the city via the gap. After several hours of brave and desperate but futile street fighting put up by the nationalists, the defenders were completely wiped out by the enemy before dusk. The communists gathered 367 cadavers of the nationalist defenders in the battle to take Zhongxiang. After the battle, the communists abandoned the city on December 25, 1947, according to the plan, and retreated to countryside with abundant provisions captured. The nationalists returned to the empty city on December 29, 1947, but the city was looted clean by the enemy, thus severely limiting the nationalist capabilities for any future operations. In contrary, the communists used the abundant supplies captured to boost their strength and solidify their gains in the rural regions surrounding the city, and it was only a matter of time before they retake the city. The nationalists forced on the defensive were incapable of stopping the enemy and in June, 1948, Zhongxiang fell for the second time, and this time for good, with the nationalists being permanently driven out. The communist victory was rooted in the correct strategy of controlling the rural regions surrounding the cities first, and then taking the cities with isolated enemy garrisons. The nationalists, in contrast, avoided heavy loss in the initial stage by not engaging the overwhelmingly strong enemy, but in doing so, allowed the enemy to loot important provisions in great quantity when they failed to destroy any provisions in retreats. As a result, the numerically superior nationalist force was not able to sustain themselves for any prolonged operations outside the city walls due to insufficient supply, and was thus gradually reduced in numbers in many small but consecutive engagements as the well supplied enemy attacked. See also List of battles of the Chinese Civil War National Revolutionary Army History of the People's Liberation Army Chinese Civil War References Zhu, Zongzhen and Wang, Chaoguang, Liberation War History, 1st Edition, Social Scientific Literary Publishing House in Beijing, 2000, (set) Zhang, Ping, History of the Liberation War, 1st Edition, Chinese Youth Publishing House in Beijing, 1987, (pbk.) Jie, Lifu, Records of the Liberation War: The Decisive Battle of Two Kinds of Fates, 1st Edition, Hebei People's Publishing House in Shijiazhuang, 1990, (set) Literary and Historical Research Committee of the Anhui Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Liberation War, 1st Edition, Anhui People's Publishing House in Hefei, 1987, Li, Zuomin, Heroic Division