The Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the largest campaign launched by the volunteer army since its entry into Korea, and this campaign did achieve great success, annihilating more than 80,000 enemies. However, in the early stage of the fifth campaign, the main force of the US army did not move, but the ROK army and the troops of other countries were cannon fodder, and when the volunteer army and the US army fought for more than ten days and prepared to retreat, they were counterattacked by the US army.
In the first four battles, the US army summed up a law according to the operational characteristics of the volunteer army, that is, the logistics supply line of the volunteer army was very fragile, and a single soldier could only carry seven days of supplies, and once the time passed, it would be forced to retreat. During the Fifth Campaign, the US military, in accordance with this characteristic of the volunteer army's combat, avoided its sharp edge and let the ROK army serve as cannon fodder; when the volunteer army ran out of food and ammunition, the US army formed a contingent with tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery as the mainstays, and also learned from the volunteer army, interspersed and encircled the opponent, occupied important strongholds behind the enemy's rear, and dealt a major blow to the opponent.
During the Fifth Campaign, this tactical change in the American Army caused heavy casualties to the Volunteers. The 180th Division of the Volunteer Army was surrounded by the main American army, and almost completely destroyed the army, and thousands of people were captured. At that time, there was a unit that was farther away than the 180th Division, but it successfully broke through, and this unit was the 91st Regiment of the 31st Division of the 12th Army.
At that time, when the 27th Army and the Fifth Division of the People's Army sent people to inform the 31st Division to withdraw, the division commander Zhao Lantian suddenly became nervous in his heart, and he was worried not about himself, but about the 91st Regiment of the 31st Division, which was the farthest. The unit had a malfunctioning radio at the time, lost contact with the division headquarters, and could not reach the news. After hesitating for a while, Commander Zhao Lantian resolutely ordered the 93rd Regiment to hold the area west of Shushali and resolutely block the American troops, so as to buy time for the 91st Regiment to withdraw. He sent Feng Ting, deputy chief of the divisional operations section, to the south with two guards to inform the 91st Regiment to retreat.
While looking for the 91st Regiment in Maple Pavilion, the large U.S. army had already interspersed, and two guards were killed in the battle with the enemy. When Feng Ting found the 91st Regiment, the commander of the 91st Regiment, Li Changlin, was completely unaware of the battlefield situation and was still deploying a battle plan to attack the headquarters of the Third Army of the South Korean Army.
After Li Changlin got the news that his troops were surrounded, he did not immediately go north, he felt that fengting and the three of them touched it, and the guards could be sacrificed, let alone one of his regiments. After thinking about it for a while, Li Changlin ordered the troops to go southeast, and at this time the contact with the division headquarters was also connected, and the division commander Zhao Lantian agreed to their plan. The U.S. and South Korean armies did not expect a force to dare to kill them in the hinterland, so they did not pay much attention to this force.
Before leaving, Lee Changlin also changed his troops into the uniforms of the South Korean Army and assigned all the Soldiers who could speak Korean to various companies. The breakthrough process was relatively smooth on the whole, but there were also several clashes with the enemy, and the second battalion and the first company once went in the wrong direction and lost contact with the large troops, but when the second battalion and the first company caught up with the large troops, not only did they not have a few people, but also brought more than 60 prisoners of the South Korean army. Two nights later, Lee Chang-lin led his troops to a time alongside the South Korean army heading north.
Lee Changlin led his troops all the way to dig up weeds and eat grass roots, and after six days of marching, he finally came out touching the position of the South Korean Army and met the Korean People's Army. After handing over more than 110 captured prisoners to the Korean People's Army, he led the troops and the main force of the 31st Division to a successful round.