Battle of Guningtou: Challenges for Chinese Invasion of Taiwan

• The Chinese Communist troops stormed Kinmen island on October 1949 expecting a quick victory.
• The Chinese Nationalist forces, defending the island, routed the attackers.
• This battle shows some of the obstacles Beijing would still have to overcome if they tried to invade Taiwan.

At 1:30 AM on October 25, 1949, around 9,000 Chinese Communist soldiers stormed onto the shores of Kinmen island, just 6 miles off China’s coast.

They were the first in a planned 20,000-strong People’s Liberation Army force to capture the island from Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist troops, also known as KMT.

After a string of wins and with high morale the PLA was expecting another win. The fightit will be its next triumph, bringing additional territory into the People’s Republic of China. The PLA is now closer to its final goal: Taiwan’s KMT bastion.

PLA commanders believed the defense force to be weak and low morale. They expected the fighting to end in three days. The PLA was unable to time the fighting well.

Three days later Kinmen was still in KMT hand, three PLA regiments had been effectively exterminated and the Chinese Communist forces were facing their first stop on the seemingly unstoppable advance.

The plan

By fall 1949, the KMT was in near-constant retreat. Mao Zedong had led the PLA to cross the Yangtze River, central China, in spring 1949. They continued south for the following months, taking almost all of the major cities and ports and avoiding any defeats.

Soon, all of mainland China fell under Communist control. Mao established the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Chiang and the rest KMT were meanwhile retreating to the islands off China’s coast. Taiwan, which was the largest of the KMT, was elected the capital of China’s Republic.

The PLA seized control of Taiwan’s mainland and began to take control of its islands in an effort to seize them.

This plan was made possible by Kinmen Island which is a 59-mile-long island and home to around 40,000 people.

KMT forces in Kinmen could observe the waters around Xiamen that the PLA had just captured a few days earlier, so they could be used for any mobilization of force to attack Taiwan.

The PLA’s 10th Army’s 28th Corps would deploy roughly 20,000 troops in two separate groups to take over the island. Three regiments consisting of approximately 9,000 men would arrive on the beaches at night to secure a beachhead for a second force of around 11,000 men.

The PLA navy was still young and had few ships or trained sailors. Therefore, the troops could only be moved by motor-less wooden fishing boat and junks that were rented from local fishermen. Also, the PLA air force was still a young force. To avoid the KMT’s navy or air force, the first group had to land at night.

The vessels would drop off the first group and then return to pick up the second group.

The fight

PLA estimates that KMT had about 20,000 troops in its 22nd Army of Kinmen garrison.

Chiang was determined to protect and hold Kinmen. Chiang sent 20,000 more soldiers from the elite 18th Army, as well as a battalion with 21 M5A1 Stuart tank tanks. These were operated by soldiers who had fought in World War II. (The PLA invasion force did not have any armored units.

The island was made into a fortress. The island was transformed into a fortress with hundreds of bunkers and trenches. Thousands of mines were also laid and anti-ship barriers were placed on its beaches.

PLA troops started boarding their vessels at 7:00 p.m. on Oct 24, but logistics problems and command missteps kept them away from setting off until well after midnight. Everything went wrong almost immediately.

The Communist troops arrived, and they disembarked without being noticed. They came at high tide, but they left before the waters receded. They were submerged at their arrival, and eventually caught all the PLA boats.

A routine KMT patrol set off a landmine in the area, alerting nearby defense forces. The PLA invasion force was soon visible by flares and searchlights as it disembarked, triggering a two-hour-long firefight.

The KMT 18th Army had, coincidentally, completed its own landing on another side of the island around this time. The PLA force was quickly overwhelmed five-to-one.

KMT warships joined the fray at dawn. They destroyed the boats that were stuck, trapping invading forces and keeping them at bay.

Some PLA units managed to push their way inland, despite the chaos. They captured Guningtou, and set up a defensive perimeter. The force was a small unit of infantry and had little hope.

Soon, they were surrounded by KMT aircraft, tanks, and soldiers. After intense urban fighting on Oct 27, Guningtou could be retaken. The PLA troops that had fled to the beaches on October 27 had also surrendered by the evening.

China’s expanding reach

About 3,000 of the approximately 9,000 PLA soldiers who arrived on Kinmen were killed, and over 5,000 were captured. This effectively wiped out three PLA regiments. KMT casualties included nearly 2,000 wounds and over 1,200 dead.

The PLA was captured Other islandsThe KMT was defeated by Chiang’s forces, but Kinmen and many others were held by Chiang’s forces, including Taiwan. Mao and the PLA realized that Taiwan invasion would be difficult after this loss.

Later plans to invade were delayed by the PLA’s involvement during the Korean War, and ultimately canceled. In the end, the PLA admitted it did not have the ability to accomplish such a great amphibious feat.

The PRC-Taiwan rivalry was centered around Kinmen. Taiwan fortified it, and China shelled it intermittently — including two Some episodes were quite intense in 1954 and 1958 — until 1979, when the US officially recognized the People’s Republic of China.

Beijing has not abandoned its ultimate goal of absorbing Taiwan, which is what the Chinese Communist Party calls “reunification,” even though it has never ruled the island.

President Xi Jinping was elected to the 20th party congress, which took place in October. Although the PRC wants peaceful unification, it said that “we won’t promise to give up force and we reserve the right to take any necessary measures.”

China’s military has seen significant improvements since 1949. Modernization with Taiwanese scenarios in mind.

With more than 355 warships, the PLA has the largest naval fleet in the world. It boasts a marine corps of approximately 40,000 with modern armored amphibious assault cars. It is home to approximately 40,000 soldiers. Ground forceThere are six amphibious combined weapons brigades that include 30,000 people and 2,400 vehicles.

China is large and modern missile arsenal, helicopter fleetAnd special-forces unitsTaiwan is especially at risk.

But the roughly 100-mile strait, where conditions are often poor, and the PLA’s lack of real amphibious-assault experience — not to mention Taiwan’s Having a stronger defense — are major obstacles for the PLA.

After decades of military expansion and upgrades, Xi might finally grasp what Mao couldn’t.

The Pentagon’s 2021 ReportAccording to the Chinese military, an invasion of Kinmen (a medium-sized, better-defended Island) “is within the PLA’s capabilities.”