On October 28th, A.D.1950165438+10, a series of reactions in the world caused by the great changes in the Korean battlefield dazzled historians for more than half a century.
165438+1At about 5 a.m. on October 28th, Chairman Mao in Beijing was sending a telegram to Peng, who was far away in North Korea, demanding the elimination of three divisions of the US military. He was called Douglas, who always excused himself for his failure. General MacArthur's telegram from Tokyo made Washington panic: "This headquarters has done everything it can, but the situation it faces is beyond its control and power."
American President Truman was surprised to learn the contents of this telegram. Only a month ago, the commander-in-chief of the Far East told him easily on Wake Island that North China was no longer a problem, but now he told the United States with anxiety: "Obviously, our current military strength is not enough to cope with this undeclared human war, and it is more beneficial to them at the right time and place."
At 9 o'clock that evening, Peng was clapping his hands for Long Yuanli of 1 13 division at the headquarters of the Volunteers to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
At the same time, the US Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, at 9: 50 p.m., MacArthur was discussing countermeasures with Walker and General almond, the chiefs of the East-West Line of the Allied Forces who were urgently recalled by him. Since then, this meeting has been criticized, and the front line is about to collapse, but the generals are called to the rear area for a meeting, which is called "the strangest meeting" by American and Japanese military scientists.
The meeting finally decided to stop the attack on the east-west line and quickly retreat the allies to Pyongyang and Wonsan for protection.
Retreat became the only option for the allied forces that launched the northward offensive four days ago to avoid extinction.
American scholars commented: "After studying the characteristics of China people, Walker, commander of the Eighth Army, found that they were disciplined, daring to fight and persevering. They like to use encirclement tactics from battalion level to corps level. Once they gain an advantage, they will immediately take advantage of it. But like North Koreans, logistics supply is also a achilles heel. " According to Barton's suggestion that once a decision is made, don't delay, Walker decided to withdraw his troops to the best defensive position. No matter how far it is, he will arrange everything before the commander China's 38th Army and 42nd Army complete the siege.
Peng, commander-in-chief of the volunteers on the battlefield, is eager to realize the elimination of Chairman Mao's main allied forces in World War I in North Korea. It depends on every soldier who fights in the mountains of North Korea. However, for these soldiers who have exhausted their physical strength and energy, it is an unimaginable and arduous task to completely block the retreat of powerful opponents.
Guo Zhongtian, 1 13 Division 337 Regiment 1 Battalion 1 Company 2 platoon leader, is in charge of a hill below Gexianling, Beishan, Longyuanli, only 50 meters away from the highway. His troops have a feature that they can throw anything except weapons and ammunition, dry food bags and small shovels. Wherever he went, he mobilized soldiers to dig fortifications without eating.
This company has been a reserve team since North Korea, and has never fired a shot at its opponent, but many soldiers have worn blood bubbles on their hands because of digging fortifications.
1 Battalion's position is just stuck on the road from north to south. 1 battalion deployment 1 company, to prevent the enemy from fleeing from the north to the south. The position occupied by platoon 2 is just at a corner of the road, and the terrain is so good that planes and cannons can't hit them.
On the morning of the 29th, a large number of allied forces diverted from the three places approached the position, and they were the main force of the US troops withdrawing from the south. Guo Zhongtian instructed the soldier Zhang Zhongxiang to aim at the jeep ahead and fired their first shot to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
At that time, the biggest problem for volunteers with only light weapons was how to resist the other tanks. Although they can't climb the hillside, they can rampage on the road below and use their bodies against steel tanks, just like the Colosseum in ancient Rome.
The soldiers had to blow up the tank with explosives, and they ran out of explosives at dawn the next day. The soldiers who were still alive rushed to the tank and stuffed bundles of grenades into the track of the tank. However, the American tank men could soon repair it, and the China soldiers had to rush to detonate the explosives again.
Playing tanks is basically two people playing. The first soldier was injured and the explosives were not put away. A platoon leader was in a hurry and rushed up with explosives, which blew up the enemy's first tank. A high-speed tank behind crashed into a damaged tank in front, so the Coalition convoy and tanks evacuated from the south were blocked by these two tanks.
The battle to stop the allied forces in the south is going on, and the first division of American cavalry reinforced from the north of Shunchuan is behind the defenders, trying to get through the retreat channel they call Attack Ridge.
Soldiers from both sides dyed the machine guns and barrels red, and the fierce fighting made China soldiers reassess their opponents.
Almost all American soldiers on the battlefield came from the occupying forces deployed by the United States in Japan after World War II. Because the surrendered Japan completely gave up resistance, the occupying forces lived a very leisurely life in that island country, so they were once described by reporters as troops on tatami.
However, these seemingly idle soldiers are used to peaceful days, but they are still fighting in actual combat, which leads to dangerous defensive positions.
Volunteers 1 13 Division 337th Regiment 2 Battalion arrived at the battlefield a little later than 1 Battalion. They had just occupied the position and had not built fortifications before the enemy attacked, so the position was quickly washed away by the enemy. The opponent in the offensive position immediately outflanked the rear of 1 battalion. Once their attempt is realized, the rear command, ammunition delivery and casualty evacuation of 1 Battalion, which is engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy, will be cut off.
1 camp instructor Chen ran to organize a counterattack, but what happened halfway was beyond his biggest expectation. He suddenly met a team, which was a military task force that had raided Wuling Bridge before and then continued to open the road according to the military's orders. This is undoubtedly a great savior for Chen Lai in crisis.
As the saying goes, it is better to come early than to come opportunely. Chen, who doesn't have a single soldier in his hand, said to the commander of the task force, two section chiefs and deputy section chiefs of the reconnaissance department: "Please be sure to occupy the current main attack highland for me and ensure the safety of this side of my position! I'm going to report to the group! " Without hesitation, the two section chiefs immediately ordered the reconnaissance team to run and occupy the highland. The position returned to the hands of Battalion 2 and was blocked by a torn gap.
At this point, the main forces of the three US divisions were trapped in the encirclement between Li Fengming, Guichuan, Sansuoli and Longyuanli. As long as we break through the exits of Sanli and Longyuanli, we can open a way out.
Attack and retreat, encirclement and breakthrough, a shocking battle of blood and fire is rolling on the frozen soil of North Korea.
The us military can weave an overwhelming battle net at any time of the war. A supporting artillery battalion fired more than 3000 shells in 20 minutes.
Even if there is a problem in land transportation, the US military can not only drop weapons, ammunition and food from the sky, but also priests (the US military has a priest system, and all units above battalion level have priests, and the army skillfully uses priests to turn soldiers' fantasies and sustenance into loyalty to the cause and unconditional obedience to commanders' orders) and whiskey. Moreover, the bodies of the wounded and the dead on the battlefield can be quickly evacuated through the air corridor, which not only greatly reduces the burden of combat troops, but also is a great psychological comfort for soldiers.
Because the US military has enough ammunition and gasoline, in order to prevent the equipment from being damaged by freezing, it is stipulated to launch weapons every 30 minutes. The company commander of the US military has an additional task, which is to force tired soldiers to change wet socks regularly to prevent frostbite.
And the combat environment of China's army is much worse. Because there is no air control, it is frequently attacked by air. During the day, they can only hide in the cracks between valleys and rocks to avoid the fire caused by napalm. At night, they came out to fight in the moonlight and had to hide at dawn. This moonlight offensive greatly limited the attack speed.
At the beginning of the war, more than 10,000 people in a division of the US Army owned 1400 vehicles, while a volunteer army of more than 40,000 people only had dozens of animal-drawn vehicles, and the rest of the materials could only be carried by manpower. Fighting is spread over hundreds of kilometers of mountains, and volunteers can get almost zero supplies, relying on the meager materials they carry to support the battle. These materials and ammunition can only be supplied for seven or eight days, so the war will be over in seven or eight days.
Some volunteers have dozens of people, and all the food is only three potatoes. Many people can only survive by finding food from the enemy. The enemy attacked during the day and the volunteers counterattacked at night. After the battle, when cleaning the battlefield, some ammunition and food left by the enemy were collected, which became something for the volunteers to satisfy their hunger. After some American soldiers were surrounded by volunteers and surrendered, they found that China soldiers often rushed over regardless of the supplies on American cars, letting some American soldiers run away.
Opponents used air superiority to destroy China's military transportation by strangulation tactics, and all bridges over 20 meters in length were blown up, blocking roads day and night, making it extremely difficult to supply. Because the wounded can only wait for the stretcher team to transport slowly by manpower, some of them have become frozen bodies when they are sent to the rear hospital.
1950, the severe cold in winter in North Korea is rare in history, and the temperature dropped to nearly MINUS 40 degrees Celsius at night, which was the only battle of the volunteers. The cold caused a large number of non-combat attrition of volunteers, and many soldiers' hands and feet were frozen into rotten meat. Even the thread of the Grenade can't be pulled out, and the fuse doesn't get angry. Nearly 70% of the mortar barrels can't catch fire because of cold shrinkage, and the soldiers' hands are glued to the artillery barrels.
In this extremely asymmetrical contest, China's army can only rely on its numerical superiority and traditional spiritual strength. The guard battle was very cruel, but the enemy's very fierce artillery fire still did not disintegrate and disrupt our position. The soldiers are very firm, obey the command and will not move anything they say. Some companies have only one class left. Apart from the cookhouse squad and several correspondents, there are not many company cadres, but they are still on the ground.
China's army has a traditional slogan-people in the position! Once a piece of land is designated as a position, the defender's life is closely related to him. In other words, life is in position.
During the Korean War, Chen Geng, who later served as the deputy commander of the Volunteers, was deeply touched by one thing. The American commander gave an order to a division commander to hold a certain position at all costs. General Li Qiwei, who succeeded MacArthur as commander-in-chief, immediately wrote off this passage, saying that only the commander of the group army himself could give such an order to a large army. I will never give an order to defend my position unless I personally survey the terrain, observe the situation on the spot and make sure it is necessary to do so.
China's army, on the other hand, is more dedicated to death than the American army. Commands such as "people are in the position" and "hold the position to the death * * *" often appear at the critical moment of the battle. Decision-making and stones are often the weapons for soldiers in trouble to fight to the last.
At this time, there were only about 20 people left in the company of China Army, compared with nearly 200 people in the past. The lost position was retaken by hand-to-hand grenades and bayonets.
The allied forces broke through the front position, exposing the command post of the 337th regiment to the enemy's threat at once, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. Liu Haiqing, the deputy division commander who is here, immediately shouted: "The command post can't be chaotic! Nobody moves! " And immediately organize counterclaims. Wang Shurui, director of the political department, stood up and well-documented, led the commando team to the top of the mountain and picked up the position with the bayonet tip.
In order to facilitate marching and lurking, almost all China troops left their heavy artillery in Jiangbei before crossing the Yalu River, so the only weapons they could use at first were small mortars and light weapons equipped with a small number of shells, and the only weapon that could be equipped with more was grenades. Grenade throwing distance is only more than 30 meters, which determines that they can only carry out melee. During the battle, the US military found that the China soldiers who jumped on them did not seem to know the fear of the wall of death composed of bullets and rain, and even American soldiers could not help sighing.
In the battle, American troops were deceived by the people of China. Guo Zhongtian, the platoon leader of the volunteer army who was breathless by the bombing, made people dig fake positions on the barren hills next to him, which attracted a large number of American planes to stare at the attack and wasted hundreds of tons of ammunition.
China people have been cheated by the US military. The enemy who was pressed to the front of the position by the volunteers waved a white flag to show their surrender. 1 1 337th regiment 1 battalion1company1went out to surrender. But as soon as they left the fortifications, the enemy suddenly opened fire, causing most casualties of a class. The enemy took this opportunity to rush to the position. Although the defenders finally regained their positions, the commander who suffered losses was very upset.
The two sides fought back and forth, and every time they changed hands, a layer of bodies was added to the position, so that the American soldiers who participated in the war called this mountain forest a cemetery.
Before the battle began, Guo Zhongtian ordered the soldiers to dig a hole under a boulder to build a bunker. At that time, under the fierce fire of the US military, he actually covered the soldiers of his platoon, creating a war example of killing more than 200 enemies, seizing 9 guns and 58 cars at the expense of only a little minor injuries. It can be described as a miracle in the history of war. After the war, the soldiers were deeply grateful for this boulder, and someone wrote the words "life-saving stone" on it. After the war, the platoon was awarded the title of Guo Pai by the headquarters of the Volunteers and the title of first-class hero.
Chinese people's Volunteer Army's will greatly surprised the Allies. In the memories of many American troops who participated in the Korean War, they spoke highly of Chinese people's Volunteer Army's brave and fearless fighting spirit. American historian Alexander? Bevan once commented: "The Korean War is an arena of great conflict between national wills." This may be the best angle to explain its value to the Chinese nation.