When it comes to the war in the 1950s, many believe that it was the Soviet Union that supported it that enabled China to defeat the well-armed Americans. However, this was not the case, and Soviet assistance in the early stages of the war was actually delayed, and some people even used this as a tactic of Stalin. Later, after seeing the Chinese strong combat effectiveness, the Soviets began to give some support, but the cost was not small.
Because a lot of soviet aid was something that needed a poor and white China to spend money to get, this money was very large, and then China paid it back for more than a decade, and it was only paid off in 1965. So even in later wars, the volunteers were very cautious about using more expensive aid, such as the famous Katyusha rockets. Shangganling Katyusha fired two salvos, annihilating 1 battalion of the US army, but Chen Geng angrily criticized: one shot of 8 or 2 gold!
The Katyusha rocket was a weapon mass-produced and used by the Soviet Union during World War II, but it was no longer an advanced weapon in the 1950s and 1960s. But for China, which was poor at the time, this was already a very "advanced" weapon. Its powerful firepower output was lacking in China, so in July 1951, china also purchased some Katyusha rockets and formed the 21st Artillery Division. But it is rarely used on a large scale, except at very critical moments.
Katyusha is large and slow to travel, and once spotted by the enemy, it is easy to be bombarded by the enemy's air force. Therefore, at that time, the use of this precious knot was very cautious, and the volunteer army formulated the tactic of "waiting deeply day and night, advancing after dusk, occupying positions at night and firing in unison", and using this fierce Soviet weapon at the critical moment, causing a devastating blow to the enemy. Even with such a robust use of the strategy, every appearance of Katyusha still makes everyone feel painful.
As the saying goes: once the cannon is fired, the gold is ten thousand. Every shell that Katyusha fired was real money and silver, which made the family's untidy Chinese heartbroken. To this end, the volunteers also developed the most economical and effective way to play: before firing the Katyusha rocket, they first bombarded the US camp with other miscellaneous mountain cannons, so that the US army was exposed, and then used Katyusha to "harvest the heads" of the concentrated US troops.
After a salvo, the enemy, although not yet destroyed, was demoralized. At this time, Katyusha had to stop again, the volunteer army began to use other cheap weapons to "harvest people's heads", anyway, this time is a tailwind battle, the Willpower is not very tenacious Americans heard the volunteer charge is panicked, so there is no need to use Katyusha's "real money and silver" shells to smash, directly a charge to crush the enemy.
So for a long time, katyusha of the volunteer army was like the sword of the legendary martial arts master: either not to shoot, or to shoot is a fatal move, and katyusha will never be used to fight the second round. However, in the Battle of Shangganling from October 14 to November 25, 1952, the Volunteer Army, a "master of martial arts", had to take out his "sword" and swing it twice before defeating his opponent, which made many generals feel painful.
The Battle of Shangganling was one of the most tragic battles in the whole war, and the main forces of both sides invested great strength at this point, hoping to strike at the will and determination of the other side. The advantage of the United Nations army led by the US military lies in its firepower, and many of them are developed countries, with enough weapons and ammunition, and fire bombing is also their best play. The advantage of the volunteer army is that the tactical interspersed, in this kind of environment similar to "defensive warfare", the use is limited.
Therefore, our army had to fight the enemy in the tunnels during the battle, and at night, it used the cover of night to engage in some raids. However, this feeling of being suppressed by enemy fire was very bad, so when counterattacking the 597.9 heights, the 209th Regiment of the 21st Division came in a two-round salvo under the condition that the enemy's fire was very fierce, and directly destroyed a battalion of the US army, which was regarded as the volunteer army "suppressing" the US army once.
However, afterwards, General Chen Geng learned of it, but bitterly criticized the people below for being wasteful and did not know how to save money: "One shot, 8 two gold." "At that time, New China had just been established, and the domestic gold was either snatched away by the great powers or taken away by the Kuomintang, so 8 or 2 gold was very valuable, and it had to be exchanged for a large number of other materials, so General Chen Geng would have such a saying." Of course, that being said, it's good to be able to reduce casualties.
Not only did General Chen Geng say so, But General Qin Jiwei, who commanded the entire Battle of Ganling, was more distressed by Katyusha's shells than General Chen. Once, after a Katyusha shell was fired, it was muted, and the soldiers reported the situation, and General Qin directly sent people; the shell was retrieved overnight, repaired, and a new shell was found. It was too poor, but that's why we maximized the potential of all our weapons and resources.