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Siege of Changchun
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| Siege of Changchun | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Liaoshen Campaign of the Chinese Civil War, part of the Cold War | |||||||||
 Changchun after the siege | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Zheng Dongguo  |
Lin Biao Xiao Jinguang | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~100,000 | 100,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 15,000 | 16,078 | ||||||||
| ~150,000[1]–200,000[2] civilian deaths due to starvation | |||||||||
  Location within Jilin  Siege of Changchun (China) | |||||||||
| Siege of Changchun | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 長春圍困戰 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 长春围困战 | ||||||
| |||||||
The siege of Changchun was a military blockade undertaken by the People's Liberation Army against Changchun between May and October 1948, the largest city in Manchuria at the time, and one of the headquarters of the Republic of China Army in Northeast China. It was one of the longest campaigns in the Liaoshen Campaign of the Chinese Civil War.[3][4]
Background
[edit]Immediately after the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the civil war between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) resumed. Manchuria became a focus of the conflict, as both sides tried to gain control of the region.[5] Changchun in particular was of strategic importance as it was the provincial capital of Jilin, and was previously the capital of Manchukuo and the headquarters for the Japanese Kwantung Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The city was developed by the Japanese as an "ideal modern city" during their occupation.[6][7][8]
After the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet Union invaded and took control of Manchuria. After the Soviet withdrawal, both the KMT and the CCP began to move toward the northeast to expand their sphere of influence. The KMT Nationalist government secured a series of victories against the Communists in the early stages of their campaigns in Manchuria, regaining control of Changchun by 23 May 1946.[9] The KMT momentum was stopped, however, as Chiang Kai-shek declared a ceasefire with the CCP on 6 June. The ceasefire allowed the CCP to recover from their losses.[10] By mid-March 1948, the CCP managed to capture most parts of Manchuria, isolating the KMT forces in small pockets concentrated in the cities of Shenyang, Changchun and Jinzhou.[11]
Preparations
[edit]During the winter offensive of 1947, the Communist commander in the Northeast, Lin Biao, was presented with three options to attack first for the general offensives against Nationalist forces in Manchuria. The three options were Changchun, Shenyang or Jinzhou.[12] After discussing with other CCP officers, Changchun was chosen as the first target.[13] The city of Siping was captured by the Northeast Field Army in March 1948, which cleared the path for the Communist forces to march toward Changchun.[14] As the city defense network was well established in Changchun, the siege of the city by the Northeast Field Army was personally called off by Lin Biao several times. As Lin was a "perfectionist with regards to logistics", he was concerned that by concentrating Communist forces in encircling Nationalist defenders in Changchun and Shenyang, these maneuvers would "hold up" forces and would negatively influence the overall Communist campaign in the Northeast.[15]
Establishment
[edit]The Nationalist defenders in Changchun, which consisted of the 60th Army and the New Seventh Army, had been suffering from poor morale since the winter of 1947.[16] Beginning on 23 May 1948, the Northeast Field Army under the command of Lin Biao reached the outskirts of Changchun and began encircling the city. Soon after, Changchun was cut off from the rest of the Nationalist-held areas in the Northeast.[17] The closest Nationalist military strength nearby was the Sixth Army led by Fan Hanjie, which were located in Jinzhou.[17] To prevent supplies being airlifted to Changchun, siege commander Xiao Jinguang captured Dafangshen Airport, blasted craters in its runway, and heavily defended the airport.[18] The Nationalist government attempted to airdrop supplies to the city, which was only successful to a limited extent due to increasing Communist anti-aircraft presence in the proximity.[19] The military blockade would last for 150 days, with a large percentage of civilian population having perished in the process.
Inside the city of Changchun, the increasingly-difficult food ration led to conflicts between the Nationalist 60th Army and the New Seventh Army, as the latter was accused of receiving favored status over airdrop of supplies.[20] The Communist forces utilized the situation to encourage Nationalist soldiers to defect to the Communists, and 13,700 Nationalist soldiers had done so by mid-September.[21] After the fall of Jinzhou to the Communists on 14 October, the Communists' siege of Changchun quickly intensified. On the evening of 16 October, the Nationalist 60th Army officially switched side to the Communists and began attacking the New Seventh Army from their position in the city.[22] Zheng Dongguo was reluctant to surrender, but the officers of the New Seventh Army had already reached an agreement with the Communists, and the New Seventh Army eventually laid down their weapons on 20 October.[23][9][24]
Aftermath
[edit]For the Nationalist government, the fall of Changchun made it clear that the KMT was no longer able to hold on to Manchuria.[4] The city of Shenyang and the rest of Manchuria were quickly defeated by the PLA.[25] The siege warfare employed by the PLA throughout the campaigns in the Northeast was highly successful, which reduced a significant number of ROCA troops and altered the balance of power.[26]
The number of civilian deaths has been estimated at 150,000.[1] The PLA prevented civilians from leaving the city to exhaust the food supply of the ROCA defenders, which resulted in "tens of thousands people starv[ing] to death".[9] The PLA continued to prevent civilian refugees from leaving the city until early August.[27] In the end, around 150,000 refugees successfully left Changchun, although some of these were sent back into the city as agents or spies to counter the claim that the Communists were deliberately starving the civilian population.[28] Changchun being not politically connected to either the KMT or the CCP was arguably one of the reasons behind the poor treatment of civilians.[2] According to Harold M. Tanner, the high civilian casualties from the Siege of Changchun "casts a shadow" over the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.[29] The civilian casualties were widely unknown to the Chinese public until the release of the book White Snow, Red Blood in 1989, which has since been censored by the Chinese government.[30]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Pomfret, John (October 2, 2009). "Red Army Starved 150,000 Chinese Civilians, Books Says". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
- ^ a b Lary 2015, p. 123.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 7.
- ^ a b Lary 2015, p. 114.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 31.
- ^ Koga 2016, p. 67.
- ^ Westad 2003, p. 36.
- ^ Lary 2015, p. 122.
- ^ a b c Koga 2016, p. 72.
- ^ Lary 2015, p. 62.
- ^ Westad 2003, p. 178.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 172.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 173.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 106.
- ^ Westad 2003, p. 192.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 223.
- ^ a b Westad 2003, p. 190.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 231.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 232.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 243.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 244.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 247.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 248.
- ^ Westad 2003, p. 196.
- ^ Lary 2015, p. 142.
- ^ Lary 2015, p. 12.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 239.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 242.
- ^ Tanner 2015, p. 220.
- ^ Jacobs, Andrew (October 1, 2009). "China is Wordless on Traumas of Communists' Rise". The New York Times.
Sources
[edit]- Koga, Yukiko (2016). Inheritance of Loss: China, Japan, and the Political Economy of Redemption After Empire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226412139.
- Lary, Diana (2015). China's Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107054677.
- Tanner, Harold M. (2015). Where Chiang Kai-shek Lost China: The Liao-Shen Campaign, 1948. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253016997.
- Westad, Odd Arne (2003). Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 080474484X.
- Worthing, Peter (2017). General He Yingqin: The Rise and Fall of Nationalist China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107144637.
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Siege of Changchun
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Background
Strategic and Historical Context
The resumption of the Chinese Civil War following Japan's surrender in August 1945 positioned Manchuria as a critical theater, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gained an early advantage through Soviet support. The Soviet Red Army's invasion of the region on August 9, 1945, led to the rapid defeat of Japanese Kwantung Army forces, followed by an occupation that lasted until May 1946. During this time, Soviet authorities facilitated the transfer of approximately 700,000 Japanese rifles, 12,000 machine guns, and over 200 tanks to CCP units, enabling the expansion of the Communist Northeast Democratic United Army from 100,000 to over 700,000 troops by mid-1946. In contrast, Kuomintang (KMT) forces, reliant on U.S. airlifts, deployed around 500,000 troops to defend urban centers but faced logistical challenges, including elongated supply lines vulnerable to guerrilla interdiction.[9][10] By spring 1948, CCP forces under General Lin Biao had secured rural Manchuria and isolated KMT-held cities, including Changchun, Shenyang, and Jinzhou, reducing Nationalist control to isolated salients amid a hostile countryside. Changchun, the capital of Jilin province and a former hub of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, served as a transportation nexus linking central Manchuria's rail lines and agricultural resources, making its retention vital for KMT efforts to maintain a northeastern base. However, with over 100,000 KMT troops under General Zheng Dongguo garrisoned there alongside roughly 500,000 civilians, the city represented a fixed liability, consuming supplies without mobile offensive capability. Lin Biao's initial offensive in March 1948 failed to capture it outright, prompting a shift to encirclement tactics that exploited the PLA's manpower superiority—around 260,000 troops for the siege—to interdict food and fuel convoys.[11][1] This blockade formed the opening phase of the broader Liaoshen Campaign (September 12–November 2, 1948), the first of three decisive engagements that shifted numerical superiority to the CCP nationwide. Strategically, neutralizing Changchun without assault conserved PLA ammunition and personnel for simultaneous operations against Jinzhou and Shenyang, preventing KMT reinforcements from linking up and aiming to collapse the entire northeastern front. Lin Biao's directive on May 30, 1948, emphasized tightening the noose to induce surrender through attrition, reflecting a calculated doctrine of "political-psychological warfare" over kinetic engagement, as direct urban combat had proven costly in prior clashes like the 1946 Siping battles. The approach tied down equivalent KMT divisions, contributing to the campaign's outcome where CCP forces captured 470,000 prisoners and secured Manchuria's industrial base, tipping the civil war's balance.[11][10][1]Pre-Siege Military Positions
In May 1948, following the Nationalists' retreat from the Fourth Battle of Siping earlier that year, the garrison in Changchun was commanded by Lieutenant General Zheng Dongguo, deputy commander-in-chief of the Nationalist Northeast Security Command.[4] The defending forces primarily consisted of the 60th Army (composed of Yunnanese troops with three divisions), the New Seventh Army (remnants reorganized from defeated units at Siping, including the New First Army and elements of the 38th Division), and additional corps such as peace preservation units, totaling approximately 100,000 troops.[4] [12] These units were positioned to defend key urban sectors, with the New Seventh Army holding the western half of the city and the 60th Army the eastern half; headquarters were established in central buildings like the Central Bank, while fortifications included entrenched positions around airports and supply depots to facilitate potential air resupply from Shenyang.[13] Morale among the New Seventh Army had been low since late 1947 due to repeated defeats and logistical strains, contributing to internal pressures that later influenced surrender negotiations.[6] Opposing them, the Communist Northeast Field Army under General Lin Biao controlled the surrounding Manchurian countryside after consolidating gains from prior offensives, isolating Changchun from other Nationalist strongholds like Shenyang and Qiqihar.[1] The initial besieging contingent comprised the 12th Column under Zhong Wei and five independent divisions, forming a blockade perimeter to cut ground supply routes while preparing for tighter encirclement.[4] Overall, Lin's forces numbered around 100,000 for the immediate operation, drawn from vertical columns (equivalent to army-level formations) and independent units experienced in encirclement tactics from earlier campaigns.[12] [14] These positions emphasized outer ring defenses to prevent breakouts or reinforcements, with directives from Mao Zedong specifying one column and seven independent divisions for sustained pressure without immediate assault.[14] The Communist strategy prioritized attrition over direct attack, leveraging superior numbers in the region—estimated at over 700,000 total for the Northeast Field Army—to enforce isolation amid Nationalist overextension.[15]Preparations
Communist Planning and Forces
The Communist strategy for the Siege of Changchun emerged as part of Lin Biao's broader operational plan to secure Manchuria during the Liaoshen Campaign, prioritizing encirclement over costly frontal assaults to preserve forces for decisive engagements elsewhere. Following the Northeast Field Army's capture of Siping on March 12, 1948, which eliminated a key Nationalist rail hub and opened the route northward, Lin advanced on Changchun and initiated encirclement on May 23. An early attempt at direct capture failed due to fortified defenses, prompting Lin to implement a blockade on May 30, explicitly designed to isolate the city by severing supply lines, destroying crops in surrounding areas, and restricting movement—effectively aiming to render Changchun a "dead city" through attrition rather than battle. This shift reflected Lin's doctrinal emphasis on achieving local numerical superiority and avoiding high-casualty fights, allowing reallocation of troops toward targets like Jinzhou later in the campaign.[1][16][17] The besieging contingent, totaling around 100,000 troops, was a subset of the Northeast Field Army—reorganized in January 1948 under Lin Biao's command with Luo Ronghuan as political commissar—and included specialized units for sustained encirclement. Key elements comprised the 12th Column led by Zhong Wei, tasked with tightening the noose around the city's perimeter, alongside five independent divisions responsible for patrolling outer rings and interdicting relief efforts. These forces, equipped with captured Japanese and Soviet-supplied weaponry from earlier Manchurian operations, focused on fortifying blockade lines with trenches, minefields, and machine-gun nests while minimizing offensive actions to enforce starvation. The Northeast Field Army as a whole had grown to over 700,000 by mid-1948 through conscription and base-area expansion, but Lin committed only the necessary minimum to Changchun to maintain operational flexibility.[4][12][18]Nationalist Defenses and Logistics
The Nationalist garrison in Changchun, under the command of General Zheng Dongguo, comprised approximately 100,000 troops by the spring of 1948, including remnants of several Kuomintang divisions redeployed to hold key positions in Manchuria amid the broader Liaoshen Campaign.[4] These forces were tasked with defending the city as a logistical hub and bulwark against Communist advances from the surrounding countryside, where People's Liberation Army units had already disrupted rail and road networks.[19] Preparatory efforts focused on consolidating defensive perimeters around the urban core, leveraging the city's pre-existing infrastructure from its time as Manchukuo's capital, though specific fortification details remain limited in declassified accounts. Logistical preparations emphasized stockpiling grain, ammunition, and fuel, with Zheng Dongguo establishing a Wartime Food Control Committee to ration civilian and military provisions, limiting households to minimal reserves in anticipation of encirclement.[4] Ground supply lines initially relied on convoys from Nationalist-held Mukden (Shenyang), but vulnerability to guerrilla interdiction prompted contingency planning for aerial resupply via the Republic of China Air Force, which maintained bases for dropping essentials into isolated Manchurian enclaves.[20] However, these air operations faced constraints from limited aircraft availability and increasing Communist anti-air capabilities, rendering pre-siege logistics precarious and insufficient for sustaining a large garrison and civilian population long-term.[21] Overall, Nationalist logistics in Manchuria suffered from systemic overextension and corruption, exacerbating shortages even before the full blockade.[22]Establishment and Conduct of the Siege
Initial Blockade (May-June 1948)
The People's Liberation Army (PLA), under the command of Lin Biao as part of the Northeast Field Army, completed the encirclement of Changchun on May 23, 1948, deploying over 300,000 troops organized into nine columns to surround the city held by Nationalist forces.[4] This action severed major land supply routes, marking the onset of the siege during the broader Liaoshen Campaign of the Chinese Civil War.[1] On May 24, the PLA captured Dahongqi Airport, further blocking Nationalist air drops.[4] Inside Changchun, approximately 100,000 Nationalist troops from the 60th Army and New 7th Army, led by General Zheng Dongguo, defended the urban area alongside an estimated 500,000 civilians.[4] Initial PLA efforts included attempts to disrupt air supplies by capturing Xijiao Airport in the city's western suburbs, compelling the Nationalists to depend on airdrops that required around 40 sorties per day but were frequently intercepted or inadequate.[4] Following failed direct assaults on the city, Lin Biao shifted to a blockade strategy on May 30, 1948—approved by Mao Zedong—emphasizing "encircling without attacking" to exhaust the defenders through deprivation of food, fuel, and reinforcements rather than costly frontal engagements.[1][4] In June, the policy formalized as a long-term siege with a strict blockade of food and fuel, initially prohibiting civilians from leaving to deplete enemy supplies.[4] PLA units plowed under crops in a 30-mile radius to deny foraging opportunities, while maintaining positions to enforce the perimeter.[23] Zheng Dongguo responded by establishing a Wartime Food Control Committee, which rationed provisions, confiscated civilian grain reserves, and limited households to minimal stockpiles, prioritizing sustenance for combat troops amid emerging shortages.[4] By mid-June, around June 15, Communist columns conducted a feint withdrawal before resuming pressure, with artillery barrages limited to light, sporadic fire as the blockade solidified without major escalations.[23] The initial phase saw no large-scale breakthroughs, but supply disruptions began straining Nationalist logistics, with grain prices surging to extreme levels (e.g., 10,000 yuan per jin by late June) and early famine indicators among civilians, as the PLA blocked refugee outflows to trap the population and amplify pressure on military resources.[4] Though the siege's intensity relaxed temporarily by June 21, the encirclement endured, transitioning from active positioning to sustained isolation tactics.[23]Escalation and Encirclement (July-August 1948)
In July 1948, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), commanded by Lin Biao, continued to escalate the blockade of Changchun by deploying additional forces from the Northeast Field Army to consolidate the encirclement established in late May. This reinforcement aimed to seal off all ground routes from Nationalist-held areas such as Shenyang, preventing supply convoys or relief expeditions, while PLA units under siege commander Xiao Jinguang maintained control over key positions like Dafangshen Airport, captured earlier to disrupt airlifts. The tightened ring isolated the approximately 100,000 Nationalist troops under General Zheng Dongguo, forcing reliance on dwindling stockpiles amid growing logistical strain.[1] Throughout July and August, severe famine conditions developed inside the city, prompting Nationalist forces to drive civilians out toward PLA lines, creating a "no-man's land" where refugees were stranded and many perished.[4] PLA forces focused on defensive consolidation rather than direct assaults, constructing fortified positions, minefields, and patrol lines to counter potential breakouts, which reflected Lin Biao's broader strategy of attrition to immobilize KMT divisions ahead of the Liaoshen Campaign. Desertions intensified as food shortages deepened, with PLA records indicating over 10,000 Nationalist soldiers surrendering between late June and late August, signaling the encirclement's effectiveness in eroding morale without major engagements.[4] This phase marked a shift from intermittent blockade to sustained isolation, exacerbating early famine signs among both military personnel and civilians, as Nationalist authorities rationed supplies under Zheng Dongguo's wartime controls while awaiting unrealized relief. The PLA's numerical superiority—approaching 100,000 troops dedicated to the siege—ensured no breaches occurred, tying down KMT resources and contributing to the strategic weakening of Nationalist positions in Manchuria.[1][16]Intensified Starvation Phase (September-October 1948)
In September 1948, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces under Lin Biao reinforced their encirclement of Changchun, implementing a policy of total blockade that prohibited all inbound supplies while selectively permitting outbound civilian exodus to accelerate depletion of resources within the city. On September 11, the PLA allowed refugees to exit and provided some aid.[4] This approach, documented in Chinese archival records, aimed to compel the surrender of Nationalist General Zheng Dongguo's approximately 85,000 troops and affiliated militias without a direct assault, leveraging famine as a strategic instrument amid the ongoing Liaoshen Campaign. PLA units, including the 12th Column and independent divisions, maintained vigilant patrols and fortifications around the perimeter, repelling sporadic Nationalist foraging expeditions and aerial resupply attempts hampered by anti-aircraft fire.[24][17] By mid-September, food stocks inside Changchun had been exhausted for months, forcing defenders and civilians to subsist on minimal rations derived from urban greenery, leather goods, and animal hides; reports from the period indicate daily starvation deaths exceeding 500 among the remaining population, which had dwindled from over 500,000 pre-siege to roughly 200,000 through attrition and flight. Communist sentries enforced a "no-entry" directive, shooting individuals attempting to return with scavenged provisions or aid, thereby ensuring unidirectional outflow that maximized internal privation and minimized logistical burdens on the besiegers. This tactic, corroborated by eyewitness recollections and military dispatches, reflected a calculated escalation from earlier phases, prioritizing attrition over bombardment to preserve PLA manpower for concurrent offensives elsewhere in Manchuria.[16][25] Throughout October, the crisis intensified as Nationalist relief prospects evaporated following the PLA's capture of Jinzhou on October 14, isolating Changchun further and prompting Zheng Dongguo to initiate covert negotiations via intermediaries. Between October 16 and 17, the 60th Army, comprising 26,000 troops, staged an uprising and defected to the PLA. Famine conditions reached extremes, with documented instances of cannibalism among soldiers and civilians, as grain reserves hit zero and alternative sustenance proved insufficient for sustained resistance. On October 19-21, the New 7th Army surrendered, leading to the collapse of defenses and PLA entry into the city.[24][1][17]Humanitarian Crisis
Civilian Famine and Survival Conditions
The blockade imposed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from May 1948 severely restricted food supplies to Changchun, depleting pre-siege stockpiles by midsummer and initiating widespread civilian starvation. Nationalist authorities rationed grain at rates as low as 200 grams per person daily by August, insufficient for sustenance amid a trapped population estimated at over 200,000 non-combatants, exacerbating malnutrition as agricultural activity halted and foraging became perilous under crossfire. Civilians resorted to consuming weeds, tree bark, roots, and occasional small animals like rats or insects scavenged within the city limits, while some boiled leather belts or shoes in desperate attempts to extract calories.[24][26] By September 1948, during the siege's most acute phase, acute hunger rendered many residents immobile, confined to beds as muscle atrophy and edema set in; survivor Zhang Yinghua, aged 12 at the time, recalled families lying incapacitated, unable to venture outdoors for water or relief, with siblings succumbing sequentially to weakness. Malnutrition compounded by unsanitary conditions and lack of medical supplies fueled epidemics of dysentery, typhus, and scurvy, claiming lives through secondary infections rather than starvation alone in many cases. Eyewitness accounts, including those from Japanese holdovers like Homare Endo, describe households burying family members daily in shallow graves, with child mortality disproportionately high due to inability to forage independently.[16][27] Historians drawing on declassified Communist archives and survivor memoirs estimate at least 160,000 civilian deaths from hunger and disease over the five-month siege, with the figure potentially higher given underreporting in Nationalist records and post-surrender suppression by PLA forces. These conditions stemmed causally from the PLA's deliberate policy of total encirclement without assault, prioritizing attrition over humanitarian relief, as internal directives emphasized starving defenders by leveraging civilian dependence on city resources. No systematic aid reached the populace, with failed Nationalist airdrops providing negligible calories amid intercepted convoys and limited aircraft capacity.[24][16]Evacuation Attempts and Border Zone Deaths
In August 1948, as food supplies within Changchun dwindled to critical levels, Nationalist commander Zheng Dongguo ordered the evacuation of civilians to prioritize rations for troops, confiscating civilian food stocks before expelling them from the city.[4] [28] This policy, initiated around August 1, aimed to conserve military resources amid the ongoing blockade but left tens of thousands of starving refugees exposed between the Nationalist and Communist lines.[4] People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces, under prior directives, enforced a strict "no passage" policy established on June 28, 1948, by political commissar Xiao Hua, which instructed troops to block and drive back all civilians attempting to exit Changchun to prevent them from burdening PLA logistics.[4] Consequently, over 80,000 refugees accumulated in the no-man's land by mid-August, with initial concentrations such as 2,000 deaths reported in the Balibao area alone from exposure and starvation.[4] Thousands perished daily in this border zone, contributing significantly to the overall civilian toll estimated at 150,000 to 300,000 deaths during the siege, as refugees lacked shelter, food, or medical aid while trapped under fire from both sides.[29] [4] From August 16 onward, the PLA shifted to a controlled passage policy, allowing supervised evacuations that rescued approximately 20,000 refugees over three days, though many others had already succumbed in the interim.[4] Eyewitness accounts from PLA officer Zhang Zhenglu, documented in his memoir White Snow, Red Blood, describe the border zone as a scene of mass starvation comparable in scale to wartime atrocities, with bodies littering the landscape amid failed escape attempts.[16] These events underscored the tactical use of civilian hardship by both sides, with Communist blockades prolonging exposure and Nationalist expulsions accelerating vulnerability in the contested perimeter.[1]Surrender and Immediate Aftermath
Negotiations and Collapse of Defenses
In early October 1948, severe malnutrition and famine eroded discipline within the Nationalist garrison, prompting widespread desertions and localized mutinies among units of the New 7th Army and 60th Army.[12] [30] On October 16-17, elements of the 60th Army uprising further accelerated the collapse, with approximately 26,000 troops switching sides. These internal breakdowns fragmented command structures, as starving troops prioritized survival over holding positions, effectively dismantling the city's outer defenses without a direct assault by People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces.[7] Commander Zheng Dongguo resisted capitulation amid reports of collapsing morale but confronted mounting pressure from subordinate officers and troops unwilling to continue fighting under famine conditions.[30] Attempts at radio communications with PLA commander Lin Biao yielded no substantive negotiations, as the besiegers maintained their blockade policy of selective exits for soldiers—intended to accelerate military exhaustion—while blocking civilians to amplify pressure on leadership.[7] By mid-October, with organized resistance untenable following the 60th Army's actions, the New 7th Army surrendered on October 19-21, prompting Zheng to authorize the raising of a white flag and formalizing the overall capitulation on October 19, 1948, averting a potentially costlier storming of the city.[31] [30] The capitulation encompassed roughly 70,000–80,000 surviving Nationalist troops, many of whom were immediately reorganized or defected to PLA ranks, reflecting the strategic success of attrition over conventional assault.[30] Zheng himself was taken prisoner but later released after several years, having reportedly deceived Nationalist leadership in Nanjing about the extent of the collapse to mitigate reprisals.[10] This outcome underscored the blockade's causal efficacy: prolonged deprivation directly precipitated defensive failure, independent of negotiated concessions.[7]Capture of the City (October 1948)
Following the 60th Army uprising on October 16-17 and the New 7th Army surrender on October 19-21 amid collapsing defenses and widespread starvation, Nationalist deputy commander Zheng Dongguo formally surrendered Changchun to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on October 19, 1948.[32] This capitulation involved over 70,000 Nationalist troops from the 60th Army and New 7th Army, who laid down their arms after five months of encirclement that had rendered further resistance untenable.[32] [6] PLA forces under the Northeast Field Army, commanded by Lin Biao, advanced into the city shortly after the surrender announcement, encountering minimal organized resistance as Nationalist units disbanded.[32] The entry proceeded with systematic disarming of remaining garrisons and securing of key infrastructure, including government buildings and supply depots depleted by the siege.[33] Zheng Dongguo and senior officers were taken into custody, later transported to Harbin for processing, marking the effective end of Nationalist control over the Manchurian capital.[34] The capture solidified PLA dominance in Northeast China, freeing up resources for subsequent phases of the Liaoshen Campaign, though immediate post-surrender efforts focused on restoring basic order amid pervasive famine conditions.[11] No large-scale combat occurred during the takeover, as the starvation tactics had already eroded military cohesion, with troops and civilians alike weakened beyond effective fighting capacity.[1]Casualties and Controversies
Military and Civilian Death Toll Estimates
Estimates of civilian deaths during the Siege of Changchun primarily attribute fatalities to starvation and related diseases, with the city's population declining from approximately 500,000 at the onset to around 170,000-180,000 by the surrender on October 19, 1948. Scholarly analyses, including those drawing on eyewitness accounts and post-siege records, place the number of civilians who starved to death inside the city at around 150,000, though some assessments range from 120,000 to 200,000 when accounting for incomplete records and varying methodologies. Higher figures, up to 330,000, occasionally appear in broader tallies that may incorporate deaths among refugees attempting to flee through the Communist-controlled "death zone" surrounding the city, where an additional estimated 100,000-150,000 perished from exposure, shooting, or exhaustion. These refugee deaths are documented in survivor testimonies and military histories, highlighting the deliberate enforcement of a no-man's-land that prevented escape without authorization. Official Chinese Communist Party narratives have historically minimized or omitted these tolls, attributing discrepancies to Nationalist mismanagement rather than siege tactics, whereas independent and Western sources emphasize the blockade's role in inducing mass famine.[1][16][7] Military casualties were disproportionately lower than civilian losses, reflecting the siege's nature as a prolonged blockade rather than direct assaults until the final stages. Nationalist (Kuomintang) forces, numbering about 80,000-100,000 troops at the start under commanders Zheng Dongguo and Zeng Zesheng, experienced minimal combat deaths—estimated in the low thousands—due to limited engagements, with most attrition from starvation, disease, and desertion. By surrender, approximately 95,000 soldiers had capitulated, many weakened but surviving due to prioritized rations over civilians, though some thousands likely succumbed to famine conditions shared with the populace. People's Liberation Army (PLA) losses were negligible, with fewer than 1,000 reported from sporadic skirmishes or patrols enforcing the encirclement, as the strategy relied on attrition rather than offensive operations. Post-war analyses, including declassified reports and military memoirs, confirm that overall military fatalities did not exceed 10,000-15,000 combined for both sides, underscoring the asymmetry where civilian suffering far outweighed battlefield tolls.[10][17][6]Debates on Responsibility and Tactics
The People's Liberation Army (PLA), under Lin Biao's command, implemented a starvation blockade during the Siege of Changchun from May 30 to October 19, 1948, eschewing direct assaults in favor of encircling the city to sever supply lines, deplete Nationalist (Kuomintang, or KMT) stockpiles, and erode defender morale by leveraging civilian famine. This tactic, rooted in Mao Zedong's approval of Lin's strategy despite initial reservations, involved tightening the perimeter to block food, fuel, and reinforcements, with estimates indicating that KMT forces held initial grain reserves sufficient for months but prioritized military needs amid rationing failures. Lin Biao explicitly ordered subordinates to render Changchun a "dead city," prohibiting civilian exodus to intensify pressure on KMT commander Zheng Dongguo, though some field officers reportedly relaxed enforcement selectively to manage refugee flows.[16][10][1] Debates over responsibility center on the deliberate use of civilian starvation as a coercive instrument, with causal chains tracing primarily to PLA encirclement policies that trapped approximately 200,000 non-combatants alongside 80,000-100,000 KMT troops, leading to 150,000-160,000 civilian deaths from famine and exposure. Official People's Republic of China (PRC) narratives, shaped by state-controlled historiography, attribute primary fault to Zheng Dongguo's prolonged resistance—framed as obstinacy under Chiang Kai-shek's orders—and allege KMT hoarding of warehouses containing up to 10,000 tons of grain, which was distributed unevenly or withheld from civilians to sustain garrisons. These accounts, drawn from PLA memoirs and censored publications, portray the siege as a necessary outcome of KMT aggression, minimizing PLA agency in blocking escape routes where guards reportedly shot or repelled tens of thousands of emaciated refugees attempting to flee through minefields and no-man's-land zones.[1][16][4] Critics, including Taiwanese military analyses and Western historians, counter that PLA tactics constituted ruthless population control, with Lin's "dead city" directive evidencing intent to weaponize famine against non-combatants as leverage for surrender, akin to historical sieges but amplified by modern firepower and total perimeter denial. These perspectives highlight empirical evidence of PLA patrols preventing organized evacuations after initial allowances, contributing to mass die-offs in border areas, and note Zheng Dongguo's post-surrender claims that earlier relief or assault options were viable but rejected by Lin to avoid casualties. Such views, often from sources skeptical of PRC suppression—where the event remains a taboo absent memorials or curricula—emphasize that KMT food mismanagement, while contributory, stemmed from defensive imperatives under blockade, not equivalent to the besiegers' strategic choice of attrition over humanitarian corridors.[30][10][18] The controversy underscores source credibility challenges, as PRC materials exhibit systemic bias toward exonerating Communist forces—evident in the 1989 backlash against Zhang Zhenglong's "Snowy White Blood-Red" for likening the siege to atomic devastation—while Nationalist accounts may inflate PLA atrocities to underscore moral contrasts. Independent assessments, such as those reconciling defector testimonies and logistical records, affirm the blockade's foreseeably lethal impact on civilians, with tactics prioritizing military efficiency over mitigating non-combatant harm, though neither side pursued negotiated civilian releases amid mutual distrust.[1][16]Suppression and Alternative Narratives
In the People's Republic of China, accounts of the Siege of Changchun emphasizing civilian starvation and deaths—estimated at 150,000 to 160,000 from famine—have been systematically downplayed or omitted in official histories, education, and media, framing the event primarily as a strategic triumph in the Liaoshen Campaign that facilitated communist control of Manchuria.[16] [1] State narratives attribute prolonged suffering to Kuomintang (KMT) defenders' refusal to surrender earlier, portraying the blockade as a necessary military encirclement rather than a humanitarian catastrophe, with little acknowledgment of policies like the creation of a "prohibited zone" where civilians attempting to flee were fired upon by People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces.[16] This selective portrayal aligns with broader patterns of historical curation under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), where traumas from the civil war era are often silenced to preserve foundational legitimacy, as evidenced by the absence of public commemorations or curricula on the siege's non-combat toll despite its scale rivaling major wartime atrocities.[35] Even internal PLA documentation, such as Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Zhenglu's 1948 memoir White Snow, Red Blood, which detailed emaciated survivors resorting to cannibalism and equated the city's desolation to Hiroshima, has not permeated official discourse, remaining confined to limited or censored circulation.[1] Efforts to memorialize the event, like private initiatives in Manchuria, face implicit restrictions, underscoring how PRC historiography prioritizes causal narratives of KMT intransigence over empirical records of blockade enforcement, including the shooting of refugees in the surrounding no-man's land from June to October 1948.[4] Alternative narratives, advanced by KMT-aligned sources, Taiwanese historians, and independent researchers outside mainland China, depict the siege as an engineered famine tantamount to genocide, with PLA commander Lin Biao's orders explicitly barring civilian evacuations to pressure KMT garrison commander Zheng Dongguo, resulting in mass deaths that could have been averted through humanitarian corridors.[1] These accounts draw on survivor testimonies, such as those from Japanese residents trapped in the city, and declassified military logs estimating up to 300,000 total non-combatants affected, challenging CCP claims by highlighting the blockade's duration (May to October 1948) and the deliberate denial of food supplies to non-combatants as a coercive tactic disproportionate to military necessity.[5] Such perspectives, often disseminated via overseas publications or diaspora communities, attribute primary responsibility to communist strategy, contrasting with Beijing's emphasis on KMT "die-hard" resistance and viewing the event through a lens of causal accountability rather than ideological vindication.[16] Recent analyses, including those quantifying northeastern civilian casualties during the civil war, reinforce this by noting the siege's exceptional death rate—potentially 80% of the trapped population—as a stain on CCP origins, reliant on primary data from both sides rather than state-sanctioned revisions.[36]Strategic Impact and Legacy
Role in the Liaoshen Campaign
The Siege of Changchun, ongoing since May 1948, functioned as a strategic immobilizer within the Liaoshen Campaign (September 12–November 2, 1948), tying down approximately 100,000 Nationalist troops from the 60th Army and allied units under Zheng Dongguo, thereby preventing their redeployment to defend key southern positions like Jinzhou.[10] This encirclement, maintained by a relatively small contingent of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) under Lin Biao's Northeast Field Army, allowed the bulk of Communist forces—around 700,000 strong—to prioritize the campaign's southern thrust, where the capture of Jinzhou on October 14 severed Nationalist supply lines from the mainland.[17] By starving the garrison through multi-layered blockades and prohibiting civilian evacuations, the PLA minimized its own commitments at Changchun, conserving manpower and resources for mobile operations that exploited Nationalist overextension.[17] The city's surrender on October 19, without significant fighting due to famine-induced collapse, directly facilitated the campaign's climax by freeing PLA perimeter units for reinforcement of the Shenyang encirclement.[37] Lin Biao redeployed these elements northward, bolstering the assault that captured Shenyang on November 2 and annihilated over 470,000 Nationalist soldiers across Manchuria.[18] This outcome not only yielded captured weaponry and industrial assets from the region but also marked the first instance of Communist numerical superiority in the civil war, shifting momentum decisively.[11] The tactic underscored Lin's emphasis on attrition over immediate assault, contrasting with Nationalist reliance on inadequate air resupply, which delivered only limited tonnage amid deteriorating weather.[17] Overall, Changchun's role exemplified the PLA's operational art of parallel pressures: a low-intensity siege complemented high-intensity battles elsewhere, eroding enemy cohesion and logistics in a theater where Nationalists held initial advantages in equipment but suffered from divided commands and morale erosion.[10] The campaign's success, culminating in full Communist control of the Northeast's resources, provided a base for subsequent offensives, though it relied on ruthless enforcement that prioritized military ends over humanitarian concerns.[17]Broader Implications for the Chinese Civil War
The fall of Changchun in October 1948, as a pivotal component of the Liaoshen Campaign, marked the effective end of Nationalist control over Northeast China (Manchuria), depriving the Kuomintang of a resource-rich industrial base inherited from Japanese occupation, including steel production and armaments factories that supplied up to 80% of Nationalist munitions.[11] This territorial loss isolated remaining Nationalist forces south of the Great Wall, severed potential supply lines from Soviet-influenced zones, and enabled the People's Liberation Army to capture vast stockpiles of Japanese weapons, bolstering their arsenal for subsequent offensives.[10] The campaign annihilated approximately 470,000 Nationalist troops, with over 865,000 surrendering, representing the single largest military disaster for Chiang Kai-shek's forces in the civil war and eroding their operational capacity nationwide.[10] Strategically, the siege validated Mao Zedong's doctrine of protracted people's war, emphasizing encirclement and attrition over hasty territorial gains, which conserved Communist manpower while systematically dismantling enemy cohesion; by refusing direct assaults on fortified positions like Changchun, the People's Liberation Army minimized its own losses to around 70,000 while forcing Nationalist capitulation through sustained blockade.[38] This approach freed up over 700,000 Communist troops from the Northeast by late 1948, allowing rapid redeployment to the Pingjin and Huaihai campaigns, where they encircled and destroyed additional hundreds of thousands of Nationalist divisions, accelerating the collapse of Kuomintang defenses in North and Central China.[39] The implications extended to the war's political dynamics, as the unchallenged Communist consolidation of Manchuria—home to 30 million people and key urban centers—facilitated mass conscription and propaganda efforts that swelled People's Liberation Army ranks to over 2 million by early 1949, while exposing Nationalist logistical failures and internal divisions.[11] Internationally, the outcome diminished prospects for U.S. intervention, as American observers noted the irreversible shift in momentum toward the Communists, contributing to the withholding of further aid amid perceptions of Kuomintang corruption and ineffectiveness.[23] Ultimately, the siege's success underscored the causal linkage between regional dominance and national victory, propelling the Chinese Communist Party toward continental control by mid-1949.[38]References
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GEN_Zheng_Dongguo_in_Harbin_%281948%29.jpg