Did the purple timely finally sink?

The Purple Time Incident (English name: Amethyst incident or Yangtze Incident) occurred during the Battle of Crossing the River in June of the Liberation War 1949 1 1. The Royal Navy's Far East Fleet warship Purple Time broke into the front area of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River without warning, which led to a military conflict with the China People's Liberation Army shelling British warships. Also known as the Sino-British artillery battle on the Yangtze River.

conflict

The time to shell purple.

1 At dawn on April 20th, 949, the British warship Purple Timer was discovered at the 6th Battalion1Company of Artillery, a special forces column belonging to the PLA 10 Corps, on the river surface of Qiweigang, south of Taixing, Jiangsu. The behavior of purple timing in sensitive period triggered the purple timing events that attracted worldwide attention.

At 8: 30, purple timely approached the source of Sanjiangyuan in the south of Yangzhou, which is one of the main river-crossing combat zones of the Eighth Corps of the People's Liberation Army. The 3 rd regiment of the special forces column artillery was deployed here, and the informed PLA artillery immediately fired a warning shot. However, the purple timely did not return or stop sailing, but continued to speed up sailing despite warnings. Six guns of two battery companies in charge of stopping the river of the 3rd Artillery Regiment immediately fired, and Purple responded in time. Dure that artillery battle lasting several minute, the bridge of the purple timely was directly hit, and both the captain and the vice captain were seriously injured. The front main gun was destroyed, the hull was pierced, the rudder was stuck out of control, purple turned to the south bank in time, and then hit the shoal and ran aground. Finally, the British ship hung a white flag, and the PLA immediately stopped shelling. Purple Yingshi 17 was killed and 20 people were seriously injured. Due to the lack of armor-piercing bullets in the artillery howitzer of the People's Liberation Army, Purple was shot in many places, but it was not fatally damaged. Although purple Yingshi left the shoal that night, it remained suspended and did not move.

Bombard "companions"

After the "Purple" was shelled and stranded, the destroyer "Companion" that the "Purple" originally planned to replace immediately set off from Nanjing for support. 13: 30, the "companion" arrived at the river surface of Sanjiangying and tried to tow away Ziying, but was shelled by the artillery of the People's Liberation Army. Although his companions destroyed two field guns of the People's Liberation Army, they were also hit by several shells. The bridge was shot, the captain was injured and two former main guns were destroyed. The companion sailed downstream in an attempt to escape from the range of the PLA artillery, but entered the fire range of the column artillery 1 regiment of the PLA special forces and was attacked. Companion number 10 died and 12 was injured. About 40 people were killed or injured in the PLA.

Bombard "London"

On April 20, Sino-US negotiations broke down. 18, the seventh and ninth corps of the third field army of the People's Liberation Army took the lead in launching the river-crossing campaign, which officially started.

That night, British naval frigates HMS London and HMS Black Swan from Hong Kong joined their injured companions. Lieutenant General Alexander Madden, deputy commander of the British Navy's Far East Fleet, decided to lead the London and Black Swan to meet the Purple Time and rush out of the PLA-controlled area. When the PLA began to cross the river, it triggered a sensitive moment when the two sides of the military conflict had not yet started negotiations to calm down. This action is obviously a provocative act.

On the morning of April 2 1, the London and the Black Swan went upstream from Jiangyin and arrived at Qiwei Port at 8: 00 to anchor. This is the operational area where the Third Field Army of the People's Liberation Army/the 23rd Army of 10/0 Corps crossed the river. Deploy the 6th Artillery Corps, 2 artillery companies to perform the task of blocking the surface of the Yangtze River, and 8 howitzers. After the PLA found two British warships, it reported them step by step for instructions, and the British warships also broadcast that they had no intention of being enemies with the PLA.

As the British warship was close to the channel where the 23rd Army was crossing the river, Ye Fei, commander of the 10 Corps, and Tao Yong, commander of the 23rd Army, decided to warn it to leave first. According to the announcement of Xinhua News Agency, three yellow flares were fired as the last warning, and the British ship began to anchor and set sail. Without receiving an order from the superior, Liang Xuecheng, the second gunner of the Third Company of the Sixth Artillery Corps 1 Battalion, saw the British ship leave and ordered the fire, and the British ship immediately returned fire. The artillery positions deployed by the People's Liberation Army on the river bank are very concealed and can directly shoot at warships on the Yangtze River. However, the British ship believes that the artillery position of the People's Liberation Army is behind the river embankment, and the shells are all behind the river embankment. The infantry preparing to cross the river behind the river embankment suffered heavy casualties, and Deng Ruobo, head of the 202nd Regiment of the 23rd Army, died.

London and Black Swan rushed through the position of the 6th Artillery Regiment and entered the fire range of four howitzers of 1 Artillery Regiment, which was in charge of blocking the river. The London was shot many times in the artillery battle, the bridge was hit and the captain was injured. The British ship gave up its efforts to rescue the purple timely and turned back. At 14, the British ship returned to the position of the 6 th artillery regiment, and the two engines again had a fierce artillery battle. The London and the Black Swan broke away from the artillery fire of the People's Liberation Army and joined their companions to return to Shanghai. London 15 people were killed and 13 people were injured; Seven people were injured on the Black Swan. The PLA suffered 252 casualties. This artillery battle was the largest and most influential in the Purple Time Incident.

diplomacy

diplomatic dispute

The news of the purple event came back to Britain, and there was an uproar in Britain. Prime Minister Attlee claimed that with the permission of the Kuomintang government, British warships had the right to legally sail in the Yangtze River and carry out peaceful missions. Former Prime Minister Churchill declared that he would send an aircraft carrier to the Far East to "retaliate by force". Some members also pointed out that sending warships to sail in the Yangtze River before the PLA's military action to cross the river was obviously easy to arouse the anger of the PLA waiting to cross the river. Some Members criticized afterwards: If a warship of a pro-Nazi country sailed into the English Channel on D-Day, shouldn't we smash it to pieces? After the British Far East Fleet failed to rescue Purple by military means, the British government sought a diplomatic solution to the incident through various channels.

Mao Zedong issued a statement on behalf of General Li Tao, spokesman of the PLA headquarters:

The China People's Liberation Army has reason to demand that the British government admit its mistake, apologize and compensate. The People's Liberation Army and the People's Government of China are willing to consider establishing diplomatic relations with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and mutual respect for territorial sovereignty, independence and integrity. First of all, they can't help Kuomintang reactionaries.

The American warship that China was most worried about at that time did not appear, but it clashed with the British warship that broke into the front line. At first, the Central Military Commission thought that the British ship had no intention to stop the PLA from crossing the river. It called the General Front Committee of the Crossing Campaign and instructed not to attack as long as it did not hinder the crossing operation. Even made it clear that it is convenient to be rescued. After the gunfight with the USS London, people's attitudes changed. Xinhua News Agency published an editorial "Protesting against the atrocities committed by British ships", and the PLA headquarters issued a statement on the atrocities committed by British ships. But then China's Central Military Commission telegraphed the frontline troops against the Purple that there was no need to disarm or capture the ship.

At this time, Major John S Kerens, the military attache of the British Embassy in Nanjing, took over as the captain of the Purple Timely. On April 26th, the two sides started contacts and informal dialogue. The English ship promised not to move its anchorage (for the next three months). The China People's Liberation Army approved the crew of Purple Time to exchange food with local residents.

diplomatic negotiation

On May 18, the People's Liberation Army Zhenjiang Frontline Command sent Kang Maozhao, political commissar of the Third Artillery Corps, as the official negotiator of the two sides. Britain also sought a diplomatic solution for the purple in time. On May 24, the two sides started negotiations, and China demanded that the British side apologize for breaking into the PLA defense zone without the permission of the PLA and compensate for the losses. The British side believes that there is no fault and the negotiations have broken down many times.

In June, in view of the People's Liberation Army's March to the south of the Yangtze River, China did not want to be deadlocked for a long time in such negotiations and made appropriate concessions. On June 20th, China suggested that Britain admit the mistake of breaking into the war zone without permission, and China could separate the responsibility of identification from the release of purple. Although substantial progress has been made in the negotiations between the two sides, the British side insists on not admitting its mistakes. By July 1 1, the negotiations were deadlocked.

Kang Maozhao, a negotiator of the People's Liberation Army, wrote in his memoirs that our highest authority is in a favorable position politically and militarily ... we don't have to entangle with it. If Ziying escapes in time, our troops along the river can pretend not to know and will not intercept. In mid-July, China * * * agreed to Ziyingshi's application for refueling. Without fuel, purple ones can't escape from the Yangtze River.

Due to the lack of diplomatic channels for direct communication between the two sides, the deadlock lasted until the end of July. China changed its attitude when it found British ships moving in the Yangtze River estuary. The Central Military Commission ordered the front-line headquarters that the previous order that the Purple should not be intercepted if it escaped was invalid. With China's tough attitude, the memorandum submitted by the commander of the British Far East Fleet on July 28 also showed a sincere gesture, and authorized the captain of the Purple Timely as the representative of the formal negotiations. As it is close to the time for the Purple Time to escape, some people think that the change of British attitude is a delaying tactic for the Purple Time to escape.

Purple escaped in time.

After Karen took over as the captain of the Purple Time, he hoped to negotiate, repair the damage and try to escape from the waters of the Yangtze River. After the typhoon landed on July 30, Karen decided to use the rising river to break through.

At 2 1 on the same day, when the passenger ship Jiangling Jiefang from Zhenjiang to Shanghai passed Ziying, Karen ordered to cut off the anchor chain and set sail, followed Jiangling Jiefang and used the passenger ship to cover the breakout of Ziying. No sooner had the "Purple Timely" set sail than it was discovered by the surveillance post of China People's Liberation Army. The PLA artillery near the southeast port of Zhenjiang was ordered to intercept. There was no moonlight that day, and although there were no lighting facilities, the artillery of the People's Liberation Army recognized the purple season after the liberation of Jiangling and concentrated their fire bombardment. In order to escape this blow, purple accelerated in time to catch up with Jiangling Liberation. The British ship hid on the port side of the passenger ship and sailed side by side. The Jiangling Liberation, used as a shield, was shot, caught fire and sank. Although the purple timely engine was once turned off, it finally eliminated the fault and accelerated the escape from the artillery range of the People's Liberation Army.

At 2200 hours, when the Purple Time arrived at Jiangyin fortress, it turned off the turbine and went downstream. The PLA artillery in Jiangyin fortress lacks lighting and communication equipment. When the People's Liberation Army found out and fired, it was too late, and purple rushed through Jiangyin fortress in time.

The Yangtze River flows into the sea from the north and south sides of Chongming Island near the estuary. The artillery of the special forces column of the Third Field Army stationed in Shanghai on the south bank of the Yangtze River was ordered to stand by at 24 o'clock, but the purple time was not found until dawn. In the early morning of July 365438, 3 1 year, the purple timely sailed out of the Yangtze River estuary from the waterway on the north side of Chongming Island and joined the destroyer Harmony of the Royal Navy.

With the escape of the purple timely, the negotiations on this event ended. The captain of the purple timely commanded the warship to escape from the Yangtze River with a large number of crew members and won the Medal of Excellent Service.