How brutal was the Battle of Shangganling? That's the equivalent of more than 4,400 shells being thrown on a soccer field
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The Battle of Shangganling was the most tragic of the Sino-American Korean War, and the intensity of the artillery fire in this war seems unimaginable today. On just 3.7 square kilometers of land, no less than 2.3 million shells were dropped by both sides, the size of a football field, and more than 4,400 shells were bombarded. Every inch of Shangganling's skin was mixed with the smell of gunfire, and every piece of land had blood flowing.
The Battle of Shangganling began on October 14, 1952, when the United Nations army, led by the United States, organized its army to practice a small-scale counterattack in order to change the strategic situation of its passive defense. At first, the U.S. commander was not too worried about Shangganling, which was only 3.7 square kilometers, believing that only two battalions of combat troops were needed to easily take this high ground. Indeed, at that time, the U.S. army was not only well armed, but also had air support and strong artillery support, and it was not a very difficult thing to take a high ground of only 3.7 square kilometers with such a strong military force. But they encountered the Chinese Volunteers, who were stubbornly resisting the bloody struggle.
The U.S. army first inflicted heavy damage on the volunteers through the bombardment of aircraft and ground artillery, and then forced the ground forces to attack. This was the usual way of fighting in World War II. However, although the bombing caused some heavy damage to the volunteers, it did not break the determination and will of the volunteers to resist heroically. In the face of the menacing American army, the volunteers fought bravely and bravely, and many companies even fought to the last, still holding their defensive positions. In order to effectively reduce the damage caused by enemy bombing to the volunteers, the volunteers dug a lot of tunnels to resist the enemy's bombing. This practice was very effective, and when the U.S. military thought that the bombing had caused heavy damage to the volunteers, they did not know that the volunteers were waiting for the arrival of the American troops.
For each position, the volunteers desperately held on, and the casualty cost of the American army to take a position at that time was extremely tragic. At night, the volunteer army will quickly organize forces to counterattack the positions lost during the day, and many positions will be changed in turn, captured by the American army during the day, and retaken by the volunteer army at night. The U.S. army, which thought it could easily resolve the battle, invested more than 60,000 troops in the battle, and 43,000 volunteers participated in the war. The casualties in this battle were also shocking, with many battalions killed in formation and none surviving.
By October 30, the Volunteers began to carry out a large-scale and effective counterattack against the US army, changing the situation of being suppressed by the US army. At this time, the US army was far inferior to the volunteer army in terms of combat perseverance, and on November 25, the volunteer army had basically controlled all the highlands in the Shangganling area, which meant that in this 43-day battle with the US army, it had completely won a victory. However, the casualties paid by the volunteers can not be ignored, in 43 days, the volunteers suffered a total of more than 11,500 casualties, corresponding to more than 15,000 American casualties.
The intensity of the artillery fire in the Battle of Shangganling is still staggering today, but even if every inch of land is turned into scorched earth, the volunteer army will never yield to any enemy, because every Chinese soldier has an incomparably strong belief, that is, never yield!