During the Battle of Cloud Hill, Johnson was captured by our volunteers. Years later, he recalls the experience of routing all the way to captivity, and he still has palpitations.
In 1950, Johnson's cavalry division was stationed on the outskirts of Unsan City, and on 1 November our volunteer army began to attack Unsan.
Don't fight Chinese bayonet!
"If you can't do it, hand-to-hand combat---- don't think I'll be proud of what I said, we were doing what we had to do" Johnson recalled: "The South Korean army was just a bunch of puppets, clay sculptures, they were completely in a state of trance, a state of pre-surrender!" Their defensive line was quickly breached, and they ran backwards like a flock of sheep trying to shake off the wolves."
Johnson: The Chinese artillery fire was very strong, it was the "Katyusha" artillery that made the German army tremble in World War II, the artillery fire was slightly stopped, and the Chinese soldiers who could not see the formation attacked our position in all directions, and rushed to us in an instant.
There was soon a scuffle on the position, and the sergeant shouted for everyone to put on the bayonet, telling us not to be afraid: Chinese is short and thin, and it cannot be our opponent! Yes, our men were tall and strong, all strong, Chinese thin, and it seemed that we alone could deal with the two of them. But soon I knew I was wrong----Chinese was too fierce! If it was in the boxing ring, I could have knocked over Chinese, but it wasn't. The Chinese soldiers were all carrying bayonets on their guns, and they were roaring, extremely fast and fierce. Our people have become accustomed to airplanes, tanks and long-range shooting, and obviously rarely have seen such scenes. You can hear the sound of a bayonet entering the flesh, poof, poof, God, I hate that sound!
I had almost no training in stabbing, the spear in the melee position was not in hand, I pulled out my pistol and shot indiscriminately at the Chinese soldiers, but soon the bullets ran out, and it was too late to change the magazine, at this time I was knocked down by a huge force, fortunately his bayonet did not stab me, I wrestled with him, I wanted to reach out and pull out the pickaxe behind me, but the little man held his hand deadly, I desperately turned over, but then he bit my ear, and roared in my ear, like a lion! I screamed, thinking I was finished, and I confessed that I was timid---- my ear bitten off.
Bob ---- guy from New Jersey, with an butt of his gun smashed into the head of a Chinese soldier. I scrambled up, not caring to see if the Chinese soldier who had bitten me was dead, and ran back. The sergeant called my name and called me a coward, and I looked back at the chaotic position and shouted at him: I am wounded! As I ran high underground, I looked back at the lower position, where there was smoke, and I saw several American soldiers kneeling, guns in both hands...
Why didn't the Chinese soldiers kill Captain McCaby?
Under the position was the Highway Bridge, guarded by three battalions of the Eighth Regiment of the First Cavalry Division, who briefly bandaged my wounds.
But then the Chinese soldiers attacked the bridge, when I heard the sound of military trumpets and horses' hooves in the distance, I thought I was still dreaming, the enemy seemed to be riding the fog, falling from the sky, the shadows were blurred, they shot when they saw people, opened fire indiscriminately, and even stabbed directly with bayonets, constantly throwing grenades and explosive packages into the car, and the car was blown up... In a few moments, the garrison of the three battalions was beaten to pieces... The entire three battalions were caught off guard. The highway bridgehead fortifications were firing wildly, and the Chinese kept falling. I was lying in my position looking in opposite directions, and a Chinese soldier with a bundle of grenades jumped barefoot down the frozen river and ran toward us, and in the middle of the river he was hit and fell into the river, but struggled to get up again, ran all the way to the fortifications, and stuffed the bundled grenades into a nearby fortification. The bodies of a squad of American soldiers flew up along with the cement and steel of the fortifications...
A captain named McCabee escaped from the battalion headquarters, and the steel helmet was immediately knocked out, and a bullet was drilled into the shoulder blade. Due to excessive blood loss, he lay on the side of the road unable to move. At this time, something strange happened to me: several Chinese soldiers pointed their bayonets at him, but did not stab him, did not even surrender his guns, but just said something to each other. McCaby pointed his finger to the south, and the Chinese soldier turned around and left. McCaby miraculously survived.
The Chinese soldiers wanted to stuff grenades into the gaps in the tanks
I withdrew with my troops into Yunshan City, where there were heavy guards and our tanks blocked the streets. Chinese kept approaching the tanks with explosive packs and bundles of grenades, hiding in houses on both sides of the street, drilling out from other places, and throwing the explosive packs into the bottom of the tanks as they approached. There was a Chinese soldier who even stood looking for the gap in the tank, not caring about the bullets flying everywhere, he wanted to stuff the grenades into it...
Throughout the night, surrounded by military trumpets, trumpets, and whistles, a small number of Chinese scouts were circling around, playing anachronistic instruments at an inopportune time. The first time we fought against the Chinese army, we were restless all night without understanding the truth, and we were made nervous. It's a primitive, but extremely effective, neural warfare.
There are four conditions for surrender
Captured part of the Turkish brigade
We continued to retreat south, but Chinese had already occupied the intersection of the Zhuren Bridge Highway, and our back road was cut off. I was very depressed, my heart was full of uneasiness---- must be the Soviets entering the war, otherwise how could Chinese have such a great offensive power? In the end, I found that except for katyusha, which was Soviet, the other attacks were Chinese. They're still on the rampage and we have nowhere to go! Everyone was arguing about surrender, and one guy said: Their officers had said that there were four conditions for surrender: one was that there were no bullets, the second was that there was no food, the third was that communication was interrupted, and the fourth was that there was no breakthrough. We meet all the conditions for surrender. Finally, a man ripped off his shirt and picked it up on his rifle as a white flag, and we surrendered. We may have been the first American soldiers captured in the Korean War!
Captured part of the 29th Brigade of the British Royal Artillery
Chinese soldiers turn over the "golden bowl" we collected.
North Korean copper bowl
After being captured, Chinese soldiers rummaged through our rucksacks and found a large pile of North Korean copper bowls. This is what we collected, because almost all of us have heard that the bowls used by the Orientals are made of gold, so we collect Korean copper bowls while fighting, and I also collected 2 ---- which is ridiculous. It's a shame to think about it now!
Anyway, I survived. I will never forget my comrades who were stabbed to death with bayonets, it was terrible. Later I told everyone I knew a secret: Don't fight with Chinese bayonet!
The Battle of Unsan was the first successful battle in which the Chinese Volunteer Army severely dealt a blow to the US army with inferior equipment. In this battle, most of the eight regiments of the US 1st Cavalry Division with modern equipment and the 12th Regiment of the 1st Division of the South Korean Army were annihilated, and a total of 2,046 enemy troops were annihilated, including 1,840 American troops, 4 aircraft were captured, 1 enemy aircraft were shot down, 28 tanks were destroyed and captured, 116 cars were captured, 190 guns of various kinds, and a large number of guns and ammunition were destroyed and captured.
Hats off to the heroes! I am @
Visual communication
Friends who like my articles welcome "follow", "comment", "forward", I will continue to share historical photos, relive history, and feel the original intention.
Friends who think the article is good, may wish to click a free follow, your support is my greatest motivation!