Campaign to the South of Baoding The Campaign to the South of Baoding ( 保南战役 ) consisted of several battles fought in regions south of Baoding between the nationalists and the communists during the Chinese Civil War after World War II , and resulted in the communist victory . Prelude . In December 1946 , after the setback of the failed attempts to take Easy County ( Yi Xian , 易县 ) and Full City ( Man Cheng , 满城 ) regions , the nationalists redeployed their forces along the railroad from Beijing to Baoding to fragment the enemy base into smaller pieces . However , when carrying out the new strategy , the nationalist force was overstretched and the region between Wangdu ( 望都 ) and Zhengding to the south of Baoding was thinly manned : the vast area of over 200 km stretch of land was only guarded by a detachment of the 32nd Division of the nationalist 3rd Army and four regiment s of the nationalist 5th Security Division totaling 20 , 000 troops . The communists decided to take this advantage by launching a campaign aimed to sever the nationalist communication / transportation line in central Hebei , thus cutting off the food supply for the nationalists in western Hebei . Order of battle . Nationalist order of battle : Communist order of battle : The Campaign . The communist 10th Brigade , the 11th Brigade , the Independent 1st Brigade and units of the 3rd and 9th Military Districts were tasked with the main responsibilities of the campaign , while the 8th Independent Brigade would launch assaults along the railroad around Gaobei Hotel ( Gao Bei Dian , 高碑店 ) region to the north of Baoding to tie down the nationalists in order to prevent them from reinforcing the nationalists in the south . The communist 2nd and 3rd Column would station at the Town of Sun City ( Yang Cheng Zhen , 阳城镇 ) and White Bunker Town ( Bai Bao Zhen , 白堡镇 ) , waiting to ambush the nationalist reinforcements if there was any . At the dawn on January 21 , 1947 , under the cover of heavy snow storm , the communist 10th Brigade and the 11th Brigade launched their surprise attacks on the Imperial Capital Village ( 王京村 ) and the town of Wangdu ( 望都 ) , successfully taking the both nationalist strongholds and completely annihilated the nationalist garrison consisted of a battalion and a regiment of the nationalist 5th Security Division in the process . Meanwhile , the communist 1st Independent Brigade and communist units from the 3rd and the 9th Military Districts launched their offensives on the nationalist positions along the railroad . At night of January 21 , 1947 , the communist 4th Column had succeeded in penetrating into region between the town Xinle ( 新乐 ) and the town of Ding ( 定 ) County . On January 23 , 1947 , the communist 4th Column sent out a detachment to successfully take the region of Camp West Hotel ( Zhai Xi Dian , 寨西 店 ) , while the bulk of its force was deployed along the railroad to ambush the nationalist reinforcement . On January 24 , 1947 , the nationalist reinforcement from Zhengding consisted of a regiment of the 5th Security Division and a portion of the nationalist 32nd Division was completely annihilated by the waiting communist 4th Column in the region of Shijiading ( 十家町 ) . Learning the news of the disaster , the nationalist defenders of the town Xinle ( 新乐 ) was forced to abandon the town when the communist 1st Independent Brigade attacked . On January 28 , 1947 , the communist 4th Column launched the final assault on the besieged town of Ding ( 定 ) County , badly mauling the nationalist brigade defending the town . As the nationalist survivors attempted to flee , they were ambushed by the communist 2nd Column at Wangdu ( 望都 ) region , and the communist victory was complete with the conclusion of the campaign . Outcome . The nationalists suffered more than 8 , 000 losses in their defeat , and the link between Shijiazhuang and Baoding was severed . Additionally , towns included Wangdu ( 望都 ) , Ding ( 定 ) County , and Xinle ( 新乐 ) fell into the enemy hands , while the previously separated communist bases in the central Hebei and the border area of Hebei and Shanxi was successfully linked up by the enemy to form a new base with much larger size .