On March 18, 1951, the 60th Army followed the 3rd Corps into operations in Korea. The army had three divisions, the 179th, 180th and 181st, of which the 179th and 180th Divisions were veterans of the 60th Army, and the 181st Division was from the 61st Army. Zhang Zuyu, a veteran commander of the 60th Army, could not go out because of a serious stomach problem, and Wei Jie, commander of the 61st Army, was reappointed as the commander of the 60th Army. Among the three divisions, the predecessor of the 179th Division was the "Glorious Linfen Brigade", and the predecessor of the 181st Division was the Leather Brigade of the Central Plains Breakthrough, and the combat effectiveness was very strong.
Compared with the 179th Division and the 181st Division, the 180th Division was slightly inferior, it was upgraded by the local troops of the Taiyue Military Region at the end of the Liberation War, and did not fight many hard and vicious battles. Before the division set out, even the leadership team was not equipped. At that time, the commander of the 180th Division was absent, the former deputy political commissar Zheng Qigui was promoted to division commander, the political commissar and deputy political commissar were vacant, and the political work in the division was responsible for Wu Chengde, director of the Political Department. Although Zheng Qigui was an old Red Army soldier, he had been engaged in political work for a long time, and his battlefield command and adaptability were insufficient, which also laid the groundwork for the defeat of the 180th Division.
Shortly after the 60th Army entered Korea, the Fifth Campaign broke out, and the Third Corps was tasked with the central breakthrough. In order to strengthen the frontal assault force, Wang Jinshan, acting commander of the corps, assigned the 181st Division to the 12th Army and the 179th Division to the 15th Army. In this way, Wei Jie only had one 180th Division left in his hands, but the task and combat area of the 60th Army to suppress the enemy had not changed, and it was difficult for one division to do the work of three divisions. Shortly after the battle began, the 180th Division came under the direct command of the Three Corps, and Wei Jie was left with only some staff officers and an engineer battalion of more than 300 people.
Some leaders of the 60th Army were very puzzled by Wang Jinshan's move, and Deng Shijun, who was then chief of staff of the 60th Army, said: "Breaking up an army and turning it out is something I have never encountered in decades since Rong!" But Wei Jie did not say anything, he and Wang Jinshan were old acquaintances, and they were all deputy commanders in the 6th Column of the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Field Army. Later, Wang Jinshan became the commander of the 6th Column, and Wei Jie was transferred to the 14th Column as the commander. As for Wang Jinshan's combat characteristics, Wei Jie was very clear that he was a recognized brave general of Erye, and he never cried bitterly in battle. Now that the 179th and 181st divisions have been transferred from their side, it is certain that the front line has encountered difficulties.
Wei Jie did not guess wrong, Wang Jinshan's move is indeed out of helplessness, after the second phase of the fifth campaign began, the 15th Army encountered a strong enemy in Dashuidong, Qin Jiwei frequently asked for help, Wang Jinshan had to transfer the 179th Division from the 60th Army to the command of the 15th Army; at the same time, the 12th Army was also blocked by the US 2nd Division in the Gary Mountains area, and it was impossible to open a breakthrough for a long time, in order not to affect the overall situation of the campaign, Wang Jinshan transferred the 181st Division from the 60th Army to directly support the 12th Army in combat. At that time, our army was attacking in an all-round way, and the chaos of the establishment did not have much impact.
As the front continued to move forward, our army's logistical supplies began to fail to keep up under the constant bombardment of enemy aircraft, and some units were already short of food and ammunition, and Shiji was forced to order the three corps participating in the battle to retreat and rest. Only then did Wang Jinshan return command of the 179th and 181st Divisions to Wei Jie, and at the same time ordered the 180th Division to cover the entire corps of 8,000 wounded and hold the enemy for three to five days on the south bank of the Han River. After receiving the order, Zheng Qigui led the 180th Division to launch a heroic blockade on the south bank of the Han River, but due to the withdrawal of friendly and neighboring troops, the two wings of the 180th Division lost cover, and the enemy took advantage of the situation to enter and formed a closed encirclement of the 180th Division.
Faced with the danger, Zheng Qigui hurriedly sent a report to the corps to ask for instructions, but never replied, and only afterwards did he learn that the radio car of the Third Corps was blown up by enemy aircraft on the way back, so he lost contact with the 60th Army and the 180th Division for three days. Zheng Qigui, who could not wait for the reply of the corps, sent another report to Wei Jie, who had been through the battle for a long time, and at a glance saw the danger of the 180th Division, and immediately ordered Zheng Qigui to lead his troops to retreat north. At this time, however, both the north and south crossings were occupied by the enemy, and the 180th Division had to find another way to deal with them. Due to the rapid flow of the river, a total of more than 600 people were swept away by the rapids, which was equivalent to the loss of a full infantry battalion.
After arriving at Mingyueli, the 180th Division received a telegram from Wei Jie, asking Zheng Qigui to retreat along the road with two regiments to fortify north of Mapingli, leaving one regiment to block the enemy at Mount Zhaode. Unexpectedly, when the troops had walked out for more than a dozen miles, the radio of the Third Corps was connected, and Wang Jinshan directly gave Zheng Qigui an order: "Your division should use two regiments of 538 and 540 to block the enemy on the front line of Mount Zhaode, waiting for the opportunity to move north." "At that time, the 180th Division was followed by the US 7th Division, the US 1st Marine Division and the Han 6th Division, not to mention leaving two regiments, even if the entire division was left behind, it was not necessarily able to block the enemy's attack.
At this time, the best thing to do was to continue to move north according to Wei Jie's orders, leaving a regiment behind. However, after Weighing it up, Zheng Qigui carried out Wang Jinshan's order to let the 538th Regiment and the 540th Regiment, which had already traveled more than ten miles, return to Mount Chade, thus ruining the last chance for the 180th Division to break through. A day later, the enemy surrounded The Mountain, and the defeat of the 180th Division was decided. After the 180th Division was surrounded, Wang Jinshan ordered Wei Jie to send troops to the rescue at any cost. Although the 179th and 181st Divisions had been rebuilt, the troops were 200 miles away, and the distant water could not save the near fire, and they had to encounter layers of enemy resistance on the way.
In the end, the 180th Division lost more than 7,000 troops in the fifth battle, which made Peng Dehuai, who loved soldiers like sons, very angry, and he said something serious to Wei Jie at the post-war summary meeting. But to be honest, the 180th Division was defeated this time, and Wei Jie's responsibility was the lightest, and he became the commander of the light pole at the beginning of the battle, and he had no command but had to bear the responsibility for the defeat of the troops. Soon after, Wei Jie returned to China, entered the military academy, and later served as the deputy commander of the Chengdu Military Region. Affected by the defeat of the 180th Division, Wei Jie served in the position of deputy commander for 25 years, and the commander changed several times, but he never turned regular. Although he was aggrieved in his heart, Wei Jie had never uttered a single word of disrespect to Wang Jinshan. In 1987, General Wei Jie died of illness at the age of 73.
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