Author: Achilles
In 1950, when the Volunteer Army first entered the DPRK, although the artillery forces of the 1st, 2nd, and 8th Artillery Divisions were mobilized, the mainland did not have the ability to manufacture large-caliber heavy artillery at that time, and these artillery equipment were basically captured "made in all countries" artillery. There is a huge gap with the complete artillery unit of the US army. For example, during the first campaign, our army only fired more than 1,400 shells, while a regular ordinary battle of the coalition forces could pour tens of thousands of shells, and the difference in firepower between the two armies was too great.
(1) Ask "Big Brother" for help, but it is not free, and weapons are sold at half the price
Because New China is in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, and its national strength is limited, it is really impossible to build a usable artillery unit in a short period of time. This is a very fatal shortcoming in fighting with the US military, which has absolute firepower superiority.
On November 7, after the first battle of the Volunteer Army, New China immediately turned to the Soviet Union for help, asking the Soviet Union to provide modern equipment for 36 Soviet infantry divisions. For the Chinese side's request, Stalin, based on the soviet union's own interests, said that it would accept it in its entirety and could provide the amount of equipment that China needed.
Light equipment began deliveries in January 1951. By February, Stalin had instructed the front to stock up on three divisions of Soviet equipment to allow the troops to change their gear when they were resting.
But this assistance is not free. On February 1, 1951, China and the Soviet Union signed the Sino-Soviet Military Loan Agreement, which clearly stated that the Soviet Union would provide China with a loan of 1.235 billion rubles to purchase Soviet weapons, ammunition and related support. However, considering that everyone is a member of the Red Camp, in order to help China and North Korea fight, all weapons orders are sold at a half price discount, and in addition, orders for railway equipment are paid at a 75% discount.
A large-caliber artillery owned by the Volunteers, a Soviet-made 152 mm howitzer
By March, our artillery equipment had been greatly strengthened, and it had a total of 3 rocket artillery regiments, 1 anti-aircraft artillery division, 1 122 howitzer regiment and 3 field anti-aircraft artillery divisions with Soviet equipment.
Soviet aid was shipped to the front
On the eve of the launch of the fourth campaign, Soviet light weapons began to be officially issued to the hands of the volunteer army, the 3rd Corps and the 13th Corps and the 9th Corps basically completed the rearmament of the Soviet-style equipment of light equipment, and the troops with Soviet weapons broke out into new combat effectiveness in the fourth campaign that followed.
By the end of 1951, the light weapons of the Volunteer Army were basically rearmament. A total of 35 divisions of the Volunteer Army were fully equipped with Soviet armaments, a total of 204307 pieces, and the 11th, 16th and 66th Armies also received 468 artillery pieces of various types.
The fierce and light Soviet Bobosha-41 submachine gun was very popular with the volunteer army
Soviet-style weapons played an important role after entering the volunteer army's equipment sequence. In the past, our army was equipped with universal brand equipment, and different weapons used ammunition of different calibers, which made it difficult to guarantee the rationing of ammunition. After the unified replacement of Soviet-style equipment, weapons and ammunition can be uniformly rationed, alleviating the supply problem.
On the other hand, the relatively new Soviet-style weapons have enhanced our army's combat confidence and reduced the gap between its weapons and firepower with that of the US army. The combat effectiveness of the volunteer army has been greatly improved.
In addition to aid weapons, there is an important piece of equipment that is often overlooked, that is, cars.
Modern warfare requires extremely high logistical support, and ammunition and food need to be transported by car. Even if the weapons are advanced, they need a constant supply of ammunition to sustain combat.
Half a year after entering the DPRK, the number of automobiles lost by our army was as high as more than 3,000, but at that time, the mainland almost did not have the ability to produce its own cars and could not replenish them. The logistics and transportation line was in a hurry, so the prime minister urgently asked Stalin for help, imploring Stalin to first order the borrowing of 500 old cars from the Lushun base of the Soviet army and the purchase of follow-up new cars from the Soviet Union.
The Auto Soldiers had one of the highest casualties in the Volunteer Army
On November 5, 1950, when the prime minister met with the Soviet military adviser Zakharov, urging the Soviet side to preferably transport the first batch of new cars purchased by China within November, the prime minister said: "The car loss is serious, the mainland is unable to replenish, so the current car first, tanks and artillery can be transported behind the car." ”
Since then, the number of soviet-produced cars has been continuously sent to the front, reaching 5,000 in 1950 alone, and in 1951 the mainland offered to buy 12,000 more, and by the end of the war, the whole army had 71,000 cars of various kinds, and it was precisely because of these cars that the logistical transportation of the volunteer army was alleviated.
(2) Second-hand goods? The volunteer army reported that most of the Soviet-aided weapons were used in World War II, and it was enough to brush a layer of paint
Although on the surface it seems that the Soviet Union was very generous in aiding the new Chinese weapons and equipment, in fact, the Soviets were careful about the quality of the equipment.
The Soviets aided a large number of DP-27 light machine guns, although the Volunteers reported that the gun was fierce, but it was very bulky during the mobile war and was only suitable for position defense
According to the front-line volunteers, most of the weapons aided by the Soviet Union were almost all used during World War II, and many of them were very badly worn, but the Soviet side only painted a layer of paint. This makes many weapons malfunction in combat, such as rifles can not pull bolts, submachine guns hit the shell, such things are not uncommon.
Even, some anti-aircraft artillery units found through the inscriptions on their weapons that some equipment was actually shipped from the factory in 1931, and the Soviet side dared to send weapons that had been used for more than 20 years, which was indeed not authentic enough.
But it should be noted that in 1951 the Soviet Union provided China with equipment for 60 more heavy divisions, which were almost specially built for the mainland to build homeland defense forces, and were brand new and not surplus materials from World War II.
(3) The firepower progress can be fought with the US army, and the US army is surprised: this is the most ferocious firepower of the volunteer army!
Although many Soviet-style weapons were used goods, they were generally usable and still significantly improved the combat effectiveness of the volunteer army. In the middle and late period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the number of large-caliber heavy artillery equipped by our army has reached more than 1,400. Fighting an artillery battle of the same scale with the US army can already be a fight.
The Katyusha rockets in the Battle of Shangganling once wiped out the strength of a battalion of The American Army
In the Battle of Shangganling in the autumn of 1952, the Volunteers invested a total of 185 heavy artillery of the American and Soviet types. A large-scale artillery battle was fought with the Artillery of the American Army. The U.S. army fired 18,000 shells a day, and the volunteer artillery had the ability to respond to the same number of shells. In the entire Battle of Shangganling, the Volunteer Army fired more than 350,000 shells of various types, achieving a record of annihilating more than half of the total number of enemies in artillery battles, effectively suppressing the attack of the coalition forces and supporting the infantry units in the Shangganling position. The U.S. army was surprised: this was the fiercest firepower of the volunteer army!
At the Battle of Jincheng in the summer of 1953, the firepower of the Volunteer Army once again reached new heights.
At the Battle of Jincheng, the volunteers could cover the enemy's positions with artillery like the Soviets, and then let the infantry charge under the cover of tanks
On the day of the launch of the campaign, the volunteer army gathered more than 1,100 artillery pieces, poured 1,900 tons of shells into the positions of the Rok puppet army in half an hour, 30% of the ground fortifications of the ROK puppet army were destroyed, and more than half of the casualties were inflicted. Subsequently, 40% of the coalition counterattack was repelled by our artillery. Throughout the Battle of Jincheng, the Volunteer Artillery consumed a total of 19,000 tons of shells, equivalent to 2.2 times the total consumption of the Volunteers in the first to fifth battles. At this time, the artillery unit of the Volunteer Army has changed from being reluctant to fight ammunition in the past to being able to wrench the wrist with the US army.
From 1950 to 1953, the Volunteer Army started from scratch and completed the systematic construction of multiple arms in the melting pot of the Korean War, and the Volunteer Army became stronger and stronger, so that the firepower superiority of the US Army gradually failed. The Americans, who knew that victory was hopeless, had to abandon their illusions and reluctantly sign the armistice.
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