CASUALTY RECORD // January 1, 1948
Battle of Tashan
Estimated casualties — killed, wounded, captured, and missing — by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Casualties by side
2 sides catalogued · combined 33,323 estimated
National Revolutionary Army
9,549
Medium-confidence figure
People's Liberation Army
23,774
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Tashan, fought in the western part of Northeast China during the Chinese Civil War, was a blocking engagement between a Kuomintang National Revolutionary Army force of 95,000 and a People's Liberation Army force of 55,000. Despite being substantially outnumbered and sustaining heavier casualties—23,774 against the NRA's 9,549—the PLA secured a victory that proved decisive at the operational level. By holding at Tashan, communist forces prevented NRA relief of Jinzhou, directly shaping the outcome of the Battle of Jinzhou and, through it, the broader Liaoshen Campaign. Communist historiography ranks it as the first of the three most critical blocking operations of the entire civil war, reflecting the degree to which a successful defensive stand by a smaller force foreclosed Nationalist options across the Northeast theater.
‹ Full battle dossier