introduction
Whenever the Korean War is mentioned and whenever the classic battles of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea are mentioned, most people can't help but think of it first
Battle of Shangganling
People say that the Battle of Shangganling was the most fierce battle, but
In fact, there is another battle that is no less tragic than Shangganling and deserves to be remembered.
"I have never seen a battle like this, I once encountered the last major german counteroffensive launched by the German army in the Lake Balaton region of Hungary on the Eastern Front, but it was far less fierce than the Battle of Chosin Lake.
This is a lieutenant colonel officer of a former U.S. Marine Corps 1st Division who fought in the Battle of Chosin Lake
Carol Dicks
In an interview, the evaluation of the Battle of Chosin Lake.
Time magazine also called the battle yes
"Unparalleled in the history of the U.S. military ... An epic of tenacity and courage! ”
So how tragic was Chosin Lake 71 years ago?
The winter of 1950 was the coldest winter north Korea had ever encountered in nearly five decades, with temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius, and even the highest temperature in a day did not exceed minus 20 degrees Celsius.
But it is precisely in such extremely cold weather,
The 3 corps of the 9th Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army (20th Army, 26th Army, 27th Army) had nearly 150,000 people
With the US 1st Marine Division, the ace of the US Army, on the ice and snow of the Chosin Lake area of North Korea, a direct contest and a deadly struggle was launched.
The cold wind is biting, the snow is drifting, stop at the banks of the Yalu River, looking at the Korean Peninsula, which has long been a three-thousand-mile stretch of ice and snow, a vast snow field. Coupled with the lack of winter clothes for the volunteer troops, the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army, dressed in single clothes, was alone
On the first day of entering the DPRK, more than 700 people were frostbitten.
As the war unfolded, in the midst of the snow, there were even people with guns in their hands but unable to move anymore
"Ice Sculpture Company" warriors
The scene was extremely tragic and shocking, and even the US military could not help but take off its military hat and salute this group of brave and fearless volunteer soldiers.
Frostbite was severely reduced
Throughout the Battle of Chosin Lake, the volunteer soldiers of the 9th Corps also suffered massive frostbite and attrition due to widespread frostbite.
The number of non-combat casualties suffered from frostbite and frostbite reached about 28,954, while the number of people who died directly froze to death was more than 4,000
But the 9 Corps during the entire campaign
The number of combat casualties was 19,202
This series of cold numbers makes us heartbroken.
Why such a large-scale frostbite reduction may be that natural weather factors are only one aspect, after all, the weather is not something we can decide, but what we can decide is how to take effective measures to cope with the cold. At the beginning, due to the tense situation on the battlefield,
Therefore, the 9th Corps hurried into Korea before it had time to prepare a sufficient number of cold weapons.
Secondly, most of the volunteers in the 9 Corps at that time were still soldiers from the south, and they lacked relevant experience in dealing with this extremely cold weather, and it was difficult to adapt.
In addition, the troops have not yet taken care of popularizing relevant cold knowledge, cold protection measures, and related cold protection training for everyone, so many soldiers do not have correct and scientific methods in the face of extremely cold weather.
For example, some volunteer soldiers in the case of severe frostbite on their hands and feet, after seeing a rare opportunity to roast the fire, immediately rushed forward to warm their hands and feet, but they did not know that doing so would increase the damage to the body.
The correct approach should be to use warm water to slowly thaw first, rather than directly baking with fire.
Therefore, the lack of this aspect is also another major reason for the serious reduction of frostbite.
Other than that
The logistics and transportation of our army is also a big problem
。 For battlefield transport supplies, the US military has transport aircraft that can take off at any time for material air transport, but our troops can only take land transport, the key is the way of land transport, our army also lacks transport vehicles, and from time to time to face the indiscriminate bombardment from US warplanes, so that we who do not have many transport vehicles and logistics materials, even worse.
Coupled with the rugged and complex terrain and landforms of the Chosin Lake area, it has also led to the particularly slow logistics and transportation of logistics supplies for our army.
The transportation of goods is always late.
Scarce supplies also face air strikes from the U.S. military
Became the exception of the 89th Division
But even in the face of so many difficulties, in the case of frostbite and frostbite in the three corps of the 9th Corps are more common, the 89th Division of the 20th Army has become an exception, even a miracle.
The number of frostbite reductions in all divisional units is on average more than 2,000.
However, the 89th Division had the lowest number of frostbite in the entire battle, only more than 400 people, and its frostbite accounted for less than 1/30 of the entire division
Such a frostbite rate was already very low in such a situation at that time.
The same volunteer soldiers dressed in the uniforms of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army were also in a bitter cold place like Chosin Lake, so how could the 89th Division make the volunteer soldiers as free from frostbite as much as possible?
Thanks to the commissar of the 89th Division
General Wang Zhi
A wise decision saved everyone.
The 89th Division entered The Dprk
Just after the National Day of 1950, the volunteers of the 89th Division of the 20th Army hurriedly boarded the train from Kunshan in Shanghai to Shandong to go to garrison training and make preparations for the upcoming War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
On November 3, the 89th Division again took a train from Yanzhou to the north and sped northeast.
However, when the train finally stopped in Jinzhou on November 5, a howling cold wind in the north of the city woke up the volunteer army, and also woke up Wang Zhi, who was then the political commissar of the 89th Division.
As soon as he got off the train, the severe cold weather in the northeast immediately aroused Wang Zhi's vigilance.
"Resist US aggression and aid Korea, defend the family and defend the country," this familiar slogan once again echoed in the ears. On the evening of the same day, the joint declaration issued by the COMMUNIST Party of China and various democratic parties spread rapidly among the volunteer troops, and the units quickly organized the volunteers to study the declaration, clarify the true significance of the current overseas operation, and understand the operational objectives and combat spirit of "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea and defending the homeland."
Wang Zhi, who was the secretary of the division's party committee, was also bent on how to do a good job in political work, arouse the combat morale of the volunteers who hurried into the DPRK, and how to perfectly complete the combat tasks of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In particular, for the first batch of volunteer troops to enter the DPRK, how to concentrate on fighting the first battle abroad is also the focus of the political work of the whole division.
With the continuous deterioration of the situation in North Korea, the war situation is urgent and a big war is imminent. The military headquarters also issued the latest order to the 89th Division to immediately march to the Border between China and North Korea.
It was guaranteed to reach the Yalu River on November 9, and crossed the river that night to embark on the journey into the Korean War
。
But at this time, Wang Zhi frowned and worried. Because his troops were all in a hurry to enter the DPRK, the volunteers had not yet received winter clothes, they were all dressed in single clothes, and the northeast of November was already so cold, let alone North Korea on the other side of the Yalu River.
Thinking of this, Wang Zhi realized,
Perhaps logistics should come first
，
Before entering the DPRK, it was the main thing to solve the various warm clothing of the volunteers
And it is imminent, after all, there is not much time left for them to prepare.
Emergency mobilization of cold supplies
After the 89th Division arrived in Shenyang, there was just one last day left for them to rest, so the political commissar Wang Zhi and the division commander Yu Guangmao decided to use the only 1 day.
In the local emergency, a variety of thick and warm cotton clothes, cotton pants, thick felt hats, cotton gloves and so on were urgently collected for the volunteers
Wang Zhi also thought of contacting the deputy commander of the Northeast Military Region in advance
He Jinnian
And with his help, he won a batch of cotton clothes produced in the northeast for the 89th Division.
And asked the troops to immediately change into this batch of thick cotton coats.
Cotton clothes were made for the volunteers
Due to the limited materials and tight time, the cold clothing that the 89th Division can raise still cannot fully meet the needs of the entire division, especially cotton pants, cotton hats, gloves, etc. have become scarce materials.
At this time, the political commissar Wang Zhi had an idea again.
The volunteers were immediately mobilized to pull out a part of the cotton in the quilt and make it into simple hats, gloves, earmuffs, and so on.
These equipment seems inconspicuous, but each one is a treasure that can save your life on the battlefield in the later stage, it can be said that it is precisely because of these cold materials prepared in a hurry before entering the DPRK that countless volunteer soldiers of the 89th Division were saved in the later combat process, so that they were protected from the invasion of the ice and snow cold wind.
Ice and snow Lake Nagatsu
Sure enough, as soon as they crossed the Yalu River and stepped onto The Korean soil, the first thing that greeted the 89th Division was the cold wind, the heavy snow, and the complicated terrain.
However, at this time, the entire division of the 89th Division had only one operational topographic map and a radio station for communication, and often could not receive operational instructions from its superiors in time, so the 89th Division finally decided to continue to march south according to the original plan to block the US troops coming from south to north.
Unexpectedly, the US troops at this time were still not far from them, only 15 kilometers away. Among them, the 267th Regiment of the 89th Division was in Liutanli, Xinxingli, and had a face-to-face confrontation with the 7th Transport Team of the 1st Marine Division of the US Army.
By coincidence,
Just when the volunteers were short of cold clothing, the U.S. army came
"Blankets for a thousand miles"
finish
。 In this small-scale encounter, this transport unit of the US army was defeated by the 267th Regiment of the 89th Division and was completely annihilated by our army. thereupon
The 267th Regiment of the 89th Division was able to capture 3,000 blankets from the Americans.
But in addition to the excitement, new questions also came, only 3,000 blankets, the 89th Division alone has tens of thousands of people, how to distribute this small amount of blankets is reasonable?
It is also sad to say that the American soldiers next door have all kinds of cold clothing and cold protection equipment, and the blankets captured by our army are only ordinary blankets that the US troops use to pad under them when they sleep, but our army even has problems in distributing such blankets.
Tightly wrapped "United Nations Army"
Back to the question, how should blankets be distributed? It was suggested that since it had been captured by the 267 regiment, it could be disposed of by the 267 regiment itself. However, our army has always been strictly disciplined, and all captured items cannot be left for their own use only, so some people have suggested that they be confiscated and handed over to the 20th Army Headquarters and distributed uniformly by the army and divisions.
But whether it is confiscated or used by the 267 regiments themselves, this only 3,000 blankets is not enough to meet the needs of each person.
The supply of heat is sufficient for the U.S. military
Wang Zhi's decision
At this time, the political commissar Wang Zhi stood up again and proposed what he thought was the most reasonable plan, wasn't there a lack of gloves?
That's it
All 3,000 blankets were cut into small squares, and then distributed one by one to each company and to each soldier for them to wrap their hands and feet.
Although it cannot completely resist the cold and solve the problem of frostbite, it can at least alleviate the cold of the volunteers to a certain extent and retain a certain amount of body heat.
For Wang Zhi's suggestion, some people also believe that these blankets are a very valuable thing for the volunteer army with serious shortage of logistics materials, and the blankets at the good end are cut into pieces like this, and they are only used to wrap their hands and feet, which is a pity.
In the face of dissent, Wang Zhi still did not waver in the slightest, and immediately discussed it exclusively. Because for
Love the soldiers like children, love the soldiers with heart
For his part, the war in Korea is fierce and the combat tasks are heavy.
The physical health of soldiers is the capital of combat, and to be able to do everything possible to protect the hands and feet of soldiers is to preserve the combat effectiveness of our army
。 So he decisively ordered the troops to distribute blankets according to his request.
Although this decision insisted on by Wang Zhi was not a big move, it turned out that Wang Zhi's original decision and his persistence were incomparably correct, and it was because of this decision that the 89th Division was able to preserve its combat effectiveness in the course of subsequent battles.
Not only did it successfully complete the combat mission, but it also greatly reduced the frostbite and frostbite of the 89th Division, making the 89th Division the smallest division in the entire 9th Corps with the smallest number of frostbite losses, and the only team that could continue to pursue the American army in an organized manner.
This series of effective antifreeze measures taken by Wang Zhi later won unanimous praise from the corps and the head of the unit, who praised him for doing a good job and doing it right, which was well deserved
Exemplary political work cadres
Because in addition to caring for the volunteer soldiers, Wang Zhizhi was also very enthusiastic about the Korean people, and repeatedly disregarded his personal safety, but also wanted to save the Korean people in the midst of danger and help the local Korean people tide over the difficulties.
Write at the end
In those cold, hungry, and difficult war years, Wang Zhi collected a variety of cotton hats, cotton socks, and cotton gloves for the volunteer soldiers, which not only warmed the hands and feet of the volunteers who had already frozen, but also warmed and soothed the hearts of many volunteer soldiers.
After ending the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wang Zhi was also awarded in 1955
Rank of Major General
He was awarded the Order of August 1, Second Class, the Order of Independence and Freedom, the Order of Liberation, First Class, and in 1988, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Red Star of the First Class of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Major General Wang Zhi has worked hard for the revolution, the motherland, and the people all his life, and has witnessed the arduous and glorious years of New China along the way.
General Wang Zhi returned to his hometown
General Wang Zhi, from the period of the agrarian revolution, embarked on the battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and then experienced the War of Liberation, and then to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, defending the family and defending the country, and experienced the flames of war.
His life has gone through 98 spring and autumn, the years are like songs, and finally on April 7, 2014, he died of illness at the age of 98, but his revolutionary spirit will remain in the world forever and be remembered by the world.
General Wang Zhi (right)