Located in the southeast coastal region of China, Taiwan is the largest island in China, and Taiwan has been Our territory since ancient times. The people of Taiwan have also immigrated from the mainland through successive dynasties, and the two sides of the strait have the same culture, the same ancestors, and the same ancestors, and the two sides of the strait have always been one family.
Taiwan's strategic position is very important, although it hangs alone on the southeast coast, it is a strategic place integrating attack and defense, and it has always been known as the "barrier" and "the key to the southeast" of the seven eastern provinces of China (Guizhou, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Suzhou, Lu, and Hebei), and Taiwan can shield China's richest southeast coastal area. In the western Pacific, Taiwan controls two important strategic waterways at the same time, the Taiwan Strait and the Bashi Strait, which are of great strategic significance and are also the only way for Japan and South Korea to travel economic and trade activities.
It is precisely because of the importance of its geographical location that Taiwan has been isolated overseas many times. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Taiwan returned to the motherland, but within a few years of its return, the remnants of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Taiwan in an attempt to rely on the Taiwan Strait to confront the mainland.
In late May 1949, after the Battle of crossing the river, the Central Military Commission ordered Su Yu to be specifically responsible for the preparations for the attack on Taiwan. After accepting the order, Su Yu focused his main energy on preparing for the offensive against Taiwan and liberating the islands off the southeast coast and cutting off the islands on the outskirts of Taiwan. At that time, Su Yu felt a heavy responsibility, and repeatedly requested the Central Military Commission to directly command or send senior personnel, such as Liu Bocheng and Lin Biao, to preside over the Taiwan campaign, and he himself, as the main military leader of the East China Military Region, would fully assist in the organization and command of the campaign. However, Chairman Mao was very satisfied with Su Yu's performance during the Liberation War, and out of trust in him, insisted that he take full responsibility for the preparation of the attack on Taiwan.
According to the deployment of the Central Military Commission at that time, the Central Military Commission was responsible for the preparation and preparation of the air force and the navy in the attacking forces in Taiwan, but the training of the army was specifically responsible for Su Yu, and the units participating in the war were mainly the Third Field Army. In the summer of 1949, many areas of the country had not yet been liberated, and there were still many remnants of the Kuomintang and bandits in the newly liberated areas, which needed to be encircled and suppressed. Su Yu decided to first train a corps to prepare for the attack on Taiwan.
In July 1949, the Sanye Ninth Corps was relieved of its songhu garrison mission and began to conduct combat training to cross Haiden Island, and the 23rd Army was also assigned to the Ninth Corps. In the autumn of 1949, Su Yu formulated a plan for eight armies to attack Taiwan, with four corps of the Ninth Corps as the first echelon and the remaining four corps as the second echelon.
At that time, There were not many troops in Taiwan, only more than 70,000 people, and all of them had just fled to Taiwan, and the army was scattered and undertrained, but Chiang Kai-shek soon realized this phenomenon, and immediately recruited 20,000 mercenaries from Japan, recruited troops from Taiwan, and captured Zhuangding from the southeast coastal area.
At the beginning, Chiang Kai-shek also deployed heavy troops on the Zhoushan Islands, Hainan Island, Kinmen Island, Matsu Island and other islands, hoping to use these islands to encircle the mainland and wait for an opportunity to carry out a counteroffensive. In April 1950, Han Xianchu launched the Battle of Hainan Island, and the deputy commander of the corps, Han Xianchu, personally led the troops to take the lead, Xue Yue could not resist, in order to preserve his strength, he withdrew 70,000 officers and soldiers from Hainan Island. Later, Chiang Kai-shek withdrew 120,000 officers and men from the Zhoushan Islands to Taiwan Island, increasing the strength of the island to 400,000 people, and Su Yu had to readjust his deployment.
In the end, Su Yu re-formulated the battle plan, and all 500,000 troops of the 12 main forces of the Third Field Army participated in the battle, and at the same time, four armies were transferred from other field armies as reserves, ready for reinforcements at any time. In this way, the PLA troops used to attack Taiwan reached the size of 16 armies.
Although the Army is ready, the pressure on the Navy and Air Force is great. In order to cooperate with Su Yu's liberation of Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army Navy and Air Force were quickly established, with Liu Yalou as the commander of the air force and Xiao Jinguang as the commander of the navy.
In January 1950, Su Yu had calculated in a report that the number of people fighting against Taiwan was calculated at 500,000 people, all personnel and vehicles and horses, weapons, food and ammunition, and everything else was prepared, the weight was about 135,400 tons, and if each person accounted for 0.6 square meters, it would require 760,000 tons of ships with a load of 760,000 tons, and 575 ships of more than 1,000 tons. The first echelon needs more than 2,000 landing craft based on 60,000 people, so a large number of ships is difficult to solve in a short period of time.
In order to ensure victory, Su Yu also requested the central government to prepare 6 billion to 7 billion catties of grain, and another 100 million US dollars to buy weapons, mainly aircraft and ships. Chairman Mao, for these preparations, made a special visit to the Soviet Union, sought support from the Soviet side, and obtained a loan of three hundred million US dollars, of which 100 million US dollars directly bought ships and aircraft.
By April 1950, the Navy had 92 ships of various types, 309 guns, a total of 35,000 people, and the Air Force had more than 80 fighters, bombers, and fighters. At that time, the East China Military Region also organized the first airborne troops of our army, with a total of seven battalions of troops. Chiang Kai-shek was also a little panicked at that time, and immediately bought a large number of second-hand ships and aircraft from the US military to strengthen Taiwan's defense force.
At that time, Su Yu was preparing to land simultaneously from the east and west coasts of Taiwan, and then parachute some troops into the island to create chaos and destroy the command structure on the island. After the outbreak of the Korean War, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet was stationed in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, the port of Keelung, and cruised in the Taiwan Strait to prevent the People's Liberation Army from liberating Taiwan.