In the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the 63rd Army was widely known for two battles, the first was the Great Victory of Shermari, in which the 188th Division of the 63rd Army almost completely annihilated the British ace double emblem battalion in the Shermari area, and the combat hero Liu Guangzi alone captured 63 prisoners.
Another well-known battle of the 63rd Army was the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, in which Fu Chongbi led his troops and the superior enemy to fight for 13 days and nights, killing and wounding more than 15,000 prisoners, and paying a great price of casualties. The iron-blooded blockade of the 63rd Army smashed Ridgway's plot to divide and encircle our army and saved hundreds of thousands of volunteer troops.
But what is less known is that in the Great Victory in Sherry, the commander of the 189th Division of the 63rd Army was dismissed for seriously delaying the fighter. Today we will talk about this story.
On April 22, 1951, the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was officially launched. The 63rd Army's deployment was: the 187th Division attacked on the west flank to cut off the enemy's rear road; the 188th Division attacked on the east flank to divide the British 29th Brigade from the US 3rd Division; and the 189th Division was the second echelon, ready to enter the battle as appropriate, and reinforced the 187th and 188th Divisions.
After the battle began, the 187th and 188th Divisions quickly broke through the Linjin River and pounced on the enemy in front of them. Among them, the 187th Division, after capturing Mount Cyan Yue, launched an attack on the British 29th Brigade with a frontal assault and a roundabout tactic. The British 29th Brigade could not resist the attack of the 187th Division and hurried to the commander of the US Third Division, Thor, for help.
At this time, Thor was besieged by the 188th Division, and he was too busy to take care of himself, where was the strength to support Brody? In desperation, Brody had to order the Double Emblem Battalion to stay behind the palace, and he led the main force of the brigade to retreat. The Double Emblem Battalion is recognized as the ace of the British Army, has a history of more than 150 years, strong combat effectiveness, and fierce firepower.
But the volunteer army played the ace card, before the British army's other two aces royal heavy tank battalion and the royal rifle regiment were picked up by the 50th Army, this time the double emblem battalion is also doomed. After the 187th Division arrived in Shemari, it attacked with the 560th Regiment, and the 559th Regiment and the 561st Regiment each came to the rescue.
At first, the battalion commander of the Double Emblem Battalion, Kahn, was still very arrogant, trying to tear apart the encirclement of our army with a strong firepower advantage, but he was attacked head-on by the 560 Regiment and forced to retreat to Shemari to wait for help. In order to relieve the siege of the double emblem battalion, Brody and Sol sent several troops to the Shermari with the cooperation of tanks and aircraft, but they were all repelled by our reinforcements.
Brody, who was poor in donkey skills, had to order Kahn to find a way to break through on his own, which was actually equivalent to abandoning the double emblem battalion. In desperation, Kahn could only rush out with his scalp, and the result was naturally to hit his head and break the bloodstream. In the Battle of Shemari, the 187th Division killed 129 enemy and captured 459, almost completely annihilating the Double Emblem Battalion.
When the 187th Division fought fiercely with the enemy in Shemari, the 188th Division was not idle, and they monitored the US Third Division with part of its strength, while the main force pursued and intercepted the British 29th Brigade fleeing south. However, due to insufficient troops and firepower, they were ultimately unable to inflict heavy damage on the enemy. It is reasonable to say that when the 187th and 188th Divisions were fighting fiercely with the enemy, the 189th Division, as the second echelon, should support them in time, so why did the 189th Division not appear for a long time?
At about 10:00 a.m. on April 23, 1951, the 189th Division arrived at the Xindai Ferry port of Linjin River. However, on the issue of crossing the river, the division commander Xu Cheng and the political commissar Cai Changyuan had a disagreement. Cai Changyuan advocated that the troops immediately cross the river and be ready to support the 187th and 188th Divisions at any time.
Cai Changyuan (55 Major General) and son
However, Xu Cheng refused to cross the river on the grounds that he had not received orders from the military department, and after a long debate, Cai Changyuan finally persuaded Xu Cheng, and the 189th Division began to cross the river at about 9 o'clock that night. Due to the obstruction of the line of sight in the dark and the lack of organization, it was not until about 3 a.m. on the 24th that the 189th Division crossed the Linjin River.
At this time, the 187th Division was engaged in a fierce battle with the Shuanghui Battalion in Shemari, and the 188th Division was encircling the main force of the British 29th Brigade. The 187th Division basically held the Shuanghui Battalion in hand and did not need support; but the 188th Division had to monitor the US Third Division and encircle the main force of the British 29th Brigade, and the strength was obviously insufficient. Therefore, Cai Changyuan, the political commissar of the 189th Division, advocated immediate support for the 188th Division and joined forces to encircle the British 29th Brigade.
But Xu Cheng again rejected Cai Changyuan's suggestion, on the grounds that "no action can be taken without the instructions of the military department", and as a result, the 189th Division wasted 6 hours of precious time after crossing the river. At about 9 a.m. on the 24th, the US reconnaissance plane found the 189th Division on the riverside and immediately summoned bombers to bomb.
In the enemy's bombardment, the 189th Division suffered heavy losses, with most of the division's artillery regiments losing most of them, leaving only 4 mountain artillery pieces; the divisional radio was destroyed, and contact with the regiments was interrupted; Gao Lianxi, deputy commander of the 565th Regiment, and Li Kai, deputy commander of the 566th Regiment, were both killed in the enemy's bombardment.
Xu Cheng first disagreed with political commissar Cai Changyuan on the issue of not crossing the Linjin River, and delayed for more than ten hours before crossing the river. After crossing the river, he insisted on waiting for the orders of the military headquarters before acting, and did not cooperate with the 188th Division in time to encircle the fleeing British 29th Brigade, seriously delaying the fighters, and also suffering undue losses.
After the war, Xu Cheng was dismissed, and the post of division commander was taken over by Cai Changyuan, and Li Zhongyuan, the former deputy political commissar of the 188th Division, took over as the political commissar of the 189th Division. Chen Cheng did not leave the Korean battlefield after his dismissal, and soon after he was appointed as the commander of the 19th Corps Supplementary Training Division, responsible for the training of new recruits into the DPRK, and later served as the director of the 19th Corps Artillery Headquarters.
Xu Cheng (55 Colonels)
After returning from Korea, Xu Cheng served as deputy commander of the 63rd Army and then the 67th Army, and was awarded the rank of colonel in 1955 and promoted to major general in 1964. In 2004, General Xu Cheng died of illness at the age of 91.
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