Battle of Tashan

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The battle of Tashan (塔山爭奪戰) was a battle fought between the nationalist and the communists during the Chinese Civil War in the post-World War II era in Northeast China, and resulted in communist victory. Tashan (塔山) with literal translation meaning Pagoda Mountain was short for Tashanbao (塔山堡), meaning Pagoda Mountain Bunker. Contrary to its name, there was neither pagoda nor mountain, and the only bunkers were the ones hastily built by the communists temporarily for the upcoming battle. The place was actually a village of one hundred or so households 30 km away from Jinzhou and the road to Jinzhou directly pass through the center of the village. The battle of Pagoda Mountain (Tashan, 塔山) was critical to determine the outcome of the Battle of Jinzhou and consequently, that of the Liaoshen Campaign. The battle is more commonly known as Blocking Action at Tashan (塔山阻击战), as called by the communists.

Prelude

Facing with the nationalist reinforcement of a total of eleven divisions not counting the nationalist air and naval assets, the communists were well aware the importance of stopping the nationalist reinforcement and deployed a total of eight divisions and an artillery brigade at Pagoda Mountain (Ta Shan, 塔山) with Cheng Zihua (程子华), the commander of the communist II Corps in charge. In order to better assist local commanders, Luo Ronghuan got approval from Lin Biao to send Su Jing (苏静), a senior staff officer at...
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