Chiang Kai-shek Fortune Island _ Who are the people on Chiang Kai-shek Fortune Island?

What happened after the liberation of Hainan? Why did Mao Zedong say: Hainan may become the second Taiwan Province Province in two months?

After the founding of New China in June 1 949+1October/KLOC-0, the Chinese nation ushered in a new era. But at this time, on the battlefield in South China, the Fourth Field Army is still fighting bloody battles.

Chiang Kai-shek reorganized 65,438+10,000 troops in Hainan and stubbornly resisted, trying to keep Hainan as an important position of the Kuomintang. 10 10 12, Xue Yue, Chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Government of the Kuomintang, left Guangzhou and was transferred to Haikou by Chiang Kai-shek.

It was not until May 1950 that the Fourth Field Army completely drove the Kuomintang out of Hainan and Hainan Island was liberated.

Later, President Mao Zedong lamented: "If you fight two months later, Hainan is likely to become the second Taiwan Province Province!"

What is the strategic position of liberating Hainan? Why did Chairman Mao make such a sigh? What happened then?

Hainan Island is the second largest island in China, with an area of about 34,000 square kilometers, second only to Taiwan Province Island. Hainan Island is also an important hub of land and water transportation, facing Leizhou Peninsula in the south of Chinese mainland across the sea.

Qiongzhou Strait lies between Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula, which is characterized by deep water, high waves and strong wind. It is one of the fastest straits in the world and a natural sea barrier in the south of China. Hainan Island and Qiongzhou Strait are very important geographically and strategically.

1949, Chiang Kai-shek prepared to retreat to Taiwan Province province. He focused on extending his tentacles to Hainan Island, deploying troops in Hainan Island, trying to make Hainan Island form an island chain matrix with Jinmen and Zhoushan Islands, and form an encirclement of the mainland.

This can be used to consolidate his power in Taiwan Province Province, and also to achieve his goal of returning to the mainland when the Third World War comes.

In February, 65438, Chiang Kai-shek established Hainan Defense Headquarters in Hainan Island, and reorganized the 65438+ 10,000 troops stationed in Hainan Island into five armies, equipped with 50 ships of various types and 45 aircraft. Chiang Kai-shek handed over the important task of guarding Hainan to Kuomintang general Xue Yue, and appointed him as commander-in-chief to command the armed forces of Hainan Island in a unified way.

Who's Xue Yue? Why did Chiang Kai-shek give him such a heavy responsibility?

Xue Yue, whose real name is Bu Ling, made many meritorious military exploits on the battlefield in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, participated in the Battle of Shanghai and Shanghai, and personally commanded and led famous battles such as Wuhan, Xuzhou and Changsha. Especially in Changsha Battle, Xue Yue led his men to annihilate the Japanese army by 65,438+10,000, becoming the general who annihilated the Japanese army the most in China and known as the "God of War against Japan".

And in the war with * * *, Xue Yue is a very difficult old rival. During the Long March, the Central Red Army trekked 25,000 Li. Xue Yue took nine divisions from Ruijin, Jiangxi to Dadu River, Sichuan, and all the way to Wan Li of the Central Red Army, which caused great trouble to the Red Army.

It can be seen that Xue Yue's military capability is still excellent. After Xue Yue took office as Commander-in-Chief, he built a large number of fortifications in Hainan Island, combining the terrain of Hainan Island and the air and sea advantages of Kuomintang troops.

He also divided the Kuomintang troops on the island into four roads and arranged them in four defense zones around the island, thus forming a three-dimensional defense line around the island, which was named "Buring Defense Line" in his own words.

Chiang Kai-shek's wishful thinking is playing very loudly here, and he is fully prepared for defending Hainan.

He pointed out that this cross-sea operation "must pay attention to the tide and wind direction, and must be able to carry at least one army at a time, that is, 40,000 to 50,000 people, carry food for more than three days, land in front of the enemy, establish a stable beachhead position, and then attack independently without relying on backup."

We can look at it from three aspects:

First of all, in terms of strength, our army decided to send the 43 rd Army and the 40 th Army of the Fourth Field Army to cross the sea. These two armies, with a total of more than 654.38+10,000 people, will form the "Sea Crossing Corps".

Han Xianchu was in charge of the 40th Army, whose predecessor was the third column of the Northeast Field Army. It is brave and good at fighting, and has the title of "Cyclone Force". The 43rd Army led by Li Zuopeng was originally an independent regiment of Ye Ting during the National Revolution, and it was good at fighting tough battles.

These two armies are the main forces of the Fourth Field Army. In terms of numbers and combat effectiveness, our army has 65,438+10,000 people, which is not inferior to the Kuomintang defenders in Hainan. But in fact, before facing the Kuomintang army, our army must first overcome the problem of crossing the sea.

At this point, the new China has just been established. Although our army is stronger than Mazhuang, the navy and air force are in the initial stage, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as poor. Landing across the sea generally requires the cooperation of the armed forces. Obviously, the PLA at that time could not cooperate with the army troops, and the final battle could only be completed by these 654.38+ 10,000 army troops.

In addition, the fourth field army has been fighting from northeast to south China. It had no experience in naval warfare in the past, and many officers and men came from the northeast, grew up inland, and even had never seen the sea, so it was difficult to adapt to maritime operations in a short time.

Compared with the Kuomintang's perfect land, sea and air defense, our army is obviously at a disadvantage.

Secondly, from the perspective of equipment, the most important thing in the sea-crossing campaign is the sea-crossing tools, that is, ships and warships. However, when the Kuomintang retreated to Hainan, all the ships on the Leizhou Peninsula had been wiped out, and everything that could be taken away was basically destroyed.

The Cross-sea Corps only managed to collect more than 400 ships, and most of them were wooden sailboats without power. According to Chairman Mao's instructions, at least 1000 ships are needed to transport one army at a time, so the capacity of these 400 ships is far from enough.

Therefore, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China South China Branch sent Chen Yi, logistics minister of the Fourth Field Army, to Hongkong to purchase ships and other combat materials.

However, at that time, Hong Kong had just emerged from the shadow of World War II and its economy was in recovery. There is no machinery manufacturing industry, and there are not enough ships. Coupled with the intervention of the Kuomintang government, Chen Yi basically didn't buy the fighting materials needed for the battle, but only brought back some basic materials such as anti-stun drugs, compass needles and lifebuoys.

Thirdly, from the perspective of army morale, in 1949, the People's Liberation Army marched from north to south, and constantly won the liberation battlefield, but the defeat of the Golden Gate Battle at the end of 10 gave the People's Liberation Army a blow.

In the Battle of Kinmen, more than 9,000 soldiers from three regiments were wiped out because the PLA troops had no experience in naval warfare and misjudged the enemy. The Battle of Kinmen was a rare defeat in the history of the People's Liberation Army, which made our officers and men more cautious about naval battles and made many soldiers afraid of the sea.

At that time, most parts of the country had been completely liberated and entered a state of peace, which also made some people feel war-weary and took a negative attitude towards the next battle.

In a word, the PLA is facing many difficulties in any way.

Despite the difficulties, Hainan's strategic position is important and liberation is imperative. What the Fourth Field Army should do is to solve problems when there are problems and overcome them when there are difficulties.

First, the Fourth Field Army mobilized soldiers participating in the war and strengthened ideological education, thus changing the mental outlook of soldiers and urging them to actively participate in naval training.

During the training, due to poor conditions, the soldiers used wooden swings and swings to simulate the feeling on the ship and conducted anti-vertigo training.

In order to improve water quality, they learn to swim in the sea every day. At the same time, in order to avoid the harassment of the Kuomintang air force, they can only go to sea for training at night. They also asked local fishermen to learn the skills of sailing at sea.

It is in such a difficult environment that soldiers actively study and train day and night, from a "landlubber" who can't swim to a "sea dragon" who can swim and sail in the sea.

On how to solve the problem of crossing the sea, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to the Fourth Field Army, saying that it could be prepared in the direction of "a ship with modified machines".

Therefore, after the purchase of the ship failed, the cross-sea corps modified the wooden sailboat by itself. With the help of local boatmen and sailors, they converted wooden sailboats into motorized sailboats, and with the help of artillery, they converted unearthed gunboats, enabling the sea-crossing corps to fight back at sea.

With the joint efforts of all parties, in two months, the Fourth Field Army collected and refitted more than 2,000 ships, and also collected and trained a large number of sailors and navigators, making full preparations for the next crossing.

As a leader, Han Xianchu and others, as early as during the liberation of Guangxi, began to collect books and materials related to crossing the sea to prepare for the next liberation of Hainan.

They bought information on geography, meteorology and sea conditions in coastal areas, learned from local old fishermen, and consulted the hydrometeorological laws of Qiongzhou Strait, such as wind direction, current velocity and tides.

At the same time, meteorological and hydrological stations and meteorological and hydrological observation groups have been set up in various harbors of Leizhou Peninsula. Record observation data every day and get familiar with local hydrometeorology.

The Fourth Field Army made full preparations for crossing the sea, but due to the blockade of the coastal areas by the Kuomintang, the Fourth Field Army knew nothing about Hainan Island, so it still had some lack of confidence in the next landing war.

1950 1 One night, soldiers who were training at sea found a fishing boat drifting from Hainan Island. The man in the car was Fu, chief of staff of Qiongya column. His arrival gave Qiongya Corps a shot in the arm.

Fu brought Hainan Island operational map, telegraph code, organization of Kuomintang troops and other materials to the Corps. He also said that at this time of Hainan Island, the Qiongya column was led by Feng Baiju, and more than 20,000 people were fighting against the Kuomintang troops.

Later, Fu attended the battle meeting to discuss the liberation of Hainan, reported the specific situation of Qiongya column and the strategic deployment of the Kuomintang army, and also relayed Feng Baiju's suggestion on breaking through the "Buling Line". After several days of discussion, the meeting finally determined the operational policy of "combining active smuggling, crossing the river in batches and finally landing"

Mao Zedong, thousands of miles away, called the Fourth Field Army and agreed to this operational policy.

In actual combat, the participating troops of the Fourth Field Army crossed the sea in three batches.

The first batch started their activities.

From March 5th to 10, the 40th Army and 43rd Army sent two reinforced battalions 1800, which landed in Hainan Island successively, and the battle of Weizhou Island won.

On the one hand, this landing supported the anti-encirclement struggle of Qiongya column on the island, on the other hand, it also found out the coastal defense situation of Kuomintang troops.

The second batch, open the enemy defense gap.

On March 26th, the 40th Army and 43rd Army sent two regiments from Dengloujiao of Leizhou Peninsula and Apollo Port to land on Hainan Island, which strengthened our military strength on the island and prepared for the next general attack.

After this success, the Kuomintang army realized the seriousness of the matter and began to concentrate on strengthening coastal defense and reducing the encirclement and suppression of Qiongya column.

The third batch, the main force launched a general attack.

On April 16, the 40th Army and 43rd Army sent the main force of eight regiments, starting from the southern part of Leizhou Peninsula, to prepare for the general attack on Hainan Island.

The next day, the main force landed successfully, annihilated the coastal Kuomintang defenders, and successfully joined the Qiongya column. Subsequently, our troops advanced deep into the island. In the battle of Chengmai, after two days of fierce fighting, the Kuomintang army was completely annihilated, and the "Buling Defence Line" lost its function.

Seeing that the tide was gone, Chiang Kai-shek gave the order of general retreat, and Xue Yue fled to Taiwan Province Province by plane. The general has been evacuated and the Kuomintang army is in a state of chaos.

The People's Liberation Army pursued victory with overwhelming force, and successively liberated Haikou, Yulin and Sanya. On May 1 day, the People's Liberation Army annihilated the 286th Division of the Kuomintang and the whole island of Hainan was liberated.

Two months later, the campaign to liberate Hainan came to an end. In this campaign to liberate Hainan, the Fourth Field Army annihilated more than 30,000 Kuomintang troops and seized a large number of strategic materials such as artillery, planes, tanks and automobiles.

This campaign was also the first time that the People's Liberation Army won the cross-sea campaign, which shattered Chiang Kai-shek's attempt to use Hainan Island as a springboard to counterattack the mainland and ushered in a new life in Hainan.

But just over a month later, a new crisis emerged. In June, the Korean War broke out, and the US Air Force bombed the northeast of China many times. At the same time, the US "Seventh Fleet" took this opportunity to brazenly enter the Taiwan Province Strait, obstructing China's process of recovering Taiwan Province Province.

Now think again, fortunately, Hainan can be liberated smoothly before June. Otherwise, after the Korean War broke out, Hainan's liberation may face more difficulties in terms of American actions and the strength of our army.

If Hainan cannot be successfully liberated, it will be easier for the United States to form a maritime blockade along the southeast coast of China, and China's sovereignty in the South China Sea will be more restricted.

In fact, at first, due to the immature conditions in all aspects and the defeat of Kinmen, our army was very cautious about the war of crossing the sea and landing, and the time for liberating Hainan was pushed back and forth. 1950 in February, and the event will be launched in June.

Han Xianchu has documented many times to the Central Military Commission and told the Fourth Field Army that the problem of landing operations was not serious and the conditions were ripe, which promoted the process of liberating Hainan to a certain extent.

History is a combination of contingency and inevitability. Sometimes the opportunity given by history is fleeting, and seizing and missing it will have completely different results. At that time, our generals seized the opportunity and launched a general attack in April. Before the Korean War, Hainan was liberated in time, and eventually it did not become the second Taiwan Province Province.

References:

Battle of Hainan Island: the biggest landing battle in the War of Liberation

The old general reviewed the battle of Hainan

Liberation of Hainan Island: Our Army's First Victory in Crossing the Sea

Liberation of Haikou: Creating the Miracle of Wooden Ships Overcoming Warships