On the night of December 12, 1950, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were crowded on the docks of Hingnam Port in North Korea, and tonight, on the orders of General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the "United Nations Army", they began to board ships to evacuate the main battlefield of North Korea.
At the moment, in a military tent next to the pier, a warm party was being held, which was specially organized by the U.S. Tenth Army Command to celebrate the birthday of its commander, Edward Mallory Almond. That night, the commander of the Army's 7th Division, David M. Major General G. Barr, Commander of the 3rd Division, Robert B. Major General H. Saul, Major General Lachner, chief of staff of the 10th Army, and Major General Oliver Preins Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were all ordered to Attend Commander Almond's birthday party.
U.S. troops and military supplies gathered at the Xingnan Port Wharf
Although this large group of senior U.S. generals raised their glasses to congratulate Commander Almond in a festive manner, they all showed a tired and bitter look without exception, and even Almond smiled bitterly and raised his glass without saying a word.
After toasting, just as Almond took the knife handed to him and was about to cut the cake, Commander Smith of the 1st Marine Division said, "I'm sorry, but I want to see how my soldiers boarded the ship. Then, under the dazed gaze of the generals, Commander Smith walked out of the tent without turning his head, spit on the ground fiercely, and muttered: "After losing the battle, preparing to escape, and holding a birthday party with the face, it is really shameless!" ”
Major General Oliver Smith, as the commander of the 1st Marine Division, has always been incompatible with the commander of the Tenth Army, Major General Edward Almond, in the eyes of Major General Smith, Almond is a stupid donkey, has no ability, will only pat the horse's ass, if he had not discovered the routine of the Chinese in time, refused his order to march quickly, and came to Dunkirk withdrew, and the Tenth Army at this moment? And the birthday party at the moment?
In fact, is this really the case? Let's look back at this history together.
1. March and march.
On November 5, 1950, Commander Peng Dehuai, who was sitting at the headquarters of the Dayudong Volunteer Army, after suddenly launching the first campaign, although the "United Nations Army" panicked, threw away its armor, and fled into the wilderness, but found that the "United Nations Army" headed by MacArthur still did not fully understand the true strength of the Chinese Volunteer Army. At the same time, he replenished his troops, ammunition, and food to prepare for the second battle, and used the "strategy of suspecting the enemy", deliberately posing as if he had been defeated, and then "luring the enemy deeper" with another move.
And the president of the United States at this time
Harry P. S·
Mr. Truman, in the face of the military information of the Chinese Volunteer Army to enter the war, was hastily summoning
beauty
When Secretary of State Acheson, Marshall, Bradley, and other civil and military officers went to the White House Presidential Office to hold a meeting of the National Security Council to analyze the form and discuss countermeasures, they received a telegram from MacArthur in Japan, which said: "
Soon after the Chinese army crossed the Qingchuan River, it stopped pursuing the United Nations army and suddenly automatically retreated with the whole division. The Air Force dispatched dozens of reconnaissance planes to fly all over the lofty mountains of North Korea, and there was no trace of the Chinese army, and countless patrols were dispatched to search around in fannings.
The telegram inferred that the Chinese army automatically withdrew and disengaged from the United Nations army, which showed that the strength of the Chinese army was limited, and at the Battle of Yunshan, the Chinese army suffered a cavalry division and was seriously injured, so it retreated in spite of difficulties. Finally, the cable also recommended that aircraft be allowed to blow up the Yalu River Bridge, cut off the Communication Line between China and North Korea, and replenish Walker's 8th Army, so that it could regain its strength and continue to march north, occupy the Sino-North Korean border area, unify all of Korea, and end the war before Christmas.
After reading the telegram, President Truman was overjoyed, and immediately approved MacArthur's request, ordering Walton Walker, commander of the U.S. Army's 8th Army, to organize forces to cross the Cheongcheon River and then march toward the Yalu River; he ordered Edward Almond, commander of the U.S. Army's 10th Army, to lead the East Road Army to cooperate in the operation.
MacArthur immediately ordered Walker and all of Almond's troops to retract their escape, follow the old path and attack northward, meeting the Yalu River, and ordered The Commander of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Strasmeyer, to use a group of heavy bombers to bomb the Yalu River Bridge day and night to block traffic in North Korea. MacArthur arrogantly declared that the Yalu River was not an impenetrable barrier, and that Chinese was not an "indisputable force."
Thus, the US 8th Army and the US Tenth Army, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Walker and Major General Edward Almond, were divided into two fronts, east and west, with 5 corps, 13 divisions, 3 brigades, a total of 200,000 people, 1,600 aircraft, and 1,200 tanks to assist in the battle, which was even more fierce than the previous time."
Pincer Offensive",
A mighty march towards the Yalu River.
2, withdrawal, withdrawal.
On November 27, the 9th Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army, led by General Song Shilun, unexpectedly surrounded the 1st Marine Division and the 31st Regiment of the 7th Division of the 10th Army of the US 10th Army marching in the Chosin Lake area of the Eastern Front.
Major General Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, had long felt that MacArthur's orders were problematic, especially dissatisfied with the forced march of the 1st Marine Division's rapid assault by The Commander of the Tenth Army, Major General Almond, believing that they had no understanding of the real situation of the Volunteers, so he not only disobeyed Major General Almond's order to break through and slowly advanced, but also secretly built an easy airfield for escape.
Therefore, when the US 8th Army on the Western Front had already fought with the Volunteers in full swing, they had just entered the encirclement of the 9th Corps, and in the face of the sudden attack of the Volunteers, the powerful US 1st Marine Division under the command of Smith suddenly panicked, they were not thinking about how to defeat the Volunteers, but eagerly looking forward to the early breakthrough, they used powerful firepower, the purpose was to tear open the encirclement of the Volunteers, and quickly retreat.
On November 30, with the collapse of the entire line of the US Eighth Army on the Western Front, MacArthur also panicked and hurriedly ordered the entire Tenth Army to retreat, and the 17th Regiment of the US 7th Infantry Division and the ROK Capital Division and the 3rd Division also fled south to the Yalu River. In fact, the U.S. Tenth Army on the Eastern Front did not find the situation in their entire favor, when the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army was besieging the 1st Marine Division, and the U.S. Tenth Army had 3 other divisions and 2 regiments, these troops could completely flank the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army, but they took it
To General MacArthur's
The orders all began a brain race to escape south.
The 1st Marine Division took advantage of air superiority to finally tear open the gap and desperately retreated southward, even when the "Polar Bear Regiment" of the US Infantry Division was surrounded and annihilated by volunteers and sought support, Smith did not care, but constantly ordered retreat and retreat.
3
, warships, warships.
The volunteers blocked all the way, and the 1st Marine Division ran all the way, and there was no courage to turn back to the battle.
At this moment, Smith violated military orders to build a temporary airfield in The Ancient Tuli, played a key role, from December 7 to 9, this airscreen transported more than 440 wounded, greatly reducing the burden of the 1st Marine Division's retreat, so that Smith could continue to retreat south without stopping, and when it came to the Watergate Bridge, Smith was almost desperate, thanks to the personal command of General MacArthur, the airborne landing of an iron bridge finally enabled the 1st Marine Division to escape, the 1st Marine Division eventually killed and wounded more than 4400 people, and the non-combat reduction of more than 7300 people , was hit hard.
December 11,
The 1st Marine Division finally arrived at Xingnan Port,
That day, MacArthur saw Almond coming to greet him at Lienpo Airport, patted him on the shoulder and said, "
Heartfelt congratulations on your success in bringing out the 1st Marine Division, which should be the best birthday present for you
。 ”
After that, the 3rd Infantry Division, the 7th Infantry Division, and the Rokkaku Capital Division and the 3rd Division of the Rok army also fled here.
In order to successfully withdraw from the 10th Army, MacArthur ordered the U.S. military to assemble a huge fleet of 193 ships (including 15 personnel carriers, 40 tank landing ships, and 75 transport ships) in Xingnan Harbor.
Xingnan Port was originally used as a logistics supply port for the US military on the eastern front, and all the using military materials on the eastern front were unloaded here, and in order to ensure the needs of the operation, the US military, which has always paid attention to logistics supplies, has stored a large number of various materials here, from Coca-Cola to cigarettes and beer, from duck down sleeping bags to guns and ammunition.
At this moment, hundreds of thousands of U.S. Tenth Army soldiers who were beaten to death by the volunteers, under the orders of Major General Almond, in order not to let these materials fall into the hands of the volunteers, opened all the warehouse doors filled with food and clothes and let people move them, the US soldiers, the North Korean dock workers and the North Korean refugees in the mountains of supplies, randomly choose what they like, the North Koreans are carrying home on their heads and shoulders, and the US soldiers are wasted like losers. To eat a sandwich you can open a dozen cans of lunch meat to pick a piece of meat filling that you like, and to take a sip of a drink you can open a few cans of one gallon of juice... Even an officer of the U.S. 175th Combat Engineer Battalion, who was responsible for destroying the supplies, couldn't help but sigh: "We just got these things here, and if Chinese continue to move forward, we will have to destroy them all!" May God bless the taxpayers!
On December 12, under the jealous gaze of friendly forces of the U.S. 10th Army, the U.S. 1st Marine Division, which had been defeated from the Chosin Lake Theater, enjoyed the priority of boarding the ship.
1
On February 24, under the leadership of Korean guerrillas, the vanguard of the 27th Army of the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army pursued to Xingnan and was found by the American army when it reached the Xingnan defensive circle. The US troops who were anxious to retreat did not change the retreat plan for this reason, they did not dare to contact the volunteers again, they could only deploy 2 cruisers, 7 destroyers and 3 rocket artillery ships in the sea of Xingnan Port, lined up in a row, bombarding the shore with full firepower, and also deployed a 155 mm and 105 mm howitzer group on the land of Xingnan Port, the naval artillery fire and land artillery fire overlapped, coupled with the air force, constituted a dense fire zone, and the shelling of the mountain and tsunami was on the front of the volunteer army. An insurmountable barrier several kilometers wide was punched out, directly forming a protective shield to protect the US troops from retreating. Throughout the retreat, the U.S. fired 34,000 shells and 12,800 rockets from its naval guns alone, even more fiercely than the Inchon landings.
In the next few days, as long as the US military observation posts and reconnaissance planes found subtle abnormalities, the US military formed a powerful fire force with naval guns and 155 gun groups, and occasionally, US warplanes also joined in. Under the continuous artillery fire suppression and obstruction of the US army for several days, the volunteer army and the Korean guerrillas could not break through in depth after encountering unnecessary casualties, and could only hide far away, and occasionally, in the direction of the US and ROK positions at the beachhead of Hingnam, they fired several light mortar shells that actually could not hit the target.
On December 27, the US 175th Engineer Battalion drove the locomotive and carriages of Xingnan Port onto a railway bridge, then poured gasoline on it, and lit the bridge with the train - the ferocious fire even burned the locomotive red, the whistle also failed in the high temperature, and the terrible scream was heard until the locomotive completely exploded! The last masterpiece of the 175th Engineer Battalion was to detonate 400 tons of high explosives and 500 1000 pound bombs, and the violent explosion almost blew Up Xingnan Port into the sky, and the flames and smoke formed a huge mushroom cloud that lasted for a long time in the sky over Xingnan Port!
It was also on this day that Almond and the last of the evacuees landed at Busan. At Marine Camp Masan, the Navy brought Christmas trees and Christmas gifts to the 1st Marine Division, Commander Smith summoned officers to the division headquarters for a drink, and the soldiers received a sumptuous dinner of beer, cookies, and turkeys to celebrate finally escaping the hellish Chosin Lake alive. During the Hingnam Port evacuation, the U.S. military withdrew 105,000 soldiers, 98,000 North Korean civilians, 350,000 tons of supplies, and 17,500 vehicles.
The fierce Battle of Chosin Lake finally came to an end.
4. Comments, comments.
On December 11, the 1st Marine Division of Commander Smith's Division arrived at Xingnan Port, the American "Time Magazine" commented on the XingnanGang evacuation with the headline "
Defeat – the greatest defeat the United States has ever had!
Newsweek said: "
Perhaps it was the most painful military defeat in American history since Pearl Harbor. If there were no military or diplomatic miracles, one-third of the U.S. troops engaged in the Korean theater would repeat the tragedy of the Bataan Peninsula unless a new Dunkirk evacuation could be made.
”
When MacArthur saw the news, he was furious: "These reports obviously do not really reflect the mood of the american people in general, but only the irresponsible author's own feelings, and the reports of the two magazines have nothing to do with the decisions and operations of the government and the senior operations department." He immediately sent an urgent telegram to President Truman in Washington, while issuing a statement to the media praising the 1st Marine Division as a success of a "strategic retreat." He explained that the retreat of the 1st Marine Division was a shift to the rear area maintained by friendly forces, that he was not retreating, but only to attack in different directions, and that under MacArthur's rendering, the Great Retreat of Hingnan Harbor became a legendary operation of the Marine Corps, and the commander of the 1st Marine Division, Smith, became a typical example of heroism.
A few years later, MacArthur fell.
MacArthur, the five-star general who did not even pay attention to the president, became arrogant, arrogant, stubborn,
impotent
And two of his most trusted subordinates, Major General Almond, who gave the greatest support and loyalty to MacArthur's military strategy, and Brigadier General Willoughby, head of the Intelligence Department of the Allied Command, were inevitably implicated, especially the commander of the Tenth Army, Major General Edward Almond, who had become an incompetent, stupid, and patching general in american warfare.
On the contrary, Major General Oliver Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, violated Major General Almond's orders, preserved his strength, and led his army in time to escape the encirclement and annihilation of the Chinese Volunteers, but he was highly praised by the United States, saying what to say."
The greatest naval retreat in military history"
It was precisely because major general Smith's qualities as a professional soldier were keenly aware of the impending danger and led his army out of danger in time.
In fact, it is really unconvincing for Major General Almond to become a general only by patting his ass, and his ability has been appreciated by the famous Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General George Marshall, and at the same time, as the chief of staff of the "United Nations Army" who invaded Korea, he has the trust of MacArthur, and can get the high praise of these two people. There are certainly not many people who can succeed on the battlefield by slapping their backs.
This is a completely "hindsight" assessment.
For Commander Smith's actions, I think it is very likely that it is an element of jealousy. After all, both are major generals, and as the FIRST Marine Division of the US Army, it is the first Marine Corps unit of the US Army, claiming to be undefeated, and his division commanders are very bullish, no one is convinced, always thinks that they are the first in the world, and always put themselves in a superior position, especially against the US Army, the First Marine Division is even more dismissive. Therefore, it was quite angry that General MacArthur, the commander of the "United Nations Army", had incorporated his 1st Marine Division into the Tenth Army sequence as the Army, and that he had promoted Major General Almond to the rank of commander of the Tenth Army as his superior.
On the third day of the retreat of the 1st Marine Division, more than 260 people pretended to be wounded
Therefore, any sensitive sense that the Chinese army is by no means a small force that MacArthur said, what built an airfield in advance, what deliberately slowed down in order not to bring troops into the Jedi, what heroic breakthrough, is just to bite each other with Almond, which can be seen in future wars, and deliberately pretends to be a capable person.