The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China: Siping, 1946 (Twentieth-Century Battles) Hardcover – Download: Adobe Reader, March 18, 2013

The focus of the book is the all important 1946 battles to control the city of Sipinig (pronounced Su-ping) in central Manchuria after WW 2, in the early years of the Chinese Civil War. Well discussed and documented are events leading up the the four critical battles of Siping, including how Manchuria's role from August to December 1945 played such a critical role in the prelude to war between the Kuomintang (KMT) and CCP, for the "hearts and minds" of Chinese citizenry.Former US Chief of Staff George C. Marshall enters the effort to gain a peaceful settlement between the KMT and CCP from December 1945, what became known as the Marshall China Mission (covered in Ch. 4, through March 1946). Detailed are the exhaustive meetings, negotiations between Chiang-Zhou En-lai-Marshall during these months, as each side pursued its own objectives, especially the two Chinese protagonists, too often at odds with the objective General Marshall was trying to achieve.The Second Battle of Siping began in March 1946, as Chaing's armies moved increasingly northward into Manchuria, overextending their supply lines, depending on a road and rail network wholly inadequate to accommodate an American-equipped and trained style army. As Mao's armies focused on the countryside against this onslaught, a battle developed around the city of Siping, considered by some as the gateway to northern Manchuria. The Second Battle would last into May 1946, and open the floodgates for CCP lightly equipped armies to begin sweeping Chiang's armies out of Manchuria, and then southward across central and southern China during the following two years.Supporters of Chiang Kai-shek in the U.S., mostly political Republican's and Christian religious groups, would later blame much of the "loss of China" (as they called it) on Gen. Marshall, but even Chiang did not directly do so in later writings. The retreat to Taiwan by Chiang was followed by recrimination and anguish, leading to the infamous hearings of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the following years, as the anti-communist crusade began in earnest.It was not only Chiang that has since written about the events surrounds the engagement, which Mao had directed to "hold fast and not surrender territory", admitted in later years as a bad strategic decision and one changed shortly thereafter in Maoist war fighting theories. Mao's decision as a reflection of his readings on the Battle of Madrid during the Spanish Civil war, a policy based on "the enemy would advance no further".The volume also does a very complete picture of events surrounding the period, including the role of the Russian forces in Manchuria (having occupied the territory in the waning days of WW 2), the changing nature of U.S. politicsin Washington, D.C. during the first couple years after the war - including a growing public anxiety to "bring the troops home" (sounds a lot like Vietnam and later Iraq War politics!) cries. Included is an extensive portrait of Zhou En-laid, the central figure in CCP negotiations with Marshall to effect a "national army" (combining portions of both Chiang's and Mao's armies after the Japanese surrender). It's a portrait not often viewed during this period by other writers. Another outstanding portion is analysis of the Soviet Union's obligations by treaty to transfer control of Manchuria to the Nationalists (KMT), and how the CCP viewed the issue of transfer of Nationalist troops to every part of China current under Communist armies control. Throughout the period, the author covers the on-again, off-again, cease fires that were part of Marshall's long-term efforts to get the two sides to "compromise" and come to a peaceful settlement on the future of an independent China.Chinese post-war criticism might be said to focus on the tactics, more than the strategy that focused on defending Siping - a relatively safe political decisions, given the future Cultural Revolution in the 1960s that would sweep away all who came under a political cloud. Among the critiques is that Lin Biao's NDUA guerrilla forces were not ready to make the transition to conventional force roles of defending a large city - and there is some validity to that view in this reviewers opinion - and the NDUA paid a terrible price in lost manpower as a result.At the time of writing, author Prof. Tanner was professor of History and Politics at the University of North Texas, and author of a couple other fine Chinese history book. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those interested in modern Chinese military history, and how "outside" factors often impact military campaigns.

I appreciated this book because I haven't found many english language books on the Chinese Civil War. One of the aspects of this book that I appreciated was the time Tanner took to provide context to the situation surrounding the campaign, how it played into the negotiations between Chinese communists and Chiang Kai Shek, and Tanner's even handed approach to analysis of the battle and its impact. One thing I did not appreciate was that this did not provide much in the way of a military history of the Siping campaign.Not the longest book, but a worthy read.

Harold Tanner's The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China: Siping, 1946, is a thin book that tries to cover the diplomatic, strategic and to some degree operational aspects of the early part of the Chinese Civil War in Manchuria, the most crucial period of that war. The book is rather short and Tanner tried to cover too much (moreover, the diplomatic aspects are the aspects most already covered in English); the result is that he gives somewhat short shrift to military operations. Nevertheless, I gave this four stars because it was clearly written and because there is such an unimaginable paucity of English-language works on the Chinese Civil War that any sort of coverage at all is so welcome. If you have any interest in the Chinese Civil War or in Asian military history, you should get this book--but also you should not stop praying that more military historians will pay attention to this conflict.

The Battle of Manchuria and the fate of China is a book I wanted to get for more information on this war. I was very pleased by the amount of information provided on this battle. The information tells the reader about the origins of the war and what lead to this battle. The most interesting for me was the conclusion of the battle and it aftermath with the fall of china to the communist. Another portion I have read in other books was the decision by general marshal to stop the engagement and bring about a cease fire. The conclusion I agreed with on this controversial decision that general marshal made.Explains a lot on this war

This book is a look at the start of the renewed Chinese Civil War in 1946.I its interesting.Well worth reading

Four stars because the writing is clear and the topic is interesting. The title seems to me to be misleading--the battles of Siping (a city in southern Manchuria) did not determine the fate of China. The issue seems to be whether the Nationalist victory in the second battle, defeating the Communists, was a victory strangled in its crib by the American push for a ceasefire, which gave the Communists time to regroup and set up a victory. The battle really is interpretation and the book is probably most of interest to Americans rehashing the 1940s-early 1950s trope of "Who lost China?"Anyone interested in the relationship between the US and China might find this a useful book, particularly how the US dealt with the Nationalists and Communists in the complicated arena of Manchuria (the Japanese had just been defeated, the Soviets occupied and looted the place and were leaving, among other complications). There is not much on the actual battles, although there is a great deal about various commanders. Maps are good so far as they go, and the illustrations likewise. Some interesting aspects are barely mentioned--the Nationalists had air supremacy, but of what kind and why did they lose? Large numbers of Chinese troops were moved by American ships and aircraft--surely an interesting topic and worth some consideration.Diplomacy and politics are the real subjects. Anyone looking for a campaign history is likely to be bored with long stretches of this short book. I found it interesting simply because I have long been interested in the time, place and events and there's not much available.

The maps in this book on Kindle cannot be enlarged. There is no possibility to zoom. Thus, they are all unreadable.