As soon as Zhou Wu and his men settled down in Xiamen, they received news from the headquarters of the 11 th Corps, asking Zhou Wu and them to quickly come to the headquarters for a meeting, Xiamen had been liberated, and the next step was to liberate Kinmen Island, which was only more than 10 nautical miles away from Xiamen, and Commander Ye of the 11 th Corps wanted his cadres at and above the division level to hold a meeting, the purpose of which was to discuss the deployment of the next step in the liberation of Kinmen.
Zhou Wu and the chief of staff Lao Xu, as well as the political commissar Lao Niu, the fat man, and Ge Sanmin, rushed together to the corps headquarters located on a small island in Xiamen City to participate in the military meeting, at the meeting, Commander Ye said to everyone: "Comrades, now Xiamen has been liberated, but the opposite not far from Kinmen Island is still in the hands of the Kuomintang army, although the area of Jinshan Island is not large, but it has always been a hub channel on the sea, a key place of transportation, before Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, it was based on this Kinmen Island, Xiamen as the mainland, accumulating strength, If we want to liberate Taiwan now, we can only follow this path, and let's talk about how we can capture Kinmen Island and then liberate Taiwan Island. ” Commander Ye is an overseas Chinese, his ancestral home is here in Fujian, he is still familiar with the local geographical and cultural environment, and knows that in order to attack Kinmen and win the battle, there must be enough boats, but at this moment all the fishermen's boats along the coast of Fujian are mostly destroyed by the fleeing Kuomintang troops, and the entire 11th Corps has collected a total of three or four hundred fishing boats, and they can only hide in hidden islands and caves, so as to avoid the bombing of Kuomintang planes and survive.
The Kuomintang planes bombed the newly liberated city of Shanghai every day, blowing up the head of the newly appointed Mayor Chen, so he asked Commander Li to leave the naval division under Zhou Wu and the river defense fleet of Deputy Commander Li here in Wusongkou, so as to find a way to deal with the bombing of the Kuomintang planes, defend this hard-won victory, and ensure the air safety of Shanghai.
Although the anti-aircraft firepower of the naval division and the river defense fleet was not enough to completely stop the wanton and indiscriminate bombing of the Kuomintang planes, they were still able to make the Kuomintang air force that flaunted its might not dare to do whatever it wanted, and on the islands in eastern Zhejiang near Shanghai, a large number of remnants of the Kuomintang army were entrenched, and by virtue of their familiarity with the local terrain and sea routes, they frequently dispatched ships to attack and harass the coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang and Shanghai.
He also had to send ships to drive out the remnants of the Kuomintang troops who came to harass them, and for a time the task was really busy, and he could not spare it to support the Fujian front.
Of course, Commander Ye, who is a subordinate corps of the East China Field Army, is very clear about this situation, and he is determined to solve the problem of ships on the spot by himself, believing that if he attacks the small island of Kinmen, and the Kuomintang garrison on the small island currently has only one brigade of troops, and 300 fishing boats can carry four or five thousand armed PLA soldiers to the island at the same time, and if they land on the island in three batches, they will first seize the beachhead, and then the follow-up troops will follow, and they should be able to take Kinmen Island, and besides, there will be no problem with fire support.
At a distance of more than 10 nautical miles from Xiamen, the range of heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 150 mm is completely within reach.
So Commander Ye said to everyone: "The Corps Headquarters has decided to immediately carry out the campaign to capture Kinmen Island, and the troops of Zhou Wu's 11th Army have been reorganized into the 11th Corps and the 11th Army since the Battle of Shanghai, and Chen Guofu's 21st Army has carried out the operation, first landing ashore with the strength of three regiments, the second wave is also prepared with the strength of three regiments, and the third wave of two regiments is sweeping the tail, preparing for five days to train for naval battles, and immediately starting the attack on the Kinmen Campaign five days later."
Commander Ye said this, Zhou Wu and Chen Guofu did not feel anything wrong, they are like most PLA commanders at the moment, there is no pressure on the security of attacking Kinmen Island, and according to the latest intelligence, the Kuomintang army on Kinmen Island has only one brigade, and that brigade is still an incomplete structure, lacking a regiment, the actual total strength is only two regiments, plus a tank battalion, more than a dozen tanks and armored vehicles, and if all three regiments of their first wave of attack land ashore, they should be able to take Kinmen Island.
After returning to the station, Zhou Wu also immediately convened a meeting of his officers to discuss, including the fat man, many commanders are infinitely optimistic about the prospects of the Kinmen Campaign, they think that this Kinmen Island is actually similar to the Chongming Island in Shanghai, three regiments and a reinforced regiment, nearly 10,000 people of the People's Liberation Army, it is not easy to take the small Kinmen Island, so at the military meeting, the fat man is full of confidence, determined to win, and he doesn't even need to prepare for five days, according to the fat man's character, It is best for him to start attacking Kinmen Island immediately the day after tomorrow, and the experience of a naval battle at Wusongkou in Shanghai, and the easy defeat of the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy makes the fat man have no shadow of the Kuomintang Navy in his eyes, thinking that at this time here on Kinmen Island, the Kuomintang Navy Fleet is also the same bear-like, and it is not vulnerable at all.
The whole venue was filled with the atmosphere of victory, only the chief of staff Lao Xu was silent, and the political commissar Niu looked at it and hurriedly asked him: "Lao Xu, why don't you speak, could it be that our troop deployment this time is wrong, or what's wrong, let's talk about it, say it, let us all listen." ” Lao Xu looked at Zhou Wu, and saw that Zhou Wu was also full of confidence, his face was full of light, and he knew that it was inappropriate for him to put forward his opinion at this time, but as a cool-headed and responsible officer, and as the chief of staff of the Eleventh Army, he should stand up and pour cold water on these hot-headed brothers, otherwise he would be sorry for the military uniform he was wearing.
"Lao Zhou, I don't think this is good, there are only three hundred fishing boats, and there is no armed escort, so catch up, in case the back road is cut off by the enemy, and the fishing boat is blown up by the enemy aircraft, how can we come back and the follow-up troops can't pick up, what should I do I suggest postponing the battle to liberate Kinmen, and wait until Huang Shuisheng's water division and river defense fleet arrive here, and then attack is not too late" Lao Xu was worried that the ships and logistics supplies of his troops could not be supplied, in case they hit Kinmen Island, the first wave of landing troops would go up, and the follow-up would not be able to catch up, Aren't those brothers in front of them alone?
Zhou Wu heard Lao Xu's concern, hesitated slightly, but immediately said: "Lao Xu, we have been in Shanghai before, and we have also encountered the enemy's naval fleet, haven't we been defeated by our armed fishing boats, as long as we start quickly, we can also win this landing battle." ” As soon as Lao Xu heard that Zhou Wu insisted on this, he shook his head helplessly and said to him: "Since most of the brothers here are in favor of attacking Kinmen Island immediately, then I will naturally obey the majority, but I also have a suggestion, that is, it is best for these first wave of attack teams to land in batches, leaving one-third of the ships for maneuvering in case of emergency, so that even if the ships of the landing force are blown up by enemy aircraft, we can have ships to pick up the team that landed on the island." ” Zhou Wu felt that Lao Xu's idea was too cautious, originally about 300 ships were not enough, he had to leave a third as a retreating ship, how many people and horses can be loaded with about 200 fishing boats, the first wave of people and horses must be more, so as to seize the beachhead of Kinmen Island, open up the landing site, and the second echelon can follow, otherwise it will be blocked by the Kuomintang army on the beachhead, and it will be miserable.
Zhou Wu disagreed with Lao Xu's idea, thinking that his idea was too cautious, and it was really important to be cautious, but if it was too much, it would become complacent, and the war would be a "risky" word, how could there be a safe and secure, and all the conditions should be prepared before fighting According to the current speed of collecting ships, it is estimated that the battle to attack Kinmen Island will be launched in the spring of next year, so that the defeated Kuomintang army will have a chance to breathe, which will definitely not work.
Since the corps headquarters and the field army headquarters above have agreed to this operational plan for attacking Kinmen Island, then make up their minds to do it, Zhou Wu announced at the meeting that the 33rd Division of the Fat Man of the 11th Army is responsible for the first wave of attacks, Ge Sanmin's 34th Division is the second echelon, and Xiao Zheng's 35th Division is the reserve, which is responsible for the main attack on Kinmen Island in the direction of Liaoluo Port and Guningtou, and cooperates with other friendly troops to attack Kinmen Island After the meeting was dismissed, Political Commissar Niu pondered Lao Xu's thoughts and felt that he had some truth, and indeed commanders at all levels now think in their minds that the Kuomintang army is simply a piece of waste wood, and that both the navy and the army are all bear-like, and in the battle off the coast of Wusongkou, the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy could not defeat Huang Shuisheng's gunboats and armed fishing boats.
Lao Niu said to Zhou Wu: "What Lao Xu said just now is not unreasonable, so let's do it, I suggest leaving thirty fishing boats to hide for emergency use, and then we can find a way to collect ships locally, it really can't work, you can call Commander Li and ask Huang Shuisheng to come over for reinforcements, the air defense over there in Shanghai is important, but it is also important for us to liberate Kinmen Island, Lao Zhou, what do you say?"
Zhou Wu nodded: "I think it's okay to leave thirty fishing boats, and Lao Xu has to do it to collect boats around, I don't think there's any need for them to come over Huang Shuisheng, from Shanghai to Xiamen, it will take at least four or five days, it's too late, and the time to miss the general attack on Kinmen Island is also unrealistic." ” t1706231537: