By 18:00 the battle was over, the entire nationalist division having been wiped out.

All three nationalist divisions suffered greatly in earlier battles and none of them was fully manned.

The enemy, in response, targeted the central front headed by the nationalist 89th Division, who was dangerously exposed because its push was much too fast.

The seven remaining communist divisions were simply not enough to take on the five technically superior nationalist Divisions defending the city.

Learning the news of the annihilation of the nationalist 89th Division, the nationalists on the other two fronts immediately withdrew.

Unable to rescue its vanguard, the rest of the nationalist 27th Division wisely chose to abandon the fight and withdrew safely.

The first shot of the campaign was fired at 5:00 AM on July 16, 1953 when a nationalist division landed on the island.

Realising this, the communists attempted an ambush of the nationalist 50th Division twice, once on 25 December, and again two days later.

The primary objective of the communists was to annihilate the nationalist 21st Division and the 43rd Division.

Rising inflation, unemployment and nationalist divisions have put governments on the defensive from Prague to Sofia.