their offensive in three fronts: By September 14, 1949, towns including Jingyuan (靖远), Tongxin (同心) and Zhongning (中宁) had fallen into communist hands. On September 15, 1949, the nationalist Newly Organized 15th Cavalry Brigade guarding Jingtai (景泰) surrendered to the communists. The main force of the communist 63rd Army took Changle Bunker (Chang Le Bao, 常乐堡) to the south of Zhongwei (中卫) County on September 16, 1949, after completely destroying two regiments of the nationalist 81st Army. Meanwhile, the 188th Division of the communist 63rd Army approached Zhongwei (中卫) County from the west from Jingtai (景泰) on September 17, 1949, after pass through Tengger Desert. The nationalist 81st Army was hard pressed from both south and west. Under heavy military and political pressure, Ma Hongbin, the nationalist deputy commander of Northwestern China, and his son Ma Dunjing (马惇靖, not the same person as Ma Hongkui’s son, Ma Dunjing, 马敦静, the nationalist commander-in-chief of the Ningxia Corps), the commander of the nationalist 81st Army defected to the communist side on September 19, 1949 (and the nationalist 81st Army was subsequently reorganized as the Northwestern Independent 2nd Army on December 19, 1949).

On September 19, 1949, the communist 64th Army launched its offensive against Jingji (金积) and Lingwu, badly mauling the nationalist 128th Army in Jinji-Lingwu Campaign. By September 21, 1949, all three defensive lines organized by the nationalists were completely destroyed. Ma Dunjing (马敦静) fled to Chongqing by air and the nationalist Ningxia Corps lost it command, and as a result, the nationalist 11th Army, the remnant of the 128th Army and Helan (贺兰) Army consequently disintegrated as the surviving nationalist troops deserted en masse, after learning their commander-in-chief had fled the battlefield. On September 24, 1949, the communist XIX Corps entered Yinchuan without a fight and the campaign concluded with communist victory. Nationalist lost over 40,000 troops out of the original 75,000, while the remaining deserted, and the communist victory ended the 36-year rule of Ma clique in Ningxia, as well as the nationalist rule over the region.

See also

Main events pre-1945 Main events post-1945 Specific articles

Part of the Cold War

Primary participants

References