<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > "the cruelest battle of my life."</h1>
In August 1986, Qin Jiwei followed a delegation led by General Yang Dezhi on a visit to North Korea. Kim Il Sung asked Qin Jiwei, "Where do you want to go?" Qin Jiwei said without hesitation, "If it is convenient, I would like to go to Shangganling of the Five Holy Mountains to have a look." ”
Figure | General Qin Jiwei
Why did Qin Jiwei go to Shangganling? 34 years ago, Qin Jiwei, then commander of the 15th Army, commanded the Battle of Shangganling, which shocked the world. In his later years, he recalled: "The Battle of Shangganling was the most brutal battle of my life. "How cruel is it?
The commander of the US 8th Army, Van Vleet, originally planned to use 2 battalions of troops to take Shangganling in 5 days. However, it eventually evolved from a battle into a campaign that lasted 43 days and involved about 103,000 troops on both sides.
On the 3.7-kilometer hill, the U.S. military poured 1.9 million shells and 5,000 bombs. The maximum day is as high as 300,000 shells, an average of 6 rounds per 6 seconds, 78 rounds per square meter of land. And our heroic volunteer army also fired 400,000 shells, setting a record for the combat strength of the volunteer army in terms of unit firepower density. Grab a handful of sand, and half of it is iron filings and shell casings.
Figure | Battle of Shangganling
In terms of casualties, the "United Nations Army" suffered 25,498 casualties, with a casualty rate of more than 40 percent; the Volunteer Army suffered 11,529 casualties, with a casualty rate of more than 20 percent. During World War II, the highest casualty rate of the US military was in the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima, but that was only 32.6%, which was a small witch compared to Shangganling.
Subsequently, under the arrangement of the DPRK side, Qin Jiwei flew directly from Pyongyang to Ganling in a Skylark helicopter. Sitting on the plane, Qin Jiwei looked down at the grass and trees of Shangganling, and the battle of 34 years ago reappeared in front of him, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" Why is Shangganling in the spotlight >? </h1>
In mid-October 1952, the U.S. presidential election was about to begin, and the United Nations was about to convene a general assembly. U.S. President Harry Truman and senior Pentagon generals launched the "Kim Hoa Offensive" (code-named "Operation Showdown") to change their passivity on the Korean battlefield and at the negotiating table.
On the map, 3 kilometers north of Jinhua, there is a very small mountain village with about a dozen families, and this village is called Shangganling.
Figure | Geographical location of Shangganling
There are two small hills before and after Shangganling, on the military map, the south is called 597.9 Highland, the north is called 537.7 Highland, and the total area of the two hills is 3.7 square kilometers, which is a prominent part of the entire battlefield defense system of the 15th Army of the Volunteer Army. Although Shangganling is small, its status is very important, and it is the forward position of the Volunteer Army in the strategic point of the central front of the Korean battlefield, the Five Holy Mountains.
Why are the Five Holy Mountains important? The Five Holy Mountains are the connecting points from the east coast of North Korea to the west coast, controlling the Triangle of Jinhua, Chewon and Pyeongkang, with Pyeongkang at the apex, and Kimwa and Cheewon are two endpoints, commonly known as the "Iron Triangle", which are the natural barriers of the central plain of North Korea.
Figure | Shangganling enemy and enemy deployment map
The defensive line between the 15th Army and the American Army divided the Iron Triangle in two, and the Five Holy Mountains were in the middle of the Iron Triangle. If the 15th Army occupies it, it can overlook the depth of the enemy and directly endanger the US Jinhua Defense Line. By possessing it, the U.S. military could break through the volunteer line from the center and endanger the entire North Korean front. Shangganling is located at the forefront of the Five Holy Mountains, which is the life gate of the Five Holy Mountains.
The US military's attempt is to first capture Shangganling and then seize the Five Holy Mountains, open a gap in the central front, and then control the "Iron Triangle" region, exert pressure on China and north Korea, and increase the bargaining chips of Panmunjom. So VanVleet used one sentence to describe the ambitions of the US military: "The Golden Offensive" was a "showdown operation" to "reverse the current situation".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > the Battle of Shangganling became a tug-of-war</h1>
At 3:00 a.m. on October 14, 1952, the Battle of Shangganling began. During the hour-long fire preparation, the Un Army fired more than 300,000 shells and 500 bombs at Shangganling, and almost all of the surface work of the Volunteer Army was destroyed. At this time, the 537.7 heights and the 597.9 heights were held by 1 company, 9 companies and 1 platoon of the 8 companies of the 135 regiment of the 45th Division, respectively.
At 4:30 a.m., the United Nations Army attacked the 537.7 and 597.9 heights in the front of wushengshan in 6 routes with 7 battalions of troops, while holding the troops of the 44th Division of the 15th Army in the direction of Xishan and Shiba Village with the strength of 4 battalions.
Figure | Upper Ganling Highlands
On the 14th alone, the 135th Regiment annihilated more than 1,900 enemy troops and suffered more than 500 casualties. It has repelled more than 30 enemy attacks from platoon to battalion. A heavy machine gun on the 597.9 heights fired more than 10,000 rounds of bullets a day, killing and wounding nearly 300 enemy people. Many of the soldiers' barrels were red, and there was no water to cool down, so they had to use urine instead.
In the first 7 days and 7 nights of fighting, the positions were lost and regained, and the gains were regained. The Un Army invested 17 infantry battalions, including 9 American troops and 16 artillery battalions, with more than 7,000 casualties. The 15th Army threw in 21 companies and suffered more than 3,000 casualties. Huang Jiguang blocked the gun hole of the US army with his flesh and blood during the battle on October 19, opening a way for the follow-up troops to attack.
Figure | Qin Jiwei in Shangganling (first from right)
On October 21, Qin Jiwei resolutely decided to switch from position warfare to tunnel warfare based on the fact that most of the positions on the surface of Shangganling were occupied by the US army. At this moment, he had a hunch with the intuition of a soldier: one of the most difficult, arduous, and fierce tunnel defenses was about to begin. The Battle of Shangganling entered into a tug-of-war between the enemy and us.
On the 24th of the battle, Cui Jiangong, commander of the 45th Division, called Qin Jiwei to report the bad situation in the tunnel and publicly stated: Commander, you can rest assured, the 45th Division has 100 people left, I will be the company commander, I will fight a squad, and I will be the squad leader. As long as I Cui Jiangong is there, Shangganling is still a volunteer army.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > perseverance is victory</h1>
Tunnel warfare is more arduous than trench warfare. The U.S. military used all means such as bombing and blasting, spraying poison, cutting off water sources, and smoking and burning to block the officers and men of the 15th Army in the tunnels. There was a serious shortage of water in the tunnel, so the officers and men had to drink urine from each other to quench their thirst, and the biscuits in their mouths could cut their tongues.
"Whoever can send an apple into the tunnel will be given a second-class merit!" This is the criterion for meritorious service in the tunnel operations of the Shangganling Campaign. But to pass through the blockade line, even a fly has to shed three layers of skin. In the end, only one of the more than 30,000 apples purchased by the 15th Army from Pyongyang was sent into the tunnel.
Figure | Movie footage of "Shangganling"
However, with extraordinary tenacity, the officers and men of the 15th Army not only endured, but also used the darkness of the night to constantly come out of the tunnels to attack the enemy. From October 21 to 29, the 15th Army carried out 158 small counterattacks, annihilating more than 4,700 enemy casualties at the cost of more than 2,000 casualties. Due to heavy casualties, the US 7th Division had to entrust the offensive and defensive tasks to the Han 2nd Division.
Although the US military was still increasing its strength and pouring shells at any cost, and the volunteer army suffered great losses, Qin Jiwei judged that the US army was already at the end of the crossbow, and whoever persisted in the end would be able to win.
Figure | Victory at the Battle of Shangganling
On November 2, the U.S. military made a major mistake in command, and 6 battalions charged continuously in dense formations from night to day, without any concealment, which was a taboo for soldiers. On this day, the 597.9 highland guard only suffered 70 casualties, but annihilated more than 1500 enemy, especially a squad of 8 companies of the 91st Regiment, which created an amazing record of annihilating more than 400 enemy casualties and only 3 casualties.
On November 5, Li Desheng, deputy commander of the 12th Army of the Volunteer Army, led 7 companies of the 31st Division and the 34th Division to support the Battle of Shangganling, which was under the command of Qin Jiwei. After 16 days and nights of fighting, it repelled more than 130 attacks by the US army, annihilated more than 1,800 people, and finally recovered all positions, and on November 25, the Battle of Shangganling ended in victory.
Figure | Qin Jiwei was sacrificed at Huang Jiguang
In August 1986, Qin Jiwei, under the arrangement of Kim Il Sung, once again climbed Shangganling. On the 597.9 high ground, he bowed deeply to the "Hero Huang Jiguang's Sacrifice Place", and then bowed to the 537.7 highland to mourn the comrades who were buried here.
In his later years, Qin Jiwei said affectionately many times: "I will never forget those heroes who dedicated themselves to Ganling, and their figures often appear in front of my eyes." ”