The Second World War was the largest battlefield in the history of mankind, the most extensive scope, the most involved countries, and the most serious losses in the world, and it brought huge wounds to all countries and peoples of the world that will never be able to heal. Although objectively speaking, World War II suffered heavy losses to global society, people's livelihood, economy, industry, etc., in the military field, a large number of advanced science and technology have emerged. At the same time, a large number of world-class celebrities with international influence have also stood out, and MacArthur is one of them.
MacArthur joined the military at an early age, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1903, starting from a junior officer, with his excellent personal ability to govern the army well, combat bravery, etc., gradually grew into a senior general in the US Army, and as the commander of the US "Rainbow Division", went to France to participate in World War I. Upon his return, MacArthur, who was less than 40 years old, became the youngest principal of the United States ever to head off at West Point.
At the end of 1930, MacArthur was inaugurated as chief of staff of the U.S. Army. During his tenure, a series of military reforms were undertaken. The main thing is to vigorously promote mechanization reform, replace the traditional modes of transportation such as mules and horses, manpower, etc., and improve the mobility and flexibility of the troops. It has formulated a unified and systematic logistical support system, improved the building of army aviation units, and promoted coordination and cooperation among various branches of the armed forces. Vigorously promoting the training of officer cadres in the armed forces and opposing the US Congress's plan to reduce officers and military expenditures has promoted the construction and development of the US Army.
After the outbreak of World War II, MacArthur led the U.S. Far East Army to command operations in Southeast Asia, implementing "island-hopping" tactics and attacking and occupying areas of great strategic significance and military value. With a great strategic vision, he advocated the selection of the location of the battle with the fascist Axis powers in the European battlefield, which was approved by the US military.
After the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese army attacked the Philippines with heavy troops, due to MacArthur's miscommandment, the US troops in the Philippines suffered a major defeat, and MacArthur almost wanted to commit suicide. It was later reactivated to lead the final decisive battle against the Japanese army in Southeast Asia. After Japan's defeat, as the supreme commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, he accepted Japan's surrender and later became the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Japan, responsible for the relevant work after the occupation.
Throughout his lifelong military career, realistically speaking, MacArthur had a very high level of military theoretical attainment, a strong command and combat ability, and extraordinary strategic vision and military strategy, and also made great achievements in the modernization and long-term development of the army. In Korea, MacArthur was dismissed by Truman on the spot on the grounds that he failed to fully support the decisions of the United States and the United Nations, and returned depressed. Until his later years, he himself was indignant about this.
However, if it is asserted from this point, if the Korean War is completely in accordance with MacArthur's plan, it can completely defeat the Chinese Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army and occupy all of Korea. It was unscientific, and it was nothing more than MacArthur's wishful thinking for his own defeat and hindsight. Because his real opponent was General Peng Dehuai, who crossed the prancing horse, and the Chinese Volunteer Army under the leadership of Chairman Mao.
According to MacArthur's plan, as long as five more divisions were added to the Korean battlefield, all bridges on the Yalu River were blown up, the passage between China and North Korea was cut off, and the battlefield was even expanded to Chinese mainland territory. In this way, after completely controlling the situation on the Korean Peninsula, China's strategic space can be further compressed and China will be forced to surrender. So, is this really the case?
After the outbreak of the war, the United States successively invested 7 regular divisions and brigades and 1 independent combat unit in the Korean Peninsula, with a maximum strength of more than 300,000 people, accounting for about 20% of the total number of its army. In the Navy, there are more than 200 ships of various types alone, accounting for nearly half of the Navy's strength. At most, more than 1,700 fighters were dispatched. A number of U.S. army fist units were mobilized, including the 1st Cavalry Division known as the "Founding Father Division", the 1st Marine Division with the title of "Sword of America", and the 4th Aviation Wing. Throughout the Korean War, the United States used all conventional forces except the atomic bomb, paid about 40 billion financial consumption, and 7300 tons of various military supplies.
It can be said that in the Korean War, China poured its strength into the whole country, and the United States also spent a lot of money. Moreover, the United States pursues a global strategy, and the core of its international strategy is in Europe. At the same time, in the Far East, in South Asia, and in the Americas, there is a large military presence and huge national interests, and military expenditures are extremely large.
Therefore, the addition of 5 divisions in the Korean battlefield is a drop in the bucket in terms of troop strength, and in terms of material and financial support, it is a matter of pulling the whole body. In other words, it is unknown whether the United States will be able to continue to expand the scale of the war in Korea. Therefore, I am afraid that only this increase in troop strength will not fundamentally solve the Korean problem.
According to MacArthur, blowing up all the bridges on the Yalu River would cut off the link between the rear of the Volunteer Army and the Korean battlefield, which is also a false proposition. In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the logistical support of the volunteer army was certainly inferior to that of the US military, but in the key link of the transportation line, Chairman Mao and General Manager Peng had clear instructions and long-term considerations.
As early as the early days of the volunteer army's entry into the DPRK, Peng Dehuai deeply realized that without the support of the railway, it was an almost impossible task to rely solely on automobiles to support the transfer of hundreds of thousands of troops. As a result, the Sino-Dprk Joint Railway Transport Command was proclaimed in August 1950, followed by the Forward Rail Transport Command in Anju to coordinate and operate transport support between the two militaries. According to statistics, the number of troops responsible for the safety of railway transport lines in China and North Korea alone has reached 52,000.
In view of the weak prevention and control strength of the Chinese and DPRK armies, the Logistics Support Corps, under the leadership and command of General Hong Xuezhi, fought with superhuman wisdom against the enemy. It put forward the policy of ensuring the transportation work of the western front, taking into account the eastern front, and stabilizing the rear. The volunteer army's railway engineering unit gave full play to its wisdom and wisdom, concentrated its main forces on rushing to repair points, invented temporary railway bridges, underwater highway bridges with the water surface as a cover, and activity overseas Chinese that were dismantled at the moment.
The logistics support unit, the prevention and control force and the railway engineering corps worked closely together to build a three-in-one transportation support model of "transportation-emergency repair-prevention and control", which effectively smashed the "Un Army's" plan for the "strangulation war" on the volunteer army's communication line.
Faced with the gradual defeat and retreat of the "United Nations Army," U.S. President Harry S. Truman could not sit still, saying at a news conference that he would not rule out the use of all military means against Communist China. Implicitly, the infamous atomic bomb is also within the so-called "everything" range. Truman's statement is similar to MacArthur's idea of pushing the battlefield into China. Sure enough, international public opinion was in an uproar, britain, France and other European countries rushed to the United States to "extinguish the fire", and the Soviet Union also took a tough attitude and expressed strong condemnation. When Chairman Mao learned of this crazy plan of the United States, he was not alarmed and said that the atomic bomb was just a "paper tiger", something that frightened people, he threw his atomic bomb, I threw my grenade. Nuclear blackmail does not frighten Chinese people. In the end, the brazen Truman did not dare to use the atomic bomb against China.
We can imagine if, as MacArthur said, the United States could send ground troops against Chinese mainland to win the war against China. The answer is clearly no. Because the Volunteers and the U.S. Army had already fought several times on the Korean battlefield, the United States did not take advantage of anything. What is more, China is fighting on its own soil, it does not have the cold and harsh weather like north Korea, the pressure on logistics support is also greatly reduced, the liberated Chinese people will all throw themselves into the war of resistance to aggression, and the US invading army and its lackeys will eventually be wiped out in the ocean of people's war.
In every respect, MacArthur's arrogant plan and instinct to fundamentally save the "United Nations Army" from failure were also doomed to futility.