1950s Part 4: Preparation for war

With mainland China lost to Red China, the last bastion of the Nationalists, Taiwan, must be mobilized post-haste. To reinforce the 600,000 KMT soldiers withdrawn from various theaters in (and outside of) China, mandatory military service was instituted on Dec 28, 1949, and Taiwanese youth were once again drafted.

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out. And an invasion of Taiwan by the Red Army appeared imminent, presumably first through air raids in March, 1951, followed by ground assaults in May. This was no idle speculation. In Tamsui, in some nights before and during this period, air-raid sirens were sounded with search lights scanning the sky. And each time, the residents would hastily head to bomb shelters, just like in those days in 1944-45. Luckily, nothing untoward happened.

Under this threat, war preparation in Taiwan rapidly escalated, all coordinated through US MAAG (Military Assistance and Advisory Group) that was headed by Maj Gen William C Chase. [On the civilian side, the USAID (Agency for International Development) had done a great job in promoting healthcare, reviving agriculture and introducing new industries.]

To raise the morale of the populace and mostly to send warning signals to the PRC, a show of force in the form of annual military parade on the Double 10th Day started in earnest in 1949 which was reviewed by Gen Chen-chen in the absence of CKS. The latter resumed leadership and assumed the grand reviewing commander-in-chief role in 1951. Each year, CKS would address the nation in heavily accented Mandarin through radio broadcast and the speech always started out with "全國軍民同胞們... (Soldiers and compatriots of the whole nation...)" For the rest of the day, organized rally of hundreds of civil and student groups led by almost the same number of marching bands would wind through the streets of Taipei, followed by fireworks at night. It was quite festive indeed. We were all sure that people of the PRC, especially the PLA, were suitably impressed.

Double 10th Parade and display of brand new 75mm howitzers, 1952

In 1960, besides regular goose-stepping soldiers, 女青年工作大隊Young Women's Working Brigade [or DoD Political Women Warriors] also took part:

Marching soldiers, here, sailors with M1 rifles and bayonets

DoD 女青年工作大隊 in Mulan steps befitting of ladies

A bird's eye view of the Double 10th Parade, 1961

There was an unfortunate incident in the 1964 parade. One of fighter-jets in a low-flying formation, while passing in front of the grand review stand, had hit the transmitting tower of 中國廣播公司China Broadcasting Co (below) nearby and lost an auxiliary fuel tank. The wayward tank struck and killed 2 people and a baby near the front gate of the Taiwan Weather Bureau. Two F-104s dispatched to escort the damaged fighter-jet bumped into each other in the air and crashed near 土城TuChen. Both pilots were killed. This tragedy had effectively halted the annual parade tradition, not to re-activate until 1975.

The tall antenna on the far left was hit and bent at the top by a low-flying fighter-jet.
An auxiliary fuel tank ruptured and detached. Rumor has it that CKS was seen wiping jet fuel off his face.

[Source of photos: Taipics.com]