In January 1958, General Yang Yong, commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, was still busy in his office late at night.
Five years after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, a large number of volunteers still remain in Korea to resist the US military and ensure the safety of the Korean people.
In January 1957, Chairman Mao and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung finally reached an agreement on the withdrawal of troops, and in March 1958, Chinese troops would gradually withdraw from Korea, and all the finishing work would be completed by the end of the year.
In other words, the Korean People's Army will take over the work of the Volunteer Army and continue to guard Korea. Eight years after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, all the volunteer troops could finally return to their homeland with honor, which would have been a great thing, but Yang Yong was full of sorrow when he received this news.
Originally, he was worried about where the Korean People's Volunteers should go in the future, and how these hundreds of thousands of people's volunteers would return to the country to resettle, where they would be resettled, and how to be treated were all major matters.
For several days, Yang Yong has been frowning, and after thinking about it for a long time, he finally submitted a suggestion to his superiors.
Preparations for the withdrawal
In October 1950, under the order of Chairman Mao, 1.3 million People's Liberation Army changed their name overnight to the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to fight in Korea, a war that was not only about Korea, but also about every major Chinese.
If the U.S.-led coalition forces take North Korea, cross the 38th Parallel, and cross the Yalu River, the next to be injured will be Chinese.
Chinese, who had been devastated by the war, did not want to see such a tragedy happen again, so they formed a volunteer army and, under the orders of Chairman Mao, went to Korea, where they were not familiar with life, to help the Korean People's Army.
In 1953, after three years of fighting to resist the United States and aid Korea, China and the DPRK signed an armistice agreement, and the United Nations troops were beaten back to the 38th parallel north latitude.
But this is only a formal "end", and the real struggle seems to have never stopped.
The armistice only temporarily held the U.S. military out of the 38th line, and if the U.S. military tore up the Armistice Agreement, then the war would still be on the verge of breaking out.
What is even more serious is that after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China, the United States, and the DPRK did not withdraw their troops at the first time, but cautiously maintained a wait-and-see attitude, and everyone was very afraid that this "gentleman's agreement" would not work.
From the national point of view, line 38 is not a standard national border, even if the US military rushes over again regardless of its face, the world only needs to declare that they have crossed the military buffer line.
In order to defend Korea, 1.3 million volunteers who fought in Korea were still stationed in Korea five years after the end of the war. In order to give China and north Korea a double insurance.
As long as we carry steel guns, the US Empire will have no chance to take advantage of it, and we can continue to live in peace. But we put down the gun, what will happen in the future, no one can say for sure.
Within five years, the volunteer officers and men strictly followed the policy of "not taking a needle and a thread from the other side, and loving the dprk's mountains and trees", and never complained even if their lives were difficult.
Whenever the Korean people see the figure of the volunteers, they always smile. In their minds, the volunteers would incarnate as angels to help them rebuild their homes and improve their living conditions. It is precisely because of our unconditional assistance that the friendship between China and the DPRK has become deeper and deeper.
But now that the Vietnam War broke out in 1958, the United States, as the culprit, now has a new goal. Unable to gnaw on the hard bones of North Korea, their strategic objectives have shifted to the south.
Although China and North Korea sympathized with Vietnam's plight, they were also relieved. The United States will certainly not risk fighting on both sides at the same time, which means that the volunteers can withdraw their troops from Korea and return home.
In November 1957, Chairman Mao and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung met in Moscow to discuss the withdrawal of troops, and finally the two sides agreed that the Korean volunteers could gradually withdraw troops from Korea.
At the end of 1958, all volunteers would return home in batches.
Organize the withdrawal of troops
As soon as the withdrawal order came, the officers and men of the Korean garrison were all boiling with blood, and they had been waiting for this day for a long time, and as soon as they received the withdrawal instructions, they all waited eagerly for the leader to assign the final task.
The War Department of the General Staff and the Headquarters of the Volunteer Army are fully responsible for the withdrawal of troops, and Yang Yong, the founding general of the Communist Party of China, is famous as one of the founding "three Yangs", and this matter is most reliable for him to handle.
First, Yang Yong joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army as a teenager, had great combat experience, and was also a grassroots personnel. Growing up with the Red Army, he had deep feelings for the troops.
Second, Yang Yong had rich combat experience and participated in the War to Resist Japan, Liberation, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Even if there are any accidents in this withdrawal work, he has a strong ability to cope with it and can bear this burden.
In April 1953, Yang Yong entered the Korean War and has been accompanying his soldiers to persist until now, although the merits are not as good as Peng Dehuai, Deng Hua, and Xie Fang, but he is as dedicated as a scalper, and he has led the soldiers to reverse the defeat on the battlefield several times, which is the "needle of the sea god" in the eyes of many people in the army.
Just after coming to the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Yang Yong led his soldiers to launch the first and second summer attacks, and they all won with overwhelming scores.
In the Battle of Jincheng, Yang Yong surveyed the terrain in advance, speculated on the intentions of the enemy troops, and pulled back a beautiful city with one blow, capturing the "ace deputy division commander" that South Korea claimed, and the morale of the army soared! Because of this incident, the morale of the North Korean side has been weakened. It can be said that it was the Battle of Jincheng that struck the enemy's self-confidence and led to the later American armistice.
At the same time, Yang Yong is also the Chinese general who has been "staying" in North Korea for the longest time, and the volunteers recognize him, and the Korean People's Army also recognizes him. When it comes to homeland reconstruction and economic construction, he can say the first thing.
The central authorities also gave the wandering general the highest degree of trust.
On January 28, 1958, the central government officially issued a withdrawal order, but at this time, Yang Yong made a mistake and it was easy to retreat, but what kind of situation would so many soldiers be in after returning to China?
Coincidentally, yang yong and Marshal Peng Dehuai peng both saw this hidden problem, and they were also trying their best to seek a good future for these soldiers who had worked hard.
When Marshal Peng couldn't think of a solution, General Yang Yong came up with the conclusion that he had been thinking about for many days and solved Marshal Peng's urgent need.
So, what did he propose?
Yang Yong consulted
Although Peng Dehuai ruled the soldiers strictly, he also treated the soldiers leniently. Yang Yong, who understood Marshal Peng's thoughts and was also distressed by these soldiers, pondered and meditated to the central authorities and made valuable suggestions on how to garrison the country and which organ should belong to.
Even the withdrawal of troops, how it should be withdrawn, expressed in detail its thoughts.
Yang Yong believes that the withdrawal of troops must not only withdraw the momentum, but also make everyone know, and the impact of the withdrawal of troops will be maximized to the greatest extent, and only in this way can we see the movement of the "United Nations Army" and we will not fall into passivity.
If they show any signs of a sneak attack, we can all react at any time.
According to the central deployment, the first to withdraw to China were the 16th and 23rd Armies, which had been struggling in the front line, and these two units were also the main forces that had previously defeated the US army.
In this regard, the volunteers must be fully prepared to deal with any possibility. During the retreat of the 16th Army and the 23rd Army, it was necessary to arrange for the second-line troops to "secretly make up for it." The second-line retreat, the third-line troops are replenished, and so on, to ensure that even if there is a conflict in the withdrawal process, it will not be unprepared.
In addition, General Yang Yong used a long space to describe the resettlement of volunteer troops.
Yang Yong believed that the retreating troops could first stay in the northeast and set up a new military region in Changchun to house the 16th and 23rd Armies that had first returned to China.
In this way, the border defense construction of the northeast border area can be further improved, and it can also be combined with the Wuhan Military Region in the south to form a mobile command post, and if there is an emergency, the two armies can reach the ten thousand troops.
Naturally, the second batch of withdrawn troops could not remain in Changchun like the 16th Army and the 23rd Army. In this way, Changchun guang is that military expenditure costs countless dollars every year, and the army cannot be used. It is better to let it merge with the Jinan Military Region, echo with the Northeast Army, and give full play to the greatest power of the army.
After reading the report, Peng Dehuai greatly praised Yang Yong's line of thought, believing that this plan was not only feasible but also very brilliant, and forwarded it to Chairman Mao without any changes.
On February 3, Chairman Mao approved the withdrawal plan, but did not express any opinion, leaving only the words "read" and so on.
This means that Chairman Mao highly agrees with this line of thinking, and the details must be implemented next.
Upon hearing that it was necessary to arrange for the return of the generals, General Su Yu, chief of the general staff, also came to the spirit and submitted several reports on the withdrawal of volunteer troops and the deployment of the return to China, hoping to add bricks and tiles to make a modest contribution.
Coincidentally, the heroes saw the same thing, and the opinions of General Su Yu and General Yang Yong were highly overlapping, and they both believed that the troops should be withdrawn in batches and resettled in batches.
Deploy back home
On February 13, the topic of the 143rd meeting of the Central Military Commission was "The Resettlement and Deployment of Volunteer Troops Back to China." ”
The meeting was presided over by Peng Dehuai, and a number of well-known generals participated in the seminar. At the meeting, it was unanimously agreed that General Yang Yong's proposal to resettle the first troops withdrawn to China in the northeast region could be adopted.
General Su Yu disagreed with Yang Yong's suggestion and advocated that the second batch should be arranged in North China and the third batch in Central China and Sichuan.
General Su Yu's decision was based on the intention of dispersing his forces, unlike Yang Yong's intention to place all his troops in the north. General Su Yu believes that only by balancing the north and the south can the national security capabilities be improved.
In the end, everyone unanimously agreed to arrange the withdrawal of troops in conjunction with the suggestions of General Su Yu and General Yang Yong.
Marshal Peng Dehuai summed up his speech and said: "The front-line troops must not be too dense and concentrated, and we should try our best to accommodate housing and no longer arrange new barracks. ”
General Peng was thinking about the long-term development after that, and if the new barracks were to be rebuilt, the domestic pressure would be enormous. There were many soldiers withdrawn, and the arrangements were already laborious.
The withdrawal of troops should be carried out sequentially in the form of "first forward, then on the west coast, and then in the middle", which is both safe and safe.
Begin the withdrawal
On February 15, 1958, Premier Zhou Enlai personally went to Korea to supervise the withdrawal of troops, and informed the Korean military of our latest withdrawal plan, requesting the cooperation of the Dprk.
Premier Zhou told the DPRK side the news that the four armies arranged in the Northeast Plain and the two retreating armies would also be stationed in the northeast, relieving the DPRK side's worries about no one in the rear.
Although another war is unlikely, North Korea, which has been sheltered by volunteers for many years, will still be afraid of the United States' sudden black hand.
We have six troops in the northeast, which is actually a shot in the arm for the Korean People's Army.
The withdrawal of troops was all arranged properly, and the volunteer officers knew the news that they could withdraw from china, and this group of soldiers had already spent eight spring, summer, autumn and winter abroad, and when they mentioned returning home, they were full of infinite expectations.
At the same time, they are also worried about what situation they will face when they return to Their home countries after living in North Korea for many years, whether the army will be disbanded, and whether they will "unload their armor and return to the fields" and go back to farming.
Some people are already thinking of returning to China to change business and farming, thinking that in order to survive, they must at least find a way to survive.
However, when they heard that the Central Military Commission had arranged a good place for them to go, they immediately gave up the idea of not being a soldier.
As the leader of the army, General Su Yu naturally knew that after the withdrawal order came down, the generals would inevitably think wildly. It was also appeased in time, indicating that the army would be stationed in the northeast, Kannai and other areas, and it would also ensure that everyone would eat and wear after returning home.
Hearing this, the soldiers' doubts were all gone, and they were always ready to return to their hometowns, and there was no more chaos in the process of withdrawing.
On March 5, 1958, six divisions of the 23rd Army (formerly The 4th Column of Huaye) and the 16th Army (formerly the 1st Column of Nakano) finally boarded the train back to northeast China according to the order. After returning to China, they will continue the "duty of a soldier" and their assistants will be in Heilongjiang and Liaoning.
At the same time, the follow-up command and logistics division of the 19th Corps are also advancing the matter of returning to China at the same time, and they will return to the northwestern Gobi and contribute their part to the construction of nuclear weapons under extremely difficult conditions.
The 0029 missile test site project, the 0673 nuclear weapons test site project, and the 0674 nuclear weapons reserve project have dedicated their youth to more than 100,000 people.
In July of the same year, the 54th Army, as the second batch of returning troops, boarded the return train and returned to Chongqing, Sichuan. The 21st Army, which was accompanying it, went to the Beijing Military Region and Shanxi Datong to shine.
On September 25, 1958, the 1st Army, as the finishing unit, ended its eight-year military life in Korea and returned to the Wuhan Military Region, stationed in Kaifeng, Henan.
All the volunteers finally returned to China, but General Yang Yong did not return home with the other officers and men of the headquarters until October 22, when he completed all the tasks.
At this point, all the volunteers (living) have returned to the embrace of the motherland.
Of course, there are also innocent soldiers sleeping in the Korean battlefield. General Yang Yong reported on the retreat at a joint meeting on October 30 and also mentioned the Korean People's Army Martyrs' Cemetery.
He said, "They slept there. ”
Although these heroic souls did not return to China after their deaths, the local people built a martyrs' cemetery for them, and the motherland will always remember their names!