In 1951, the fifth battle of the Korean War was about to start, the war situation was urgent, a large number of volunteers rushed to the front, the 180th Division of the Sixth Army of the Third Corps was one of the teams, their division commander was Zheng Qigui, and the political commissar of the division was Wu Chengde.
For the soldiers of the 180th Division, it was a journey full of surprises, and on the dangerous battlefield, everyone could be buried here and never return to their homeland.
Defend the country
The situation of the army is very difficult, the 180th Division is a very short formation of the unit, there are many new recruits who have not been on the battlefield, and at this time, the logistics supply of the volunteer army is a big problem, although the soldiers have arrived, but the logistics unit has not kept up, which has brought unknown changes to the battlefield situation.
In mid-May, the 180th Division received instructions from its superiors to retreat to the north of the 38th Line for temporary rest, and at the same time, in order to cover the withdrawal of large troops, the 180th Division needed to block the enemy on the position for about three days, and after the large troops were basically transferred, the 180th Division withdrew in an orderly manner.
The 180th Division successfully blocked the enemy for three days, but when it was about to withdraw, two new enemies appeared, and these two enemies attacked the 180th Division on both sides, causing the volunteer army to fall into an encirclement, and the sniper battle lost its advantage.
After being besieged for two days, in the hidden ravine, Zheng Qigui, Wu Chengde, and other cadres held an emergency meeting, and everyone analyzed that now it has reached a hopeless situation, the number of sacrifices is increasing, the ammunition and food of the 180th Division are almost exhausted, the wounded cannot be transferred, the trees and bushes on the mountain have been burned by the enemy, there is nowhere to hide, and there is no contact with the large troops. Now the entire division of more than 10,000 people are surrounded by several times the enemy, as long as the other side concentrates firepower to bombard, these people will have no way to live, in order to seek a glimmer of life, several cadres decided to lead the troops to break through separately, as much as possible to preserve the living forces.
Alone
The team led by Wu Chengde walked the slowest, because this team had too many wounds and was difficult to hurry, under the impact of the enemy, the march was very difficult, and in the case that the division headquarters had been transferred, Wu Chengde could not contact the division commander and others, and could only struggle with the enemy.
In order to take the wounded out as much as possible, Wu Chengde formed these wounded and soldiers into small groups, supported each other, and tried to speed up as much as possible, but still could not break out of the encirclement in time. When Wu Chengde was looking for a breakthrough, the other units of the 180th Division either broke through or died under the enemy's guns, and only Wu Chengde and others were left in the encirclement, which was a disaster for Wu Chengde's team. Because the other teams had already escaped, no one could contain the enemy for Wu Chengde's team, and Wu Chengde suddenly fell into a state of being alone and surrounded, and this time there were fewer fighters under his command, and the hope of victory was even more slim.
When time passed a long time later, Wu Chengde, who led the warriors to hide in the mountains, realized that he could only fight alone. At this moment, the enemy has already aimed all the spearheads at Wu Chengde in the encirclement, the encirclement circle is getting smaller and smaller, it is impossible to rush out, Wu Chengde decided to lead the fighters into the deep mountains to fight guerrillas, waiting for the next battle to come, the enemy withdrew from the encirclement, they can find an opportunity to break through.
In this way, Wu Chengde and the remaining thirty or so warriors went all the way deep into the Chigen Mountain, which had a harsh environment, rugged roads, complex terrain, dense caves, and many unburned woods as cover, and it was difficult for the enemy to concentrate on attacking in such a place.
However, since the era of the Red Army, fighting guerrilla warfare has been the strong point of our army, and although there is a huge difference in strength, Wu Chengde has made arrangements to let the fighters occupy favorable hidden terrain and strike at the enemy. When they raised their guns to return fire, they could not find where the attack came from, and after a few days, the US troops lost soldiers and had to abandon the plan to search and arrest the mountains.
Became a prisoner of war
Just at this time, the climate was suitable, the wild fruits and mushrooms on the mountain were ripe, and these trapped warriors finally had food to eat. But after being besieged for a long time, these things on the mountain are not enough to score, and what is worse is that winter is coming, there is nothing to eat on the mountain, and the warriors cannot withstand the cold, so they can only risk sending people down the mountain to buy food, but this is very risky, and every time there will be warriors sacrificed.
By the spring of the following year, counting Wu Chengde, there were only six people left, and if they dragged on, even these six people would starve to death. Wu Chengde had to decide to gamble, with the remaining five soldiers to make a final breakthrough, the last three were sacrificed, Wu Chengde and two other soldiers were taken prisoner, Wu Chengde was also the highest level of general captured by the US army in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
After being captured, Wu Chengde was thrown into a prisoner-of-war camp in Busan by the US army, because of his high military rank, the US military had the intention of wooing him, but Wu Chengde refused to surrender, in his heart, he always worried about the distant motherland, and he also believed that the motherland would not forget him. His tough attitude angered the U.S. military, who told him that if that was the case, he would be locked up here until he died!
In 1953, the armistice agreement was signed, and China and the United States began to exchange prisoners of war, but the US military naturally did not easily let go of Wu Chengde, an opponent, although the release of people was a matter of certainty, but the US military delayed in every way, until the last batch of prisoners of war was released, wu Chengde was released.
After a long time of not seeing the light of day, coupled with the cruel torture of the US army in prison, when Wu Chengde was released from prison, his body was weak, the whole person was skinny and bone-skinned, and his comrades-in-arms could not believe that the skeleton-like person in front of them was Wu Chengde.
It is very sad that Wu Chengde, who was a prisoner of war, lost his military post because it was difficult to prove his innocence, and left the unit that he thought of in the twilight of the past, until the eighties, when the events of that year were proved, he was able to restore his reputation, for this long-suffering veteran soldier, this proof came too late, until this moment, the hero Wu Chengde also put down the big stone in his heart, he and his wife returned to their hometown, decided to spend their old age in peace.
In 1996, the old hero passed away, and his heroic life came to an end, but as posterity we should not forget.