In the decades of war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the Kuomintang has always been at a disadvantage. The only result it can achieve is the Battle of Kinmen, which was won by sea and air superiority.
Although this battle has been boasted by the Taiwan authorities for decades, if you review this battle carefully, you will find that the victory of the Kuomintang troops actually had many lucky factors.
What is even more surprising is that in order to prevent our troops from landing in Kinmen, Chiang Kai-shek also enabled Japanese war criminals to take command. Why did the Battle of Kinmen fail? And why did Chiang Kai-shek ignore the blood feud of the Chinese people and insist on using Japanese war criminals?
Before the Kinmen War, pride permeated the entire army
One day in October 1989, a gray-haired old man came to Yunding Rock in Xiamen with his family despite his frail health. After
reached the top, it soon started to rain. The family called the old man to take shelter from the rain, but the old man still stood in the rain, letting the rain wet his body. Looking at the Golden Gate in the distance, the old man's hands were shaking slightly, and his face was full of sadness.
This old man is the famous General Ye Fei. He went to Yundingyan this time to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Battle of Kinmen. This battle is an eternal pain for General Ye Fei and a profound lesson in the history of our army.
The war went too smoothly and the troops had a feeling of underestimating the enemy.
The Battle of Kinmen took place on October 24, 1949. Before this battle, after the People's Liberation Army won great victories in the battles of crossing the Yangtze River and Fujian, the Kuomintang army had no fighting spirit and basically collapsed when encountering the People's Liberation Army. In the battle on land, the People's Liberation Army went very smoothly.
After the liberation of Fuzhou, although there were still tens of thousands of Kuomintang troops in Xiamen and Kinmen, Deng Fei and other generals believed that the liberation of Kinmen would be as smooth as other battles, so they did not study the defense deployment of Kinmen.
Although the Central Military Commission had long requested the Kinmen Campaign, it was not until the end of September that the 10th Sanye Corps held a relevant meeting to study how to liberate Xiamen and Kinmen. On October 17, Xiamen was successfully liberated.
The smooth liberation of Xiamen further encouraged the troops to underestimate the enemy.
In addition, the commander of Kinmen at this time was Tang Enbo, who was famous for his escape. Therefore, Ye Fei once said to others: "Kinmen is just a dish on the table. You can eat it whenever you want."
Blind optimism about the prospects of the Battle of Kinmen caused the 10th Corps to ignore many important details. In fact, among the Kuomintang prisoners captured in Xiamen, many soldiers from the 12th Corps were found, which shows that the 12th Corps has arrived near Kinmen.
The commander of the 12th Corps is the famous Hu Lian. This man has made many military exploits and is one of the few senior Kuomintang generals who escaped from the Huaihai Battle. Chairman Mao evaluated him as "brave as a tiger and as cunning as a fox" and asked him to be cautious when fighting Hu Lian.
In addition to the senior generals of our army, pride is also permeated among the grassroots soldiers, and this kind of thinking of underestimating the enemy has laid hidden dangers for the subsequent failure.
The chiefs of the three fields all held multiple positions.
Since the People’s Republic of China had just been founded at that time, the chiefs of the three fields held many positions and were simply too busy.
Chen Yi was the mayor of Shanghai at the time, and Ye Fei was the director of the Xiamen Military Management Committee. After the troops entered Xiamen, he was so busy with trivial matters that he had no time to pay attention to the preparations for the Battle of Kinmen, and the main force to attack Kinmen fell on the 28th Army.
Although our army had few opponents on land at that time, it was completely blank in terms of sea landing operations. The soldiers of the 28th Army are mainly from Shandong. Many soldiers are not accustomed to water and know nothing about landing operations.
28 Within the army, there is a problem of inadequate command and management. Army commander Zhu Shaoqing was recuperating at the time, political commissar Chen Meizao was in Fuzhou, and chief of staff Wu Su was transferred to other departments. Therefore, the people actually responsible for the Battle of Kinmen were Deputy Army Commander Xiao Feng and Director of the Political Department Li Mancun.
The Kuomintang tried its best to defend Kinmen
Compared with our army's attitude of underestimating the enemy, the Kuomintang attached great importance to Kinmen. After losing Xiamen, Chiang Kai-shek did not have much to blame.
However, in order to prevent the People's Liberation Army from regaining Kinmen and repeating the history of the Qing army's use of Kinmen as a base to regain Taiwan during the Kangxi years, Chiang Kai-shek issued strict orders to Tang Enbo, requiring that Kinmen's defense must be done well. In the event of war, Tang Enbo must supervise the battle on the spot and is not allowed to retreat.
In order to save his life and official position, Tang Enbo first destroyed a large number of ships in the Kinmen waters. Then he carried out major civil engineering works in Kinmen. Because Kinmen was short of building materials, he even ordered the demolition of tombstones, ancestral halls, and temples and used them as bunkers.
Kinmen Island is in the shape of a dumbbell with two large ends and a small one in the middle. The terrain in the middle is the highest. Once the People's Liberation Army takes control of this place, it will gain the commanding heights. Tang Enbo concluded that this area is the most likely place for the People's Liberation Army to land.
In order to prevent the People's Liberation Army from landing, Tang Enbo deployed more than 200 bunkers in this area, and also buried more than 2,000 mines and a large number of anti-landing obstacles on the beach.
Coincidentally, Li Liangrong, the commander of the 22nd Corps stationed on the island, also conducted an anti-landing exercise on the afternoon before the People's Liberation Army landed. The exercise location happened to be the same place where our army landed. Judging from the subsequent results, these exercises achieved good results.
With these arrangements, Chiang Kai-shek was still worried about Kinmen's defense. In mid-October, Chiang Kai-shek also asked Hu Lian's 12th Corps to stand by off the coast of Kinmen. Once Kinmen is in a tight situation, the well-prepared 12th Corps will provide support at any time.
There were Japanese war criminals commanding
on the island. Just as the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were preparing for the Battle of Kinmen, some soldiers of the National Army discovered something strange on Kinmen Island. That is, there was always a Japanese wearing National Army uniform walking around on the island. What's even more surprising is that whenever the Japanese goes out, Tang Enbo will always accompany him personally, and he will also chat with the Japanese in Japanese.
Later people learned that the Japanese on Kinmen Island at that time was named Ben Bo , and he was a Japanese Army Lieutenant General during World War II . Ben Bo once served as the commander of the North China Expeditionary Force and the commander in Mongolia. He also planned the "September 18th" incident. He was a war criminal with Chinese blood on his hands.
Faced with such a war criminal who had harmed Chinese compatriots, Chiang Kai-shek admired him very much. As early as 1926, Chiang Kai-shek had already met Ben Bo. When Japan surrendered to , Nemoto Hiro insisted on an anti-communist stance. He not only refused to surrender to the Eighth Route Army, but also resisted its acceptance by force.
Chiang Kai-shek admired Genbo's anti-communist behavior very much and believed that he had certain anti-communist abilities. Therefore, when trying war criminals, Chiang Kai-shek's National Government did not pursue war criminals such as Okamura Ningji and Nemoto Hiroshi.
In 1948, when the Kuomintang was retreating steadily, Chiang Kai-shek thought of Ben Bo and believed that only the Japanese could defeat the Communist Party. In December 1948, Chiang Kai-shek secretly sent military attachés to Japan, secretly hired Bo Nemoto, and asked Bo Bo to take people to and North China to help Fu Zuoyi.
However, as soon as Genbo set off, he received the news that the Battle of Peking and Tianjin was over. In February 1949, Ben Bo and others took a boat south to Shanghai, preparing to help Tang Enbo. However, after floating on the sea for a period of time, Genbo received news that the battle of crossing the river was over.
In desperation, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to let them continue south to Taiwan. However, on the way to Taiwan, Nemoto Bo and others encountered a storm. The motorboat was on was overturned by the wind and waves. Fortunately, they met a US military warship , and Nemoto Bo and others were saved from drowning in the sea.
After confirming the identities of several people, Nemoto Bo and others were secretly sent to Taiwan by the US military. However, once ashore, Nemoto Hiroshi and others were arrested as spies, and were almost shot for espionage. Although they narrowly escaped death, Nemotohiro and others stayed in prison for some time.
After Chiang Kai-shek learned about Ben Bo's news, he immediately instructed Taiwan Provincial Chairman Chen Cheng to release him and take good care of Ben Bo's diet and daily life. After resting in Taiwan for two months, according to Chiang Kai-shek's secret order, Ben Bo came to Tang Enbo and became Tang Enbo's military adviser.
Under Genbo's persuasion, Tang Enbo withdrew his troops on the mainland to Dachen Island, Yijiangshan Island, Kinmen Island and other islands, which undoubtedly enhanced the Kuomintang's strength on the southeast coast. As for the complete fortifications on Kinmen Island, the designers were actually Japanese officers such as Hiroshi Nemoto.
The battle started smoothly.
The 28th Army knew nothing about the Kuomintang's deployment in Kinmen, the Japanese activities on the island, and Hu Lian's 12th Corps being ready to join the war at any time. The 28th Army underestimated the enemy's firepower. Many commanders did not know enough about the laws of tides, and there were not enough ships and no backup plan.
In this case, Ye Fei and other leaders still signed the combat plan. When explaining to Xiao Feng, Ye Fei said this: "When the ship arrives at Kinmen, fight as soon as it lands. Several people fight against several people. Don't wait or hesitate. Just rush in. As long as you can go up with two regiments to rush and fight, and the remaining regiment will follow to take in the prisoners!"
At 21:00 on October 24, 1949, the Battle of Kinmen started. Due to the insufficient number of ships, the 28th Army could only send three regiments to land first, and the remaining troops waited for the ships to return to shore before sending three more regiments to land. The commanders and fighters of the 28th Army generally believed that as long as the six regiments could board Kinmen, the battle would end soon.
The plan is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. That night, the current and wind direction were favorable to our army. As the first batch of troops to land, the 244th Regiment, 251st Regiment, and 253rd Regiment landed at different locations without attracting the attention of the Kuomintang army.
Just as the 244th Regiment of our army was preparing to attack, the Kuomintang army patrol personnel accidentally detonated a landmine buried on the beach. The explosion caused the Kuomintang to turn on searchlight . When the searchlight scanned the coast where our troops landed, we saw densely packed People's Liberation Army soldiers on the beach and hundreds of ships on the beach.
The patrol officers immediately sounded the alarm, and the battle began. After the battle began, our army encountered a big problem. It turned out that during the daytime exercise, three tanks were stranded on the beach. On the unsheltered beach, these three tanks became three strong fortresses, causing serious casualties to the 244th Regiment.
After hearing the exchange of fire on the island, our army's artillery troops deployed around Kinmen began to fire violently at Guanao, Xiyuan, Guanyinting Mountain, Guningtou and other places on the north bank. However, the range of the PLA's artillery was not enough at that time, so these artillery support failed to play a role.
Even under such unfavorable circumstances, our army still achieved many results after landing. The 253rd Regiment, which landed at Huwei, broke through the enemy's defense line under artillery fire and captured Guanyin Mountain and Huwei Highlands. broke through the 251st regiment that landed in Guningtou and captured the Lincuo line and many fortifications built by the Kuomintang.
Not being familiar with the tides is a fatal mistake
Although the battle on the island was fierce, because there were not many ships, the follow-up troops could only stand on the shore and wait for the ships to return. Because they were not familiar with the laws of tides, when the fleet was preparing to return at night, the boatmen discovered that the tide had receded and the ships were stranded on the beach.
In fact, in the early morning of the 25th, the Kuomintang only dared to defend in the fortifications because they could not figure out the details of the People's Liberation Army. However, at dawn, they figured out the People's Liberation Army's offensive deployment and discovered the ships that were unable to move on the beach.
Soon, these ships were attacked by aircraft and artillery, and countless ships were destroyed. The lack of spare ships meant that the landing troops on the island had no way of retreat, and the troops on the shore also lost the possibility of participating. Therefore, when the commander of the 82nd Division Zhong Xianwen heard that the ship was destroyed, he immediately fainted at the command post.
The soldiers fought until the last moment
At this time, the People's Liberation Army troops on the island did not know the situation of the ships and were still fighting fiercely with the enemy. On the front line of Lincuo, the 251st Regiment, with the strength of one regiment, fought fiercely and repeatedly with the Kuomintang 14th Division and the 118th Division.
At the end of this offensive and defensive battle, there was only one instructor and one instructor left on the position. When the enemy surrounded them, the two men committed suicide with guns and died a heroic death.After avoiding the beachhead tanks, the
244 regiment advanced deep into Kinmen. Although the 244th regiment once occupied Shuangru Mountain, because there was no backup, the enemy began to counterattack violently the next day, and finally had to withdraw. Although the
253 regiment once occupied Guanyin Mountain, starting from the 26th, Hu Lian's 12th Corps began to enter the battlefield. Seeing that the enemy was able to continuously increase troops to Kinmen, and they could only stare from the shore, the commanders and soldiers of the 28th Army were very anxious but helpless.
The 12th Corps participating in the battle at this time can be said to be waiting for work. After landing, they used sophisticated equipment to continuously capture the People's Liberation Army's positions. Until the 27th, the People's Liberation Army on Kinmen Island had to abandon all positions and retreat to the seaside.
At this time, the surviving PLA soldiers had run out of ammunition and food. At that time, about 1,300 people broke out to the seaside, and were finally trapped on the beach under the cliff north of Guningtou. At that time, they were already in a desperate situation, and they could only fight the enemy in the final battle here until the entire army was annihilated.
According to subsequent statistics, the People's Liberation Army's island landing troops lost 9,086 outstanding soldiers and boatmen. This battle was undoubtedly tragic. When the news came that the battle was over, many soldiers of the 28th Army burst into tears.
After the battle, Ye Fei, Xiao Feng and others wrote a detailed report and review of the battle and requested the Central Military Commission to impose sanctions. After reading the report, Chairman Mao personally drafted a notice for the Central Military Commission. Chairman Mao pointed out: The Kinmen Island incident must serve as a warning. The loss of Kinmen was a bad thing, but it was actually a good thing.
Chairman Mao's idea is correct, and the People's Liberation Army is a force good at summarizing lessons. After the Battle of Kinmen, everyone in the People's Liberation Army realized the complexity of naval warfare. Therefore, in the battles such as attacking Hainan Island, -Jiangshan Island, , the People's Liberation Army won successive victories, breaking the Kuomintang's illusion of relying on coastal islands to lock the mainland.
Shameless Chiang Kai-shek rewarded the war criminals heavily afterwards
The Battle of Kinmen was a rare victory for the Kuomintang army in the War of Liberation, and Chiang Kai-shek was very happy about it. In addition to rewarding Ben Bo in terms of money, he also gave Ben Bo a vase fired by a Jingdezhen official kiln as a souvenir.
had been working for the Kuomintang army since his graduation and did not return to China until 1952. In order not to cause controversy, Genbo kept a low profile after returning to China and never mentioned working for the Kuomintang. In May 1966, the war criminal Benbo who was supposed to be put on trial died at home.
To this day, the Taiwan authorities have been complacent about Kinmen's victory. The Taiwan authorities have always been not ashamed but proud of allowing Japanese war criminals to help fight the civil war.
In 2009, on the occasion of the so-called commemoration of the "260th anniversary of the Battle of Guningtou", Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense also invited descendants of the Japanese advisory team to Taiwan to participate in commemorative activities, which can be described as shameless.
The failure of the Battle of Kinmen resulted in the missed opportunity to liberate Taiwan. The most important lesson we should learn from this battle is not to underestimate the enemy. In recent years, as our navy has continued to "make dumplings", coupled with the improvement of the air force's strength, there have been many comments on the Internet that despise the Taiwan military. It seems that as soon as a war begins, the Taiwan military will be disdainful.
This kind of thinking is undesirable and will lead to big losses. No matter what the situation, we must analyze our opponents calmly and objectively. Only in this way can we win every battle.
Reference material:
Taiwan military journal reflects on the Battle of Kinmen: the Kuomintang army was lucky enough to win the war China Youth Online - Youth Reference
Battle of Kinmen General Huangpu’s last military performance Phoenix website
Why the failure of the Battle of Kinmen led to the "split" of the Taiwan Strait Phoenix website
commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Jimei and the Battle of Kinmen Xiamen Jimei District People's Government
Air Force Lieutenant General's article reviewing the defeat of Kinmen New tactics for attacking Taiwan are about to emerge China Youth Daily
Battle of Kinmen Baidu Encyclopedia
Chiang Kai-shek invited Japanese war criminals to help in the "suppression of communism" Inside story: After the Battle of Kinmen, Chiang gave him a vase made from a Jingdezhen official kiln Party history world
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