| Battle of Yijiangshan Islands | |||||||
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| Part of the Chinese Civil War | |||||||
Communist troops attacking Nationalist positions |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| National Revolutionary Army | People's Liberation Army | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Wang Shen-Ming † | Zhang Aiping | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1000+ men | 5,000 men+ 137 warships 184 aircraft |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 567 killed 519 taken as prisoners |
393 killed 1024 wounded |
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The Battle of Yijiangshan Islands (一江山島戰役) was a conflict between forces of the Republic of China Army and the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China, over one of the last strongholds of Nationalist (ROC) forces near mainland China on the Yijiangshan Islands. The conflict occurred from January 18, 1955 to January 20, 1955 during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis, and resulted in a PLA victory and the complete destruction of the ROC garrison.
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The Yijiangshan Islands consist of two islands, the Northern Yijang (北一江) Island and the Southern Yijiang (南一江) Island, and the region is approximately 1.2 square kilometers in area. Due to its strategic location near the coast of Zhejiang, it had become a forward base for the Nationalist defense of Chinese coastal islands centered on Dachen Island, as well as a base for launching guerrilla attacks on mainland China.
The Nationalist defense force consisted of the following units and totaled more than 1000: Yijiangshan Regional Headquarters
In addition, the Nationalist defenders could call up the air and naval support when needed.
The Communist attackers totaled more than 5,000, with the landing force totaling one regiment and one battalion from the following units:
In addition, over 30,000 civilians and three dozen civilian ships were mobilized for logistic support.
When the fight began on January 18, 1955, the Nationalist air force and navy did not participate due to overwhelming Communist firepower. The battle started at 8:00AM with Communist bombers from three groups and ground attack aircraft from 2 groups bombing and strafing the islands. At the same time, bombers from another group and ground attack aircraft from the second group began bombing and strafing the Dachen Islands as a diversion. At 9:00 AM, 50 long range artillery shelled the Yijiangshan Islands.
Around noon, 70+ naval vessels carrying the landing force sailed from Gaodao (高岛)、Queerao (雀儿岙)、Toumen Mountain Island (头门山岛) in three formations in two waves, with more than 40 escort vessels. 2 hours later, the 10 specially converted naval vessels with rocket launchers bombarded Yijiangshan island in conjunction with bombers from 3 groups and 1 squadron, ground attack aircraft from 2 groups, before landing on 20 landing spots. However, the defenders took advantage of their fortifications and severely disrupted the attackers’ formation after their successful landing. As a result, most of the Communist casualties suffered during the battle were at this initial stage.
The attackers immediately called for fire support after they met with fierce enemy fire, and the Communist aircraft responded by attacking the enemy position by flying at extremely low altitude. As the first line of defence was quickly overpowered by the flame throwers, bombs and artillery, the PLA rapidly gained ground. Most of the Communist casualties resulted from two machine gun nests with as many as 200 deaths and 400 casualties. Air strike and massive artillery bombardments called in eventually knocked out these two positions. As the demoralized defenders retreated into their underground tunnels, the attackers changed their tactics by fighting in small groups, and using recoilless guns and flame throwers to gradually torch the Nationalist soldiers to death, including the underground tunnel complex of the Nationalist 4th Assault Group, the largest on the island.
By 5:30 PM, the battle on the islands subsided with the Communist decimation of the Nationalist defenders almost complete taken 132(meter), 95 hills killing (mostly burned by the flame throwers of 567 and capturing 519 alive according to the often exaggerated PRC source, or 712 soldiers and 12 nurses died in line of duty from Taiwan source. The Communist forces were then ordered to assume a defensive posture for the next day, to prepare for a possible Nationalist counter attack that never materialized. Wang Shen-Ming(王生民), the Nationalist commander was on the phone mentioned he was 50 yards from the approaching Communists. He committed suicide with a grenade, ended all the communication and resistance at his 121 hill cave headquarter. Also on the January 19, the Communist force begun their shelling on Dachen Archipelago about 13 kilometers away, but these actions were still originally intended to prevent possible counter attacks. Finally, on January 20, 1955, the islands were formally declared to be firmly in Communist hands.
The scale of the battle was minute, and the most important gain of the Chinese Communists was demoralizing the Nationalist will power to continue holding on to some of the islets difficult to defend. The Nationalists became aware that the logistics to send support from Taiwan Island was difficult with its antiquated air force and a lack of strong Navy. The Nationalist lost a Destroyer, named Taiping. The Korean War then was over. The PLA had ample military resources including MIGs, warships to focused on wiping out anti-Communist resistance. This was the prelude to the eventual abandonment of Dachen island with US urging Taiwan not to spread too thin. According to Taiwan sources, the troops garrison consists of mostly former fishermen/pirates and civil war refugees. Some of the casualties were female interns from a Political Warfare College. There are a number of shrine, roads, and even a restaurant today to commemorate the anti-Communist resistance on Taiwan. The 18,000 refugees, soldiers and their decedents consider themselves to be fortunate to have relocated to Taiwan.
Note: Most of the sources were taken from PRC sources with some exaggerated claims. One example is the museum on site stating it took only 2 hours to win the battle. At any rate, over 500 bombs and 50,000 shells were fired over two little rocky islets. PLA launched an amphibious assault with 182 aircraft, bombers, long distance artilleries. Over 5,000 troops were landed with the mobilization of 30,000 civilians. It was considered an example of PRC's modern warfare.
| Main events pre-1945 | Main events post-1945 | Specific articles |
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Part of the Cold War
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Primary participants |