[One Hundred Cultural Relics Tell the History of the Party (057)]
The 414 gunboat displayed at the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution:
This boat was originally a river defense gunboat of the Kuomintang Navy. In 1949, it joined the uprising of the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy and was later incorporated into the People's Liberation Army Navy and named the 414 gunboat.
On July 10, 1950, in the naval battle of Jishan, Zhejiang, the crew of the boat was resourceful and brave. They first rammed the large wooden-hulled gunboat "Xinbaoshun" of the Kuomintang army with its bow, and then sank it.
On the night of June 23, 1951, during a fishery protection and escort mission, the boat encountered a Kuomintang warship near the waters of Toumen Mountain in Zhejiang Province. The single boat bravely rushed into the fleet and fought fiercely with four enemy ships.
Due to the bravery, tenacity and flexibility of the crew on the boat, they disrupted the formation of the Kuomintang military fleet and sank and damaged one Kuomintang warship each. It protected the safety of more than 900 fishing boats and 3 cargo ships, and was awarded the honorary title of "Heroic Gunboat in the Battle of Toumen Mountain" by superiors.
Oil painting "The Battle of Toumen Mountain":
The commander who led the uprising of the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy was Lin Zun, the grandnephew of the national hero Lin Zexu.
Born into a naval family, he recovered the Nansha Islands
Lin Zun, also known as Lin Zunzhi, was born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in 1905. His father Lin Chaoxi served in the Beiyang Navy and participated in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War.
In 1924, 19-year-old Lin Zun was full of ambitions to revitalize the Chinese Navy and was admitted to the Yantai Naval Academy with excellent results.
While in school, he met Guo Shousheng, a member of the Communist Party of China. Guo founded the "New Navy Society", a peripheral organization of the Communist Party of China, and edited the monthly "New Navy". Lin Zun was a member of the "New Navy Society" and an enthusiastic reader of the "New Navy" monthly magazine.
In 1929, Lin Zun was sent to study at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England. After graduating in 1934, he returned to China and served as a navigation officer and deputy captain in the Kuomintang Navy. In 1937, he went to Germany to study submarine technology. After returning to China in 1939, he started as deputy captain of the Navy's "Yongsui" ship. By 1949, he had been promoted to commander of the Second Coast Defense Fleet.
During the Anti-Japanese War, he led the fifth guerrilla mine-laying brigade to fight against the Japanese army and had contacts with the New Fourth Army.
After Japan surrendered, he led two warships, the "Taiping" and the "Zhongye", to take over the Nansha Islands. He changed the name of the main island of the Nansha Islands to "Taiping Island" after the warships on which he was aboard, and erected a monument with the words "Taiping Island" on the island.
When the People's Liberation Army deployed the Yangtze River offensive, Lin Zun was ordered to lead the Second Coastal Defense Fleet into the Yangtze River to deploy defenses.
In September 1948, the special correspondent of the underground organization of the Communist Party of China found Guo Shousheng, the then president of the Kuomintang's "Naval Monthly", and conveyed to him Zhou Enlai's mission to return to the team and fight for Lin Zun's uprising.
According to the instructions of the party organization, Guo Shousheng mobilized Lin Zun to revolt. Lin Zun agreed on the spot.
Mao Zedong personally deployed, and on the day the navy was founded, Lin Zun led the Second Fleet to revolt.
News of Lin Zun's uprising was reported to the central government. Mao Zedong, who was commanding the Huaihai and Pingjin campaigns, attached great importance to this. On December 13, 1948, he telegraphed the intelligence agency in Shanghai:
You can select capable cadres to contact Lin Zun. Our attitude is to welcome them to revolt and serve the people. A fleet is formed into a fleet when it is revolted, and a detachment is formed into a detachment when it is revolted. The timing of the uprising will be determined after consultation.
Enlisting Lin Zun to lead the uprising of the Second Coast Defense Fleet would, on the one hand, collapse the Kuomintang's Yangtze River defense line and speed up the process of the cross-river campaign, and on the other hand, create conditions for the formation of the New China's navy.
On December 30, 1948, Mao Zedong completed the New Year's Day message "Carry the Revolution to the End" written for Xinhua News Agency. On the day the article was broadcast, he personally signed a second telegram:
Regarding the preparations for an uprising by the Second Yangtze River Fleet, please still follow the principles stated in the Central Committee’s previous telegram. The negotiation method proposed by Lin Zun is Lin's own opinion and does not need to be changed. The most important thing is that Lin should wait patiently and not be exposed to avoid unnecessary losses beforehand.
Perhaps because Lin Zun was about to lead a fleet uprising, on January 8, 1949, Mao Zedong proposed a plan to establish a navy at a high-level meeting.
Lin Zun disguised himself very well, and Gui Yongqing was still kept in the dark until the day before the uprising. In Nanjing, he personally talked to Lin Zun, asking Lin Zun to lead the fleet to Shanghai, and promised Lin Zun a promotion and a medal.
After Gui Yongqing left Nanjing, Lin Zun then led the ship to revolt. He originally wanted to bring more ships to the uprising, but at this time, soldiers provoked and escaped from the ship. Lin Zun made a prompt decision and staged an uprising on April 23.
April 23 was the day when the People's Liberation Army captured the Presidential Palace and the day when the People's Navy was established.
Lin Zun, commander of the Second Coastal Defense Fleet of the Kuomintang, led 9 warships, 21 small boats, and 1,271 officers and soldiers. They decided not to leave on the Badoushan River in Nanjing and defected to the new regime.
Mao Zedong and Zhu De praised the uprising as "a feat on the Nanjing River."
The 30 ships and 1,271 officers and soldiers of the Second Fleet led by Lin Zun have naturally become an important force in building the People's Navy.
On August 28, 1949, Lin Zun, Zhang Aiping and others were received by Mao Zedong. On September 15, Mao Zedong approved Lin Zun as the first deputy commander of the Navy of the East China Military Region. After that, as a representative of the first Political Consultative Conference, he participated in the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.
In 1955, Lin Zun was awarded the rank of major general. In the following twenty years, as a representative of the first to fifth National People's Congresses, he devoted his life to building a strong navy.
In 1979, Lin Zun died of illness in Shanghai.