preface
World War II brought disasters to most countries, but the United States made a fortune, the United States used this wealth to improve the level of science and technology, to arm its own army to the greatest extent, so after World War II, except for the former Soviet Union, the United States is a country that no country dares to easily resist, as long as the United States lists the number of its own aircraft, tanks, artillery, and warships on paper, other countries will be afraid. Crucially, the United States also possessed the atomic bomb. At this time, the United States believed that the only factor that determined the outcome of the war was weapons, and strategy and tactics were no longer important. During the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in the face of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army armed with backward weapons, the United States was even more convinced that as long as their tanks were driven, the planes flew, and the artillery moved, the Chinese People's Volunteers had no ability to resist at all, but the facts later told the US military that it was people and not weapons that decided to win the war, that there was not much problem with backward weapons, and that there was no problem in relying on correct strategies and flexible tactics to win.
Received an urgent order to retreat
MacArthur, Ridgway, and Van Vleet, the heads of the U.S. mission to the Korean theater, were all weapons theorists. Van Vleet served as commander of the U.S. 8th Army, and before the Tieyuan Blockade, Van Vleet often said that he would let American aircraft and artillery negotiate with his opponents. However, after the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, Van Vleet no longer dared to shout so arrogantly.
Battle of The Iron Plains - Late Fifth Campaign (May 27, 1951 – June 10, 1951)
During the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, Van Vleet encountered Fu Chongbi. Fu Chongbi was the commander of the 63rd Army at the time, and the Tieyuan Blockade Battle conducted by the 63rd Army was not much different from an encounter. At that time, the 63rd Army had just withdrawn from the front line, braving the enemy's artillery fire, came to Lianchuan, thought it could take a good rest, but at this time, Yang Dezhi, commander of the 19th Corps, the superior of the 63rd Army, sent an urgent telegram.
Fu Chongbi (1916 – January 17, 2003)
The 63rd Army was required to build fortifications on the spot and establish a defensive line with a depth of 20 kilometers and a width of 25 kilometers to prevent the advance of the US army. This defensive line is located between Lianchuan and Tieyuan, which is a logistics base and a transportation hub, and the retreat of rear organs and the forward transportation of materials must pass through here. The loss of the Chinese meant that the Chinese Volunteers could collapse on the front line.
Therefore, the front to be established by the 63rd Army is a strategic line of defense. It is reasonable to say that it is not difficult for an army to establish a defensive line, but it is not easy here in Tieyuan, because this is a plain area, suitable for mechanized troops such as tanks and artillery to advance, and the dangerous terrain used to block bullets and shells is very small, so even if there is sufficient ammunition and strong fortifications, it will be very difficult to fight, not to mention that the 63rd Army at that time did not have these advantages at all.
Yang Dezhi (January 3, 1911 – October 25, 1994)
It does not occupy a geographical advantage, and it has also encountered a fierce enemy. The so-called United Nations forces organized by the United States that rushed to The Iron Plains this time were all elite divisions, including the 1st Marine Division and the 1st Cavalry Division of the United States Army, as well as the 24th Division of the United States Army, as well as the 25th and 28th Brigades of Canada and Britain. These troops combined to reach the size of 4 divisions, there are more than 50,000 people, if the enemy can not be blocked outside the Iron Plains, then the Yalu River will be full of American troops, so Peng Dehuai demanded that Yang Dezhi must defend the Iron Plains, Yang Dezhi can only give this task to the 63rd Army.
He demanded that the 63rd Army must hold back the Americans for half a month, a task that should have been completed by the 65th Army, but due to the sudden retreat of the First Army of the Korean People's Army, the 65th Army was very passive, so it had to retreat to the vicinity of Lianchuan. If the 63rd Army is not replenished, the 65th Army will not be able to stop it at all.
The 63rd Army was also very passive, there were only more than 24,000 people left at that time, Peng Dehuai, Yang Dezhi and Fu Chongbi all knew that this battle was difficult to fight, but they had already made up their minds, even if they fought out the 63rd Army, they had to defend The Iron Plains, and it was a day that could block it. Although Fu Chongbi was only 35 years old, he told his superiors that he would complete the task. In order to improve the defensive capabilities of the 63rd Army, Yang Dezhi reorganized all the troops directly under the 19th Corps into the 63rd Army, but this supplementary strength was insignificant with more than 1450 U.S. artillery pieces, more than 200 tanks, and air support. However, this did not frighten the Chinese Volunteer Army, and the combat deployment immediately began.
Use the time and place wisely
At this time, the 189th Division and the 187th Division of the 63rd Army built defensive positions along both sides of the road from Lianchuan to Tieyuan to prevent the enemy from advancing deeper, and the 188th Division served as a reserve force, ready to replace the troops withdrawn from the front.
The 193rd Division of the 65th Army helped the 63rd Army to gain time for war readiness and fought a hard blockade battle in the Lianchuan area, which basically completed the deployment of the 63rd Army. The 189th Division had to hold the Americans back for three days as the main force and let the large troops build fortifications, of course, the 189th Division also had to build fortifications, but the time was only a few hours.
Cai Changyuan (1917–1995), Major General, from Xuanhan County, Sichuan Province
Although Cai Changyuan, the commander of the 189th Division, was only 34 years old and was originally a political work cadre, he was able to respond flexibly in the face of the most powerful enemy. He believes that the US military likes to push the whole line flat and does not like the flank and rear flanks to be attacked, so the volunteer army should arrange military deployment according to this characteristic of the US army.
The 63rd Army was undermanned, and it was obvious that there would be more casualties if it fought hard, so he decided to divide the whole division into more than 200 groups, each looking for a blocking point, each group of about 30 people. When blocking, do not love to fight, retreat when the terrain is unfavorable or dark, constantly change positions, and block the enemy, thus delaying the advance of the US army.
Divisional artillery and other units were responsible for launching counter-charge against the American troops. All in all, to disrupt the enemy's marching deployment, we can only be overwhelmed, not only will the speed of progress slow down, but also the number of casualties will continue to increase. This tactic proved to be effective, and although the Chinese Volunteers suffered many casualties, the U.S. military was also greatly affected.
Attack tactics are invincible
The 565th, 566th, and 567th Regiments of the 189th Division each controlled an area to prevent the American advance. Van Vliet decided to take advantage of the equipment of the US army and fired 4,000 tons of shells at our positions in one hour. The US military thought that after the completion of this round of shelling, our army had very little left, and he thought that the volunteer army was also a cluster to a cluster, but he did not expect that more than 200 squads of our army were distributed in an area of more than 500 square kilometers, and the lethality of the artillery fire was very limited, and many shells were hit on the open ground.
Van Vleet (19 March 1892 – 23 September 1992) was a U.S. Army general
After repeated attacks, the US army found that it was impossible to advance, so it decided to use the superiority of equipment to strike at our army again; at this time, the United States dispatched a large number of aircraft to throw heavy bombs at our army, and then used artillery units to fire shells at our army's positions, and finally the infantry charged forward under the cover of tank troops, but the advance of the US troops was still very difficult, and the occupied positions were often taken back.
The Americans suffered heavy casualties, and of course, the volunteers suffered many casualties. On June 3, the 2nd Battalion of the 566th Regiment disappeared as a structure, leaving only a small number of men in the 1st Battalion, leaving only more than 50 men in the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion, and more than 40 people in the 9th Company of the 8th Company of the 3rd Battalion, and more than 70 others in the 7th Company, and the casualties of the 565th Regiment are unknown.
At this time, there was not much ammunition, so the bayonets were often fought, and most of the land where the battlefield was located was charred, and the soil was turned over, and the deepest place reached more than two meters. In the eyes of the US military, at this time, this area can not survive any creatures, let alone people. After counting the results of the battle on June 4, the 189th Division became a reserve, the 188th Division became the main force, as the front line of the Tieyuan Blockade Battle to block the US army, this unit blocked the US army for three days and three nights, the rear fortifications were finally completed, and the Dream of the US Army quickly breaking through the Yellow Sorghum of the Iron Plain was shattered.