Main Landing
On April 10, 1950, the XC Corps high command launched an amphibious landing in two waves in northern Hainan. The first wave consisted of the main force, was aimed east and west, and included eight brigade-sized regiments: two from the 43rd Army and six from the 40th Army. They left the Leizhou Peninsula in three hundred fifty junks at 7.30 PM on April 16, 1950. The second wave consisted of five brigade-sized regiments of the communist 43rd Army. Units of the 40th Army that landed earlier and the 1st Division of the Qiongya Column would strike the Nationalist coastal defenses to the north of Lingao, while the 3rd Division of the Qiongya Column and units of the 43rd Army would strike the defenses in the Fortune Mountain (Fushan, 福山) region of Chengmai County (澄迈) to compliment the landing forces in the east and west. The NRA did not detect the departure of the enemy forces until hours after the enemy fleets left port, which prevented their navy from intercepting the crossing PLA troops in time.
During the crossing, the escort fleet of the 40th Army discovered that the Nationalist 3rd Fleet, with the destroyer "Eternal Peace" (太平号, Taipinghao) as its flagship, was approaching the Communist landing forces from behind, in an attempt to intercept the fleet from behind. The escort fleet, consisting of armed junks, immediately took action and outflanked the pursuing flotilla. The NRA had gravely underestimated their enemy and did not expect the approaching junks to be armed, mistaking them for troop and cargo carriers. The Nationalist fleet attemted to capture them, which allowed the Communist junks to close the distance between them, at which point they fired their hidden mountain guns. Firing at close range and with the Nationalist ships unable to depress their guns low enough in time to fire back, the junks' gunners badly damaged the enemy flagship early during the engagement and forced it to retreat.
The remaining nationalist ships continued to fight, but their efforts were largely ineffective. Not only were they hindered by the loss of their flagship, in their hast to prepare for the defense of the island, they had also failed to change the ammunition of the warships. Most of the armor-piercing and semi armor-piercing ordinance, designed to be used against armored ships and fortified bunkers, failed to detonate when hitting the wooden junks and simply flew through them. Coupled with the fact that their guns could not be depressed low enough to hit the enemy ships at such close range, this rendered the nationalist navy's guns nearly useless throughout the engagement.
As a result, the PLA was able to advance on the island, and despite the fact that all of the armed junks and the rest of the escort fleet were badly damaged, none of the junks had actually been sunk. In contrast, the numerically superior mountain guns had inflicted considerable damage to the nationalist fleet.
Although the nationalists were unable to halt the communist transports, they could not back away, seeing as they were already behind the enemy landing forces. Leaving their position would leave the defenders on the beaches, who were being attacked on both sides, without fire support. They decided to stay and mingle with the enemy escort fleet, in an attempt to provide support against the landing troops, but were forced to withdraw after several hours of fierce and chaotic battle, during which two more warships were forced to retreat. As a last resort, they tried to sink the communist fleet holding the second wave of attack, but by that time, the bulk of the PLA forces had already landed.
Exploiting their enemy's dilemma to the fullest, the PLA kept intense pressure on the defenders at their beachhead. By 3.00 AM on April 17, 1950, the NRA defenders on both the eastern and western flanks of Cape Lingao collapsed under the combined pressure of the landing forces, the Qiongya Column and the units that had landed earlier. As more troops landed, a firm beachhead was established and advanced inland. Within the next two days, several regions, including Lingao, Fortune Mountain, Meitai (美台) and Jialai (加来) fell into communist hands.
Read more about this topic: Landing Operation On Hainan Island
Famous quotes containing the words main and/or landing:
“The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)