Site of the Gaopizhai Battle

Site of the Gaopizhai Battle

The Site of the Gaopizhai Battle is a classic red tourism attraction.

Gaopizhai, also known as Gaopizhai Street, is located in Hexi Village, Gaowan Town, Lianping County, on the west side of the road from Zhongxin Market Town to Gaowan Reservoir, approximately 11 kilometers away. It served as a forward outpost and protective barrier for Qingzhou, the location of the then People’s Government of Lianhe County under the Chinese Communist Party during the Liberation War.

In January 1949, the People’s Government of Lianhe County was established at Shantang in Qingzhou; on March 3, our forces liberated Gaopizhai in Gaowan, Lianping. The site of Gaopizhai is rectangular in shape, covering an area of about 5,000 square meters. The settlement is surrounded by a stone and lime-compacted earthen wall, six meters high and 50 centimeters thick—solid and formidable, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Based on strategic needs and the terrain, our forces left a small unit behind at Gaopizhai to safeguard their hard-won gains. On the very day of March 3, 1949, Huang Boqiang, the Nationalist county magistrate of Lianping, and Xie Yuochen, leader of the “bandit suppression” brigade, furious upon learning that Gaopizhai had been liberated, rushed overnight from the county seat to Zhongxin. They mustered the 11th and 12th Companies of the 3rd Battalion of the Nationalist 1st Security Regiment stationed in Zhongxin, along with the Lianping County Police Unit and local landlord militias, forming a reactionary force of over 800 troops. Their goal was to launch a surprise attack on Gaopizhai and then advance toward Shantang in Qingzhou to destroy the newly established People’s Government of Lianhe County.

On the same day, after learning of the enemy’s plan to attack Gaopizhai, the command of the Third Regiment of the Second Eastern Column immediately convened an emergency meeting with commanders from several companies—Pearl River, Jiujiang, Guilin, and Yunnan—to devise a battle strategy. Troops were promptly deployed to lie in ambush near Gaopizhai, ready to confront the approaching enemy.

On the morning of March 4, the enemy forces split into two routes to advance toward Gaopizhai but were immediately met with fierce counterattacks from our troops. By noon, a relief battalion from the enemy garrison at Dengta in Heyuan arrived but was forcefully intercepted by our forces at Shuntian. Left with no choice, the enemy retreated back to Dengta. Soon after, another detachment of the Second Eastern Column arrived to assist, launching a pincer attack both inside and outside the settlement. The invading forces from Gaowan were compelled to scatter and flee in disarray toward Zhongxin. A company from Qingzhou, along with supporting units and the frontal assault forces that had just arrived, encircled the fleeing enemies from all directions and pursued them to annihilate them. The battle concluded at 3 p.m. In this engagement, our forces killed the enemy battalion commander, company commanders, and 37 soldiers, wounded over 20 others, and captured 7, seizing a batch of weapons and other supplies. This battle delivered a devastating blow to the Nationalist armed forces in our county and laid the foundation for the subsequent liberation of Lianping.

In May 2011, the site was designated and protected with a monument erected by the Lianping County Committee and County Government.

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