The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China

Harold M. Tanner

Description

A crucial turning point in the Chinese civil war

In the spring of 1946, Communists and Nationalist Chinese were battled for control of Manchuria and supremacy in the civil war. The Nationalist attack on Siping ended with a Communist withdrawal, but further pursuit was halted by a cease-fire brokered by the American general, George Marshall. Within three years, Mao Zedong's troops had captured Manchuria and would soon drive Chiang Kai-shek's forces off the mainland. Did Marshall, as Chiang later claimed, save the Communists and determine China's fate? Putting the battle into the context of the military and political struggles fought, Harold M. Tanner casts light on all sides of this historic confrontation and shows how the outcome has been, and continues to be, interpreted to suit the needs of competing visions of China's past and future.

Acknowledgments
A Note on Chinese Names
1. Siping, 1946: Decisive Battle or Lost Opportunity?
2. The Manchurian Chessboard, August-September 1945
3. The Communist Retreat, October-December 1945
4. George Marshall's Mission, December 1945-March 1946
5. The Second Battle of Siping: Phase One—From Outer Defense to Stalemate, March-April 1946
6. The Second Battle of Siping: Phase Two—From Defense to Retreat, April-May 1946
7. The Chase and the Cease-Fire, May-June 1946
8. Visions of the Past and Future
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Military history
• General officer
• History of Asia
• General
• Asia
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 18 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253007346
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE BATTLE FOR MANCHURIA AND THE FATE OF CHINA
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THE BATTLE FOR MANCHURIA AND THE FATE OF CHINA
Siping, 1946
HAROLD M. TANNER
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
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2013 by Harold M. Tanner All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tanner, Harold Miles.
The battle for Manchuria and the fate of China : Siping, 1946 / Harold M. Tanner.
pages cm. - (Twentieth-century battles)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-00723-0 (cloth : alkaline paper)- ISBN 978-0-253-00734-6 (ebook) 1. China-History-Civil War, 1945-1949-Campaigns-China-Siping Shi. 2. China-History-Civil War, 1945-1949-Campaigns-China-Manchuria. 3. Siping Shi (China)-History, Military-20th century. 4. Manchuria (China)-History, Military-20th century. I. Title.
DS777.5425.S77T36
2013
951.04 2-dc23
2012036057
1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13
For Sophia
If it is all right not to write about [the Second Battle of Siping], then don t write about it.
-Zhou Enlai
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
A Note on Chinese Names
1 Siping, 1946: Decisive Battle or Lost Opportunity?
2 The Manchurian Chessboard, August-September 1945
3 The Communist Retreat, October-December 1945
4 George Marshall s Mission, December 1945-March 1946
5 The Second Battle of Siping: Phase One-From Outer Defense to Stalemate, March-April 1946
6 The Second Battle of Siping: Phase Two-From Defense to Retreat, April-May 1946
7 The Chase and the Ceasefire, May-June 1946
8 Visions of the Past and Future
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project has taken me to Stanford University; Washington, D.C.; Lexington, Virginia; and College Park, Maryland; to Beijing, Shanhaiguan, Xingcheng, Jinzhou, Shenyang, Siping, Changchun, Dalian, and Taipei. I could not have done it without the help of numerous friends, chance acquaintances, and hard-working librarians and archivists. A special word of thanks goes to my friend Bruce Elleman. This book would not exist if not for Bruce s well-placed questions and suggestions. I would also like to express my appreciation to Spencer Tucker, editor of the Twentieth Century Battles series, and to Editorial Director Robert Sloan of the Indiana University Press.
In Beijing, Wang Chaoguang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Modern History has been generous with his advice and with arranging the institutional support necessary when doing research in China. He Jiangfeng contributed his enthusiasm and knowledge of sources in Republican-era history as a research assistant in Beijing. Chen Yung-fa, Chang Jui-te, and the Institute of Modern History at Academia Sinica in Taipei provided assistance and a comfortable base for research in Taiwan. In Siping, Zhao Zilun and Wang Haichun of the Standing Committee of Siping s People s Congress and Wang Yongxing of Siping Television shared both insights and material of (they made very clear) an unclassified nature, as well as many excellent meals, accompanied by locally produced beer and baijiu (white lightning). A number of elderly citizens of Siping and Jinzhou graciously allowed me to intrude on otherwise restful mornings and afternoons in parks or along the streets with my incessant questions about the events of the 1940s. I also benefited from conversations with Liu Tong and Zhang Zhenglong, both noted historians of the People s Liberation Army. Finally, I thank the anonymous reader who went over the entire manuscript at the request of Indiana University Press for his or her valuable suggestions.
I conducted research for this book at the following libraries and archives: in China, the National Library in Beijing, the Jilin Provincial Archives, the Liaoning Provincial Archives, the Liaoning Provincial Library, and the Liao-Shen Campaign Memorial Hall; in the United States, the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, the Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress, the Research Library of the George C. Marshall Foundation, the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University s East Asia Library, and the University of North Texas Libraries. In Canada, Sr. Huguette Turcotte of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Gilles Dub of the Soci t des Missions- trang s, and Wilfrid Bernier of Les Clercs de Saint-Viateur du Canada kindly supplied me with material from the archives and publications of their respective organizations.
I had the pleasure of presenting various parts of the research for this book as conference papers at meetings of the Southwest Conference for Asian Studies, the Association for Asian Studies, the Chinese Military History Society, and the Military History Society, where my fellow panelists and the panel audiences helped me with their questions and comments. The Chinese Military History Society and its core leadership of David Graff, Ken Swope, and Peter Lorge in particular have offered a supportive professional network. I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support that I have received from all levels of the University of North Texas: the Department of History and its Military History Center, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Provost. Without institutional support for research trips and travel to conferences, this kind of research would not be possible. I hope the results of the research-which include not only conference papers, articles, and a book but also the incorporation of new content and perspectives into both undergraduate and graduate classes-represent an adequate return on the university s investment.
Finally, I would like to thank my long-suffering family: my wife, Jiang Yiyun, who bravely keeps a home running during many (too many) short and long conference and research trips, and my children, Sophia and William, who may wonder if I have any interests other than work. The answer is, of course, yes, though it often does not look that way!
A NOTE ON CHINESE NAMES
In the main text, Chinese names have been written in the pinyin Romanization system. Most words are pronounced roughly the way an English-speaker would guess. There are a few important exceptions to this rule: c is pronounced as ts, q as ch, and x more or less like s. I have used non-pinyin spellings for the names of a few individuals and entities whose names have become universally recognized under those earlier spellings. For example, Chiang Kai-shek (pinyin Jiang Jieshi), Kwantung Army (pinyin Guandong Army), and T. V. Soong (pinyin Song Ziwen).
THE BATTLE FOR MANCHURIA AND THE FATE OF CHINA
1
Siping, 1946
Decisive Battle or Lost Opportunity?
Siping (pronounced SUH-ping) is a small city of 3.2 million people. On a contemporary map, it lies just inside Jilin Province in China s great Northeast, or Manchuria, on the main rail line, roughly halfway between the provincial capital cities of Changchun to the north and Shenyang to the south. The railway line itself bisects the city, dividing it into two districts, Tiexi (west of the railway, pronounced tia-see ) and Tiedong (east of the railway, pronounced tia-doong ). In the economic development zones on the outskirts of town are the construction companies, warehouses, factories, and a state-of-the art brewery that make the backbone of Siping s modern industrial economy. At night, the city s main shopping district comes alive with stalls and vendors selling clothing, fruit, vegetables, snacks, household goods, electronics, and more. Along the boulevard running west from the railway station, elderly men offer to tell your fortune (always good) for a moderate fee. Around the corner, down a nondescript street, a restaurant serves up the city s local culinary specialty: Li Liangui s Big Marinated Pork Buns, praised by Communist Party leaders including Deng Xiaoping ( economical, simple, and tasty! ) and former premier Li Peng ( Comrade Xiaoping likes them. I like them too. ).
In the spring of 1946, this city, home of the delicious (and economical) big pork buns, was the scene of a bitter month-long siege. In the summer of 1945, in the last weeks of the Second World War, Soviet troops had entered Manchuria to drive out the Japanese, who had occupied the region since 1931. With the Soviets in occupation, forces of the Chinese Communist Party gained a foothold in Manchuria, which they hoped to use as