With the hot screening of the movie "Chosin Lake Water Gate Bridge", the introduction to the Battle of Chosin Lake has suddenly increased, I believe that the audience has been familiar with the ins and outs of the battle, today we will focus on the last military operation of the US military in the Battle of Chosin Lake, that is, the explosive operation carried out when the US military retreated from Xingnan Port, and its scale is considered to be the largest non-nuclear explosion after World War II. What needs to be explained is that although the US military boasts that the great retreat of Xingnangang is a "Christmas miracle" and a "most successful retreat", it cannot hide the fact that the US military was defeated from the north of Korea under the blows of the volunteer army.
■ Unjunct Commander-in-Chief MacArthur's attempt to "end the war by Christmas" turned into a total defeat.
Xingnan Port Retreat
In a plan by General MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the United Nations Forces, U.S. troops and their allies would reach the Yalu River by Christmas 1950, take jiangjie, the temporary seat of the North Korean government, and then "send the boys home for Christmas." However, the Chinese Volunteers, who secretly entered the Korean War, gave the United Nations a head-on attack through the first and second battles, and MacArthur's plan to occupy all of Korea and return home for Christmas was completely ruined. Although the US 10th Army still replicates the Busan model in Hingnam Port, it is possible to stick to the possibility of waiting for help, after all, the poorly equipped volunteer army and the US army with the equipment advantage are too bad to face each other. However, with the U.S. 8th Army retreating all the way to the 38th Line, it would be of little significance to retain an isolated stronghold in northern Korea. As early as December 8, MacArthur decided that the 10th Army would withdraw from Hingnam Harbor, and the American troops in Wonsan had already slipped away as early as December 3.
■ The American soldiers are finally evacuating, their faces are full of excitement, but who let them fall into this field?
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1950, when the last group of American troops waded through the water in exhaustion and panic to board the landing craft waiting at Xingnan Port, the Battle of Chosin Lake, which was extremely difficult for both sides, finally came to an end, and the Xingnan retreat, which lasted more than half a month and was dubbed "reverse amphibious operation", ended. The purpose of the evacuation was to evacuate 3 U.S. divisions, 2 South Korean divisions, 18,000 vehicles, 8,600 tons of ammunition, 3,000 tons of gasoline, 330,000 tons of weapons and equipment, and other military materiel assembled at Hingnam Port. To this end, the US military mobilized 75 transport ships, 15 troop carriers, 40 amphibious landing ships, and nearly 100 aircraft. In addition, the U.S. Navy also dispatched 7 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, 6 destroyers and 3 rocket support ships to bomb the Xingnan area and stop the volunteers' attack with intensive firepower.
■ The Xingnan Port was piled up with supplies, and all the materials that the US military would not have time to withdraw were all blown up.
At the same time that the US fleet left the port, xingnan port was also engulfed by the flames and smoke generated by the violent explosion, and hundreds of tons of explosives blew up all the materials and port facilities that the US army could not transport away, and similar sabotage operations were carried out as early as the us military retreated from Hagaru-ri, but the explosion in Xingnan Port was much larger, and the idea of allowing the volunteer army to enter the city to "pick up the ocean" was not realized. After the U.S. military loaded all personnel and most of the materiel away, about 400 tons of explosives, nearly 230 tons of ammunition and 200 barrels of gasoline were placed near the main port facilities of Xingnan Port and detonated using 20 tons of explosives, but the two forces responsible for this task are worth mentioning, they are the U.S. Army 10 Combat Engineer Battalion and the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Team, both of which are the prestigious special operations units of the U.S. Military and still maintain the establishment today.
■ On the Korean battlefield, U.S. sappers held rifles and used bulldozers as a cover for vigilance.
Army Sappers and Navy Frogman
The U.S. Army's 10th Combat Engineer Battalion, dating back to the American Civil War, was formed in Washington, D.C., on December 31, 1861, under the name 10th Engineer Battalion, as a temporary component of existing and newly created engineer companies in the regular Army, and was not converted into an official active engineering battalion until July 28, 1866, after the end of the Civil War. The battalion was expanded from March to June 1901 and was divided into 1st and 2nd Engineer Battalions. In July 1916, the 1st Engineer Battalion was expanded into the 1st Engineer Regiment, and in May of the following year it was expanded and divided into the 1st, 6th and 7th Engineer Regiments, and in October of that year the 6th Engineer Regiment was assigned to the 3rd Division, with which it went to France to participate in the war. On October 12, 1939, the 6th Engineer Regiment was disbanded and reorganized, and the 2nd Battalion of the regiment was renamed the 10th Engineer Battalion, still under the 3rd Division (later the 3rd Infantry Division). The 10th Engineer Battalion was renamed the 10th Combat Engineer Battalion on 1 August 1942 and remained in the 3rd Infantry Division, participating in World War II and the Korean War, and was renamed the 10th Engineer Battalion in March 1954. To this day, the 10th Engineer Battalion remains one of the active engineer units of the U.S. Army, belonging to the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Fort Stuart, Georgia, for 160 years.
Compared to the Army's 10th Combat Engineer Battalion, the Navy's Underwater Demolition Team is undoubtedly more famous, of course, I have to say another name for it - the U.S. Navy "SEALs". During World War II, the U.S. Navy recognized the need for a special operations unit to reconnoiter beaches on the eve of amphibious landings, marking obstacles and enemy defensive deployments, and opening up beach-grabbing passages for landing forces. In August 1942, the U.S. Army and Navy set up a special school for training naval scouts and army raiders at the Florida Amphibious Training Base, and in 1943, the two armies set up an amphibious scout and raider school in Fort Pierce, Florida, which mainly trained soldiers with a variety of special operations capabilities, that is, combat frogmen. During the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943, U.S. troops suffered heavy losses, highlighting the urgent need for beach reconnaissance and barrier breaking, so Lt. Gen. Kelly Turner, commander of the Navy's 5th Amphibious Force, instructed the school's 30 officers and 150 soldiers to be transferred to the Hawaiian island of Oahu for specialized training, and these people became the founding team of the Pacific Theater Underwater Demolition Team (UDT). The First U.S. Frogman's entry into battle was during Operation Torch in November 1942, followed by the Normandy landings and amphibious operations in the later stages of the Pacific War.
■ In October 1950, the U.S. Navy's underwater demolition team was studying the problem of minesweeping in Wonsan Port
Active off the coast of North Korea
During the Korean War, underwater demolition teams were unusually active. Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, a 10-member UDT team led by Lieutenant George Acheson was sent to South Korea. On the evening of August 5, the group traveled by motorboat to Reconnaissance port of Yeosu and planned to blast the railway and tunnel near the port. However, shortly after the landing, they were spotted by the Korean People's Army, and the American team member Warren Foley was wounded, and the rest of the team threw grenades to cover before they were able to return to the motorboat. Subsequently, more team members came to South Korea, the main tasks are reconnaissance, demolition and search and rescue of parachute pilots. The main weapons of the UDT team, in addition to light weapons and knives such as submachine guns and pistols, were the most important being the Mark-135 demolition kit, which contained 20 pounds of C-3 explosives.
In early September 1950, UDT members infiltrated the port of Incheon ahead of schedule, reconnoitred the channel, removed some obstacles, and carried out demining operations to provide support for the Landing of the United Nations Army in Incheon. In October 1950, at the port of Wonsan, the American minesweepers Viking and Oath, which were on a demining mission, were sunk by North Korean mines, and 25 UDT crews rescued them. Subsequently, UDT sent its team to conduct manual diving demining, using a new type of scuba, and then encountered the Battle of Chosin Lake, where the American army was beaten by the volunteers.
■ In Xingnan Port in December 1950, you can see the burning buildings in the port, and the 10th Combat Engineer Battalion of the U.S. Army is carrying out sabotage operations.
On December 23, 1950, after the U.S. military was ready to evacuate, the 10th Combat Engineer Battalion began to set fire to houses, and placed high explosives in important buildings such as warehouses and bridges, and completely destroyed these scattered buildings. On December 24, the vanguard of the Volunteer Army broke through the Xingnan defensive circle, the U.S. military immediately mobilized naval gun fire to block the attack, the U.S. Navy Demolition Team 3rd Group (UDT-3) operated near the port, this detachment of 8 people, under the cold, rain and volunteer forces attack for several hours, install explosives, at about 2:30 p.m. evacuation and detonation of explosives, followed by the aforementioned largest single explosion during the Korean War, and the largest non-nuclear explosion since World War II. Thick smoke swept up into the sky for hundreds of meters, and the sound of explosions resounded throughout the harbor.
■ The U.S. Navy's underwater demolition team planted explosives on the xingnan port facility.
■ On December 24, 1950, the Xingnan Port was bombed, leaving only the remnants of the wall for the volunteer army.
In the Xingnan retreat, the US military withdrew a total of 105,000 military personnel, 17,500 tanks and vehicles, 350,000 tons of materials, and 86,000 refugees, and completely destroyed the port city of Xingnan. Late on the night of December 24, the vanguard of the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army finally entered the port of Xingnan. At this time, Xingnan Port, except for burning buildings, collapsed buildings, and abandoned rubble, was empty and empty.