Text/Editor: Liuyun
Preface
After Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, the two islands of Kinmen and Matsu remained under the control of the Kuomintang army. The situation on the Korean Peninsula forced New China to temporarily suspend its plan to recover Taiwan.
It is precisely because of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea that the United States has re-understood New China and the strategic significance of Taiwan. In order to make Taiwan part of the island chain, in 1954 the United States and Taiwan reached an agreement on mutual defense.
In July 1958, the revolution broke out in Iraq, and the United States was involved in the Middle East. Chairman Mao keenly grasped the slightest opportunity in this. Secret arrangements began for the preparation of the shelling of Kinmen.
On August 23, 1958, Mao Zedong decisively ordered the shelling of Kinmen!
At 5:30 p.m., the shelling of Kinmen officially began.
The shelling was divided into 3 waves, the first wave, the operational code word "Typhoon", lasted 15 minutes. 459 artillery pieces fired at the Kuomintang barracks, artillery positions and Kuomintang transport ships in Liuluo Bay. In 15 minutes, more than 20,000 shells were fired.
After the shelling, the Kuomintang army returned fire from several sporadic artillery positions.
The sea breeze blew away the smoke and the barrel cooled slightly. At 17:50, that is, after an interval of 5 minutes, the second wave of artillery bombardment of our army began, and the battle code word "heavy rain". It lasted 5 minutes, focusing on suppressing the Kuomintang artillery positions that were sporadically returning fire.
Two hours later, the third wave of shelling began. The 3rd wave of shelling was short-lived, firing only 4 shells per gun. The Kuomintang troops on Kinmen Island were specially attacked and killed for rescue and repair.
In the more than two-hour artillery battle at Kinmen, the PLA fired more than 30,000 shells, and the Kuomintang army suffered more than 600 casualties. Zhao Jiaxiang, deputy commander of the Kinmen Defense Department, Zhang Jie, deputy commander of the Kinmen Defense Department, and Ji Xingwen, deputy commander of the Penghu Defense Department, were killed on the spot.
It was only on the morning of August 24 that Chiang Kai-shek learned of the shelling of Kinmen. It is said that after receiving the report, Chiang Kai-shek was stunned for a moment, then silent, and finally his brows stretched and he said three good words in a row with a smile.
Are you still applauding after being beaten? Could it be that Chiang Kai-shek was confused?
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek had been looking forward to Mao Zedong's large-scale bombardment of Kinmen Island. As soon as Mao Zedong opened fire, he could justifiably ask the United States for support. Because of the signing of the "public defense" agreement, the United States had to send troops to the Taiwan Strait. As long as the People's Liberation Army and the U.S. Army exchange fire, then the day will come for him to lead his troops to counterattack the mainland.
Chiang Kai-shek was bent on counterattacking the mainland, so Mao Zedong's shelling of Kinmen was a great good thing for him.
On 24 August, Taiwan's emergency telegram was placed on US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's desk, which said: "The Chinese communist army has violently shelled Kinmen with more than 100,000 shells, and the next step is bound to wash Taiwan in blood, and we urgently need the assistance of our US allies."
Three days later, Eisenhower made a public statement claiming that he would order the U.S. military to aid the Kuomintang army. Subsequently, the main force of the US Seventh Fleet sailed to the Taiwan Strait, and two aircraft carriers from the Sixth Fleet in the Middle East were transferred to join the Seventh Fleet through the Suez Canal.
For a time, the Taiwan Strait was tense and treacherous.
The development of events was proceeding in the direction that Chiang Kai-shek had predicted, but Mao Zedong knew Chiang Kai-shek too well, and when the Seventh Fleet hurried to the Taiwan Strait, Mao Zedong made a new decision.
Stop shelling!
In fact, when Chiang Kai-shek was busy moving rescue troops, the People's Liberation Army was not idle. Beginning on August 24, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) continued to shell Kinmen while dispatching naval vessels to strike at sea targets. At the cost of losing a torpedo boat, the Kuomintang landing ship "Zhonghai" was damaged and the 4,000-ton "Taisheng" was sunk. On 25 August, the PLA artillery again made Kinmen Airport an important blockade target, and carried out artillery strikes on the airport's facilities and planes taking off and landing. By 3 September, the defenders of Kinmen were in complete trouble. If our army launches a landing at this time, Kinmen Island will be at your fingertips.
But on the night of September 3, Mao Zedong issued an order to Ye Fei to stop the shelling and watch the movements of all parties.
In the early morning of September 4, the China People's Radio released another statement from the government of the People's Republic of China. This is a statement about the line of territorial waters. It mentions that the territorial waters of the People's Republic of China are 12 nautical miles wide and that all foreign aircraft and military vessels are not allowed to enter China's territorial waters and airspace without the permission of the Government of the People's Republic of China.
But why did Mao Zedong make this statement at this time?
Kinmen Island is less than 10 kilometers from the mainland, and 12 nautical miles is about 22 kilometers. This is to clearly tell Chiang Kai-shek and the US military that Kinmen Island is within China's territorial waters. You are not allowed to intrude into China's territorial waters, especially military vessels, without permission.
Mao Zedong's two cards in a row made Chiang Kai-shek and the U.S. government a little panicked. But Kinmen Island has been blockaded for so long, there are no supplies on the island, and there is almost no food to eat. What to do?
Chiang Kai-shek personally called the Americans, begging for American ships to escort them in order to restore the sea supply of Kinmen. To this request, the Americans agreed.
At 6 o'clock in the morning of September 8, Li Yuxi, deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Navy, led a formation of seven warships to Liaoluo Bay in Kinmen under the cover of the US Navy. At 10 o'clock in the morning, Mao Zedong gave the order to fight. However, this order was very ingenious, only the Chiang ships were hit, not the US ships, and if the US ships opened fire on us, I would not return fire.
The commanders and fighters had long been holding back the fire in their stomachs, and suddenly the artillery on the front line in Fujian was roaring, and 21,700 shells were fired at great speed. The Kuomintang transport ship "Meile," which was loaded with gasoline and ammunition, was hit by eight bullets in an instant, igniting a fire, and the hull was then broken into two and sunk to the bottom of the sea. The landing ship "Meizhen" was also seriously wounded, and thick smoke billowed from it.
However, when the six US ships serving as escorts saw the PLA's shelling, they directly turned around and retreated neatly to the open sea, ignoring the Kuomintang warships that were being beaten.
Chiang Kai-shek was very angry, the Kuomintang was very angry, and the island of Taiwan was very angry. Is this called an escort? Protect the fart of the voyage! It seems that they came to the Taiwan Strait specifically to see the Kuomintang warships being beaten.
After Chiang Kai-shek's solemn representations, on September 11, the US-Chiang combined fleet once again sailed into China's territorial waters in the Kinmen area, and Premier Zhou Enlai personally arranged a battle against this mixed formation, and the result was the same as on September 8, and the Americans ran away again.
Military blackmail did not work, and the US military directly adopted a "policy of getting out." On 30 September, US Secretary of State Dulles issued a statement saying that the United States had no legal obligation to defend the coastal islands and forced Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw his troops from Kinmen and Matsu as soon as possible.
At this point, Mao Zedong really felt the hole card of the United States in creating tension in the Taiwan Strait, and also found out the attitude and limits of the so-called "common defense" of the United States.
The United States has always pursued a policy of "brinkmanship," that is, reaching the brink of war, but not getting involved in war. To put it bluntly, if you don't fight yourself, you watch others fight. He hid behind his back and fanned the flames, instigated it to the fullest, and then profited from it.
Mao Zedong had clearly seen the essence of US imperialism as early as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and this was the conclusion that "US imperialism is a paper tiger" said on July 14, 1956, which is why Mao Zedong dared to wrestle with US imperialism in the Taiwan Strait. I have to say that Chairman Mao is really accurate in looking at people!!