After the Battle of crossing the river, the Kuomintang's base area on the mainland was basically destroyed, and Chiang Kai-shek led hundreds of thousands of troops to retreat to Taiwan and confront us across the river. In order to accomplish the reunification of the motherland at an early date, the Chinese Government has ordered the reunification of Taiwan by force.
After analysis by the top level of the Chinese government, it was decided to launch a campaign in Kinmen, Fujian.
Kinmen Island is located in the south of Fujian Province, is a natural barrier to southern Fujian, only about 5 nautical miles away from fujian land, if you want to attack Taiwan by force, Kinmen is the best choice.
In mid-to-late October 1949, the People's Liberation Army liberated Guangzhou and Xiamen consecutively in preparation for the Subsequent Battle of Kinmen.
Ye Fei, the general who presided over the Battle of Kinmen at that time, thought that this Battle of Kinmen was a small battle, and that it would not take much effort to defeat Chiang Kai-shek's army, return from victory, and recover Taiwan just around the corner.
What General Ye Fei did not expect was that precisely because of his carelessness and light enemy, the People's Liberation Army faced an unprecedented defeat, with more than 9,000 people either sacrificed or captured, suffering heavy casualties, and even ye Fei's four regimental commanders who had made great achievements in battle were all buried in this battle.
They were: Xing Yongsheng, commander of the 244 regiment, Liu Tianxiang, commander of the 251st regiment, Xu Bo, commander of the 253rd regiment, and Sun Yunxiu, the leader of the 246th regiment.
So why did the People's Liberation Army face such a big setback in the Battle of Kinmen? What happened to the four main regimental commanders who landed on the island? In this issue, we will reveal the story behind the Battle of Kinmen.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="149" > sneak attack failed and was hit hard</h1>
Before launching the offensive, the People's Liberation Army has made strict arrangements, planning to carry out in echelons, first let the first echelon quietly land on Kinmen Island, and then transport the members of the second echelon, when the two groups of people will 'fight the world' on the island together, and it is expected that they can take the Golden Gate in three days.
So in the early morning of October 25, 1949, the first echelon of the People's Liberation Army, about three corps, took advantage of the cover of night to reach the area around Langkou and Guningtou.
When they approached Kinmen Island, they found that the island was very well guarded and patrolled frequently, and there was no way for so many people from the three corps to land quietly. In desperation, some people proposed to send a report to the shore, so that the People's Liberation Army on the other side would carry out a fierce shelling of the island, and then they would take advantage of the chaos to go to the island.
Immediately after that, a fierce artillery sound was heard, yes, it was the PLA artillery on the shore that fired artillery to cover the three corps ashore. The three corps saw the Nationalist troops on the shore rushing to meet the battle, thinking that the plan was successful and could land in a big way, but they did not expect that when the three corps first landed, they were suddenly attacked by the Nationalist army.
Only to see a large number of Nationalist troops pouring in from all directions and firing at them, many of them with heavy weapons, the first landing of the 244th Regiment had no room to fight back, and the artillery fire they suffered was also the fiercest.
It turned out that the Kuomintang generals had long known that the People's Liberation Army would take advantage of the opportunity to sneak attack, and all of them were waiting in a strict position, their nerves were tense, and they were always in a state of readiness for war.
In order to prevent accidents, the generals of the Nationalist army ordered all the lights on the island to be turned on, but they did not expect that the lights did not matter as soon as the lights were turned on, and directly exposed the 244th Regiment that was preparing to land under the eyes of the Kuomintang.
But it was in such an urgent situation that the 244th regimental commander Xing Yongsheng still risked death to lead the team members to break through, but the firepower of the Nationalist army was too strong, and the soldiers of the unit suffered heavy casualties, and the regimental commander Xing Yongsheng was unfortunately shot and unconscious in the confrontation with the Nationalist army, and was sent to the hospital for treatment.
In fact, at first, the Kuomintang people thought that Xing Yongsheng was just an ordinary fighter and did not have the will to kill him, but later because of the traitor's whistle-blowing, Xing Yongsheng's true identity was exposed, and the Kuomintang killed Xing Yongsheng in a rage. That year, Xing Yongsheng was only 35 years old.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="148" > ship was burned and stranded on the island</h1>
And the other side?
Because the struggle of the entire regiment of the 244th Regiment attracted most of the firepower of the Nationalist troops, the remaining two regiments were able to successfully land. Immediately after the successful landing, the two regiments sent a signal to the opposite shore. General Ye Fei was overjoyed when he received the news of the successful landing of the two corps and prepared to arrange the next plan, but unexpectedly, at this time, an accident occurred:
The boats in the first echelon were stuck in obstacles and failed to return in time, and worse, because the tide was low, the boats stayed on the beach.
This meant that these ships would most likely be destroyed by the Kuomintang Air Force or other units, and the hundreds of ships painstakingly collected could be burned, which would have an important impact on the second echelon and the troops that had successfully landed.
Sure enough, I was afraid of what was coming.
At four o'clock in the morning of the 25th, the Kuomintang naval commander Li Yuxi led the fleet to Kinmen to support, first blocking the entire sea surface, and then bombing the PLA artillery on the other side.
At the same time, the Kuomintang troops also found the plagiarism's ships, neatly stuck on the beach, so they sent bombers to destroy all the ships, and tens of thousands of people on the shore watched these ships burn and were helpless.
Along with these ships, many wounded wounded were killed, there were no relevant medical personnel on the shore, the ships were burned down, these wounded could not hold out for too long, but also had to face the Kuomintang's pursuit and interception, and soon, all these wounded died.
A large number of ships were burned, which meant that those who had already landed could only ask for more blessings, because the reinforcements on the other side could not come, they had to rely on themselves.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="147" > reinforcements from both sides arrived</h1>
On October 26, seeing that the situation was urgent and the troops who had landed on the island were in danger, Sun Yunxiu, the commander of the 246 regiment, took the initiative to ask Miao to lead four companies to provide support (most of the ships were burned down, and only a small area of support could be provided).
In order to prevent accidents, Sun Yunxiu divided the four companies into two teams, two of which landed at the end of the lake, and the other two companies landed at Guningtou, and the two teams acted separately.
Unexpectedly, the two companies that landed at Guningtou met the Kuomintang major general Yi Jun as soon as they landed, and Yi Jun personally led his men to charge, and the two sides launched a white-knife battle.
At the same time, the 259th Regiment across the shore also collected several ships, and the battalion commander Mei Henian personally selected more than 2,000 veterans with rich combat experience to support. With the arrival of these more than two thousand veterans, the war situation on the island was reversed for a time.
At 6:30 a.m., the Kuomintang commander Gao Kuiyuan saw the arrival of reinforcements from the People's Liberation Army and immediately commanded the troops to counterattack. Gao Kuiyuan ordered the Nationalist 118th Division to attack Lin Cuo's People's Liberation Army, but he did not expect that the People's Liberation Army would use local materials and use the fortifications on the island to fight back, and the two sides would fight inseparably.
With more and more reinforcements, the PLA was obviously struggling to cope with it, and the Kuomintang planes in the air took turns to bomb, and the rest of the PLA could only engage in street battles. However, it is difficult to fight street battles without a popular base, the situation on the island is complicated, the People's Liberation Army has no popular base here, and the street battles began shortly after, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
Liu Tianxiang, commander of the 251st Regiment, made one last telephone call to the mainland to report on the situation on the island; before he could finish speaking, a shell landed next to the command headquarters, the telephone was interrupted, and contact with the mainland was completely lost, and the mainland could not receive the situation on the island.
The battle situation was urgent, and at eleven o'clock in the morning, Hu Lian came to the battlefield to receive the command of the battlefield.
Hu Lian
Hu Lian was one of the few war experts in the Kuomintang, and during the liberation war on the mainland, General Yang Yong once said: I would rather have a Hu Lian than a Huang Wei.
The general who also led the troops to fight, looking at General Yang Yong's evaluation, we knew that Hu Lian's tactical strategy was not inferior to that of our generals.
Hu Lian's arrival changed the battlefield from a stalemate between the two sides to a defensive position on our side, and an hour later, at twelve o'clock, the Kuomintang occupied Lin Cuo.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="146" > breakout</h1>
Seeing that the People's Liberation Army could not hold on, Sun Yunxiu, commander of the 246th Regiment, Xu Bo, commander of the 253rd Regiment, and Liu Tianxiang, commander of the 251st Regiment, discussed that if they concentrated together, the whole army might be destroyed.
In this way, several regimental commanders broke through from three different directions, but there were too many reinforcements, and most of the Plaster Army had been fighting for two days, and the combat effectiveness was lower than before; while the Nationalist soldiers were the opposite, most of them had just entered a wartime state.
In the process of breaking through, Sun Yunxiu and his subordinates were surrounded by heavy troops of the Kuomintang, and in the face of the Kuomintang's inducements, Sun Yunxiu committed suicide with a gun, only 29 years old. In fact, when Sun Yunxiu decided to come to support, he had the determination to die, and he had already explained his aftermath before leaving, and handed over his pen and watch to his comrades-in-arms, hoping that the comrades-in-arms could bring these things to their wives at home.
Xu Bo, commander of the 253rd Regiment, and Liu Tianxiang, commander of the 251st Regiment, broke out this time, but Liu Tianxiang and Xu Bo's breakthrough directions were different, and the results were different: Xu Bo led his troops to break through to the mountains and fight guerrillas with the Kuomintang troops on the mountain, while Liu Tianxiang led the troops to break through to the seashore and were picked up by the Kuomintang troops.
On October 27, Liu Tianxiang led his troops to the seashore with no way to go, and there was still a pursuit by the Kuomintang behind, and it was also death to enter and retreat, and in this extreme situation, Liu Tianxiang immediately made a decision and ordered the remaining officers and soldiers to fight with the Kuomintang soldiers in a white-knife battle, even if they died, they would fight until the last moment, never recklessly and secretly live!
A few hours passed, Liu Tianxiang was outnumbered, seriously wounded and captured, and then killed by the Taiwan authorities because he refused to cooperate with the Taiwan authorities, and Liu Tianxiang was only 30 years old when he was killed.
Liu Tianxiang joined the army at the age of 20, experienced bloody rain and wind, did not die at the hands of the Japanese Kou, but died at the hands of his compatriots, which is a pity.
Xu Bo, who broke through to the mountain, chose a good direction relatively, so Xu Bo was the leader of the regiment who insisted on the longest.
After Xu Bo led his troops to break through, he immediately realized that the situation at this time was very unfavorable to him, the Kuomintang had too many troops, and there were sufficient supplies; and Xu Bo's own subordinates, medical care and supplies could not keep up, if they confronted the Kuomintang at this time, they would simply be looking for death.
Thinking of this, Xu Bo gave up the idea of breaking the net with the Kuomintang, and instead hid, planning to familiarize himself with the terrain and wait for the second landing of the People's Liberation Army, when Xu Bo could cooperate with the second batch of the People's Liberation Army.
However, Xu Bo still misestimated the situation, and this time with such a large casualty, the PLA will certainly not land again in the short term, so three months later, Xu Bo and his subordinates were still found by the Taiwan authorities when they came out to look for food.
Xu Bo was an unruly man, and the Taiwan authorities considered this person to have no use value, and soon after, Xu Bo was brutally killed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="113" > the reason for the defeat at the Battle of Kinmen</h1>
The defeat of this campaign caused great shock at home and abroad, and General Ye Fei took the initiative to review the mistake at the congress, admitting that it was his own quick success and arrogance that led to the defeat of this battle, but the result has already occurred, and the review cannot save the lives of more than 9,000 people.
From the current point of view, the defeat of the Battle of Kinmen is inevitable.
First of all, it was caused by the light enemy of our generals, and the platoon was not properly arranged.
Kinmen is an important defensive line in Taiwan, and if Kinmen is not secured, Taiwan is in danger, and for this reason Chiang Kai-shek will certainly swear to defend Kinmen to the death.
Facts have also proved that Chiang Kai-shek had a strict system for ships and blew up many shipyards, not missing a single opportunity to cross the river and come ashore.
However, our generals were careless and light on the enemy, did not make effective preparations, and did not take into account possible accidents; the supreme commander who actually landed in Kinmen was four regimental commanders, who belonged to the same rank and did not have a senior commander, resulting in the three corps each fighting each other, without a core direction.
Secondly, the People's Liberation Army is not familiar with the situation on the other side of the sea, has no popular support, and is not clear about the deployment of Taiwan's troops. For example, this Battle of Kinmen coincided with the strongest deployment of the Kuomintang troops: Li Liangrong had not left, and Hu Lian had already arrived.
Finally, the DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLA's NAVY AND AIR FORCE WAS NOT GOOD, AND NAVAL OPERATIONS REQUIRED WARSHIPS AND AIR FORCES FOR COVER, BUT AT THAT TIME THE PLA DID NOT HAVE CORRESPONDING WARSHIPS AND AIR FORCES, SO IT WAS UNABLE TO EFFECTIVELY COVER THE SHORE.
When Ye Fei requested punishment for the Kinmen Campaign, Chairman Mao once said: "Punishment is not fundamental, but it is necessary to actively draw lessons." ”
Fei
After the Battle of Kinmen, Chiang Kai-shek was even more determined to defend Taiwan and wait for an opportunity to counterattack the mainland; at the same time, the United States was also eager to move. China will also see tricks and dismantle tricks, face the new bloody rain and wind, and create a world of its own.
The four regimental commanders who landed on the island died heroically in different ways, and the defeat of this Battle of Kinmen also became the regret of General Ye Fei's life.