On the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Battle of Shangganling was an extremely fierce battle, and Van Vliet, a senior general of the US Army, originally wanted to take the Shangganling position and save the face he had lost before, but he was stunned to turn a small-scale position war into a fierce battle that attracted worldwide attention.
In VanVleet's original plan, the attack on the Shangganling position only required the use of two battalions of troops, and it could quickly win the victory in just 5 days, and its casualties would not exceed 200.
It can be said that before launching the attack, VanVleet had the victory in his hands, thinking that he could easily win the victory, but when the battle really started, he found that the volunteer soldiers stationed on the position were far more powerful and tenacious than he thought.
From October 14 to 20, volunteer soldiers fought with the American army for 7 days and 7 nights, and the two sides repeatedly fought over the position.
During the day, the enemy relied on aircraft and artillery to seize the position, and at night our army launched a surprise attack by relying on strategy and tactics to retake the position again.
This repeated tug-of-war, like a meat grinder, caused huge casualties on both sides.
On the night of October 19, the 135th Regiment of the 45th Division of our army was ordered to attack the 597.9 heights, and in this fierce battle, the combat hero Huang Jiguang used his body to block the enemy's gun muzzle and used his own life to open a road to victory for his comrades-in-arms.
In this battle, the losses on both sides were extremely heavy, and the always proud American army pulled away 30 trucks of remains alone.
After the leaders of our army saw their own casualty reports, they were also particularly saddened. Especially when learning of the deeds of the battle hero Huang Jiguang, Qin Jiwei and other patriotic generals were touched and distressed.
In order to avenge Huang Jiguang and other unfortunately killed soldiers, General Qin Jiwei made a phone call to General Hong Xuezhi, who was in charge of logistics affairs, and asked him to send a batch of Katyusha rockets to the front-line troops.
It was a weapon developed by the Soviet Union that was put into use during World War II and caused huge casualties to Germany.
According to the data, the Katyusha rocket has a diameter of 132 mm, each gun can carry 16 rockets, and the longest range can reach more than 8,000 meters.
More importantly, the Katyusha rocket launcher uses electrical ignition, and after launching, it only takes a few seconds to fire all of them, which can cause huge damage to the enemy in a very short time.
If it is used at a critical moment, it can even directly turn the tide of battle. After Huang Jiguang's heroic sacrifice, General Qin Jiwei equipped the front-line troops with 24 Katyusha rockets, which our army directly defeated the US army after using them.
At the end of a battle, the volunteer soldiers in charge of clearing the battlefield saw a messy position, and they searched around, and finally found only two surviving American troops.
When a U.S. soldier was taken prisoner, he was already frightened, and after he was captured by the volunteer soldiers, he even wept and protested that you had actually used the atomic bomb.
As we all know, during World War II, the United States used atomic bombs to bomb Japan twice, and as a result, Japan, which had always refused to surrender, quickly changed its position and announced the news of its surrender.
Therefore, in the minds of American soldiers, the atomic bomb is a very powerful killer, and the reason why they have maintained a proud posture on the Korean battlefield is mainly because they have the atomic bomb in their hands.
When some U.S. prisoners were first captured by the volunteers, they even clamored that they would use the atomic bomb to carry out a "surgical operation" on China in the future.
This arrogant clamor, although hateful, is undeniable that it does reflect the situation at the time to a certain extent.
In the absence of weapons of mass destruction such as atomic bombs, it is indeed difficult for our army to confront the enemy head-on in terms of firepower. If the enemy really used a large number of atomic bombs to bomb the volunteers, it would certainly cause us huge casualties.
Fortunately, during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although the United States had the idea of using atomic bombs, they did not really pay for practical action.
Because the Soviet Union was still watching from the sidelines, if the United States directly used the atomic bomb, it would give the Soviet Union an excuse to directly intervene in the battle.
You know, at that time, although the economic strength of the Soviet Union was not as good as that of the United States, their military strength was a few points stronger than that of the United States. In particular, its nuclear weapons stockpiles are far larger than those of capitalist countries such as the United States.
As a result, the United States has been fighting the Cold War with the Soviet Union for the last century, avoiding large-scale hot wars as much as possible. On the Korean battlefield, the U.S. military had a large number of aircraft and artillery. But they didn't have such explosive weapons as the Katyusha rockets.
Therefore, in battle, our army can often use rocket artillery to suppress the enemy's firepower. According to relevant data, in the last campaign of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the 21st Artillery Division equipped with Katyusha rocket artillery fired 1,900 tons of ammunition in just 28 minutes after using the rocket artillery.
Taking advantage of the cover of firepower, the soldiers of our army quickly advanced forward, and in only one hour, they broke through the solid defensive line of the enemy's 4 divisions, laying a good foundation for the follow-up all-round attack.
This brilliant victory greatly dampened the confidence of the US military and also created favorable conditions for the follow-up negotiations.
What needs to be emphasized is that in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although the Katyusha rocket artillery played a certain historical role, it was not the most core factor for our army to win victory.
After all, the number of Katyusha rockets equipped by our army is not much, and they can only be suppressed in a short period of time. In conventional combat, we rely on the hard work of the soldiers and the excellent tactics formulated by patriotic generals such as Peng Laozong and Qin Jiwei.
Throughout the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the logistical supply of our army has always been very difficult. When fighting on the front lines, our volunteer soldiers could only carry ammunition and rations for a week at a time.
If you continue to fight for a long time, you can easily fall into an extremely passive situation because of insufficient ammunition.
Because of this, our army often had no choice but to withdraw because of lack of ammunition, so that the enemy took away the position again. In the process of continuous combat, our army improves its combat capabilities while consuming the enemy's materials and combat convictions. Little by little, the balance of strength between the two sides will be changed to strive for favorable conditions for the final victory.
Generally speaking, the brilliant victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is indeed inspiring. The heroes who died heroically in the war are also particularly admirable.
This fierce war can be called a war of founding a country, and new China, which has always been ostracized by Western countries, not only used this war to establish its own great power majesty, but also completely gained a firm foothold in the international community.
Mr. Peng summed up afterwards that as long as the Western invaders erected a few cannons on a coast in the East, they could occupy a country, and the era of time is gone.