During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Volunteer Army had a famous "Cold Gun And Cold Gun Campaign," which called on soldiers of the whole army to snipe the enemy with guns, cannons, and even tanks in the middle of the flow and at a distance.
(Yes, and tanks!) You read that right, the "History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" compiled by the Military Research Institute has a clear record, but unfortunately there are no individual examples of war. ）
In this movement, many heroes emerged, such as Zhang Taofang, the "Sniper God of Shangganling", who is well known to many people. The god snipped without a scope, but only with a gun on a crosshair, and killed 214 enemies with 436 rounds of ammunition in 32 days. If there is a Guinness World Record for "sniping the most enemies in the shortest time", this can probably be included.
"Shangganling Sniper God" Zhang Taofang
There is also a man named Pang Zilong. The great god was originally from the cooking class, responsible for delivering food to the soldiers on the front line. Watching others snipe headshots his eyes glaze over, he also tried it. Unexpectedly, with extremely high talent and excellent gun feeling, Pang Zilong killed 54 enemies in three months, and the "food delivery man" became a combat hero.
However, these heroes should all thank a warrior named Xu Shizhen. It was he who violated military discipline and risked being punished, firing the first "cold shot" and having the "movement" behind him.
The fighters shot at 7 Americans without permission
In 1952, the Korean War was at a stand-stalemate between the two armies. The fronts of the Volunteer Army, the KPA and the "United Nations Army" were relatively stable, the positions were staggered, and the distance was not very far. In the dead of night, the volunteer soldiers could even hear the voice of the enemy on the other side.
At that time, the position of a certain unit of the 40th Army was located at Huangji Mountain, and the enemy troops opposite were British. At that time, the volunteer positions had widely used the "tunnel warfare method", which was as solid as a rock and as stable as Mount Tai, and the British had no way to do anything about the positions.
In line with the principle of "not disgusting you", the British soldiers played all kinds of "taunts" on the position, singing, dancing, standing in a row and peeing in the direction of our position.
The soldiers of the volunteer army, seeing the arrogance of the enemy, were angry in their hearts, but they could only endure.
Because there is no order from the superior, it is absolutely forbidden to shoot.
Why is there such a command? Because shooting privately will expose oneself, or even the entire position, attract enemy fire, and cause heavy casualties.
But the enemy was so angry that finally someone couldn't help it. A deputy company commander of the volunteer army named Xu Shizhen did not control the fire, grabbed the "Water Lianzhu" rifle, and "banged" to kill an enemy on the opposite side.
Snipers
The British troops in the opposite position were too frightened to lift their pants, and even the rolling belt crawled into the trenches.
Xu Shizhen finished shooting, calmed down, finished, violated discipline! And I'm still a cadre, which is a violation of discipline!
Killing one enemy is also a violation of discipline, and killing a hundred is also a violation of discipline. Xu Shizhen carried a gun, wandered around the position looking for a target, and killed six more enemies.
Then he was satisfied and went back to wait for confinement.
Shiji: The whole army shoots cold guns
What Xu Shizhen did not expect was that not only was he not punished, but his superiors also affirmed his approach, calling on the soldiers to learn from him, carry out the "cold gun and cold gun campaign", use guns, cannons, and even tanks, and find various opportunities to snipe the enemy at a long distance.
In other words, soldiers can shoot anytime and anywhere, and no longer have to worry about violating discipline.
You can kill the enemy, even if you have the ability.
"Water Beads" rifle
On 29 January 1952, the Volunteer Command also specifically instructed:
"In a state of confrontation with the enemy, the light and heavy machine guns assigned to the daily duty of the enemy's small groups and general targets do not lose the opportunity to seek to shoot, and for a single target, the special shooters of the squad should also be organized to seek to shoot the target, which will cause great damage to the enemy."
Why did Shiji issue such an order?
Two reasons.
The first, with confidence, is not afraid to expose the target and provoke enemy aircraft cannons.
When the Volunteers first entered the Korean War, they were particularly afraid of enemy aircraft and artillery.
This is not because our warriors lack courage, but purely because of the inferiority in equipment.
At that time, we had no air support and lacked anti-aircraft weapons, and enemy aircraft often flew at ultra-low altitudes to accurately bomb and strafe our targets, causing great casualties.
The same goes for cannons. The "United Nations Army" not only has a large artillery caliber, but also does not skimp on ammunition when fighting, and some positions of our army often drop a few shells per square meter, and the positions will be cut down by two meters after a battle.
In this case, the exposure of the target by shooting without permission may cause large casualties.
However, after the Korean War entered the confrontation stage, the volunteer army gradually became less afraid of aircraft artillery - because our army innovated in tactics and built an "underground Great Wall", which was later known as the "tunnel warfare method" that became famous in the world.
The Volunteers began digging tunnels in mid-June 1951. At that time, the 140th Division of the 47th Army built a large number of "cat ear holes" on the position, and the position resisted the bombardment of 2,000 shells and 10 aircraft of the enemy. On July 3, 1951, the Volunteer Army Command promoted the experience of the 140th Division and asked the whole army to "hold a gun in one hand and a shovel in the other" to build a tunnel.
Under the protection of the tunnel, the role of enemy aircraft cannons became smaller and smaller. According to data, in the summer and autumn of 1951, before the tunnel was built, the enemy fired 40-60 shells, and our army would suffer 1 casualty; in January 1952, when the tunnel was almost repaired, the enemy fired 240 shells, and our army would suffer 1 casualty; until April 1952, the enemy fired 646 shells, and our army would suffer 1 casualty.
The enemy bombarded the surface indiscriminately, and the volunteers bathed, sang, and made dumplings in the tunnels.
Protect yourself and you can destroy your enemies. Not afraid of the enemy's aircraft cannons, the enemy will naturally copy the guy to him.
The second reason is that it conforms to Chairman Mao's strategic thinking.
On May 27, 1951, Chairman Mao put forward a strategy of "zero knocking on the candy": According to the actual situation of the volunteer army's combat and the characteristics of the comparison of the equipment of the enemy and ourselves, we should find a way to fight a small war of annihilation.
Constantly annihilate a small number of enemies, accumulate small amounts into more, and finally achieve the effect of destroying a large number of enemies.
Chairman Mao said:
"Then its morale must be lowered, and its confidence must be shaken."
The cold gun and cold artillery killing campaign was completely in line with Chairman Mao's strategy of "knocking out the candy with zero brown," so when the conditions were ripe, Shiji decisively gave orders to the whole army.
Cold guns and cold cannons, so that the enemy did not dare to go to the toilet
As soon as Shiji's formal order was given, the capable warriors let go of their hands and feet. In the volunteer army, many "sniper gods" quickly appeared, in addition to Zhang Taofang and Pang Zilong mentioned above, there were also heroes such as Chen Fenglou.
Chen Fenglou was a soldier of the 135th Regiment of the 15th Army, stationed at The 537.7 Heights of Shangganling, opposite the position of the US 7th Division.
The US 7th Division, known as the "Sharp Knife Division", is very strong, so the soldiers are also rampant. They could not conquer the volunteer positions for a long time, and they were idle, so they had picnics on the positions, wrestled, sunbatheed naked, and danced with women...
Chen Fenglou was a recent recruit, but his marksmanship was accurate. He aimed at a naked Sunbathing American on the opposite side and shot him dead. The other fighters also grabbed their rifles and punched the enemy.
The 1st Company of the 135th Regiment killed more than 300 enemy people with cold guns for two months. Commander Qin Jiwei inspected the battlefield and laughed: "Good job! ”
When no cold guns were fired, the Americans peed on the volunteer positions. After the "cold gun and cold gun campaign" began, the Americans did not even dare to come out of the bunker, and the poop and urine were lined up in the can box and then thrown out of the bunker.
A box of canned goods on the edge of the trench became a spectacle on the battlefield at that time.
In the TV series "Crossing the Yalu River", there was a US soldier who asked for a night shift, and when asked him why, he said: "During the day, there are always Chinese soldiers who shoot cold guns, and if they are not careful, they will die." I work the night shift at night and can sleep safely during the day. ”
This is a true reflection of the reality of the battlefield at that time.
Later, the Americans were beaten up and called in the South Korean Second Division to change defenses. Before leaving, the U.S. military said: "Be careful, the opposite mountain is the 'sniper' ridge, if you are not careful, you will die." ”
"Sniper Ridge" became famous in the first world war.
What is even more admirable is that in addition to the cold guns, the volunteer soldiers also played cold guns. A soldier named Peng Yiliang carried a mortar up the hill every morning, found a bush cat, looked at the opposite side, saw where the enemy was neglected to hide, he set up a cannon and gave it to a guy.
According to the results of the battle, he killed 121 enemies with 86 shells.
Good guys, really good guys!
Peng Yiliang was only 19 years old, and the battle had already been fought. He often buried a grenade in the mountain, fired his own cannon and left quickly, while pulling the grenade far away with a rope string. The enemy saw the dust raised by the grenade explosion and thought it was Peng Yiliang's gun position, so he frantically fired back.
Peng Yiliang hid far away, laughing. At that time, a large-caliber shell was more expensive than one or two gold shells, and Peng Yiliang used this method to consume more than four hundred large-caliber shells of the enemy and could load more than ten trucks.
Snipers are ancient, but like the volunteer army, the whole army is a sniper, playing a scale effect, and the "cold gun and cold gun movement" is the first time in the history of war.
The data records that a battalion of the 65th Army killed 83 enemy people in a month; the 65th Army killed 1935 enemy people in 25 days; the 12th Army killed 2506 enemy people in 3 months, using only 5843 rounds of ammunition, and only 2.3 bullets were used to not destroy an enemy; the most cattle 15th Army, in 3 months, annihilated 3541 enemies and suffered 14 casualties.
Later, the total number was brought together, and the Volunteer Army and the People's Army eliminated a total of thirteen thousand enemies in the "cold gun and cold cannon" movement, which was completely in line with Chairman Mao's strategic idea of "zero knocking on the candy."
Resources:
Li Feng: "Decisive Battle for Korea"
Institute of Military History, Academy of Military Sciences: History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
Bevin Alexander: North Korea: Our First Defeat