Chinese Civil War: Battle of Hainan

solarz

Brigadier
Is anyone familiar with this battle? I think this is one of the most amazing battles conducted by the PLA. The NRA had complete advantage on paper: well-prepared and fortified defenses against a landing invasion force, a modern warship fleet where the PLA could only field wooden junks, and 45 aircraft where the PLA had none.

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The key components that allowed PLA victory are as follows:

- presence of a local insurgent force
- the wooden junks armed with primitive cannons were able to fight off the NRA's modern warships; the NRA were using armor piercing rounds that work against armored ships and fortified bunkers, but simply punched right through wooden junks causing little damage
- two PLA companies mistakenly landed on a fortified enemy position, and held out far longer than they should have, making the NRA think that the PLA had landed its main force there, thereby rushing troops to the wrong battlefield

I think this battle is indicative of many reasons why the NRA lost the civil war despite overwhelming numerical and technological advantage. The NRA commander was overconfident of his defensive lines, and did not have sufficient intelligence. As a result, his navy failed to intercept the bulk of the PLA troop carriers, and did not prepare accordingly to fight against wooden junks.

The local insurgent force gave the PLA the advantage over NRA forces in terms of terrain familiarity. By actively supporting and linking up with local insurgent forces, the PLA was able to fully leverage their potential.

Finally, the PLA fought with extraordinary discipline and valor, taking their NRA opponents by complete surprise and causing them to make severe strategic mistakes.
 

volleyballer

Banned Idiot
Is anyone familiar with this battle? I think this is one of the most amazing battles conducted by the PLA. The NRA had complete advantage on paper: well-prepared and fortified defenses against a landing invasion force, a modern warship fleet where the PLA could only field wooden junks, and 45 aircraft where the PLA had none.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


The key components that allowed PLA victory are as follows:

- presence of a local insurgent force
- the wooden junks armed with primitive cannons were able to fight off the NRA's modern warships; the NRA were using armor piercing rounds that work against armored ships and fortified bunkers, but simply punched right through wooden junks causing little damage
- two PLA companies mistakenly landed on a fortified enemy position, and held out far longer than they should have, making the NRA think that the PLA had landed its main force there, thereby rushing troops to the wrong battlefield

I think this battle is indicative of many reasons why the NRA lost the civil war despite overwhelming numerical and technological advantage. The NRA commander was overconfident of his defensive lines, and did not have sufficient intelligence. As a result, his navy failed to intercept the bulk of the PLA troop carriers, and did not prepare accordingly to fight against wooden junks.

The local insurgent force gave the PLA the advantage over NRA forces in terms of terrain familiarity. By actively supporting and linking up with local insurgent forces, the PLA was able to fully leverage their potential.

Finally, the PLA fought with extraordinary discipline and valor, taking their NRA opponents by complete surprise and causing them to make severe strategic mistakes.

The most brilliant part of this battle was the PLA wooden junks vs NRA corvettes. The wooden junks were armed with rocket launchers and cannons and totally caught the Nationalists by surprise. Though there have been speculations that the NRA may have been firing training rounds (non-HE) instead. Thus repeating the same mistake of Li-Hongzhang's Beiyan fleet some 60 years prior during the first Sino-Japanese war.
 

solarz

Brigadier
The most brilliant part of this battle was the PLA wooden junks vs NRA corvettes. The wooden junks were armed with rocket launchers and cannons and totally caught the Nationalists by surprise. Though there have been speculations that the NRA may have been firing training rounds (non-HE) instead. Thus repeating the same mistake of Li-Hongzhang's Beiyan fleet some 60 years prior during the first Sino-Japanese war.

Agreed. The fact that the NRA Navy screwed up so badly is indicative of the general incompetence of their leadership and the disorganization of their military as a while.
 

delft

Brigadier
Quite clearly PLA staff work was considerable better than that of NRA. This was also visible in North East China in the period 1945-1949 that was considered here several months ago. It must be the result of winning much more experience fighting the Japanese.
 
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