Author: Fat Bear
In the second campaign of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in the face of the absolute firepower superiority and air support of the UN army, the volunteer army did not confront the hard, but boldly and orderly retreated, luring the UN army to show flaws in the rapid pursuit, and then broke through each one, classified and annihilated, and created a victory in the second battle. Among them, the three-house and Longyuan-li blockade battles are crucial to winning the battlefield on the Western Front.
Lure the enemy deeper and break through each
The first battle after the volunteer army entered the DPRK caught the United Nations led by the United States by surprise, but the judgment of the US military was still a limited conflict. The US military hoped to launch a full-scale offensive to hit the Yalu River and prevent the volunteer army from aiding the DPRK by creating established facts.
Commander of the United Nations Army, MacArthur
In this regard, the US 10th Army on the eastern front from Chosin Lake to the west, the 8th Army on the western front from the Cheongcheon River north, jointly launched a two-wing pincer offensive, and intended to meet the division on the Yalu River, in addition to completely eliminating the Korean People's Army, blockade the Sino-DPRK border.
On the eve of the second campaign, in order to complete the "final offensive", the US army deployed a large number of troops to the front line, with up to 220,000 ground troops on the front line and more than 1,000 aircraft for support. Before the offensive began, the US military carried out large-scale indiscriminate bombing of northern Korea, especially the border area between China and North Korea, causing a large number of civilian deaths and injuries, and causing great disturbance to the flow of soldiers and materials of the volunteer army.
The volunteer army adopted the strategy of luring the enemy to go deep and break through each of the US troops for the offensive, making full use of the arrogant psychology of the US army, gradually retreating, and abandoning some areas to lure the various units of the US army to compete for merit and venture forward. By gradually reducing the intensity of the counterattack, discarding equipment, etc., the US military successfully made a misjudgment, in order to achieve the combat purpose faster, the gap between the various units of the US army on the western front became wider and wider, and the overall strength began to be distributed along the Qingchuan River, lacking depth and reserves, once a single point breakthrough, it can sweep its entire defense line.
By the time the second campaign began, it was already snowing in Korea, putting enormous pressure on the logistics of the warring sides
Tactics to develop and choose breakthroughs
The second campaign fully demonstrated the idea of the Volunteer Army using superior troops to carry out annihilation warfare against the enemy, with as many as 6 corps participating in the battle on the western front and the 9th Corps, which had newly entered the DPRK, in the eastern front.
In the operation on the western front, the most important node lies in the 38th Army and the 42nd Army, which launched the offensive mission from the eastern side, and after annihilating the ROK 7th and 8th Divisions in the Tokugawa and Ningyuan areas on the eastern side, they must quickly penetrate to the key points of the US military communication line, lock the gate of the US retreat, whether they can penetrate it, whether they can hold it, and directly affect the victory or defeat of the western front battlefield of the second campaign.
On the evening of 25 November, the second battle began. On the morning of the second day, the 38th Army successfully surrounded the Rokish 7th Division at Tokugawa and annihilated it the next day. There was a huge gap in the front line of the United Nations army, and the volunteer army carried out a two-way detour, through the encircled Rok positions, quickly interspersed into the rear of the US 8th Army, intending to lock the retreat channel of the US army. Among them, the heaviest task was the 113th Division's rush to attack the important ferry port of the Datong River and the three villages at the north-south junction.
Miraculous rush and tenacious perseverance
The 113th Division was given an extremely difficult task, with a straight-line distance of more than 100 kilometers from Tokugawa to Sanshori. As a result of the successful operations on the eastern side of the Volunteer Army, a gap in the defense line of the United Nations army had been opened, and a large number of retreating enemy troops were rapidly concentrating on the first line of Sansoli and thus retreating south.
The 113th Division had no mechanized means of transport and relied on forced marching on both feet, in addition to preventing attacks and air threats from small enemy units. And the time was tight, they only had one night of marching time, and if they did not arrive on time, the rapidly retreating UN forces would escape the encirclement.
Rapid interspersed in volunteer troops
In response, the 113th Division directly avoided the road and chose to travel through the mountains, maintaining strict radio silence on the way, so that the 38th Army Headquarters and the Volunteer Army Headquarters did not know the location of the 113th Division for a while. For the enemy troops encountered along the road, do not dwell too much, everything is aimed at passing.
This was an epic feat, and in just one night, the 338th Regiment, the forward of the 113th Division, arrived at Sansholi, and in addition to the fact that the march was mainly mountainous, it was necessary to engage in firefights with the enemy rear guard units to avoid air raids, which further highlighted the difficulty of this attack.
Rapid interspersing is not the ultimate goal, the key is to block the UN army's retreat route. After receiving the bad news of the loss of Sansholi, the U.S. army quickly organized a counterattack, and the 5th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army launched an attack under the cover of heavy artillery and aircraft in the morning, and the two sides fought fiercely until the afternoon, and the American troops were repulsed.
The volunteers who launched the charge
The 113th Division seized the opportunity to seize the surrounding high ground and launched a night attack on the American army at night. In addition, at this time, the volunteer army had successfully blown up the Datong River highway bridge near Sansoli, completely cutting off the road for the US army to retreat to the south and the reserve troops to the north to reinforce.
Unexpected discovery and the exertion of subjective initiative
At the same time as the 113th Division fought in the bloody battle of Sansholi, the volunteer army unexpectedly found that there was still a simple road connecting the north and south near Longyuanli, dozens of kilometers away from Sanshouli, and if the US army turned to retreat, the effectiveness of the blockade battle in Sanshouli would be greatly reduced. Without receiving orders from the 38th Army and the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, the 113th Division squeezed out its strength and sent its subordinate 337th Regiment to Longyuanli to block the retreat of the American army.
Volunteers in rapid advance
The attack on Longyuanli was more arduous than that of Sanshouli, and at this time, in addition to overcoming the fatigue of the previous forced march and the damage of continuous combat, the 337th Regiment had to fight against the arduous road, and there was no road connection between Sanshouli and Longyuanli, and it was necessary to open the way through the cliffs and mountains.
In the early morning of November 29, the forward troops of the 337th Regiment finally reached the Longyuanli area and engaged in an encounter with the retreating American troops to the south. After repelling the Americans, quickly excavate the fortifications and seize the surrounding vantage points. In order to counter the superior firepower of the US army, the 337th Regiment adopted the method of setting up a false position, placing a small number of troops in the front line position, and then maneuvering the main force to the defensive front line after the enemy artillery attack, effectively avoiding the heavy fire of the US army.
In addition to conventional artillery suppression and tanks accompanying the charge, the U.S. army also used napalm bombs to attack, but until December 1, the U.S. army still had no hope of breaking through, and had to abandon heavy equipment and turn to the direction of Anju to break through.
At this point, the second battle of the Western Front, the most critical operation of the Three Houses, Longyuanli blockade victory ended. The 38th Army showed a strong ability to attack strong points and an iron will to fight, and after opening the gap in the defense line of the United Nations Army, it successfully interspersed and blocked the key road for the enemy's retreat, and under the repeated attacks of the US army, it ensured that the blocking positions were not lost and ensured the victory of the second battle on the Western Front.
Volunteers blocked the Americans
After the war, the excited Commander Peng Dehuai added the content of "Long Live the 38th Army" to the commendation order, and since then, the Long Live Army has become famous all over the world.
The victory in the second campaign, especially the victory in the blockade battle, reflected the high technical and tactical level and high will to fight of the volunteer army. In particular, in the interspersed operation of the hundred-mile night attack, it has always maintained a combat state of formation, and in the case of approaching the physiological limit of the human body, it is still possible to seize the preset position in advance, and skillfully use false positions and rationally allocate troop allocations to reduce casualties.
The volunteer army that held its ground
After discovering this hidden danger in Longyuanli, the division-level commanders were able to take the initiative to block the opening, and the company-level units were able to flexibly use various terrain advantages to delay the enemy's breakthrough in the blockade battle. The combination of this flexible thinking and tenacious will was the key to the volunteer army's rapid reversal of the situation and the pushing of the front line near the 38th Line when the equipment was extremely inferior.