Recently, the hottest topic is the movie "Chosin Lake", thanks to this film to truly reproduce this magnificent battle, so that many people who were not familiar with this history to understand this history, so that people have an intuitive understanding of the spirit of the volunteer army in the extremely difficult situation to annihilate the enemy. But there are also some situations that cannot be shown in the movie, for example, why did the volunteers of Chosin Lake lack food and clothing to this extent?
【U.S.-filmed documentary "Chosin Lake"】
The essence of the volunteer army is an expeditionary force, and going abroad to fight is different from relying on the base areas to fight at home. At home, our army can raise food on the spot, we can send the wounded to their hometowns to nurse their wounds, and there are former migrant workers who are far more numerous than the combatants pushing carts to deliver food, ammunition, and supplies to the soldiers, but there is none of this in North Korea. Like the U.S. military, logistical supplies are all sent to the front line through the rear through the transportation line.
Although the method is the same, it is too miserable to compare the data. Nie Zhengfu, a cultural instructor of the 27th Army of the 9th Corps, recorded in his diary that the 27th Army needed about 170,000 kilograms of grain every day, all of which were transported from the rear by car, and the entire army of the 27th Army had only 45 cars, which could transport 280,000 kilograms of grain at a time, but it took 5 days to make a round trip. In 5 days, the 27th Army needed 850,000 catties of grain, which was a gap of 570,000 catties.
【Volunteer Soldier Eating Snow】
According to this standard, more than 50,000 people in the 27th Army can only receive 1.12 kilograms of rations per person per day, which is simply a salary for the soldiers who fight in a cold and freezing environment. However, this is only a book figure, because the 27th Army still has 2.7 million pounds of ammunition and other supplies that need to be transported to the front line by car, and it is impossible to use all the cars to transport food. Therefore, the rations that the soldiers actually receive every day have to be discounted in half and then discounted in half.
The situation of the 20th Army is basically the same as that of the 27th Army, when Yang Gensi received the order to block the US army, in addition to weapons and ammunition, the ration was only 3 potatoes frozen like stones, which was a ration for 3 days. But even worse than this is still to come, because there is no air superiority, the 45 vehicles of the 27th Army were bombed by the US army in the first dispatch, 39 of which were destroyed, leaving only 6 available. An army of 50,000 people, with an average of 9,000 people per car, the logistical difficulties are unimaginable.
[Volunteers braved U.S. artillery fire to deliver supplies]
On the other hand, the US First Marine Division, a total of more than 1500 cars, an average of 13 people have a car, the same from the rear to the front line to transport supplies, the US army is rich in oil. Regardless of basic rations and ammunition, the "luxury" US military such as cigarettes, chewing gum, coffee, and chocolate also has everything. Frontline soldiers also constantly complained that the C ration had a single taste and that SPAM lunch meat was difficult to swallow.
In every way, the volunteer army could only use mules and horses and personnel to carry supplies to the front line on their shoulders, but this method was not only slow, but also extremely attrition. The 20th Army sent 20,000 catties of grain from Longshuipi, relying on mules, horses and manpower. As a result, the attrition of the men and horses themselves, coupled with the bombing and destruction of the US troops, sent less than 2,000 kilograms to the front line, and some front-line troops directly cut off food for three days. The grain shortage mentioned here means that even in the case of extreme economy, there is still no grain of grain.
[The soldiers of the US 7th Division can't eat enough rations and can still keep dogs]
The volunteers also called the NORTH Korean side to request that grain be raised on the spot, but the North Korean side had completely lost control of the north at this time, and could only call back to the volunteer army, saying that the volunteer army could collect grain from the local people on its own, make an IOU, and return it after the war was over. However, the north was already a scorched earth under the bombardment of the US army, and the local people either died or fled, and the rest were also hungry by eating grass roots and bark, and it was impossible to raise food.
Throughout the Battle of Chosin Lake, the volunteers suffered a large number of frostbite and attrition, which was not only a lack of cotton clothes, but also a lack of hot food. In the course of several days of fighting, many volunteer troops relied on food to replenish almost zero calories, coupled with the lack of cotton clothes, making the situation of the volunteers maintaining heat simply worse, which eventually led to 30,000 frostbite and attrition, which was too tragic.
【The 1st Marine Division retreating south through the Watergate Bridge】
This is a head-on confrontation between a backward agrarian country and the world's largest industrial power, and from the book, the probability of victory for the agrarian country is zero. But the result shocked everyone's jaws: the agricultural country won! Although about 40% of the people in the First Marine Division were frostbitten, they still had to thank the cold weather, because even if the volunteers had a few more hot potatoes, the First Marine Division might not be able to escape.