"Who is our cutest person?" Our troops, our soldiers, I feel they are the loveliest people. ——Wei Wei, "Who is the cutest person"
The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was a very famous experience of overseas combat in China's modern history, and at that time China would resolutely choose to rush to the aid of The DPRK, mainly because the US military involved in the war posed a threat to China's national security.
It was the mid-1940s, and World War II was over. In the subsequent development, there were obvious new changes in the world situation, and various forces began to regroup. The Korean Peninsula, which was previously divided in World War II, also wants to be reunified in this international situation. Among them, North Korea, with the support of the Soviet Union, took the lead in launching an attack on South Korea and captured Seoul, the political center of South Korea, at a very fast speed.
In order to safeguard its leadership and interests in Asia, the United States resolutely sent troops to intervene in the civil war, and the Korean People's Army completely lost its dominance in the war because of the intervention of the US military.
Old photos of the Korean War
Seeing that the DPRK was about to fail completely, China decided to launch a campaign to resist us aggression and aid Korea, after all, China also knew that if the United States was allowed to help South Korea reunify the Korean Peninsula, then its northeast region would not want to have a relatively peaceful external environment in the future.
At the same time that China is actively mobilizing troops, the US military has also repeatedly ignored the warnings of the Chinese government, invaded China's airspace, and bombed the Dandong region.
At this time, our Government just received a request for help from the Korean Government, so our country resolutely sent troops into Korea. At that time, our weapons and equipment were very backward, and in order to reassure the Soviet Union to provide weapons assistance to our volunteer troops in accordance with the agreement, our country had to fight several victorious battles in the face of severe cold.
This was exchanged for various weapons and equipment provided by the Soviet Union. However, in the Korean War, in addition to the volunteer army, there was a country that accumulated more than 70,000 troops to help North Korea, so do you know who the country really is?
The Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
In fact, the country that sent troops to secretly help North Korea was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, as a major country opposed to the socio-political form of the United States, was also very concerned about the civil war that broke out on the Korean Peninsula.
Fundamentally, the outbreak of the Korean War was another classic contest between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. However, at that time, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union was already very tense, and the whole world would suffer if they were not careful.
Under these circumstances, it was really difficult for the Soviet Union to directly send troops to aid North Korea. And China, as a major country in the socialist camp, also does not want a pro-American regime on the Korean Peninsula.
After all, this is very unfavorable for China's future development, so when North Korea came to ask for help, China proposed through several negotiations with the Soviet Union that China should send the main troops, and the Soviet Union would provide the weapons and equipment needed for China to participate in the war.
Volunteers rushed to the aid of North Korea
In this way, because the Soviet Union did not appear directly on the battlefield, it directly avoided the intensification of the contradiction between the capitalist camp and the socialist camp.
And most importantly, after the United States intervened in the Korean War, its energy in Europe was bound to be dispersed, and if China intervened in the Korean War, it would be equivalent to helping the Soviet Union to contain the United States to a great extent.
It was also because of this that the Soviet Union was willing to provide weapons and equipment to the Chinese volunteer army. And the most noteworthy thing is that China's air force at that time was very weak and was not an opponent of the US Air Force at all.
In order to help China have some air supremacy on the Korean battlefield, the Soviet Air Force also secretly entered the Korean battlefield a week after the Chinese volunteers entered the Korean war. These Soviet air forces hid in anonymity among the Chinese volunteers.
Volunteer pilot
At that time, under the emergency training of the Soviet Air Force, the piloting ability of fighters was greatly improved, which also created excellent preconditions for the series of air battles that China later launched during the Korean War.
In addition, as we mentioned earlier, the Soviet Air Force had to remain anonymous before entering the Korean battlefield, and they even changed into the uniforms of the Chinese Volunteer Army, communicating in Russian as little as possible in peacetime.
As soon as there is a need for combat, they will step on the fighter jets and engage the U.S. military in the air over the Korean battlefield. Wang Hai, a former commander of the People's Liberation Army Air Force in Chinese, once mentioned in his autobiography "My Combat Career" published in 2000:
"At the beginning of the Korean War, the air force of the Chinese Volunteer Army was still quite young and weak, and the air battle was mainly fought by the Soviet Air Force."
Volunteer aircraft
By the time the war was over by mid-1951, the Chinese Air Force had gradually developed the ability to confront the U.S. military on the battlefield, and it was from this time that the Coalition forces were always able to engage in fierce battles with the Chinese Air Force/Soviet Air Force flying MiG-15 fighter jets.
Over the entire plain on the south bank of the Yalu River, even the "MiG Corridor" was formed that caused a serious impact on the US Air Force.
Until many details of the Korean War were revealed, it was not known that many of the pilots in the MiG Corridor at that time were from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Later, with the passage of time, some classified material related to the Korean War was revealed, and it was learned that the Soviet Air Force had also made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the Korean War towards the outcome of the armistice.
Fighter jets dropping bombs
At that time, Stalin should also have known that if there were no troops strong enough to oppose the US Air Force, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea would be carried out more and more difficultly. After much deliberation, Stalin sent a telegram to Marshal Vasilevsky, the minister of national defense, asking him to be responsible for sending an aviation division to China.
After simple preparations, the famous Soviet air combat hero Kori Dub, as a commander, led many pilots who had made great achievements in World War II to the Korean battlefield.
Because this unit is relatively special, they have their own independent chain of command. However, its intervention was to help the Chinese and North Korean troops fight against the United Nations, so after consulting the Chinese side, the aviation division set up the main airfield in China.
Tactically, if the United States wants to gain absolute air superiority, these major airfields are bound to be the focus of the attack.
Soviet pilot
It was only because the volunteer army caused a serious psychological shadow to the US military in the early stage of the battle, and the Us side also understood that the Chinese volunteer army would quickly intervene in the Korean War, because its performance in the early stage was too arrogant.
Therefore, the US military later made a clear stipulation: air force units were prohibited from entering China. It was also for this reason that the main airfields set up by soviet aviation divisions in China were hardly hit.
And because these airfields are close to the Andong region, Soviet pilots have a clear advantage in the range of fighters when flying fighters. Most importantly, since the Arrival of the Soviet Aviation Division in China, U.S. Air Force operations in the south bank of the Yalu River have been significantly hampered.
Later, the US military tried several times to cut off the Chinese army's transportation line, but it was never successful. Because while carrying out this strategic mission, they must beware of attacks by Soviet aviation divisions and the Chinese Air Force.
Soviet Air Force on the Korean Battlefield
It should also be emphasized that during the entire war, the Soviet Union had 12 air divisions engaged in air combat, and a total of 72,000 people took turns to participate in the Korean battlefield.
These Soviet pilots, with their excellent fighter piloting skills and rich combat experience, shot down 1,097 UN aircraft, and anti-aircraft artillery, with the assistance of these pilots, also shot down more than 200 enemy aircraft.
However, if there is a gain, there is bound to be a loss, according to the information provided by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, when the Soviet aviation lost a total of 335 aircraft and 120 pilots on the Korean battlefield.
Another 179 Soviet soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield. They lay quietly in the battlefield or martyrs' cemetery of that year, silently watching the rise and fall of the distant motherland.
One last added. In fact, the United States already knew about the "Soviet Union sending air force to the war" during the Korean War, according to the recollection of some US pilots:
When they patrol the airspace near the Yalu River, they can always see a lot of planes taking off from the airport in order. And by eavesdropping on the radio communications between China and North Korea, they also obtained accurate derogatory information about the Soviet Union's involvement in the battlefield.
However, the US military is very worried that after it discloses this matter, it will directly lead to the continuous expansion of the scale of war, resulting in serious consequences that the countries of the world do not want to see.
So the coalition remained silent, and even Vandenberg, who was the U.S. Secretary of Defense at the time, explained it in a press conference:
"China became an air powerhouse almost overnight."