Wanshan Archipelago Campaign

Part of Chinese Civil War

Date	May 25, 1950 – August 7, 1950
Location	Wanshan Archipelago, Guangdong, China
Result	Communist victory

Belligerents

National Revolutionary Army

People's Liberation Army

Commanders and leaders

Qi Hongzhang

Hong Xuezhi

Strength

4,000
40+ naval vessels

10,000
24 naval vessels

Casualties and losses

700+
4 gunboats sunk
11 naval vessels captured

300+
1 landing ship
1 gunboat severely damaged

Coordinates: 21°57′N 113°45′E / 21.95°N 113.75°E / 21.95; 113.75

The Wanshan Archipelago Campaign (万山群岛战役) was a campaign fought between the communist and the nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War for the control of Wanshan Archipelago (Wanshan Qundao, 万山群岛), and resulted in communist victory. The archipelago consists of 48 islands strategically located at the mouth of the Pearl River, a chokepoint on the communication lines to Hong Kong and Macau. The largest island is the Laurel Mountain (Guishan, 桂山) Island, which was formerly known as Trash Tail (Lajiwei, 垃圾尾) Island. Other major islands include Outer Linding (Wailinding, 外伶仃) Island, Dong'ao (东澳) Island, Tri-gate (Sanmen, 三门) Island, Greater Ten-thousand Mountain (Da Wanshan, 大万山) Island, Lesser Ten-thousand Mountain (Xiao Wanshan, 小万山) Island, Burden Pole (Dangan, 担杆) Islands, and Jianpeng (佳蓬) Islands.

After Hainan Island had fallen into the communist hands, the nationalist 3rd Fleet withdrew to Wanshan Archipelago and together with the various nationalist units as the local garrison, the nationalists planned to blockade the mouth of the Pearl River and cutting off the maritime links between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau. The nationalist naval commander-in-chief Gui Yongqing (桂永清) organized the Wanshan Defense Command, and named nationalist commander-in-chief of the 3rd Fleet Qi Hongzhang (齊鴻章) as the commander, who set up his headquarters on board the frigate Taihe (太和), the largest nationalist warship among more than three dozen nationalist naval vessels in the region, and the flagship of the nationalist 3rd Fleet. In response, the communist force decided to take the archipelago and eliminate the threat and crush the nationalist blockade of the mouth of the Pearl River. The communist deputy corps commander Hong Xuezhi (洪学智) was named as the commander of the Riverine Defense Force of the Cantonese Military Region to be in charge of the incoming operation, and the commander of force began to mass at Zhongshan on May 8, 1950 after a joint command headquarters was set up.

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