On the night of July 11, 1953, in the headquarters of the US 7th Division, Lieutenant General Taylor, commander of the Eighth Army (commander of the 101st Division in "Brothers Company"), Clarke, commander of the First Army, and Trudeau, commander of the 7th Division, held a small meeting together, and the three agreed that the 7th Division must be withdrawn and the fight would be over. But how to gracefully withdraw, the three of them argued for a long time. In the end, Taylor agreed to Trudeau's suggestion that the ground attack be suspended, but the air strikes did not stop, so that at least it did not look like a failure.
Lieutenant General Taylor, who was the commander of the 101st Airborne Division, was reluctant to mention that he had fought in the Korean War
Taylor had succeeded Van Vleet as commander of the Eighth Army three months earlier, the fifth commander since the Eighth Army and the Volunteers had been replaced. Prior to this, he led the 101st Airborne Division to create a series of glories in Europe. After the defeat at the Battle of Shangganling, Van Vleet's life fell into a low ebb, and the U.S. army never launched a battalion-sized attack on the volunteer army again.
After Taylor took over, he originally wanted to do the same, but the situation did not agree. He knew that the war was nearing its end, and once there was a truce, what he hadn't gotten on the battlefield before might never be able to get it. Taylor therefore believed that some salients of the U.S. military must be "effectively occupied" and persisted until the armistice was signed. He chose a very suitable target, Pork Chop Mountain.
The movie "Pork Chop Mountain" starred Hollywood star Gregory Pike
Pork chop mountain, we call it Shi Clam Cave North Mountain, but because of the movie "Pork Chop Mountain", the name of Pork Chop Mountain is known to more people. It was 1.5 km away from the main volunteer position, and was a salient, and the defenders were easily attacked on three sides. And before that, the volunteer army took the pork chop mountain three times, but voluntarily gave up.
Both Taylor and Trudeau believed that Pork Chop Mountain was easy to attack and difficult to defend, and it was not difficult to take it before the armistice. On 7 July, the U.S. 7th Division sent two companies to attack Pork Chop Hill. According to pre-war reconnaissance, the Volunteer Army had only two squads at Pig Steak Hill, and it was more than enough to dispatch two companies.
The volunteer army in the film, the portrayal of them by the US military is quite positive, and they are difficult opponents
However, what the U.S. military did not expect was that Taylor's idea of occupying more land before the armistice coincided with that of the Volunteer Army. Previously, the volunteer army took the initiative to abandon the pig steak mountain in order to induce the US army to occupy it and annihilate it with artillery in large numbers, so that the pig steak mountain became a wound that made the US army bleed unceasingly. But this time, the volunteer army decided to permanently occupy the pork chop mountain and would not let it again.
To this end, the Volunteers assembled 13 companies of the 23rd Army, in addition to 18 tanks and 96 artillery pieces. Because of the narrow position (about 1 square kilometer) of Pig Chop Mountain, in July and June, the large troops were concentrated in the rear tunnels, leaving only a small observation post to guide the artillery attack on the top of the mountain. The U.S. military is not clear, naturally a kick on the iron plate. On the 7th, the 11 attacks launched by the US army were all repelled.
Attacking American troops hid behind tanks
Taylor, who received the news, rushed to the front line on the 8th, believing that the volunteers must have added at least one battalion (actually 4 battalions) to Pig Row Mountain, and that a strong attack was not the way to go. After observing at the scene, he believed that the pig steak mountain was too far from the main position of the volunteer army, and if the troops were sent to insert themselves from the rear of the flank to cut off the connection between the pork chop mountain and the main position, then the volunteer army on the mountain would become a lone army, and it would be much easier to fight at that time. It has to be said that Taylor's military level is still very high.
Trudeau soon sent two tank companies to the north side of Pork Chop Hill. But what they did not expect was that their planned volunteers had long thought of it, and the anti-tank fire buried here exploded 6 tanks in an instant, and the accompanying infantry was knocked down by heavy machine guns like cutting rice, and the raid failed.
By 1953, the Volunteers had been heavily equipped with recoilless guns, and tanks no longer required fighters to rush up with explosive packs
Taylor sensed Van Vleet's mood at Shangganling, and the volunteers made it impossible for him to say anything. Trudeau, who had always been cautious, took the lead, abandoning all tactics and directly pulling 2 battalions over to attack head-on, and 2 battalions were not enough to fight and 2 more.
More and more American troops poured in, and the 6 companies of the 199th Regiment that held their positions were under tremendous pressure. At the critical moment, Mu Shouying, Qi Shaoquan, Jia Yunming and many other fighters lit explosive canisters and pounced on the enemy group that was suppressed by the black pressure. They exchanged their sacrifices for the security of their positions.
Statues of three martyrs in the Honor Room of the 199th Regiment
By July 10, all three regiments of the U.S. 7th Division had been dispatched, but still had not captured Pork Chop Mountain. On this day, the 17th Regiment of the US 7th Division, which had just arrived at the battlefield, was covered by katyusha rockets of the volunteer army, and more than 400 people were suddenly blown to ashes. Trudeau reported to Taylor that he could not fight any more, and that he would be finished fighting.
But Taylor believed that the volunteer army should also be extremely tired and could not hold on. The 7th Division was asked to attack for another day. On 11 July, the 7th Division launched six more offensives, all of which ended in failure. Trudeau believed that his troops were no longer capable of attacking and strongly demanded a retreat.
The Katyusha salvo of volunteers
The result of the discussion between the three people that night was that they could only withdraw, otherwise the troops would be exhausted. But face is also wanted, and people can't think that we are losers. So they came up with a compromise: the infantry stopped attacking, and the air force continued to bomb. But the volunteers had tunnels, and everyone drilled into the tunnels and watched the futile performances of the US fighters.
In the 6-day Battle of Pig Row Mountain, the US army suffered more than 3500 casualties, and Pingyuan suffered more than 580 casualties per day, which has exceeded the daily casualties of more than 430 people in Shangganling. In this battle, in addition to the air superiority of the American army, the ground artillery fire was almost the same as that of the volunteer army. A large number of casualties were caused by volunteer artillery fire, and the US army at this time was not thinking about victory, but how to avoid being completely annihilated.