What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
It was a battle of fearless sacrifice, a battle of Chinese blood, a battle in which the world finally faced China squarely.
Countless heroes emerged in that war, and the "unsung heroes" were even more numerous!
What we want to talk about today is one of the countless "unsung heroes" - the Henan Independent Regiment.
The Henan Independent Regiment belonged to the 38th Army of the Volunteer Army at that time, and the 38th Army was the famous Tiger and Wolf Division, which was named "Long Live the Army" by Peng Shuai.
In January 1951, the Henan Independent Regiment, which was subordinate to the 38th Army, under the leadership of Wang Kai, chief of the first section of the Security Department of the 38th Army, went to the forward position of the Han River, with the task of defending the forward position from being captured by the enemy.
This independent regiment was formed on an ad hoc basis, and due to the fierce fighting situation on the front line of the Battle of the Han River, the 38th Army was severely depleted in this battle, and the front-line position corps was almost exhausted.
Therefore, the top brass specially supplemented the 38th Army with an independent regiment, and immediately went to the front line of the Han River Campaign after the formation was completed.
At that time, the war situation was urgent, and Wang Kai, as the head of the first section of the Security Department, was also urgently pulled to this independent regiment as the person in charge.
When Wang Kai entered the independent regiment, he found one thing, these more than 1,000 soldiers were all Henan soldiers, and there was not a single cadre, all of them were recruit eggs.
Therefore, in order to assign officers to the independent regiment, Wang Kai had to go to the field hospital to find 19 cadres and wounded soldiers, which was matched with platoon leaders, company commanders and battalion commanders.
In this way, the Henan Independent Regiment was formed.
After the formation of the independent regiment was completed, Wang Kai did not dare to delay the time, and the next day he found 4 maps of Korea and 4 interpreters, and went to receive 4 horse-drawn carriages assigned by the 38th Army to the Henan Independent Regiment, 4 carriages could hold the rations of the whole regiment for 3 days, and each soldier of the independent regiment carried 10 kilograms of rice.
In this way, the Henan Independent Regiment began to rush towards the front line.
However, shortly after the departure, these warriors from the Central Plains suddenly came to the northeast border, and the severe cold of the weather made them unable to adapt, and most of the people in the whole regiment got the flu and suffered from a serious cold.
At that time, medicines were extremely scarce, and troops like the Henan Independent Regiment, which had been temporarily mobilized, had no place to find medicine. In the end, Wang Kai came up with a way to make peppery soup for the Henan soldiers to drink, so that these Henan soldiers sweated more.
That is, relying on the peppery soup, the soldiers' colds slowly improved, and after a few days of running, the Henan Independent Regiment officially entered the DPRK.
The journey after entering Korea became more difficult, because during the day there were enemy fighters constantly reconnaissance attacks, so that the troops could only rest in air defense during the day and march in the dark at night.
The troops who entered the DPRK marched at night, often lost because of the difficulty of the march, and the soldiers were often left behind. However, the Henan Independent Regiment walked for more than half a month with the map, and not only did it not get lost, but no one was left behind.
On the road, it encountered many bombing and strafing by enemy fighters, but miraculously, the independent regiment did not suffer a single casualty during the journey of more than half a month.
With the integrity of the whole staff, the Henan Independent Regiment came to the front line of the Battle of the Han River. At this time, the front line of the Han River Campaign was tight, and the various forward defensive positions were short of manpower to replenish, and sometimes a squad often had to guard a hill, and the strength of the troops was very small.
With the arrival of the Henan Independent Regiment, the company commanders of the various positions finally showed a smile, because even if they were given one person to them, they could share the pressure of a mountain.
After the Henan Independent Regiment came to the forward position, it immediately broke it into pieces, split and scattered the independent regiment, and divided it into each company and platoon of the forward position.
At this time, the han river forward position was full of artillery fire, and there were large craters blown out by shells everywhere, scattered with shell shells and bullet casings, red soil and black soil mixed together, and the smoke of gunpowder and blood in the air blended together, constantly stimulating people's sense of smell.
These Henan recruits came to the battlefield for the first time, and after experiencing the rapid march, their faces were blackened by the cold wind, and their lips were always dry and cracked and bloody.
However, there was no slightest fear in their eyes, and in the more than 20 days of rapid marching, they had also crossed the brink of life and death. At this time, they came here with only one belief, to bring back this victory for the motherland and for the villagers of the motherland.
Because they know that the victory of this war will be exchanged for the safety of the mountains and rivers, for the peace of the homeland, for the world to face China squarely, and for the world to see China's iron will not be afraid of violence.
In February 1951, the cold winter was a tragic moment for the soldiers of the Henan Independent Regiment who had just arrived at the forward position.
Most of the battles broke out in the dark, the front line was tight, the terrain was unfamiliar, the battlefield was too long, and there were not enough hands, and many soldiers of the Henan Independent Regiment died in the battle that night. They did not even have time to remember the names of their comrades-in-arms, so they died on the front line of the Battle of the Han River, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. ,
They were guarded here forever, not afraid, not retreating, they knew that this was a road of no return, but still no one escaped.
Although they are nameless, they can bear the name of heroes.
After the end of the war, Wang Kai, who was in charge of leading the independent regiment to the front, inquired everywhere about the whereabouts of the Henan independent regiment.
However, most of the officers and men of the 38th Army were unaware of the existence of this independent regiment, and there were too many soldiers rushing to the front line of the Han River, and the battle situation was too fierce, and the soldiers did not basically have time to get acquainted with each other, so they handed over their young lives to the wall of the national gate.
But Wang Kai will not forget how he led these soldiers to the front line without fear of hardship. Although they are nameless, history has not forgotten them, the motherland has not forgotten them, and we in the hereafter should not forget them.
The Battle of the North Han River lasted 50 days, responsible for the frontal defense of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army, the number of casualties of the whole army exceeded 20,000, while the 38th Army of the Volunteer Army was responsible for the flank defense, the casualties of the whole army reached more than 80 percent, and only more than ten people were left after the battle of the various corps under its jurisdiction, which can be imagined as the fierceness of this battle.
History is too tragic, so we in the future generations must not forget, when we see the current taiping and prosperous world, splendid mountains and rivers, do not forget, support all this is the corpses of countless heroes and ancestors under our feet.
It is precisely because of the sacrifices of these heroic ancestors that the mountains and rivers we see today are unharmed, and the years are quiet!