In the early morning of April 20, 1949, the Yangtze River was calm, and there was no tension on the British Navy's frigate "Purple Quartz", numbered F116. Captain Skinner directed the direction of the ship, the sailors laughed and cleaned the warship as usual, the galley was steaming hot, and the cooks were preparing lunch.
It is not surprising that British warships sail on China's inland rivers, since the Opium War, many of China's ports have been opened to the great powers, and the warships of the great powers are indispensable to shuttle through China's inland rivers under the name of "gunboat diplomacy".
The Ziyingshi traveled west along the Yangtze River to Nanjing. In November 1948, the Kuomintang government allowed the British to anchor a warship in Nanjing in order to evacuate the overseas Chinese for rescue at special times. The warships were rotated about once a month, and the Purple Quartz was going to change to the destroyer "Companion" moored in Nanjing.
In the eyes of the British, the westward journey of the "Purple Quartz" is a "reasonable" thing.
"Purple Quartz"
At about 9 a.m., the Purple Quartz appeared on the Sanjiangying River, 20 kilometers southeast of Yangzhou. Suddenly, several cannons exploded on the river, and the waves were turbulent, and the people on board were in a panic.
It turned out that the river surface of the Sanjiang Camp was the main landing site of the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Battle of Crossing the River. On April 21, the Battle of the River Crossing was about to start, and such a big thing was naturally told to the public, and at this time, a warship was broken, and the Platon Army would naturally get nervous and fire a cannon to signal the warship to withdraw.
The royal navy, an ancient army, once sent Britain to the status of "supremacy of the seas", and there was a sense of pride in its bones. Coupled with the fact that the British warships are advanced and well-armed, and their tails are going to fly into the sky, which will put the "millet plus rifle" of the People's Liberation Army in the eyes?
The captain of the "Purple Quartz" ignored this warning and increased its speed to continue westward.
At this time, the 7th Company of the 3rd Regiment of Artillery of our army fired after receiving instructions from their superiors, and the British ships also returned fire. Suddenly, smoke billowed and the waves on the river were thick.
The Purple Quartz was densely packed with wounds
Although the caliber and rate of fire of our artillery are not as good as those of the British ships, the three 75 mm field guns of our army are long, the initial speed is fast, the ballistic trajectory is low, the attack warships are superior, coupled with the high shooting hit rate of the PLA artillery, the British ship bridge was hit by shells, the captain Major Skinner and the deputy captain Weston were seriously injured, the hull was pierced in many places, and in just 3 minutes, the "Purple Quartz" was shot more than 30 times.
If the fight continues, the British ship will not escape the fate of being sunk. So they hurriedly took the white shirt as a white flag and hung it high as a sign of surrender.
Seeing this, the People's Liberation Army also stopped shelling.
However, the "Purple Quartz" took the opportunity to slip away, but because of the injury to the ship's hull, it rushed to the shoal in a hurry and ran aground about 7,000 meters away from the PLA artillery position.
In this round of shelling, the Purple Quartz killed 17 people, injured 20 people, and 60 people abandoned the ship and fled to a small island on the south coast. The People's Liberation Army suffered no casualties.
Although the "Purple Quartz" was hit in many places, because our army rarely wears armor, and all of them are trigger fuzes, the hit will explode, so the British ships are mostly superficially injured, and there are no fatal injuries.
"Partner"
At 13:30 p.m., the "Companion" who arrived from Nanjing, without any contact with the People's Liberation Army, thought of dragging the "Purple Quartz" away. The two sides are fighting again. Captain Robertson of the Mate was wounded and the A and B turrets were blown up. Robertson did not dare to love the battle, afraid of ending up with the same fate as the "Purple Quartz", and hurriedly ordered the warship to sail downstream at a high speed of 29 knots, and only to jiangyin was relieved.
In this round of shelling, the "Partner" was shot in 56 places, with 22 casualties, and our army lost 2 75 mm field guns with 40 casualties.
At night, the "Purple Quartz" took advantage of the rising tide, dropped a large number of heavy objects, and finally broke free from the shoal, and the deep-water river surface at 3,000 meters was stopped, and they were still afraid of the shelling of the People's Liberation Army.
Shortly after the "Companion" artillery battle, at 13:00 on the 20th, the Kuomintang-Communist negotiations broke down, and at 18:00 that night, the Central Group of the People's Liberation Army composed of the 7th and 9th Corps of Sanye first launched a river crossing operation. This can also understand why the "Purple Quartz" did not dare to act rashly.
At this time, the Deputy Commander of the Far East Fleet of the British Royal Navy, Alexander Alexander. Maiden was not idle, and he commanded the heavy cruiser "London" from Hong Kong, in advance to join the frigate "Black Swan" in Shanghai and sail upstream of the Yangtze River.
USS London
At 8 o'clock on April 21, the "London" and "Black Swan" arrived at the Qiweigang River at the port of Taixing County, Jiangsu Province, which happened to be the river crossing area of the 23rd District of the 10th Corps of the East Group of the People's Liberation Army, which was the main force in the Battle of crossing the river, and the artillery force was the strongest among all the armies.
Our army repeatedly warned the "London" to withdraw quickly, and the 3rd Company of the 6th Regiment of artillery fired 3 yellow signal shells to indicate the final warning. However, the arrogant British ship ignored the warning and continued to swim upstream. The sailors on the London were all in position, their guns aimed at the north shore. Suddenly, the iron anchor raised by the British ship crashed into the deck, and there was a loud bang. In this tense atmosphere, our army mistakenly thought it was the sound of artillery, so it ordered the firing of artillery, and the British ships quickly returned fire.
The gun battle started again, and the shells poured out.
In this round of artillery battle, our army suffered more than 40 casualties and heavy losses.
Near the North Sandbar, the "London" traveled to the vicinity of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the People's Liberation Army Artillery, causing great damage to the British ship, the "London" killed 15 people, wounded 13 people, and the "Black Swan" wounded 7 people. Our army suffered 252 casualties, mainly infantry.
Maiden suddenly realized that even if the British ships were sharp guns, they could not resist the repeated bombardments of the People's Liberation Army, so they turned around and gave up their attempt to rely on force to rescue the "Purple Quartz".
After the central leaders learned that the British ships had mistakenly entered the war zone, rather than supporting the Kuomintang army in obstructing the PLA from crossing the river, the central leaders thought of a low-key solution, and they had the policy of "not firing guns, not hindering or attacking."
After the British side saw that the rescue of the "Purple Quartz" was fruitless, it had to find another way. Churchill, who was in the opposition, shouted at this time: "One or two more aircraft carriers should be sent to the Far East to strengthen the effective retaliatory power of the British Royal Navy." "
Handwriting of Mao's statement
When Mao Zedong found out, he claimed that Churchill was a "war peddler." He also issued a tough statement: The Yangtze River is China's inland river, what right do you British have to drive warships in? There is no such right. China's territorial sovereignty must be defended Chinese people, and foreign governments will never be allowed to infringe upon it.
At the same time, Mao Zedong also demanded that the armed forces of Britain, the United States, and France on the Yangtze River, the Huangpu River, and other places in China, such as warships, military aircraft, and marines, quickly withdraw from China's territorial waters, territorial waters, territories, and airspace.
Such a domineering voice also shocked the British, who seemed to gradually realize that since the Opium War, China finally had a great leader who stood up and forcefully fought back against the British Empire.
Under Mao Zedong's intransigence, against the background of the opening of the COMBAT effectiveness of the People's Liberation Army, Churchill and the British government did not dare to retaliate by force, but had to resort to diplomatic means, hoping to solve the matter of the "Purple Quartz" as soon as possible.
On April 26, the Purple Quartz promised not to move its position again, and the People's Liberation Army allowed its crew to exchange food with local residents.
Captain Kerrens
On May 18, Chinese representative Kang Maozhao held negotiations with the new captain of the Purple Quartz, Kerns. The Chinese side asked the British side to admit guilt and compensate, and the British side wanted to let the "Purple Quartz" leave as soon as possible. The two sides had great differences of opinion, and later, the Chinese side gave in, as long as the British side took the initiative to admit its mistake, it considered putting the "Purple Quartz" first. When the British side was about to accept this proposal, it felt faceless, how could it make the "Empire of the Sun Never Set" that once dominated the earth lower its head? So the British side shifted the important contradiction and aimed the spearhead at the question of who fired the cannon first.
The British side obviously had no intention of admitting mistakes. British Prime Minister Attlee at the time made it clear that he would not make any apologies, and as for the trapped "Purple Quartz", it either sank itself or fled.
Negotiations were at an impasse.
On 7 July, Krens sent a telegram to Blunt, commander-in-chief of the British Far East Fleet: "Please advise on the action to be taken in the event of a typhoon." "
Blunt called back: "Can't expect the typhoon to blow violently, your good location." The golden rule of navigation: the tide rises and the ship rises, especially pay attention. "
The meaning of this "rising tide" is obvious, that is, to take advantage of the rising water.
In fact, when the Purple Quartz was just stranded, Captain Skinner ordered the codebook to be burned, and Krens had to use the clear code to generate electricity. The clear code telegram, which we can easily analyze, naturally knows the meaning.
At this time, China's main energy is still in the civil war, not most of the energy is spent with Britain, nor does it want to completely tear up the face with Britain, but it will not easily let the "Purple Quartz" leave with dignity.
On July 25, Typhoon Goliath made landfall from the southeast coast, and the water level soared. On the 30th, the sky cleared, and Krens decided that this was a good time to slip away. Krens had done a lot of homework, and after many days of observation, he knew that every night at 21:00, the "Jiangling Liberation" from Zhenjiang to Shanghai would pass by.
He ordered the anchor chain to be cut off and set sail, using the "Gangneung Liberation" as a cover, the whole ship was controlled by lights, and the large canvas was hung on the superstructure to change the appearance of the warship. And this day is the evening of the fifth day of the first lunar month, the moon goes down early, and the visibility of the river is very low.
The People's Liberation Army discovered the Purple Quartz, which followed the Jiangling Liberation. After our army opened fire, the "Jiangling Liberation" did not clarify the situation, nor did it turn on the lights to indicate its identity, but instead turned off the lights and accelerated its sailing. At this time, our army mistakenly believed that the "Gangneung Liberation" was a "Purple Quartz", and the "Gangneung Liberation" was forced to be shelled. When our army realized that the "Purple Quartz" was hiding behind, it concentrated its fire on it. At this time, Krens saw that he had been exposed, so he had to use a sinister move to catch up with the "Gangneung Liberation" and hide on the starboard side of the passenger ship, and the two ships went hand in hand, almost superimposed.
All the artillery fire fell on the "Gangneung Liberation", and the passenger ship was unfortunately sunk.
Kerrens ordered the PLA to be driven at full speed with smoke and all the artillery fire. However, our army could not see the river at all, and there was no advanced equipment such as radar, so it had to lean over and listen to the sound of warships sailing. In order to evade our pursuit, Krens made another sinister move, ordering the engine to be closed at the Jiangyin Fortress, letting the warships go down the river, and quickly rushed through the range of artillery fire of the Jiangyin Fortress.
At 4 o'clock on the 31st, the "Purple Quartz" went down the river to the vicinity of Haimen in the northwest of Chongming Island, and Krens abandoned the wide south channel, because the south channel would pass through Wusongkou, where there were large-caliber artillery and lighting facilities, and he chose to take the north channel where only small boats usually accompanied, because it was the high water period, and the "Purple Quartz" was just able to pass.
The Purple Quartz arrives in Hong Kong
At 5 o'clock, the "Purple Quartz", which had been trapped for 101 days, finally met with the British ship "Harmony", which came to meet. Escorted by the Harmony, the Purple Quartz returned to Hong Kong on August 4. The British organized a grand welcome ceremony, and Krens was treated like a hero.
The scarred Purple Quartz underwent basic repairs in Hong Kong, returned to England three months later, and overhauled it at the Devonport Shipyard, which lasted for more than half a year, before returning to the Far East to be sent to the Korean War.
If the Purple Quartz could speak, its voice would have been: A year ago, I had seen the strength of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and I was covered in scales. Just recovered from my injuries and sent me to the Korean battlefield, and then had to face the People's Liberation Army, is it because I think my life is too big?
Fortunately, after two years of the Korean War, the Purple Quartz returned to its native Britain in July 1952 and was placed in the reserve. In the reserve, it may be relatively idle, and some people think of making good use of it, after all, for Britain it is a "heroic" warship with a story. But in the eyes of Chinese, the "Purple Quartz" is just a "dog bear" warship that fled the wilderness.
In 1956, the "Purple Quartz" received a "glorious" task, allowing it to participate in the filming of the documentary film "The Breakthrough of the Yangtze River", that is, to play the "Purple Quartz" warship. The film was directed by the famous British director Michael. Anderson directed, this director in 1953 film "Buddha Attack", mainly to promote the greatness of the British Air Force, so it also won an award, and since then also opened up the fame, becoming a hot big-name director in Britain.
From here believe the clever you can already guess it, Michael. Anderson's "Yangtze River Breakout" is to celebrate the heroism of the British Royal Navy. The film received a great response in European countries and was once nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
A clip from the film "The Breakthrough of the Yangtze River"
For this reason, I deliberately found this film to see, maybe for the British, it is a patriotic film. However, for a person Chinese, it can only be "huh". Not to mention the content of the movie, the "People's Liberation Army" that appears in the film speaks quite strangely, that is, a foreigner has just learned the tune of Chinese not long ago, and the PLA military salute hand is not placed in front of the forehead, but on the side of the temple. Such an unpretentious film can also be nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, just ask, how low is the threshold for this film award?
In this "Yangtze River Breakout", which is highly praised by Europeans, we just want to see a hilarity, to see how the British are not confident, to see how they will not bow their noble heads even if they are wrong.
However, there is a spirit in the British that is quite commendable: more truthful. How true are they? In order to restore the history they wanted, they used real guns and cannons to bomb the "Purple Quartz". Watching one shot of those films NG many times, it is not difficult to imagine how many British shells the Purple Quartz was hit. In the end, it really couldn't hold on, and was seriously injured by "its own people", and the degree of injury was even greater than in the artillery battle. The director had to tow away the Purple Quartz and instead launched its sister ship Magpie.
The Purple Quartz was so badly injured that it was delisted and dissolved in January 1957. The purple "Purple Quartz", which was once regarded by the British as a "heroic" ship, ended up as a pile of broken copper and rotten iron, not knowing which horn to lie in, lamenting his "grand and sad" life.
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"The cannons on the Yangtze River in the "Purple Quartz" incident ended gunboat diplomacy"
"The Truth About the Shelling of the British Ship "Purple Quartz""
"The Beginning and End of the "Purple Quartz" Incident That Shocked the World"
Archives: The Sino-British Diplomatic Game