On the night of September 18, 1952, the Volunteer Army launched an attack on The Western Mountains of Gaoyang, which was occupied by the American Army. Pre-war volunteer soldiers had lurked just 7 meters from the U.S. forward. After the attack began, it took only 22 minutes for the volunteers to completely annihilate the B Company of the 1st Battalion of the 65th Regiment of the US 3rd Division, seizing the position and also opening the tragedy of the US 65th Regiment.
The Volunteers attacked at night
Gaoyang Daixi Mountain is not very famous in the achievements of the volunteer army, because it is very small, only 180 meters long, only 60 meters wide, and only 194 meters above sea level. However, it was only 200 meters away from the forward position of the Volunteer Army, and it was higher than the Volunteer position, and the American army occasionally put cold guns on the position, so the 116th Division of the 39th Army decided to pull out this nail.
The task was given to Gao Ke, commander of the 348th Regiment of the 116th Division. After receiving the task, Gao Ke led Wang Lin, commander of the 2nd Battalion, and the platoon commanders of the company to secretly lurk and penetrate deep behind the enemy under the cover of night, and found out all the firepower configuration and troop deployment of the US army.
Volunteers reconnoitred at night
On the small 194 high ground, the US army deployed a company (1 battalion C company of the 65th Regiment), built 1 traffic trench, 7 hidden departments, 13 fire points, more than 80 anti-gun holes, 4 5-meter tunnels, and 3 barbed wire fences on the east side of the main peak.
After understanding these circumstances, Commander Gao Ke gave the main offensive task to the 4th Company and the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, and after the capture, the 3rd Battalion and 8th Company held on, and the attack time was set at 8:00 p.m. on September 18. Wang Lin, commander of the 2nd Battalion, decided to adopt the method of surprise attack, so that large-scale artillery preparations could not be carried out before the attack, but could only use sabotage and shooting to clear the Us fortifications and fire points.
During the day on September 18, the mortar company of the 348th Regiment carried out a precise attack on the American positions, resulting in more than 60 casualties of C Company, and the commander of the 1st Battalion, Wells, had to order B to connect to the defense of C Company. However, whether it was C Company or B Company, the volunteers were determined to take Gaoyang Daixi Mountain, and as soon as it got dark, the warriors of the 4th and 5th Companies set off.
The fighters took the method of concealing the enemy, quietly reached the enemy position, and spent another hour and a half lurking movement of 170 meters to reach the front. The nearest fighter is only 7 meters away from the enemy, and the farthest is only 30 meters, but the enemy is unaware. This super tactical quality is also unique in the world.
The volunteers lurked in front of the enemy positions
At 8 o'clock, the entire volunteer army launched an attack on time, the AMERICAN tunnels and fire points were simply powerless to block, and the volunteer army captured the 194 heights in only 22 minutes and annihilated 167 people of the B Company. The 8th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 348th Regiment immediately went up the hill to consolidate its position.
Hearing that the position had been lost in just 20 minutes, the commander of the 65th Regiment, Cordillo, was stunned. After observing for a day, he found that the volunteers intended to hold on, so he decided to take back the position. On 20 September, Cordillo ordered Company A and Company C to pretend to attack from both sides, and the newly replenished Company B attacked from the front. And the time of the attack was actually at night, perhaps Cordillo felt that the volunteers could attack at night, and the American army could also.
American troops assembled at the point of departure to prepare for the attack
Li Xishan, commander of the 8th Company, ordered the enemy to be brought closer to 30 meters before fighting. Heavy close-range fire inflicted heavy Casualties on the Americans, with only 26 men left when Company B fled back, while the feinted A Company and Company C also lost more than 60 men each. Cordillo was angry, and he ordered the rest of Company A and Company C to continue their attack during the day on the 21st, and unsurprisingly, they were all beaten down by 8 companies.
On the night of the 21st, Cordillo ordered his troops to attack the positions of the 8th Company, but the result was still failure. The new soldiers Lai Wenlu and deputy squad leader Li Jinbang who fought for the first time annihilated more than 20 enemy soldiers. By the 24th, Cordelo had only 3 battalions left to fight, and he decided to throw the 3 battalions into battle.
Volunteer soldiers repelled multiple enemy attacks
Battalion Commander McCauley of the 3rd Battalion was adamantly opposed to such an order, but Cordillo did not listen at all. Under the cover of 105 howitzers and tank guns, the K Company and L Company of the 3rd Battalion launched an attack on the 194th Heights. After only more than 20 minutes of fighting, the walkie-talkie of the K Company only heard the company's long hoarse shouts: The whole company has collapsed, please retreat!
Cordillo's eyes were bleeding from anger, and he shouted over the intercom: No one is allowed to retreat, and death is also on the way to attack. After shouting this sentence, K Lian could no longer contact him. Until the armistice, no one knew whether K Company was completely destroyed or hidden, and in short, there was no more news of them.
Successive defeats have demoralized the U.S. military
According to the history of the U.S. army, the attack of L Company was also "as slow as a broken car", and Cordillo's mood could not be described in words, and he decided to put the remaining I Company in his hand into the attack. I Company was more direct than K Company, and after being beaten back several times in a row, I Company ran back without asking for instructions.
Still unwilling to accept the fact that a regiment had been crushed by a company of volunteers, Cordillo ordered 1st Battalion Commander Wells to close the R&D of L and I. Wells recalled: These guys just wanted to escape, and they fled back to the main line of defense as quickly as they could, one by one. There were two platoons of reinforcements, and Wells felt that they would all be finished in less than twenty minutes, so he crossed the ranks and called Durrany, the commander of the 3rd Division.
Emotionally broken American soldiers
Durrani was shocked to hear this news, a whole regiment was beaten like this, it is really unbelievable, he immediately ordered the 65th Regiment to immediately stop the attack, this battle the American army really learned the combat effectiveness of the king of the world's light infantry, each company of the 65th Regiment participated in the battle lost more than 20%, the maximum more than 60%, the living people are terrified, dead or alive will not go into battle, can only go to the rear to carry out patrol duties.
The commander of the 65th Regiment, Cordillo, was dismissed for miscommanding and disregarding the lives of his soldiers, and was replaced by Devka. What about the good U.S. military that particularly cherishes the lives of soldiers? It's just a joke.