In the movie "Chosin Lake", there is such a bridge section: the US army passed by the volunteer position and found that the ambushed volunteer army was frozen into ice sculptures and saluted the volunteer army! In fact, not only in "Chosin Lake", there are similar descriptions in many texts describing the volunteer army's "ice sculpture company", which is probably to make people feel that the volunteer army's earth-shaking fighting spirit is even admired by the opponent. There is also a completely opposite theory, that is, the US military did not salute after discovering the volunteer "ice sculpture company", but went up to make up for the gun, which is true? In fact, neither of these statements is true.
【In the movie, the US military salutes the volunteer "Ice Sculpture Company"】
Let's start with the salute. At that time, there was an article that said that after the death of General Yang Jingyu, the Japanese cut open his stomach and found that only bark and cotton wool were inside. Shocked, the Japanese saluted the remains of General Yang Jingyu as a sign of highest respect. The truth or falsity of this matter does not matter at first, but after this, the bridge section of "the salute of the enemy" appears in large numbers, as if the salute of the enemy is our highest glory and the greatest recognition of us. Therefore, after discovering the volunteer "ice sculpture company", the US military naturally "should" salute.
At the same time, there is another voice on the Internet, that is, after the US military found the volunteer "ice sculpture company", instead of saluting, it went up to make up for guns one by one. To distinguish the authenticity of these two statements, we can understand it by carefully looking at the history of the war at that time.
【Wounded volunteers bandaged at the scene in the Battle of Chosin Lake】
In the Battle of Chosin Lake, three "ice sculpture companies" of the Volunteer Army froze to death on the positions. The first was the 6th Company of the 177th Regiment of the 59th Division of the 20th Army. On 29 November, they ambushed the 1419th Hill between Liutan-ri and Hagaru-ri, preparing to block the 5th and 7th Marine Regiments fleeing south. However, when the enemy passed under their guns, the entire company did not fire a single shot, and the remnants of the two land regiments flew away.
The division commander, Dekelin, was furious and ordered the messengers to check the position, and found that the 6th Company had frozen to death in a combat posture. Their guns were pointed at the road, but their bodies were stiff, and many of their hands could not be broken on the guns, and Decklin burst into tears when he heard the news. The other two ice sculpture companies were the 2nd Company of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division and the 5th Company of the 242nd Regiment of the 80th Division, which were ambushed on December 7 on 1010.7 heights south of the Watergate Bridge, ready to be resolutely blocked as soon as the enemy passed through the Watergate Bridge. Sadly, when the U.S. military repaired the Watergate Bridge and headed south, the cold took the lives of two companies of soldiers.
[Xinxingli Volunteer Army Launches Attack Polar Bear Regiment in the Cold]
It can be seen from this that these three companies are all fighting ambush battles, that is, ambushing on the only road for the US troops to pass, waiting for the arrival of the US troops. But the winter of 1950 was the coldest of the 62 years on record, with temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees. In the long process of lurking, their body temperature continues to drop, their consciousness gradually blurs, but they have to stay motionless in the snow, because a hand rubbing action may expose themselves, they are Qiu Shaoyun in the snow.
And the U.S. military had no idea they existed. Whether it is the U.S. troops in Liutan or the U.S. troops who have just crossed the Watergate Bridge, they are in a state of lost soul, and they just want to escape the battlefield as quickly as possible. When they entered the ambush circle, the volunteers who were ambushed on the hills on both sides of the road did not open fire, and the Americans did not know that there were people on the mountain. If an ambush can be seen at the bottom of the mountain, such an ambush is a failure. Since the existence of these three companies is not known, the so-called salute or gun repair is not valid.
[The volunteers could not have been ambushed on both sides of the road like this]
The U.S. military would only send planes to reconnoiter from the air, but did not dare to send a small force to climb the mountain. The tens of thousands of U.S. military planes of the volunteer army lurking on the Gema Plateau were not found, and the small group of two hundred troops was even less likely to be discovered. The tactical deployment of the Volunteers was not wrong, but unfortunately the bad weather saved the dying First Marine Division.
In addition, the theory of replenishment of guns comes from the memory of a veteran volunteer who in the autumn offensive of 1951, the defensive positions of their platoons were occupied by the Us army, and the US troops came up and strafed at the wounded of the volunteers who were still alive, and he was lucky to avoid the disaster because the remains of his comrades were obscured. But according to the urine nature of the US army, if they really found the volunteer ice sculpture company, I believe that the probability of replenishing the gun is far greater than the salute.
[Real Volunteers Ambush U.S. Convoys in Hagaru-ri]
The "Ice Sculpture Company" is a spiritual monument and a cultural symbol. The appearance of the "Ice Sculpture Company" shows the source of our army's invincible strength, the arrogance of warriors and positions on the same ground, and heroes and the sun and the moon. But we don't need the salute of the enemy, we only need the fear of the enemy, and ridgway has the best exposition of this in his book: retreat as soon as you hear the sound of Chinese rubber shoes!!