New Year's Day in 1951 was destined to be an extraordinary day, and it will certainly go down in history, because on the eve of New Year's Day, our volunteer army began to launch the third campaign against the "United Nations Army". By the morning of January 3, the curved encirclement of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, by the Volunteer Army had basically taken shape, and on January 4, the reconnaissance units of our 39th Army began to enter Seoul first.
At this time, the "United Nations Army" and many refugees had withdrawn south, and The commander of the US Eighth Army, General Ridgway, also withdrew with the US troops as a rearguard, but on the table of his headquarters was written the words "The commander of the Eighth Army would like to pay tribute to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army", which is puzzling, so why did he write this sentence? What does he intend as an opponent on the battlefield?
First of all: to express admiration for the military discipline of the volunteer army
We know that the people's army has had iron discipline since the day it was founded, and the "three major disciplines and eight attentions" have become the magic weapon for the people's army to win. Under the molding of strict military discipline, the troops experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, the size of the troops grew from small to large, the combat effectiveness changed from weak to strong, and military discipline became more and more stringent.
The soldiers at home did not take a needle and a line of the people, and also pursued a policy of not killing the people externally, for example, in Korea, as long as the wounded of the coalition army can be treated well, they will be treated better. If there were seriously wounded people who could not be treated, in many cases they would be placed on the side of the road by the volunteers along with stretchers and withdrawn to the distance to wait for the allied medical vehicles to pick them up, and when the wounded were carried away, the volunteers would only observe from a distance and would not shoot.
Before Ridgway came to Korea, he had already learned at the Joint Chiefs of Staff about some of the practices of Chinese soldiers in dealing with American prisoners of war.
He wrote in his memoirs: "The Chinese troops were a more civilized enemy, and compared to the Korean habit of giving a shot in the back of the head of the Allied soldiers, the Chinese would share some of the meagre food among the prisoners and adopt a friendly attitude." ”
Perhaps a senior general from the West Point Academy will be impressed when facing a unit with such military discipline on the battlefield, even if it is the enemy, but this kind of awe is still born.
Second: admiration for the tactics of the volunteer army and the will to fight
What kind of unit was the Volunteer Army?
Many would say that this is a majestic and energetic force that crosses the Yalu River to face the United Nations army. However, in fact, in order to conceal their whereabouts, the original volunteers sneaked across the river and sneakily fought ambushes, and even some of the troops who had just entered Korea were still wearing the uniforms of the People's Army and holding the flag of the People's Army to participate in the battle.
But to the americans, it was undeniable that this peasant armed force, which had been despised and despised by MacArthur, repelled the United Nations army in the extremely cold winter. Whether it is a unique tactic or a bold and fearless will to fight, it is deafening, and the V-shaped interspersed tactics used by the Chinese troops always make the coalition forces scramble and passive.
Compared with MacArthur, who never won the strong with the weak and the small, but only knew how to use troops and nuclear weapons, Ridgway was very cautious and calm in the face of the volunteer army, and said that although the Chinese troops lacked logistical supplies, the offensive could only last for a week, but it was still good at fighting and brave.
It can be said that the ancestors at that time, under such bad conditions, repelled the attempt of the United Nations army to drink the Yalu River, which is admirable at this point alone.
So when Ridgway withdrew from Seoul on January 4, 1951 with his Allied rearguards, he had only been in Korea for a week and wrote a message of greetings to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army in the name of the commander of the U.S. Eighth Army. In this sentence is a sign of respect for the adversary and for a force that should not have played such an outcome under any circumstances.
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