In the history of the United States for more than two hundred and forty years, only sixteen years have not fought, and there are many countries that have fought with the US military, Britain, the Soviet Union, Germany, Japan, China, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Georgia, and Indians, and they cannot count on two hands. The U.S. army also fought many battles, but the flag was captured only once, that is, the flag of the 31st Regiment of the U.S. Infantry Seventh Division at Chosin Lake was captured by the volunteers. When they learned that this blue cloth was the flag of the American Army, the faces of the volunteer soldiers showed a disgust that could not be concealed.
[A father and his son watch the polar bear regimental flag captured by volunteers at the military fair]
The 31st Regiment of the 7th Division was formed in 1917 and immediately after its formation crossed the ocean to Europe to participate in World War I. After that, Russia withdrew from the First World War due to the outbreak of the October Revolution, but this move was met with armed intervention by other powers, and the United States, Britain, France and Italy formed a coalition of four countries to invade Siberia in an attempt to stop the October Revolution in Russia. In this process, the 31st Regiment was particularly prominent, so after the war, it was awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" by then-President Wilson, and personally awarded a flag embroidered with polar bear motifs as the regimental flag.
Since then, the 31st Regiment has become the main force of the Seventh Division, known for daring to fight hard and vicious battles. In World War II, the 31st Regiment successively participated in the Battle of the Aleutian Islands, the Battle of the Marshall Islands, and the Battle of Okinawa, and although it experienced a bloody battle, it did not taste defeat, and indeed lived up to the title of the main regiment. If it had not been for the volunteers, the 31st Regiment would have carried this honor to the next glory, but everything changed on November 28, 1950.
[Li Changyan, the heroic company commander who commanded the battle]
Just this day ago, the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army, which is also known for its good at fighting hard battles and vicious battles, had reached the outskirts of Xinxingli, and the battle to encircle and annihilate the 31st Regiment was about to begin. Such a hard-hitting duel, who can be better? Obviously, the tactics of the volunteer army were better, interspersed and divided and encircled, and the sound of gunfire made the enemy have no front and rear distinctions. As McLean, the leader of the 31st Regiment in the movie "Denzu Lake", asks: From what direction did they attack? Staff Officer adversary: They attack from all sides!
Before the battle began, the superior ordered the 4th Company of the 239th Regiment 2 Battalion to touch the enemy. At 16:00 on the afternoon of the 27th, 4 companies set off from Fengliuli and disappeared into the vast snowfield. After walking for about an hour, I found several open fires in the Dongshan District, which were not obvious in the heavy snow, but were found by 4 companies. Company Commander Li Changyan estimated that this was likely to be the forward position of the US military in Xinxingli.
Company Commander Li Changyan, Instructor Zhuang Yuandong, Deputy Company Commander Wang Xianglin, and others decided to march toward the flames and approach reconnaissance. Zhuang Yuandong led 2 platoons in the front, Li Yandong led 1 platoon in the middle, and Wang Xianglin led 3 platoons to press the front. This arrangement was made to prevent the death of anyone in the event of a battle, and the remaining cadres could immediately take over the command.
When Zhuang Yuandong arrived at a hillside with 2 platoons, he saw that there were five or six tents below, people constantly going in and out of the tents, and the US troops outside were busy moving things to the car, at this time the battle in Xinxing had begun, and the US troops here should have received the news long ago. Just as Zhuang Yuandong was carefully observing, a warrior slipped under his feet and slid directly down the hillside. The hillside was steep and there were no trees, and the warrior slid all the way down to the bottom of the slope. Only to see a few American troops running out of the bottom of the slope, holding guns and shooting.
There was also a tent at the bottom of the slope, which had been integrated with the hillside because of the snow cover and could not be seen on the top of the slope. Just as the soldiers slid over the roof of the tent, they alarmed the American troops inside, and the battle happened unexpectedly. Zhuang Yuandong immediately slid down the slope with 2 platoons and threw himself into battle, quickly eliminating all the enemies in this tent. Zhuang Yuandong rushed into the tent to see, it seemed to be a command post, there was still a one-meter square blue cloth hanging on the wall, Zhuang Yuandong did not say a word and pulled it off and wrapped it on his body, not for anything else, because it was too cold.
However, this piece of cloth could not be fixed to the body, and the enemies outside heard the sound of gunfire and rushed over, so Zhuang Yuandong had to throw it on the ground and throw it into battle. The squad leader Song Baocang, who followed closely behind, felt some pity and wanted to pick up the blue cloth, but Zhuang Yuandong shouted, "Leave it alone, destroy the enemy first!" Li Changyan and Wang Xianglin, who heard the gunshots, also quickly led people to rush over to the battle, and after a fierce battle, most of the enemies in several tents were eliminated, but Zhuang Yuandong was also killed in the battle. Li Changyan rushed out of the mountain pass with 4 companies chasing the fleeing American troops, and even the battlefield was too late to clean up, and he did not know that they had made history: they had taken down a regimental headquarters of the American army and killed the regimental commander, Colonel McLean.
After the battle, Zhang Jiqing, the commander of the 3rd Battalion Communications Squad, found the blue cloth thrown on the ground while cleaning the battlefield, and he felt that this cloth was a good bag, so he brought it back. But the cooking squad leader found out and wanted to make steamer cloth, Zhang Jiqing did not want to give it on the grounds that the blue cloth would fade, and when the two were deadlocked, the battalion commander Bi Xuyang came over, and he heard the reason for the quarrel between the two people and was angry and funny, so he asked Zhang Jiqing to take out the blue cloth to see.
【Polar Bear Regiment Flag Displayed in military blog】
Bi Xuyang still had some insight, and at this look, he felt that this blue cloth was not simple. It is a blue cloth 1.2 meters wide and 1.5 meters long, surrounded by golden tassels, in the middle of which is a white-headed eagle with open wings, a monster with a lion's head on its body, and a polar bear above the white-headed eagle. The two claws of the bald eagle grasped an arrow and an olive branch respectively, and under the bald eagle was embroidered a streamer with the English characters of "THIRTY-FIRST INFANTY REGIMENT", but Bi Xuyang did not recognize it. He immediately asked Liu Guangrui, a translator from the Enemy Works Department who graduated from Jiaotong University, to help him see. This look was not tight, liu Guangrui recognized that this was the regimental flag of the 31st regiment.
Hearing that this blue cloth is the flag of the "Polar Bear Regiment" that has been brilliant for more than 30 years, Bi Xuyang, Zhang Jiqing, the cooking team leader and others all showed a look of disgust on their faces. In their simple conception, the flag should be associated with red, and the Aesthetics of the Americans really dare not compliment, so they made an ugly blue cloth to make a regimental flag, and almost became a steamer cloth. Today, the flag is displayed in the National Military Museum and is a national first-class cultural relic.