Battle of Siping The Battle of Siping ( 四平战斗 ) , also called the Battle to Liberate Siping ( 四平解放战 ) by the communists was a battle fought between the Communist Forces and the Nationalist Forces in Jilin , China for the control of city during the Chinese Civil War . It took place immediately after the Red Army withdrew from Siping in March 1946 , and resulted in a communist victory . Prelude . On January 8 , 1946 , Liu Handong ( 刘瀚东 ) , the commander of the nationalist 107th Division arrived at city with over a hundred associates to discuss the city ' s transfer from the Red Army to the Chinese administration . The Red Army still occupied the city at the time . Subsequently , on January 10 , the nationalists created the Liaobei ( 辽北 ) Province , with Liu Handong ( 刘瀚东 ) named the chairman of the province , and nationalist provincial governmental member Li Chongguo ( 李充国 ) named the mayor of city . The Nationalists had neither sufficient troops nor enough transportation assets to deploy its troops into the previously Japanese - occupied region of China , and they could not spare enough forces to hold the city long enough for reinforcements to arrive . The Nationalists at Siping recruited bandits in the region including members from the Good Under the Heaven ( 天下好 ) and Flying Over the Grass ( 草上飞 ) gangs to secure the local garrison . Enlisting the gangs angered the local populace , which already blamed the Nationalists for losing the region to the Japanese invaders . As a result , the Nationalists lost popular support in the region , a problem exacerbated by the fact that the hired bandits had fought the Nationalists both prior to and during the war and had cooperated with the Japanese invaders . The Nationalists recruited forces from the former Japanese puppet regime , such as the Iron Stone Units ( Tie Shi Bu Dui , 铁石部队 ) , to be part of the local garrison , which only increased the hatred from the local populace , which had suffered under the Japanese puppet regime . First nationalist offensive and counterattack . On January 25 , 1946 , Lü Zhengcao ( 吕正操 ) , the commander - in - chief of the communist Western Manchurian Military District , and Li Fuchun ( 李富春 ) , the political commissar of the communist Western Manchurian Military District , redeployed the communist 10th Brigade and the 24th Brigade to the Pear Tree ( Li Shu , 梨树 ) , Changtu , and Gongzhuling regions surrounding city . In an attempt to eradicate the enemy and secure the city , the nationalists launched an offensive against the communists in late February . However , the former bandits proved no match for combat - hardened communists who were veterans of the Second Sino - Japanese War . The Nationalist force , consisting of former bandits from the Pressuring Nine Dragons ( Ya Jiu Long , 压九龙 ) gang , attacked the communist Siping Group and inflicted more than a dozen fatalities and injured a communist squadron commander , Cheng Bizhen ( 程秉贞 ) , the communists quickly counterattacked , completely annihilating the attacking Nationalists . The failed attempt by the Nationalists provided excellent excuse for the enemy to counterattack , and , in a short period of several days , the Nationalist strongholds at Crouching Tiger Village ( Wo Hu Tun , 卧虎屯 ) , Maolin ( 茂林 ) , Baokang ( 保康 ) , and Twin Mountains ( Shuang Shan , 双山 ) fell into communist hands . All the nationalist garrisons guarding these strongholds were former bandits from various gangs , including the Old Second Brother ( Lao Er Ge , 老二哥 ) , Seven Stars ( Qi Xing Zi , 七星子 ) , Old Man Smile ( Lao Tou Le , 老头乐 ) and Nine Provinces ( Jiu Sheng , 九省 ) gangs . The Nationalists were forced back on the defensive after their failure in the rural regions and the fighting temporarily stopped . Communist capture of Siping . The clash resumed after the Red Army withdrew from city on March 13 , 1946 . On March 15 , the airport in the western suburb of the city had fallen into communist hands , and by the next day , the 6 , 000 - strong enemy force had completed their siege of the city . At 4 : 00 AM on March 17 , the assault on the city began . After ten hours of fierce battle , the city had fallen with its entire garrison defeated . The Nationalist commander Liu Handong ( 刘瀚东 ) and his deputies , the former bandit chieftains Wang Dahua ( 王大化 ) and Wang Yaodong ( 王耀东 ) were captured alive but a few of the defenders , including the nationalist chief of security Zhang Dongkai ( 张东凯 ) and deputy chief of security Wang Yongqing ( 王永清 ) , were able to escape by disguising themselves as beggars . The enemy had also captured 69 machine guns , 32 artillery pieces , over two thousand firearms , nearly two dozen automobiles , over 300 military horses and large amount of supplies from the nationalist defenders . The Nationalists lost support from the local populace as a result of the defeat . Nationalist counteroffensive . Chiang Kai - shek was furious that the city had fallen and sent out a force to retake the city . By March 21 , 1946 , the Nationalists had taken Liaoyang , and by March 22 , the nationalists took Fushun Tieling . On March 22 , Chiang Kai - shek ordered Xiong Shihui ( 熊式辉 ) , the chief nationalist administrator in Northeast China and Zheng Dongguo ( 郑洞国 ) , the commander - in - chief of the nationalist force in Northeast China , to launch a counteroffensive targeting city from Shenyang and to take city before April 2 , 1946 . The Nationalist offensive was spearheaded by the New 1st Army and the 71st Army , and the Nationalist deputy commander - in - chief Liang Huasheng ( 梁华盛 ) was named as the frontline commander to set up headquarters at Tieling . Chiang ’ s plan collapsed when melting snow turned the roads to mud , bogging down the highly mechanized Nationalist force , making it unable to reach city . The Nationalists would also suffer another defeat in the Jinjiatun Campaign due to the harsh terrain which was hostile to the highly mechanized force .