Linjiang Campaign

Chinese Communist troops on top of snow-covered grounds

Date	December 17, 1946 - April 1, 1947
Location	Northeast China
Result	Communist victory

Belligerents

National Revolutionary Army

Chinese Red Army

Commanders and leaders

Du Yuming

Lin Biao

Strength

19 Divisions

12 Divisions

Casualties and losses

40,000

unknown

Linjiang Campaign (Chinese: 临江战役), also called by the communists as the Campaign of Going South of the River for Three time to Guard Linjiang for Four Times (San Xia Jiang Nan, Si Bao Linjiang Zhanyi, 三下江南四保临江战役), was a series of four failed offensives launched by the nationalists in attempt to eliminate the communist base south of Songhua River during the Chinese Civil War.

The nationalists had lost three divisions to enemy by October, 1946 in northeast China, and the local nationalist commander, Du Yuming adjusted the strategy by planning to eradicate the enemy in a gradual but firm manner, instead of attempting to eliminate the enemy rapidly by a decisive engagement, which the enemy had refused to do. The heart of this new strategy called for the elimination of the enemy base south of Songhua River, headquartered at Linjiang. After the enemy had been eradicated in the south, then the nationalists would push northward across the Songhua River and eliminate the enemy there.

In response to the nationalist strategy, the communist commander of northeast China, Lin Biao, and his followers accurately concluded that the communist base south of the Songhua River must be maintained at all cost, because it served to distract enemy and if it were lost, then the enemy could then devote its entire asset to pressure the communists north of the Songhua River, and the communists in northeast China would then be endangered, and possibly facing total elimination. The communists decided to concentrate three columns with a total of nine divisions to stop the nationalist offensives, along with the help of three independent divisions.

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