introduction
In the retreat phase of the fifth campaign, people always compare the 91st Regiment of the 31st Division of the 12th Army and the 180th Division of the 60th Army. Both forces were divided and surrounded by the Us army, and they also tried every means to break through. Under the leadership of Commander Li Changlin, the 91st Regiment cleverly drilled southeast into the mountains of Korea, then marched north, and finally broke through in formation; the 180th Division, under the command of Commander Zheng Qigui, after several bitter battles, had no choice but to disperse the breakthrough, and finally failed to withdraw all the troops.
If only from the distance of the southward advance, then the 91st Regiment fought farther than the 180th Division, and they penetrated all the way to the vicinity of the 37th Line, 150 kilometers away, and had already entered the enemy's rear. However, if one compares the timing, mission, and battlefield environment of the two forces at the time of retreat, one finds:
The difficulties of the 180th Division were much greater than those of the 91st Regiment.
At that time, Li Changlin was the commander of the 91st Regiment of the 31st Division
The retreat times of the two units were different
Peng Dehuai issued an order to stop the operation on May 21, 1951, and late that night, the various armies and divisions received news through the radio. Li Changlin was given the order to retreat on May 22, when the all-out American counterattack had just begun, most of the assault was tank contingents, and a large number of infantry had not yet reached the battlefield.
Although Zheng Qigui received orders to retreat late at night on May 21, he also received orders to "defend on the spot and block the enemy's northern prisoners", and he did not receive them until the night of May 24."
Retreat to the north bank of the Han River and continue to organize defenses
" command. That is to say, the 180th Division retreated to the north bank of the Han River not to break through, but to continue fighting. In fact, the 180th Division really began its breakthrough on May 26, a full four days later than the 91st Regiment.
In addition, the 31st Division gave the 91st Regiment two retreat plans: either according to the divisional plan, or to find a way to retreat north in the mountains along the east coast.
Commander Zhao Lantian's intention was obvious: let Li Changlin choose the most appropriate breakthrough plan according to the battlefield situation.
Compared with Li Changlin, Zheng Qigui received a very clear order: to block the enemy's northern offense. The outcome of the 180th Division was indeed related to Zheng Qigui's overly mechanical execution of the order, but at least for more than two days from May 22 to May 24, no commander would easily disobey the order and make other choices, and it was on May 24 that the U.S. army completed the deployment of the 180th Division on three sides.
At that time, zhao Lantian was the commander of the 31st Division of the 12th Army
The number of non-combatants in the two units is not the same
In the formation of any national army, the number of non-combatants in regimental units is much lower than that of divisional units. Whenever the veterans of the 180th Division were interviewed, they would invariably mention one thing:
The personnel of our division were safely evacuated...
”
The 180th Division had more than 400 troops, and on May 25, before the large troops could break through, Zheng Qigui sent Zhang Jie, the chief of the military affairs section, to lead this part of the personnel to retreat first, and the 538th Regiment and the 539th Regiment were responsible for cover. It is conceivable how many fighters' lives would be sacrificed to cover this large contingent of non-combatants before 25 May. In fact, in the process of finally dispersing the breakthrough, Wu Chengde, director of the Political Department, also brought with him a lot of female literary and labor corps members and female medical soldiers, many of whom died on the way to retreat.
The 180th Division not only had to take care of its own personnel, but was also partially taken by the 60th Army. On May 22, Wei Jie sent a telegram to Zheng Qigui:
The second battalion of the 540th Regiment was transferred to the logistics command of the 60th Army to cover the transfer of military hospitals and warehouses.
In this way, the second battalion "broke away" from the 180th Division from the early morning of May 23, and became the most complete team after the breakthrough. For this order, Duan Longzhang, deputy commander of the 180th Division, was very dissatisfied, but could Zheng Qigui, as the commander of the division, disobey the order?
The morale of the two units was different when they broke through
Before the 91st Regiment received the order to retreat, Li Changlin was still planning how to launch an attack on the South Korean army, and it can be said that morale was high. With this mental outlook, and with the unexpected decision of the regimental commander, the team finally broke through several of the enemy's blockade lines.
The 180th Division began a strenuous blockade battle from May 22, and when it crossed the Han River in the early morning of May 25, more than 600 people were swept away by heavy waters. By this time, the 180th Division had been starved of food for five days, and they still needed to capture favorable terrain to complete the blockade task, rather than continue to retreat north. On May 26, Zheng Qigui discovered a situation he least wanted to see:
The troops were increasingly scattered, and the formation had become chaotic (after which it was decided to break through).
Before the breakthrough, Wei Jie sent a telegram to Zheng Qigui, and the team arrived at Yingfeng with the 179th Division to meet, but unfortunately Yingfeng was already occupied; then, Wei Jie let the team move to Shicangli, but unfortunately Zheng Qigui still saw the US troops in Shicang. The hungry body and pessimism made the soldiers of the 180th Division fall into despair little by little.
At that time, he was the commander of the 60th Army, Wei Jie
epilogue
Commander Li Changlin successfully broke through with courage and resourcefulness, which was a blessing for the 91st Regiment and a blessing for the volunteer army. If Commander Zheng Qigui failed to bring back all the 180th Division, he was definitely responsible. Many people will ask: Why was Li Changlin able to make the 91st Regiment break through in an organized manner, but Zheng Qigui let the 180th Division suffer heavy losses? The timing, task and battlefield environment of the retreat of the two forces are different, and it is not possible to simply say who is better than whom, which is unfair to Zheng Qigui or the 180th Division.