After the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began, the Volunteer Army and the US Army experienced several large-scale battles, and both sides had a certain understanding of each other's strategies and tactics. According to the operational characteristics of the Volunteer Army, The commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, Ridgway, learned that the volunteer army's food and ammunition supply was only enough to last for seven days, so at the end of the fifth campaign, the main force of the United Nations Army's American and British troops organized a large number of advance teams mainly tanks and armored vehicles, under the cover of aircraft, launched a counterattack against the Volunteer Army, and at the same time ordered the Air Force to bomb the rear base of the Volunteer Army on a large scale, causing great casualties to the volunteer troops.
When the Volunteers were retreating, due to the rapid action of the armored forces of the American and British Armies, there was serious chaos, and the 180th Division of the 60th Army of the Volunteer Army was almost completely destroyed. In the end, Peng Dehuai and Ridgway both set their eyes on a very important place, that is, Tieyuan. The Railway in the Tieyuan area is the most convenient transportation hub to the 38th Line, and it is also the logistics supply base to the Volunteer Army, and the materials and rear organs of the Volunteer Army are also retreating from here at that time, and the troops who have retreated from the front line have also moved closer to the Tieyuan area, where they need to obtain supplies and then establish a new strategic defense line.
More importantly, if we observe the satellite map of the Tieyuan area, we will find that the Tieyuan is close to the 38th Line, the terrain is dominated by mountains and hills, and to the north is the Ichima Pingchuan, which is also the most suitable area for the operation of the mechanized troops of the United Nations Army, if the enemy preemptively occupies the Iron Plains, then in the plains, the two legs of the Volunteer Army cannot run over the american car wheels, and the United Nations Army will use their absolute superiority of aircraft and artillery to pursue the Volunteers, which will cause unimaginable consequences at that time.
On May 27, 1951, Van Vliet, commander of the US Eighth Army, led more than 50,000 people from the US 1st Cavalry Division, the US 25th Division, the British 28th Brigade, and the British 29th Brigade to approach 20 kilometers of Tieyuan under the cover of aircraft and tanks. When the life of the retreating army was hanging in the balance, Peng Dehuai ordered the 63rd Army of the 19th Corps to defend Tieyuan, and the 63rd Army immediately marched to Tieyuan after receiving the order.
In the early hours of May 30, 1951, Van Vleet, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, poured as many as 4,000 tons of shells into the positions of the Iron Plains Volunteer Army in one hour. The U.S. army initially attacked the position of the 187th Division with dangerous terrain, but after seeing that the terrain was too dangerous, it turned to launch a fierce attack on the position of the 189th Division led by Cai Changyuan. In this battle, Cai Changyuan changed the characteristics of concentrating superior forces in the past, sent deputy division-level cadres to the regiments below, sent deputy regimental-level cadres to various battalions, and reduced the whole division into more than 200 units and scattered them to various places on the battlefield, so that VanVleet's cannon could not find the key direction to bomb.
Cai Changyuan's approach greatly reduced the firepower superiority of the US military, and the US military had to rely on superior troops and fierce artillery fire to fall into a time-consuming and labor-intensive "nail pulling" battle. The two sides fought fiercely for three days and three nights, and the 189th Division had to withdraw its position due to heavy casualties, and the 188th Division took over the position of the 189th Division. Zhang Yinghui's 188th Division took over the 189th Division into the position on June 3, he found that Tieyuan City had many trenches and anti-artillery holes left by the former Rok army, so he ordered the troops to dig all the trenches and transform them into crisscrossing trench defense nets, the US tanks and armored vehicles suffered heavy losses in these trenches, more than 100 US tank armored vehicles were destroyed by the volunteers, Zhang Yinghui also organized a large number of snipers to shoot at important US targets and officers, and also achieved good results.
By the time the 187th Division took over the position, a small piece of the position had been beaten and the fortifications had been blown to pieces. Xu Xin, the commander of the 187th Division, knew that he could not hold on anyway, but the bold division commander made a decision that surprised the commander Fu Chongbi, that is, to counterattack the American army. In the previous battle, the 63rd Army had an artillery regiment and a rocket artillery battalion that had been useless, one was afraid of being attacked by the US army, and did not dare to use it, and the other was because the amount of ammunition was too small, Fu Chongbi pulled out all the artillery forces in order to support Xu Xin's action.
Since the 63rd Army did not use artillery in the process of fighting the US army, the US military thought that the 63rd Army did not have artillery, so it did not make anti-artillery preparations. At two o'clock in the morning, the artillery of the 63rd Army launched a fierce shelling on the American positions, firing all the shells in one go, and the Detonation of the American Ammunition Depot was even more fierce than the artillery fire of the Volunteers. The infantry of the volunteer army rushed out of the position before the artillery fire was ready to end, and the AMERICAN troops retreated more than 30 miles in one breath, and many American troops rushed to run without even getting dressed, and they did not react for three days.
After the 187th Division's counterattack, the officers and men of the 63rd Army withdrew from their positions, and when the troops withdrew, most of the fighters were left with only a pair of pants and a rifle with an empty magazine. Peng Dehuai personally rushed to see the officers and men of the 63rd Army, and he said with moist eyes: "The motherland thanks you, and I Peng Dehuai thank you." I want to report to the motherland, to the Party Central Committee, to Chairman Mao, that you are the real iron army. "In the entire Tieyuan Blockade Battle, the three divisions of the 63rd Army and the direct subordinate units of the army killed and wounded a total of 21,654 prisoners of the United Nations Army, and the 30,000 officers and men of the 63rd Army also fought more than 10,000 people.