In the summer of 1953, the Chinese Volunteer Army, with the cooperation of the Korean People's Army, launched a counterattack operation against the "United Nations Army" led by the United States in the vicinity of the "38th Line", which is known in history as the "Summer Counterattack War" to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
The counterattack was originally brought to an end in the second phase, on June 15, 1953, when the Korean Armistice Agreement was about to be signed.
But just when an armistice in Korea was imperative, Rhee of South Korea suddenly obstructed it and forcibly detained about 30,000 Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war.
What's going on here?
Figure | During the Panmunjom negotiations
After negotiations resumed the Korean armistice in late April 1953, the Syngman Rhee clique strongly advocated the detention of North Korean prisoners of war and openly opposed the armistice.
In addition to issuing various statements, the Syngman Rhee group also organized anti-armistice demonstrations in some cities in an attempt to stop the truce.
On May 25, after the United States accepted the Plan proposed by the Chinese and North Koreans to repatriate prisoners of war, South Korean representatives began to refuse to attend the negotiating meeting;
On June 8, after the armistice negotiations reached an agreement on the repatriation of prisoners of war, the Syngman Rhee clique acted even more aggressively, doing everything possible to obstruct and undermine the realization of the armistice.
Syngman Rhee did this because he knew very well that if the Korean armistice was realized, then his dream of "military unification" of Korea would be shattered; in addition, once the armistice, then the United States assistance to him could be reduced.
All in all, for Rhee rhee at that time, the benefits of a non-stop war were far greater than those gained by an armistice, which is why he tried so hard to obstruct the armistice.
In order to prevent the armistice, Rhee expressed strong opposition on the one hand, and on the other hand, he used it to ask the United States for a price.
It seems that this time, Syngman Rhee has already made up his mind to take the risk.
Figure | Syngman Rhee
After secret planning and careful arrangement, Rhee began ordering the "release" of Korean People's Army prisoners who were not directly repatriated.
The task of "releasing" prisoners of war was organized and carried out by Jang Yong-deok, a close associate of Syngman Rhee and then commander-in-chief of the South Korean gendarmerie.
Won Yong-deok first ordered the South Korean security forces guarding the camp to open the gates of the camp, armed police were responsible for receiving the camp outside, and then broadcast it through Seoul Central Television to call on local residents to take in the prisoners of war and cover them.
From 17 June to 19 June, 25,000 Korean People's Army prisoners of war and 50 volunteers from nonsan, Masan, busan and other prisoner-of-war camps left the camps under duress from South Korean security forces, armed police and secret agents.
By the end of June, South Korea had "released" more than 27,000 KPA prisoners of war.
The Syngman Rhee clique forcibly detained the korean people's army prisoners in the name of "release on the spot" and claimed that 'they took the initiative to request that they be incorporated into the South Korean army'. Such a shameless and filthy act is really shameful!
These acts of the Syngman Rhee clique greatly violated the agreement on the repatriation of prisoners of war just reached in the armistice negotiations, thus preventing the armistice negotiations from continuing.
So, did Syngman Rhee achieve his purpose in doing so?
The answer, of course, is no!
These sabotage acts of the Syngman Rhee Group have caused a violent response in the international community!
Not only democracies and governments have expressed condemnation, but even the members of the so-called "United Nations Army", such as Britain, France, Canada, etc., have also expressed strong condemnation of this behavior of the Syngman Rhee group.
Eisenhower, who was the president of the United States at the time, and Dulles, who succeeded Acheson as secretary of state, also felt very embarrassed in their faces, and had originally agreed to carry out armistice negotiations, but Syngman Rhee, the "pig teammate", suddenly came to such a hand, which was really infuriating.
To this end, Eisenhower also sent an urgent telegram to Rhee, accusing him of "disobeying the command of the United Nations Command" and threatening:
"If you adhere to the current course, it will not be possible for the United Nations Command to continue to act in concert with you, and unless you are ready to immediately and unequivocally accept the command of the United Nations Command to deal with and put an end to the current hostilities, other arrangements will be made."
Since the entry of our volunteer army into the DPRK, the "United Nations Army" headed by the United States has suffered hardships and continued to fight, the United States is bound to suffer even greater losses, so the most important thing at present is for the two sides to sit down and negotiate to promote a full-scale truce in Korea.
But Syngman Rhee, one of the key teammates of the U.S. military, has now suddenly jumped out to oppose and sabotage the formation of the Korean armistice negotiations, which not only makes the Americans feel disgraced, but is likely to cause greater losses to themselves.
Therefore, for Americans who have always valued their interests, it is bound to come forward to condemn and stop this behavior of the Syngman Rhee clique.
So, as the actual warring Side of China and north Korea, what is its attitude?
Figure | MacArthur and Syngman Rhee
Of course, the DPRK and China cannot tolerate such peace-breaking behavior by the Syngman Rhee clique! On June 19, Mao Zedong personally telephoned Li Kenong and told Kim Il Sung and the head of the Volunteer Army, pointing out:
"The fact that the U.S. Military Headquarters knowingly connived at Rhee's breach of the prisoner-of-war agreement has attracted serious attention and condemnation from all over the world... The quarrels and divisions within the imperialist camp are widening. In view of this situation, we must have a significant expression in action in order to cooperate with the situation, to give the other side sufficient pressure, so that such incidents do not dare to happen again, and so that we can grasp the initiative. ”
In addition, Mao Zedong specifically pointed out that in the name of the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army and the commander of the Volunteer Army, a sternly worded letter should be written to Clarke, then commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army".
Subsequently, in the name of Kim Il Sung and Peng Dehuai, he wrote to Clark, strongly pointing out that "the US side must shoulder the serious responsibility for this incident."
At this time, both the military situation on the battlefield and the political situation are very favorable to the Chinese and DPRK sides.
In order to protest the sabotage of the Syngman Rhee clique, the Chinese negotiating delegation asked for an adjournment of the meeting until the US side gave assurances before starting negotiations.
Of course, the Chinese and North Korean sides are also very clear that if they only condemn through words, it is bound to have little effect, and they must exert military pressure on this basis.
To this end, Peng Dehuai, who was the commander of the Volunteer Army at the time, immediately made corresponding arrangements!
Figure | Marshal Peng Dehuai
Early the next morning, Peng Dehuai received a telegram back from the chairman expressing his agreement with the proposal and stating: "The signing of the armistice must be postponed until it is appropriate, and the decision can only be made depending on the development of the situation." It is extremely necessary to annihilate more than 10,000 puppet troops. ”
Subsequently, Deng Hua, Yang Dezhi, and Li Da, in accordance with Peng Dehuai's instructions, immediately issued operational instructions to all units and sent a telegram to the Front Line Command of the Korean People's Army and the Kaesong delegation, pointing out: In order to cooperate with the Panmunjom negotiations, it was decided to continue to deal a fierce blow to Li Puppet Army militarily, and demanded that all units be ready for battle at any time.
This operation was mainly aimed at Li Puppet Army, and did not take the initiative to attack the US military and various foreign accomplices, but if they rushed to attack, they must be resolutely attacked.
Therefore, because of this, the "Summer Counterattack War", which had already ended, was now officially launched in the third phase of the operation.
Beginning on 24 June, seven corps of the Volunteer Army, located on the front line, as well as the Third and Seventh Armies of the Korean People's Army, began to attack the South Korean Army. Among them, the most severe blow to the South Korean army was the "Battle of Kimseong".
Figure | Map of the Situation of the Battle of Jincheng
The area south of Kimseong stretched from Kim Hoa in the west to the North Han River in the east, and was defended by the Capital Division of the South Korean Army and four divisions of the Sixth, Eighth, and Third Divisions under the command of the U.S. Ninth Army.
Its basic positions were constructed with tunnel fortifications and a large number of light and dark fire points and bunker groups, and were connected to each other by trenches and communication trenches, thus forming a support point-type circular defense system.
The Defense System of the South Korean Army seems to be impregnable, but in fact it is vulnerable!
In the first two stages of the "Summer Counterattack War", the defense system of the South Korean Army was attacked to varying degrees by our army, and its original defense system has been destroyed, although it has been readjusted at this time, but its defense structure has not yet been stabilized!
In addition, the Twentieth Corps of the Volunteer Army, located on the front of the South Korean Army, had mastered their defensive characteristics and gained experience in attacking the fortified positions of its battalions and regiments, and had ascertained the fortifications of the deep positions of the South Korean Army of the Ministry.
The Sixty-seventh, Sixty-eighth, Sixtieth, and Fifty-fourth Divisions, commanded by the Twentieth Corps of the Volunteer Army, a total of four corps and the Thirty-third Division, possessed about 1,000 guns with more than 82 mm guns, of which about 400 were mountain guns, field guns, and howitzers.
It can be said that this campaign is one of the most "arrogant" battles fought by our army since it entered the war.
On the afternoon of June 23, General Yang Yong, the new commander of the 20th Corps, General Zheng Weishan, the former acting commander, and General Wang Ping, the political commissar, issued operational instructions to the various armies under their command, and at the same time reported to the Zhi division, deciding to organize the other divisions of the four armies under their command into three combat groups in the west, middle, and east.
The specific deployment is as follows:
The 130th Division of the Sixty-eighth Army and the Fifty-fourth Army is the Western Group; the Sixty-seventh and Fifty-fourth Divisions, the 135th Division, and the 202nd Division of the Sixty-eighth Army are the Central Group; the Sixtieth Army and the 33rd Division, which is also subordinate to the 60th Army, are the Eastern Group; and the 134th Division of the Fifty-fourth Army is the reserve of the Corps.
The operational deployment was approved by Shiji and it was decided that the Twenty-first Army would be under the command of the Twentieth Corps, and the Twenty-fourth Army of the Ninth Corps would cooperate with the Twentieth Corps.
Subsequently, the Twenty-first Army was incorporated into the "East Bloc" operational sequence!
Three combat groups, with the cooperation of the Twenty-fourth Army of the Ninth Corps, officially launched a fierce attack on the 25-kilometer frontal position held by the four divisions of the South Korean Army at dusk on July 13, and the "Battle of Jincheng" began!
It is worth mentioning that this campaign was the largest first attack since our army was transferred to a trench war, and it was also the last attack in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and it was also the only position offensive campaign in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Since the second half of 1952, although the quality of our army's ground artillery cannot be compared with that of the "United Nations Army", our army has a greater advantage in the number of artillery.
In this campaign, our army concentrated more than 1480 artillery pieces, and the ratio of ground artillery between the two sides reached an astonishing 7:1, and the ratio of troops was 3:1.
After the battle began, more than a thousand artillery pieces of our army opened fire at the same time, firing a total of more than 19,000 tons of shells, destroying the main fortifications of the South Korean army's positions, and in only one hour, our army broke through all the positions of the South Korean army.
By the evening of 14 July, our army had leveled the front and advanced as farther south as 9.5 kilometers, then continued to develop deeper into the South Korean army, and the farthest further advanced by 8 kilometers.
The powerful offensive of our army immediately made the "United Nations Army" nervous, especially for the US military, and it was even more nervous!
In order to contain our army's offensive, Clarke, then commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army," and Maxwell Taylor, commander of the US Eighth Army, immediately organized the US 3rd Division and the remnants of the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th Divisions of the South Korean Army, as well as the remnants of the 3rd, 6th, and 8th Divisions, totaling 8 divisions, to carry out a large-scale counterattack against our army under the cover of aircraft and tanks.
The enemy was fierce, and if the front was tough, it could only be a lose-lose situation, so our army immediately turned to the defensive.
By July 27, the Volunteers had repelled more than 1,000 counterattacks at the battalion level of the "United Nations Army".
The Battle of Gimseong lasted fifteen days, and the 20th Corps of our Volunteer Army and the 24th Corps of the Ninth Corps broke through the strong positions of the South Korean Army defended by four divisions of the South Korean Army with a frontal width of 25 kilometers, and expanded the positions to the south for more than 160 square kilometers, straightening the front line south of Kimseong, maiming four divisions of the South Korean Army, and killing and wounding more than 53,000 enemy prisoners.
Of course, in this campaign, our army also paid the price of more than 25,000 casualties.
The victory in the Battle of Jincheng fully demonstrated that the combat ability of our volunteer army has been greatly enhanced!
It should be known that during the "Autumn Offensive" launched by the "United Nations Army" in 1951, although our army inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy south of Jincheng, the position was still penetrated by the enemy for 6 to 9 kilometers.
After the "Summer Offensive" of 1952, our volunteers were not only able to hold their positions, but also to capture strong positions defended by enemy companies and below.
After the summer of 1953, our army's combat capability was greatly enhanced, and it was able to capture the strong positions defended by the strength of the enemy battalions and regiments.
In the "Battle of Kimseong," our army even captured in one fell swoop a fortified defensive position of 25 kilometers on the front of the four divisions of the South Korean Army and more than 10 kilometers in depth, and also broke through for as many as 18 kilometers.
Facts have proved that our volunteer unit is a mighty and powerful division that is good at learning and growing up in war. No wonder Chairman Mao once said: "Our army is getting stronger and stronger in the vietnam war!" ”
The entire "Summer Counterattack" lasted two and a half months, and the Chinese and North Korean armies fought a total of 139 battles, killing and wounding more than 123,000 enemy prisoners and expanding their positions by 240 square kilometers.
This operation not only severely punished the Syngman Rhee clique, but also greatly deepened the internal contradictions between the United States, not only promoted the realization of the Korean armistice, but also effectively guaranteed the stability of the korean situation after the armistice.
On July 27, 1953, the two sides signed the Korean Armistice Agreement!
At this point, the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea," which lasted for 2 years and 9 months, ended with the victory of the Chinese and Korean people and the defeat of the "United Nations Army" headed by the United States.