Text/Ziyi
As a sequel to the movie "Chosin Lake", "Chosin Lake No. Pratunam Bridge" is not surprisingly scheduled for February 1, 2022.
The original team of people and horses told the story of volunteer soldiers in the desperate situation of ice and snow, with steely will to blow up the Watergate Bridge three times.
It should be pointed out that the Pratunam Bridge in the movie is not a battle, nor is it an isolated story, it is just a bridge between the Chinese Volunteer Army in the Second Campaign, the Battle of Chosin Lake on the Eastern Front.
With the box office and word-of-mouth of "Chosin Lake" online, is the follow-up film worth watching?
Among the many movies in the Spring Festival file, "The Water Gate Bridge of Chosin Lake" topped the list with 527 million at the box office.
The on-demand screening and pre-sale box office exceeded 400 million, and it won the championship for 14 consecutive days, which can be described as the expectation of everyone.
Friends who want to watch the movie, the following historical knowledge needs to be known in advance, so that you can understand the plot more deeply.
(1) The historical background of the film: Does the Watergate Bridge really exist?
Before the launch of the second campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea, a combat policy was put forward: Within a month, one or two battles should be fought on each of the eastern and western fronts, seven or eight regiments of the enemy should be annihilated, and the front line should be advanced to the front line of Pyongyang and Wonsan, so as to facilitate long-term combat.
Based on this, Shiji formulated a battle plan to lure the UN forces to the Former Tsu-ri and Chosin fronts on the Eastern Front, and then concentrate their forces on annihilating each other.
The Ninth Corps, which was originally tasked with the task of liberating Baodao, was ordered to enter the DPRK urgently and take on the operational tasks in the direction of the Eastern Front River Boundary and Chosin Lake.
Due to the sudden order, the Ninth Corps of more than 150,000 people was extremely short of cotton clothes, food, weapons and other supplies, which also laid the groundwork for future tragedies.
For the U.S. First Division and the Seventh Infantry Division, which were alone and deep, the Ninth Corps, which was like a divine soldier descending from heaven overnight, divided them from north to south into five pieces and annihilated them.
Thus, the most tragic battle in the Korean War, the Battle of Chosin Lake, broke out.
After realizing that it was under siege, in the heavy snow, the US First Marine Division began to retreat desperately to the south around Xianxing.
But there were ambushes and blockades everywhere, and on the most fierce day of fighting, the Americans only retreated five hundred meters in a whole day.
At this time, a key point began to appear on the route of the us military's southward withdrawal, that is, the Watergate Bridge, which was the only way for the US military to withdraw south.
The Watergate Bridge was blown up for the third time
Is it really that important is just such an inconspicuous one-sided bridge that it can't even reach a big word?
The answer is yes, there must be.
If the bridge is blown up, more than 10,000 people of the US First Marine Division will be blocked on the north bank and will be unable to fly.
Once the US military crosses this bridge and then crosses the Loess Ridge, with the speed and strength of our army, there is no possibility of catching up.
Therefore, the Watergate Bridge has become the focus of contention between the two sides.
At this point, the story surrounding the bombing and repair of the bridge is the beginning and end of the film, which is from December 1 to 7, 1950.
This bridge is actually very innocent, and it has been blown up four times?!
Not only the bridge deck, but even the bridge foundation and nearby bridge materials were blown up, but even so, it was difficult to prevent the US military from escaping.
You must know that in the Battle of Chosin Lake, our army used the strength of three corps to encircle and annihilate a division of the US army.
Five times more than the enemy, he did not complete his full work, but instead lost more than 50,000 people due to frostbite, and more than 4,000 people directly froze to death.
Despite the heavy losses of the Ninth Corps, the Battle of Chosin Lake played a pivotal role in the history of the Korean War.
It not only stabilized the situation, but also allowed the US military to change from offensive to strategic defense.
So, the bridge is really important.
However, this bridge was eventually repaired by the US military, and the six-day efforts of the volunteer army were in vain.
The retreating U.S. Marine Division
(2) The real history behind the Watergate Bridge incident is both tragic and awe-inspiring
Knowing the beginning and end of the matter, the ultimate purpose of making this movie is very surprising.
Why capitalize the story of the bridge bombing?
The bridge did explode, but in the end it was the Americans who ran.
Because of this link in the bridge bombing, not only did not delay the US troops, but on the contrary, the officers and men of the second company of the 180th Regiment of the Sixty Division who were ambushed across the bridge all froze to death without firing a single shot.
Why?
Because the first two bridges were repaired by the US military one by one;
The third time, even the bridge foundation was blown up, but it was also repaired by the American army and the M-2 steel beam urgently transported from Japan in a day, and they successfully crossed the bridge, which the soldiers did not expect.
On the eighth day, not only was there a snowstorm, but the temperature plummeted at night, approaching minus 40° at its coldest time.
It is hard to imagine how the two companies of the 172nd Regiment of the Fifty-eighth Division, which was responsible for the blockade, and the officers and men of the 2nd Company of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division, who set up an ambush on the pass south of Gutuli, spent the night.
Hungry and thinly clothed, how could they endure the cold and lie motionless on their positions?
Subsequently, the US First Marine Division crossed the Yellow Grass Ridge and fled south, although it encountered the interception of the volunteer army, but due to conditions, our army was unable to catch up.
The U.S. 1st Marine Division successfully broke through at the cost of more than 12,000 casualties and the near total annihilation of the 31st Regimental Combat Team of the Seventh Infantry Division, and the Battle of Chosin Lake ended.
A daily casualty count of the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Chosin Lake
Most of these battle results were produced before the bridge was blown up, so what is the significance of blowing up the bridge?
I also ask you, what is the meaning of telling this story?
There are many tragic stories of battles that can be told, so why should we tell such a fragment that has a great impact on strategy but has no practical effect?
In fact, if we look at it from a business point of view, everything is easy to understand.
Historical films, especially military films, if they only reproduce a certain period of history, may be constantly fighting, and the audience will soon be tired.
But the small matter of choosing to blow up the bridge, the scene is fixed, but the method is constantly introduced, so that the plot will look much better, just like the movie "Eight Hundred".
The bombing of the Watergate Bridge cannot be said to have done our best, but the logistical support capabilities and industrial level of the US military at that time have far exceeded the limits of our cognition.
In fact, it is not unusual for the US military to airdrop all kinds of equipment, even tanks and vehicles, in the war.
(3) Strange logical orders and plots that arise for the sake of storytelling
Forgive me for using such words to evaluate a film, "Chosin Lake" and "Pratunam Bridge" in a sense, are still successful commercial war films, so it is necessary to rewrite history to a certain extent.
Although "Chosin Lake" has a good box office performance, it is not an excellent military movie in all fairness, because the real Battle of Chosin Lake is far more brutal than the performance in the movie.
Warriors not only have to face the problem of cruel weather and food shortages, but also face weapon failures and frequent movement interspersed, resulting in energy consumption, which makes the combat effectiveness decline.
This is also the biggest problem that we are several times larger than the enemy and have not yet completed our full achievements.
Although the film has explanations for weather, weapons, supplies, battles and other issues, it is still slightly immature, and it is only to highlight the storyline and do unnecessary actions.
The brutality of the Battle of Chosin Lake was not fully reflected.
Especially in a scene around the polar bear group, it was filmed in a fancy way, which made people dazzled and presented the heroic sacrifice fragments recorded in history.
The plots of the two "Chosin Lake" are many and complicated, and there are common sense errors in at least a few places.
For example, the affiliation of the Seventh Company was due to their participation in the encirclement of the U.S. Thirty-first Regimental Combat Team.
From this, it can be seen that the Seventh Company should be subordinate to the Eighty Or Eighty-first Division of the Twenty-seventh Army, because the battle was fought by these two divisions.
This story belongs to the Battle of Chosin Lake, which took place from November 30 to December 2, 1950.
Comrade Yang Gensi, who appears again in the film, belongs to the Fifty-eighth Division of the Twentieth Army, and his death time is November 29, 1950.
The combat tasks and locations of the two armies are different, and the relationship between the two is so far-fetched that it is easy to misunderstand.
If the movie "Watergate Bridge" did not solve the problem of the seven-company affiliation, then the biggest bug in the movie "Watergate Bridge" came.
Historically, the sniper unit responsible for the ancient Tushui and Huangcaoling was the 60th Division of the 20th Army, and the 180th Regiment blew up the bridge.
Without Shiji's consent, what would the Twenty-seventh Army do when it ran to the combat area of the Twentieth Army?
Therefore, the Seventh Company should not have appeared in the Watergate Bridge incident.
Then the meaning of the original class of people and horses is more in the feelings.
You know, the Ninth Corps was fighting an ambush, each unit had a strict combat area, and their position was crucial and would not change at will.
Moreover, because of the difficulty of supply, in addition to the front-line combat troops can get a little rations, the non-combat troops do not have excess rations to consume.
In addition to the combat charge, the precious rations can not be left to a company in the battlefield guerrilla attack.
The Twenty-seventh Army, which was also the unit with the greatest casualties in the Second Battle, was more caused by frostbite than the battle sacrifices, which were caused by a long ambush in the snow.
Therefore, the appearance of the seven companies is particularly unreasonable in the plot, why do you have to "invent" such a team?
In the end, it is for the purpose of filming.
Bringing together the characters that really exist in history, telling the story vividly through familiar actors, let us feel the cruelty of the war at that time and experience the patriotic feelings through these small characters.
epilogue
From a comprehensive history point of view, the seventh company of this unit, originally should not appear in the film in a whole system, the protagonist group can be reduced to a reinforcement squad, about the size of a dozen people, and then do a variety of interspersed tasks, and finally end with the sacrifice of the majority of the people.
Because this reflects the cruelty and ruthlessness of war, it is easier to resonate with the audience.
Overall, "Watergate Bridge" is worth a look.