27 Brigade () was a guerrilla force formed in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, shortly after the outbreak of February 28 Incident. It was organized by

Hsieh Hsueh-hung Xie Xuehong (; 17 October 1901 – 5 November 1970), born Xie Shi Anu (), was a Chinese politician. A women's rights activist, she cofounded the Taiwanese Communist Party, active in Japanese Taiwan. Persecuted by the Kuomintang after its forces r ...

, a leading figure of

Taiwanese Communist Party The Taiwanese Communist Party ( zh, t=臺灣共產黨; ja, 台湾共產党) was a revolutionary organization active in Japanese-ruled Taiwan. Like the contemporary Taiwanese People's Party, its existence was short, only three years, but it ...

during the Japanese Administration Era, and was led by local Taichung scholar . The total strength of the brigade remains disputed, with sources putting it as low as 30 and as many as 4,000; however, it is agreed that the bulk of the force was made up of young students and discharged soldiers who had fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. One source also claims that the 27 Brigade discovered a secret weapon cache left by the Japanese that contained enough weapons and ammunition to arm "three whole divisions," which remains disputed today. On 15 March 1947, when the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

(KMT) forces closed-in on Taichung, the brigade sent several detachments out to engage. The confrontation became known as the . They did force the enemy force back, but also sustained heavy casualties and faced shortage of ammunition. The next day, the KMT force, after being reinforced and receiving heavy weaponry, assaulted positions held by the 27 Brigade, inflicted some casualties and forced them to retreat. At night, brigade leaders agreed to disband the brigade; brigade members hid their weapons and returned home shortly before midnight.

Legacy

In 2017, a monument was erected in Taichung commemorating the actions of the 27 Brigade. A documentary, The 27 Brigade Documentary (2七部隊紀錄片), was produced in the same year.

References

February 28 incident Communism in Taiwan History of Taiwan Military units and formations disestablished in 1947 1947 establishments in Taiwan Military units and formations established in 1947 1947 disestablishments in Taiwan {{Taiwan-org-stub