On December 4, 1950, the 5th and 7th Regiments of the 1st Marine Division of the US Army broke through the layers of the volunteer encirclement and fled to Hagaru-ri, and the leader of the 7th Regiment, Lizberg, wept with joy. It was only 22 kilometers from Liutanli to Hagaru-ri, and they walked for a total of 77 hours, with an average of only 300 meters per hour. Although the Americans suffered another 1,500 casualties on the road, the good guy escaped, and he could not help but admire the tactics of Commander Smith's division of asking the 7th Regiment and 1st Battalion to leave the road. Commander Smith was a very cautious man, and before the war he gambled on his future to build an airstrip in Hakata on the grounds that "it was possible to transport supplies and transport the wounded." His superior, Almond, commander of the 10th Army, looked at him strangely and asked, "Are there any casualties?" ”
In the American cartoon "Chosin Lake", the volunteer army is portrayed as a ghost, which shows how big the shadow in the heart is
It turned out that the airfield in Hagaru-ri was the key to the escape of the First Marine Division, without which none of the people of the First Marine Division could reach Xingnan Port. From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that Smith saved the entire First Marine Division. In addition to building the airport, he also made an important decision, that is, to ask the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment to leave the road and march.
The Volunteers believed that the U.S. military would only fight on the road, and past experience also proved that without the road, the U.S. army was dead. But this time, Commander Smith wanted to break the norm, and he ordered the 1st Battalion of the 7th Regiment to leave the road and march straight into Dedong Ridge in the same way as the Volunteers, which was indeed unexpected by the Volunteers.
The retreating First Marine Division
The 1st Battalion left all wounded and reinforced a company, with all the soldiers carrying double ammunition and 4 days' rations, each carrying a mortar shell and firing it. The temperature of the day was minus 24 degrees, and they had only recently set off, and in front of them was Highland 141.9. This high ground had long been occupied by the volunteers, and the way forward was cut off.
Battalion Commander Davis soon received information that the volunteers on the heights had not had any supplies for three days, and that even if they did not starve and freeze to death, those who survived would have little fighting power. Coupled with the fact that it was daytime and the U.S. army could get support from the sky, Davis decided to storm the high ground. However, the situation was unexpected. With the support of aircraft, howitzers and mortars, the 1st Battalion fought from early morning until noon and from noon to afternoon without taking the high ground. Although the entire heights were shrouded in thick smoke and fire, it was impossible to see any living creatures, but whenever the Americans approached, they were hit by fierce grenades.
Grenades were one of the few heavy firepower of the Volunteers
Lizberg, who heard the news, was anxious, and he yelled at Davis: If you can't open the lock of Dedongling on time, the whole first division will be finished. Davis organized a final attack, he threw all 4 companies of nearly 900 men into it, reinforced the support of aircraft and howitzers, and finally occupied Hill 141.9 at 7:30 p.m., and all the volunteers on the position were killed.
The victorious Davis was not happy, and suffered heavy casualties before reaching his destination, and when he saw the sweat-soaked soldiers, he knew that if he spent the night in the wilderness, they would be frozen to death. So he decided to learn from the volunteers and march at night. The U.S. military, which had never suffered hardships, cried bitterly, and people kept falling behind, and there were constantly cold guns shooting. A bullet grazed Davis's scalp, nearly killing the future major general. He wrote in his diary: "There are Chinese fortifications and cold guns everywhere, and the cold is numbing. I had just hidden in my raincoat to discern the direction, and when I lifted the raincoat, I forgot what I was going to do and had to do it all over again. But our actions really worked.
The First Marine Division waiting to retreat in the snow and wind
At dawn on the 2nd, the 1st Battalion reached Dedong Ridge. They were also stubbornly blocked by the volunteers, and it was not until 11:00 noon that they occupied Dedong Ridge with the F Company of the 2nd Battalion, which arrived, and the road to Hagaru-ri was completely opened.
On the 3rd, the 5th and 7th Marine Regiments arrived at Dedong Ridge, and due to the large number of wounded, all the vehicles were crowded with wounded, and the two regimental commanders could only walk. Overhead planes kept reporting the position and strength of the volunteers, and everyone panicked. Marines flew nearly 200 sorties a day, dropping bombs on everywhere they thought might be Chinese.
The retreating 1st Marine Division
When they finally reached Hagaru-ri, Higgins, a female reporter for the New York Herald Herald, wrote: Lieutenant Colonel Murray of the Fifth Regiment had hollow eyes like a fallen undead, and the soldiers' clothes were torn, and some were barefoot... Many Americans who saw the report agreed that escaping from the encirclement of Chinese was an "epic feat."
Commander Smith, it was he who saved the entire First Marine Division
The commander of the 5th Regiment, Murray, wrote in his diary: "The five days and five nights of opening the blood road were like a nightmare, the worst moment the Marines had ever had, and every night in Willow Pond I would think that this might be the last day of my life.