My Story (9) – Battle of Dachen (1)
My Story (9) – Battle of Dachen (1) Although Chinese Nationalists lost all their territory in Mainland China, they still controlled some of the adjacent off-shore islands, most notably Jinmen and Matsu. Dachen, with a group of small islands, 230 nautical miles from Taiwan, was the farthest. After the US aided Taiwan’s defense at the outbreak of the Korean War, they pressured the Nationalist Government to withdraw from those islands because they were so near the Communist controlled Mainland, they were indefensible. But Chiang Kai-shek, the President of the Nationalist government, steadfastly refused in the hope of someday using those islands as stepping stones to recover the Mainland. The recovery of Mainland China was never realized; and even though the US refused to include the islands within the scope of their defense, Taiwan, after some well-known battles, still managed to hold Jinmen and Matsu. Dachen, after several years of struggle, was lost. Working as a p...