The Battle of Nan'ao island (Nan'ao Dao, 南澳岛战斗/南澳島戰鬥) took place between the nationalists (Kuomintang) and the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

s. Nan'ao Island (Nan'ao Dao, 南澳岛) of Swatow (now known as Shantou) remained in the

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

hands after

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

fell into communist hands. On February 23, 1950, the 121st division of the 41st Army of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

attacked the island. Faced with such overwhelming enemy, the defenders stood no chance and after eight hours of fighting, the communists succeeded in wiping out the entire nationalist garrison and thus taking the island. 27 nationalist troops were killed, and 1348 were captured, including the

local commander, the deputy commander-in-chief of the 1st Cantonese Column Wu Chaojun (吴超骏/吳超駿), and the deputy commander of the nationalist 58th division Guo Mengxiong (郭梦熊/郭夢熊). A total of 1304 firearms were also captured. The nationalist defeat proved that it was impractical to hold on to the outlying islands that were at the doorstep of the enemy but far away from any friendly bases, just like the Wanshan Archipelago Campaign would have done later. As the battle had shown, once the defenders learned that it was impossible to have any reinforcement, the morale completely collapsed and most of the defenders abandoned their weapons and attempted to hide after merely suffering 27 fatalities, and the enemy spent most of the 8 hours fighting in mop-up operations to round up the demoralized defenders. Although holding on to a distant island may have propaganda value, any initial political and psychological gains would be negated by the fallout after the inevitable defeat and the loss.

References

*Zhu, Zongzhen and Wang, Chaoguang, ''Liberation War History'', 1st Edition, Social Scientific Literary Publishing House in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

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Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

People's Publishing House in

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang; Mandarin: ; formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang is the capital and most populous city of China's Hebei Province. A prefecture-level city southwest of Beijing, it administers eight districts, three county-le ...

, 1990, (set) *Literary and Historical Research Committee of the

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

, ''Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

People's Publishing House in

Hefei Hefei is the Capital city, capital of Anhui, China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up (or ''metro'') area is made up of four u ...

, 1987, *Li, Zuomin, ''Heroic Division and Iron Horse: Records of the Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Chinese Communist Party History Publishing House in

, 2004, *Wang, Xingsheng, and Zhang, Jingshan, ''Chinese Liberation War'', 1st Edition,

Literature and Art Publishing House in

, 2001, (set) *Huang, Youlan, ''History of the Chinese People's Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Archives Publishing House in

, 1992, *Liu Wusheng, ''From

Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...

: A Collection of Military Records and Research Publications of Important Campaigns in the Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Central Literary Publishing House in

, 1993, *Tang, Yilu and Bi, Jianzhong, ''History of Chinese

in Chinese Liberation War'', 1st Edition, Military Scientific Publishing House in

, 1993 – 1997, (Volum 1), (Volum 2), (Volum 3), (Volum 4), and (Volum 5) {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Nan'ao Island Conflicts in 1950 Nan'ao 1950 in China Nan'ao 20th century in Guangdong

See also

References