After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea entered the second stage, the US military also learned from the volunteer army to build tunnels, especially after the Battle of Shangganling, the volunteers resisted the crazy attack of the coalition forces with the tunnels, so the US military also began to attach importance to the tunnel tactics, but the volunteers gave bad reviews after visiting the tunnels built by the US troops.
The U.S. military is building surface fortifications
Before the construction of the tunnel, the main reliance of the American army to resist the volunteer attack was the fortification of the surface position. However, with the continuous strengthening of the heavy firepower of the volunteer army, the fortifications of the surface positions were completely unable to resist. The U.S. military also began to build tunnels. However, the US military is lazy by nature, the soil work industry is not its specialty, and the construction of tunnels has become the most disgusting thing for them, so the US military's tunnels are quite primitive.
At the beginning of 1953, the 120th Division of the 40th Army of the Volunteer Army repeatedly competed with the US 1st Marine Division at Meiliangli Dongshan and Matari Xishan, and captured these two hills several times. When the volunteers first stepped into the American tunnels, everyone was happy. The warriors said that how many people in such tunnels had to die inside.
The U.S. military wanted the front line to be so laid back, but unfortunately such a life only existed in the volunteer prisoner of war camps
In the tunnel of Dongshan in Meiliangli, for example, the entire tunnel is running from northwest to southeast, with a total length of about 40 meters and two openings. The entrance and exit has an observation port in the southeast direction of the back to our side, facing the northwest direction of our side, usually blocking the entrance with sacks of soil to leave only one person in and out of the position, once necessary, the northwest entrance can be completely blocked.
The highest point in the entire tunnel is only 2 meters, and many Marines can't stand straight inside, and can only bend down to move. The tunnel is 3 meters wide and framed by wood, so it can only be said that this width is barely enough. The entire 40-long tunnel has no separation except for one warehouse.
The tunnel built by the First Marine Warfare Division in Meiliangli Dongshan was not upright
The top of the tunnel is 7 meters thick at the top and only 3 meters at the thinnest point. It was completely unable to withstand the bombardment of heavy artillery, and there was no combat equipment in the entire tunnel. In another U-shaped tunnel on the east mountain of Mei liangli, there is actually only one entrance and exit, and once it is sealed, the people inside can only stand still.
In contrast, the total length of the tunnels built by the volunteers in Shangganling reached more than 8,800 meters, the large tunnels were hundreds of meters, and the small ones were more than ten meters. The tunnel is divided into an ambulance room, an ammunition depot, a grain depot, a lounge, a command headquarters, an intelligence room, a combat position, and even a special library. The top of the tunnel is generally 30 meters thick, and even the pure granite roof is more than 20 meters.
The construction of the tunnel is extremely arduous, and the US military cannot bear such suffering, and the picture shows the volunteer army repairing the tunnel
Such a thinnest place can protect against 220 kg bombs, and the thickest place can protect against 900 kg bombs. Each tunnel is at least two exits, and there are also anti-toxic, fireproof, cold-proof and other facilities. In contrast, the U.S. military's tunnels are completely half-finished.
There are two main reasons for this situation, one is that the US military is lazy by nature, and it is impossible for them to make every effort to repair the tunnels. The other is that the US military has different requirements for tunnels. In the operational thinking of the US army, the tunnel is only a temporary tun soldier hole, once the surface position is occupied, they will retreat into the tunnel, while calling for long-range fire support for counterattack. Therefore, there is no need for such a complex structure in the tunnel, as long as it can last for a while.
In the later period, machinery and equipment were also used to build the tunnel
The U.S. troops hiding in the tunnel tried not to shoot a single shot, so that the volunteers could not find the location of the tunnel for a while. The rear artillery bombarded the volunteers in the surface positions with air explosive shells (the tunnels were too poorly built, and their own guns could not be defended, so they could only use air explosive shells). Attempts were made to use artillery fire to drive the volunteers down before they could find the tunnels.
However, the volunteers soon saw through the tricks of the American army, and the artillery would extend the shooting time after the American army hid in the tunnel, and many of the tunnels were destroyed by heavy artillery. Moreover, the volunteers had a magical ability to quickly find the enemy's tunnel entrance in a chaotic battlefield. Then send a professional CBB combat team inside to destroy the enemy inside (see yesterday's article).
Capture U.S. troops in the tunnels
From May 1952 to the time of the armistice, the probability of the volunteers finding and destroying the American tunnels on the battlefield reached 97%, most of the AMERICAN tunnels were blown up by the CQB team or artillery, and only a very small number of them were left by the volunteers to use themselves.