Nationalists campaigns against CCP 1930- 1934
By 1928 Kuomintang had established itself as the ruling party of China under the
leadership of Chang Kai-Shek, officially titled Chairman of the National Government.
Encirclement campaigns ​which aimed to destroy Communist rural bases by
surrounding them, cutting off their supply lines and subjecting them to a series of
artillery and infantry-led assaults.
First Encirclement campaign:
Against Jiangxi Soviet- November 1930.
Communists: guerrilla tactics, ambushing Nationalist reinforcements and exploiting
gaps between units of troops in Nationalist encirclement lines to raid Nationalist
territory and to prevent enemy units from linking up.
The first four encirclement campaigns between November 1930- and March
1933, ​resulted in defensive victories for the CCP since it repeatedly succeeded in
repulsing the Nationalist advances.
The guerrillas were unable to break the encirclement completely and with supplies
diminishing due to the continued blockade, the CCP’s position was increasingly
precarious.
The fifth encirclement campaign:
Jiangxi Soviet ​was taken in October 1934. Chang Kai-Shek developed half a million troops,
thereby reducing the frequency and size of breaks between units in the Nationalist line. This
denied Communis guerrillas the opportunity to divide Nationalist troops.
The CCP leadership and Russian-Soviet advisors dedicated to counterattack. Battle of
Guangchang in April 1934.
The Long March: 1934- 1935.
In October 1934 approximately 90 000 Communists forces moved to break out from the
encirclement in Jiangxi. Retreat would eventually take the Communists over 9000 km,
through 11 provinces, 18 mountain ranges and across 24 rivers, before they reached ​Yanan
province in northern China. ​Only 20 000 of those who set out on the Long March survived.
Battle of Luding Bridge over the Dadu River in May 1935:
Famous battle between Communists forces and warlord Liu Wenhui allied to the
Nationalists. In Communists mythology and propaganda battle was an epic struggle in which
the CCP forces overcome through courage and skill.
More probably, battle was just small skirmish, some historian sources even denying that it
took place at all.