The Battle of Dazhongji (大中集战斗) was fought between the nationalists and the communists during the Chinese Civil War in the immediate post-World War II era in Jiangsu, China and resulted in the communist victory.
Prelude
Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of World War II between the communists and the nationalists in China, this conflict was due to the fact that Chiang Kai-shek had realized that his nationalist regime simply had neither the sufficient troops nor enough transportation assets to deploy into the Japanese-occupied regions of China.
Unwilling to let the communists, who had already dominated most of the rural regions in China to further expand their territories by accepting the Japanese surrender and thus would consequently control the Japanese occupied regions, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Japanese and their turncoat Chinese puppet regime not to surrender to the communists. They were to “maintain order” in the Japanese occupied regions by fighting off the communists as necessary, until the final arrival and completion of the deployment of the nationalist troops. As a result, most members of the Japanese puppet regimes and their military forces rejoined the nationalists.
However, most of these former nationalists turned Japanese puppet regime forces were not from Chiang Kai-shek's own clique, but instead consisted mainly of warlords troops who were only nominally under the Chiang Kai-shek's before World War II, considering they were nationalists in name only and mostly maintained their independent and semi-independent status.
These warlords were only interested in keeping their own power and defected to the Japanese side when Japanese invaders offered to let them keep their power in exchange for their collaborations. After World War II, these forces of former Japanese puppet regimes once again returned to the nationalist camp for the same reason they defected to the Japanese invaders. Obviously, it was difficult for Chiang to immediately eliminate these warlords once they surrendered and rejoined the nationalists. Taking such action would risk alienating other factions within the nationalist ranks. Additionally, the former warlords of the Japanese puppet regime could still be of assistance to the nationalists in gaining more territories by retaining control over their current holdings. Chiang had to wait until he could deploy his own troops to take over those areas. Chiang Kai-shek's objective was to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plagued China for so long and the problem of the extermination of communism together, which proved to be an extremely fatal mistake for him and his nationalist regime later on, as shown in this conflict.
Nationalist strategy
In accordance with his strategy to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plagued China for so long and the problem of the extermination of communism together, Chiang Kai-shek and his followers had hoped that these former Japanese puppet regime's warlords who rejoined the nationalists would be able to hold on to the regions long enough for Chiang to deploy his own troops by holding off communists. If the communists were victorious in such conflicts, however, the result would still benefit to Chiang and China because the power of these warlords would be reduced as their military forces were smashed by the communists, and the warlord problem plagued China for so long could thus be greatly reduced, while at the same time, communists would be weakened by the fights and Chiang's own troops would have easier time to take control.
For the former nationalist turned Japanese puppet regime forces, these warlords and their troops had no problem of following Chiang Kai-shek's orders, and they were eager to prove themselves. These warlords and their troops were well aware that due to the collaboration with the Japanese invaders during the Second Sino-Japanese War, they were well hated by the general population in China, including those nationalists who refused to surrender to the enemy and fought the enemy until the eventual victory. Therefore, in the impending demilitarization after World War II, they would certainly be disarmed and discharged, which would probably be the best outcome and the power of these warlord would be reduced or even completely eliminated as a result. Chiang Kai-shek's ordering them not surrendering to the communists and fighting off the communists was a savior for them because by carrying out such orders, these warlords and their troops could legitimize themselves and thus retain their power by fighting the communists who were targeted as rebels by Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist regime.