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How does John Torland describe Van Fritter?

While the volunteers were busy preparing for the anti-landing operation, the United Nations army planned an air-to-ground, tank-to-ground, artillery-to-step cooperative operation experiment to test the stability of the frontal defense of the Chinese and Korean troops, and with the cooperation of planes, tanks, heavy artillery and infantry, launched a fierce attack on the 25 highland south of Zhishanli, which was called T-shaped mountain by the United Nations army.

This provocative behavior of the United Nations Army just gives the volunteers an internship. After so long preparation, commanders also want to see what problems still exist in our army's operations.

After the defeat of the American army in Shangganling, Van Fritt sadly realized that his opportunity was going to be lost in a flash. However, as a world war II star, even if there is a glimmer of hope left, he will fight hard.

Van Frith made up his mind, and with the support of his younger brother Clark, he mobilized the greatest strength and firepower he could at that time. On the day of the inauguration ceremony of the president, he launched a decisive offensive operation. He clamored to take the T-shaped mountain from the hands of the China army, present it to the president, and earn some face for himself.

Clark supported the old schoolmaster happily this time. He knows that the old soldier is going to finish his job, so let him try again!

Clark sympathizes with Van Fritt, an old schoolmate whose luck is too bad. At the same time, as the commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, Clark also wanted to show the new president that his failure to succeed in the Jinhua offensive did not mean that the Eighth Army was an army with poor combat capability, and the plan to kill the front line of Yuanshan Mountain in Pyongyang was by no means unattainable. In order to end the war, he thought it was necessary to work hard on typing.

Van Fritt's chosen target is T-shaped Mountain, which is the highland on the south side of Zhi Cave.

After reconnaissance, American soldiers reported to Van Frith that this highland was a platoon's garrison. Therefore, Van Frith decided that this was a soft persimmon.

The exact name of this highland on the operational map of China Army is Highland 25. Because of its T-shaped shape, the United Nations Army calls it T-shaped Mountain.

Because it is located at the front of the defensive positions of Chengshan and Zhishan, and its southern section is connected with the positions of the United Nations Army, it has very important strategic value.

Van Fritt's name for this offensive is much more conservative than the showdown. It is called the Eighth Army Air-Gun-Tantan-Step Cooperative Experimental Operation, and the action code is whipping.

Although the naming is conservative, ostentation and extravagance is very conspicuous.

As soon as Van Fritt took all kinds of precautions in the triangle mountain, Clark also tried his best to pull a venue for the old senior this time.

Clark not only organized senior officers of the Eighth Army to watch the battle, but also invited 12 journalists. The newcomers all sent a 6-page-thick, beautifully printed experimental manual with three colors and a story description with the main projects and processes of the insurance.

The reporter's most instinctive reaction is to get a Broadway program.

Van Fritt's information is really accurate. There is really only one platoon on this highland, that is, the third platoon of the first company of the 21st regiment of the 67th division of the 23rd Army.

The platoon leader's name is Le Zhizhou. He is a veteran who participated in the Liberation War. Although he has only been digging fortifications along the east coast to see the seascape in the past few months since he came to North Korea, he has never let go of this string when he fought against the US military. Please ask the big brother troops to introduce their experience, learn tunnel warfare methods, and cadres to practice in the front-line brother troops. In recent months, they have also gained a lot of knowledge.

The 23rd Army is holding back its strength from top to bottom, trying to show the spirit of Hua Ye Senior Four to the young American soldiers! They learned a lot of combat experience when they handed over to the fifteenth army.

The fire raid reached its climax the day before the United Nations troops approached the attack.

On that day, the fighter-bomber group of the Far East Air Force alone dropped 136, pounds of bombs and 14 boxes of napalm bombs on this highland, not counting ground artillery fire.

this level of fire support is second only to the first day of shangganling operation.

During the preparation of the United Nations artillery fire, attack force, a reinforced battalion of the 32nd Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division of the United States, conducted as many as nine repeated drills on the terrain similar to the T-shaped mountain, until everyone knew his task like the back of his hand.

To ensure victory, before leaving, this reinforced battalion was assigned to two flamethrower units.

this kind of preparation is not inadequate.

at 3 a.m. on January 12th, 1953, Van Fritt first launched an exploratory attack.

Like Shangganling, it is inevitable that the palm-sized hill was plowed by artillery fire first, and then as soon as the artillery fire extended, nearly 2 infantry rushed to the hill noisily under the cover of four tanks.

This is a reinforced company of the 31st Regiment of the 7th Division of American Infantry.

Two months ago, the 7th Infantry Division of the United States was hit by a bloody head in Shangganling, and its troops suffered serious losses. After the withdrawal, it just recovered some vitality.

This time, I changed my position and fought again. Although the energy was not as good as when I was in the triangle mountain, under the cover of artillery planes, I started to fight the offensive noisily, which still looked quite imposing.

the U.S. military believes that the volunteers in this highland are new and have not been beaten. Sure enough, the infantry watched only a few steps away from the top of the mountain, but nothing happened yet. American soldiers are very proud, thinking that the volunteers above have been beaten up.

actually, when the American soldiers were having sex, the platoon of volunteers were smoking and chatting in the tunnel!

as soon as the artillery fire extended, the observers outside saw it almost, and they shouted: the enemy is coming up!

as soon as everyone threw the cigarette butts, they picked up the guys and rushed out of the hole.

crackling, a hail of grenades, grenades, and explosive barrels flew out and hit the head of the American army.

in an instant, crisp explosions rang one after another. After a while, the sound of machine guns and submachine guns staring at someone rang into a piece. The U.S. military dropped a corpse and climbed down the mountain.

In one morning, the US military tossed back and forth four times. The last people squatting on the high ground were Lezhizhou. Only one of them died and six were injured.

An American soldier with a reinforced company has more than 5 people lying down. What a bargain! This platoon of volunteers is getting happier and happier!

on 25th, the experiment officially started. The experiment developed completely in the order of the program.

from 8: to 12: , the Far East Air Force dispatched 196 sorties of F-84 Thunderbolt fighter-bombers, 8 in each batch, each carrying 1,-pound bombs, which repeatedly ravaged the 25 highland.

At the same time, nearly 1 artillery pieces were fired in unison for nearly 4 hours. In addition to the 25 highland, they also carried out containment shelling on Chengshan and Zhishan positions.

under the cover of artillery fire, a reinforced battalion and 33 tanks of the 31st Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division of the United States attacked the starting position at the foot of the mountain and assembled. As soon as the artillery fire extended, the tank detachment immediately stepped forward, the motor roared and the artillery fire flashed frequently.

this is to distract the garrison.

According to the scheduled plan, the F-84 fighter-bomber formation ploughed the mountain again with artillery fire and napalm.

At this moment, the flare flew and the American infantry began to attack.

at the head is the second platoon of e company of Lt. John abogatus, Jr.

at this time, the defenders on the highland are still a platoon of the 23rd Army. It's still the first company of the 21st regiment, only with a new platoon.

In the first few days, when the US troops shelled, they hid in the tunnel to rest during the day, and only came out at night to repair the surface fortifications damaged by the bombing during the day.

For four days in a row, the soldiers of the Volunteers have been patiently preparing for the bombing and the bombing, waiting for the infantry of the other side to deliver themselves.

sure enough, soon after, the other party really came to the door.

It was almost the same as the battle on the 12th. The first company of the 21st regiment, which was guarding the highland, used the first displacement of enemy troops. After the other side's artillery fire was extended, the team jumped out of the tunnel depending on the scale of the other side's attack. First, it smashed the grenades and grenade blasting barrels, crushed the American troops, and then picked up the machine guns and swept them around for a while.

The situation of Company E, the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, was very miserable. The first batch of grenades seriously injured Lieutenant John Abogatus Jr. One row was suppressed by the support artillery fire of the volunteer garrison under the rock, and the third row dragged a large number of wounded soldiers rolling and crawling, and finally fled back.

The 2nd platoon of the US Army managed to rush to the top of the hill, only to be swept away by submachine guns and explosive barrels from the volunteers who came out to support it in the tunnel, leaving only a few defeated soldiers, and it took a lot of effort to run back to their positions.

As a result, all the tricks carefully planned by Van Frith for several days failed.

by 15: 3 p.m., five group attacks by the U.S. military were repelled.

Seeing that it was really hopeless to fight any longer, Colonel Lloyd Moses, the head of the regiment, had to give an order to retreat.

After a long struggle, the T-shaped mountain is still firmly in the hands of the volunteers.

john toland, an American military historian, described the performance effect of this program concocted by Clark and Van Fritt as follows: this large-scale performance ended in tears.

In this battle, the US military dropped 224, pounds of bombs, 8 cases of napalm bombs, supported artillery, tanks, heavy mortars, machine guns and rifles, and fired more than 17, rounds of various shells and dropped more than 22, pounds of bombs in one day.

the volunteers relied on tunnel fortifications to fight against the American army, killing more than 15 American troops at the cost of 11 casualties.

The flogging action could have been unknown, but Van Frith, who was determined to win, invited some American military officers and journalists to watch the battle before the war.

After the war, these reporters who watched the performance with three-color plans reported the play directed by Van Frith vividly.

For the United Nations Army, this battle is a large-scale performance, but for the China Army, it is a trivial battle of the platoon units. If the United Nations Army hadn't pre-packaged it so brilliantly, this battle might have been unknown in the history books of China.

Even so, in the Military History of the 23rd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, this battle is only lightly described, with only a few hundred words before and after, and only two names are mentioned in the book: Liu Kaifa, the leader of the combat team, was injured in his right eye, and his face was covered with blood, and he still stubbornly persisted in fighting ...

After the platoon leader was injured, Comrade Chen Zhi, the vice squad leader of Class 3, stood up and burned his clothes regardless of incendiary bombs. This shows that the China Volunteers, who rely on tunnel fortifications, are getting better and better at fighting.

For Van Frith, this failed offensive accelerated his retirement from the military.

A small battle, because of the clamor of journalists, caused an uproar in the Congress of the United States of America. Members condemned Van Fritt in succession: Is this a normal military action or a gladiator performance for distinguished guests?

What's the value of this experiment that killed American youth in vain?

is the president prepared to end the war in this way?

If it goes on like this, the death list in the United States will be even longer ...

Eisenhower never let Van Frith mess around again.

The American Army in the Korean War commented on this battle: it was a costly lesson, which once again proved that no matter from the air or from the ground, firepower was enough to destroy the enemy hiding in the well-dug trenches. The advantage of this limited war is on the defensive side.

On February 1th, half a month after the T-Mountain Battle and the inauguration ceremony of the President, James Van Fritt, commander of the Eighth Army of the United States and Lieutenant General of the Army, was ordered to leave his post and return to China. His position was replaced by Lieutenant General maxwell taylor, Assistant Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

However, Eisenhower still found a decent step for his old classmate Van Frith. Before retiring, Van Frith was promoted to the rank of General.

Many years later, john toland, an American military historian, wrote: Van Frith's tenure became a controversial and frustrated topic in fighting a limited war.

john toland thinks this is a contribution of General Van Fritt, although he left North Korea in disgrace.