In July 1950, China was just established shortly after it was established. Due to various domestic and foreign factors, the People's Liberation Army had to launch a small-scale attack on Dadan and Erdan Island , striving to achieve the purpose of firepower reconnaissance.
is used to land warfare and has almost no advantage over the People's Liberation Army, which has seriously lacked experience in crossing the sea, and eventually led to the failure of landing on the island and the entire army was wiped out. Bao Cheng, the commander of the army, was captured and was able to return to China after being detained for five years.
(I) Background of the battle: lack of sharp-bottomed ships, not familiar with water
In July 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army was struggling and outstanding, and after several large-scale destructive attacks, the enemy retreated to Taiwan. Ye Fei, then commander of the 10th Corps, launched the Fuzhou Battle, , Pingtan Island Battle, Zhangzhou Battle and and Xiamen Battle. defeated the national army guarding the island and realized the liberation of Xiamen .
According to the superior's intention, the People's Liberation Army should take advantage of the victory and strive to eliminate all enemies at once and complete the great cause of national reunification. thus came up with the initial idea of Kinmen Battle .
The military geographical location of Kinmen is very critical and special, and it can be said to be the last line of defense for the enemy. The established combat plan of is that the 28th Army of the 10th Corps of the Third Field Army of the People's Liberation Army was responsible for the attack, and the four regiments were divided into two echelons. The final reality was that one of the regiments (246th Regiment) was discounted and only one battalion of troops was sent.
Under the guidance and instruction of General Su Yu, the then naval commander Ye Fei concentrated his effective troops and distributed his subordinate ships to the 28th Army, and decided to concentrate the ships to attack Kinmen.
However, due to the insufficient number of ships that can actually fight, the attack time was delayed again and again. Later, the Battle of Kinmen ended in failure for various reasons.
In July 1950, Bao Cheng, the second battalion commander of the 86th Division of the 29th Army of the Third Field Army, received an order from his superiors, and took the lead in attacking Dadan Island and erdan Island with the goal of firepower reconnaissance, and time was set after the Battle of Kinmen.
Because the strategic locations of these two islands are extremely special, they are located just west of Xiao Kinmen, Fujian, between Xiamen and Kinmen. It can be said that it is a natural barrier on the west side of Kinmen Island . The island is long from east to west, narrow from north to south, and barbell-shaped. The highland on the south is called Nanshan, with an altitude of 105m, which is the commanding height of the entire island. If it can be successfully occupied, it can cut off the enemy's supply line and lay a solid foundation for the subsequent landing battle. The plan seems to be seamless, but Bao Cheng has his own concerns. He believes that this move is not very likely to win.
This kind of worry is not without reason. The previous Kinmen Battle was wiped out, and the summary of experience is that there is no complete naval and air force. Although the enemy has been huddled in an island and has become a defeated army, compared with the strength of the naval forces, there is still a gap in strength between the two sides.
In the early years of the founding of the People's Liberation Army was limited by the navy and the air force was insufficient. In the recent wars on the southeast coast, it was often on the defensive.
plus the outbreak of Korean War in June attracted a lot of attention from the army and the investment of manpower and material resources. The war resources that were not already very small must move closer to the northeast, so 's active attack on the southeast coast did not receive enough attention.
Not only that, the People's Liberation Army also has a serious shortage of ships along the southeast coast. Not only are the ordnance ships, ships, , deep-water bombs, , various artillery shells, observation, communication, aviation protection, chemical defense, and rescue, all kinds of supporting equipment and equipment were almost not available in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In September 1949, Lao Jiang specifically ordered that the People's Liberation Army ships must be destroyed through the air force. The Shanghai Shipyard hid the ships at the bottom of the water, leaving only hundreds of them.
It was not until 1953 that the Chinese Navy reached a June 4th Agreement with the Soviet Union that gradually strengthened the naval force.
Battalion Commander Bao Cheng, who participated in this operation, could only grit his teeth and find some ordinary fishing boats, and some were civilian ships that the People's Liberation Army urgently requisitioned from inland rivers and lakes.
As an inland civilian ship, there is a huge difference between it and a nautical ship: the bottom of the ship. Due to the limitations of water, inland ships that usually sail in shallows are flat bottoms, while ships used for navigation are sharp bottoms. First, the sea water is very deep, and the sharp bottom ships are not afraid of stranding; second, it improves the ability of ships to ride the wind and waves so that they will not be unable to withstand the wind and waves. The large-scale use of
punt boats laid huge hidden dangers for the later landing on the island.
(II) After landing on the island, the ship ran aground. At around 17:00 p.m. on July 26, 1950, Bao Cheng set out first as the first echelon and took more than 500 people from a reinforcement battalion to participate in the Dadan Island Battle, striving to successfully arrive on the other side, and after landing, implement another combat plan, and then transport the second echelon to reinforce.
But on the ever-changing battlefield, plans always fail to keep up with changes, or the People's Liberation Army lacks basic judgment on the tide. When we landed on the beach, huge winds and waves blew on the sea surface of , and it became increasingly heavy, just in time for the rising tide of the sea water, which caused the waves on the coast to be wide and deep.
mentioned before that the People's Liberation Army's army is powerful and experienced, but when facing its vast ocean, they will also feel helpless. Bao Cheng's command ship on the West Road was blown away and lost contact with other ships, but he could not announce his retreat on the sea, otherwise all his efforts would be wasted.
In order to facilitate the subsequent troops to continue attacking and reduce casualties, the PLA ships as the pioneer troops, as possible as possible as possible to get closer to the shore. After experiencing countless blows of wind and waves, the troops led by Bao Cheng finally landed on the beach, and the time has come to 10 pm.
originally thought that they were greeted with fierce battles, but unexpected situations occurred. The tide began to recede as soon as the ship arrived on the shore. The tide had retreated dozens of meters away, which caused many ships landing on the island to be stranded on the beach.
This is undoubtedly bad news for the People's Liberation Army. If it is a sharp sea ship, it can rely on manpower to push the ship from the stranded area to the deep water area. Unfortunately, this was a flatbed, so it could only be stuck on the beach, so heavy that it could not move. The stranding of the ship not only exposed all of Bao Cheng's team to the enemy's vision, but also disrupted the subsequent combat plan.
consumes a lot of manpower to move the ship, which also means that the road to retreat and reinforcements has been cut off. All Bao Cheng can do is fight alone and fight to the death.
However, the attack is always difficult to work, and it is surrounded by the enemy. The enemy's garrison was the 1st Battalion of the 225th Regiment of the 75th Division of the Fifth Army. Two companies plus a heavy machine gun platoon and a mortar platoon, with a total of 298 people, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Shi Hengfeng , the battalion commander of the first battalion.
Although there are only more than 200 people, they use the advantage of familiar terrain to hide in the highlands or woods on the island. takes advantage of its high advantage and concentrates firepower to sink and destroy all the PLA ships and teams.
This Dadan Island Battle repeats the same mistake, which was caused by the PLA's island-based troops that did not have the "right time, place, and people" to attack without exploring the situation.
General Ye Fei's combat plan of "strike, quick battle and quick decision" is simple and crude. The number of people in the PLA is twice that of the opposite side, but he has no preparation or deployment for retreat and subsequent resource work. The troops did not even carry heavy weapons or backup ships to prepare for reinforcements. The entire combat idea was incomplete and could not be applied to the battlefield.
can only launch an attack until the required sharp-bottomed ship is collected, but military orders are as tight as the mountain and the task is heavy, so Bao Cheng can only implement the plan according to the original plan. The result of the battle of Dadan Island was that most of the soldiers died heroically. Although commander Bao Cheng avoided the rain of bullets, he was captured by the enemy.
This is more uncomfortable for a war-torn soldier than dying on the battlefield, because Bao Cheng was arrested and imprisoned as early as the War of Resistance Against Japan. At that time, he was a member of the underground party leadership group. The news of the capture of weapons and ammunition from the puppet army was leaked. Bao Cheng was arrested and imprisoned. Later, the Red Army rescued him head-on and was released from prison.
freshman Bao Cheng participated in the later Anti-Japanese Guerrillas , witnessing all the processes of confrontation between the enemy and us, counterattack to decisive victory. joined the Jingtai Guerrilla Brigade in 1943, and transferred to the Tongru Column of the People's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Army the following year. Soon after, it was incorporated into the 63rd Regiment of the Suzhong Military Region of the New Fourth Army.
During his time in the army, he was always loyal and honest, brave and good at fighting. During this period, he won awards awards many times and was honored to join the party. witnessed the founding of the country later, and all of these made him love his country more and more. After
, he only has one wish, is the day when the motherland is reunified. He fought in East China Field Army and Third Field Army . Speaking of which, he is a veritable old revolutionary. The battle of Dadan Island was completely defeated again. Not only did he not complete his revenge, he was also captured by his former opponent, the Fifth Army of . No matter how severe the enemy tortured him, he did not get any news about other plans from Bao Cheng. reflects his integrity and spirit as the People's Liberation Army.
The enemy was so angry that they promoted this battle outside, and avenged a revenge for tens of thousands of officers and soldiers who died in the battle of Xubeng in .
also calls Dadan Island and Erdan Island "Dadan Island and Erdan Island" in the "map" published in Taiwan. It also makes a big deal about the number of casualties on both sides, proclaiming that they achieved "glorious victory" in the "Dadan Island Battle".
has the "make a turn around the world", attempts to overwhelm the People's Liberation Army in public opinion, but in the end there is no big wave, and it is just showing off its verbal pleasure.
Later generations included many historians and military strategists, the Battle of Kinmen, the Battle of Dadan Island and the Hainan Island landing war that occurred in March 1950, combining them to analyze the cause and effect of success or failure.
If the entire Kinmen Battle is planned to be a small episode at the end of the Liberation War, it will not affect the overall historical situation. On the contrary, after this battle, made the People's Liberation Army deeply realize the difficulty of crossing the sea. In the subsequent Hainan Island Battle, , the Fourth Field Army fully learned the experience and lessons.
This battle created a battle example of wooden sailing ship , which was mainly accompanied by some sailing ships to carry out large-scale cross-sea landing operations. destroyed the enemy's "three-dimensional defense" in land, sea and air, and is also a successful battle example of the People's Liberation Army's large-scale island landing. The subsequent Dadan Island Battle paid a considerable tuition for the cross-sea battle.
(III) Regained his party membership in his later years and bluntly said that his life was enough
1951, Bao Cheng was sent back to the mainland by the enemy party. He suffered a lot during his capture and was imprisoned for two years without any useful information from him. After returning to the mainland, he was detained by East China Military Region . On September 26, the Military Defense Department of the East Military Region made a verdict on Bao Cheng: was expelled from the military and party for the crime of surrendering to the battlefield, and sentenced to five years in prison for .
Bao Cheng had nothing to say. He believed that the organization's decision was correct and the punishment he received was all he paid for the mistake. As long as he could return to the motherland, he would return to his roots.
In 1957, after Bao Cheng was released from prison, he stayed in the labor reform farm and continued to work. In 1969, he was repatriated to his original hometown of Xinmin Commune, Rugao County. This time when I returned to my hometown, things have changed.
Seeing his hometown becoming richer and richer, without the displacement and devastation caused by war, he felt sincerely happy, even if this time it was not a return home, it meant starting from scratch.
Neighbors in the village all know Bao Cheng's heroic deeds. After participating in the revolution for so many years, the final result was not satisfactory.
They will often help this real warrior in life, including Xue Yungao, secretary of the Party Committee of Xinmin Commune.
He also expressed deep sympathy for Bao Cheng, so he placed him alone in a house for the production of a large factory. awarded him the title of production team leader and tasks, allowing him to do some physical activities within his ability. according to regulations, and it would not be difficult to support his family.
For Bao Cheng, who is used to hard work and hard work, these are not difficult things. The only stone in his heart is being expelled from the party. he never gave up striving to obtain the status of a party member again.
Things took a turn for the better on June 6, 1984.The Trial Committee of the Nanjing Military District Military District Military District of the Chinese People's Liberation Army retried the prisoners from the Kinmen Battle (including the Dadan Island Battle).
The judges believed that the sentence of Bao Cheng to five years in prison and expelled from the party for surrendering to the battlefield was too serious. Moreover, according to the war situation at that time, it was indeed understandable. Therefore, in court, he decided to revoke the verdict on Bao Cheng by the former East China Military Law Department on September 26, 1951. In addition, Bao Cheng also regained his party membership, which was the result he had dreamed of for decades.
Bao Cheng, in his later years, also arranged to retire in Rugao County , enjoy county-level treatment, plus one month's salary subsidy every year, and pay settlement fees and house repair fees. This is a natural compensation for him.
In 2000, Bao Cheng died of ineffective treatment of illness at the age of 80.
The smoke of the Dadan Island Battle has slowly dissipated with the wheel of history, and then its historical significance is far more than that. It alerted the new China's navy to continue to become stronger and strive to build a shocking navy that can defend its country.
Only by carefully learning from the bloody lessons of this battle can we avoid the same mistakes in the future, truly be self-reliant and be sure to win.
