In the early days of the founding of New China, the remnants of the Kuomintang forces entrenched in Taiwan were not willing to accept defeat, and Chiang Kai-shek, while expanding his armaments, sent troops to harass the southeast coastal areas and bomb the coastal cities. In the battle for islands on the southeast coast, our army also suffered some defeats, and the Battle of Nanri Island was a typical example.
After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea on October 19, 1950, the troops originally stationed in the southeast coast and the central and southern regions were transferred to the north one after another, resulting in an emptiness of troops along the southeast coast. Chiang Kai-shek saw this as a good opportunity, so he stepped up his harassment of the southeast coastal area and frequently attacked some coastal islands, hoping to use these islands as a base to counterattack the mainland. At the same time, bandits in the southeastern coastal provinces are rampant again, and the Taiwan authorities have also continuously sent personnel to infiltrate the mainland and airdrop weapons to support bandits in the interior in an attempt to cooperate with the outside world and attack the People's Liberation Army in the southeast coastal area.
In view of the tense situation in the southeast coastal area, in October 1950, the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao made corresponding adjustments to the front-line generals, and because Su Yu went to the Soviet Union to recuperate, the Central Military Commission ordered That Comrade Chen Yi be responsible for the overall situation in East China, Tan Zhenlin in charge of the Zhejiang front, and Ye Fei in charge of the Fujian front. From November 1950 to the 12th Army, the Central Military Commission, Chairman Mao deployed four on the southeast coast and built fortifications on key islands and lots, gathering enough troops to make full preparations to attack the sneaking troops of the Kuomintang army.
At that time, the largest part of the southeast coastal area was the headquarters of Hu Lian, who was entrenched in Kinmen, hu Lian graduated from the Huangpu Ivy Period, was an important general of the Kuomintang civil engineering department, served as the commander of the 18th Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 18th Army was reorganized into the 11th Division, and Hu Lian served as the commander of the reorganized 11th Division, which was also one of the five main forces of the Nationalist Army, and its combat effectiveness was very strong.
During the Liberation War, the reorganized 11th Division led by Hu Lian caused a lot of trouble to the People's Liberation Army, and Both Nakano and Huaye had gathered heavy troops to surround and annihilate him, but instead of annihilating him, they lost their troops. It was not until the Battle of Huaihai in 1948 that Hu Lian's 12th Corps of the Kuomintang Army was surrounded by Shuangduiji, when Hu Lian was the deputy commander of the 12th Corps, and when the 12th Corps was completely destroyed, Hu Lian drove a broken tank and rushed out.
After the Battle of Huaihai, Hu Lian, who escaped death, was once again entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Chiang Kai-shek
Commander of the Fujian-Zhejiang-Gansu Border Region, as well as commander of the newly formed 12th Corps. In October 1949, Hu Lian served as the commander of the Kinmen Defense, and suffered heavy losses to the People's Liberation Army in the Battle of Kinmen, and was known as the "King of Kinmen".
After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began, Hu Lian frequently led his troops to attack the islands along the southeast coast, causing quite a lot of trouble to the PLA. Hu Lian also selected more than 230 officers at or above the rank of lieutenant from various units to form the "Two Dragons (Longxi, Longyan) Guerrilla Group" in an attempt to infiltrate the interior to organize armed forces and strengthen the forces of bandits on land, and wanted to use the bandits' armed forces and secret agents to once again set off a climax of counter-offensive. From June 1951 to September 1951, the Kuomintang authorities sent six groups of more than 800 bandits, but they were all annihilated by local soldiers and civilians.
In September 1951, Chiang Kai-shek felt that a small-scale attack would not achieve its goal and wanted to do a big one, so he formulated the tactic of "eating small with big, advancing and retreating quickly" in an attempt to make a final struggle. Chiang Kai-shek's so-called "eating small with the big" means that he will use several times or even more than a dozen times the superior strength of his troops, and with the coordination of his navy and air force, suddenly attack the coastal prominent parts where the PLA's defensive strength is weak, strive to annihilate the PLA's island-guarding detachment, and quickly withdraw once most of the PLA rushes to reinforcements.
After Chiang Kai-shek's order was issued, the Kuomintang generals on the southeast coast attacked one after another, and Hu Lian set his sights on Nanri Island. Located in Xinghua Bay, southeast of Putian City, Fujian Province, China, Nanri Island is the main island of the Nanri Archipelago, the third largest island in Fujian Province, and the largest island in Putian City. Nanri Island has a unique geographical location, is a window to expand trade with Taiwan and foreign countries, and has always been a military powerhouse, and its Nanri waterway is a key point of maritime transportation.
In order to take Nanri Island, Hu Lian sent spies to conduct investigations in advance, such as sending some agents to pretend to be ordinary people who collect seafood, cut hair, and do small business, and frequently landed on the island to conduct reconnaissance. The hidden agents on the island are also frequently active, sending electric and optical signals to the direction of Uchu Island at night.
During the large-scale attack on Nanri Island, Hu Lian made several tentative attacks on Nanri Island, but they were all defeated by the People's Liberation Army. After repeatedly repelling the enemy's attacks, the defenders of Nanri Island relaxed their vigilance, so that a large number of agents did not find any reconnaissance on the island and did not report some suspicious signs.
At that time, the strength of Nanri Island was only the strength of one reinforced company, four platoons on the Eastern Peninsula were stationed in Xixiang, four platoons were stationed in Xixiang, four platoons in The Western Peninsula, one of the squads was stationed at Jianshan, the commanding height of Nanri Island, all the others were stationed in Shipan Township, and there was also an artillery platoon with three mortars, with a total strength of more than 400 people. Nanri Island also has government personnel and militia sent from Putian County, with more than 200 people.
After carefully reconnaissance of the deployment of troops on Nanri Island, Hu Lian began to attack Nanri Island. On October 10, 1952, Hu Lian led the 224th Regiment, the 225th Regiment, and the South China Sea Corps of the 75th Division of the Kuomintang Army, a total of more than 6,000 people, divided into three landing ships and more than 10 landing craft, under the cover of eight aircraft, from Kinmen Island to raid Nanri Island.
The Kuomintang army attacked in two directions, one consisting of the South China Sea Corps, a total of more than 1,500 people, equipped with new American weapons, equipped with two warships and a gunboat, and landed from the east of Nanri Island. The other route, two regiments of the Nationalist 75th Division, on three warships and several landing craft, commanded by division commander Wang Guangyao, landed on the western part of Nanri Island.
The enemy's South China Sea Corps first landed in Gangnan Township, east of Nanri Island, and occupied the commanding heights of Jiulong Mountain and Xihu Mountain, and although the garrison made heroic resistance, due to being outnumbered, they had to retreat to the mountain to continue to block the attack of the Kuomintang army. The firepower of the two regiments of the 75th Division was very fierce, most of the PLA soldiers died heroically, and the local militia quickly organized to resist the attack of the Kuomintang army, but because they were outnumbered and the firepower was not strong, they fought very passively.
The sound of gunfire on Nanri Island alarmed the People's Liberation Army and local governments on the mainland, and after receiving the order, the troops stationed along the Fujian coast immediately sent a marine battalion plus an artillery platoon and a machine gun platoon to reinforce Nanri Island.
The border troops stationed in Putian also immediately organized a battalion to reinforce, but before they could land, they were blocked by enemy artillery fire, and the reinforcements' aircraft sailboats were sunk twice, wounding 12 people and forcing them to retreat. Until the 12th, the People's Liberation Army sent two more platoons to reinforce, hoping to preemptively land and cover the follow-up reinforcements. Due to their tight organization, the two platoons succeeded in occupying several vantage points.
The fall of Nanri Island had a bad impact at that time, and the headquarters of the Tenth Corps of the East China Field Army ordered the 28th Army to organize troops and recover Nanri Island in accordance with the requirements of the Central Military Commission. A large number of artillery units were also transferred to the front line, and the PLA troops stationed in Fuqing and Putian began to shell the waters around Nanri Island with long-range artillery, blocking the sea passage from Nanri Island to Kinmen Island, and a big war was about to break out.
At this time, Hu Lian also received it when he saw it, and after plundering the island, he escorted more than 800 people back to Kinmen, and then these more than 800 people were sent to Taiwan. In the early morning of the 14th, the main force of the People's Liberation Army landed on the island, and because the main force of the Kuomintang had retreated, the People's Liberation Army quickly recovered Nanri Island.
After the victory of Nanri Island, Chiang Kai-shek was very excited and planned to mobilize some troops from Taiwan and Kinmen to continue to capture Fujian Islands, and to seize two or three counties along the Fujian coast as forward bases. The defeat of Nanri Island also aroused the great importance attached by the party Central Committee to the protection of coastal islands, and Ye Fei once again made a profound review, believing that the reason was that the light enemy was paralyzed, there was no active preparation, the enemy who came to attack was underestimated, and a small number of troops were hastily sent to reinforce, resulting in sheep entering the tiger's mouth.
After the battle of Nanri Island, the islands along the southeast coast began to step up coastal defense construction, and The coastal islands such as Nanri Island began to organize militias to carry out armed patrols at sea, cooperated with the navy and maritime armed engineering teams to carry out maritime struggles against the enemy, and struck at the agents of various coastal islands, controlled dangerous elements that might defect to the enemy, effectively dealt a blow to the rampant attack of the Kuomintang army, and won a great victory on Dongshan Island the following year.