ABSTRACT
The first year of the Chinese Civil War had seen impressive gains by Chiang Kai-shek’s forces. By December 1946 Nationalist armies had captured 165 towns and 174,000 square kilometers of land from the CCP. In March 1947, Chiang’s forces achieved their greatest success when they captured Yanan, the Chinese Communist capital. As a result of these victories, a large portion of Nationalist forces were tied down in garrison duty in the re-conquered areas.
