Battle of Tianquan

The Battle of Tianquan was a battle fought between the and the during the Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era and resulted in communist victory. It is also called “The Battle to Defend Tianquan by the communists.

Order of Battle
*Nationalists
**Southwestern Anticommunist National Salvation Army
**Local bandits
*Communists
**A company of the 555th Regiments

On February 14, 1950, Cheng Zhiwu the nationalist commander of the Southwestern Anticommunist National Salvation Army managed to convince the local bandits headed by Li Yuanheng to ally with him to attack the town of Tianquan in Xikang. The attackers expected an immediate success because the town was guarded only by a single communist company of the 555th Regiment and as the attackers besieged the town on the same day, all communications to the outside was severed. However, the defenders decided to die with the town and put up a hard fight, despite their numerical and technical advantages.

On February 15, 1950, over a hundred attackers successfully penetrated into the town via Western Pass under the cover of heavy fire, but he defenders outflanked and routed the attackers, killing everyone. As a result, the attackers were gravely demoralized, and the battle reached a stalemate. Realizing that they were short on supply and low on morale, the nationalists attempted another and final assault on the town on February 20, 1950, with over a hundred attackers penetrated into the town and took a large bunker. The defenders, however, besieged the large bunker and blew it up with dynamite, killing everyone inside. Hearing the news, the attackers’ resolve to fight completely collapsed and everyone abandoned his post and fled. The nationalist commanders were unable to stop their fleeing troops and had to withdraw, and taking the opportunity, the defenders counterattacked, inflicting further casualties on the enemy and taking more than a hundred prisoners.

The nationalist failure to take the town was mainly due to their reliance on bandits who had no training on the conventional warfare, and could not effectively utilizing their numerical and technical advantages. Neither did the bandits have any resolve to fight to the end like their enemy defending the town, because were only interested in keeping their own strength and saving their own lives so they could not be depended on in the heat of battle. The few dedicated anticommunists in the nationalist rank was too few to make a difference for the attacking force and thus the nationalist attack resulted in the inevitable failure.