Lanzhou Campaign

Lanzhou Campaign
Part of the Chinese Civil War
Date August 9, 1949 – August 27, 1949 Location Lanzhou, China Result Communist victory
Belligerents
National Revolutionary Army	People's Liberation Army
Commanders and leaders
Ma Jiyuan 马继援 Ma Bufang	Peng Dehuai
Strength
100,000	200,000
Casualties and losses
42,000+	≈11,000

Lanzhou Campaign (simplified Chinese: 兰州战役; traditional Chinese: 蘭州戰役; pinyin: Lánzhōu zhànyì) was a series battle fought between the nationalists and the communists for the control of the largest city in northwestern China during the Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era, and resulted in the communist victory.

After the defeat of Fufeng-Meixian Campaign (扶郿战役) in July, 1949, the nationalists under the command of Hu Zongnan were forced to withdraw to the south of Qinling. As Hu Zongnan’s force withdrew to western China, the Ma clique’s force became the major nationalist force responsible for the defense of the northwestern China. Lanzhou, the largest city in northwestern China was critical to the security of the entire northwestern China and on the northwestern China joint defense conference held in Guangzhou, the nationalist defenders planned to defeat the enemy at the gate of the city of Lanzhou with the help from their comrades-in-arms from southern Shaanxi, southern Gansu and Ningxia.

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