At the end of 1952, taking advantage of the fact that the eyes of the central leadership were focused on the Korean battlefield, the Kuomintang, unwilling to lose, launched a final counteroffensive. With the support of the United States, the Kuomintang leaders dispatched Hu Lian, known as the "King of the Golden Gate", to lead 12,000 elite Kuomintang troops and a group of American advisers to forcibly "add" paratroopers to launch a fierce attack on Dongshan Island, located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong. Our army's amphibious combat strength is insufficient, the experience of island defense warfare is lacking, and it suffered a lot of losses when fighting With Hu Lian before. This time, Hu Lian repeated his old tricks, on the one hand, he wanted to invade Dongshan Island, and on the other hand, he also made preparations for the future "counterattack" on the mainland. But what Hu Lian did not expect was that the plagiarism plan he had carefully prepared this time was quickly discovered by the PLA, which had always been not good at water operations, not only successfully counterattacked within two days, but also wiped out the paratrooper unit that was regarded as the "proud son of heaven" by the US advisers and the Kuomintang leaders. After this battle, the Kuomintang suffered heavy losses and never took the initiative to raise the counter-offensive plan.
Why did the Kuomintang choose to attack Dongshan Island? Why did the Battle of Dongshan Island become a turning point in the history of military struggle in the Taiwan Strait? And why were the Kuomintang troops, which had always occupied an absolute superiority in the island naval battle, be attacked head-on by the People's Liberation Army this time?
Pictured| the Battle of Dongshan Island
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The Kuomintang finally counterattacked! Thousands of elite paratroopers were dispatched, and before they landed, they were completely annihilated by the People's Liberation Army
Campaign background
On April 20, 1949, the Kuomintang leaders publicly refused to sign the Internal Peace Agreement and did not intend to negotiate peace with the Communists. At this time, the elite main force of the Kuomintang had been basically annihilated by the People's Liberation Army, and could only shrink in the half of the country south of the Yangtze River to resist. whereas
After the three major battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin, the plaster has reached a total strength of about 4 million people, which not only has high morale, but also made great progress in weapons, equipment and combat experience
。
At a glance, the clear-eyed people in this situation know that the victory and defeat have been divided, and only the leaders of the Kuomintang are still convinced that they can make a comeback. However, the building will fall, not a single tree can be supported, and the collapse of the Kuomintang is inevitable. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established, and the Communist Party became the leading class in China. By 1950, the Kuomintang garrison on the south bank of the Yangtze River had all been lost.
Except for Taiwan, which had long been found, the entire area of the Kuomintang's activities was several islands off the southeast coast of the mainland
This is because their naval forces are still strong, and the PLA's amphibious combat capabilities are really insufficient.
Figure | defeated and retreated Jiang Jun and his family members
However, even in this situation of lingering hardship, the Kuomintang leaders who "live" in Taiwan did not abandon their ambitions and began to do everything possible to boost the morale of the army, not only putting forward unrealistic battle slogans:"
One year of accumulation, two years of counter-offensive, three years of sweeping, and five years of success
He also began to actively train soldiers, so that all the Kuomintang departments in Taiwan could build military bases on coastal islands, exercise diligently, and improve their military level. In addition to making operational preparations within the army, the Kuomintang leaders also sent secret telegrams to the secret service organizations lurking inside the mainland, asking them to inquire more about the Platon's intelligence, quietly wait for the counterattack of the Large Kuomintang troops, and make preparations for internal and external cooperation.
However, the actions of the Kuomintang leaders did not receive much support, and many generals of the troops advised him that the PLA is now a strong soldier, they are not opponents at all, do not engage in such senseless resistance, can take a short rest, and wait for the opportunity.
The United States also did not have confidence in the Kuomintang-led battle plan, believing that his slogans and strategic guidelines were nothing short of a fool's dream.
Tu | the leaders of the Kuomintang to comfort the soldiers
Soon, however, a civil war broke out on the Korean Peninsula bordering New China, and in order to defend the motherland and territorial integrity, the central leadership decided to form the Chinese Volunteer Army to resist the United States and aid Korea.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent some of its troops to the Korean battlefield, and the United States began to consider whether to help the Nationalist forces and let them take the opportunity to return to the mainland.
After all, the United States has taken a fancy to the potential of Asian countries, formulated an Asia-Pacific strategy, and wanted to continue to seek benefits in the vast land of China, but compared with the Communist Party, which has not advanced in oil and salt, the senior leaders of the United States still feel that this Kuomintang, which has always maintained good contact with itself and can even be said to be a "sharp blade in its hands", is more convenient to control.
Knowing that the United States intended to support itself, the leaders of the Kuomintang were overjoyed, felt that the hope of a counter-offensive was greater, and often fantasized that they would use the strength of the United States to regroup and restore the glory of that year. But since being severely wounded by Chinese volunteers on the Korean battlefield,
Attitudes on the American side have also changed, and they have discovered that the Communist party ranks are not as weak as they seem, and therefore scoff at the "grand blueprint" of the Kuomintang leadership.
After all, in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, the corruption and incompetence of the Kuomintang army left a deep impression on the American combatants. Now that the Kuomintang army is retreating to Taiwan, not only is its strength inferior to that of the People's Liberation Army, but the morale of the army is also very low, and it is really doubtful whether the counter-offensive can succeed. Once the Kuomintang troops lose the battle, will they continue to provide support, and if they cannot achieve real results all the time, will they waste the manpower and material resources of the US side? Embracing all kinds of entanglements, the United States has not formally relaxed its mouth to the KMT leadership.
Pictured| Leaders of the Kuomintang met with American guests
Seeing the vague attitude of the United States, the Kuomintang leadership decided to take some military actions to show its strength, so it often invaded the mainland and sent air force units to attack central cities such as Shanghai. Of course
For the Kuomintang, their "most successful operation" was the Offensive and Defensive Battle of Nanri Island in October 1952.
Hu Lian, who was then the supreme commander of the Kinmen Defense Force, received an order from the Kuomintang leadership to "capture several more coastal islands in preparation for a full-scale counteroffensive," and immediately began to dispatch troops, gathering more than 9,000 soldiers to launch a surprise attack on Nanri Island in Fujian Province, where the People's Liberation Army was stationed. The officers and men of our army rushed to battle without any defense, and finally all of them were martyred, and the subsequent support troops also suffered from the Kuomintang's resistance and suffered heavy losses.
Although in the end, due to the arrival of a large number of platters of the People's Liberation Army, Hu Lian and his party took the initiative to withdraw from Nanri Island, this battle was already a rare victory after the Kuomintang army retreated to Taiwan, which greatly strengthened the determination of the Kuomintang leaders to counterattack. Not long after, another piece of good news that made the Leaders of the Kuomintang very happy came:
The senior management of the US side has been replaced, and the leader who was "not right" with him has stepped down, and the successor leader has a good impression of him.
Pictured| Hu Lian
After some walking, the Kuomintang leaders received a reply from an American company that expressed some interest in his counter-offensive plan and could provide material assistance. The leaders of the Kuomintang were quite excited, after all, this company founded in 1951 is not small.
It is said that it is a foreign trade enterprise, but it is actually an intelligence agency affiliated with the CIA, and the senior leaders are elite officers in the US military.
The company's main job is not to sell things, but to train special talents in the military and plan attacks that cannot be exposed.
The kuomintang leaders planned to show a good hand on the American side, so they summoned Hu Lian again to come.
It was discussed to capture a large island off the coast of the mainland and establish a military base here to fully implement the counter-offensive plan.
The two men planned for a while, carefully looked at the map, and finally chose the location of the battle on Dongshan Island.
The figure | a map of Kuomintang officers
The Battle of Dongshan Island officially began
Located at the southern tip of Fujian Province, Dongshan Island covers an area of 194 square kilometers and has a population of nearly 200,000. Because
Located at the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, it takes only 3 hours to reach Penghu by boat from here
Strategic location is very important, so Dongshan Island has been a place of contention since ancient times.
On July 10, 1953, the Chinese Volunteer Army, the Korean People's Army, and the United Nations Forces were negotiating an armistice on the Korean War at Panmunjom in the central and western part of the Korean Peninsula, but the Kuomintang troops entrenched in Kinmen began to move frequently, not only to move troops, but also to send patrol boats and reconnaissance planes to invade the coastal areas of Fujian. The unusual behavior of the Kuomintang troops was seen by the front-line troops of the People's Liberation Army stationed on the fujian coast, and the fighters began to speculate about what they were trying to do. On July 15, inside the Genting Rock Lighthouse on Xiamen Island, just across the strait from kinmen, where the Kuomintang troops were stationed, plagivers suddenly discovered that
On the opposite side, a large number of Kuomintang troops were gathering in Kinmen Zhiluo Bay, and they all boarded their warships that afternoon, and their whereabouts were unknown.
Picture | battleship
Why did Kinmen bring together so many Kuomintang troops, and what did they want to do? The senior leaders of the 31st Army Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army stationed along the Fujian coast carefully analyzed the situation reported by the soldiers and felt that the target of the Kuomintang troops' action might be Dongshan Island. After listening to the leader's analysis, the soldiers began to worry, because the garrison on Dongshan Island had just changed its defenses, and now it was there
The defense force is very weak, only one public security 80th regiment and some sailors in charge of people's livelihood work, full of 1,000 people.
Since the Kuomintang troops had already boarded the ship and set off, even if they immediately sent support to Dongshan Island now, they would not be able to catch up.
The situation is not waiting for anyone, the commander of the 31st Army of the People's Liberation Army
Zhou Zhijian
Overnight, he called the garrison on Dongshan Island and told them that they would have a large number of Kuomintang troops attacking Dongshan Island, and let them defend with all their strength, hold their positions, and wait for rescue. At the same time, Zhou Zhijian also issued an order to let go
The 272nd Regiment rushed as fast as possible to the Dongshan Island area to reinforce the PLA troops there.
The picture | officers and men of the 80th Regiment of Public Security stationed on Dongshan Island
The garrison on Dongshan Island immediately entered a state of readiness for war after receiving the call, but the Nationalist troops also moved quickly, reaching the sea off Dongshan within a few hours. The first to attack were the elite units of the Kuomintang Marine Corps, with a total strength of nearly 10,000 troops, who chose to divide their troops into two routes, one from the north of the Su Peak peak in Dongshan to carry out the landing, and the other way back to the beachhead south of the Su Peak, taking advantage of the attention of the Platon army to be attracted to the north side and quietly landing.
The Kuomintang troops opened the way with naval artillery fire and bombarded the defenders of Dongshan Island at the beach,
Menacingly drove armored vehicles and tanks to land and marched deep into the island.
It didn't take long,
Air support from the Kuomintang troops also arrived, and 19 C-46 transport planes flew from Hsinchu, Taiwan, over Dongshan Island, and dropped a large number of paratrooper units in the area of The Eight Foot Gate.
These paratroopers were trained by the American company that cooperated with the Kuomintang and were highly valued by the Kuomintang leaders. The Kuomintang leaders dispatched paratrooper units to participate in the battle, with the aim of winning a surprise victory and completely cutting off the contact between the Dongshan garrison and the Mainland People's Liberation Army.
Pictured| Kuomintang Air Force
Knowing that he did not have the advantage in troop strength and was more vulnerable to attack in the flat and wide beachhead position, You Meiyao, the commander of the 80th Regiment of Public Security stationed on Dongshan Island, immediately made a decision and led all his soldiers to retreat to the defensive position on the island.
The battle line was shifted to the depths of Dongshan Island, and the terrain advantage was used to fight with the Nationalist troops attacking the island.
The soldiers stationed around Miaoshan undertook most of the firepower and engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with two assault brigades of the Nationalist troops. After a deadly fight, the PLA soldiers at the Miaoshan position repelled three onslaughts of enemy fire, annihilating nearly 200 Kuomintang soldiers, but their own troops also suffered heavy losses.
Except for a few officers and men who successfully broke through, the others were surrounded by the Kuomintang troops who launched another onslaught and died heroically.
At 8:00 a.m. on July 16, under the cover of artillery fire, the Nationalist troops arrived at positions near Gongyun Mountain, Niu Calf Mountain, and WangDa Mountain, and engaged the 80th Public Security Regiment, which had prepared for combat in this area earlier.
Pictured| a PLA soldier in the machine gun position at Gongyun Mountain
In the face of the Kuomintang troops, which were several times larger than their own, the soldiers of the 80th Regiment of public security did not have the slightest fear, calmly and calmly arranged defensive positions at the commanding heights of the Gongyun Mountain position, and began to launch a counterattack against the enemy army. The soldiers resisted the attack of the Kuomintang army with everything they could use, light and heavy machine guns, grenades, rifles,
When there is no ammunition, they put on bayonets, latte shovels and even stones to fight with the enemy
Finally, even the soldiers of the logistics cooking squad also rushed into the battlefield wielding kitchen knives and engaged in a life-and-death battle with the enemy.
The mortars of the Kuomintang troops had been bombing our soldiers on the Position of Gongyun Mountain, but
The soldiers of the 80th Regiment of Public Security still relied on their strong will and strong fighting spirit to repel more than a dozen attacks launched by the enemy.
The garrisons on Dongshan Island on the Niu calf Mountain and Gongda Mountain positions were also iron-boned fighting heroes, and the soldiers stationed at the Niu Calf Mountain stopped the repeated attacks of the main Kuomintang troops at a heavy cost of 80 percent of the casualties, and the old machine guns in their hands shot down an enemy fighter.
Figure | Officers and men of the 80th Regiment of Public Security used old-fashioned heavy machine guns to block the enemy
While the Dongshan Island garrison and Kuomintang Marines were engaged in fierce fighting on the positions of Gongyun Mountain, WangDashan, and Niuli Mountain, the paratrooper troops who had high hopes from the Kuomintang leaders also quietly landed at the Eight Foot Gate.
The Eight Foot Gate is the only ferry port on Dongshan Island that communicates with the mainland.
The Kuomintang paratroopers chose to launch a surprise attack here, also with the intention of cutting off the passage between Dongshan Island and the outside world and preventing the arrival of PLA reinforcements. However, what people did not expect was that this battle plan, which was regarded by the Kuomintang leaders as a "stroke of god" for landing on the island and winning victory, did not achieve the expected results, and the Kuomintang paratroopers not only failed to successfully take the eight-foot gate, but were also beaten by the Dongshan Island garrison that had been prepared earlier.
The transport planes of the Kuomintang troops arrived at the sky above the Eight Foot Gate at about 6 a.m. on the 16th and began to drop paratrooper troops. But at that time, the sky was already dawn, and the paratroopers who opened their parachutes were soon discovered by the sailors stationed at the eight-foot gate and became a living target for the soldiers. Under the fire of the eight-foot gate garrison, many Kuomintang paratroopers cried out for their lives before they landed, and only a small number of them had a larger life and landed successfully. At seven o'clock in the morning, the scattered paratroopers regrouped and began to implement the original battle plan, and the garrison of the eight-foot gate also built a large number of fortifications with the help of local militia and civilians. However, these fortifications did not come in much use, because the map provided by the Nationalist side to the paratroopers was inaccurate.
The paratroopers were very unfamiliar with the strategic terrain of the eight-foot gate, and some of them were directly killed by the PLA garrison in the shadows in a daze.
Seeing their teammates die one after another, the Nationalist paratroopers panicked even more and began to roam around the island.
Picture | the Kuomintang paratrooper units preparing to cooperate with the naval attack
In fact, originally, Hu Lian did not approve of sending paratroopers to cooperate in combat, because he felt that the paratroopers were unreliable and he had no experience in commanding paratroopers. However, the Kuomintang leaders felt that sending this American-trained unit could show respect for the United States and show the strong combat effectiveness of the kuomintang's new army. Although his idea was good, he did not consider whether the eight-foot gate was suitable for paratrooper combat.
The paratroopers delayed for 4 hours in the area of the Eight Foot Gate, not only did not take the position of the Eight Foot Gate garrison, but also did not block the arrival of plaus front reinforcements.
At 9:00 a.m., the vanguard of the 272nd Regiment of our army's support force arrived at Dongshan Island and successfully landed at The Eight Foot Gate. With the support of the soldiers of the 272nd Regiment, the strength of the Eight Foot Gate garrison was doubled, and the remaining Nationalist paratroopers were annihilated in one fell swoop.
The arrival of plausibus reinforcements and the total annihilation of the paratroopers represent that the Kuomintang has lost its lead in this combat operation.
The follow-up troops of the 272nd Regiment of the People's Liberation Army landed on the island one after another and advanced towards the area near Gongyun Mountain, Niu Calf Mountain and WangDa Mountain. After that, two other PLA reinforcements, the 28th Army and the 41st Army, arrived at Dongshan Island on the 17th to cooperate with the garrison on the island to launch a counterattack.
Figure | officers and men guarding the island who use light machine guns to shoot at enemy aircraft
On July 17, the Dongshan Island garrison and the three PLA troops that came to support successfully met in the highlands of the island, which also opened the prelude to the PLA's all-round counterattack.
In the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Zhijian, commander of the 31st Army of the People's Liberation Army stationed along the fujian coast, also led some soldiers to Dongshan Island to command the fighters to fight on the front line. At this point, the total strength of the People's Liberation Army on Dongshan Island has exceeded 20,000 people, the operational superiority of the Kuomintang troops has been wiped out, and the situation on the battlefield has undergone a huge reversal. Seeing the arrival of PLA reinforcements one after another, many Kuomintang soldiers were shaken in their hearts and proposed to commander Hu Lian to withdraw their troops to preserve the strength of the troops.
Hu Lian saw the situation on the battlefield and knew that he could no longer take advantage of the PLA this time, so he could only issue orders to the remaining Kuomintang soldiers: shrink the front, retreat to the beach, and prepare to withdraw. The soldiers who had long felt that there was no hope of attack were waiting for him to say this, and as soon as Hu Lian's voice fell, a group of people hurriedly dropped their weapons and ran towards the battleship docked at the beachhead under the cover of artillery fire. By the afternoon of the same day, the main Kuomintang troops attacking the island had all withdrawn by boat, and the remnants of the troops responsible for the cover behind the palace were also surrounded and captured by PLA fighters. That's it
The Battle of Dongshan Island, which was carefully planned by the Kuomintang leaders and Hu Lian with great expectations, was completely defeated.
After| the Battle of Dongshan Island, our army captured guns and ammunition discarded by the enemy at the beachhead
Battle results
Relevant information is displayed,
In the Battle of Dongshan Island, the PLA troops annihilated a total of 3379 Kuomintang soldiers, successfully shot down 2 enemy transport planes, and captured 3 landing craft
This is still the case of our navy's lack of combat experience and lack of air support capabilities. Upon learning of the great victory on Dongshan Island, the central leadership commended the local garrison and all the reinforcements, after all, their bloody combat performance and strong and indomitable will to fight were the most important factors for the victory of this war. The Battle of Dongshan Island was the first time that the Plaster Army won a victory in an anti-landing naval battle, and this battle not only enhanced the combat confidence of our soldiers, returned the humiliation and pain endured by the PLA in the Battle of Nanri Island, and ruthlessly extinguished the arrogance of the Kuomintang troops, and also dealt a great blow to the American forces standing behind the Kuomintang. In 1955, U.S. companies that had been funding the Nationalists said senior leaders felt they no longer had a strategic advantage and terminated all cooperation activities between the two sides.
Since then, the United States has never expressed any support for the counter-offensive plan proposed by the Kuomintang leadership. therefore
The Battle of Dongshan Island not only became the real final battle between the Kuomintang and the Communists, but also made the Kuomintang leaders' long-cherished counter-offensive plan officially stillborn
。 After all, without the support and support of the United States, even if he came up with more objective and detailed battle plans, he would not have enough troops and equipment to put into action.
Pictured| Platon soldiers celebrating victory in the Battle of Dongshan Island
After the end of the campaign, the central leaders reviewed the course of the battle and made their own comments: "The reason why our army was able to win the battle of Dongshan Island was that the front-line commanders of the troops had a very high military quality, were not rigid, did not take dogmatic instructions, and always adjusted their combat strategies according to the situation on the ground; second, the tenacity of the soldiers, since they were determined to fight, they would never retreat a step backwards, which was lacking in most soldiers of the Kuomintang troops."
The victory in the Battle of Dongshan Island not only represented the victory of the garrisons of the Dongshan and Fujian Liberation Army, but also the victory of the people of the whole country.
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