introduction
In the second phase of the Fifth Campaign, the situation of the 60th Army made the commander Wei Jie very helpless. The Third Corps assigned the 181st Division to the 12th Army, the 179th Division to the 15th Army, and the 180th Division as the reserves of the corps, and Wei Jie no longer had much at his disposal. After receiving orders to cover the retreat of the corps, he was finally free to dispose of three divisions. However, the 179th and 181st divisions were too far apart, and the 180th division was still alone. When the 180th Division was surrounded, Zha Yusheng, deputy commander of the 60th Army, was determined to go to the rescue, and even accepted disciplinary punishment.
At that time, he was the commander of the 60th Army, Wei Jie
Vijay ordered two divisions to block the attack on the spot
Shiji gave the order to the Third Corps:
Leave an army to deploy on the line from Kahei to Chuncheon, and cover the main force of the corps to move in the direction of Cheorwon.
As shown below, the 60th Army had only 180 divisions on this defensive line at that time.
Because the 12th Army fought all the way to the vicinity of the 37th Line, the 181st Division was as far as 120 kilometers away from the headquarters of the 60th Army, and it took at least two days to return; the 179th Division assigned to the 15th Army was slightly closer, 40-50 kilometers, and the fastest return was one day. Wei Jie knew that he could not wait for the two divisions to reach the designated area before deploying. He immediately gave the order to block on the spot (179th and 181st Divisions) and then move closer to the 180th Division.
It should be said that this order of Commander Wei Jie is very critical. The 179th Division fortified the area as quickly as possible and took control of the chuncheon-Hwacheon road in time to block the American tank force. It was precisely because of this blockade of the 179th Division that the Third Corps was given more time to retreat. In this battlefield situation, the 180th Division continued to retreat north, at least to join the 179th Division first.
The fate of the 180th Division was that there were too many "unexpected", because they were given the task of "holding out on the south bank of the North Han River for 3-5 days", which allowed the American army to successfully occupy all the Han River crossings on May 24, 1951.
The 180th Division was surrounded on three sides by the U.S. Seventh Division, the First Marine Division, the U.S. Twenty-fourth Division, and the South Korean Sixth Division (this is the U.S. Tenth Army).
Faced with this situation, how to use the 179th And 181st Divisions to pick up the 180th Division became another difficult problem facing Wei Jie.
The deputy commander preferred to be disciplined as well as to save the 180th Division
After Wei Jie gave the 180th Division an order to hold on to the south bank, deputy commander Zha Yusheng once suggested:
Evacuate all troops to the north bank of the Han River in case of an accident.
However, the military orders were like mountains, and Wei Jie could only carry out the orders of the corps. In order to ensure the safety of the flank of the 180th Division, he ordered the 179th Division to organize troops to block the Northward Advance (the 181st Division was too far away).
By 24 May, Vige had to give the 180th Division the order to retreat. At the same time, he ordered the 179th and 181st Divisions to move closer to the 180th Division. However, at this time, the U.S. Army had more than three divisions of troops, and the three divisions of the 60th Army were all short of food and ammunition, not to mention the gap in firepower.
One regiment of the 179th Division was overwhelmed by the American tank troops, and only four platoons remained; by the time the 181st Division was assigned, the divisions and regiments had lost contact and had to rely on the signal corps. Due to heavy rain and unfamiliarity with mountain roads, the news did not reach them until 25 May, when the Americans had occupied the main road and the 181st Division lost the possibility of moving closer to the 180th Division.
Neither division completed its mission, but continued to save the 180th Division? If you want to save, you can only attack by force, and the price you pay is likely to be to put the 179th Division and the 181st Division together. During the Liaoshen Campaign, Liao Yaoxiang's corps was destroyed in this way; at the Battle of Huaihai, Huang Wei's corps also had such a fate. Faced with this painful "choice question", deputy commander Zha Yusheng decided to continue to send troops to save the 180th Division, and he even said: "
The superiors must hold me accountable and hand over my cha yusheng's head...
”
At that time, he was the deputy commander of the 60th Army, Zha Yusheng
However, Wei Jie did not agree to this approach. The reasons are:
The 180th Division was a scattered breakout, and the number of each breakout force was not large, and it was difficult to find people who came to meet them.
From this point of view alone, Wei Jie is not wrong. Hu Jingyi, chief of staff of the 538th Regiment, was the first unit to break through, and he only brought back more than 50 people. In fact, after Hu Jingyi returned, Wei Jie also sent several troops to meet those who were still breaking through, but unfortunately found nothing.
epilogue
After many years, the surviving soldiers of the 180th Division were full of guilt in interviews. However, not a single one complained about the 179th and 181st divisions. A veteran soldier of the 539th Regiment said bluntly:
You can't put those two divisions in again...
"In the 60th Army or even the entire Third Corps, the 180th Division was not the main force, and they were even suppressing bandits before going abroad. However, the 180th Division did not fight badly in Korea.
On May 22, 1951, the entire Volunteer Army was retreating, and only the 180th Division was still attacking southwards, still repeatedly fighting with the US Seventh Division for positions. It can be said that the 180th Division, like all volunteer units, is a hero, and they deserve more respect.