In October 1952, in order to reverse the passivity on the Korean battlefield, Clarke, commander of the "United Nations Army", approved VanVleet's "Operation Showdown" plan, the main goal of which was the Shangganling area controlled by the 15th Army of the PVA. Before the war, Van Vliet was very optimistic that the operation would take only 6 days at most to end, and the "United Nations Army" could suffer about 200 casualties. It is reasonable to say that after nearly two years of competition, VanVleet should have a full understanding of the combat effectiveness of our army, so why can he still be so confident? The reason is that the power he can use in his hands is really too powerful!
Before the campaign began, Van Vliet had more than 60,000 soldiers to fight, mostly American soldiers who had fought in World War II and were armed to the teeth. In addition, he equipped the participating troops with more than 300 heavy guns, nearly 200 tanks and more than a hundred aircraft, and the shells were even more openly supplied. Compared with the US army, the weapons and equipment of our army are much more shabby, not only there are no planes, tanks, and even heavy artillery is pitiful, and the soldiers can rely on the light weapons in their hands, plus grenades and explosive canisters.
However, the outcome of the battle surprised VanVleet, who thought that the battle that could be ended in 6 days was fought for 43 days, and the casualties reached more than 20,000 people, which was 100 times larger than the original estimate! What made him even more angry was that he had paid such a heavy price but failed to win the final victory. So why is this happening? Is the U.S. military's firepower not fierce enough? Of course not, in these 43 days, the US military poured more than 1.9 million shells into Shangganling, and the hills of our forward positions were cut down by two meters! This shows the fierceness of the artillery fire.
Is the U.S. military undermanned? The answer is not that in the Battle of Shangganling, the enemy and we invested almost equal troops, and our army did not occupy the superiority in strength. The reason why the US military lost this battle was defeated in the four words "more steel and less gas." The firepower of the US army is indeed fierce, but they do not have the spirit of the volunteer army to see death as a homecoming and the will of steel! A battle on the day of November 4 illustrates this point well. At that time, the 5th Company of the 87th Regiment of the Volunteer Army was ordered to counterattack the enemy, and two soldiers from Sichuan, Xue Zhigao and Wang Heliang, both participated in the assault platoon.
After the battle began, the whole platoon braved the enemy's tight artillery blockade, tactfully and bravely charged at the enemy, completely annihilated a platoon of the enemy, killed and wounded more than 40 enemy people, and occupied Position 1 in one fell swoop. However, when attacking Position 2, it was met with stubborn resistance from the enemy, and although the position was finally conquered, only two seriously wounded people remained in the platoon, Xue Zhigao and Wang Heliang. Xue Zhigao's legs were broken, Wang Heliang's eyes were blinded, no one could fight alone, they could completely withdraw and heal their wounds. But a stunning scene appeared, Wang Heliang carried Xue Zhigao on his back, guided by Xue Zhigao, and the two of them joined together to continue to attack the enemy! The US troops were frightened by their spirit of seeing death as a homecoming, and they retreated one after another, and Wang Heliang pursued the enemy with Xue Zhigao on his back, and the US commander saw the situation and lamented: We cannot win this battle. It was precisely with this spirit of seeing death as a homecoming and the will of steel that we finally won the Battle of Shangganling, which not only brought about military and national prestige, but also made the people of the world look at New China with astonishment.