Encirclement Campaign against Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet

Part of Chinese Civil War

Date	December, 1930 - July, 1931
Location	Northeastern Jiangxi, China
Result	Nationalist victory

Belligerents

National Revolutionary Army

Chinese Red Army

Commanders and leaders

Chiang Kai-shek

Fang Zhimin

Strength

100,000+

Several thousands

Casualties and losses

> 10,000

Heavy

The Encirclement Campaign against the Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet was a campaign launched by the Chinese Nationalist Government intended to destroy the communist Chinese Soviet Republic and its local military forces. It was met by the Communists' Counter-Encirclement Campaign at Northeastern Jiangxi Soviet (Chinese: 赣东北苏区反围剿, also called the Counter-Encirclement Campaign at Northeastern Jiangxi Revolutionary Base Chinese: 赣东北革命根据地反围剿). The Nationalist campaign lasted from December 1930 to July 1931, and resulted in the destruction of the target base area.

The Jiangxi Soviet was a communist base in the northeastern part of Jiangxi guarded by the 10th Army of the Chinese Red Army, and it was the right flank of the Jiangxi Soviet. In comparison to the major communist base in southern Jiangxi, the Jiangxi Soviet, this communist base was much closer to the nationalist strongholds and it was at the forefront of the nationalist controlled regions, and consequently, it had become a main target the nationalists marked for destruction. The encirclement campaign against Jiangxi Soviet begun in December, 1930, shortly after the First Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet. However, due to the allocation of available troops and other resources to the top priority target, the Jiangxi Soviet, the encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet was protracted, and was not over until July 1931 after the Third Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet had already started.

The initial stage of the campaign resulted in communist victory, with the Nationalists suffering three consecutive defeats immediately after the start of their Encirclement Campaign in the regions of Shangrao prefectural centre, Zhushanqiao (珠山桥, Pearl Mountain Bridge), and Hekou (河口, River mouth), losing more than 1,500 troops in the process. A stalemate was reached as result, and the nationalists stopped their offensives. However, the huge number of the nationalist troops surrounding the Jiangxi Soviet still posed a major threat, and the nationalists could have struck at any time. To distract the enemy, the communist 10th Army of the Chinese Red Army launched diversion offensives in late March 1931 in the regions of Guixi (贵溪), and Yujiang (余江), and then continued their offensives in northern Fujian, annihilating several thousands nationalist troops in the process. After their eleven consecutive victories in northern Fujian, the communist main force returned in May 1931 and expanded the communist base further. Despite their victories, the communists had failed to distract the nationalists from redeploying any of their troops away from the Jiangxi Soviet.

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