Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last.

And in today's story we take you back to 1949 and the last time Britain fought in China, when a British warship became trapped on the

Yancey River and was held hostage during the Chinese Civil War. On a misty Wednesday morning, the 20th of April, 1949, a British warship, the HMS

amethyst was stealing up China's vast Yancey River. It was the last months of China's civil

war between the nationalists and the communists. And the British ship's destination lay 300

miles upriver, Nanking or Nancing today, then the Nationalist

Capital.

Its mission was to help evacuate British nationals from a city about to fall.

Man King, capital of China. nationals from a city about to fall.

Man King, capital of China, awaits the entry of the Red Armies.

These are its last days before its expected fall.

On the Great Yank Sea River which links Nanking with Shanghai, gunboats stand guard as thousands

of nationalist troops are ferried to defend the capital, although all signs point to

its surrender. In ever increasing numbers numbers refugees hurry out of the city.

As the Amethyst headed up river on one bank sat the Communist Army and on the other sat the

nationalists facing defeat.

The British ship was not expecting trouble.

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