Battle of Nanpēng Archipelago

Battle of Nanpēng Archipelago
Part of the Chinese Civil War
Date September 20, 1952 - October 20, 1952 Location Guangdong, China Result Communist victory
Combatants
National Revolutionary Army	People's Liberation Army
Commanders
Huang Songsheng黄颂声	?
Strength
> 150	around 400
Casualties
106 killed 40+ captured	89 killed 300+ wounded

Battle of Nanpēng Archipelago was a battle fought between the Chinese nationalists and the communists over the islands of Nanpēng (南澎) Archipelago off the Cantonese coast during the Chinese Civil War and resulted in communist victory. Nanpēng (南澎) Archipelago is located off coast of Shantou, and named after the largest island, Nanpēng island (Nanpēng Dao, 南澎岛), the home of fishing community of more than 400 people. The archipelago was deemed not important for most part of the Chinese Civil War and the nationalist therefore did not deploy any troops on any of the island, and when Guangdong fell into the communist hands, the archipelago also fell. The communists believed the same thing the nationalists had believed and did not deploy any troops to the archipelago either after the nationalist withdraw, but small patrol teams of 2 to 3 were regularly sent to many of the islands.

First Stage

As the nationalists launched their insurgent strikes against the communists, the nationalist strategists believed that archipelago may serve as a steppingstone to launch assaults against mainland and decided to take the archipelago. On September 20, 1952, over 150 nationalist strike force members riding in four large speedboats launched a surprise attack on the main island, the Nanpēng island (Nanpēng Dao, 南澎岛). The token communist force patrolling the island was consisted of only three members: a deputy naval infantry platoon commander with last name Zhang (张), who was the patrol team leader, a sailor named Qiu An (邱安), and a militiaman named Lin Xiaofa (林小发). After a futile resistance, all three were killed by the overwhelming enemy force.

Second Stage

The communists would not let the nationalists have the opportunity to set up a forward base at their doorstep and immediately began to plan a counterattack. However, due to the urgent defense needs from other parts of the vast coastal regions, the job of retaking the archipelago was given to the ground force, and a strengthened battalion of the communist 41st Army was assigned the mission. However, it was soon discovered that the unit was illprepared for an amphibious landing and as a result, the schedule had to be pushed back to first allow more than 20 days of training to be completed.

Third Stage

Once the training was complete, the communist battalion rode in junks and departed on October 19, 1952 at 5:00 pm. At 10:00 pm, the communist force landed successfully on Nanpēng island (Nanpēng Dao, 南澎岛) and after two hours of fierce battle, the nationalist resistance on the island ceased and the survivors attempted to hide. The mop up operation and skirmishes on other islands completely stopped the next day at 4:00 am, with the archipelago firmly back in the hands of the communists. The communists managed to kill 79 enemy troops on the main island of Nanpēng (Nanpēng Dao, 南澎岛), including the nationalist commander, major general Huan Songsheng (黄颂声), and his deputy commander, also a major general. 37 nationalist troops were captured alive on the main island of Nanpēng (Nanpēng Dao, 南澎岛), and the highest ranking nationalist prisoner of war was the director of the political directorate, Major Gao Xueqian (高学谦). Another 27 nationalist troops were killed and more than a dozen captured alive from other islands and islets of the archipelago. The communists suffered 86 fatalities and more than 300 wounded, almost all soldiers in the battalion reported as casualties.

Outcome

The nationalist defeat proved that it was impractical to setup forward base at the enemy’s doorstep while the base is far away from the nationalist strongholds, because it was impossible to reinforce the distant base in time during combats. The communists, on the other hand, had paid a heavy price in its attempt to retake the archipelago because they have gravely underestimated the enemy and although the mission was a success, it was a very costly victory, resulting in almost every member task force member was a casualty. The communist only had numerical superiority but infantry armed only with rifles, light machine guns and hand grenades had a very difficult time in exterminating the numerically inferior enemy that was much better armed with superior weaponry.

See also

• List of Battles of Chinese Civil War
• National Revolutionary Army
• History of the People's Liberation Army
• Chinese Civil War

References

• Zhu, Zongzhen and Wang, Chaoguang, Liberation War History, 1st Edition, Social Scientific Literary Publishing House in Beijing, 2000, ISBN 7801492072 (set)
• Zhang, Ping, History of the Liberation War, 1st Edition, Chinese Youth Publishing House in Beijing, 1987, ISBN 750060081X (pbk.)
• Jie, Lifu, Records of the Libration War: The Decisive Battle of Two Kinds of Fates, 1st Edition, Hebei People's Publishing House in Shijiazhuang, 1990, ISBN 7202007339 (set)
• Literary and Historical Research Committee of the Anhui Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Liberation War, 1st Edition, Anhui People's Publishing House in Hefei, 1987, ISBN 7212000078
• Li, Zuomin, Heroic Division and Iron Horse: Records of the Liberation War, 1st Edition, Chinese Communist Party History Publishing House in Beijing, 2004, ISBN 7801990293
• Wang, Xingsheng, and Zhang, Jingshan, Chinese Liberation War, 1st Edition, People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House in Beijing, 2001, ISBN 750331351X (set)
• Huang, Youlan, History of the Chinese People's Liberation War, 1st Edition, Archives Publishing House in Beijing, 1992, ISBN 7800193381
• Liu Wusheng, From Yan'an to Beijing: A Collection of Military Records and Research Publications of Important Campaigns in the Liberation War, 1st Edition, Central Literary Publishing House in Beijing, 1993, ISBN 7507300749
• Tang, Yilu and Bi, Jianzhong, History of Chinese People's Liberation Army in Chinese Liberation War, 1st Edition, Military Scientific Publishing House in Beijing, 1993 – 1997, ISBN 7800217191 (Volum 1), 7800219615 (Volum 2), 7800219631 (Volum 3), 7801370937 (Volum 4), and 7801370953 (Volum 5)

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