Where Chiang Kai-shek Lost China: The Liao-Shen Campaign, 1948

Twentieth-Century Battles

by Harold M. Tanner

The civil war in China that ended in the 1949 victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist forces was a major blow to US interests in the Far East and led to heated recriminations about how China was "lost." Despite their significance, there have been few studies in English of the war's major campaigns. The Liao-Shen Campaign was the final act in the struggle for control of China’s northeast. After the Soviet defeat of Japan in Manchuria, Communist Chinese and then Nationalist troops moved into this strategically important area. China’s largest industrial base and a major source of coal, Manchuria had extensive railways and key ports (both still under Soviet control). When American mediation over control of Manchuria failed, full-scale civil war broke out. By spring of 1946, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist armies had occupied most of the southern, economically developed part of Manchuria, pushing Communist forces north of the Songhua (Sungari) River. But over the next two years, the tide would turn. The Communists isolated the Nationalist armies and mounted a major campaign aimed at destroying the Kuomintang forces. This is the story of that campaign and its outcome, which were to have such far-reaching consequences.

Genres: China, History, War, Military History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction

380 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2015

Reviews

[Joshua Lim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given a title like "Where Chiang Lost China", one expects the author to assess the events of the Liao-Shen campaign (in which the Communist Party of China (CPC) wrestled control of Manchuria from the Kuomintang (KMT) between 1946 and 1948), and its place in the modern histories of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and the USA. Tanner's book does not disappoint in this regard. "Where Chiang lost China" argues that the campaign was for the Communists to win, adding another dimension to existing notions of the campaign as the Kuomintang's failure, and another episode in the history of US foreign relations. "Where Chiang lost China" makes the above stand clear by detailing how the CPC in Manchuria, led by Lin Biao and his commanders, transformed itself from a guerilla organisation to a conventional combined arms force capable of fighting pitched battles and taking KMT-held cities. Tanner also provides nuance with, and to the KMT's failures, and the Americans' perceived inaction, and how these threads fed into the Communists' ultimate victory in Manchuria. Tanner also questions how far "cultural considerations" (i.e. Sun Zi's Art of War, and Mao Zedong's own strategic thought) impacted the fighting for Manchuria. The book also briefly mentions on several occasions the contemporary racism that shaped American views of the fighting in Manchuria, and wider expectations of their supposed "allies" in the KMT.

Besides a summary of the aftermath of the Liao-Shen campaign, the epilogue provides interesting afterthoughts on how the PRC, TaIwan, and the USA perceives the said campaign in historical writing and popular memory. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this epilogue is how Tanner pays particular attention to how China navigates the historical writing and the social memory of the Liao-Shen campaign, an integral part of the CPC's and the PRC's founding mythology. This tightrope act has much to do with Lin Biao's fall from grace during the Cultural Revolution. One can't help but feel that the author could have done more here than to put out a surprisingly unsurprising call for a more nuanced view of the campaign

[Edwin Poon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account and analysis of a key campaign in the Chinese Civil War where the Communists turned the tide against the Nationalists, against the initial odds stacked against them.

It is a good illustration of how troop numbers alone do no dictate the victor, as support of the people, coordination, and physical, political and social infrastructure all play a vital part.

"But no matter how many troops Chiang poured into Manchuria, the Kuomintang remained weak on the ground because it had never built a stable, efficient political structure in the Northeast. Chen Cheng did not have a network of local governments that could mobilize human and material resources at the grassroots level to support the Nationalist forces"

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, this book was not what I expected. I was hoping to read more about the political contexts during the Chinese civil war. But the "where" in "Where Chiang Kai-Shek Lost China" was meant literarily as in where the battles took place (facepalm). So majority of the book centers on various campaigns and how Liao-Shen campaign came to be the decisive battle for the civil war. So for people interested in military strategies and battle maneuvers (not me), this could be an interesting read.

This book focuses significantly on the communists' strategies and activities that I didn't get a good picture of what Chiang was doing the whole time. To summarize why KMT lost China, one needs look no further than "underestimation of the enemies, incompetent command, inadequate strategy, and overreliance on American equipment". The communist Marshal Lin Biao was certainly a formidable opponent whose military geniuses were in no doubt pivotal in the CCP's victory. Imagine if he were on the KMT's side, history could have easily turned out the other way.

[Haomin Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is by far the most detailed, objective and critical book I have read on the Chinese civil war. The book was also organized in such a way that I, being no military fan myself, could follow easily and feel very intrigued. In addition to the battle details, the author also skilfully weaved into the text the political context, especially the American position on the China civil war, thus painting a more complete picture on the war. One thing I failed to find a good answer in this book, and many other books, was - why were the communists so successful in planting undercovers and obtaining the enemy’s intelligence while the nationalist always seemed to be kept in a dark?

[Chyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

如果说之前的学者更多关注“蒋介石为什么输”，这本书则旨在探讨“共产党怎样赢”，作者认为国共在东北的角逐及最后的辽沈决战，是回答这一问题的最佳案例。该书基本以时间顺序叙述从1945年国共挺进东北到1948年的辽沈战役，通过毛泽东“战略家”和林彪“战术家”之间张力的探讨、根据地建设、兵工生产、大练兵运动，描摹了东北共军从游击队到正规军的转变及其最终胜利的原因。有趣的是，作者认为林彪和四野将士没有想到的是，他们浴血搏杀想创建的“新中国”，最终却吞噬了自己，历史的吊诡莫过于此。