As the story of the Battle of Chosin Lake was known to more and more people, the 150,000 soldiers of the Ninth Corps fought against the enemy in the cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius, wearing only thin cotton clothes, and countless Chinese people also made countless Chinese people cry.
However, what many people do not know is that in fact, as early as two months before the opening of the army, the Ninth Corps had already received the order to enter the DPRK to fight, and it had also made relevant preparations.
So why don't they prepare thick cotton coats in advance for such a long time? With 150,000 people but only 50,000 sets of cotton clothes, what happened to the Ninth Corps entering the DPRK?
It wasn't until Mu Junjie, the secretary of Admiral Song Shilun who commanded the Battle of Chosin Lake, revealed the truth for us.
The North-South Divide: The Hidden Dangers Caused by Cognitive Differences
Before the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea officially began, the mainland had actually made detailed arrangements for the issue of troops going out on expeditions.
For example, the Thirteenth Corps was selected as the main force in the first batch of volunteers to enter the Korean Peninsula, and the Ninth Corps was told early on that they would be the second batch.
Since the arrangements had been made early, why didn't the Ninth Corps prepare winter clothes in advance at that time?
The reason is simple, that is, the difference in climate between the north and south of the continent.
When you watch the snow in the northeast and the silver is wrapped, others may still be enjoying the flowers and watching the moon in the Jiangnan region, and only wear a thin autumn shirt.
"The soldiers in the south can't wear such thick winter coats at all, so first give them a coat, then a vest and a pair of fleece pants, and when the troops really pull out, let them lead thick cotton coats in the northeast."
This policy decision was completely in line with the national conditions of the mainland at that time, and it is precisely because of this that the policy decision was widely recognized by everyone as soon as it was put forward at the meeting.
Therefore, although the four major military regions of the mainland at that time, the central and southern regions, the northeast, the north China, and the east China all began to urgently make thick cotton clothes, and they also completed their tasks step by step, but these cotton clothes were not issued to the hands of the soldiers, and they only got the original coats, vests and fleece pants.
Even so, these coats, vests, and flannel trousers could not be worn on the southern soldiers, because it was still autumn in the south, and it was not time to wear these clothes at all, so the soldiers could only regard these as weights on their bodies.
Although the soldiers who have lived in the south for a long time know that the northeast is cold and the North Korea is even colder, they do not have an accurate cognition in their minds, but only a concept of "cold".
This is also why none of the soldiers have ever reported to their superiors that they would be able to distribute thicker cotton coats to the troops.
Under the combined influence of these two factors, it was told early that it was the Ninth Corps of the second batch of troops entering the DPRK, and finally failed to change the thick winter coat in advance.
When they were urgently transferred to the northeast in November, they stumbled upon a huge flaw in the original plan — the time was too tight to be transported from elsewhere.
The northeast thick cotton clothes are insufficient, so that in the end, 150,000 people only received 50,000 sets of thick cotton clothes.
Maybe at this time, many people will feel confused, is the situation really so urgent? Did he even have time to stay in place for two days, waiting for the state to redeploy thick cotton coats from other military regions?
Military intelligence is like fire: encirclement and counter-encirclement
When we mention the Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea today, many people may have only a simple impression in their minds, "Won the battle."
However, in the early days of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it was actually so urgent that we could hardly imagine, so urgent that MacArthur really almost ended the battle before Christmas.
In October 1950, the Continental Volunteers and the MacArthur United States and South Korea launched the first campaign, although in this battle, our army successfully defeated the US and RoK leaders, but the actual losses caused to them were very small.
After the first defeat, MacArthur quickly found out the number and details of our army, and it was on this basis that he was able to maintain the confidence of "ending the battle before Christmas" at that time.
Although MacArthur was later removed by Truman, we have to admit that the top commander of the US military was still very tactical.
At that time, he had formulated a fairly perfect plan, modeled on the Inchon landing, encircled the Sino-Korean coalition forces, and annihilated the Sino-Korean coalition forces in one fell swoop.
Despite his tactical acumen, MacArthur made one of the most fatal mistakes, which was to "light the enemy."
He even openly announced his plan in the newspaper, confidently revealing his next actions.
In fact, it is not difficult to understand that he did this, after all, he had the world's most elite air force, the most well-equipped army, and an army of up to 220,000 people.
In this case, the Sino-DPRK coalition army, which has a total of only 230,000 people, is undoubtedly a lamb to be slaughtered, even if it wants to implement a counter-encirclement.
For a time, the military situation was as urgent as fire, and the Korean volunteer army issued a request for help to the country, and Chairman Mao, after some deep groaning, immediately decided that the Ninth Corps of the Song Dynasty would enter the DPRK, cooperate with the vanguard troops, and set up an ambush in the Chosin Lake area to directly counter-encircle the enemy!
The strategy was excellent, the only problem was that the Ninth Corps was in a bit of a hurry, and this "haste" eventually led to 150,000 volunteers who could not wait even a few hours after arriving in the northeast and had to rush to the Korean Peninsula to fight in the ice and snow.
At that time, almost all the cotton clothes in the northeast had been used to provide the vanguard troops, and it was basically difficult to provide any material support to the Ninth Corps.
Later, there was really no way out, and the commander-in-chief of the northeast directly ordered that all 50,000 sets of cotton clothes in the originally set up "emergency warehouse" be taken out and handed over to the Ninth Corps of Song Shilun.
If it were other troops, these 50,000 sets of cotton clothes would be enough to solve the needs of the moment, but in the Ninth Corps of the Song Dynasty, 50,000 sets of cotton clothes were not enough.
The reason is also very simple,
The Ninth Corps of song shilun was originally used to attack Taiwan, and each of the three corps under the command of the corps had 4 divisions, while a regular corps had only three divisions in one army, so that the strength of the Ninth Corps was enough to have one more army than the other corps.
The legionnaires went up to fight, but the logistical pressure also increased, which was also a big reason why the Ninth Corps would have so many frostbite and frostbite soldiers later.
Of course, at that time, the Ninth Corps stopped where it was, waiting for the thick cotton coat to be delivered before rushing to the Korean battlefield, which must have avoided the frostbite of many soldiers.
However, in that case, the fighter planes will certainly be delayed, and once our army encounters a rout on the Korean battlefield, then the war situation will not be discussed, and the number of casualties among the soldiers will certainly be much more than later.
From here, we can see that China has no choice, nor does the Ninth Corps, and in order to be able to support the vanguard troops as soon as possible and save the headwind situation, the soldiers of the Ninth Corps will inevitably have to endure the bitter cold wind.
It is understandable that after the Ninth Corps arrived on the Korean Peninsula, the situation was a little puzzling, and at that time, why did our army not step up transportation and deliver the thick cotton clothes made before to the soldiers of the Ninth Corps?
The situation is forced: a difficult war
In fact, it is not that our army does not want to send thick cotton clothes to the front line, but that our logistical capabilities at that time did not support it.
According to the data, when the Ninth Corps of the Song Dynasty entered the Korean Peninsula, the mainland's troops on the Korean Peninsula accumulated 11 corps.
To provide food to the soldiers of these 11 armies, it is enough to need 1500 vehicles to run day and night, but how many of our troops are there?
There are only 735 cars in our army, and 315 of them were blown up before November 12th, which means that 3/4 of the soldiers have not even found food.
This is already our most optimistic estimate, because soldiers fighting on the front line need more than food? They also need supplies of guns and ammunition, as well as supplies of health care, and the "transport power" that can really be allocated to food is greatly reduced.
When soldiers not only don't have enough to eat, but also face the dilemma of not having bullets in battle, how can we force them to exercise cotton clothes?
Although prolonged cold would frostbite the bodies of volunteer soldiers, without food, bullets and medicines, the lives of soldiers would have died more quickly.
In fact, even if we had a sufficient number of cars at that time, it was difficult to complete the transportation task, because the US military, which occupied the air superiority, often bombed our logistics supply line.
In this case, the supplies could not be sent to the front line at all.
Taking a step back, even if the supplies were really sent to the front, the 150,000 people of the Ninth Corps would complete the distribution of a series of materials such as thick cotton clothes, gloves, boots, etc., at least one day, and at a time when the war was in a hurry, the Ninth Corps did not have such a time.
Therefore, 150,000 soldiers, dressed in thin winter coats, bravely fought tenaciously with the enemy, so countless ice sculpture companies and Yang Sigen-style warriors emerged, resisting the low temperature of Chosin Lake with their full enthusiasm and turning the situation on the Korean battlefield.
Before the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea officially broke out, our party had two attitudes, one was to oppose fighting and the other was to support fighting.
Most of the opponents feel that the US military has the most advanced equipment in the world, and the mainland cannot win the war when the logistics supply are in difficulty, while those who support the fight firmly believe that our fighters are more powerful than the enemy's weapons and firmly believe that we can win this just war.
Needless to say, the volunteer army won the victory on the Korean Peninsula, China also won the victory on the international stage, and since then, the new China has finally raised its eyebrows and breathed a sigh of relief, and is no longer looked down upon by those countries.