"In this battle, even if we have more anti-tank grenades, explosive canisters, and rockets, then we will not fight so badly, and the soldiers really can't move to fight with rifles to hit the american devils' aircraft tanks!"
This is an interview with a veteran of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea who excitedly described the Battle of Pingli he experienced
How cruel the battle was in Pingli made the veterans who had passed the age of flower armor so excited.
so
A turning point in the Korean War
What was the real reason for the defeat at the Battle of Pingli?
The North Korean people who saw the volunteers could not help but shed tears
This is a must
Launch of "Operation Thunderbolt" from the United Nations Forces
Start to give everyone a more comprehensive understanding of the real reasons for the defeat in the Battle of Pingli.
To talk about the Battle of Pingli, we need to mention an American general, Ridgway
The top brass of the Volunteer Army once commented that Ridgway was a respectable opponent, and even General Manager Peng once said:
"There are two people who have made him suffer great losses in this life, the first is Okamura Ningji, and the second is Ridgway."
Picture 丨MacArthur (front row right) and Ridgway (back row right)
Ridgway was known for his steady and meticulous observations during the Korean War, and he summed up the difficulties in the supply of volunteers through careful observation of the volunteer army
"Worship Offensive"
。
And then summed up according to the shortcomings of the weak mobility of the volunteer army
"Magnetic Tactics"
These two tactics deeply curbed the key points of the volunteer army, causing the volunteer army to suffer a big loss, and Ridgway also became a headache for the volunteer army.
In 1951, after three defeats, the Un Army decided to prepare for a massive counterattack. At this time, the volunteer army was also studying the next battle plan.
Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai inspected the anti-aircraft artillery positions
Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai had realized a weakness exposed by the Volunteer Army, and after the first three battles, the various units of the Volunteer Army had been severely reduced, and the source of troops had not been replenished.
Due to the severe attrition of the ministries, coupled with other reasons,
As a result, the composition of the various units of the Volunteer Army that participated in the battle at Pingli was relatively mixed
This also led to great problems in the coordination of the various departments involved in the war, and it was also one of the reasons for the failure of the Battle of Pingli.
And as the war continued to advance southward, the volunteer army's already fragile supply line became longer and longer, and the volunteer army at this time
The limits have been reached in terms of both manpower and supplies
A certain unit of the Volunteer Army had a Soviet-made submachine gun and an American-made M1 carbine
At that time, the Volunteer Army Command judged:
The UN forces had no intention of a large-scale offensive
It was decided to convene a high-level operational meeting of the Chinese and DPRK armies on January 25.
The troops rested for two months and waited for the weather to warm before launching the offensive.
During this period,
Cadres at and above the commander of the Volunteer Corps returned to China to participate in the joint operations training class
to prepare for the next battle.
The large forces of the Volunteer Army withdrew north to supply and rest, leaving only a part of the troops to defend against the enemy's small-scale attack.
This seemingly reasonable decision laid a fatal hidden danger for future wars
The Korean people beat gongs and drums to bid farewell to the first batch of withdrawn volunteers
On January 25, Ridgway launched the "Thunderbolt Operation" after careful planning
At this time, the commanders and commanders of the various divisions of the Volunteer Army returned to China for training, and the main force had also withdrawn to the north.
Ridgway's combat operation seriously disrupted the deployment of our army, which led to a series of subsequent chain reactions.
230,000 United Nations troops, divided into east and west, attacked north with all their might.
The western front carried out a major assault on the direction of Seoul with the United States and Britain as the main force, and the eastern front was dominated by the Korean army and carried out auxiliary assaults east of the Han River.
At this time
Ridgway profoundly learned the lessons of previous battles
From relying on road attacks before, it began to seize the top of the mountain, compete for strategic commanding heights, carry out multi-faceted attacks, and launch simultaneous attacks on various defensive positions of the Chinese and Dprk armies.
He applied the volunteer army's housekeeping skill, the tactic of dividing and encircling
The front line shrinks and advances together
Tactics of warfare.
Tu Shu followed the counterattack of the US army, and the ROK army also began a long-drive attack
After reducing the speed of the offensive, it took a steady and steady battle, supported each other, and kept the front line continuous without giving the volunteers any opportunity to penetrate.
At the same time, using "magnetic tactics" to fiercely entangle the volunteers,
Let the volunteer army face the embarrassing situation of not being able to fight and not being able to withdraw
Wait until the volunteers run out of ammunition and weaken the offensive, and then cooperate with superior firepower and tanks to launch a counterattack, without giving the volunteers any respite, and start a war of attrition with the volunteers.
During the fighting, the United Nations army used long-range artillery to fight the volunteers during the day and disengaged in trucks near night.
Pictured us troops retreating in a truck
The sudden attack of the United Nations army completely surprised Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai
At this time, the volunteer army had less than 210,000 front-line troops, and the United Nations army had 230,000 troops.
Weaker than the enemy in numbers, inferior in equipment to the enemy,
Logistics are even more pinned down by the enemy
。 The situation was already critical for the Volunteers.
On January 27, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai ordered the troops to stop resting and preparing for battle.
At this time, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai was caught in a dilemma, and if the volunteer army did not send the main force to attack, then it would not be able to stop the enemy's counterattack at all.
But if the main force is sent to attack, it will destroy the overall rest plan, and the original spring offensive will also be affected.
Moreover, the troops are currently underprepared, and if the main force of the volunteer army is blocked, then the entire Korean battlefield will fall into a passive situation.
Pictured by Peng and Kim Il Sung on the Korean battlefield
So Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai sent a report to the Central Committee,
It was requested that the troops be withdrawn thirty kilometers and that a truce be maintained within a limited period of time
The Central Committee rejected the proposal of Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, who believed that if an armistice were chosen now, China and the DPRK would be subject to the enemy.
It is time to prepare four campaigns at once and to extend the front to the north.
The troops then rested and prepared for the fifth campaign two months later, laying the groundwork for peace negotiations.
At this time, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai had thoroughly understood the thinking of the central authorities and made comprehensive preparations for the fourth campaign.
A senior general of the Volunteer Army commanding operations at the front
In view of the offensive formation of the United Nations army in the west and the east, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai formulated it
The strategy of ambushing the west and ambushing the east.
The Western Front sent two corps of volunteers and one army of the People's Army to block the enemy's main force in Seoul and along the south bank of the Han River.
The Eastern Front put the enemy in, launched a surprise attack on its weak points, and then divided and annihilated. It then threatened the enemy's offensive on the Western Front, forcing it to stop fighting.
Such a deployment, although it was already the best choice for the volunteer army at that time,
But it's still tough to implement
The officers and men of the volunteer army fighting on the front line were often a handful of fried noodles and a handful of snow
The Western Front needed three armies to resist the elite American army
If it can't resist, the UN army will gain the initiative in the war.
The situation on the Eastern Front was also not optimistic, and the volunteers were very far from the ambush site, which meant that the volunteers who had not yet rested had to march for a long distance.
The Volunteer Fifty Corps was given the task of defending
Positions on the south bank of the Han River
This unit performed very well in the three battles to resist the United States and aid Korea.
Especially in the third battle, the British pride of the Royal Tank Battalion was completely annihilated, and then participated in the attack on Seoul,
It was one of the furthest units in the south of the Volunteer Army
Soldiers of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army fight the enemy on the position of Repair Hill
The back of the Fifty Army is the Han River, and the defense area is tens of kilometers, and the situation is very passive.
Hat fall, repair mountain, baiyun mountain is the focus of defense
Located south of the Han River and relying on roads and railways leading directly to Seoul, Mt. Hat lok is a key strategic point.
The unit that held on to Hat Fall Mountain was the 443rd Regiment of the Fifty Army, and since the beginning of the battle, the US 25th Division has launched several fierce attacks on Hat Fall Mountain.
Eight companies repelled six enemy attacks under the high ground they were defending,
All the ammunition was gone
, hit with a shovel, smash with a stone
In the end, only eight people remained in the company, including logisticians
, the position eventually fell.
The soldiers of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army insisted on holding Baiyun Mountain
Seven companies fought back and forth with the enemy in a white-knife battle in front of the position
Eight times
In order to hide himself, the machine gunner Tian Wenfu put his carry-on clothes on the other side to attract fire.
With all his teammates sacrificed around him, he single-handedly repelled the U.S. army's multiple charge, killing more than fifty enemies.
Postwar
Tian Wenfu's military coat was found
，
There are fifty-three bullet holes in it
The coat is now stored in the museum, and Tian Wenfu was rated
"Heroic Machine Gun Shooter"
The volunteers held their positions with heavy machine guns
On February 3, the 443rd Regiment successfully repelled many enemy attacks, successfully held out for eight days, and killed and wounded more than 1,500 enemy troops.
Just when the hat fell on the mountain,
The situation faced by the volunteers repairing the mountain was also very serious
Stationed here was the 444th Regiment of the Fifty Army, and on January 27, the U.S. Twenty-seventh Division launched an attack on Repair Hill.
The overwhelming artillery fire was beyond the reach of the volunteer positions
The U.S. army alone had more than two dozen tanks and several anti-aircraft vehicles, as well as a dozen artillery pieces.
Just an hour of shelling
All the surface fortifications of the volunteer army were destroyed, and the position was like a volcanic explosion, a sea of fire.
The U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber dropped bombs on North Korea, and the bombs were like rain
The 250 heights defended by the eighth and second companies were taken by the American army many times but eventually retaken, and the eighth company also sacrificed more than half.
The situation in the second company was even worse, with only a dozen soldiers surviving
When the enemy immediately seized the position, Wang Ying, who was only twenty-five years old, picked up the explosive package and died with the enemy
Wang Ying later became Wang Cheng in the movie "Heroes and Children"
One of the prototypes
After being attacked in many places, supplies and ammunition were almost exhausted, the 444th Regiment finally held its position at a very heavy price.
Kill more than 1,800 enemies
, successfully blocked the enemy's northward advance.
Picture 丨 Wang Cheng, a volunteer soldier in "Heroes and Children"
During this period, the 447th Regiment of the Fifty Army stationed at Baiyun Mountain was also attacked by an enemy that was more than ten times larger.
In the frenzied bombardment of the enemy, all the trees next to the position were blown down, and the fortifications had been blown to pieces.
Looking around, there were only large and small craters left on the position
The volunteer soldiers raised their guns again and again to launch a counter-charge against the artillery fire, and Baiyun Mountain still stood in front of the enemy's eyes.
In the Baiyun Mountain Blockade Battle, the 447th Regiment held out for eleven days and nights, killing more than 1,400 enemy people, and was awarded the honorary title of "Baiyun Mountain Regiment".
At this point, the Fifty Army had been painstakingly blocking the enemy for ten days and nights, at this time
Local sections of the Han River have begun to thaw, and the areas on the south bank that can be defended are shrinking.
In order to avoid being surrounded by the enemy, the Fifty Army was ordered to withdraw to the north bank for defense.
At this time, only the Thirty-eighth Army was holding its position on the south bank.
The officers and men of the 38th Army of the Volunteer Army held on to the south bank of the Han River with the strong determination of "fighting in the position and vowing to coexist and die with the position."
After a few days of offensive, the United Nations army decided to change the tactics into a steady and steady attack, and went hand in hand. Efforts were made to cut off the links between the positions of the Volunteer Army.
The positions defended by the volunteer army broke out at any time, and the 5th Company of the 336th Regiment of the Thirty-eighth Army stationed at the front of the main position of Mount Taihua,
Thirteen enemy attacks were repelled at the cost of almost all the casualties
He successfully held his position for three days, annihilated more than 500 enemy soldiers, and was rated as a collective first-class merit
Pan Tianyan, a soldier of the ninth company and nine squads of the 334th Regiment, after the sacrifices of his comrades around him, all the grenades were linked together, and single-handedly repelled the charge of more than thirty enemy people.
This is the real lone hero
During the battle, the U.S. army was also prepared to retaliate with tit-for-tat, wanting to use the night battle to launch a surprise attack on the volunteers. He wanted to organize a contingent at night to attack the flanks of the Thirty-eighth Army.
Unfortunately, the U.S. army's practice was really to get an axe, and the volunteers found out and quickly defeated the enemy.
Soldiers of the 66th Army of the Volunteer Army blocked the enemy at the wuyin Mountain heights on the south bank of the Han River
Ever since the Fifty Corps defended the North Shore, the U.N. fortifications had become more and more intense.
Often, the volunteers took advantage of the night to seize the fortifications for repairs, and after dawn, the American troops used artillery to destroy them in an hour.
On the position of the first battalion of the 342nd Regiment of the Thirty-eighth Army, the battalion commander Cao Yuhai commanded the first battalion to repulse five enemy attacks under the attack of tanks, aircraft and artillery.
The battalion commander, who had just been married for a short time, fell in front of the position
Pictured: Mu Xinhe, a soldier of a certain unit of the Volunteer Army, was wounded twice and could not get out of the line of fire
Fang Xinghai, the instructor of the battalion, picked up the shell in his left hand and picked up the walkie-talkie in his right hand and said:
"I promise the party that the whole battalion will fight to the end!"
Then drop the walkie-talkie and rush to the enemy and die with the enemy.
A battalion repelled a total of seven enemy attacks,
There were only two soldiers left in the battalion
。 A battalion shocked every enemy on the battlefield with their blood and spirit,
Face their opponents
Now I regret coming to the Korean Peninsula
They regret it
Met such a terrible opponent
Pictured a United Nations soldier, after the battle, cold, desperate, fearful, and the desire for peace, written on his face
Just when the volunteers on the western front were desperately resisting, the volunteers on the eastern front basically reached their own battle positions.
Un troops soon occupied the area around Tongpingli
, gradually stand out in the whole team.
Seeing that the UN army had exposed its weaknesses, Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai immediately prepared to "clean up" the UN troops on the Eastern Front.
The first packing goal was placed
Korean troops near Hoengseong
The "poor" Rok army once again became the U.S. military
Scapegoat
The two corps of the Volunteer Army were ordered to cut off the rear road of the Korean Division, and then the Thirty-ninth Army was responsible for containing the enemy in Tongpingli, and then the Volunteer Army sent an army to attack the Korean Division.
The artillery of South Korea's First Infantry Division is operating a 105 mm grenade
On February 21, the battle officially began, and the volunteers still used the tactic of breaking the proficiency of the roundabout interspersed division and encirclement.
And on this tactic did
improvement
From the previous small strands to regimental-sized interspersed, this improvement allowed the Volunteers to quickly break through the Korean division's defenses.
Finally, after more than thirty hours of fierce fighting, the volunteer army annihilated more than 12,000 enemy troops, causing the United Nations army to retreat more than twenty kilometers.
Beat away the Korean Division,
The next primary goal is that
Pingli
A certain unit of the Volunteer Army built fortifications in the area north of Hengcheng
He was strategically important, being in a prominent part of the American line and happened to be at the center of the Volunteer line.
Once the volunteers launched a counter-offensive, the opportunity was like a nail in the coffin, fiercely penetrating the volunteers' flank rear line.
And if the volunteers take Topini,
That would have greatly shaken the UN line of defence
Ridgway naturally knew the importance of this place, so he did not arrange a large number of people
The battle is worrying
of the South Korean Army.
Instead, let's
U.S. Army Reinforced Regiment
and
French battalion
A total of 6,000 men were stationed in Tongpingli.
He also ordered a regiment of American troops to go to Pingli, and to face the elite town guard,
However, there were loopholes in the information of the Volunteer Army, which would be one of the fatal reasons for the defeat of Pingli
Commanders and fighters of a certain unit of the Volunteer Army inspected the enemy's situation and terrain at the front of the position
According to the information held by the volunteer army at that time, it was as follows:
Many of the enemy troops who had been defending the fortifications had fled, and the remaining enemies relied on some of the simpler fortifications to defend.
As soon as the volunteer command headquarters heard it, it was like fat meat to the mouth, and it had to be "taken down" in one bite.
Errors in intelligence had already laid the groundwork for the defeat of the Volunteers, because it was learned that there were not many troops in Pingli, so the Volunteers did not invest too many troops.
Instead, eight regiments were drawn from the three corps of the Volunteer Army and integrated into one division
It was handed over to the command of Xu Guofu, commander of the 119th Division. Here is also the aforementioned volunteer troops attacking Pingli drawn from various units.
This made Xu Guofu helpless
Not to mention the unfamiliarity with these troops, and the fact that these troops come from various armies, unified scheduling has become a problem.
Figure丨 A certain unit of the Volunteer Army crossed the mountains and crossed the mountains to block the "United Nations Army" that was coming to Hengcheng to reinforce.
At the same time, the artillery regiment was attacked by American aircraft on the way to the scene
, which cannot be used in combat at all.
Moreover, in order to quickly end the battle in Tongpingli, the volunteers could only attack by infantry charge without artillery support.
The most lethal is
Several regiments in charge of the attack were blocked by the enemy in the middle of the way, resulting in the battle still not reaching the battlefield at the beginning of the battle.
The whole Pingli fell into the embarrassing situation of hitting first and fighting again after not coming.
On the night of 13 February, the Volunteers attacked Tomping-ri under the cover of night, but the enemy's firepower was not as weak as the Volunteers had expected, and it was more intense than previous firepower.
Pictured as an American artilleryman at the Battle of Pingli
After a whole night of fighting,
Two regiments under xu guofu's command still did not occupy a single position in Pingli after making heavy sacrifices.
In addition, although the 343rd and 376th regiments are progressing relatively smoothly,
He even thinks he has captured Pingli
, but took out the map to check it and found out
It was only to capture the forward defensive line of Tongpingli
As the sun rose, the volunteers had to change from attack to defense, and the positions defended by the three battalions of the 343rd Regiment needed to face the attack of the five enemy.
The us military planes in the air are the first time they have seen the most since entering the DPRK
Under the indiscriminate bombardment of infantry and aircraft, the formation of the volunteer army was disrupted, and the positions had been basically flattened. can
It is under such difficult conditions that
The 343rd Regiment repelled one enemy attack after another.
Pictured 丨 US fighter group
The telephone line at the regimental headquarters of the 359th Regiment was cut off by shells and could not be contacted from the front.
In order to connect the telephone line, the seven warriors, knowing that they would die for a lifetime, resolutely asked Miao to fight, and finally all died!
By the evening of the 14th, the momentum of the US attack gradually slowed down, and the troops responsible for attacking Pingli had all reached the front line, and had already implemented the tactic of encircling Andingli on three sides and leaving gaps.
Why not surround it on all sides?
Because once surrounded on all sides, the enemy forces in the encirclement will think that their rear road is broken, and they can only resist desperately.
However, if you leave an opening, then the enemy will not fight to the death because there is still a way to live, and once it cannot be defeated, it will retreat from the road of life.
Originally, this method of warfare worked very well in the previous battles of the Korean battlefield.
However, the American troops who defended The Pingli this time did not choose to retreat after being surrounded
Instead, it shrank its forces to the center of Thepingli and built a circular defensive position around it to prepare to hold on to the Pingli.
Pictured: American soldiers holding their positions
This is also Ridgway
The posture of the US army was destined to be a terrible battle, and the volunteer army launched another attack at night, and the US army seemed to have taken precautions at this time, relying on the ring fortifications to launch a counterattack against the enemy.
Tank artillery opened fire as soon as they spotted a volunteer attack, and U.S. flares kept rising in the sky.
Volunteer soldiers
Each carried a bag of explosives tied to a wooden stick
to blow up the scattered civilian pits of the American army
The volunteers at the forefront were even holding explosive canisters, withstanding the fierce fire of the enemy, and blew up all the barricades blocking the volunteers.
In all the attacking teams,
The most tragic attack was the assault company
They were to clear the barbed wire and mine belts out of the eyes of the enemy to create a path of attack, which was destined to be covered with blood.
The volunteers launched an assault on the American positions
Many assault company fighters in order to clear the road as quickly as possible,
Many of the warriors fell to the barbed wire in the mine belt
After the assault company was cleared, the soldiers attacking from the rear continued to attack on this blood-stained road.
Many fighters tripped over the bodies of their comrades many times during the battle
In this battle, there will be warriors who will sacrifice themselves to block the gun hole or the explosive package with the enemy in order to allow the troops to continue to attack.
Under this unfavorable situation, the volunteer army still bravely charged for the victory of the battle, the soldiers in the front fell, the soldiers in the rear did not follow, and the offensive hit the defensive line wave after wave.
At this moment, there is no personal safety in the hearts of the volunteer soldiers, only lofty faith! They are the cutest people at this moment! Is the most respectable person! It is someone who should never forget at any time!
Picture 丨 U.S. tanks are constantly firing
In the battle, the position of a company of the US army was about to be lost, and the commander of the US army in charge of command was also seriously injured, but at this most critical moment,
It was dawn
The volunteers could only turn from attack to defense, defending against the vast number of American troops who came to reinforce.
At this time on the battlefield,
The Volunteers were already comparable in number to the United Nations Army
In the case of a huge disparity in equipment, the number is quite as large as the enemy.
Moreover, the volunteers came from various units, and their command was very chaotic and their weapons were far inferior to those of the Americans.
If the fighting continues, it should not be said that the battle objective of taking Pingli on the sixteenth day cannot be achieved, and the troops are now at risk of being surrounded by American troops.
Picture 丨 Volunteer warriors creeping forward at night
On 25 February, the Volunteer Command decided to halt the attack on Pingli and withdrew from the battlefield in the afternoon of the same day.
This battle the volunteers suffered heavy losses,
The three regiments sent by the Forty Corps alone lost nearly two thousand men
！
This battle also allowed the U.S. military to truly recognize the offensive characteristics of the volunteer army, and also discovered the weaknesses of the U.S. army itself.
For example, in the traditional view of the previous US military, once surrounded by enemy troops,
Then the first thing to consider is to break through with
Fall back.
Because they believed that if a force held out within the encirclement, it would hasten the demise of that force.
Captain Fenton, who was surrounded by American troops, revealed despair in his eyes when he learned that his troops had run out of bullets.
The Battle of Tongpingli made the US army find that in fact, the volunteer army did not have too strong position attack ability, and in future battles, every time the US army was surrounded, it would choose to use its own powerful firepower to defend.
And the volunteer army also realized in this battle to change the thinking of the offensive,
From the original one or two divisions of the US army as the target of annihilation, it was changed to an annihilation battalion and company-level target similar to guerrilla warfare.
When the author was looking up information on the forum, he saw a netizen commenting on it
"If only four battles hadn't been fought"
The four battles weren't really what we wanted to fight.
Instead, the UN army has already fought, exposing a large number of problems of our army in four battles, providing valuable experience for five battles and the Battle of The Iron Plains.
First, the four battles dispelled the "quick victory" of most officers and men and lightened the enemy's mentality;
Second, it further highlights the logistical problems of our army;
Third, it exposed our army's lack of ability to attack multi-layered and solid positions;
Fourth, it made the army realize that it was too difficult to carry out large-scale annihilation of the enemy (especially the US military) in trench warfare, which made the subsequent offensive objectives change.
Pictured as a creeping volunteer soldier
After the detailed experience from the defensive battle on the south bank of the Han River to the battle of Tongpingli, the author summarizes the real reasons for the failure of the battle of Tongpingli:
The first is that Ridgway's "Thunderbolt Operation" caused our army to rush into battle, resulting in insufficient pre-war preparation. The first few battles led to severe attrition of our army, and because of Ridgway's "Operation Thunderbolt", it was impossible to replenish the situation and re-entered the battle. As a result, the army was drawn from various ministries and did not invest too much troops.
The Reason for the Failure: Ridgway's Thunderbolt Operation led to a chain reaction of the reasons for the subsequent failure.
Secondly, it is natural that Ridgway's tactics made the US troops not choose to retreat and surrender when they were surrounded, which was also one of the important reasons for the defeat of Tongpingli.