During the Korean War, two major events occurred that affected the direction of the war: one was the "Inchon Landing" of the US military, and the other was the volunteer army entering the DPRK from the Yalu River Bridge.
Before the Inchon landing, Korea was almost about to achieve national reunification, the Korean People's Army was in a state of disarray, the puppet army of the Southern Dynasty collapsed, and even their American masters collapsed.
Rhee panicked and abandoned Seoul to flee, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of troops and a large amount of supplies, and the US troops stationed in South Korea were equally embarrassed, and a major general division commander of the US Army even became a prisoner of the Korean army, setting a record that the volunteer army did not achieve.
However, Kim Il Sung was overwhelmed by the smooth situation of the war and prepared to "open champagne at half-time", completely ignoring our country's suggestions and warnings, and opening the important Incheon Gateway.
As a result, MacArthur led the Americans to land at Inchon, and after encountering only a very small amount of resistance, they successfully disembarked and cut off the Korean People's Army.
In the blink of an eye, the offensive and defensive momentum was different, and the Korean People's Army, like a fierce tiger, was reduced to a lamb to be slaughtered, and was slaughtered by the US army, with heavy casualties.
Kim Il Sung not only spat out the hard-won territory and retreated to the north of the 38th Parallel, but also lost a large amount of North Korean territory, and Pyongyang was in jeopardy.
At this time, the second historical event that affected the trend of the Korean War occurred: the Chinese People's Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River to resist the United States and aid Korea.
Peng Dehuai, who had long deployed his command headquarters on the front line, immediately launched a counterattack against the "United Nations Army" after the first batch of volunteers completed their entry into the DPRK from the Yalu River Bridge, giving MacArthur a head-on blow.
After the end of the first campaign, the Ninth Corps of our army rushed to the Korean battlefield without stopping, and launched a fierce battle of Chosin Lake with the US Tenth Army on the eastern front, almost completely annihilating the US First Marine Division, creating a nightmare for the US army.
Looking at the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Yalu River Bridge played a crucial role. In the early stages of the war, more than 80 percent of our army's strategic materials were continuously transported from the Yalu River Bridge to the front line.
It can be said that the Yalu River Bridge is the lifeline of our army.
What is surprising is that the US military did not carry out a particularly large-scale bombing of the Yalu River Bridge in the early stage of the war, and as a result, our army transported a large number of troops and materials.
Why is that? Could it be that Americans don't see the importance of the Yalu River Bridge?
Of course not, although we often say that American soldiers are young masters, but this is just a joke. At that time, the United States had just experienced the tempering of World War II, and both middle- and lower-level officers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were full of talents.
To say that the top echelons of the United States are blind, deaf, and stupid is not only contempt for the enemy, but also disrespect for the volunteers who fought the Korean battlefield.
It's easy to lay the groundwork for a direct war, but beyond that, it's crucial to analyze the considerations, decisions, and outcomes behind every strategic action in the war. The so-called not only to know what it is, but also to know why it is so.
In fact, the U.S. military did not have no plans to destroy the Yalu River Bridge, and after the first battle between the Volunteer Army and the U.S. Army broke out, MacArthur immediately sent a telegram to Washington asking for permission to blow up the Yalu River Bridge.
The five-star general's strategic plans were always hasty and risky, and in the early days of the volunteers' engagement with the Americans, intelligence about "discovering the involvement of Chinese troops in the war" fell like snowflakes in MacArthur's headquarters.
But both MacArthur and his staff officers agreed that China would not send troops into North Korea because the "golden opportunity to help Kim Il-sung" had been missed.
In MacArthur's view, the US military is about to completely annihilate the Korean People's Army, and at this time, the Chinese army dares to enter the DPRK, that is, to seek death.
"If the Chinese army dares to enter the war, it will beat them back to the Stone Age!"
MacArthur told the media that he was confident of victory, so the telegram to President Truman did not reflect concern about the Yalu Bridge.
What MacArthur didn't know was that more than 200,000 volunteers had crossed the Yalu River and were already deployed directly in front of the "United Nations Army."
Under the command of General Peng Da, the volunteer army gave the US army a head-on blow, several South Korean puppet army divisions were annihilated, and even the US military ace "Mounted First Division" was almost completely destroyed.
In just a few days, MacArthur's attitude took a sharp turn of one hundred and eighty degrees, and MacArthur, who had previously warned Washington not to "act hastily," suddenly demanded from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that The bombing of Sinuiju and the Yalu River Bridge be bombed.
In his telegram, MacArthur elaborated on the need to bomb the Yalu River Bridge: the bridge was so close to North Korea that a large number of Chinese men, horses, and supplies could be transported to the front line from here.
If left unchecked, the Chinese army will soon form a superiority in manpower, and at that time, the US military will be in danger of being completely annihilated.
Once the Yalu River Bridge is blown up, the connection between North Korea and New China will be broken, and China's reinforcements to North Korea will be difficult. Without the subsequent reinforcements of troops and supplies, the Korean People's Army and Volunteer Army that remained in Korea would soon be in a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food.
Blowing up the bridge, the US military will win the victory; without blowing up the bridge, the US military will usher in the most painful defeat.
This was MacArthur's message to Washington, and as a military general, his tone was called "trespassing," which was related to MacArthur's usual arrogant style.
Ever since MacArthur became the Emperor of Japan and the Commander of the Far East of the U.S. Army, he has become a figure above ten thousand people, and even U.S. President Truman sometimes has to meet MacArthur's unreasonable demands.
But this time, MacArthur's "forced palace" failed, and Truman replied to him: No! Stop now!
MacArthur yelled at headquarters that the senior officers in the Joint Chiefs of Staff were a bunch of sacks of wine and rice bags, and that they had almost fired directly at Truman.
However, Truman also had a bitterness to say.
MacArthur was a general who only had to act according to the situation on the battlefield, but Truman was the president of the United States, and he had to consider many more factors than MacArthur.
In fact, behind any war, there is a political and economic game, and leaders have to consider a lot when making strategic decisions in addition to the war itself.
International relations are meant to involve the whole body, but during the Korean War, the web of international relations has been stretched to the extreme, and it is possible to break down in an all-round way at any time.
The Yalu River Bridge looks like just two large iron bridges, but its location is very sensitive, with one end in Sinuiju, North Korea, and the other in Dandong, China.
Bombing the Yalu River Bridge also means bombing China's territory, which is undoubtedly a great infringement on the sovereignty of New China, morally untenable, and politically it will completely tear its face with New China.
Although the United States did not take New China too seriously at this time, after all, New China had hundreds of millions of people and millions of People's Liberation Army, and this force could not be underestimated.
More importantly, behind New China and North Korea, there is also the Soviet Union.
Since the end of World War II, the Soviet Union has achieved rapid development, and there may still be a certain gap between the United States and the United States in the economy, but militarily it can compete with the US military.
The United States is very jealous of the Soviet Union, a behemoth, and once the Soviet Union is defeated, it is possible to break out a third world war, which the United States cannot afford.
In fact, as soon as the Korean War broke out, Truman went to his group of allies in Europe, hoping to gain the support of Britain, France and other Western countries.
But Britain or France, they have just recovered from the war of World War II, the country's vitality is seriously damaged, and they have no longer regained the style of a strong country. It was okay to have them send troops to reinforce the U.S. army, but it was impossible for them to be dragged into the water to fight another world war.
Truman touched his nose of ash, and he went to Europe for several days, and the result was that "limiting the scale of the Korean War is not appropriate to continue to expand."
Once the Yalu River Bridge was bombed, invading China's territory, and causing New China to enter the war in an all-round way, the results of the consultation with Truman and his allies were obviously contrary to the road.
If the war escalates and the Soviet Union ends up, in case of a nuclear war, the whole United States will be finished, and then Truman will become the culprit of all this.
So, in order to avoid this bad situation, Truman has always been cautious and asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to restrain MacArthur's behavior, not to expand the scale of the war, not to "stimulate the nerves of China."
Of course, if the Yalu River Bridge is really easy to destroy, and after blowing up the Yalu River Bridge, the volunteer army will definitely fail, and Truman is willing to try. After all, the huge benefits are also comparable to the risks with a very low probability of occurrence.
However, after the deduction of Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, blowing up the Yalu River Bridge was not an easy military operation.
The Yalu River Bridge is the lifeline of our army and even the entire Korean War Situation Red Army, which is known not only by the Americans, but also by China, North Korea and the Soviet Union.
Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of this life passage, New China has long placed a large amount of anti-aircraft fire in Dandong, and precious MiG fighters have also been transferred to the vicinity of the Yalu River Bridge in preparation for the attack of US aircraft.
The Korean People's Army also placed the last of its homes at the junction with China, and although its firepower was limited, it could also pose a threat to the US military.
The Soviet Union had not yet provided large-scale military support at this time, but its attitude had already shown everything: the army groups deployed in the Far East were ready to attack, and a large number of fighter jets were flying in the airspace, staring at the American army.
Therefore, if the US military wants to bomb the Yalu River Bridge, it is difficult and dangerous to break through the layers of firepower network and directly face our army's anti-aircraft artillery.
The U.S. military had the most advanced fighters in the world at that time, but at that time, unlike the precision guided missiles available now, it was not easy to bomb ground targets.
If the bomber flies high, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed, but if it flies too low, it will be intercepted and attacked by the air defense forces. It is not an exaggeration to say that the planes are made of gold, the cost of each fighter is very high, and if dozens of them are dropped for the task of blowing up the Yalu River Bridge, the heart of the US military will shed blood.
What's more, the volunteers first entered North Korea in October, and by the time MacArthur asked for the bombing of the Yalu River Bridge, it was close to winter.
How low the winter temperature in North Korea is, friends in the northeast may feel it the most, and it is also fully demonstrated in the recent hit "Chosin Lake".
At such low temperatures, the river under the bridge would all freeze, and the ice would be so thick that the volunteers could walk on it. At the beginning of the war, the heavy firepower of the volunteer army was not much, and guns and ammunition and other materials were carried by soldiers with human hands.
Therefore, even if the US military blows up the Yalu River, our army will still be able to transport troops and supplies from the ice, and the speed and quantity may be reduced, but the supply line of our army cannot be completely cut off.
In summary, Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff hesitated, or refused MacArthur's request, in their view, the bombing of the Yalu River Bridge, one is easy to lead to the escalation of the war, and the other is that the implementation is difficult and ineffective. The two factors add up to the conclusion that the gains outweigh the losses.
However, under the soft and hard bubble of MacArthur, Truman still made concessions: he agreed to the US strategic goal of bombing North Korea, but avoided bombing "Manchuria", but Truman's concerns still occurred.
So, a funny scene was staged in the US military: the US military's flying formation could only bomb half of a bridge, not the other half, and when they flew to the North Korean border, they immediately dropped bombs, and then turned a hard turn and flew away from Chinese territory.
Truman thought very thoughtfully, he thought that this would blow up the Yalu River Bridge without leaving a pretext, the best of both worlds.
But the U.S. military gave Truman a resounding slap, and the air crew, after a period of tying hands and feet, thought it would be too difficult to bomb.
As a result, the U.S. pilots ignored the president's orders, and their B-29 bombers penetrated several miles into Chinese airspace, as did the escort formations, and engaged in air combat with our aircraft.
In the process, China's Dandong and other places have been attacked several times by the US military, and the people's lives and property have suffered huge losses.
However, due to the restraint of hands and feet, the US army did not succeed in blowing up the Yalu River Bridge, and a large amount of materials of our army was smoothly transported to the front line and reached the hands of the volunteer soldiers, who heroically killed the enemy and annihilated many enemies in the first battle, avenging their fathers and fellow countrymen.
The defeat in this campaign shook the American hierarchy. MacArthur blamed the failure entirely on the restrictions imposed on him by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, implying that you should not stop me from blowing up the bridge, I would have won long ago.
Under enormous pressure, Truman had to agree to MacArthur's plan to expand the scale of the war and launch a full-scale bombing of the Yalu River Bridge.
But as they deduced, the bombing process was extremely unsuccessful. Although the US military was untethered and could directly rush to Chinese territory and bomb the bridge, they were resolutely resisted by the volunteer air defense forces.
The volunteer soldiers, seeing death as if they were home, stood firm on the air defense positions with their flesh and blood, and used anti-aircraft fire to face the American aircraft head-on. Our fighters are at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, but as soon as the US aircraft arrives, the pilots will immediately go out, strike long skies, and fight to the death with an enemy several times their own.
The BOMBers of the US army were forced to fly up to an altitude of 20,000 meters to avoid the anti-aircraft fire of our army, but because the altitude was too high, the accuracy was not guaranteed, and the bombs dropped could not accurately blow up the iron bridge.
Watching a large number of troops and materials continue to be transported to the front, the US military high-level was anxious, and in order to blow up the Yalu River Bridge, the US military laid down blood.
In the year from August 1950 to August 1951, the US military dispatched more than 5,000 aircraft against the Yalu River Bridge, ranging from 20 B29 bombers to nearly a hundred per bombing, and the number of bombs dropped was uncountable.
Later, the US military also developed guided missiles and launched indiscriminate bombardment of the Yalu River Bridge.
It has to be said that the United States is worthy of being a world-class military power, and their bombs are poured into the bridge as if they do not want money. Through thousands of bombings, even if the accuracy is low, there are always bombs falling on the bridge.
Under the powerful bomb, the iron bridge was blown up, the bridge truss was thrown off, and even the piers were blown away. The US reconnaissance plane saw the broken bridge through the smoke of gunfire and reported to the headquarters in surprise: We have completed the bombing target, and the enemy's bridge has been destroyed!
However, to the shock of the US military, the next day they looked again, and the bridge was as good as ever!
The Pratunam Bridge is often used to reflect the strong industrial infrastructure capabilities of the US military, but the author believes that the volunteers rushed to repair the Yalu River Bridge is the real feat. For the former relies on advanced machinery and inexhaustible steel, while the latter relies on the flesh and blood of our army and the courage of fearlessness.
More than 100 maintenance workers of the Dandong Railway Bureau braved enemy artillery fire to repair the destroyed bridge deck and race against the enemy. After the US military discovered, it increased the frequency of bombing, and the interval became irregular, and it was possible to attack at any time.
In order to repair the railway, railway workers and soldiers hid behind the iron frame and repaired the bridge against enemy bombardment. The enemy blows up during the day, and we repair it at night.
The piers were blown up by the enemy, so they replaced them with sandbags and built battlements with sleepers to support the damaged bridge. As the train passed over the bridge, workers soaked in the water to continue repairing the piers.
Once the bridge suffered serious damage, thousands of railway workers and soldiers fought for four days and nights to re-repair the bridge and reopen the train, creating a miracle in the history of war.
There are two yalu river bridges that have been preserved to this day, one is a broken bridge, and the other is called the "China-DPRK Friendship Bridge", on the iron bridge, bullet holes and bullet marks are clearly visible, they are the "scars" of the iron bridge, but also the honor of our army, witnessing the tragedy of that war.
It was precisely in such a harsh environment that our ancestors used their flesh and blood to prop up the Yalu River Bridge and make it stand firm and become an unbreakable lifeline for the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
MacArthur had the most well-equipped army in the world, but he couldn't blow up even a bridge.
Some people think that the defeat of the US military on the Yalu River Bridge was caused by Truman's hesitation, but the author believes that this statement is a denial of the martyrs.
First of all, Truman's hesitation was precisely because of his jealousy of the new China; secondly, the US military was not without action, and they later launched a bombing of the bridge in a frenzy, but our army built a solid lifeline with a strong will.
The victory of any war in New China was not given by the enemy.
Our army's victory in the defense battle of the Yalu River Bridge is inseparable from the support of the people, the bravery of the volunteer soldiers, and the great sacrifices of the martyrs.
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