Disclaimer: Wu Xuehua's original works
Commander Zhang Yixiang
In November 1950, the Battle of Chosin Lake began.
Before the battle began, the top brass of the Volunteer Army had been ordered to completely annihilate the First Marine Division, so the Volunteer Army used the Ace 20th Army to deal with the US First Marine Division, which was an ace-on-ace operation.
As soon as the battle began, the 20th Army, under the command of Commander Zhang Yixiang, braved the low temperature of minus thirty or forty degrees celsius to fight with the Ace of the American Army armed to the teeth.
How cruel this battle was, some of the surviving veterans, when recalling the battle, could not help but cry, always saying, too miserable, too cold.
Yang Gensi
The famous special combat hero Yang Gensi, who was a company commander of the 20th Army at that time, led three platoons to hold the high ground, repelled eight attacks of the US army, and when he was the only one left on the position, he resolutely picked up the explosive package and rushed to the enemy group and died with the enemy. In order to hold on to Dead Eagle Ridge, a battalion of the 20th Army fought to the end, leaving only about 60 people, watching the remnants of the American army break through. Why don't they block it?
Because they ran out of food and could not move, in the temperature of minus thirty or forty degrees, after fighting for several days and nights, most of them had their legs dead, melted into the ice and snow, and could not walk at all.
The reality is much more tragic than in some articles.
Some netizens broke the news on the Internet, saying that a certain Chinese American surnamed Gao made a high-profile claim that the US First Marine Division successfully withdrew in the Battle of Chosin Lake and did not suffer losses.
This statement is not true, Gao Moumou was born in Tsinghua, but he studied electronic engineering, and his understanding of history is not necessarily more than that of a junior high school student.
I checked the war history data and found that during the Battle of Chosin Lake, the US First Marine Division used more than 300 aircraft, including helicopters, to rescue more than 7,000 troubled troops from the encirclement. Otherwise, the First Marine Division would have been almost entirely wrapped in dumplings by the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army.
What are the Ace Divisions, let's first look at their equipment.
According to relevant data, the total number of the us 1st Marine Division is nearly 20,000 people, under the jurisdiction of 1 armored brigade and 2 mechanized infantry brigades (a total of 5 heavy tank battalions and 5 mechanized infantry battalions), 1 combat aviation brigade, 1 division of artillery regiments, 1 division of support regiments, 1 communication battalion, 1 anti-aircraft artillery battalion, 1 military intelligence battalion, 1 chemical company, 1 gendarmerie company and 1 division band.
The First Marine Division was worthy of being the trump card of the US Army, and after being surrounded by the Ninth Corps, it did not immediately collapse, but quickly tightened its positions, surrounded by tanks and chariots into a fortress, and desperately resisted. As the battle progressed, they called for artillery support at any time, inflicting heavy casualties on the attacking volunteers.
The entire 20th Army at the Battle of Chosin Lake was met with a staggering number of non-combat attritions. Although it has made great sacrifices, it has also dealt a heavy blow to the FIRST DIVISION OF THE US Army, and the 20th Army has participated in the battle of more than 40,000 people, and less than half of them are left after the war.
The volunteers were so heavy casualties, so how big were the casualties of the US ace division?
In the battle history of the US First Marine Division, it is recorded that the 1st Marine Division lost 604 people, missing 192 people, and wounded 3503 people. I think that number should be somewhat hidden.
After the Battle of Chosin Lake, the U.S. 1st Marine Division was transferred to the rear, and the 11th Division of South Korea was formed into a strategic reserve to clear the northern guerrillas between Uiseong and Daegu, which was only a year and a half.
What does this mean?
The First Marine Division was the ace of the U.S. Army, while the South Korean 11th Division was a third-rate unit, so how could the two armies be put together? There are only two explanations: first, someone put small shoes on the First Marine Division, and second, the First Marine Division was really injured at Chosin Lake and could no longer go to the main battlefield.
Let's look at a set of data, according to the number of casualties of the VARIOUS services of the US Military in the Korean War in 2008, during the entire war, the First Marine Division lost a total of 5528 casualties, wounded 23744 people, and accumulated 29272 casualties. This is strange, this number exceeds the number of the First Marine Division. And the only hard battle fought by the First Marine Division in the war was the Battle of Chosin Lake, and since then it has been wandering around in the rear, and how many people can die at all?
Looking back, when the U.S. army landed at Inchon, the First Marine Division did not encounter decent resistance, so the casualties should not be large.
Based on the casualty figures of the 20th Army and the casualty ratio of the two sides, I speculate that the US First Marine Division lost at least 4,000 casualties, wounded and frostbitten more than 7,300 people in the Battle of Chosin Lake, and actually lost more than 10,000 personnel.
Objectively speaking, in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the heroic 20th Army and the American Army
1st Marine Division
All of them have shown strong combat effectiveness and incomparably tenacious will to fight, and they are all heroes and pride of their respective countries, and they all deserve our respect. However, our ancestors defended the dignity of the motherland with their blood, and they are immortal and will live forever!