Campaign at the China – Burma border The Campaign along the China - Burma Border ( 中缅边境作战 ) 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 . It is also dubbed by the communists as the Campaign to Provide Security for the China - Burma Border Surveying ( 中缅边境勘界警卫作战 ) . Background . After the communist revolution in China , some surviving nationalist forces withdrew to Burma and continued to fight . Under international pressure , the Nationalist government in Taiwan withdrew the surviving force in the China - Burma border totaling over 6 , 500 in May 1954 . However , many ardent nationalists refused to retreat to Taiwan and decided to stay in Burma and carry on the anticommunist struggle . To better lead these troops , Nationalist government sent the original deputy commander - in - chief , Liu Yuanlin ( 柳元麟 ) back to Burma to form Yunnan People ’ s Anticommunist Volunteer Army in June 1954 . By early 1960s , the nationalist force in northern Burma had reached its peak , totaling near ten thousand troops . Because there were much higher proportion of officers among the nationalist force in the China - Burma border , the structure of nationalist forces in northern Burma was different than ordinary military structure : Yunnan People ’ s Anticommunist Volunteer Army was organized into five armies , each was consisted of two to three divisions , and each of these divisions , in turn , was directly consisted of two to three regiments , while the brigades level structure was eliminated . The size of each regiment of Yunnan People ’ s Anticommunist Volunteer Army various greatly in size , from two dozen troops to over a thousand troops . The nationalist force controlled an area that was 300 km long along the China - Burma border , and 100 km deep . The nationalist area of control was typical mountainous jungle regions , with raining season last six months and the area was covered by fogs for most of the time . It was extremely difficult to navigate in the region where there were few road and trails , and the natural environment was extremely harsh . In 1960 , Burmese premier Ne Win visited China and signed a deal aimed to solve the historical disputes between the China and Burma on January 28 , 1960 . In October , 1960 , Burmese premier U Nu and Burmese chief - of - general - staff General Ne Win visited China once again and on October 1 , 1960 , they signed a new border treaty with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai . According to the treaty , the China - Burma border had to be surveyed for demarcation , but the existence of nationalist force in northern Burma along the border posed a serious threat . Burmese government consequently asked the Chinese communists to help to eradicate the Chinese nationalist force in the border region . Prelude . In October , 1960 , the communist high command ordered Kunming Military Region to prepare for the campaign . In early November 1960 , communists and Burmese government held a joint conference on the matter of communist force fighting in Burma . The Burmese representatives were headed by Brigadier General s Aung Gyi and San Yu , and the Chinese communist representatives were headed by Ding Rongchang ( 丁荣昌 ) , the deputy commander - in - chief of the communist Yunnan Provincial Military Region , and Cheng Xueyu ( 成学渝 ) , the director of Border Defense Directorate of the War Department of the General Staff Ministry of the People ' s Liberation Army . By November 4 , 1960 , the deal was signed in which communist force was allowed to fight in Burma in a region that was 20 km deep , 300 km long , along the border . On November 14 , 1960 , the communist central military committee formally issued the order to cross the border to destroy the Nationalist troops in Burma according to the personal direction of Zhou Enlai . The political implication of the campaign was specially emphasized and failure was not an option . The communist force would be mainly deployed in Mengma ( 孟马 ) , Mengwa ( 孟瓦 ) and Sandao ( 三岛 ) regions . The communists intended to avoid scattering the enemy , but instead , complete annihilating the enemy by first cutting off the retreating route of the nationalists after a surprised attack . Restrictions on the communist actions were also implement , for example , if the nationalists were to retreat toward Burma - Thailand - Laotian border , communists could not gave a chase on its own , and must be coordinated with Burmese government first , just as in any situation that would occur unexpectedly . The local civilian casualties should be avoided at all cost . After receiving the order , the communist Kunming Military Region decided to mobilize five infantry regiments and militias totaling over 6 , 500 for campaign , including a regiment from the 39th Division of the 13th Army , a regiment of the of 40th Division of the 14th Army , and three border defense regiments . To better coordinate their actions in Burma , communists form a frontline command at Fohai ( 佛海 ) in early November 1960 . Li Xifu ( 黎锡福 ) , the commander - in - chief of the communist Yunnan Provincial Military Region was named as the commander - in - chief of the new frontline command , Ding Rongchang ( 丁荣昌 ) , the deputy commander - in - chief of the communist Yunnan Provincial Military Region and Cui Jiangong ( 崔建功 ) , the deputy commander of the communist 13th Army were named as the deputy commanders - in - chief of the new frontline command . Order of battle . The surviving nationalist force at the China - Burma border reached its peak in the early 1960s , totaling almost ten thousand troops , excluding their noncombatant family members . The nationalist force was divided into five armies and each responsible for an area . There were also Ximeng ( 西盟 ) Military Region and Mengbailiao ( 孟白了 ) Garrison Region in addition to the five areas of responsibility of the five armies . Communists mobilized sixty - five hundred troops , out of which forty - five hundred were deployed during the campaign . Nationalist order of battle . Yunnan People ’ s Anticommunist Volunteer Army ( commander - in - chief : Liu Yuanlin 柳元麟 ) Strategies . Both sides had been limited by various factors . The nationalists , due to their low numbers , adopted the strategy to avoid fighting any large scale battles , but instead , concentrated on keeping their own strength , so that in the event of communist offensive , they would quickly withdraw away from the China - Burma border . The communists , on the other hand , was bounded by the redline that limited their actions , which eventually resulted in the successful escape of nationalists to the Thailand - Laos border keeping most of their strength . Nationalist strategy . The nationalist frontline bordering China was 300 km long and 20 km deep , and was the main target of the communist offensive . There were a total of 22 nationalist strongholds in the region , including the headquarters of the nationalist 1st Army and 4th Army , 2nd Division , 3rd Division , 5th Division , 6th Division , eight regimental headquarters , eight guerrilla strike teams . The nationalist strength in the region totaled more than 800 troops and was divided into three lines of defense . The first line of defense was manned the nationalist 1st Army and its 3rd Division totaling over 150 troops , stationed in strongholds including Mengwa ( 孟瓦 ) , Mengyu ( 孟育 ) , Mengjing ( 孟景 ) , and Jingkang ( 景康 ) , and with the exception of Jingkang ( 景康 ) , all of the nationalist strongholds in their first line of defense faced the Southern Luo ( 洛 ) River and with hilly forest in the back , and all of the roads and trails to and from China was heavily mined . The nationalist 4th Army deployed to the south and east of Mengyong ( 孟勇 ) was the backbone of the nationalist 2nd line of defense , and its 35th Regiment totaling over 200 was stationed at the critical peak 1404 . The Mengbailiao ( 孟白了 ) and Jiangle ( 江勒 ) regions was the nationalist 3rd line of defense , with the general headquarters of the nationalist commander - in - chief Liu Yuanlin ( ) setup in Mengbailiao ( 孟白了 ) , with training group , garrison regiment and communication battalion totaling over 450 troops . Jiangle ( 江勒 ) region was the nationalist logistic headquarters totaling over 200 troops , including the 1st Training Group . Communist strategy . Communists divided the combat zone into smaller individual areas and planned to cut off the retreating routes of the nationalists . The 117th Regiment and a portion of the 116th Regiment of the 39th Division of the Communist 13th Army were tasked to destroy the headquarters of the nationalist 4th Army at Mengma ( 孟马 ) , the nationalist 6th Division , 2nd Division , 5th Regiment , 17th Regiment and 4 guerrilla strike teams totaling 439 troops . In reality , the communists overestimated the nationalist strength , which only totaled 334 troops . The 118th Regiment of the 40th Division of the communist 14th Army was tasked to destroy the headquarters of the nationalist 1st Army at Mengwa ( 孟瓦 ) , garrison battalion , headquarters of the nationalist 3rd Division , the 8th Regiment , the 9th Regiment , and a guerrilla strike team totaling 265 troops . Once again , the communists overestimated the nationalist strength , which only totaled 156 troops . The 11th Border Defense Regiment of communist Yunnan Simao Military Sub - region was tasked to destroy the nationalist 7th Regiment and a guerrilla strike team totaling 59 troops , but the communist intelligence had underestimated the nationalist strength , which totaled 81 troops . The 9th and 10th Border Defense Regiments of communist Yunnan Simao Military Sub - region were tasked to destroy the headquarters of the nationalist 5th Division at Barbarians ’ Nest ( Manwo , 蛮窝 ) , the 14th Regiment , the 1st Regiment and two guerrilla strike teams totaling 159 troops . Once again , the communist intelligence had underestimated the nationalist strength which actually totaled 171 troops . The communists mobilized a total of 6639 troops of their own , though not all of them had crossed the border . The communists divided their forces into 22 routes and would attack in the early morning of November 22 , 1960 by crossing the border . First stage . The communist 2nd Company of the 9th Regiment of Border Defense and the 2nd Company of the 10th Regiment of Border Defense were tasked to attack nationalist strongholds at Man ’ enai ( 曼俄乃 ) , and reached their target by 5 : 00 AM on November 22 , 1960 . However , the numerical inferior nationalist troops had just learned the news of the upcoming attack and retreated by abandoning the stronghold . Communist main force immediately sent out four companies to chase after the retreating nationalists and caught up with the fleeing nationalists around ten kilometers to the south of the stronghold . After ensuing battles that included mop up operation , thirty - three nationalist troops including Li Tai ( 李泰 ) , the commander of the nationalist 5th Division were killed , marking the complete destruction of nationalist garrison of Man ’ enai ( 曼俄乃 ) stronghold . Meanwhile , communist force consisted of the 117th infantry regiment under the command of Yan Shouqing ( 阎守庆 ) , the deputy commander of the 39th Division , and the 118th infantry regiment under the command of Zhao Shiying ( 赵世英 ) , the commander of the 40th Division , and the 1st Battalion of the 116th infantry regiment attacked nationalist positions in Mengwa ( 孟瓦 ) , and Mengma ( 孟马 ) . The numerical inferior nationalist force at these positions were no match with an enemy that enjoyed overwhelmingly superior number and firepower , and the communist 117th infantry regiment succeeded in completely wiping out a sixty member strong nationalist battalion at the Tabanmai ( 踏板卖 ) stronghold and the sixty - two member strong nationalist battalion of the 7th Regiment at Mengxie ( 孟歇 ) stronghold . Major General Meng Baoye ( 蒙宝业 ) and Colonel Meng Xian ( 蒙显 ) , the commander and deputy commander of the nationalist 2nd Division were both killed in action . Communist 118th infantry regiment meanwhile attacked nationalist positions at Mengwa ( 孟瓦 ) , Jingkang ( 景康 ) , Mengyu ( 孟育 ) and Mengjing ( 孟景 ) , succeeding in killing over a hundred nationalist troops and capturing Colonel Ye Wenqiang ( 叶文强 ) , the deputy commander of the nationalist 3rd Division . After several hours of fierce battle , the headquarters of nationalist 1st Army , 2nd Division , 3rd Division , 5th Division , 7th Regiment , and 8th Regiment were completely destroyed . However , due to the complete lack of experience in jungle warfare in the mountainous region , half of the six communist task forces assigned to outflank the targets failed to reach their destination on time . Similarly , seven out of the sixteen communist task forces assigned for direct assaults failed to reach their targets on time . As a result , communists only managed to completely annihilate nationalist forces at six targets out of the original sixteen , with the nationalist forces at the rest ten slipped away . The subsequent mop up operation ended on December 20 , 1960 , marking the end of the first state of the campaign , succeeding in killing a total of 467 nationalist troops in the region bounded by the redline , or only 53 . 4 % of original target set by the communists . After the operation , Burmese government asked the communist force to stay in Burma to guard the local region from possible nationalist counterattacks , and Zhou Enlai , the Chinese premier agreed and ordered the Chinese communist troops to stay until the demarcation was completed . Second stage . After the first stage of the campaign had concluded , the surviving nationalists decided that their strength was no match with superior communist force and it was best to avoid direct confrontation with the enemy to conserve their strength . Instead , nationalists would gain new territories from Burmese government by attack Burmese troop to makeup the territory lost to the communists in the first stage of the campaign . Burmese troop could not check the nationalist advance and in the evening of January 18 , 1961 , Burmese liaison officers asked Chinese communists for help on the order given by their government . Communists decided to mobilize over 5 , 800 troops to launch the second stage of the campaign in late January to attack nationalists beyond the redline . The communists and the Burmese government reached a deal to allow the communist force to operate another 50 km further beyond the redline to engage the three thousand nationalist troops in Suoyong ( 索永 ) and Mengbailiao ( 孟白了 ) regions . To better coordinate their actions , communists established their frontline headquarters in Fohai ( 佛海 ) , with the deputy commander Cui Jiangong ( 崔建功 ) of the 13th Army as the commander , chief - of - staff Liang Zhongyu ( 梁中玉 ) of the 14th Army and deputy director of the political directorate Duan Siying ( 段思英 ) as deputy commanders . Communist 117th Regiment leading the 2 , 966 strong attacking force was tasked to attack the surviving units of the nationalist 4th Army , the 2nd Division , the 9th Division , the 10th Division , the 11th Division , the 7th Group of the Training Column , the Heavy Weaponry Group totaling over 1 , 200 . Another communist force consisted of the 10th Regiment and the 11th Regiment of the Border Defense of Simao Military Sub - region totaled 1 , 420 was tasked to attack the surviving nationalist forces totaling more than 680 , including surviving forces of the nationalist general headquarters in Suoyong ( 索永 ) , the headquarters of the 2nd Army in Baka ( 八卡 ) , the headquarters of 1st Army at Daling ( 大棱 ) River Crossing point , the 3rd Division , the 8th Division , and Zhongka ( 中卡 ) Squadron . The largest communist force totaling 3 , 012 headed by the communist 118th Regiment was tasked to attack the surviving units of nationalist totaling over 1 , 200 , including those from southern frontline command headquarters , garrison regiment , Training Column ( without its 7th Group ) , 2nd Group of the Training Column , 35th Regiment of the 3rd Army , and Officer Training Regiment . On January 25 , 1961 , all communist units begun their assault by crossing the redline , and attacking toward the regions to the north and west of Mekong River . Nationalist commander - in - chief Liu Yuanlin ( 柳元麟 ) realized the communist objective and immediately ordered a general retreat toward Burma - Laotian border on the very same night under the cover of darkness , abandoning the base they had controlled for more than a decade . By the next day , nationalist strongholds including Baxili , ( 巴西里 ) , Suoyong ( 索永 ) , and Mengbailiao ( 孟白了 ) fell into the communist hands , and the nationalist rear guards in charge of covering the retreat of the main force was destroyed . The communist force subsequently performed search and destroy operations to exterminate the surviving nationalists in the newly taken region , and succeeded in killing the nationalist Colonel Li Zixiong ( 李自雄 ) , the director of political directorate , and Colonel Bai Xianglin ( 白湘麟 ) , a regimental commander . However , due to numerous problems , with the exception of communist force of Simao Military Sub - region which reached Baxili , ( 巴西里 ) , its planned destination on time , all other communist forces failed to reach their planned destination on time , resulting in only killing 274 nationalist troops . In addition to successfully escaping to their new destination several hundred kilometers away in the border region of Burma - Lao - Thailand , the retreating nationalists also successfully managed to carry most of the equipment , supply and wounded with them in their escape . On February 9 , 1961 , the second stage concluded when all communist force withdrew back to China , marking the end of the campaign . Outcome . The communists succeeded in driving the nationalists from their base they held for more than a decade , thus returning the control of an area in access of thirty thousand square kilometers with population over a hundred thousand to Burmese government . However , the campaign also revealed serious and huge shortcomings of the communist troop in jungle warfare , and due to these problems revealed later in the communist post war analysis , most of the retreating nationalists were able to successfully escape to the Thai - Laotian border several hundred kilometers away , and forming the new base that survived until this day . For the nationalists , despite losing their thirty thousand square kilometers sized base with population over a hundred thousand they had held for more than a decade , nationalists nonetheless managed to retain most of their troops ( around 90 % ) and equipment to successfully escape and establish new bases in new area . However , the new area was far less fertile than the land in their original base they had lost , and this forced the nationalists in the new base to be increasingly dependent on opium production and trade , and most of their area of control eventually became part of the infamous Golden Triangle . Aftermath . Thanks to the opportunity to fight a campaign in the unfamiliar terrain and environment , the communist victory had exposed many problems that were nearly impossible to detect during peacetime . The communists concluded that the fighting capability of their troops had significantly decreased just merely a decade after the nationalists had been driven from the mainland China . Furthermore , the old experience that helped them to secure the victory over the nationalists in mainland China was completely ill - suited for the modern jungle warfare and many problems urgently needed to be addressed , including : The communists were shocked by the shortcomings exposed in the campaign . The deputy chief - of - staff and the future Chinese defense minister in the 1980s , Zhang Aiping , and the commander - in - chief of Kunming Military Region and the future Chinese defense minister in the 1990s , Qin Jiwei ( 秦基伟 ) , were sent to lead a team to establish new training and tactics based on the experience gained in the campaign in order to correct the problem . As a result , the military of both the Kunming Military Region and Guangzhou Military Region was drastically upgraded and improved in very short period of time after massive efforts were implemented . The improved later proved to be vital when Chinese troops were deployed to North Vietnam and Laos during the Chinese involvement in Vietnam War .