force left in the region fighting the Japanese invaders and their puppet regime after the nationalist withdrew, and after successfully establishing communist bases in the rural regions where better life was provided to the general populace in comparison to that of Japanese occupied regions, the general Chinese populace agreed that the communists were well deserved to represent the China to accept the invaders' surrender in the region and takeover the regions occupied by the invaders. Campaign In, 1945, the communists decided to take Pingdu City by force after the local defenders consisted of former nationalists turned Japanese puppet regime force who rejoined the nationalists after World War II refused to surrender. In early September 1945, communists gathered in the region of Seven Miles River (Qilihezi, 七里河子) to the north of the city, and 13th Regiment of 5th Division of the communist Shandong Military Region, a battalion of the communist 6th Division, and the communist 5th Garrison Brigade were grouped into two attack waves for the upcoming assault on the city. The numerical superior nationalist defending force totaling over six thousands with an additional six hundred Japanese troops were not worried, which consequently cost them the battle. At 8:30 PM on 7 September 1945, the battle begun when the communists launched a pincer assault from both the east and the west, and soon the eastern and western passes fell into the enemy hands. In the early morning of 8 September 1945, Japanese troops fled the city to Gaomi (高密), and the nationalists fought on until 7:00 AM when the city finally fell. The communists succeeded in capturing over four thousand rifles, nearly a hundred machine guns, six mortars, sixteen infantry artilleries, over a hundred twelve thousand rounds of ammunitions and over a hundred fifty war horses. Outcome Like other similar clashes immediately after the end of World War II between the communists and the nationalists in China, this conflict also showed that Chiang Kai-shek's attempt to simultaneously solve the warlord problem that had plagued China for so long and the problem of the extermination of communism together proved to be a fatal mistake. Although the result of the campaign turned out exactly like Chiang Kai-shek and his subordinates had predicted, and consequently the power of the warlords in this region was indeed reduced as their military forces were smashed by the communists, so that the warlord problem plagued China for so