In the summer of 1953, the Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was nearing its end, and the key areas of the contest between China and the United States were no longer on the battlefield, but more on the negotiating table.
Seeing that the Korean War, which lasted for more than two years, was coming to an end, South Korean President Syngman Rhee was unhappy, he did not want to sign an armistice agreement, and wanted to continue the war. He even shouted with reporters: Next, a comprehensive military operation will be launched, and if necessary, the ROK army will even fight alone.
The situation of defeat in every battle did not make Rhee see the reality clearly, perhaps the Rok army still had a lot of troops to give him confidence. In order to cooperate with the smooth signing of the armistice agreement and to win more chips for negotiations, the Volunteer Army decided to mobilize the 20th and 9th Corps to launch a summer counterattack campaign to deal a heavy blow to the Rokk army.
The 60th Army under the 20th Corps attacked three high grounds at an altitude of nearly a thousand meters, and the enemy relied on the superiority of the high ground to see from a depth of more than 20 kilometers, causing a lot of trouble for our army. A strong offensive meant a large number of casualties, and in order to reduce casualties during the attack, Zhang Zuyu, who had just rushed to Korea to take over the 60th Army (the first commander of the 60th Army during the Liberation War was him), had a bold idea - "lurking".
The enemy deployed a regiment on the high ground, and the conventional squad lurking in the past could not meet the demand, and this time it used to use the main force of an entire division.
At the combat meeting held by the 20th Corps, there was a fierce discussion among the commanders and fighters about how to conquer the high ground. Zhang Zuyu put forward his own bold idea: Over the past year and more, our 60th Army has carried out 26 small-scale counterattacks, of which 25 have been fought as wars of annihilation.
In the previous stage of the operation, our army had secretly dug two tunnels not far from the enemy's position; coupled with the bushes at the forward position and the sound of running water in the mountain streams, we were confident that we would be able to provide cover for our army, and we were confident of completing the task!
After listening to Zhang Zuyu's speech, the commander of the corps ate a reassuring pill, slapped the table, and made up his mind: Just fight like this! Wrong I am responsible! Zhang Zuyu was also riveted and vowed to shame the 180th Division of the 60th Army!
In the fifth campaign, the volunteer army won two successive stages of combat victories, and the American army was defeated and retreated like a tidal wave of offensives. However, due to the fact that logistical supplies could not keep up with the speed of advance, and the troops on the front line were facing a shortage of food and ammunition, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai had great foresight and anticipated that the US army was opening a large net in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the volunteer army.
Immediately ordered, the main forces of the corps moved near the 38th Line and returned to the area north to rest. The fifth battle marched in triumph, and many officers and men were still immersed in the joy of victory. The commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, Ridgway, looked at the logistical difficulties of the volunteer army, mobilized 7 divisions of the US army, and launched a full-line counterattack with the cooperation of 13 divisions of the ROK army.
The enemy is also constantly improving in combat, and the US military has changed its previous tactics, but boldly uses mechanized troops to engage in rapid interspersing and encirclement. Due to the insufficient preparation of our army's troops for the task of blocking the attack, the part of the 12th Army, the main force of the 27th Army and the 180th Division were surrounded by the enemy, but fortunately the commanders and fighters of the 12th Army and the 27th Army commanded decisively and led the troops to successfully break through.
However, the situation of the 180th Division of the 60th Army was not so good, due to the lack of estimation of the enemy situation, the breakthrough plan was not well organized, and the 180th Division was surrounded by enemy regiments. Exhausted, the soldiers were tired, the troops were in a dilemma, they could only rely on digging wild vegetables and picking mushrooms to fill their hunger, and many soldiers were poisoned by eating poisonous wild vegetables and mushrooms by mistake. The troops of more than 10,000 people were in a chaotic situation and had to organize a breakthrough in a hurry.
According to the post-war "Statistical Table of Attrition in the Breakthrough Battle of the 180th Division", the total number of wounded, killed and unknown circumstances of the 180th Division was 7644, including 1 cadre at the division level, 9 cadres at the regimental level, 49 cadres at the battalion level, 201 cadres at the company level, 394 cadres at the platoon level, and 6990 people below the squad level
It was in this context that Zhang Zuyu, a veteran commander of the 60th Army who had already served as the commander of the West Sichuan Military Region, took the initiative to ask him to return to the old unit and shame the 180th Division.
Camouflage ambushes are no stranger to the dictionary of volunteer soldiers, and the 150,000 officers and men of the 9th Corps in the Battle of Chosin Lake were ambushed in the mountains before the general offensive was launched. But that was before the enemy arrived, it had already entered the preset position, and this time 3500 soldiers had to lurk under the eyes of the enemy, as long as one person was found, the entire team would suffer, not to mention that the extraction was elite, and it would be a pity to lose it in vain.
Up to the General Headquarters of the Volunteer Army, down to all the officers and men of the 60th Army, they all carried a heart. In order to ensure the smooth completion of the latent task, the cadres at and above the company organization squad level touched the enemy's forward position to reconnoiter the terrain and came back to repeatedly study and analyze tactics on the sand table; the officers and men of each unit repeatedly conducted combat drills in the face of the "hypothetical enemy" in the rear, striving to be foolproof.
According to the previous exercises, the various units successfully sneaked into the enemy's forward positions, but the bigger problems were in front of them. In front of the volunteers was the Rok 5th Division, which had more than 10,000 troops, four artillery battalions under its direct command, and four U.S. artillery battalions and an air force that were ready to cooperate with her. It was with firepower and air superiority that the enemy often shelled the middle ground between the positions of the volunteers, while sending aircraft to the front line to reconnoiter.
The question of how to deal with enemy reconnaissance aircraft and shelling of troops became tricky, but these setbacks did not overwhelm the volunteers.
The enemy's shelling was intermittent, and many shells fell on the lurking areas of the officers and men of the 60th Army.
Zhang Baocai, a soldier of the 5th Company of the 535th Regiment, was hit in the leg by shrapnel, but he did not say a word, and rolled aside in severe pain to give way to the troops. He did not want to delay the next offensive for his own reasons, and finally he lay in a pool of blood.
Gou Ziqing, a soldier of the 8th Company of the 542nd Regiment, was shot in the abdomen, and even his intestines slipped out, in order to ensure the smooth completion of the lurking mission, he forced his intestines back and wanted to wrap them in a towel to continue fighting, but he quickly lost too much blood and sacrificed.
There are many such warriors, they always keep in mind the lurking mission before they die, and with such warriors, how can the battle not be won.
The lurking forces of the 180th and 181st Divisions took the lead in launching a feint attack on the 949.2 heights, and the enemy mistakenly believed that this was the main target of the volunteer army, and concentrated a large number of troops and firepower to return fire. Seeing the enemy's plan, the troops who had been lurking in the other highland forward positions for a long time launched a general attack, while the artillery unit launched a continuous shelling of the ROK positions with 500 artillery pieces of artillery large and small and Katyusha rockets.
Several high grounds were instantly plunged into a sea of fire, and before the enemy could organize a large-scale counterattack, our soldiers had already rushed to the enemy. The enemy could not have dreamed that 3,500 soldiers would be ambushed under his eyes without him noticing. This beautiful stealthy battle ended the battle in only 70 minutes after the battle began, the volunteer army successfully captured three high ground, and the Roon garrison 27th Regiment was basically completely annihilated.
After learning the news that the three highlands had only been held for less than an hour and a half before they had all fallen, Taylor, the commander of the US Army, was furious and roared at Lin Shanhe, commander of the 3rd Division of the Han Dynasty: "The three highlands are nearly a kilometer above sea level, and in addition to the original 4 artillery battalions, your division is also equipped with 4 heavy artillery battalions of the US army, and the equipment with all-American weapons cannot stop the volunteers!" ”
Chinese people's volunteer army had fighters like Zhang Baocai and Gou Ziqing, how could the battle not be won? In the face of the enemy armed with all American weapons and armed to the teeth, the volunteer army not only played a mighty style, but also played the morale of the Chinese people!