In the American sense of self, "sweeping the snow in front of the door, ignoring the frost of others" is the most appropriate way to deal with interpersonal relationships, and this awareness has also become a national perception before World War II.
In 1939, when Germany invaded Poland and triggered World War II, Europe was already in turmoil, but the United States was obviously indifferent to it. From the populace themselves to members of Congress, all Americans are self-conscious of the neutrality they pursue.
Thanks to President Roosevelt's shrewdness, he chose to go to war in order not to let the Axis Alliance's conspiracy to eventually rule Eurasia succeed. In their bones, Americans are not a country that likes to help others, they prefer to see the pain and decline of others, unless you beat him to a dignified face that even his grandmother does not know, he will feel pain.
In the early 1950s, when the United States intervened in the Korean Civil War in the Far East, the news in the United States was not as hot as a newly listed women's cosmetics, and Americans who had experienced World War II were more concerned about enjoying the comfortable life that had just been peaceful. As for the war on the remote peninsula of Northeast Asia, what does it have to do with me for most of them?
When the Korean War broke out, the United States sent troops to interfere in the Korean Civil War, and China sent troops to resist the United States and aid Korea.
The outbreak of the Korean War began with a struggle for dominance between the north and the south of the peninsula. At that time, the Korean Peninsula was bounded by a 38th parallel, dividing the Soviet-backed Korean regime and the U.S.-backed Republic of Korea in two. Controlling the area north of the 38th Parallel was the Kim Il Sung regime in North Korea, and to the south was the Syngman Rhee regime in South Korea.
In June 1950, after nearly two years of border friction, large-scale war finally broke out between the two Koreas. Relying on soviet military equipment and formed units returning to Korea from China, North Korea gained a decisive advantage in the early stages of the war.
By early September, Syngman Rhee's South Korean army had largely lost its combat effectiveness, and the U.S. 24th Division, stationed in South Korea, had also suffered heavy losses, and the division commander, Major General Dean, was captured. MacArthur, commander of the U.S. Far East, transported his Japanese garrison to the Korean Peninsula by sea and air transport to support Syngman Rhee's resistance, and on September 15, he gathered more than 70,000 UN troops to land at Inchon on the west coast of North Korea, cutting off the retreat route from the rear wing of the Korean People's Army, and the north Korean military superiority was in vain.
After the United Nations army led by the United States brazenly invaded the Korean Peninsula, the Chinese government, through Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, solemnly proposed to the United States that once the United Nations army crossed the 38th Line, the Chinese government would never ignore it. However, MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, showed extremely indignant arrogance towards the Chinese government's solemn attitude, claiming that if the Chinese Communist army dared to enter the Korean battlefield to start a war with the United Nations army, it would beat China back to the Stone Age.
On October 19, 1950, China gathered 260,000 troops of the 38th, 39th, 40th and 42nd armies of the 13th Corps on the border between China and North Korea and secretly entered The DPRK in the name of the Chinese Volunteer Army. On October 25, the Chinese Volunteer Army established a defensive line on the unsan and Xichuan lines, set up an ambush to give the UN troops a head-on attack, and then launched a powerful offensive against the UN forces, defeating the US-led UN forces and retreating to the south bank of the Cheongcheon River. This was the first campaign launched by the Chinese Volunteer Army after entering Korea, which annihilated more than 15,000 UN troops in one fell swoop.
At the time of the battle, the United States seemed to be indifferent to the war. The number, section and location of the articles reported on the media are all so insignificant. It is no wonder that just over five years after the United States participated in World War II, the comfortable and quiet life has not been fully enjoyed, and whether it is a war or a disaster outside the homeland, what does it have to do with itself. At that time, American society was full of the debauchery and ease of drunken fans, and no one cared about the distant war.
Of course, the Truman administration of the United States does not want this local war to cause turmoil in domestic life, after all, war is to interpret the value of victory and defeat with bloodshed and sacrifice, no one pays attention to the situation of this war, and naturally it will not be taken by opposing politicians with ulterior motives.
This was all reversed after the second campaign of the Korean War.
The 1st Marine Division was surrounded by Chinese troops at Chosin Lake, and the newspapers predicted the results with "disaster", and the United States was shocked!
On November 25, 1950, 100,000 people from the 20th and 27th Armies of the Ninth Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army, which had been ambushed for six days under the snow of Chosin Lake on the Gaima Plateau in North Korea, finally waited for the 1st Marine Division of the United States and the 1st Division of the 7th Infantry Division of the United States Army. On November 27, chinese troops, all in place, launched a thunderous offensive against the First Marine Division, and by the next day, the U.S. army had been divided into five separate combat areas that could not be connected. The First Marine Division has uncontroversially fallen into the encirclement of the Chinese army. The news was first broken by the US "Star-Spangled Banner" on the 28th, and the following major media in the United States successively reported this news, and the whole country was in an uproar. For the Americans, the First Marine Division is synonymous with the spiritual will of the American Army, indestructible and invincible, which is the most mythical feature of this unit.
Formed in February 1941, the First Marine Division was formed as the First Marine Company of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, and was expanded into the First Marine Regiment in 1845, and participated in foreign wars such as the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War. His soldiers were mostly volunteers under 17 and 37 years old, in contrast to the age range of conscription and conscription that the U.S. government began to implement in 1940.
Less than a year after the formation of the 1st Marine Division, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, and before entering the Pacific Theater in 1942, nearly 40,000 volunteers signed up for the unit, and only more than 5,800 were selected. Since joining the Pacific War, the First Marine Division has gained a reputation for unquestionable victories and has received three special commendations from the president. By the end of the war, the prestige of the First Marine Division had become a household name in the United States as the "Sword of America." ”
After the outbreak of the Korean War, the 1st Marine Division, led by division commander Smith, was accompanied by the U.S. 10th Army to attack the Yalu River on the northwestern Sino-Korean border on the eastern front. In order to carry out an important blow to the United Nations forces on the eastern and western fronts, to curb the momentum of the march. Mao Zedong ordered the Ninth Corps to quickly enter North Korea and ambush the US 10th Army in the direction of Chosin Lake. The cunning Smith slowed down the pace of his attack after entering the Gaima Plateau in the Wolf Forest Mountains, which caused more than 100,000 officers and men of the Volunteer Army who were ambushed in the deep mountain jungle for six days in the extremely cold weather of nearly -forty degrees, and the First Marine Division did not escape the fate of being surrounded.
The news of the siege of the First Marine Division caused as much unrest in the United States as they were when they heard that Hawaii had been attacked by Japanese troops. During those days, the sales of domestic newspapers in the United States soared, and for a time Luoyang paper was expensive. The American people who walked through the streets began to pay attention to the Korean Peninsula thousands of miles away. It was also during those days that the domestic media in the United States expressed deep concern about the future fate of the First Marine Division, and disaster became the most used word in newspapers.
After praying to God, the relatives of the soldiers of the First Marine Division began to take to the streets to appeal to the Truman administration: Save them! Like his American people, when Truman learned that the First Marine Division was surrounded by more than 100,000 Chinese troops at Chosin Lake, he showed a look of disbelief, as the supreme military commander of the United States, he was very aware of the spiritual value and military strength of the First Marine Division in the American army, and if this force was annihilated by the Chinese army, it would mean that the United States would become pointless in waging this war.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman threatened to use the atomic bomb, and the allies reacted brightly.
On November 30, three days after the Ninth Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army surrounded the First Marine Division, Truman publicly declared at the White House to reporters from around the world attending the press conference that the U.S. government was considering the use of atomic bombs against Chinese and North Korean forces in North Korea, given the current military form in the Far East. This speech is nothing less than a strong earthquake caused by the whole world, and both the Eastern and Western camps have expressed strong concern.
Soviet leader Stalin responded crisply: the use of atomic bombs against China was the use of atomic bombs against the Soviet Union; Britain, America's closest ally, listened to Truman's obvious blackmail speech, and the most intense debates and quarrels since the end of World War II took place in the House of Commons, and after urgent consultations between former Prime Minister Churchill and current Prime Minister Attlee, Attlee flew to Washington, D.C. As for the details of the secret conversation between the two presidents of the United States and Britain, the public is not clear. However, the subsequent changes in the situation have also made many international people speculate about seven or eight points.
First, in the Korean theater, the large-scale rescue operation launched by the United Nations army, using seven aircraft carrier fleets in the Pacific Ocean, flew more than two-thirds of the air power in the Far East to the Chosin Lake area, and used more firepower than later VanVleet's "supersaturated ammunition volume." "All the rear bases revolve around the sole purpose of rescuing the First Marine Division, which of course belongs to conventional military equipment.
This was all the result of three days of squabbling with Truman in the United States, and when he left the United States, Truman assured him that Europe would always be America's most important partner and strategic center of gravity; that the United States would formally inform Britain of the use of the atomic bomb and get both sides agreed upon.
And the opposition in the United States is using Truman's speech to unleash an outcry at his presidential power over human life, amid popular condemnation, including by organizations of scientists who are actively opposed to war. Truman's conspiracy to scare China away with a wave of a nuclear stick not only did not frighten the Chinese and North Korean people, but on the second day after his menace was issued, the 27th Army of the Chinese Volunteer Army completely annihilated the US Polar Bear Regiment in Chosin Lake Xinxing, responding to his nuclear blackmail with real practical actions.
The disparity in strength and the fact that the U.S. Army's First Marine Division escaped to heaven, and the Chinese army pursued hundreds of miles to Xingnan Port.
When the U.S. First Marine Division was surrounded at Chosin Lake, it was precisely because North Korea encountered extremely cold weather that was extremely rare in the past fifty years, the temperature had dropped to about minus forty degrees, and even if the US military had adequate winter support materials such as down sleeping bags, warm gloves, and thick tents, it also had the most serious frostbite since entering the DPRK, and the Chinese soldiers who fought against it not only did not have cotton jackets and coats that could withstand the cold, but even wore liberation rubber shoes on their feet when they entered the DPRK, and all the armies of the corps were starved of food.
The general offensive was launched at 4:00 p.m. on November 27, 1950, and the sudden attack of the American troops was initially caught off guard, and soon under the command of division commander Smith, heavy tank equipment was used to form a circular fortification. Chinese servicemen who only possess light weapons have exerted their super courage in the face of the powerful firepower network constructed by the US military and continuously broken through the US military defense line at various assault points. On the night of December 1, the US 31st Infantry Reinforcement Regiment was completely annihilated by the Volunteer 27th Army in Xinxingli, and the US army in Liutanli was defeated to the lower corner. In the continuous attacks of the 20th Army and the 27th Army, the US First Marine Division suffered heavy losses.
On the night of December 5, Smith ordered the shrinking forces to "turn south." Smith's use of the word "turn in" was considered, and he believed that the current US army had been panicked and afraid under the heavy blows of the Chinese army, and if the order to retreat, it would be a failure for both the UNITED Nations command and the US soldiers, which was a blasphemy for the honor of the First Marine Division. As long as the First Marine Division can be brought out of the encirclement, it will be a victory.
Of course, the enemy and we are already well aware of the entire battlefield situation, and the defeat of the US army is a foregone conclusion. The speed of the U.S. retreat is not exaggerated by snails, with an average advance of only 400 meters per hour. At the only Bridge of Watergate leading to Xingnan Port, the Chinese army twice blew up this bridge of life that was related to the life and death of the US army, and quickly recovered under the support of the strong comprehensive capabilities of the US army, and two bridges with steel frame components customized in Japan were airdropped to Shuimen, and the 1st Marine Division was able to escape from the encirclement of the Chinese army.
Before the American army retreated, the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army ordered the 26th Corps of the Corps Reserve to enter the battlefield to launch a final attack on the plan of the First Marine Division to prepare to escape, and this pursuit was pursued all the way to the port of Xingnan, along the way, the soldiers of the United Nations Army, who had long been lost dogs, encountered the fierce attack of the Volunteer Army, either turned their heads and fled or surrendered their weapons and took prisoners.
In order to rescue the First Marine Division, the US military caught up with all the aircraft capable of fighting, and even if there was no ammunition, it had to fly around above the heads of the Chinese communist troops to disrupt the pursuit. Four heavy aircraft carriers and three light aircraft carriers, together with a large number of warships and transport ships, are already waiting on the sea surface of Xingnan Port, ready to receive the First Marine Division that is fleeing from the desert. From December 11 to December 24, nearly 40,000 soldiers of the 1st Marine Division and the United Nations Army finally all boarded their warships and withdrew from Chosin Lake.
The Sino-US Battle of Chosin Lake and the escape of the US First Marine Division, if only rely on the strength of military strength, it is difficult to escape the fate of being surrounded and annihilated by the Chinese army, and the extremely cold and bad weather coupled with the superiority of the US military equipment has created an excellent opportunity for the US First Marine Division to slip away.
After the war, when the US military counted the losses of the First Marine Division, the statistics officer lamented: Thank God for saving the First Marine Division, otherwise we would lose not military strength, but all the honor of American soldiers.
Colonel Alpha Bauser of the Operations Division of the U.S. First Marine Division, who was deeply touched by the Battle of Chosin Lake, said:
"If Chinese have enough logistical support and communication equipment, we will never be able to get out of Chosin Lake!" The First Marine Division was a fluke! ”
MacArthur later wrote in his diary:
All the troops on the Eastern Front suffered heavy losses, and the dignity of the American army was humiliated as never before. Washington was shrouded in unprecedented shock and chaos, the first time since the outbreak of the Pacific War.