Wanshan Archipelago Campaign - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

forces during the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...

for the control of Wanshan Archipelago (Wanshan Qundao,万山群岛), and resulted in communist victory. The archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

consists of 48 islands strategically located at the mouth of the Pearl River

Pearl River (China)

The Pearl River or less commonly, the "Guangdong River" or "Canton River" etc., , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is usually used as a catchment term to refer to the watersheds of the Xi Jiang , the Bei Jiang , and the Dong Jiang...

, a chokepoint on the communication lines to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

and Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

. The largest island is the Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island, which was formerly known as Trash Tail (Lajiwei, 垃圾尾) Island. Other major islands included Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Dong’ao (东澳) Island, Tri-gate (Sanmen, 三门) Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain (Da Wanshan, 大万山) Island, Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain (Xiao Wanshan, 小万山) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Islands, and Jianpeng (佳蓬) Islands.

Prelude

After Hainan

Hainan

Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...

Island had fallen into the communist hands, the nationalist

Kuomintang

3rd Fleet withdrew to Wanshan Archipelago and together with the various nationalist units as the local garrison, the nationalists planned to blockade the mouth of the Pearl River

Pearl River (China)

and cutting off the maritime links between the mainland and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

and Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

. The nationalist

Kuomintang

naval commander-in-chief Gui Yongqing (桂永清) organized the Wanshan Defense Command, and named nationalist

Kuomintang

commander-in-chief of the 3rd Fleet Qi Hongzhang (齐鸿章) as the commander, who set up his headquarter on board the frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

Taihe (太和), the largest nationalist

Kuomintang

warship among more than three dozen nationalist

Kuomintang

naval vessels in the region, and the flagship of the nationalist

Kuomintang

3rd Fleet. In response, the communist force decided to take the archipelago

Archipelago

and eliminate the threat and crush the nationalist

Kuomintang

blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River. The communist deputy corps commander Hong Xuezhi (洪学智) was named as the commander of the Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region to be in charge of the incoming operation, and the commander of force began to mass at Zhongshan

Zhongshan

Zhongshan , also spelled Chungshan and historically known as Xiangshan or Siangshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province in southern China. Zhongshan, one of the few cities in China with an eponymous name, is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was...

on May 8, 1950 after a joint command headquarter was setup.

Order of battle

Nationalist

Kuomintang

order of battle

Order of battle

In modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...

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.

Communist order of battle

Order of battle

Around 10,000 total, including:

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 cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

s
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 gunboat
  Gunboat
  A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
  
  s (including three respectively named Liberation, Vanguard, and Struggle)
- 1 Landing ship
- 10 Landing craft
  Landing craft
  Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
- 8 Transports

First stage

The communist task force sailed to Wanshan Archipelago at the dawn of May 25, 1950. Shortly before dawn, the advance guard of the communist force in charge of fire support reached the nationalist

Kuomintang

anchorage at the Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island. The communist gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

Liberation, a former nationalist

Kuomintang

gunboat

Gunboat

named Dancing Phoenix defected to the communist side commanded by its former nationalist

Kuomintang

commander, Captain Lin Wenhu (林文虎), a brilliant naval officer, launched a surprise attack on the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force at the anchorage under the cover of darkness. Fully aware that his 25-ton gunboat

Gunboat

was completely incapable of sinking its large opponents each displaced over a thousand tons, Captain Lin skillfully ordered his crew to concentrate fire on the superstructures of larger enemy ships. Nearly every nationalist

Kuomintang

large warship in the anchorage had its bridge struck, and the flagship, the frigate Taihe suffered the most: nearly everyone on the bridge was either killed or wounded, and Qi Hongzhang (齐鸿章), the nationalist

Kuomintang

commander-in-chief was severely wounded himself. With the commander-in-chief severely wounded and most of his staff killed, the nationalist

Kuomintang

command in charge of both land and naval defense was thus effectively paralyzed. The confined space of the anchorage severely limited the maneuverability of the nationalist

Kuomintang

warships for fearing collision in the darkness, and the communist gunboat

Gunboat

was able to utilizing the blind spots of the larger nationalist

Kuomintang

naval guns by fighting at extremely close quarter when engaging the larger enemy ships after sinking a nationalist

Kuomintang

gunboat

Gunboat

. In the meantime, two other communist gunboat

Gunboat

s, Vanguard and Struggle, managed to sunk two nationalist

Kuomintang

gunboat

Gunboat

s east of Ox Head (Niutou, 牛头) Island, while two battalions of the communist landing force took Green Islet (Qing Zhou,青洲) and Triangle (Sanjiao, 三角) Island.

After the sunrise, the nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet discovered that there was only a single small communist gunboat

Gunboat

fighting them, and as the enraged nationalist

Kuomintang

sailors attempted to avenge the deaths of their comrades-in-arms, every nationalist

Kuomintang

naval vessel available joined the chase of the communist 25-ton gunboat

Gunboat

Liberation. However, unbeknown to the nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet, it was drawn to a temporary but carefully and skillfully designed trap devised by the communist gunboat

Gunboat

captain, who was luring his opponent away from the islands, thus opening the way for the communist landing force. Once the nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet realized its mistake, it was too late: although the nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet managed to severely damage the communist landing ship Guishan (桂山) in the chase, the communist landing ship nonetheless successfully beached itself and unloaded all of the landing force it carried.

The nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet was soon faced another dilemma: continue fighting the two communist naval vessels or saving the dying sailors, including the severely wounded commander-in-chief, who was out of consciousness by already this time. The loyal subordinates of the nationalist

Kuomintang

commander-in-chief chose not to let their commanding officer to die like many other wounded sailors, and speed away from the battlefield to seek better medical help in attempting to save those who were dying. Fearing additional communist naval units that may launch another round of attack, all other nationalist

Kuomintang

naval vessels retreated from the battlefield around an hour after the first shot was fired, protecting the wounded flagship from possible enemy attacks, thus enabling the 25-ton communist gunboat

Gunboat

Liberation to safely return to its mainland base in a hero’s welcome, but nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force nonetheless succeeded in killing the communist deputy political commissar

Commissar

Commissar is the English transliteration of an official title used in Russia from the time of Peter the Great.The title was used during the Provisional Government for regional heads of administration, but it is mostly associated with a number of Cheka and military functions in Bolshevik and Soviet...

of the flotilla on board the gunboat

Gunboat

.

Unfortunately for the nationalists

Kuomintang

, due to the chaos of the battle and the damage to the communication gears on board most of its naval vessels, the decision for the naval units to retreat from the battlefield to save the dying sailors and commanders was not relayed to nationalist

Kuomintang

force on the island, where the defenders interpreted such retreat as fleeing and abandoning them, and the morale of the land force collapsed as a result. In the meantime, the communist troops landed on the island believed the same and their morale was drastically boosted and their pressure on the defenders intensified. The demoralized nationalist

Kuomintang

defenders had managed to hold on their positions until the nightfall, and then asked and was allowed retreated from the island under the cover of darkness.

Once the main anchorage of the Wanshan Archipelago, the Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island fell into the enemy hands, many other islands fell in a domino effect. From May 25, 1950 thru May 28, 1950, Ox Head (Niutou, 牛头) island, Spider Islet (Zhi Zhou, 蜘洲), Dalu (大碌), Large Head Islet (Datou Zhou, 大头洲) and other small islets fell into the enemy hands.

Second stage

On May 28, 1950, the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force at the region was reinforced by 3 frigate

Frigate

s, 2 landing ships, 4 minesweepers

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

, and several gunboat

Gunboat

s newly arrived from Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. The nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force cruised in waters north of Little Green Islet (Xiaoqingzhou, 小青洲) and Ox Head (Niutou, 牛头) island, attempted to bombard the enemy positions on lands and the transport fleet. As the enemy gunboat

Gunboat

s came out to meet them, the nationalist

Kuomintang

force still weary of previous naval engagement three days ago withdrew to open ocean, where the conditions favored the larger nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet because there was more space to maneuver. However, the enemy gunboat

Gunboat

s did not pursuit because the communists were fully aware their meek naval strength and once the mission of preventing the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval fleet from bombarding the communist assets was completed, the communists gunboat

Gunboat

s withdrew.

Although the bombardment mission ended early and thus was not a success, the nationalists

Kuomintang

were quick to devise a plan based on the experience to counterattack by wiping out the enemy naval force after luring it out to the open ocean, and then retake the islands from the enemy who would not have any naval support of their own. However, the enemy also learned from earlier experience and reached the conclusion of not to engaging the much stronger nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force in the open ocean where the condition favored the latter. In attempt to search the enemy, a detachment of the nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet ventured too close to shore and three ships suffered damages from enemy shore batteries on the Large Head Islet (Datou Zhou, 大头洲) and Triangle (Sanjiao, 三角) Island on May 30, 1950. The nationalists

Kuomintang

consequently changed their tactics by letting the enemy come to them at the waters favored the nationalists

Kuomintang

, instead of going to the enemy’s turf to seek out the enemy in the coastal regions that favored the enemy.

However, the enemy had learned from the engagement as well and correctly deducted the nationalist

Kuomintang

objective, and thus made a plan of their own to counter that of the nationalist

Kuomintang

: instead of falling into the nationalist

Kuomintang

trap by fighting the way nationalists

Kuomintang

had wanted, the best way to engage the superior nationalist

Kuomintang

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 enemy 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

Kuomintang

to withdrew to Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Island and other outlaying islands. At the night of June 26, 1950, the enemy had secretly set up the long range shore batteries on Tri-gate (Sanmen, 三门) Island under the cover of darkness, and the enemy gunboat

Gunboat

s were also deployed accordingly.

Unaware the enemy’s plan, the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval fleet carried out their original plan with the help of three more warships newly arrived from Taiwan

Taiwan

, including destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s. More than a dozen nationalist

Kuomintang

warships were deployed in waters near Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Islands, attempting to lure out the enemy naval units. In the early morning of June 27, 1950, the hidden enemy shore batteries suddenly opened up on the unsuspecting nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet, and defenders on the nationalist

Kuomintang

held islands, the fierce fight lasted for more than five hours.

After numerous extraordinarily brave but completely futile attempts to approach the shore to support the nationalist

Kuomintang

defenders on land which resulted in one gunboat

Gunboat

sunk, one destroyer

Destroyer

, two large patrol craft two minesweepers

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

and two gunboat

Gunboat

s damaged, it was painfully clear that the outgunned nationalist

Kuomintang

fleet must withdraw to the open waters further away in order to avoid annihilation by the superior enemy artillery on land. The enemy’s tactic of using numerically superior land artilleries with greater range than that of nationalist

Kuomintang

naval guns proved to be a great success and prevented any nationalist

Kuomintang

naval attempt to support their comrades-in-arms on lands. With the cover of superior firepower from the lands, the enemy was able to deploy the leapfrog tactic to take the remaining islands in the nationalist

Kuomintang

hands. By July 1, 1950, the Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island fell into the enemy hands, and by August 3, 1950, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Islands also fell. On August 4, 1950, Direct Bay (Zhiwan, 直湾), Northern Sharp (Beijian, 北尖), and Temple Bay (Miaowan, 庙湾) and other islands fell into the enemy hands. Finally, on August 7, 1950, the communist campaign to take the Wanshan Archipelago ended in total victory after taking the Mosquito Tail Islet (Wenwei Zhou, 蚊尾洲)

Outcome

The communist takeover of the Wanshan Archipelago eliminated the nationalist

Kuomintang

threat to its vital shipping lines to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

and Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

and crushed nationalist

Kuomintang

blockade of mouth of the Pearl River

Pearl River (China)

. The Wanshan Archipelago Campaign was the first combined army and naval operation for the communists and in addition to damaging and sinking enemy ships, eleven enemy ships were captured and they provided valuable local defense asset once they were completely repaired and returned to the active service in the communist fleet. One of the major contributor to the success was the correct tactics of not engaging the overwhelmingly superior opposing naval fleet, but instead, utilizing the numerically and technically superior shore batteries that the communists did enjoy to engage opposing naval targets that were outgunned. The largest island, the Trash Tail (Lajiwei, 垃圾尾) Island, was renamed Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island, in honor of the landing ship Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山), the largest communist naval vessel participated in the conflict.

The nationalist

Kuomintang

control of the Wanshan Archipelago was mostly symbolic for political propaganda and the battle for the control of the archipelago

Archipelago

was destined to fail for the same simple reason just like the earlier Battle of Nan'ao Island

Battle of Nan'ao Island

The Battle of Nan’ao island was a battle fought between the nationalists and the communists during the Chinese Civil War and communists emerged as the victors. Nan’ao island of Shantou remained in the nationalist hands after Guangdong fell into communist hands...

: the location was just too far away from any friendly bases and thus it was difficult to support in war, and when the support was available, it was rather costly. Although the largest island provided a relatively good anchorage, there was just not enough land to build any comprehensive facilities and infrastructures to support a fleet. As a result, many of the repairs that could be done locally had the comprehensive facilities and infrastructures been available would require traveling back to the distant friendly bases, thus greatly increased cost. When a major damage occurred, tugs were needed to tow the damaged vessel, and in the event of war when tugs could not be available, the damaged vessels had to be abandoned. In contrast, the enemy had comprehensive facilities and infrastructures on the mainland and since the archipelago

Archipelago

at the enemy’s doorstep, they could simply recover the abandoned nationalist

Kuomintang

vessels and repair them after taking them back to the mainland, and put them back into service to fight against the former owners of these vessels, as the case of the eleven naval vessels abandoned by the nationalists

Kuomintang

after the battle.

As for the blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River, it certainly caused difficulties for the enemy. However, these difficulties could be overcame because there were and still are link between the mainland and Hong Kong

Hong Kong

, and Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

via land, and for the maritime traffic, the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force could only cover the coastal region outside the effective range of the enemy’s land batteries and the enemy could simply move a little deeper into the Pearl River to avoid the nationalist

Kuomintang

naval force. Though this did indeed increased the cost for the enemy, the price tag for the operation of the naval task force performing this duty so far away from any support base was far greater comparatively speaking, because enemy transportation was mostly by wooden junks

Junk (ship)

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...

that only required wind, while the modern nationalist

Kuomintang

navy required much more, such as fuel and maintenance supplies. Many nationalist

Kuomintang

strategist and naval commanders had pointed out this disadvantage and along with the geographically disadvantage (i.e. the lack of comprehensive facilities and infrastructures), wisely and correctly suggest to withdraw from the Wanshan Archipelago in order to strengthen the defense elsewhere, but their requests were denied because holding on something at the enemy’s door step would have a significant symbolic meaning of great political propaganda value, but when the inevitable fall had finally occurred, the resulting disaster had negated any previous gains in political and psychological propaganda.

Prelude

Order of battle

First stage

Second stage

Third stage

Outcome

See also