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It is said that during the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Battle of Chosin Lake can be said to be the most tragic battle fought by our army in this war, and at that time, the extreme temperature encountered in Korea that was rare in a hundred years caused our army, which was extremely difficult to supply logistics, to suffer extremely heavy casualties under harsh conditions.
After the war, according to the rough statistics of our army, more than 14,000 people were injured in the battle of the 9th Corps of our People's Volunteer Army in the Chosin Lake Campaign, but more than 30,000 people were injured due to the cold current.
The 9th Corps of the People's Volunteer Army had 12 divisions, and the attrition of thousands of men in almost every division in this campaign was due to extreme weather conditions, but there were exceptions to everything, and one division of the 9th Corps was an exception, which was the 89th Division of the 20th Army of the 9th Corps.
According to post-war statistics, the number of people wounded by the 89th Division due to extreme weather in the Battle of Chosin Lake was more than 400, which is a very, very low value compared with other divisions and regiments.
Later, according to the recollections of surviving veterans of the 89th Division, they suffered the least frostbite during the Battle of Chosin Lake because General Yu Guangmao, then the commander of the 89th Division, was very far-sighted.
General Yu Guangmao is a native of Jiangxi, as we all know, Jiangxi is located in the southwest of China backed by the Qinling Mountains, the climate belongs to the typical subtropical monsoon climate, the temperature throughout the year is relatively warm, at least compared with the winter in the north is not so cold, so it is also so that Grew up in Jiangxi General Yu Guangmao is more sensitive to cold temperatures.
When the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, General Yu Guangmao received a combat order from his superiors, so he arrived in Shenyang, northeast China, on November 4, 1950, and when he got off the train, he was frozen by the cold air in the northeast, because it was a southerner who grew up in the southwest, at this time he was surprised by the cold temperature in the north, and then he began to worry about the logistical warmth of his soldiers.
At that time, General Yu Guangmao was thinking that this was the middle of November, Shenyang was already so cold, so wouldn't North Korea be even colder than this now! In December, January, this is what is the point of paying off the thinly dressed warriors?
Therefore, General Yu Guangmao directly made a request to the General Staff headquarters to let his troops stay in Shenyang for one more day, so that the soldiers could store their clothes to protect themselves from the cold.
The General Staff quickly agreed to the approval, and General Yu Guangmao went directly to General He Jinnian, who was then the deputy commander of the Northeast Military Region, and proposed that the Northeast Military Region help the 89th Division to replenish the wartime cold materials such as cotton clothes, cold gloves, and ear protection.
However, the problems followed, in just one day, it was impossible to find the cold supplies needed by so many people, and the day would soon end, and more than half of the soldiers of the entire 89th Division were not ready enough warm clothing.
Therefore, in a hurry, General Yu Guangmao had a sudden idea, and he directly ordered the soldiers to remove all their quilts, and then said that all the cotton they pulled out was stuffed into their cotton clothes, and the extra cotton was all used to make military hats and ear protection and other cold materials.
The vast majority of the 89th Division's military quilts were supplied by Jiangsu, and the soldiers of the 89th Division were mostly southerners, and even before they set out, many of them did not realize how terrible the harsh winter in the north was.
When the soldiers of the 89th Division heard the order issued by General Yu Guangmao, everyone was dumbfounded to remove the military quilts they had brought all the way from the south to Shenyang, but the military order was that the military ordered the soldiers to obey the order as their duty, and the soldiers obeyed the order even if they were confused and unwilling.
Later, the facts and actions also proved the foresight of General Yu Guangmao, in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the soldiers of the 89th Division because of the sufficient cold materials to ensure combat effectiveness and low non-combat attrition, so the aforementioned 89Th Division in this campaign was far more resistant to cold than other divisions of the 9th Army.
References in this article: "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea", "Battle of Chosin Lake", "General Yu Guangmao", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Entries - War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Chosin Lake, Yu Guangmao, 89th Division of the Volunteer Army, etc