After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the People's Volunteer Army quickly marched into Korea, and in the first four battles, the US troops fought by the volunteer army were defeated and retreated, and the US troops were driven directly from the Yalu River to the vicinity of Hengcheng, so that the invincible US troops experienced for the first time what kind of mood it was like to be defeated. So why did this happen at that time, and how did Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, resolve this crisis?
In the first four battles, the commander of the American army, MacArthur, was very conceited, thinking that with the powerful weapons and equipment of the American army, he would be able to defeat the volunteer army, so he did not pay attention to the formulation of tactics, which led to a huge defeat later. After the start of the fifth battle, the U.S. army realized that the reason for its defeat had a lot to do with the commander, and soon MacArthur was dismissed by Truman in exchange for the equally famous Ridgway.
After Ridgway took office, he carefully studied the operational characteristics of the volunteer army, and finally discovered one of the biggest weaknesses of the volunteer army, that is, the problem of logistical supply. Because the US military has an absolute air superiority, the logistics supply line of the volunteer army is very fragile, once there is a transport operation, it will be bombed indiscriminately by the US army, and after a large number of materials are destroyed, the volunteer army cannot fully supply the necessities, which causes the problem that the supply is only enough for the march for a week at a time.
When Ridgway saw this loophole, he quickly developed a set of tactics, he ordered VanVleet, who was fighting on the front line, not to fight hard with the volunteers, but to retreat while fighting, luring the volunteers into the encirclement of the American army, and then destroying them in one fell swoop.
At that time, the volunteer army thought that the US army was vulnerable, so it chased all the way to the vicinity of Seoul, at this time the long-awaited US army suddenly launched a counterattack, using the strong mobility of the US army, and soon penetrated into the rear of our army, the Song Shilun Regiment was cut in half, fortunately, the volunteer army was not in danger, retreating while fighting, and the main force gradually got out of the predicament, but the 180th Division of the 60th Army was swallowed up by the US army because it heard the wrong combat orders.
At this time, if the attack of the US army is not stopped in time, once the US army detours back to the rear of the volunteer army, then hundreds of thousands of volunteer troops are in danger of being completely wiped out.
In the face of such a crisis, how did Peng Dehuai resolve it?
He repeatedly searched for a suitable place to block the map, and finally chose Tieyuan, a convenient place that was the center of our army's transportation of supplies. If you occupy here, you will not only be able to advance and retreat freely, but also can well cover the retreat of the main force, but there is a disadvantage that this is a plain area, which is very suitable for the modern troops of the US army to attack, no matter which army is behind the palace, it will suffer a devastating blow here. Peng Dehuai finally made a difficult decision to let the 63rd Army stay in Tieyuan, block the UN army for 15 to 20 days, and cover the main retreat.
After receiving the order, the commander of the 63rd Army, Fu Chongbi, felt infinite sorrow, but he firmly assured Peng Dehuai that he would complete the task.
At that time, the 63rd Army had about 25,000 people and only 240 artillery pieces, while the attacking US army had 4 divisions, nearly 50,000 people, and there were nearly 1,500 artillery pieces, 187 tanks, and air support from aircraft, and our army's battle became very difficult.
After the battle began, the volunteer army encountered the first problem, that is, the crazy bombing of the US army, when the command of the US army was VanVleet, he came to Korea gave birth to a term "VanVleet ammunition quantity", in a battle, the troops he commanded would fight 4,000 tons of ammunition in an hour, which was 5 times that of the normal situation of the US army. However, the volunteers thought of a good way to deal with the bombing, that is, the "nail tactic".
The soldiers of the 63rd Army were divided into more than 200 combat units, scattered in different places, so that the US artillery fire could not be concentrated to play an effect, in order to better implement the tactics, the 63rd Army sent division-level cadres to the regimental headquarters, and sent deputy regimental-level cadres to the company, which made the combat orders quickly conveyed, the US army could not find the focus of the bombing, and could only clear the nails of the volunteers one by one, this tactic not only reduced the casualties of the volunteers, but also blocked the speed of the US attack.
After the whole army of the 63rd Army dispersed its operations, the second problem encountered was that it was impossible to restrict the tank troops of the US army, at this time, the tunnel expert Zhang Yinghui thought of a good way, he used the trenches and anti-artillery holes left by the ROK army in Tieyuan, transformed into a series of trenches, when the US tanks came over, they would fall into the inside and could not move, the volunteers put the explosives underneath, and the tanks were destroyed.
The 63rd Army blocked the American army in Tieyuan for a total of 14 days, during which the volunteer army suffered a total of 22,000 casualties, which can be imagined, and the main force of the volunteer army seized this opportunity, quickly retreated to the vicinity of the 38th Line, and built a strong fortification to get out of the trap, and the American casualties in this battle were 15,000.
After the end of the war, Peng Dehuai personally went to visit and saw Fu Chongbi's difficult salute, Peng Dehuai burst into tears, waved his hand, and said: "The 63rd Army has worked hard, you are the heroes of the country!" ”