Campaign to the North of Baoding

Campaign to the North of Baoding (保北战役) consisted of several battles fought between the nationalists and the communists in the region to the north of Baoding during the Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era and resulted in communist victory.

Prelude
By the mid of June 1947, the nationalists had given up the attempt to reinforce Northeast China by sending nationalist 43rd Division of the 94th Army. Instead, the nationalist 43rd Division was deployed to the south of Tianjin along with other nationalist units, including the nationalist 16th Army, the nationalist Reorganized 62nd Division, the nationalist 142nd Division of the 92nd Army. In the region north of Baoding, the nationalists had six divisions and two regiments, including the Independent 95th Brigade, the 2nd Security Division and the 3rd Security Division stationed at Baoding. For the region along the railway from Gaobei Hotel (Gao Bei Dian, 高碑店) to Xushui (徐水) and the regions of Yi (易) county and Laishui (涞水), they were garrisoned by the nationalist 5th Division and 121st Division of the nationalist 94th Army, the 7th Security Division, and a regiment of the109th Division of the nationalist 16th Army. The communists decided to launch an offensive against the nationalists in the region north of Baoding in accordance with the communist Summer Offensive of 1947 in Northeast China.

Order of battle
Nationalist order of battle: Communist order of battle:
 * The 16th Army stationed at Baoding
 * The 94th Army
 * The 5th Division
 * The 43rd Division
 * The 121st Division
 * The Independent 95th Brigade
 * The 2nd Security Division
 * The 3rd Security Division
 * The 7th Security Division
 * Local Security Regiments
 * The 2nd Column
 * The 3rd Column
 * The 4th Column

Campaign
On June 25, 1947, the communist 2nd Column attacked the town of Xushui (徐水), and the bulk of the communist force of the 3rd Column attacked the town of Solid City (Gu Cheng, 固城) and Northern River Hotel (Bei He Dian, 北河店), while the bulk of the communist force of the 4th Column attacked the region of the Source of the Cao River (Cao He Tou, 漕河头) and the region of Xu River Bridge (Xu He Qiao, 徐河桥). Meanwhile, detachments from the communist 3rd and 4th Columns were deployed to stop the nationalist reinforcement. By the evening of June 26, 1947, the communist 2nd Column succeeded in taking Xushui (徐水) and completed annihilated the local garrison consisted of a regiment of the 109th Division of the nationalist 16th Army. In addition, nationalist strongholds along the railway from Xushui (徐水) to Tian’s Village Shop (Tian Cun Pu, 田村铺) had fallen into the enemy hands. On June 27, 1947, the communist 4th Column succeeded in taking regions included Twenty-Mile Shop (Er Shi Li Pu, 二十里铺), Source of the Cao River (Cao He Tou, 漕河头), Xu River Bridge (Xu He Qiao, 徐河桥), and Sun’s Village (Sun Zhuang, 孙庄), badly mauling local garrison consisted of the nationalist 2nd and 3rd Security Divisions in the process. The communist success forced the nationalists to sent out reinforcement: the nationalist 16th Army and the 43rd Division of nationalist 94th Army reached south of Liang Township (Liang Xiang, 良乡) via Beijing – Hankou railroad, and the 5th Division and the 121st Division of the nationalist 94th Army reached the region of Northern River Hotel (Bei He Dian, 北河店), from Dingxing (定兴). Little did the nationalists know that the enemy was waiting to ambush them.

On June 28, 1947, a portion of the 6th Brigade of the communist 2nd Column and the 7th and 8th Brigades of the communist 3rd Column stopped the nationalist reinforcement at Shiwuji (十五汲), the region south of Northern River Hotel (Bei He Dian, 北河店), while the bulk of the 6th Brigade of the communist 2nd Column attempted to outflank the nationalist reinforcement from behind. After being ambushed from the flank, the nationalists immediately withdrew to the north of Northern River Hotel (Bei He Dian, 北河店), thus successfully avoided besiegement, but in doing so, the nationalists they attempted to reinforce were doomed. As a result, by the evening of June 28, 1947, the communist 3rd Column took Solid City (Gu Cheng, 固城), the local garrison of the town consisted of a regiment of the 121st Division of the nationalist 94th Army was completely annihilated. In addition, in a stretch from the region of Tian’s Village Shop (Tian Cun Pu, 田村铺) to the region of Northern River Hotel (Bei He Dian, 北河店), all of the nationalist strongholds along the railway had fallen into the enemy hands. In order to lure out the nationalists in Baoding for an ambush, from July 4, 1947 thru July 6, 1947, the communist 4th Column took regions included Horse Factory (Ma Chang, 马厂), Xie’s Village (Xie Zhuang, 谢庄), Northern and Southern Strange Villages (Nan – Bei Qi Cun, 南北奇村) west of Baoding, and annihilated the 1,000 strong nationalist reinforcement consisted of security regiments from Full City (Man Cheng, 满城), and Completed County (Wan Xian, 完县). The nationalists in Baoding refused to be lured out and the campaign thus concluded with communist victory.

Outcome
The nationalists suffered more than 8,200 losses in their defeat and the critical communication / transportation line of Beijing – Hankou railroad was cut by the enemy as a result.