After the defeat of Fufeng-Meixian Campaign (扶郿战役) in July, 1949, the nationalists under the command of Hu Zongnan were forced to withdraw to the south of Qinling.

The nationalist Cavalry Army totaling 20,000 would be stationed at Lintao and Taishi (太石) regions to guard the right flank of Lanzhou.

The communist commander Peng Dehuai decided to call off the attack and regroup so lessons gained in the fighting could be learned and utilized for the following assaults.

On August 22, 1949, the communist I Corps took Linxia, completely annihilating Ma Bufang's nationalist Cavalry Army in the process.

In the morning of August 26, 1949, a detachment of the communist 3rd Army took Western Pass (西关) of the city and then took the Iron Bridge on the Yellow River, thus successfully cutting off the only escape route of the defenders, while other enemy detachments also managed to successfully breaching the defense of the city and begun fierce street fights with the remaining nationalist garrison.

After the completion of the mop up operations in the suburb on the next day, the enemy formally declared the city was secured on August 27, 1949.

[3] In order to relieve the besieged city, the nationalists organized several futile reinforcement attempts: nationalist commander Hu Zongnan ordered four armies to launch an offensive on August 27, 1949, from southern Gansu toward regions including Xihe and Li Counties in Gansu, and Baoji, Duo Town (Duo Zhen, 虢镇) in Shaanxi, in the hope of taking Baoji and Tianshui, thus forcing the enemy to stop the attack on Lanzhou and reinforce these regions.

The fall of the largest city in northwestern China to the PLA completely demoralized the nationalists and triggered a disastrous domino effect: after taking Lanzhou, the 62nd Army of the XVIII Corps and the communist I Corps without its 7th Army continued its push toward Xining, and from August 28, 1949, thru September 5, 1949, the communist I Corps had crossed the Yellow River at Yongjing ( 永靖) in Gansu and Xunhua ( 循化) in Qinghai, and took Minhe, and Hualong, threatening Xining.