preface
"Punch a punch, so as not to have a hundred punches coming."
More than 70 years ago, Chairman Mao vigorously overcame the consensus of the people and made the most difficult decision in his life -- to resist the United States and aid Korea!
Countless martyrs of the Volunteer Army used their precious lives to repel the so-called "United Nations Army" headed by the United States and defended the sovereignty and interests of New China.
Whenever the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is mentioned, everyone can always think of one classic battle after another:
In the Battle of Chosin Lake, the 9th Corps of our volunteer army was not afraid of the cold, annihilated the American ace polar bear regiment, and gave the American army a heavy blow;
In the Battle of Shangganling, the 3rd Corps of our Volunteer Army vowed to resist to the death, repelled nearly a thousand us troops, smashed the enemy's "Jinhua Offensive", and laid the northern boundary of southern Xinjiang in exchange for decades of peace in East Asia;
In the Battle of Sansholi, the 38th Army of our Volunteer Army broke through the limits of mankind, cut off the retreat of the US army, and played the style of "Long Live the Army"...
There are many classic battles like this, but there is such a battle, although it is rarely mentioned, but its tragic degree and strategic significance are equally great! This battle is the superiority of the US army, but it can not be attacked for a long time - the Iron Plains Blockade Battle!
Pictured| Cai Changyuan
First, change the coach in the front
Speaking of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, we have to mention the people who played a decisive role in this battle, many people think that I would say Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, but in fact, this person is the commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army", the famous five-star general of the US Army, MacArthur.
The "defeat" on the Korean battlefield seems to make everyone think that this person does not have superior command ability.
But we have to admit that during World War II, macArthur's battles of the Philippines, New Guinea and Midway, which MacArthur had commanded, posed a great threat to the enemy.
Flexible tactics are always unexpected and have repeatedly worked wonders. If this man's military talent is so outstanding, why did he let the US army suffer defeat on the Korean battlefield?
As the saying goes, "Victory or defeat is a matter of the soldiers," and MacArthur was no exception, and the main reason for his encounter with "Waterloo" was none other than his excessive conceit for his own command skills and his excessive contempt for our volunteers.
After the end of World War II, MacArthur led the U.S. army to Japan as the supreme commander, and was also the highest representative of the Allied forces, and the power in his hands reached its peak, and even when the Japanese emperor saw him, he had to show respect and respect, so that he was once called "Emperor of the Earth".
Picture 丨 MacArthur
After the outbreak of the Korean Civil War in June 1950, in order to safeguard their own interests on the Korean Peninsula, the Americans maliciously manipulated the United Nations, formed a "United Nations Army" led by the US military, and appointed MacArthur as the commander-in-chief of the "Coalition Army", leading the troops to directly intervene in the Korean War.
At the beginning of the war, the Korean People's Army was victorious and occupied most of the territory and population.
Faced with an extremely passive situation, MacArthur chose to take the risk of carrying out the Inchon landing, which cut off the KPA offensive and completely reversed the war situation.
It has to be said that the Landing at Inchon was a big gamble on MacArthur, and it also showed his superior courage and excellent military ability, and then his position in the "Coalition Army" began to reach its peak.
As the saying goes, "arrogant soldiers must lose", at this time MacArthur has been "arrogant to the extreme", perhaps began to be obsessed with landing operations, but the goddess of luck did not choose him again, and then launched the Wonsan landing, which caused the US army to lose the fighter.
More critically, at this time, the soldiers of the Mainland Volunteer Army had begun to enter the Korean battlefield.
Not only that, but MacArthur always tasked our volunteers not to participate in this battle, not to confront the heavily armed American troops, and it was obvious that this was just his wishful thinking.
After our volunteer army entered Korea, it began to launch a covert attack on the enemy. In the first battle, the volunteers annihilated more than 15,000 enemy troops, shattering MacArthur's dream of "going home for Thanksgiving".
MacArthur was obviously taken aback by this achievement, but it did not arouse his attention to the Volunteers, who conceitedly believed that the Volunteers were only a small group of troops participating in the war.
In summarizing the battle, it was believed that the defeat of the US army was due to the sudden attack of the volunteer army and the low combat effectiveness of the South Korean army. Apparently, MacArthur had not yet been hurt by the Volunteers.
In the second campaign, General Peng made a battle plan to lure the enemy deeper. In MacArthur's eyes, the strategic retreat of the volunteers became the fear of the American army and did not dare to fight with it.
Illustration of the first campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea
When the time was ripe, the Volunteer Army attacked on all fronts, once again defeated the "United Nations Army", and advanced the front line to the vicinity of the "38th Line", recaptured Pyongyang, and won the second battle.
Until this time, the defeat of the two battles still did not give MacArthur a clear understanding of the situation in Korea, and he was blindly justifying the defeat of the US army.
In order to save face, MacArthur even started the idea of an atomic bomb, but this obviously would not be agreed by the White House, and because of this incident, his relationship with Truman was reduced to a freezing point.
In the third campaign that followed, the Volunteer Army won another victory, breaking through Seoul and repelling the "United Nations Army" offensive to the vicinity of the "37th Line".
In the face of the DEFEAT OF the US military on the Korean battlefield, MacArthur still did not realize the seriousness of the situation, unlike the American politicians in the White House who had become ants on the hot pot.
Truman already had the idea of resolving the Korean campaign through "peaceful negotiations," but MacArthur, as commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, was still actively fighting the war, completely contrary to the thinking of the U.S. military.
For MacArthur, such a "land emperor", Truman can already be said to be intolerable, and finally he can only change the commander and order MacArthur to be removed, and he will be replaced by an opponent who makes the volunteer army more headache -- Ridgway.
II. "Magnetic Tactics"
During the Second Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Walker, then commander of the US Eighth Army, was killed in a jeep accident.
Ridgway then succeeded Walker as commander of the U.S. Eighth Army and commander of the "United Nations Army" ground forces.
In April of the following year, he took over as MacArthur, who had been removed by Truman, and became commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army.
As a commander, Ridgway and MacArthur had a completely different performance.
Due to the several defeats of the American soldiers, they have lost their fighting spirit and are listless, but as soon as Ridgway took office, he personally went to the front line fighters to cheer and encourage the soldiers.
In this respect, he was more beloved by the soldiers than MacArthur's "aristocratic" command.
Picture 丨 Ridgway
On the Korean battlefield, soldiers can often see Ridgway wearing a steel helmet and two grenades pinned to his shoulders, the purpose of which is to be able to blow up the enemy with one grenade at the last moment of his life, and one to keep for himself.
From this point, it is not difficult for us to see that this person is indeed a difficult opponent.
In the face of the full-scale attack of the Volunteer Army and the People's Army, Ridgway made the decision to "abandon Seoul", although many people did not agree with this practice of his at the time, but in hindsight, it did play a certain role, so that the Volunteer Army suffered a big loss.
During the evacuation of Seoul, Ridgway left the following line on the wall of the Seoul Embassy: "Salute to Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army."
It is not difficult to see from this sentence that Ridgway is very confident in his strategic decisions and firmly believes that he can return to this place again in the future.
An important reason why Ridgway is so determined is that he has discovered the "weakness" of the volunteer army on the Korean battlefield.
As the saying goes, "Know oneself and know one's enemy and win every battle.", for this reason, Ridgway has repeatedly studied the detailed records of the three battles launched by the volunteer army, analyzed the combat characteristics of our army, and hoped to find flaws in it.
Once, Richie led his troops to march at night, and due to the poor weather conditions at that time, there was no moonlight, and the marching process of the American army became unusually slow.
Ridgway complained twice to the people around him, but his colleagues told him that fortunately there was no moon, otherwise he would have encountered the volunteers.
Due to the lack of air supremacy during the day, the volunteer army often fought at night, which made the US army suffer a lot of losses.
It was also this conversation between the two that made Ridgway realize that the reason why the volunteer army was good at night fighting was mainly relying on the moonlight, and called this "moonlight tactics".
Moreover, Ridgway also found that the volunteer attack was generally about seven days.
This is because our army's supply line has been seriously destroyed by the US army, and as the front line continues to extend, the soldiers on the front line cannot get supplies in time, and can only choose to carry food with them, and the food carried by the soldiers participating in the war each time is only enough to last for seven days at most.
This was called a "prayer offensive" by Ridgway.
Pictured the logistical supply line of the volunteer army bombed by the enemy
Because of this, Ridgway boldly made the decision to abandon Seoul and carry out a "magnetic retreat".
The so-called "magnetic tactics" can be regarded as a magnet for the US military to run in front, and the volunteer army is another magnet for chasing behind.
As long as the volunteers are about to catch up with the Americans, the Americans will quickly retreat with the advantage of mobile forces, thus opening up the distance between the two armies, so as to firmly attract the volunteers, and then launch a counterattack when exhausted.
That's the scary part of this tactic.
Ridgway ordered the Americans to gradually retreat at a rate of 30 miles a day to stick to the volunteers and avoid night battles with the volunteers.
Thus using the bombers of the US army to bombard the front line troops and logistics supply lines of the volunteer army continuously, which made the volunteer army suffer a lot.
3. The Battle of The Iron Plains
In April 1951, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea entered the fifth campaign, when volunteer soldiers were still caught up in Ridgway's "magnetic tactics".
At the beginning of the campaign, the volunteer offensive was in full swing, but the disadvantage of insufficient logistics began to become more obvious.
Under the indiscriminate bombardment of US aircraft, the soldiers of the troops interspersed to the south were already in a dangerous situation of severe supplies and shortage of food and ammunition.
However, at this moment, Ridgway suddenly ordered a halt to the retreat! Start fighting back across the board! It was inevitable that the main force of the volunteer army would be completely annihilated in the area south of the "38th Line."
In the face of the "magnetic tactics" previously adopted by the US military, Peng Zong, who has been in the battlefield for a long time, has long detected the conspiracy of the US military.
At that time, the depth of the front-line volunteer army's front line had reached eighty or ninety kilometers, and this distance had reached the limit for our army's logistical supply.
Coupled with the us army's frenzied bombardment of our army's logistics supply line, Peng Dehuai had reason to believe that Ridgway was playing a big game of complete annihilation of the main force of the volunteer army!
Therefore, when Ridgway gave the order to attack, Peng Dehuai made an order to retreat at almost the same time! It has to be said that this is a game between two top commanders and fighters.
Figure 丨 Tetsuhara
After receiving the order, the volunteer units began to move north, and despite Peng Dehuai's repeated urging, the volunteers were still one step slower in the face of the enemy's powerful mechanized battle group.
Due to command errors and slow movements, the 180th Division of the 60th Army of the Volunteer Army was surrounded and annihilated by the American army during the retreat, and suffered heavy losses.
In the face of the pursuit of the strength of 13 divisions of the 4 armies of the "United Nations Army", the situation on the battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse.
At this time, Peng Dehuai and Ridgway turned their eyes to the same place on the battlefield on the Western Front- Tieyuan!
Why did Tieyuan, a hilly area, become a key point in the battle between the two armies?
Geographically, Tetsuhara is located in the navel of the Korean Peninsula, which leads to Seoul to the south, and less than 50 kilometers north to reach the vicinity of the "38th Line", and it is also a major place for volunteer soldiers to collect food.
Not only that, but north of the Iron Plains is the Ichima Hirakawa, which is very suitable for the mechanized units of the US military.
Therefore, from a tactical point of view, the effect of seizing The Iron Plains will be the same as the previous Inchon landings held by the US army.
If it is preemptively occupied by the Us army, it will make it impossible to implement all the tactics of the northward retreating volunteers who lack food, grass and ammunition, thus meeting Ridgway's operational expectations of encircling the main force of the volunteer army south of the "38th Line".
In the face of the volunteer army that was already in a deep crisis, how did Peng Dehuai solve the situation?
In order to cover the retreat of the front-line volunteer soldiers, Peng Dehuai built a defensive line on the middle, east and west roads.
In the middle of the road and the US army, the 3rd Corps and the 9th Corps of the main force of the Volunteer Army were facing the attack of the US Army and retreating, and it was not a problem to complete the task of blocking.
Due to the stubborn resistance of the soldiers of the 180th Division, the East Road attracted a large number of American troops and delayed the enemy's attack.
The West Road was the most worrying front for Peng Dehuai, the area where Tieyuan was located, and the 63rd, 64th, and 65th Armies of the 19th Corps were confronted by the American Army.
It was originally planned that the 65th Army would build a defensive line around the Government of Parliament to block the American forces from the 15th to the 20th.
However, in the face of the fierce offensive of the American army, this front was destroyed by the enemy after a few days without support.
At this time, the retreating 64th Army had not yet gained a foothold, so it began to hastily build a defensive line around Kaesong to block the American army.
However, the main target of the US military on the East Road was not Kaesong, but directly to Tieyuan.
Figure丨The Battle of The Iron Plains
On May 27, the "United Nations Army" was only 20 kilometers away from The Iron Plains, and at this time, the Iron Plains were used as a transportation artery, and the volunteer soldiers and organ personnel who had retreated from the front line were gradually retreating.
The Iron Plaintiff was anxious, and at this time urgently needed a force to resist the pursuit of the American army, and finally Peng Dehuai handed over this task to the 63rd Army.
On May 26, the 63rd Army, which had already withdrawn to the northeast of Tieyuan, received the task of taking over the defense of the 65th Army, and immediately set off to turn back to Tieyuan and resolutely block the enemy.
Peng Dehuai issued an order requiring the 63rd Army to hold the Iron Plains for 15 days.
However, for this request, Yang Dezhi, commander of the corps, thought it was really difficult.
It turned out that the 63rd Army had experienced more than a month of continuous combat, and the combat readiness materials were extremely scarce, and the soldiers were equally tired.
Allowing such a weary division to hold out for 15 days in the face of indiscriminate bombardment by the US army is obviously an impossible task.
However, Peng Dehuai's attitude was resolute in the callback: "Even if the 63rd Army is wiped out, we must stick to The Iron Plains for half a month!" ”
The tragedy hidden behind this order is already indescribable, and holding on to the Iron Plains and covering the retreat of other troops has become a task that the 63rd Army has vowed to complete!
Fourth, Cai Changyuan impersonated the soldiers' family to swing strange arrays
In the early morning of May 30, the 63rd Army's blocking positions were filled with the sound of artillery, and the "United Nations Army" totaled more than 50,000 people and began to attack The Iron Plains, while the 63rd Army, as a defensive force, after several battles, had less than 30,000 troops left.
The previous deployment of the Volunteer Army was to arrange the 187th, 188th and 189th divisions of the 63rd Army in an inverted glyph on the Tieyuan Defense Line.
Considering that the U.S. army is accustomed to relying on mobile forces to launch attacks, the closest to the road is the 187th Division, which is the most effective and equipped of the 63rd Army.
But what everyone did not expect was that the US army suddenly changed its normal behavior this time and took the lead in launching an attack on the 189th Division stationed in the hilly area.
Figure丨 down the "pin" word defensive position
Van Vleet, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, who received the order to attack, initially threw a large number of shells at the positions of the 189th Division.
After only an hour of fighting, the amount of artillery shells poured by the Americans reached more than 4,000 tons.
At this time, the volunteer army could not even build a defensive trench, and fell into a sea of fire.
Van Vleet was a typical "fire supremacist", and in his opinion, as long as his firepower was strong enough, there was no position that could not be attacked.
Therefore, the amount of ammunition he used at that time had reached more than five times the maximum ammunition volume stipulated by the US military, which is known as the "Van Vleet ammunition quantity".
The fierceness of our army's position can be imagined, and the PILOTS of the US army were all sighing when they watched the bombing area fly over: "There will be no possibility of survival here."
At this time, in the face of the crazy bombardment of the US army, Cai Changyuan, commander of the 189th Division, took the risk of being a soldier and broke up more than 9,000 soldiers in the division and scattered them to more than 200 units in the entire defensive array.
Just like when Han Xin launched a battle against the water, sometimes he was able to achieve miraculous results by wade into danger, and the same was true of the Tieyuan Blockade Battle commanded by Cai Changyuan.
The reason for this decision was not only to reduce the probability of fighters being hit by American shells.
However, more crucially, through repeated encounters with the US army, Cai Changyuan found that the US army would ensure the safety of its flanks and rear before continuing to advance.
By dispersing the entire 189th Division into more than 200 positions, the U.S. army had to clear them one by one, which greatly delayed the U.S. offensive.
Cai Changyuan dared to make such a decision, and he was also very courageous.
Because in this way, the fighters who could have resisted the enemy together suddenly fought separately, and each small position needed to face the attack of the entire American army alone.
But Cai Changyuan believed in the unit he led, and he firmly believed that the warriors could successfully block the enemy.
After the entire defensive front constructed by the 189th Division was formed, the combat effectiveness of the entire division was basically retained, and the soldiers were condescending, making it difficult for the American army to move.
Figure 丨 Van Fleet ammunition quantity
Robert, the commander of the U.S. 24th Division, who surrounded our 180th Division, recalled: "We seemed to be trapped in a land swamp where we could not exert our strength, and we always felt that we could not find the target to fight, and found that the target was everywhere. ”
As Cai Changyuan expected, when the "United Nations Army" entered the defensive position of the 189th Division, it began to fall into a strange circle.
When the volunteer positions were discovered, they would quickly concentrate their superior forces in an attempt to retake the positions from the volunteers.
At this time, the entire enemy force naturally stopped advancing.
Seeing that the positions were full of volunteers, the Americans began to continue to use artillery bombardment.
The 189th Division held out for three days and three nights, and although the position was still firmly in the hands of our army, the volunteer soldiers of the 189th Division had already paid an extremely heavy casualty price.
At this time, Cai Changyuan turned his attention to Seed Mountain.
Seed Hill is close to Route 17, on which the U.S. military depends.
Climbing Seed Hill, the Volunteers can use light weapons to directly attack the mechanized troops of the Us army and block the logistics supply of the US army.
However, Seed Mountain, which had previously been occupied by our army, had been captured by the enemy, and the 566th Regiment took on the task of capturing Seed Mountain this time.
The battle began, and the soldiers of the 3rd Company rushed up without hesitation at the risk of being bombed by the American army, and it took only 12 hours to retake Seed Hill from the enemy, but the 566th Regiment also paid a terrible price.
Knowing that Seed Mountain was lost, the enemy began a new round of attack, and the shells in the sky instantly engulfed the entire Seed Mountain.
The fighters of the 2 battalions in charge of the defense were all killed, and none of them got out of here alive.
But at the same time, it also bought half a day for the transfer of follow-up troops.
In his diary, Cai Changyuan wrote down 4 words: "It hurts! It hurts! ”
In this campaign, the 189th Division bought 3 or 4 days of valuable time for the follow-up troops at a heavy cost of more than 6,000 casualties.
On June 3, the 189th Division, which had already been defeated, received the order to retreat and began to gradually retreat from the frontal battlefield of Tieyuan, and Zhang Yinghui's 188th Division continued to carry out the blockade task instead of the 189th Division.
Pictured: U.S. artillery positions
Although Cai Changyuan's tactic of "scattering flowers of heavenly women" greatly delayed the enemy's attack, it also greatly reduced the depth of our army's defense.
The successor 188th Division could only use tunnel fortifications to block the enemy's attack, which also made it difficult for the enemy to move.
In order to solve the tunnel fortifications of our army, the enemy began to use a large number of napalm bombs, and in an instant, our army's positions turned into a sea of fire, and the 188th Division suffered heavy casualties.
The fighting continued until 7 June, when the 188th Division, which had also suffered casualties, began to gradually retreat.
At this time, Fu Chongbi, commander of the 63rd Army, only had the 187th Division left in his hands.
Since the 188th Division and the 189th Division were supported in the early stages, the total combat strength of the 187th Division at this time was less than 3,000 people, how could Fu Chongbi complete this impossible blockade task?
By this time, the defensive space in front of the 63rd Army was already very limited, and the situation of Xu Xin, commander of the 187th Division, had reached a desperate situation.
At this time, he made a bold decision - to engage in artillery battles with the American army!
When Fu Chongbi learned of Xu Xin's plan, he fell into hesitation, because the artillery strength of our army was extremely limited, and it could be said that it was the last bottom card in the hands of our army, and once the plan failed, our army would completely lose the ability to resist.
After thinking about it again, Fu Chongbi still agreed to Xu Xin's plan.
Since our army has not used artillery for a long time, at this time the US army only guarded against the sneak attack of our army's infantry, and did not expect that our army would suddenly launch an artillery attack.
On June 10, at 2:00 a.m., thousands of shells were fired from our positions, instantly igniting The American positions! The U.S. army was in a chaotic mess in an instant and began to retreat desperately.
This battle Xu Xin succeeded! The 63rd Army succeeded!
Picture 丨 Volunteer Artillery
At this point in the battle, after more than ten days of the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, our army has firmly held the attack of the "United Nations Army" and has gained sufficient time for the adjustment of the large troops of the Volunteer Army.
At the same time, the 20th and 15th Armies of the Volunteer Army had begun to join the blockade campaign against the enemy, and the subsequent strong defensive line had been successfully constructed, but the American army was exhausted at this time, and they had never fought such a hard battle!
On June 13, the purpose of the strategic transfer of the Volunteer Army had been fully achieved, and the 63rd Army gradually began to retreat from The Iron Plains, and the curtain of the Iron Plains Blockade Battle finally came to an end.
The "United Nations Army", which has exhausted its superiority, can only stop there!
epilogue
After the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, the combat strength of the entire army of the 63rd Army was only more than 3,000 people, and the commander of the army, Fu Chongbi, lost a full 25 pounds.
When the 63rd Army arrived in Yichuan to rest, Peng Dehuai saw the ragged soldiers of the 63rd Army, and he said with tears: "The motherland and the people thank you, and I Peng Dehuai thank you!" You are the real Iron Army! ”
"Chinese bones are not easy to gnaw!"
After the end of the Tieyuan Blockade, the steely will to fight of our volunteer army shook Ridgway and shook Truman, and peace negotiations were put on the agenda.
The Tieyuan Blockade Battle also laid immortal credit for the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea!