Iron Plains Sniper Battle, the pinnacle of human light infantry
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Many people say that the Chinese Volunteers were able to defeat the US army in the Korean War by relying on the spirit of not fearing death.
Under the guidance of this statement, many rumors have emerged that the volunteers rely on the tactics of the sea of people to win.
It is indeed important that the warrior is not afraid of death, but it is not a decisive factor in the victory or defeat of the war.
If you are not afraid of death, you can win the war, and the Boxers can win the Eight-Nation Alliance.
After such a bomb explodes on your position, are you afraid of death, is it important?
A pile of immobile fragments, even if you are not afraid of death, your enemies will not pay the slightest attention.
In the face of modern firepower, the sea of people has no meaning, it purely belongs to giving heads.
However, the firepower of the volunteers is far inferior to that of the US army, and there is no navy and air force, and under the deduction of modern military theory, the volunteers will undoubtedly lose, but the actual combat result is a draw.
This kind of victory shows that the volunteers must be far stronger than the US army in a certain field, and the gap in firepower has been smoothed out.
Through careful study, military scientists finally found the secret of the strength of the volunteers, that is, the ability to gather and disperse.
In the theory of the field of modern warfare, armies must come together, and discrete armies have no combat effectiveness.
Once the army loses its structure, even if tens of thousands of people survive, they will directly default to their combat effectiveness to zero, and the existence of this army will no longer be considered in the operational command.
Since the troops can only form combat effectiveness when they get together, the movement of the army is extremely clumsy, and the two sides often fight repeatedly for several months for a communication artery.
With the support of this theory, the army's unfolded defensive line consisted of multiple scattered positions, with a large gap between the positions and positions, which could control a large amount of land with very few soldiers.
But these gaps, the enemy army cannot pass, do not dare to bypass at all.
If the enemy forces were to knock out these scattered positions one by one, then our side would have enough time to give reinforcements.
This is how ordinary armies play.
In the War of Liberation, the PLA invented a method of interspersing large depths and roundabouts, which could ignore the opponent's positions, arbitrarily maneuver and intersperse, completely control the battlefield, and let its troops easily form a situation of fighting more and less in local battlefields.
In the beginning, it was a small depth interspersed with company and platoon levels.
In the end, it was a large-scale and large depth interspersion of entire regiments, entire divisions, and even entire corps.
The first time the PLA used large-scale deep penetration was the Battle of Menglianggu, which annihilated the 74th Division of the Kuomintang ace army and killed the famous general Zhang Lingfu.
The combat effectiveness of the reorganized 74th Division is extremely strong, and if it is a 1-to-1 battle, the victory or defeat is still unknown, but our army does not intend to fight a fair decisive battle with the 74th Division.
In the battle of Menglianggu, the Kuomintang invested a total of 450,000 troops and the People's Liberation Army invested a total of 270,000 troops, with a ratio of 2 to 1 between the enemy and us.
It seems that the Kuomintang has the advantage in strength, but after large-scale maneuvers, within a hundred miles of Menglianggu, there are only 135,000 Kuomintang troops in total, while the PLA has gathered more than 200,000 people, and the ratio of enemy and our forces has become 1 to 2.
Within 10 miles of Menglianggu, the PLA gathered five columns totaling more than 100,000 people and attacked Zhang Lingfu's 26,000 people, with a ratio of 1 to 5 between the enemy and us.
From the perspective of the entire battlefield, the PLA is outnumbered, but here in Menglianggu, Zhang Lingfu is outnumbered.
The elite 74th Division, under the fierce attack of more than 100,000 people, completely collapsed in three days.
In this battle, Zhang Lingfu's entire army was destroyed, and the Kuomintang reinforcements suffered more than 6,000 casualties, a total of 32,000 casualties, while the PLA suffered 12,000 casualties, and eliminated the 74th Division of the Kuomintang's ace force in an organized manner, which was a brilliant victory.
In the face of the PLA's large-scale and deep-interspersed tactics, the Kuomintang army was walked away like a puppet, no matter how many troops were invested, it could never surround the PLA, and it was always surrounded by the PLA.
Ignoring enemy positions is too powerful, but so far, only the People's Liberation Army on Earth can use this trick.
Ordinary armies are able to infiltrate small units through the gaps in enemy positions and complete independent combat missions behind enemy lines, such armies are generally called special forces.
Special forces of several hundred or even thousands of people can be trained, but tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops complete this tactical interspersion.
It's not that it can't be done, it's that so many special forces can't be trained.
In order to achieve large-scale and large-scale deep penetration, the first thing to do is to have absolute control over the battlefield.
If you are spotted by enemy forces just after a few thousand people are interspersed, what awaits you is enemy fire slaughter.
During the Liberation War, we found that the Kuomintang army seemed to be blind, and could not even detect the PLA a few kilometers away, and often ridiculed the Kuomintang army for being too incompetent.
But when it came to the Korean battlefield, the performance of the American army was not as good as that of the Kuomintang army, and even the volunteers a few hundred meters away could not detect it.
The enemy forces are completely out of control of your whereabouts, which is the first prerequisite for large-scale penetration tactics in depth.
In the first few battles of the Korean War, the US military showed amazing sluggishness, and under the premise of aerial reconnaissance, it was not even clear where the volunteers were and how many people were dispatched, and they were stunned.
This kind of battlefield control is achieved by a group of soldiers comparable to special forces.
Everyone should have heard of Qiu Shaoyun's deeds.
Qiu Shaoyun and hundreds of comrades-in-arms lurked only a few hundred meters away from the US position, in the US fire reconnaissance Qiu Shaoyun around the barren grass was ignited by incendiary bombs, in order not to expose the latent troops, Qiu Shaoyun did not say a word, his whole body was scorched, until he died heroically.
Qiu Shaoyun sacrifices oil painting
Fragment of Qiu Shaoyun's military uniform
Qiu Shaoyun's case not only shows that the volunteer soldiers have extremely high discipline and sacrifice spirit, but also shows the fact that there are up to hundreds of troops lurking under the noses of the US troops all night, and as a result, the US troops did not find this unit at all.
This shows that the US military has completely lost control of the battlefield.
In the Battle of Changjin Lake, the discipline and sacrifice spirit of the volunteers were more obvious.
At that time, the night temperature had dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius, but a large number of volunteers were still carrying out latent movements under the cover of night, which led to frostbite attrition far exceeding combat attrition.
The 5th Company of the 242nd Regiment of the 81st Division of the Chinese Volunteers was ordered to set up an ambush during the American retreat, but when the battle began, no one stood up and charged.
The fifth company, which had already launched a battle formation, and the cadres and fighters of a whole company, were all frozen to death on the position.
There were many, many volunteer soldiers who froze to death in the night, far more than one fifth company, and after their bodies were sent to the rear, they all maintained a lying fighting posture.
And the frostbitten and frostbitten volunteers are even more numerous.
Such a disciplined force, with the ability to act as if it were invisible, can strike by surprise at any time.
Why can only special forces advance lightly?
Because if you bypass the opponent's position, it means that your logistics cannot be sent, and your troops will fall into a state of no logistics.
One howitzer shell weighs 86 pounds.
How many shells can you take without logistics?
Only light infantry, which relies minimally on logistics, is qualified to ignore the positions of the opponent and only need to carry a small amount of food and grenades to maintain combat effectiveness.
But if you do this, it means that your light infantry will go behind enemy lines, completely lose fire support, and at the same time may be divided and surrounded at any time, and the slightest lack of will will be passive combat.
Therefore, only strictly trained special forces can do this, and once ordinary troops disperse, their combat effectiveness will decline off a cliff.
Any commander knows the benefits of being able to gather troops, but no one dares to do so.
But the volunteer army is an exception.
The volunteer army was born with little heavy firepower, and for a long time was accustomed to fighting in a fireless environment, long accustomed to fighting behind enemy lines without logistics, and all members had strong willpower, which forged an army composed entirely of special forces.
Therefore, large-scale, large-scale and deep interspersed tactics can only be used by the Chinese army in the world, and other countries cannot learn if they want to.
The U.S. military has never seen such an adversary, and it is painful to be beaten in the face of such extremely flexible tactics, and the troop movement cringes and cringes, feeling like being tied up to fight.
It was not until the fifth battle that Ridgway of the United States finally discovered the weakness of the large-scale large-depth interspersion tactic and almost gave the volunteers a fatal blow.
As I just said, ordinary armies feel particularly rigid and bulky because they have to get together and maintain logistics, and marching troops must knock out each other's positions.
The large-scale and large-depth penetration tactics of the volunteer army can ignore the opponent's position, easily penetrate through the gap in the position, and move wantonly like liquid, so it is particularly flexible and can easily surround and annihilate the opponent.
But this tactic has weaknesses.
Any army using such tactics is doomed to no logistics, since the enemy positions behind them are not knocked out.
Light infantry can use this tactic because of its own minimal logistical requirements.
But no matter how small it is, there is also a demand.
Through research, Li Qiwei found that the large depth of the volunteer army was interspersed with tactics, and the materials carried by the light infantry could only last for a maximum of 7 days.
Later, Li Qiwei came up with a particularly shady tactic, first indulging the interspersion of volunteers, deliberately showing weakness, and luring the enemy deeper.
After a month of fierce fighting, the US troops withdrew continuously, and because many American positions were not knocked out, the PLA's logistics supply was extremely difficult, and the transportation time of the supply line reached 7 days.
At this time, the US army concentrated superior forces, opened the way with elite armored forces, directly tore open the positions of the volunteers, and aimed directly at Tieyuan.
Tieyuan is a core logistics base of the volunteers in the rear, hoarding a large amount of PLA materials, located in the plains with convenient transportation.
If Iron Plain is captured, then the volunteers at the front will lose all supplies and will fall into a situation of running out of ammunition and food.
Fight forward, no ammunition, retreat, no food, the destruction of the whole army is the only fate.
Once so many troops were defeated, the U.S. military would have won the Korean War.
In order to prepare for this decisive blow, the US military dispatched a task force composed of the 1st Cavalry Division as the core, with a total of more than 47,000 people, 1,327 artillery pieces, 187 tanks, and prepared 2,000 sorties.
This contingent has been hiding in the rear, not participating in any operations, and when the materials of the front-line volunteers are consumed, the whole army will attack.
The purpose of the operation was only one, that is, to capture Cheolwon, destroy the logistics center of this volunteer army, and then completely divide and encircle all the volunteers on the front line.
If successful, this is another version of the Inchon landing, and the volunteers will fall into a big rout.
Upon discovering the movements of this contingent, the volunteers immediately retreated.
But retreat takes time, and two legs can't run on four wheels.
It took a total of 15 days for the volunteers to reorganize the line, but the task force only needed more than a day to reach Cheolwon, which was still a plain and was particularly suitable for the use of American firepower.
The troops that could reach Cheorwon in time were only the 63rd Army, with a total of 25,000 men in three divisions, more than 240 artillery pieces, and no tanks and aircraft.
General Peng gave the 63rd Army a death order to hold Tieyuan for 15 days.
Fu Chongbi, commander of the 63rd Army, estimated the strength of the enemy and ours, and believed that this goal could only be accomplished by building strong field fortifications.
And to build a strong field fortification, it takes at least 3 days, but the American contingent has already arrived at the door.
So Fu Chongbi gave a death order to Cai Changyuan, the commander of the 189th Division under his command, to delay the US army for 3 days and give the 63rd Army time to repair the fortifications.
The time for the 189th division to repair the fortifications was only a few hours.
Cai Changyuan repeatedly calculated the strength of the enemy and us, and found that no matter how he fought, it was impossible to stop the US army.
Without the cover of fortifications, then the number in front of artillery is meaningless.
Even if the whole army dies, it may not be able to stop the US army for a day.
If the position is broken by the American troops, the 63rd Army, which is building fortifications in the rear, will be in chaos.
If the 63rd Army is also broken through its position, then the hundreds of thousands of volunteers on the entire front line are in danger of being completely wiped out.
Even if the entire 189th Division was killed, it could not stop the American troops. But now, as a division commander, Cai Changyuan must find a way to block the US army for more than 3 days.
What to do?
Cai Changyuan made a decision that no one before and no one has ever come, giving full play to the characteristics of the volunteer army, making the Tieyuan sniper battle a pinnacle battle in the history of human light infantry warfare.
The 189th Division was disbanded in place and disbanded into more than 200 small units, dispersed to a huge area of 20 kilometers wide and 25 kilometers deep, totaling 500 square kilometers, and established more than 200 rudimentary positions.
There were only more than 30 soldiers in each position, and they fought separately.
This tactic stunned Li Qiwei and completely subverted his common sense as a military strategist.
Li Qiwei deduced a variety of possibilities before the battle, but he did not deduce this one.
The U.S. contingent of 47,000 people gathered, 1,327 guns and 187 tanks opened the way, facing a rudimentary position of just over 30 light infantry.
After putting up the position, it only takes tens of minutes for the US army to easily tear this position apart, and it is impossible for the defending volunteers to survive.
Isn't this sending to death?
But there are more than 200 such positions, and if such a position is knocked down one by one, by the time the position is knocked out, three days have already passed.
The task of the 189th division was completed.
This tactic seems very simple and effective.
But globally, only volunteers can use this tactic of disbanding in place, and other countries' armies cannot learn it.
Let me tell you about the difficulties here.
First of all, after you adopt this tactic, it is equivalent to directly telling all your soldiers that we will lose this battle, and the purpose is only to complete the strategic task.
And regardless of whether this task is completed or not, the fighters on the front-line positions are certain to die, and there is not even the slightest hope of life.
How many soldiers are willing to carry out such a combat mission?
There are more than 200 positions, each separated by several hundred meters.
The first position that touched the American troops was torn to pieces within tens of minutes, and none of the fighters above survived.
The dozens of positions behind could see clearly, but they could not support, and they could only watch their comrades on the front line die.
And they also know that the next one who will die is themselves, and they will definitely die.
Ordinary armies attach great importance to the first battle of the vanguard troops, and if they win the first battle, their morale will be like a rainbow, and if they lose the first battle, the army's morale will be turbulent.
The situation facing the 189th Division now is that every few tens of minutes there will be news of the total destruction of the vanguard force.
The first position was completely destroyed, and all the comrades above died.
The second position was completely destroyed, and all the comrades above died.
The third position was completely destroyed, and all the comrades above died.
。。。
In this case, ordinary troops have long since collapsed in morale, and at best they fought passively or directly surrendered.
The 189th Division, which was able to destroy hundreds of positions in a row, sacrificed more than half of its soldiers, still maintained a strong fighting spirit and successfully held out for 3 days, leaving enough time for the construction of fortifications in the rear.
In the end, the 63rd Army successfully held out for 15 days, allowing the main forces of the front to complete the retreat and re-stabilize the position.
Li Qiwei had to return with a feather, and if he didn't leave, the task force would be wrapped in dumplings.
In such a superior combat environment, the US military still has not completed its combat mission, which makes the United States completely lose confidence in victory and is finally willing to sit down for serious peace talks.
In the previous battles, the volunteers performed what it means to be able to scatter and gather, and the troops were haunted, easily gathered together, formed a closed encirclement of the US army in the local battlefield, and annihilated the enemy with superior forces.
In the fifth campaign, the volunteers performed what it means to be able to gather and disperse, and the troops that had already gathered took the initiative to disperse, sacrificed one by one, and completed the strategic task through the earth-shattering spirit of sacrifice.
You said that the volunteers are not afraid of death, that is indeed not afraid of death.
But this kind of fear of death is not the kind of senseless sacrifice, let alone the charge of a sea of people, but the value of every soldier to die.
Ridgway once sent a battalion to imitate this tactic of the volunteers, but found that the US Army had lost logistical supplies, lost heavy artillery fire support, and could only throw grenades close to him.
It's nothing, it's giving away heads.
Many countries have tried to imitate this tactic of the volunteer army, but without exception, they have failed, and the combat effectiveness of the scattered troops has declined sharply, and only a small number of special forces have achieved success.
And this fact means that every light infantry unit of the PLA is placed abroad at the level of special forces.
This is why the Chinese army is called the world's first army, the pinnacle of human light infantry.
There has been no one before, and I guess there will be no one after.
It is the extremely special background, the extremely special culture, and the extremely special system that have led to such characteristics and combat effectiveness of the Chinese army.
The air force, navy, and heavy firepower of the volunteer army are indeed far inferior to the US army, but relying on the advantages of light infantry, the two sides fought a tie.
During the Liberation War, the entire US government and opposition contemptuous of Chiang Kai-shek's military capabilities and regarded the Kuomintang army as a waste of money.
After fighting the Korean War, the Americans suddenly discovered that the army organized by Chiang Kai-shek with such a little money had been entangled with the PLA on land for four years, and he was really a rare general.
Then, Chiang Kai-shek's position on the American side was greatly improved.