Wanshan Archipelago Campaign

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21°57′N 113°45′E / 21.95°N 113.75°E / 21.95; 113.75

Cross-Strait conflict
Date May 25 – August 7, 1950 Location Wanshan Archipelago, Guangdong, China Result Communist victory
Belligerents
Republic of China	People's Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Qi Hongzhang	Hong Xuezhi
Strength
4,000 40+ naval vessels	10,000 24 naval vessels
Casualties and losses
700+ 4 gunboats sunk 11 naval vessels captured	300+ 1 landing ship 1 gunboat severely damaged

The Wanshan Archipelago Campaign (万山群岛战役) was a campaign fought between

Nationalist order of battle Around 4,000, including:

• 1 Marine regiment
• 1 battalion from the 208th Division of the Youth Army
• 6 infantry companies of various units
• Units of the Cantonese Assault Army
• The 3rd Fleet
  • More than 30 naval vessels, later increased to more than 40.

• 2 regiments from the 131st Division of the 44th Army
• 1 Artillery battalion of the 132nd Division
• 1 Artillery company of the 130th Division
• 1 Artillery company of the South-central Military Region with 100 mm long range cannons
• 1 Artillery company from the 50th Army with
  recoilless guns
• 1 Artillery regiment of the Pearl River sub-Military Region
• Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region (naval force)
  • 5 gunboats (including three respectively named Liberation, Vanguard, and Struggle)
  • 1
    Landing ship
  • 10 Landing craft
  • 8 Transports

First stage

The

After the sunrise, the

The

Although the bombardment mission ended early and thus was not a success, the nationalists were quick to devise a plan based on the experience to counterattack by wiping out the communist naval force after luring it out to the open ocean, and then retake the islands from the communists who would not have any naval support of their own. However, the communists also learned from earlier experience and reached the conclusion of not to engaging the much stronger nationalist naval force in the open ocean where the condition favored the latter. In attempt to search the communists, a detachment of the nationalist fleet ventured too close to shore and three ships suffered damages from communist shore batteries on the Large Head Islet (Datou Zhou, 大头洲) and Triangle (Sanjiao, 三角) Island on May 30, 1950. The nationalists consequently changed their tactics by letting the communists come to them at the waters favored the nationalists, instead of going to the communist's turf to seek out the communists in the coastal regions that favored the communists.

However, the communists had learned from the engagement as well and correctly deducted the nationalist objective, and thus made a plan of their own to counter that of the nationalist: instead of falling into the nationalist trap by fighting the way nationalists had wanted, the best way to engage the superior nationalist naval fleet was to utilize the long range shore batteries, and the much weaker naval force would act as auxiliary to the shore batteries.

Third stage

On June 5, 1950, the communist force adopted the leapfrog tactic under the cover of shore batteries on adjacent islands and islets close by, succeeding in taking Dong'ao (东澳) Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain (Da Wanshan, 大万山) Island, and Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain (Xiao Wanshan, 小万山) Island, forcing the nationalist to withdraw to Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Island and other outlying islands. On the night of June 26, 1950, the communists had secretly set up the long-range shore batteries on Tri-gate (Sanmen, 三门) Island under the cover of darkness, and the communist gunboats were also deployed accordingly.

Unaware the communist's plan, the nationalist naval fleet carried out their original plan with the help of three more warships newly arrived from Taiwan, including destroyers. More than a dozen nationalist warships were deployed in waters near Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Islands, attempting to lure out the communist naval units. In the early morning of June 27, 1950, the hidden communist shore batteries suddenly opened up on the unsuspecting nationalist fleet, and defenders on the nationalist-held islands, the fierce fight lasted for more than five hours.

After numerous extraordinarily brave but completely futile attempts^[