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The incident involved the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA), who were in the middle of a river-crossing offensive to overthrow the Nationalist Government, and four British Royal Navy ships HMS Amethyst, HMS Black Swan, HMS Consort and HMS London.
Reuter. Twenty of the crew of the British sloop Amethyst were casualties when she sustained heavy bombardment on the Yangtse River to-day. A Chinese spokesman said the firing came from Chinese Communist batteries on the north bank of the river.
This is a short introduction to the HMS Amethyst incident in the Yangtse River when she was fired on by Communist forces with heavy losses to herself and those ships that attempted to rescue her. The London Gazette lists the honours awarded but did not include an official despatch.
In April 1949, with civil war raging in China between the Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army and Nationalist Kuomintang forces, the frigate (a type of warship) HMS Amethyst was ordered up the Yangtze River to act as a guardship for the British Embassy in Nanjing.
The Amethyst was on her way to Nanking from Shanghai, wending her way along China’s greatest river as her predecessors had been doing for over a hundred years. It was April 1949 and China was in the grip of a horrific civil war. Britain’s position in the Middle Kingdom was extremely unsteady.
A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) field gun battery on the north bank of the river fired a salvo of ten shells to warn Amethyst to stay away from the war zone.
Oct 5, 2007 · Over half way to Nanking, Amethyst came under heavy artillery fire, was hit and driven aground. Twenty one Officers and men were killed and 28 wounded. Consort sailed from Nanking and attempted to help Amethyst but she came under devastating fire, crippled, she managed to escape down river.
