1945: Era of Overcoming Hardships
Bombing during WWII destroyed roughly half of the telecommunications infrastructure built during the Japanese colonial period. Damage to city and long-distance telephone systems was quite severe and some parts and materials could be pieced together or repaired. The long-distance underground trunk line from Keelung to Kaohsiung was utterly destroyed and calls could be made with difficulty in only a few small areas. The exposed wires linking eastern Taiwan also suffered severe damages. In addition, since most telecom technicians were Japanese and were repatriated after the war, post-war Taiwan faced a major lack of telecommunications manpower.
Facing this bleak situation, telecom workers threw themselves into their work and managed to restore the system in only a few short years. As a result, the Taiwan-wide telecommunications network was not disrupted for very long. Nevertheless, after the government, fleeing the Communist took over of mainland China, moved to Taiwan a few years after the end of WWII, the large rise in population and increased military, political and economic needs placed new demands on the telecommunications network.