Strong opponents
In the first three battles of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the United Nations army led by the US army suffered a heavy blow from the volunteer army, and when Ridgway took over the post of commander of the Eighth Army, he actually accepted not only the mess of the Korean War, but also the mess of the entire US army.
Pictured| Ridgway
The performance of the US military in the Second World War was very outstanding, the weapons were excellent, the combat was brave, the strategy and tactics were properly used, and hundreds of thousands of US officers and men paid their lives to win the Second World War.
However, only one year after the end of World War II, the combat effectiveness of the US military has seriously declined, and it is exactly like a changed army, and there is a big gap between it and the Period of World War II.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although the US troops participating in the war at that time held the most advanced weapons in their hands, most of the soldiers were poorly trained, and many soldiers were only middle school students who rushed into battle, and the phenomenon of poor discipline was particularly prominent among the US troops stationed in Japan.
Because the Japanese people in the early postwar period were very poor and obedient to the victorious powers, American soldiers only needed a few dollars to get all the services they wanted.
These American soldiers were accustomed to a comfortable life, and they didn't even bother to wipe their guns, and it was precisely because they spent their time in bars and brothels that led to the subsequent tragedy. But Ridgway was a smart man who had warned:
The United States is becoming a country where people walk less and less, and men are getting weaker. ”
When Ridgway arrived on the Korean battlefield, he began to clean up military discipline, and he himself hung a grenade all day to show his determination to fight. In addition, Ridgway also hired a group of veterans from home who had participated in World War II and had rich practical combat experience to the front line, trying to improve morale by all means. Before the fourth campaign had even begun, Ridgway took a reconnaissance plane to scout the volunteer theater.
In the continuous aerial reconnaissance and road reconnaissance, Ridgway found that the logistics supply line of the volunteer army was getting longer and longer, and he also learned an intelligence that the Ninth Corps of the US 10th Army was severely damaged at the Battle of Chosin Lake and did not participate in the third battle, that is, the Chinese army on the front line was not very strong. Ridgway's series of performances made the volunteer general think,
It was a very strong opponent, and Ridgway was even more difficult to deal with than MacArthur
。
Grim fourth battle
After gathering intelligence from all sides, Ridgway drew up an ambitious battle plan to launch a counterattack against the Volunteers. Richie fine-tuned five unannounced corps, a total of 16 divisions, plus three brigades, an airborne regiment, and all artillery, air force, and more than 230,000 ground troops alone.
Pictured| Chairman Mao and Peng Dehuai
Among these units, the most effective of course are the American and British troops, with a total of 7 American divisions and two British brigades. Before the war, Ridgway stressed: "
The most elite American and British troops must rush to the front.
”
There are a total of 280,000 people on the part of the Sino-DPRK coalition army, of which the volunteer army is 210,000 people in five armies, and the Korean People's Army has three corps with 70,000 people.
Although the Central Military Commission mobilized the 19th Corps and the three corps of the Southwest Military Region as the strategic reserve of the Volunteer Army, it was still in the process of long-distance transportation, and the transportation of grain and ammunition was more difficult.
The situation in the Fourth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the most severe one since the volunteer army entered the DPRK, and the volunteer army was not only far inferior to the US army in terms of weapons and equipment, but also did not have an advantage in numbers. In the face of the US military's attack, whether it can be defended is a big problem.
On January 25, 1950, Ridgway, commander of the U.S. 8th Army, commanded the U.S. 1st, 9th, and 10th Armies and the 1st and 3rd Armies of the South Korean Army, with a total of 16 divisions, 3 brigades, and 1 airborne regiment, totaling more than 230,000 people, and gradually launched a large-scale offensive on the whole line from west to east. The U.S. military was cautious in this operation, and the First and Ninth Armies slowly advanced side by side to prevent the Chinese from once again carrying out the interspersed encirclement tactics they were good at.
Pictured| U.S. military tanks
The U.S. army showed great firepower, and Zhu Ke, the captain of the volunteer death squad, said: "When the Yankees' platoons came up, our position was at least thrown down as deep as a meter. After the artillery fire extended, let alone looking for someone, you can't find the remains of your comrades-in-arms. The American planes are even more powerful, a bomb has 2,000 kilograms, that is called a bombshell, a bomb, the position is two or three meters deep crater. ”
Defend from the west and attack from the east
Faced with the deteriorating situation, peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, made the tactic of defending the west and attacking the east to break up the UN offensive. Other words
Only a few troops were sent to defend on the western front, and the main force was quietly transferred to the eastern front, and after annihilating the weaker South Korean army on the eastern front, they and the western front surrounded and annihilated the enemy on the eastern front.
Pictured| Zeng Zesheng, commander of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army
To this end, Peng Dehuai set up two headquarters, with the 38th and 50th Armies and the 1st Corps of the People's Army under the command of Han Xianchu, deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, to organize defenses on the 68-kilometer area north of Gimpo, Inchon, and Yemuli to Lizhou to resist the attack of the "United Nations Army" in the direction of Seoul; Deng Hua, deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, commanded the 39th, 40th, 42nd, and 66th Armies, and with the cooperation of the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Corps under the command of Jin Xiong, commander of the People's Army's Front Command, sought opportunities to counterattack in the Hengcheng area of the Eastern Front.
The task on the Western Front was important because it faced a frenzied attack by the U.S. First Army, seven or eight divisions of the Ninth Army. At first, Han Xianchu wanted the two ace armies of the 38th Army and the 39th Army to defend the western front, but Peng Dehuai did not agree, and wanted to put the 39th Army on the eastern front, strengthen the offensive force on the eastern front, and leave the 50th Army on the western front.
The 50th Army of the Volunteer Army was reorganized from the 60th Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Changchun Uprising in 1948, and when Han Xianchu learned that this unit had been placed on the Western Front, he was very worried and worried that this rebel force would not be able to withstand it.
But Peng Dehuai believed in this unit and insisted on putting this unit on the battlefield of the Western Front, believing that in the Battle of Yuwangshan in 1938, the 60th Army could block the attack of 50,000 Japanese troops for 27 days, and the defensive ability should not be bad.
The 50th Army did not live up to Peng's trust, and from January 25, the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army and a division of the 38th Army conducted more than 20 days of defensive battles south of the Han River to block the US 1st Army attacking Seoul. This defensive war was the first large-scale defensive operation in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
After 14 days of repeated blockades and repeated battles, the enemy only advanced 18 kilometers and paid the price of more than 10,000 casualties.
Tu | Volunteers escort south Korean prisoners
When the south bank of the Han River was in a fierce battle, the 3 divisions of the South Korean Army on the eastern front and the first part of the US 2nd Division had entered the north of Hengcheng, and the situation was very prominent, and the South Korean Army had actually been worried about fighting the Chinese army, but afraid of what was coming, the Chinese army once again opened a breakthrough from the South Korean army. On the night of February 11, Deng Hua commanded the main force of the volunteer army to boldly intersperse the enemy at night.
After two days and one night of fighting, a total of 7500 South Korean troops and 500 American troops were captured, and the Troops of the South Korean Army on the Eastern Front were once again completely disintegrated.
After the end of the Yokoseong counterattack, the volunteers launched an attack on Thepingli west of Yokoseong, and if the Pyeong-ri was conquered by the Volunteers, then the Volunteer forces on the Eastern and Western Fronts would encircle the main American forces on the Western Front, and the plot of the second battle might be repeated again.
There were more than 6,000 enemy defenders in Pingli, barbed wire and minefields had been set up, and 20 tanks had been set up. Ridgway knew the importance of Pingli and ordered the Air Force to support Pingli at all costs, and although there were more than 10,000 volunteers attacking Pingli,
However, the firepower was very weak, only three artillery companies with a total of more than a dozen artillery pieces, coupled with the emergence of a light enemy mentality in the troops, did not conquer Pingli.
Pictured| Volunteers cross the Yalu River
In the fourth campaign, the US army originally had a great advantage, but the two sides became anxious, and the volunteer army could not completely annihilate the main force of the enemy on the eastern front due to weak firepower and supply difficulties. Although the American army had strong firepower, superior troops, and air superiority, it could not break through the volunteer defense line, and the battle lasted for 87 days, and finally with the arrival of the volunteer third corps, the ninth corps, and the nineteenth corps, Ridgway began to order the troops to retreat. In this battle, the volunteer army annihilated 78,000 enemy troops, and the Chinese and North Korean troops suffered 58,000 casualties.
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