Linfen Campaign (临汾战役) was a series of battles fought between the communists and the nationalists during the Chinese Civil War to control the city of Linfen, and resulted in the communist victory. Prelude After the Yuncheng Campaign (运城战役), Linfen was the only nationalist stronghold left in southern Shanxi. Linfen was ideal to defend: the city wall was 15 metre tall and 10 metre wide at the top, 25 – 30 metres wide at the bottom, and at the section of the Eastern Pass (Dong Guan, 东关), there was a second wall of the same size, providing additional protection. There were a total of 31 clusters of bunkers around the city and additional strongholds within 3 – 7 km range in the outskirt. There were deep ditches both outside and inside city wall, and fortifications within the city. Located on the eastern bank of Fen River, the east, north and south directions were wide open, with little cover for the attacking enemy to hide. The nationalist strategy was to hold on until reinforcement arrived and then counterattack, while the communist strategy was to take the city primarily using tunnels since the communists lacked heavy artillery pieces. Order of battle Defenders totaling 25,000: nationalist order of battle: The 66th Division deployed in positions outside the city The 30th Brigade The artillery battalion of the 27th Brigade Two Security Brigades Two Training Regiments Security forces of adjacent 15 counties withdrew into the city of Linfen Attackers totaling 53,000: communist order of battle: The 8th Column The 13th Column Units of the Taiyue (太岳) Military District First stage The nationalists begun to airlift the 30th Brigade to Luochuan (洛川) from Linfen on March 6, 1948, to strengthen the nationalist force in northwestern China. In order to prevent this, the communists decided to launch the campaign early and on March 7, 1948, the communist 24th Brigade of the 8th Column took the airfield south of Linfen after destroying two aircraft, thus cutoff the aerial link of the city. The nationalists were forced to give up the airlift plan and the city was attacked by the enemy from three sides: east, north and south. The nationalist strongholds in the outskirt of Linfen including Cui Family's Bump (Cui Jia Geda, 崔家疙瘩), Train Station (Huoche Zhan, 火车站), High River Hotel (Gao He Dian, 高河店) and Official Yao's Temple (Yao Guan Miao, 尧官庙) fell into the enemy hands, and