In the Battle of Unsan, the third battalion of the 8th Regiment of the US 1st Cavalry Division was completely annihilated, the United States revoked its number, and in the third battle, the defense line of the South Korean Third Army was crushed by the left wing of the Volunteer Army, and Ridgway ordered the cancellation of the number of the South Korean Third Army, and the number of the South Korean Third Army was revoked if the battle was not effective.
Generally speaking, if in a certain campaign, a certain unit is completely annihilated (unless the unit's number has a very special significance), its number will basically be revoked, if the unit is seriously damaged, after supplementary rest, it can restore combat effectiveness, and its number will be retained.
Volunteer Joint Command
It's a bit like a car in a car accident, if the car can be repaired, the license plate number will be retained, if the car is scrapped, you have to buy a new car, the new car license plate number you will still use the original? Generally do not use, why? Taboo.
The Third Battalion of the 8th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division of the United States was completely annihilated at Unsan (I have written a special introduction, which will not be described in this article), according to American practice, its number was revoked is understandable, but in the third campaign, the Third Army was not completely annihilated, but was only severely damaged, why did Ridgway revoke the number of the South Korean Third Army?
First, let's look at how the Volunteers inflicted heavy damage on the South Korean Third Army.
Break through the sky dangerous road to the city of Da Nang
The Third Army of the South Korean Army, under the command of the Second, Fifth, and Eighth Divisions, was responsible for defending the fifty-kilometer stretch from Liangwenli to Kashidanri in the third campaign, as an echelon topped in front. According to the operational deployment of Shiji, the Forty-second and Sixty-sixth Armies of our Volunteer Army were responsible for breaking through the defensive line here.
There is a key point on this front, that is, the Sky Danger Road City Dae. Daocheng Da Nang is located about 35 kilometers southwest of Jinhua, more than 1300 meters above sea level, the terrain is dangerous, the road is rugged, and there is only one way up the mountain, the others are cliffs and cliffs, that is really a dangerous place. The South Korean Third Army has long built Dawseong into an important stronghold on the 38th Line, and if it is not taken here, our offensive troops will not be able to form a line, and the enemy army may use this as a breakthrough point to divide and encircle our army.
At the beginning of the attack, there was a problem with our army, and the 375th Regiment of the 125th Division, which was responsible for breaking through Daocheng Da Nang, got lost in the middle of the way, delayed a lot of time, and did not break through Daocheng Da Nang on time, and the 125th Division had to throw in the 373rd Regiment to continue the attack. However, due to the steep snow and deep roads in the mountains, the terrain conditions were extremely unfavorable, coupled with the fierce enemy fire, several attacks were blocked. Wu Ruilin, commander of the 42nd Army, was in a hurry, worried that if it dragged on any longer, it would affect the entire war situation, so he resolutely ordered the 124th Division to enter the battle and cooperate with the 125th Division to resolutely open a breakthrough.
Break through the natural danger
At 2:10 a.m. on January 1, the 2nd Battalion of the 372nd Regiment of the 124th Division, under the direct command of division commander Su Kezhi, launched another attack from the left flank in coordination with the 373rd Regiment of the 125th Division, and at 3:30 a.m., the breakthrough was finally opened.
From the historical data, we can understand the course of the battle, and from the descriptions of those who experienced the war, we can appreciate the hardships of the battle.
Leng Shuguo was an ordinary soldier of the 124th Division at that time, in this battle, he led a assault team, captured an American colonel adviser alive, the volunteer army gave Leng Shuguo a first-class merit, awarded the title of second-class combat hero, and the North Korean side awarded him the third-class national flag medal, let's take a look at the description of this hero.
The 124th Division came to the outskirts of Daocheng Da Nang, a large mountain blocked the way forward, there were no big trees on the steep slopes, and occasionally a few small trees were exposed to the snow, the slopes were steep, and if you threw some rubble up, you would roll down the hillside.
The warriors took off their gloves, both hands and feet and used to climb up, the slope was too steep, when the warriors climbed the mountain, their heads wiped the snow on the mountain from time to time, and after a few strokes, they were frozen and numb, and the warriors could only adjust slightly in the middle of the way and continue to rub the snow to climb up.
It was difficult to climb to the top of the mountain, but there was a steeper mountain in front of them, and the defenders had found an abnormal but uncertain target, firing at a distance with heavy firearms, red, green and green tracer shells flying above the heads of the soldiers, and the sound of shells exploding almost close to the ears, mixed with the sound of machine gun bullets flying by.
On the way, Leng Shuguo's hand was pierced by the thorns buried in the snow, and the blood dripped all the way down his fingers, but he couldn't care about the pain and insisted on climbing up. It was hard to pass the second hurdle, but I didn't expect that there was a third hurdle. The steep slope in front of you is more difficult than the previous two, a "mirror slope" of more than 30 meters high, covered with a layer of glowing ice, and cliffs on both sides, and if you are not careful, you will fall down.
The soldiers standing at the bottom of the hill could clearly hear the slight sound of iron hitting the mountaintop, the defenders and our army were only 30 meters in height, and suddenly there was a sound of shells breaking through the air in the rear, and our army shelled towards Daocheng! Taking advantage of the cover of the shelling, Leng Shuguo led the group to climb the mirror-like smooth hillside, and after a fierce battle, finally eliminated the enemy and controlled the enemy position on the top of the mountain.
Quickly plug into Jining
After breaking through the Tianjian Road City Dae, the 124th Division began to attack Jiningli as planned. Let's first look at the interlude of the 124th Division: the 124th Division fought and ran along the way, repelling more than 10 stops by the South Korean Army at Dodauri, 991 Heights, Wumudong and other places, and finally inserted itself into the Shichangli area south of Jiningli on time at 12 o'clock, cutting off the retreat of the South Korean army fleeing south.
Celebrate the breakthrough of the 38th line
After fighting more than 10 battles large and small and running 75 kilometers in 18 hours, the 124th Division's interlude can be said to be the same as the one of the 113th Division in sansho, creating another miracle. We know that due to the obstruction of the breakthrough of Daocheng Pointe, the time for the 124th Division to penetrate is not very abundant, and in the process of interspersing, the 124th Division marched in a hurry, conquered the strongholds along the way, and also evaded the bombing and strafing of aircraft, but the 124th Division had to intersperse 75 kilometers in 18 hours, which battlefield it was placed on, which was a miracle.
The 31st and 32nd Regiments of the South Korean Third Army, most of the 36th Regiment of the 5th Division, and a battalion of artillery of the 3rd Army, which were defeated head-on, were blocked by the 124th Division in Jiningli, and the 124th Division, in coordination with the 66th Army attacking from the front, annihilated this South Korean army, killing and wounding more than 3,200 enemy prisoners, capturing more than 30 artillery pieces of various artillery, and the South Korean Third Army was severely damaged.
The Third Army was abolished
It can be seen from this that the Third Army of South Korea was only severely damaged by the volunteers, not completely annihilated by the volunteers, so why did Ridgway revoke the name of the Third Army?
The Third Army was defeated by the Volunteers, the eastern defense line of the United Nations Army was no longer there, there was a huge gap, the Left Wing Corps of the Volunteer Army, quickly detoured and interspersed, ready to cut off the retreat of the US 8th Army, Ridgway could not do anything, on the one hand, quickly ordered the 10th Army to plug the gap, on the other hand, ordered the 8th Army in the Seoul area to retreat, for the United Nations Army, the war situation deteriorated rapidly.
The South Korean army stationed in the first line of defense, under the strong attack of our volunteer army, quickly disintegrated, and the Soldiers of the South Korean Army rushed to flee south, riding in his memoirs, Li Qiwei wrote: "The South Korean soldiers are rushing south in a continuous stream in trucks, they have no order, no weapons, no leadership, and they are completely defeated and retreated... They threw away their rifles and pistols, discarding all their artillery, mortars, machine guns, and weapons operated by several men. ”
Ridgway tried to stop the defeated soldiers, he pulled out a pistol and fired a gun at the sky, the South Korean soldiers who fled south, could not understand English, and did not know their American commander, so no one paid attention to him, they drove directly around Ridgway's jeep and continued to flee south.
On January 3, he ordered the disbandment of the Third Army of the South Korean Army on the spot, and revoked its number and incorporated its troops into the Tenth Army, which he thought was incompetent and did not deserve to have a number.
Volunteers on the offensive
In fact, the performance of the U.S. army is similar to that of the South Korean army, described in the "Korean War History": "The UN soldiers threw away all heavy artillery, machine guns and other support firearms, climbed into the truck and fled south... They had only one thought, 'Throw away that terrible enemy,' and run as hard as they could! ”
In fact, the number of the Third Army of South Korea was revoked, somewhat unjustly, knowing that I can't do it, you still put me on the front line, I was crippled by the volunteer army, you even revoked my number, not to mention that there are more troops who have been crippled, not only my Third Army, what is the reason! But there is no way, to blame can only blame themselves for not serving the American master well, as soon as the master is angry, the number is naturally gone.