The Battle of Huaiyin–Huai'an, also called by the Campaign to Defend Huaiyin-Huai'an (两淮保卫战) by the Chinese Communist Party, was a month-long battle between the Nationalists and the Communists during the Chinese Civil War for the control of Huaiyin and Huai'an, the two richest cities in China. Nationalist forces won the battle.
Order of battle
Nationalist order of battle
The 7th Army
Reorganized 26th Division
Reorganized 28th Division
Reorganized 69th Division
Reorganized 74th Division
Communist order of battle
The 5th Brigade
The 13th Brigade
The 9th Column
Communist force from Shandong
First stage
After the Battle of Si County, the Nationalists redeployed the Reorganized 74th Division and a brigade of the reorganized 26th Division to Huaibei from Huainan, and by the middle of August 1946, the Nationalists had taken regions including Chaoyang Village (Chao Yang Ji, 朝阳集) and Temple Mountain Yu (Miao Shan Yu, 庙山圩). On August 19, 1946, the Nationalist commander-in-chief of the region, Chen Cheng, held a military conference at Xuzhou, and decided the Nationalist strategy of the next stage: 4 Nationalist divisions under the command of the Nationalist commander Li Yannian (李延年) would push eastward across the Tianjin-Pukou Railway in Huaibei. On August 21, 1946, the Nationalists began their push toward Suining (睢宁), Xiuqian (宿迁), and Taier Village (Tai Er Zhuang, 台儿庄).
On August 26, 1946, Chen Yi telegraphed the Communist high command to report the three options for the Communist force from Shandong under his command to fight in Huaibei: First, the 2nd Division, 7th Division and the 8th Division of the Communist force in Shandong would attack the Nationalist 28th Army. Second, the Communist force in Shandong would regroup at Siyang (泗阳) and the eastern bank of the Grand Canal of China to have a month-long break. Third, all of the Communist force in Shandong would go south to join forces with the Communist force under Su Yu’s command to concentrate their forces. Chen Yi and his subordinates preferred the second option because they could strike in north, south or west when they wanted. The Communist high command telegraphed back on August 29, claiming that the Nationalists had struck eastward across the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway and thus threatened Huaiyin and Linyi, so it was impossible to for the Communist troops to rest for a month continuously. The Communists would be in a bad position if they were not to actively engaging the enemy.
The Communist force from Shandong under the command of Chen Yi should strike eastward to Suining region and fight the enemy, and then rest for a short period, and repeat the process, so that morale would remain high. September was a good time to engage the enemy and the Communist force under the command of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping and the Communist force under the command of Li Xiannian had all wished your corporation (to engage and tie down the Nationalists). If there was no battle, then the enemy (Nationalist) would gain more lands, and thus further boost their morale, and our morale would suffer as a consequence. Therefore, we must engage the enemy to decrease their morale and increase ours by annihilating a regiment or a brigade a time, and after five or six times, the situation would turn for the better for us.
In accordance with the order from the Communist high command, the Communist force from Shandong under the command of Chen Yi regrouped to the east of Suining in attempt to ambush the advancing Nationalists, however, their plan was foiled by the skillful and careful Nationalists who would not provide any opportunities for the enemy by concentrating their forces. Both sides subsequently had to cease their operations due to heavy rains that followed and by the end of August 1946, the Communist force from Shandong under the command of Chen Yi withdrew to the east of Siyang (泗阳) to regroup and re-supply. By the beginning of September 1946, the Nationalist Reorganized 69th Division and the Reorganized 74th Division stopped its advance at Xiuqian (宿迁) and Suining regions while two divisions of the Nationalist 7th Army stopped its advance at Oceanic River (Yang He, 洋河) and Ling River (Ling He, 凌河) regions to the north of Siyang (泗阳). Mother Nature had imposed an intermission that both sides were forced to accept.