On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the waiting for half a year for "Chosin Lake's Water Gate Bridge" was finally released!
As of 10:00 p.m. on February 3, the film's box office has exceeded the 1.5 billion mark, and it seems that many friends and crows are looking forward to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea to be put on the big screen again by the crew.
I have checked so many materials on this war and written so many articles about the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and to be honest, I can see that this subject can be loved by the public, and my heart itself is full of emotion and satisfaction.
After watching this sequel, my evaluation of the movie is:
(1) "Watergate Bridge" can satisfy all your imaginations in the war against the United States and aid Korea.
(2) It skillfully combines literary and artistic works with real history.
(3) The film also has a certain practical significance.
There is a reason why such a layered sense of hindsight is drawn. Below I will talk about the complexity of the heart, friends who have seen it can discuss the feelings together. Friends who have not seen it, I try not to spoil, do not prevent you from buying tickets to the theater immediately now.
1, the movie is to reason with you, war is not
The last "Chosin Lake" may have brought some regrets to everyone. In every way, this is an unfinished film.
In the plot, the death of Old Lei makes the audience strangle his wrist, and the story of Qilian obviously does not explain the end and ends. From a historical point of view, the second battle with Chosin Lake as the core is not clearly explained, but only surrounds and annihilates the polar bear regiment, and the story of yang gensilian and ice sculpture company, which are famous for their war history, is briefly explained at the end.
Such an ending made many viewers look forward to the sequel to "Chosin Lake". In fact, this movie does meet and respond to everyone's expectations.
The overall structure of the plot of "Watergate Bridge" is perfectly in line with real history and the logic of war. In a good war movie, no matter how small the protagonist's troops are, the actions must conform to the logic of war. Because in war all soldiers have their own responsibilities, just as building bridges requires a detailed division of labor, and each unit has its own division of labor.
(The red box is the Watergate Bridge, and the yellow box is the Lower Osumi))
Sometimes, some key battles at the company and platoon levels may be related to the success or failure of the entire battle. And the seven companies in "Watergate Bridge" shoulder such a task. Let's see what the macro campaign background was like at the time:
After the volunteers ate the Polar Bear Regiment (the plot of the previous game), the U.S. military realized the seriousness of the matter. Before, the Americans only knew that the opposite side was Chinese, but how many volunteers were there? What kind of troops are they? They don't count in their hearts.
Some arrogant American officers felt that the opponent was nothing more than a group of peasant armed forces. Their weapons and equipment were rudimentary, there were no decent supplies, and even many soldiers of the 9th Corps wore only the thin cotton coats of the south in the winter. The opponents defeated by the United States, let alone the Germans in the European theater, even the Japanese army in the Pacific theater, the level of equipment is better than that of the volunteer army.
However, the polar bear regiment was surrounded and annihilated, making the American generals down to the soldiers realize that in front of them was a regular Chinese army with hundreds of battles, and the number of people may exceed 100,000!
The information on the volunteer side is not up-to-date. Pre-war intelligence said that Lake Chosin was surrounded by only three regiments of the U.S. First Marine Division, with a total of five or six thousand men. Our 9 Corps, 20 Corps and 21St Corps, a total of 7 divisions of more than 90,000 people, the Americans can eat it no matter how big the equipment superiority, right?
But the volunteers did not know that there were more than one person in the pocket formation of Chosin Lake: in addition to all the first marine division, there was a reinforcement regiment of the Seventh Infantry Division, an engineer battalion, and the Third Division of the Korean Army, as well as the British 41st Marine Commando (battalion-level formation) that cooperated with the Marine Corps, and there were more than 30,000 people in the encirclement!
(The US and British Marines went out at the same time, and the last time these two units joined forces was in the Eight-Power Alliance's war of aggression against China, and Chinese were old enemies.)
90,000 to 30,000, it seems that the advantage is in me. But these American devils are all assault troops who play the role of sharp knives, the elite of the elite. Not only are most of them veterans from World War II, but they are also very well equipped.
And behind the 30,000 people there is a transport squadron responsible for transporting supplies, and a marine team's own aviation brigade is responsible for cover. It even called all the aircraft on the Navy's 7 aircraft carriers for support, a total of more than 800 aircraft, and an average of less than 50 people can have one aircraft cover. Tasks such as transport and sweeping, the volunteers had to spend a lot of manpower to do, and the Americans were done with aircraft.
The equipment superiority and air superiority of the United States are very detailed in "Watergate Bridge".
For example, the soldiers guarding the bridge were not only equipped with 60 forced and recoilless guns, but even tanks as fire cover. The tactical aerial bombing in the movie is basically the F4U of the Navy or Marine Corps. They have seized air supremacy and inflicted heavy casualties on our army.
(In the movie, the power of the F4U's cannon restores the truth, and the 20mm caliber high-explosive bullet directly hits the body, and the person is indeed broken)
Therefore, when the US attack was frustrated and retreated to the vicinity of Chosin Lake, the volunteer army found that the three divisions on the front could not take advantage. Even in the state of encirclement, it is much more difficult to eat the elite of the POWERFUL FIRE of the US army than imagined!
Therefore, the logic of the battle is no longer position warfare, the Americans must withdraw, and the volunteer army must cut off the back road of the American army.
So the first battle in "Watergate Bridge" was ordered by the Seventh Company to capture the American airfield in Hagaru-ri. It was the most important supply depot for U.S. troops in the Chosin Lake area, where U.S. weapons and supplies were assembled, where more than 1,400 wounded were waiting for planes to be transported back to the rear, and where smith, commander of the First Marine Division, was based.
(U.S. military base in Hagaru-ri)
The soldiers on both sides in the movie are almost "mixed together", which is actually a historical prototype. At that time, only two battalions of marines were stationed in Hagaru-ri. Faced with three regiments of volunteers, the Americans took part in the battle with even wounded and logisticians.
In order to prevent the United States from exerting air superiority, many volunteer soldiers and American devils were engaged in short arms. In history, there have even been incidents of napalm bombs dropped by the US military burning both sides at the same time.
(Napalm bombs were dropped on volunteer positions)
Although the U.S. military can obtain 10 tons of supplies and 16 tons of ammunition by airdrop every day, the temperature of minus 30 degrees and low morale forced the U.S. troops who had lost their airfields to retreat.
The cold is relatively fair to both warring parties. The non-combat attritional attrition caused by frostbite on both sides of the Chosin Lake Campaign reached more than 50 percent.
2) We got stuck in the necks of Americans
Seeing that the US army was about to break through, song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps, could only change the tactics and concentrate on quickly eliminating as many US troops as possible. This requires interspersed troops rushing to the wheels of the Americans' cars and getting stuck in the necks of the Americans at key nodes. The more American troops they hold in their heads, the greater our victory will be!
And this task fell precisely on the heads of interspersed troops such as the Seventh Company. Under the attack of friendly neighboring forces, the combined American troops retreated very slowly, sometimes advancing only 500 meters a day.
Smith didn't want his troops to look like they had lost their armor, so he took all the heavy equipment he could take with him, and sank into the river if he couldn't. This gives new ideas to blocking,
To transport heavy equipment such as tanks to Xingnan Port, the only way to pass is the Shuimen Bridge, 9 kilometers south of Gutuli. This is a dam bridge, although the bridge deck is only about 10 meters wide, but on one side is a cliff, on the other side is a cliff tank to evacuate only from here, if the bridge is broken, even if it is stuck in the neck of the Americans.
(Satellite image of today's Pratunam Bridge)
Nearby, there were only interspersed troops of the 20th Army and the 27th Army. The 180th Regiment relied on the 1081 heights near the bridge and blew up the bridge three times at night.
But American sappers used local materials and repaired the bridge deck from wood and steel frames. As a counterattack, the Marines mobilized a battalion to begin the attack on Hill 1081, met with stubborn resistance from volunteer units. The 180th Regiment fought to the last man, and the Americans finally captured the high ground.
The third blow-up of the bridge was not witnessed, and there was no detailed record of historical records. How successful the feat of blowing up the Watergate Bridge three times became an unsolved case that no one could tell.
The movie "Watergate Bridge" uses its own way to restore the experience of three explosions of the Watergate Bridge, which is equally tragic and tragic. And not only 100% restored the scene of the Watergate Bridge, but also the weapons configuration of the US military and the switching of the troops that blew up the bridge have done a great restoration. Even small details such as cotton clothing reverse wear have been examined. I will not spoil the specific plot first.
But it is certain that the Watergate Bridge has been blown off three times, both in history and in the movie, and the collapse of the entire section of concrete has prevented the US military from passing.
(Having seen the movie and then looking at the historical photos, you should be able to appreciate how high the degree of restoration of the movie is)
Smith felt despair for the first time after learning that the Watergate Bridge had been blown up. Always full of self-confidence, he realized that the First Marine Division could be completely eaten!
Smith sent a telegram directly to the coalition command in Tokyo, Japan, and the top brass thought of a way. The First Marine Division is the trump card of the US military, and its withdrawal can also be said that the United States has preserved its strength and "retreated from the whole body", but if it is all wrapped in dumplings, the US military will be disgraced in the world!
The U.S. military command urgently contacted Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and ordered 8 M2 steel mobile bridges overnight. Overnight urgent delivery to Chosin Lake. In order to ensure speed, the U.S. military chose less safe airdrop transportation. If the land route was intercepted by the volunteers, the First Marine Division might be completely unsaved!
The roar of eight C119 transport aircraft resounded through the valley of Chosin County, and a huge parachute with a diameter of nearly 15 meters flew out of the cabin with an 8-section steel bridge. In order to ensure the accuracy of the airdrop, the aircraft must fly low. After the eight planes returned, 6 of them found bullet holes in the fuselage. It was a trace of a volunteer soldier with a rifle. Stubborn, but helpless.
One of the eight steel bridges landed on the Volunteer position, one was broken, and the other six were used by the U.S. army to repair the bridge. It only takes 4 steel bridges to repair the Watergate Bridge, and Smith is glad that MacArthur gave him twice as much margin.
Yes, our fighters blew up the Watergate Bridge three times, and the U.S. military finally repaired it with strong industrial logistics capabilities. The American casualties in the encirclement were nearly 18,000, but they finally fled to Xingnan Port.
Here, the starving American soldiers saw hundreds of tons of huge supplies. These were originally prepared for the follow-up offensive of the US army, but the supply lines were frequently attacked and disturbed. Of course, this is no longer a problem, because the US troops who are evacuating immediately will no longer need these supplies.
At 14:36 on December 24, the last U.S. troops were driven off the sea and boarded ships to evacuate Xingnan Port. Christmas presents from American soldiers' homes were piled up on the ground, but burned with the port itself. On the morning of the 25th of the next day, the volunteers occupied the port. Since then, the US military has no large military bases north of line 38.
(Huge smoke from Xingnan Port)
Sacrifice more ambitions for having. After the war, Chairman Mao sent a telegram to all the commanders and fighters of the 20th Army:
Song Shilun, Tao Yong and all the commanders and fighters of the 20th Army:
Seeing the report of the battle on the Eastern Front, my mood was also extremely heavy, and there were more than 40,000 casualties on the Eastern Front, of which more than 30,000 were frostbitten and frostbitten, and the lesson was painful! It hurts our spirits.
The Ninth Corps has been living in Jiangnan for a long time, and all the combat readiness training is to liberate Taiwan, but now it has come to the cold and windy areas to fight, and there was no preparation before. In addition, the military situation in North Korea was very urgent, and the troops were notified to enter the DPRK on the train to the northeast, and they crossed the Yalu River directly before changing their winter clothes. The officers and men of the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army have always maintained a fearless heroism in combat and demonstrated bravery and combat effectiveness beyond any army in the world. The victory in the Battle of the Eastern Front in the Second Campaign was that we fought the US imperialist invading army back to the 38th Line on the Yalu River, guaranteed the survival of the Korean people, and protected the security of the motherland. The victory of the battle shows that we cannot be bullied, and the attack of the aggressor can be repelled.
After the battle, the Twentieth Army fought more hard, and after the battle, it could go to Xianxing Wulaoli to rest as the center, where it was relatively warm.
Mao Zedong
Gengyin midwinter in Beijing
In 1950, the year when the volunteer army entered the DPRK, it was also a year of the tiger.
We sacrificed a large number of soldiers and stuck the neck of the United States, just to defend our motherland!
3. The past life of the Seventh Company of Steel
(The following contains spoilers)
In fact, historical war movies do not care about spoilers. Because history cannot be tampered with, you and I are the end of the plot today.
Like the work of screenwriter Lan Xiaolong, especially friends who have watched "Soldier Assault", the movie "Watergate Bridge" should have special significance. Because he told the story of the past life of the "Steel Seven Company" in the soldier assault, it is a sequel, and it is also a "prequel".
Let's first look at a few numbers, at the end of "Watergate Bridge", the soldiers of the Seventh Company of Wu Wanli finally returned alive. He was the 677th soldier of the Seventh Steel Company. In "Soldier Assault", there were a total of 5,000 soldiers from the Seventh Company of Steel to the reorganization, of which 1104 became martyrs in the war.
The Seventh Steel Company has been used as an interspersed company since the Battle of Menglianggu. Its prototype has been identified as a company of the 20th Army. The 20th Army continued to fight in Korea until 1953. Later, he also participated in the liberation of Ichijiangshan Island and the war against Vietnam. The Seventh Steel Company sacrificed another 427 men after Wu Wanli, which was almost the number of two and a half full companies.
That is to say, in the subsequent battles, the Seven Companies suffered extremely heavy casualties more than once!
"Soldier Assault" also said, "Attack and defend, step on the bones of the enemy and sing triumph!" "The people who can sing this song of the Seventh Steel Company have all died in the war.
So we can almost sum up a cruel reality: Wu Wanli, who survived in the end, should have died in the subsequent battle!
There are many pictures in "Watergate Bridge" that are linked to "Soldier Assault":
Platoon leader Yu Congrong apologized to Wu Wanli, who pointed at company commander Wu Wanli and said: Not only is he my brother, you are all my brothers.
And the initiation ceremony of the Seventh Company will have such a question:
In the movie, Wu Wanli made a request to Song Shilun, that is, to restore the establishment of the Seven Companies to pass on the torch.
The later initiation ceremony of the Seventh Company also has this plot:
There is a picture at the end of "Watergate Bridge" that impressed me very much. After our volunteers drove the Americans into the sea, our soldiers waved red flags on the coast to celebrate victory. Only One of them, Wu Wanli, did not have the slightest joy on his face.
The last Seven Companies Of Long Gao Cheng also described this scene:
Almost all of the film is recycled from the famous scenes in the lines of "Soldier Assault", which makes people feel more realistically that this is a team that has lasted for 57 years. Their spirit has been influencing us to this day, and this team is still around us today!
"Some companies are proud of a certain combat hero, and some companies are proud of having a certain general. The pride of the Seventh Company of Steel is the most sacred of the soldiers. The soldiers of the Seventh Company of Steel lived between the hopes and honors of the martyrs. ”
There is a scene in "Watergate Bridge" that explains what the martyrs' hopes really are: before the bridge began to blow up, the officers and men of the whole company saluted together in the direction of the motherland. This picture with too strong a sense of form may feel that some viewers will feel that it is too formal.
If you understand that period of history, you will understand that it is the summary of the six-character creed of "no abandonment, no abandonment" in seven consecutive lines. It is also the best summary of the war against the United States and aid to Korea.
At that time, the new China was in ruins waiting to be rebuilt. Imperialism has surrounded us, and we must defend the future of our country with a victory! The Seventh Company did not abandon and live up to the new China, which was isolated "outside the world."
This small group of less than 200 people is willing to sacrifice their lives for the honor and future of the large collective.
The Pratunam Bridge was hard to blow up, and the Americans' necks were hard to hold. But the Seventh Company did not give up, daring to fight for the brothers who sacrificed to the last man. This echoed the reality of blowing up the Pratunam Bridge and holding the 1081 Heights, fighting to the last man.'
End
I said at the beginning of the article that "Watergate Bridge" is a realistic movie.
Because we are still enjoying the dividends brought by the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. At the same time, I feel more and more that today's China and the China of that time are facing similar challenges.
The Beijing Winter Olympics have already opened. However, the Western countries, led by the United States, are still using false flags to resist everything that China feels is right.
China's strength is something that none of the existing vested interests want to see. More than seventy years have passed, but imperialism has never disappeared. He has infiltrated the heads of the people of the world, packaging so-called aggression and power as democracy and freedom, he is rotting in the hearts of people, he is emitting a stench!
The problems of thought can only be solved by thought, and we can find answers to the difficulties of reality from history. From this point of view, I hope that the "Chosin Lake" series of movies can be sold well, so that more people can know that in fact, when we were poor, we won the United States.
I hope that more people can gain the courage to change their lives through the image of seven consecutive on the screen, and also find the meaning of our lives.
Time flies, China has never been so prosperous as it is today, we are getting stronger and stronger, and the battlefield of confrontation has long since changed. But as long as we can come up with the spirit of not abandoning and not giving up, all attempts to restrict the material and spiritual development of Chinese are nothing more than paper tigers!