Text/Xiao Mu Xing Yi Mu Yan
Edit/Kamu
On the shore of Xizi Lake, a secluded city alley on Pinghai Road, turn around on the 2nd floor of an old unit building, push open the door, and it seems to be a world that travels back in time.
The owner of the house, Zhu Huan, was a female nurse and military doctor of the health team of the 180 regiment of the 60th Division of the 20th Army of the Volunteer Army at that time. According to military history, this unit was ordered to lurk on the 1081 Heights, Gate Points and Baohouzhuang lines on both sides of the road south of Huangcaoling, responsible for pursuing the 1st Marine Division of the US Marine Corps fleeing south, during which it directly participated in battles such as the blowing up of the Watergate Bridge.
This battle, which was not known to outsiders, is now attracting more and more attention. The movie "The Water Gate Bridge of Chosin Lake", which was just released on the first day of the Chinese New Year, has exceeded 1.2 billion yuan at the box office (Data on February 3), and the data ranks first in the Spring Festival film. As a sequel to "Lake Chosin", several agencies predicted that it would create a new box office myth.
On September 30 last year, the movie "Chosin Lake" was released, and the box office went all the way to the top of the Chinese film box office list, while bringing the history of the conquest on the Korean Peninsula more than 70 years ago to the public.com. Shortly after the film was released, as a survivor of the 180 regiment, Zhu Huan became a "red man", and various media came to interview, and the choreographer and director of "Chosin Lake" also visited the door.
Although the 93-year-old Zhu Huan has some ear backs, he is physically strong and does not even have high blood pressure when he goes to the physical examination. She usually speaks in a loud voice, smokes three packs of cigarettes a day, and loves meat. This old house by the West Lake is the residence of the old man in his old age, quiet in the middle of the bustle, the entrance wall is a photo and portrait of different generations, full of a wall, some of the pictures have been mottled and faded, many are the "masterpieces" of the old man's leisure.
Zhu Huan is a bit of an old naughty boy, and Ping Su is not happy to be quiet. Only when strangers come to visit will the old man obediently put on the old volunteer uniform, wear the medal, sit upright and begin to speak. "Her memories are stuck in the past, and she remembers things before the 1980s very well, but she doesn't know much about the present." Mr. He, Zhu's son, said that only when he looks back, his mother will turn on the memory restart mode.
20th Army 60th Division 180 Regiment Hygienist Zhu Huan
The Coldest North Korean Memory: "American Soldiers Really Don't Fight"
In November 1950, 20-year-old Zhu Huan, dressed in a Soviet-style military uniform, a large hat on his head, and a pair of small high-heeled leather shoes, followed the 150,000 troops of the Ninth Corps to the battlefield of the Eastern Front of Korea.
Before coming to Korea, the southern force's imagination of the cold came from the experience of fighting in the north before. At that time, the north was extremely cold, and the warriors hugged each other at night to keep warm, and the next morning they got up and found themselves holding dead people in their arms. The cold in the area around Huangcao ridge and Shuimen Bridge in Chosin Lake, North Korea, is even worse than at that time.
As soon as he entered Korea, Zhu Huan's 20th Army encountered a severe cold that had happened once in 50 years. Cold Siberian winds whizz across the Gema Plateau, with minimum temperatures as low as minus 40°C at night. Because the U.S. military held air supremacy, this force could only choose to march at night, and before the battle could begin, many people fell on the road.
Lu Jian, the instructor of the 20th Army Guard Battalion, was almost frozen to death. He was wearing a thin cotton coat, crunching with cold, his limbs not listening to his commands, and he was unconscious as he walked. The hygienist saw that he was still breathing and sent him to the health team. At that time, the health team was located in the homes of Korean compatriots, and the facilities were rudimentary. The fellow countrymen covered him with 24 quilts and covered him for eight days before returning to the Yuanshen.
Instructor of the Guard Battalion of the 20th Army Headquarters Lu Jian
The front-line soldiers of the Volunteer Army were seriously reduced, and at that time it was stipulated that all efforts should be made to rescue the cadres. Relying on the tenacious vitality to hold on, Lu Jian finally picked up a life.
During the Battle of Chosin Lake, three divisions of the 20th Army, plus an integrated 89th Division, totaling 51,000 men, encircled and pursued the enemy in a fanning manner. The 58th Division was responsible for the blockade, and the 60th Division was responsible for the pursuit. After the war, the 58th Division produced a special hero Yang Gensi. Zhu's husband, He Zhiguang, was then an instructor at the 2nd Battalion of the 178th Regiment of the 60th Division, responsible for leading the 2nd Battalion interspersed with the pursuit of the 1st Marine Division. The predecessor of the battalion was the Zhejiang East Column of the New Fourth Army, and the whole battalion was particularly capable of fighting.
After the entire battle of Chosin Lake, only a few companies of the 20th Army were still in pursuit, and the others were frozen. Many people's feet are frozen into ice ballast, and they can't even wear shoes. Among them, the casualties caused by the weather of the 2nd Battalion and 5th Company of the 178th Regiment were very rare in the whole regiment or even in the whole army. They annihilated the enemy all the way and fought all the way.
When He Zhiguang was alive, the most he told his son was, "American soldiers really don't fight." When the volunteer soldiers chased near the Watergate Bridge, the US army had already run away, they looked down from the top of the mountain, and one soldier said in surprise, "Why are the Americans so big?" "This is because some people have no time to take care of themselves when they escape, and some wounded and sick people are crushed by their own tanks, and people look very long after being squashed."
Group photo of Zhu Huan and her husband He Zhiguang
The Watergate Bridge was originally a wooden bridge, and later a steel bridge was built. Xiao He asked his father, and he said that it was a very small bridge, just enough to pass through the tank. At the Battle of Chosin Lake, the tactic of the Volunteer Army was to shoot down the tanks head by tail, head and tail, and the American troops in it quickly surrendered. The warriors were very strange, how did they decide to surrender?
Once in a battle, the enemy army asked for negotiations, He Zhiguang wanted to go down, and the guards repeatedly blocked, "You can't go down, I will go down." After going down, the US military demanded surrender after 4 a.m., the Chinese side felt that it was not right, it was light at 4 a.m., and it surrendered, and finally decided to annihilate them all.
Many of the 20th Army are veterans of the New Fourth Army, generally rushing forward in a three-three-system combat formation. It's an original method of warfare, with two veterans leading a new recruit, one in front, and the one on the right tends to be the most experienced in combat. It is said that the Korean People's Army first sang songs and raised the flag to launch a Soviet-style charge, and as a result, one by one, it died, and later felt that the method of Chinese was good, so it followed and never engaged in man-sea tactics again.
There are also soft bones in battle, afraid of death or unable to bear suffering. A Nationalist company commander who had been captured in the Battle of Meng Lianggu fled to the opposite side, and the next day shouted with a microphone, "Brothers, come here!" "Make He Zhiguang half dead."
Operational map of the Battle of Chosin Lake
There are no tears on the battlefield, and it is fortunate to survive
At the time of the battle on the front line of the Shuimen Bridge in Chosin Lake, Zhu Huan and He Zhiguang did not know each other, and the two were serving in different regiments of the 60th Division. Until the time of the fifth battle, after the introduction of the organization, the two were married as soon as they put their backpacks together.
In the Battle of Chosin Lake in the Second Campaign, Zhu Huan worked as a nurse and a military doctor in the health team of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division of the 20th Army, responsible for transporting and rescuing the wounded from the company, and when the war was fierce, he had to rescue twenty or thirty people every day.
A photograph of Zhu Huan when he was young
Sometimes the enemy came in a row of artillery and fell down. Zhu Huan pressed them one by one, asking the stretcher bearers to carry back those who still had heartbeats, and the other sacrifices were also transported back. At that time 2 hygienists and 4 stretcher bearers became a combination. A stretcher sometimes lay two people, and sometimes the nurses carried it together if they couldn't lift it.
If there is a trace of life, the health team will do its best to rescue and treat people. "One less eye, one less stomach, all minor injuries, and the soldiers who healed the wounds insisted on going back and continuing the fight." Zhu Said that only seriously injured people with all broken lower limbs will be transferred to the rear for treatment.
Accustomed to seeing life and death on the battlefield, the soldiers no longer shed tears, saw the sacrifice of their comrades-in-arms, and most of them only shouted: "Avenge your comrades-in-arms!" ”
It was a 4-hour journey from the regiment to the division, with steep and dangerous mountain roads, and it was always necessary to be on the lookout for shells falling from the sky. Once, while transporting the wounded, they ran into American stragglers and hurriedly put the wounded on the stretcher on the ground and hid them with straw. Then bring in the stones, fold the stretchers, tie them with ropes and use them as machine gun counters to scare the enemy. After the U.S. troops walked down the path, they turned around and continued to transport the wounded.
At that time, in order to protect against the cold, Zhu Huan would cut the hay off the mountain as a quilt cover, and several people would sleep in the nest. The army initially distributed millet, and did not distribute rice until after the second battle, each person had a quota, two spoons per person, and gave priority to the wounded and captives. The North Koreans gave the volunteers two potatoes, but they didn't have to eat themselves. The car's oil drums were brought over to wash, one for bathing and one for cooking.
Copper bowl bought for 200 Korean won
Zhu Ju grew up in the countryside of Zhejiang, and she knew that the wild beets with red root whiskers, round leaves, and Ma Lan head could be filled with hunger, so she sprinkled millet and took the lead in "grunting" to eat these wild vegetables. She described the grains of rice in the vegetable paste as thin and "you have to hold a magnifying glass to see them." Those hygienists, logisticians, and stretcher bearers looked at them with admiration, and after that, one by one, "Doctor Zhu", "Sister Zhu", and "Aunt Zhu" cried out with joy.
"It doesn't matter what you eat, you can save your life." This was Zhu Huan's naïve idea at that time.
At night, I sometimes slept in a pit with my Fellow North Koreans, and many of the North Korean men were on the battlefield at that time, leaving only women. Zhu Huan slept with his shoes on his back at night, and sometimes his shoes disappeared during the day. Volunteer soldiers sometimes gave Koreans some food, and they would say, Chinese salami (Korean, meaning human) or something. Zhu Huan thought to himself, they were praising the volunteer army for being good.
Military uniforms worn in Korea
There are few surviving veterans, and in their later years, they "don't want to travel to North Korea"
According to the military history of the 20th Army, "All the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division and a battalion of the 179th Regiment resolutely blocked the enemy between Mendaan and Baohouzhuang; after 2 days of tenacious and arduous fierce fighting, the regimental commander was killed and the chief of staff was seriously injured, leaving only 20 people." ”
Zhu Huan of the 180th Regiment was one of the survivors, she died nine times in her life, her body was injured in many places, there was a huge scar on the top of her head, and several other tufts of hair stood up angrily. Usually, he walks with a bow, like a hairless eagle. Her legs and knees were visibly swollen, a sign of frostbite from the Korean battlefield.
The scar left by the bomb fragments on Zhu's head
After five battles, the 20th Army returned to Zhejiang to garrison Zhejiang, and Zhu Huan participated in the reconquest of Yijiangshan Island in 1955. After the end of the war, she changed her profession and returned to the local area, and the organization asked her to report that she was "disabled due to war", Zhu Huan was embarrassed in her heart, and did not report it, "A girl's family is crippled and it is not difficult to hear!" ”
Zhu's husband, He Zhiguang, was also fortunate to retire from the army, and He Zhiguang died in 2011 at the age of 90. In his later years, Xiao He tentatively asked his father whether he wanted to return to North Korea for tourism. The old man listened to the conditioned reflexive wave of his hand and said, "Don't go, don't go, tired are exhausted!" ”
Zhu Zi frostbitten knees
In the 1980s, Mr. and Mrs. Zhu Huan were still in close contact with their comrades-in-arms. But since 2000, Xiao He's most important task has been to represent his parents in the memorial service of his comrades-in-arms. But at the memorial service, instead of looking sad, the old men gathered happily, as if attending a party.
Xiao He remembered that in the middle of the night, his mother's old comrades-in-arms in Shaoxing and Ningbo would call to chat, but now the phone no longer rings, and they have passed away one by one like their father. The 20th Army's dry rest center in Hangzhou originally had more than 120 cadres at or above the division level, but now only a single digit is alive, and there are even fewer veterans of front-line combat.
Zhu Huan was one of the few female warriors of the 60th Division that year, and a survivor of the Battle of Chosin Lake, which naturally attracted much attention. The drawer was opened and a pile of medals was filled, but the commemorative medal issued by the Central Military Commission and the State Council to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea did not know the end. The son Xiao He was shocked, and made an urgent search, and finally found this heavy foot gold medal in a small tin bucket in the corner of the house, but the old man did not care.
Commemorative medal for the 70th anniversary of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
Watergate Bridge Archives: A slight disparity in the history of Chinese and foreign militaries
Although the story of the Watergate Bridge has been brought to the big screen, in addition to witnesses like Zhu Ju and He Zhiguang, even many Korean War survivors are actually ignorant of this battle.
Whether it is in the most original archives, "Diary of the Chosin Lake Formation of the 20th Army", "Preliminary Summary of the 20th Army's Battle of Hamgyong South Province", or the relevant military history records of the former 20th Army and the relevant war history of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea compiled later, there is no such thing as "Watergate Bridge", and the version of the Historical Materials of the Academy of Military Sciences only records it as "the volunteer army blew up the highway bridge." In the writings and academic papers of military historians over the years, the Battle of Watergate Bridge is also rare, and there are few detailed expositions.
Li Feng, a war correspondent by training, is the author of the book "Decisive Battle of Korea", and after studying domestic and foreign writings on the Korean War and the Battle of Chosin Lake, he found that "the entire Western world's books on the Korean War are written on the Watergate Bridge, and Chinese historical materials rarely mention it, and even if they are mentioned, they are often mentioned in a single stroke." ”
Mao Zedong's letter to the 20th Army after the Battle of Chosin Lake
However, in the history of the 1st Marine Division, the Battle of Watergate Bridge was considered a key battle and was therefore held to a high status. In 2002, fifty years after the end of the Korean War, American veteran Ed Simmons wrote a memoir about the breakthrough of Chosin Lake. He mentioned that in the 140-year history of the Marine Corps, a total of 294 "Congressional Medals of Honor" were awarded, of which 42 were from the Korean War, and of these, 14 were awarded to meritorious personnel for the breakthrough of Chosin Lake, 7 of whom were posthumously awarded after their deaths.
Major General Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, who was the commander, was considered an unsung hero by the Americans, whose caution and dedication "saved the lives of thousands of soldiers, and even the entire 1st Marine Division," even the entire Marine Corps. Other Marine Corps officers agreed that Smith deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor.
In addition, some military historiography works written by the American historian Hampton Seitz also record the whole process of the Battle of Watergate Bridge, some of which are depicted even down to the names of marines and the details of the battle, such as the model of the hoisting military aircraft, the components of the Watergate Bridge Rutted Bridge, and the process of repeated assembly and construction. The US 1st Marine Division also made video records of the lifting and installation process of military aircraft, and some of the airborne bridge components circulating on the Internet are probably from the archives of the US military.
But in the History and Field Records of the Chinese 20th Army, the Watergate Bridge is just one of the roads and bridges that were damaged by the Volunteer Army. Looking at the operational map of that year, it can be seen that the Rout route of the US 1st Marine Division was to rely on the Korean Wolf Forest Mountains to flee south, where the average altitude was more than 2,000 meters, the south was high and the north was low, and it was invaded by the siberian cold current throughout the day. The Pratunam Bridge is the only small cement bridge facing north in the most dangerous part of the mountain pass. U.S. Army General Ridgway described: "This is an extremely narrow and frightening sheep gut trail, with an unattainable cliff on one side and an abyss on the other. ”
Some domestic military enthusiasts have consulted the original archives of the Volunteer Army and found that the Volunteer Army has damaged various roads and bridges in the Huangcaoling area, not just the Watergate Bridge. "The reason why the Watergate Bridge is famous is mainly because of the serious damage, and the US military needs airdrop parts to repair the bridge, so it is only a detailed record of this matter."
The Battle of Pratunam Bridge has positive implications
As a sequel to the movie "Chosin Lake", the story of "Chosin Lake No. Pratunam Bridge" revolves around the story of the volunteer army's three bombing of the Pratunam Bridge, when the Seventh Company and the Ninth Company were responsible for the task of blowing up the bridge. According to domestic media reports, one of the prototypes of the commander of the Seventh Company is Jiang Qingyun, commander of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion, 240 regiment of the 80th Division of the former 27th Army, who used his mouth to tell the whole process of carrying out the task of blowing up the Bridge at Shuimen Bridge:
After receiving the task, Jiang Qingyun immediately mobilized the strength of two platoons to form a death squad and launch the third operation to destroy the Watergate Bridge. He personally led an infantry platoon of more than 20 people to the front, and when they were found by the Americans, they were less than 100 meters away from the Watergate Bridge. The heavy machine guns of the US army only hit one shuttle, knocked down 7 people, at that time 3 people were sacrificed and 4 wounded, and the rest of the personnel under the leadership of Jiang Qingyun continued to advance towards the bridge without hesitation until it was less than 40 or 50 meters away from the Watergate Bridge. ”
Jiang Qingyun's death squad launched an attack. They braved rain-like bullets and wore cotton jackets to make the white lining a protective color in the snow, hiding from the enemy through the dark night. The death squads rushed through the American positions three times and blew up the newly erected bridge and pedestal with their flesh and blood. ”
Earlier, in the documentary "Ice Blood Changjin Lake" by Bayi Studios, Jiang Qingyun also introduced the process of blowing up the Watergate Bridge for the third time. He said he formed a death squad, led an infantry platoon and a heavy machine gun squad, and finally completed the mission. In March 2021, 93-year-old Jiang Qingyun died peacefully at home.
Watergate Bridge after being blown up
"The Watergate Bridge of Chosin Lake" was officially released on February 1, and the box office on the first day exceeded 600 million yuan, and as of 00:00 on February 3, the cumulative box office of the film including pre-sales exceeded 1.2 billion yuan. The film was painted separately on the maoyan ticket double platform 9.6 high, ranking first in the Spring Festival film, and has broken 17 records in total. It is reported that the film's schedule on the second day of the Chinese New Year is as high as 34%, which is 7% higher than the first day of the New Year, which shows the strong driving effect on the Spring Festival stall market.
Previously, "Changjin Lake" won the Chinese film box office championship with a box office of more than 5.7 billion yuan, and the sequel created by the original team of people and horses has been hot before it has been released, and the highest predicted box office has reached 7.5 billion yuan.
In the carnival of the commercial market, there are also some people who have a cautious attitude and question the excessive dramatic expression of war movies. However, some professionals commented that "the film is only an artistic reprocessing of real life, and many details and plots cannot be as demanding as military history research, such as Wu Qianli, the commander of the Seventh Steel Company played by Wu Jing, who is more likely to integrate multiple historical figures." ”
The popularity of this kind of film is not only beneficial, it can make people reflect on the war 70 years ago, and learn from the lessons of the past modern war. A well-known military scholar who asked for anonymity told Phoenix Weekly that there was a clear era gap between the volunteer army and the US military in terms of equipment, "People are the army in the era of industrialization, and we are the army in the era of agriculture." The firepower of one of our armies cannot catch up with the firepower of a regiment of Americans."
Poster for the movie Pratunam Bridge
He pointed out that the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea marked China's real entry into the modernization war and was also the transition from a civil war to a worldwide modernization war. "In the past, civil wars were basically flat wars, but it was not until North Korea that we realized that the opponent was fighting in three dimensions."
Another new issue raised by the Chosin Lake Campaign for the Volunteer Army was how to do a good job in logistical support in the modern war.
Official data show that in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army suffered 19,202 casualties, 28,954 frostbite, and more than 4,000 people froze to death, with a total reduction of more than 52,000 people, and the number of frostbite far exceeded the number of combat casualties.
"This is the biggest frostbite education in the history of our army." The above-mentioned scholars said that after the Battle of Chosin Lake, the Chinese army had a "bloody" lesson in logistical support. "It is precisely because of the experience of the Battle of Chosin Lake that our army has learned from relevant experience in the subsequent wars, grown rapidly in the war, and knows better how to fight with the US army and improve logistics support."
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