The first talks were divisive for the Americans, and the US Government really wanted to talk about it, and to achieve this goal, it did a lot of work and unremitting efforts, while some of the US generals who did not accept defeat wanted to fight but did not want to talk, plus it was Ridgway who presided over the negotiations, because the results of some negotiations can be imagined.
On August 18, 1951, as negotiators from both sides were still drinking tea and chatting in the "teahouse" in Kaesong, Ridgway commanded the "United Nations Army" to launch a summer offensive. Ridgway believes that what is not available at the negotiating table, relying on the "strong" military strength of the UN army, can be easily obtained on the battlefield. As he himself declared: "With the might of our United Nations forces, the demarcation line required by the United Nations delegation can be reached." ”
Located east of the Huachuan Reservoir, the Hai'an Basin is a circular valley that Ridgway calls the "Big Bowl", and this valley is surrounded by a series of peaks, including the 884-965-924-1031 highland group known as the T-shaped peak, the 983-940-773 highland group known as the "Blood Stained Ridge", the 851-931-894 highland group known as the Sadling Ridge, and the 1211 highland group, which is more famous in North Korea.
In June, the Korean People's Army took control of the area, building positions on each steep hilltop with weapons such as machine guns, mortars, and newly added howitzers. As the entire Hai'an Basin burst into the UN line of defense, the KPA on the high ground was condescending, overlooking the movements of the UN army, and its artillery fire could also directly bombard the UN army's Kansas line, posing a great threat to the UN army.
Therefore, the spring offensive of the United Nations army was to take the high ground around the Hai'an Basin and completely control the "big bowl". To this end, Van Vleet mobilized the U.S. 10th Army and the Rokish 1st Army, including the U.S. 1st Marine Division, the ROK Capital Division, the Rok 5th Division, the Han 8th Division, and the Roon 11th Division. The defender was the Second Army of the Korean People's Army, with the commander Ofe Hyun, under the command of the 2nd Division, the 13th Division, the 27th Division, and the 24th Brigade of the Reserve, with a total of more than 20,000 people.
On August 18, the United Nations army simultaneously marched to T-Shaped Peak and Blood Stained Ridge. The Roks 1st Army was responsible for attacking Ding Zifeng, and the 36th Regiment of the 5th Han Division was responsible for attacking Bloodstain Ridge. Everyone has found out that when the United Nations attacked, it was different from the Sino-DPRK coalition forces, the first troops put in were all Koreans, and there was no way for Koreans to do this, if a similar war occurred now, I guess it would be the South Koreans who took the lead, and sometimes history is difficult to change.
In the battle of Ding Zifeng, the United Nations army has successively used the Capital Division, the Han 8th Division, the Han 11th Division, the attack is still the old routine, the difference is that because of the proximity to the east coast, the American ships have also participated, 400 mm naval guns you must not have seen, the shells fired are more than a ton, landing and blossoming, it is really shaking.
However, the people's army that held its position had the blood of a volunteer army, stubborn resistance, many positions, until the last person died in battle, the position was occupied by the Koreans, but at night, the people's army launched a counterattack, and then took the position back, the two sides repeatedly fought, each position changed hands several times, the two sides came and went, the corpses were all over the field, and the blood flowed like a river. By the end of August, the KPA had to take the initiative to withdraw due to the heavy casualties and unable to hold out, and the ROK army had to pay a huge price before it all occupied Ding Zifeng.
In the battle of Bloodstained Ridge, the first to play was the 36th Regiment of the Han 5th Division, and the commander of the US 2nd Division, Rafner, in order to support the attack, sent 7 battalions of artillery and placed 200 large-caliber artillery pieces on the 4-kilometer-wide front of the attack. The KPA fighters, who survived the artillery fire, were experienced, and they built bunkers on the slopes of the anti-slope, hiding in holes on the back of the hill when the Americans shelled, and returning to the forward positions when the shelling stopped, blocking the attacking enemy.
The South Korean soldiers saw the smoke and dust billowing on the high ground after being covered by artillery fire, and thought to themselves, no one can survive such a fierce shelling, but the gap between ideals and reality is sometimes not generally large, and the Koreans who rushed to the heights after the shelling found that they were indeed not greeted by KPA soldiers, but by the mine array laid by the KPA.
Mines were almost everywhere, and from morning to night, the Koreans of the 36th Regiment fought with the mines for a whole day, and failed to break through the minefields, and Maj. Gen. Rafner received nothing but a large body left in the minefield, plus many wounds and broken arms and legs on his back.
The next day, after clearing the minefield, the South Koreans and the KPA began to confront each other, and the same story was played out again, during the day, the UN army shelled, attacked, routed or occupied the position, and at night, the KPA counterattacked and recaptured the position. The 36th Regiment of the Han 5th Division attacked for nine days, but the position was finally in the hands of the People's Army. The blood of soldiers on both sides stained several hills red, and when the US war correspondent saw this scene, he shouted in horror: "Bloody Ridge"!
The 36th Regiment of the Han 5th Division suffered huge casualties, and Rafner could only personally go into battle, ordering the 9th Regiment of the US 2nd Division to continue to attack the Blood Stained Ridge, but thought that after several days of bloody fighting, the People's Army should have almost consumed, wanted to pick up a bargain, did not think, the US 2nd Division was also beaten miserably. After the war, the Americans lost a shrunken version of the casualty statistics, a total of more than 2,700 people. It took 2 weeks, huge sums of money and huge casualties, and only a small mountain bag of only 4 square kilometers was captured, and the Americans themselves were heartbroken.
On the afternoon of August 31, while the U.S. 2nd Division was attacking Bloodstained Ridge, the Han 5th Division was not idle, and Rafner ordered them to start attacking Dayu Mountain and Jiaqifeng, and the division commander, Brigadier General Min Jizhi, gave the main offensive task to the 27th regiment and the 35th regiment, and the 36th Regiment, which was crippled at Bloody Ridge, had to be used as a division reserve.
The first to attack was the 27th Regiment, and by September 4, the Koreans had captured Dae-woo-san and Jiaqifeng, but were stubbornly blocked by the KPA when they captured The 1211 Heights.
According to the history of the Korean War, the People's Army in the 1211 high ground has long been defensive, built a solid fortification, the South Koreans from the beginning of September, a full month, heavy casualties, but in the end the People's Army held the highlands, after the war North Korea also made this battle into the movie "Defenders of the 1211 Highlands", interested friends can see.
After the U.S. 2nd Division captured the Bloodstained Ridge, after a short rest, it began to attack the Sadness Ridge, due to terrain limitations, the United Nations Army could not invest too many troops at a time, from September 13 to September 27, for two weeks, the United Nations Army has been using this fragmentary tactic, heavy casualties, but can not get close to the target, September 27, the commander of the U.S. 2nd Division, Yang Ge, ordered to stop the attack.
The Americans found that if they did not encircle Sadling Ridge in isolation, the KPA would continue to support Sadling Ridge, and due to the limitations of the terrain, the United Nations army, which could not put too much force at one time, would never be able to take Sadling Ridge. Therefore, Yang Ge changed his style of play and decided to throw the entire US 2nd Division into the attack, coordinate the attack on the highlands and valleys around Sadness Ridge, completely isolate and encircle Sadness Ridge, and then capture Sadling Ridge, this tactic has obvious effects, until October 15, the U.S. 2nd Division finally took Sadling Ridge, but under the stubborn resistance of the People's Army, the U.S. 2nd Division suffered more than 4,000 casualties in this battle, which attracted Ridgway's attention.
From September 1 to 3, the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army, supported by the fire of five artillery battalions, counterattacked the enemy in the Zhupoli area south of Jincheng, killing and wounding more than 1,900 enemy prisoners, and on September 5 and 6, the 64th, 47th, 42nd, and 26th Armies counterattacked against the enemy positions of Desili, Zhongmashan, Xixishan, and Douliufeng respectively. A total of more than 2,000 enemy people were killed and wounded, and the western mountains and other key points were recovered...
In the battle lasted for more than 2 months, killing and wounding more than 160,000 enemy prisoners and more than 30,000 volunteer casualties (the People's Army is unknown), completely crushing the summer and autumn offensive of the "United Nations Army".
Ridgway, who wanted to grab chips on the battlefield, stole a handful of rice and swallowed his own bitter fruit. On October 25, the U.S. side had to resume negotiations and abandoned some of the unreasonable demands that began. America's belligerent generals finally realized that it was easy to shake the mountains and difficult to shake the volunteer army!