In 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War, the Korean People's Army was unable to resist the counterattack of the United Nations Army. Finally, a request for assistance was sent to the Chinese side, hoping that our side would send troops to aid the DPRK. In July of the same year, Chinese volunteers rushed to North Korea. After three years of swearing to fight the enemy to the death, he finally won a complete victory. Subsequently, the troops of the United Nations Army withdrew from the Korean Peninsula in turn.
However, the Chinese army, which successfully completed the task of aiding North Korea, was told to postpone the plan to return to China, but stayed behind to prevent the enemy from regenerating the incident and at the same time help Korea to carry out post-war reconstruction work. But five years later, 1.3 million volunteers are missing their homeland more and more in a foreign country. At the same time, the domestic people are also waiting for the triumph of the hero.
The central government is also very anxious, not knowing how to place 1.3 million heroes. At this time, Admiral Yang Yong made a proposal. After hearing this, the Central Committee thought it was very safe and immediately agreed. In this way, 1.3 million volunteers returned to the motherland in batches under the farewell of the Korean people.
What exactly did the 1.3 million volunteers do in Korea after the war? What is General Yang Yong's suggestion?
The Battle of Jincheng was a great victory, but it was difficult to return home after the armistice
On July 27, 1953, China, the United States and North Korea jointly signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, which marked the three-year-long War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which finally ended with the victory of China and North Korea. After hearing this exciting news, the Chinese volunteers were excited. Because the end of the war meant that they could return to their long-lost homeland and meet their long-lost relatives.
However, in the midst of their excitement, they received an order from the Party Central Committee: delay their return to China. This decision was very puzzling to the volunteers, after all, they had been uprooted for thousands of days, and now that they had won the war, it was the perfect time to return to their hometown with full glory. Now that the mission has been completed, it is still necessary to stay in a foreign land, for what reason?
In fact, the Party Central Committee at that time was also forced to be helpless, after all, its millions of soldiers were very hard to go out for the country. Now that the war has been won, the Party Central Committee should praise it and let a million troops quickly return to China to rest. In fact, the main reason why the central government prevented the volunteers from returning home was that the Korean War had not yet ended completely.
Then-South Korean President Syngman Rhee was still unwilling to fight against the results of the US war to aid Korea, and still fantasized in his heart that the United States could once again help them and win back a round for them. Therefore, Rhee always played some small tricks, sending spies to explore confidential information, trying to sabotage to destroy our forces.
Syngman Rhee released all 27,000 captured North Korean soldiers even when a unified stand of armistice had been formed between China, the United States, and North Korea. The purpose was to distract them from all over Korea in order to disrupt the situation, and Syngman Rhee's plot succeeded.
However, the continuation of the war meant greater loss of material and financial resources, which was detrimental to both sides. Therefore, in order to end the war as soon as possible, it is only possible to make a quick decision and make the other side convinced. On July 13, 1953, our volunteer army engaged in an exchange of fire with Rhee's most proud White Tiger Regiment (the first regiment of the South Korean Capital Division), and the Battle of Kimseong broke out. In the course of the operation, our army interspersed the attack of detachments, using frontal assault, flank encirclement and other tactics to destroy the enemy forces, causing more than 50,000 enemy casualties.
It can be said that the Battle of Jincheng effectively promoted the process of ending the war, forcing Syngman Rhee to sign the armistice agreement, and the korean war, which lasted for three years, finally came to an end. However, even though the war was over, the United States even tried to send troops to South Korea for a long time under the pretext of helping South Korea restore its economic construction.
This is undoubtedly a thief at the door of one's own home. In addition to threatening South Korea's own safety, it also caused the North Korean people bordering it to live in fear. It can be seen from this that although our volunteer army had successfully reversed the situation of the war at that time, as long as the US side did not withdraw its troops, there were still endless troubles.
In addition, after the successful conclusion of the task of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea. More than 1.3 million volunteers needed to return home, and at that time, the domestic economic level was not high, and it was impossible to solve the problem of food and housing for millions of people at once.
More importantly, in the Korean War, 3 million people died in North Korea, 3 million people were displaced, and about 300,000 soldiers were killed. The relentless war has left North Korea devastated, and people's homes have been blown up and displaced. As a result, there is a shortage of labour required for post-disaster reconstruction.
Therefore, after considering the above factors, the central government finally decided to let more than one million volunteer troops stay in North Korea. First, we can contribute to the post-war reconstruction of the Korean people. Second, it can also be a patron of the North Korean people and prevent the US military from re-moths and wantonly invade.
General Yang Yong was in a hurry and properly placed the soldiers
As a result, millions of volunteers endured their homesickness, resolutely obeyed the arrangements of their superiors, and continued to stay in this foreign land to help the Korean people carry out construction, but this stay was five years. Most of the volunteers at that time were eighteen or nineteen years old, and it can be said that they selflessly dedicated the best time of their lives to North Korea.
After that, they diligently helped the North Korean people, from building houses to building reservoirs, railways and bridges. At the same time, they were also vigilant against the invasion of the South Korean army, and although the process was difficult, the volunteer soldiers still completed these tasks efficiently and smoothly.
With the completion of the reconstruction work in batches, the central government also decided to gradually reduce the number of volunteer troops in the DPRK and ordered them to return to China in batches. In this way, not only can some of the remaining volunteers continue to help North Korea, but also alleviate the pressure of the central government to resettle the returned soldiers.
As a result, by the end of 1957, nearly 80 percent of the volunteers had been successfully arranged to return home, and only more than 200,000 were still stationed in Korea. Soon after, kim Il Sung, then chairman of the DPRK, went to Moscow for talks and expressed his gratitude to Chairman Mao for the Chinese Volunteer Army, and at the same time proposed that the remaining soldiers could be completely withdrawn from Korea.
After hearing Kim Il Sung's proposal, Chairman Mao immediately formed a unified opinion with Kim Il Sung. Soon after, he ordered the remaining volunteers to return to China, and at the same time ordered the country to do a good job in resettling these soldiers after returning home.
In addition, in order to prevent the US military from joining forces with South Korea again, it will make a move against North Korea. Chairman Mao also specifically discussed this issue with Kim Il Sung. In the end, the Decision was made by the North Korean government to announce to the outside world that the Chinese volunteers should withdraw. After that, the representatives of the two sides will meet and discuss together, and in the form of a joint statement, ensure the orderly and smooth return of the volunteers.
However, more than 200,000 soldiers are not a small number, so how should these people be resettled after they return to China?
In order to solve this problem, the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China held a special meeting in mid-January 1958 to discuss the whereabouts of these volunteers. After that, Yang Yong, who was the commander of the Volunteer Army at the time, put forward a resettlement proposal to his superiors under comprehensive consideration.
The proposal was that the volunteers should withdraw in small groups. Consider ordering the withdrawal of the Volunteer 16th and 23rd Armies before mid-March. This was done primarily to reduce the impact of the evacuation. Prevent the US military from once again taking military activities that are unfavorable to North Korea after hearing the rumors of withdrawal.
At the same time, Yang Yong also combined the uneven deployment of domestic military forces and proposed that the 19th Corps of the Volunteer Army be assigned to the Jinan Military Region to expand its military strength. The volunteers who have returned to China also implement this policy, and must put all 1.3 million volunteers into place.
Based on Yang Yong's suggestions, the participants also put forward their views, and finally the conference unanimously agreed to Yang Yong's resettlement method.
The two countries agreed on a withdrawal plan, and the military and civilians were inseparable at the time of parting
After the detailed withdrawal plan was determined, in addition to the troops stationed on the borders of Heilongjiang and Jilin, the rest of the returning volunteers first retreated to the Central Plains and then assigned to the Beijing Military Region and the Wuhan Military Region to be responsible for resettlement management. After the plan was put on the agenda, Premier Zhou Enlai personally led the personnel to visit the DPRK. Premier Zhou and Kim Il Sung discussed the withdrawal of troops back to Korea, and finally the two sides reached an agreement and issued a joint statement: the Chinese Volunteer Army would withdraw from Korea in March 1958.
In order to prevent the US military from taking advantage of the situation, the withdrawal operation is very confidential. More than 200,000 volunteers were divided into three groups and returned to China one after another. It is worth mentioning that our commander Yang Yong also deliberately set the date and time of the last batch of returns to China on October 25. Because this day eight years ago was the day when our army went to korea to participate in the war, it has a special significance.
As the day of parting drew nearer, the people of North Korea spontaneously organized themselves to bid farewell to the volunteers. They were not rich, and they all tried their best to give the most precious things in their homes to the volunteers as a way to express their deep gratitude. Some elderly people living in remote areas also made shoes, clothes and food, and walked to Pyongyang City, just to personally give this heart to the volunteer army.
But as soldiers, they must never take a needle from the masses, so the volunteers can only receive their hearts and at the same time politely refuse these gifts. Before the train back home was about to leave Pyongyang, the North Korean people huddled outside the window of the carriage and shed tears of reluctance. Because they know that these loveliest people in front of them are the heroes who saved their country from danger.
In this way, the eight-year-long mission of the Chinese Volunteers to help the foreign countries came to an end. The train moved slowly, and the North Korean people were still full of tears, chasing the train while waving goodbye to these foreign relatives who had no blood relations.
And the volunteers were also deeply moved, and they did not give up the land and people they had sworn to defend to the death, and they shed tears of excitement. It took several days. The last batch of volunteers also returned to China smoothly and arrived at Beijing Railway Station.
In order to celebrate the hero's victory and triumph, Premier Zhou and tens of thousands of people lined up to welcome him. The cheers and applause at the scene lasted for a long time, and the volunteers who were surrounded by flowers finally were full of glory and stepped on the homeland that had been separated for a long time.
epilogue
Since then, this period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which embodies the friendship between China and the DPRK, has been forever remembered by future generations. To this end, the state has specially built a cemetery for martyrs of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea to comfort the volunteers who died in a foreign country in this war. Later, the famous Chinese writer Guo Moruo also hereby inscribed: "Huanghuang martyrs do their best to make meritorious deeds, and immortalize their glory." ”
The poem not only vividly embodies the great righteousness of the Chinese nation since ancient times to save people from water and fire, but also shows the spirit of the volunteer army to defend the country to the death and not fear sacrifice to future generations. As a new generation of young people in the era of peace, it is bound to melt this spirit into the blood, always remind themselves to take this as an example, and constantly strive to revitalize China.