Wanshan Archipelago Campaign - First Stage

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 anchorage at the Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island. The communist gunboat Liberation, a former nationalist gunboat named Dancing Phoenix defected to the communist side commanded by its former nationalist commander, Captain Lin Wenhu (林文虎), a brilliant naval officer, launched a surprise attack on the nationalist naval force at the anchorage under the cover of darkness. Fully aware that his 25-ton 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 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 commander-in-chief was severely wounded himself. With the commander-in-chief severely wounded and most of his staff killed, the nationalist 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 warships for fearing collision in the darkness, and the communist gunboat was able to utilizing the blind spots of the larger nationalist naval guns by fighting at extremely close quarter when engaging the larger enemy ships after sinking a nationalist gunboat. In the meantime, two other communist gunboats, Vanguard and Struggle, managed to sunk two nationalist gunboats 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 fleet discovered that there was only a single small communist gunboat fighting them, and as the enraged nationalist sailors attempted to avenge the deaths of their comrades-in-arms, every nationalist naval vessel available joined the chase of the communist 25-ton gunboat Liberation. However, unbeknown to the nationalist fleet, it was drawn to a temporary but carefully and skillfully designed trap devised by the communist gunboat captain, who was luring his opponent away from the islands, thus opening the way for the communist landing force. Once the nationalist fleet realized its mistake, it was too late: although the nationalist 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 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 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 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 Liberation to safely return to its mainland base in a hero’s welcome, but nationalist naval force nonetheless succeeded in killing the communist deputy political commissar of the flotilla on board the gunboat.

Unfortunately for the nationalists, 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 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 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.