At The landing at Inchon, Almond gave MacArthur directions on the battlefield
In the first year of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there was a senior general in the US army who could be called the biggest helper of our army, and that was Major General Almond, commander of the US Tenth Army. Almond "contributed" greatly to our army, even more than several famous generals of the volunteer army.
In particular, in the Battle of Chosin Lake and the Counterattack of Hengcheng, Almond continuously used the "faint move" and created a rare opportunity for the volunteer army to annihilate several times. In the most exaggerated case, Almond almost let the 1st Marine Division "automatically lose" at Chosin Lake.
The retreating U.S. troops at Chosin Lake
In November 1950, the Volunteers ended the first campaign and deliberately showed weakness to lure the enemy deeper. However, MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army", could not see the situation clearly and launched the "Christmas Homecoming" offensive on November 24. The U.S. army on the western front was the Eighth Army, and on the eastern front was Almond's Tenth Army, and the two forces were required to advance fully toward the Sino-North Korean border.
Rear Admiral Almond fully followed MacArthur's spirit of "light enemy attack" and scattered all his troops in order to rush to the border faster. There were five divisions under the command of the US Tenth Army (the 1st Marine Division, the 3rd US Division, the US 7th Division, the Han Capital Division, and the Han 3rd Division), which were scattered into more than a dozen battalion-level combat teams or regimental-level combat teams. In the mountains of northeastern Korea, these troops can only advance along mountain roads, completely blocked by mountains, and cannot support each other at all.
The U.S. Tenth Army plans to advance north
For our army, the situation in which the US Tenth Army is dispersed is a fighter plane delivered to the door! But there are exceptions, and that is the US First Marine Division.
Major General Smith, commander of the First Marine Division, was more military-minded and refused Almond's orders to "disperse" and "advance rapidly north." Major General Smith gathered his troops together, fought steadily, and slowly swallowed for more than 20 days before reaching the Chosin Lake area, which was only 75 kilometers from the sea.
U.S. artillery at Chosin Lake
On November 25, the Volunteer Army launched a full-scale counterattack on the Western Front, and the second battle began, and the US Eighth Army on the Western Front quickly fell into crisis. At this time, Almond was still confused, and was still urging the 1st Marine Division and the US 31st Regiment to "rapidly advance north" from Chosin Lake.
In this case, the combat deployment of the 1st Marine Division and the US 31st Regiment was completely "attack marching": the troops were scattered in three or four locations, the main infantry and artillery forces were placed in the willow pond at the forefront, while the heavy weights and tanks were placed in the lower corner and the ancient soil, and part of the US 31st Regiment was even far behind. After the Battle of Chosin Lake began, this deployment of the US army was very conducive to the division and encirclement of our army, and also made the 1st Marine Division and the US 31st Regiment passive in the early stage.
Major General Almond
On November 27, the Battle of Chosin Lake was officially launched. The US 1st Marine Division and the US 31st Regiment (Polar Bear Regiment) were divided and surrounded by our army in Liutanli, Hagaru-ri, Xinxingli and Gutuli, and were attacked continuously, and the US troops on the Eastern Front were also in danger. At this time, Almond was still dreaming, declaring that "the fleeing Chinese army had finally been captured."
On November 28, Almond took a helicopter to Neidong Ridge north of Xinxingli, where Colonel McLean, commander of the U.S. 31st Regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Feith, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Regiment, were attached to the 31st Regiment. As soon as Almond landed, he took out three Silver Star Medals and announced that he would award Lieutenant Colonel Fiss the order, and the other two would be selected by Lieutenant Colonel Fiss. As a result, the latter randomly picked two people in the crowd and accepted the Silver Star Medal.
Almond was honored by others
After completing the ceremony, Major General Almond delivered a speech to more than a dozen people on the scene, saying: "Temporarily delaying your enemy is nothing more than the remnants of the Chinese army fleeing to the north." We are still attacking and will drive all the way to the Yalu River. Don't let a bunch of squinting Chinese laundrymen stop you! Then he turned around and boarded the helicopter.
According to survivor Wesley M. Major J. Curtis (3rd Battalion S-2) recalled that Lieutenant Colonel Feith spat at the ground at Almond's distant back, then took off the Silver Star Medal that had been worn on his chest, threw it into the snow, and stomped it with his feet a few more times. He said to Major Curtis, "You hear me! Chinese remnants flee north? ”
In fact, the "Polar Bear Regiment" was already embattled by this time, and the previous night's battle had been surrounded and severely damaged. As the supreme commander of the US army on the Eastern Front, Almond even talked about "continuing to drive to the Yalu River", which shocked his subordinates.
Not only that, Commander Almond had the audacity to run into the besieged Xinxingli in a helicopter, but the only purpose was to give people medals and speeches, without mentioning the urgently needed supplies of the US 31st Regimental Combat Team. Not only that, after Almond left, he also ordered the follow-up reinforcements of the US 31st Regiment to be transferred, so that the "Polar Bear Regiment" was completely reduced to a lone army.
In the next three days, the regimental commander, Colonel McLean, and Lieutenant Colonel Feith were killed, and the U.S. 31st Regimental Combat Team was largely annihilated on the east bank of Lake Chosin in the early morning of December 2.
Smith (left) and Almond (right)
After the "Polar Bear Regiment" was annihilated, coupled with the total defeat of the US army on the Western Front, the originally arrogant Almond was frightened and helpless, and the operational thinking went to the other extreme.
Although only the 1st Marine Division, the 31st Regiment of the US 7th Division, and some units of the US 3rd Division were attacked, Almond ordered all the more than a dozen men and horses of the US Tenth Army to withdraw from the sea. From a strategic point of view, the order to retreat was fine, but Almond's deployment was very chaotic. For example, on December 9, the 1st Marine Division was still blocking the Shuimun Bridge on the south side of Chosin Lake, and the US Third Division guarding the rear road had abandoned the port of Wonsan, allowing the Korean People's Army to recover this important port hub in advance, resulting in nearly 100,000 US and Rok troops having to concentrate on escaping from Heungnam Port.
Wounded American soldiers were evacuated by plane from Hagaru-ri
Almond's retreat strategy for the First Marine Division was even more appalling! Major General Smith recalled that on December 2 (four days after deriding the Volunteers as "washers"), Almond gave him the order to demand that the First Marine Division discard all tanks, vehicles, artillery, and supplies, and that all personnel break through by plane from Hagaru-ri airfield.
If this order is strictly enforced, then the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army, which has paid great sacrifices, will be very easy to follow up in the battle, and it will be able to capture the equipment of an entire elite division of the US army! These included nearly a hundred heavy tanks, hundreds of artillery pieces of various kinds, thousands of vehicles, and a mountain of valuable materials such as food, clothing, and medicine. In the final stages of the U.S. airlift retreat, the Volunteers may also capture the opportunity for a battalion-level annihilation.
A U.S. military transport plane destroyed in Hagaru-ri
The First Marine Division was crying and laughing at Almond's orders, and Major General Smith decisively refused to carry them out. For his part, Smith, in the days following the outbreak of the campaign, carried out raids on the runway of The Lower Osumuri Airport, and only barely opened the transport aircraft take-off and landing capacity on December 1, with the aim of strengthening the supply of personnel and supplies. Such a precious field airfield is hard to use, but Almond only wants to use it to escape?
More importantly, trying to escape through such a simple runway would also be a disaster for the First Marine Division. From December 1 to 6, the 1st Marine Division and the U.S. Navy and Air Force mobilized a large number of transport aircraft to transport more than 4,000 wounded from Hagaru-ri Airport. There are about 10,000 U.S. troops left, and even if they break through empty-handed, it will take another ten days at the earliest. And the more they end up, the greater the risk of annihilation of the troops behind the airport, and the easier it is for these troops to collapse in morale.
U.S. troops retreating from Chosin Lake
In the end, Major General Smith and the First Marine Division chose to break through by land. On December 6, more than 10,000 U.S. troops set out from Hagaru-ri and broke through along the valley road to Kotouri. After the arrival of the American troops in the ancient soil, the 1st Marine Division hedgehog assembled a huge team of 14,000 people, under strong air cover, making it impossible for the volunteers to exit.
Finally, the 1st Marine Division gradually arrived in Hamhung on December 12, and then withdrew with other units of the U.S. Tenth Army to Xingnan Port, from where it fled by boat. On December 24, Chinese and North Korean forces regained the south, marking the complete expulsion of U.S. troops from northern Korea.
Although the First Marine Division escaped, it escaped with a complete structure. Imagine if you followed Almond's orders to engage in an "empty-handed breakout", then the second half of the Chosin Lake Battle would become a joke. (Author: Tao Mujian)