The National Day tribute drama "Chosin Lake" can be said to have attracted the attention of young and old people across the country, even young people who are not cold to the theme of the war in peacetime, because the actors in the play "Chinese Wolf Warrior" and "Four-Character Brother" have bought tickets to enter the cinema, so what story does this movie about Chosin Lake tell? What is its historical background?
Source: Movie "Chosin Lake"
In November 1950, the area around Chosin Lake had clearly entered a harsh winter period, and the temperature here at the outbreak of the Chosin Lake Battle had always been minus 20 degrees Celsius, and even an extremely cold climate of minus 40 degrees. Not to mention ordinary people, not even birds or beasts have been seen on the road. On the battlefield of Changjin and Shanghai, there is such a set of precious photos that shocked the hearts of every audience who has seen it. In the devil's land of Dead Eagle Ridge, 125 soldiers of the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Volunteer Army were all frozen into ice sculptures because of the cold, however, even death did not allow them to shift their positions by an inch, and these soldiers still maintained a posture of fighting at any time before they died, lying prone in the trenches, their eyes firm.
Ice sculptures in the snow and wind
What is even more touching is that when the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield after the war, they found a small poem from a sacrificial Shanghai soldier, in which the soldier Song Amao's indomitable spirit in the face of ice and snow, he said: "I love my family and the motherland, but I love the uniform on my body, I am a glorious volunteer soldier, ice and snow!" I will never give in, even if I freeze to death, I will proudly stand on the ground under my feet..." Song Amao represents every volunteer soldier who guards here, history will not forget them, and we will not forget these young lives who would rather freeze to death than withdraw from their positions to affect the war situation, the 6th Company of the 177th Regiment of the 59th Army of the 20th Army, the 2nd Company of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division, the 5th Company of the 242nd Regiment of the 80th Division of the 27th Army, these three units are the monuments that will never fall at Chosin Lake.
Song Amao, a soldier from the Shanghai Volunteer Army, wrote a pen
Located on the Gaima Plateau in northeastern North Korea, Chosin Lake is the largest lake in the region north of North Korea, and the Chosin River, which originates in Huangcaoling, eventually forms Chosin Lake between Yootan-ri and Hagaru-ri after running northward, and the end of the Chosin Lake is the Yalu River. Looking at its location, the Gaima Plateau, known as the roof of North Korea, is the highest place, with an average altitude of nearly 1200 meters. Because it is a basalt terrace, it is impossible to find another way but to walk through the valley on a narrow natural road. And the climate here is unusually harsh, minus ten degrees is a common thing, the coldest time can reach minus forty or fifty degrees, even birds and beasts have to dig deep holes to hide.
On September 15, 1950, the U.S. government sent troops to land in Inchon, and their participation directly turned the tide of the Korean War, and the Korean People's Army, which had already invaded near Busan, suffered heavy losses one after another and began to retreat, while on the other hand, the United Nations army took the opportunity to occupy Seoul. At that time, the US military can be described as a bloody capital, aircraft artillery invested in an unknown amount, according to the post-war description, several hills in North Korea were flattened by the US aircraft cannon, and many trees and grasses on the mountains were also burned by the war. At one point in early October, the U.S. military hovered on the 38th Parallel and even crossed the 38th Parallel, continuing its offensive along the east and west coasts in an attempt to ignite the war on the Chinese border. On 20 October, UN forces captured Pyongyang.
U.S. 1st Marine Division
At the call of the Cpc Central Committee, on October 19, 1950 Chinese Volunteer Army crossed the Yalu River to the Korean battlefield with the purpose of "resisting the United States and aiding Korea and defending the country." The volunteer army that had just arrived at its destination soon threw itself into the first battle, the battlefield of this battle was located in the Yellow Grass Ridge around Chosin Lake, our combat unit was the 42nd Army of the Volunteer Army, and the enemy was the US 1st Marine Division and the South Korean Capital Division. On the other side, American soldiers, who thought they were proud of the Battle of Huangcaoling, crossed the battle line and continued to march north to Chosin Lake, but what awaited them was a trap that the volunteers had already laid. Luring the enemy to go deep and closing the door to fight dogs has always been a combat strategy that our army has repeatedly used.
Korean
Here we need to say several key operational positions in the Chosin Lake Theater, the topography of Chosin Lake can be understood from the three main directions of east, west and south, Xinxingli, Liutanli, and Xiajieyu have 3 important towns distributed around Chosin Lake in an inverted triangle, of which the transportation route around The lower Jumbo and then to the south is also located in a small town Gutuli, which is a key position, located in the northern foothills of the Huangcao Ridge, if the US army wants to invade Changjin Lake, it is bound to pass through here. In early November, the United Nations army led by the U.S. army began to attack northward, of which the U.S. 1st Marine Division and the 31st Regiment of the 7th Army Division marched from Huangcaoling to Chosin Lake, and then divided into three groups to form three forces, the 31st Regiment of the US 7th Division, known as the "Polar Bear Regiment", was stationed in Xinxingli, while the 1st Marine Division was divided into two teams, one was the headquarters of the 1st Division, the direct subordinate units and the tank regiment stationed in Hagaru, the other was the artillery regiment in the 1st Division and the remaining two marine regiments were stationed in Liutanli.
The 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Marine War in the Chosin Lake area passed through the main map
November 23, 1950, is an important holiday in the West - "Thanksgiving Day", for these American soldiers, they do not want to go to the battlefield on this day, because these people think that if they die on this day, then they will not be able to go to heaven, will you feel funny, under the order of armed intervention in other countries' wars can go to heaven? But in any case, the Korean battlefield ushered in a rare breathing, no aircraft roar and no gunfire. American soldiers are celebrating the festival, but the Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army are not this foreign festival, so while American soldiers drink champagne and eat turkey, Chosin Lake on the other side has been in a tense atmosphere.
Our side threw in the secret entry of the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army into the DPRK, which was originally a strong force stationed in the southeast coastal area and was the main force to liberate the Taiwan region, but because of the military emergency, it was transferred to korea, and the 9th Corps was divided into three units of the 20th, 26th, and 27th Armies. Among them, the 20th Army and the 27th Army, formerly known as the ace elite of the Third Field Army, were set up as the main force in the Chosin Lake area, only to wait for the American soldiers to throw themselves into the net, for the sake of safety, the 26th Army as a reserve team lurked on the east side of Chosin Lake at any time.
Nine Corps on the march
The Two Armies of China and the United States will usher in a brutal battle, at this time they do not know that the Battle of Chosin Lake has become one of the famous battles in the history of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although after the war both sides claimed to have won, but because it was too tragic to be mentioned for a long time. At that time, the Volunteer Army had just finished the first battle, and at that time, the United Nations Army still felt that China at this time was only symbolically sending troops to fight, and did not pay attention to it, and in the face of the Chinese Volunteer Army, they concentrated almost all their firepower to solve the battle with the Chinese side at once, and also declared that they would fully occupy Korea at the end of December to end the war.
Smith, commander of the U.S. First Marine Division
On November 27, a heavy snow covered the War Zone on North Korea's eastern front, and the temperature dropped to minus thirty degrees. By this time, the U.S. 1st and 7th Divisions had entered the Chosin Lake area, and the troops were huge, like a giant python winding in the mountain road, stretching for nearly 50 kilometers. At 18:30 p.m., a loud stormtrooper broke the silence in the valley, and the American soldiers who were marching heard this sound and realized that they were caught in the enemy camp and were helpless. The 20th Army had been lurking in the snow for a long time, and the rain-like attack scattered the US 1st Marine Division, and they were scattered into five sections, knowing that the 1st Marine Division was the proud force in MacArthur's hands, and this "Sword of America" had been regarded as an ace unit since the Pacific War, so they quickly reacted and began to fight wildly. After a night of fierce fighting, the valley was already littered with corpses, covered in blood and ice, and it was impossible to tell whether it was volunteers or American soldiers.
After the battle began, a touching scene was staged here in Huangcaoling, and the 2nd Company of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division, which should have jumped up with the charge to kill the enemy, did not react at all, and when the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield, they found that under the extreme cold, these 125 fighters who were ambushed in the ice and snow had frozen to death on the position, and later when the American troops fleeing south saw them, they thought that the troops were ambushed here, they held steel guns in their hands, and they had always maintained a posture of readiness, who knew that they had become ice sculptures.
Ice sculpture even
In the battle, the U.S. army has begun to lock their eyes on the throat of the southwest mountain range of Chosin Lake - Dead Eagle Ridge, for the 1st Marine Division with a large number of heavy equipment is their only retreat, once captured by the volunteer army, then they will have no way to retreat and can only wait for death, so this also means that Dead Eagle Ridge will have a fierce battle destined to fight each other with their lives. Before the start of the Battle of Chosin Lake, the U.S. army had been firmly in control of the area around Dead Eagle Ridge, but the 20th Army sharp knife unit of the Volunteer Army, led by Zhang Yixiang, had already taken advantage of the night to infiltrate here and let down their sentries to successfully break through the enemy line, and then the Volunteers carried out continuous blasting attacks by throwing grenades, breaking through the deployment of AMERICAN heavy machine guns and taking control of Dead Eagle Ridge. However, this was only a short victory, and the next thing they had to face was the crazy counterattack of the American troops after walking into the poor alley.
In the winter of 1950, the volunteer soldiers of the Chosin Lake Campaign fought tenaciously despite the lack of supplies
In order to regain the retreat route, the U.S. army issued a death order to retake Dead Eagle Ridge at all costs. Tens of thousands of artillery fire almost flattened the area, and at this time the enemy planes also came to support, constantly pouring a large number of petrol bombs into our positions, and suddenly Dead Eagle Ridge fell into a sea of fire. On the one hand is the icy battlefield, on the other hand is the enemy's fierce and non-stop bullets, for the 20th Army guarding the position, more unbearable than the enemy artillery fire is the cold climate, the harsh combat environment of minus thirty degrees is not even aware of the exposed skin, almost every soldier has different degrees of frostbite, and even the nose and ears are frozen and will fall down with a light touch, but they must stick to here, once the US army captures this retreat road, the entire battle of Chosin Lake will be meaningless.
Frostbitten volunteer soldiers
As the encirclement shrank smaller and smaller, the American counterattack became more and more frantic, and by the fifth day of the defensive battle, the volunteer soldiers had rushed out of the trenches and the crazy American soldiers began the most primitive melee combat. On December 1, the United States mobilized heavy military forces to once again carry out a carpet attack on Dead Eagle Ridge, at this time there were less than 60 volunteer soldiers guarding the main peak, all of them frostbitten, but they still held the battlefield with will, at that time the 1st Marine Division could only temporarily abandon the breakthrough of Dead Eagle Ridge in order to survive and flee south, the "Polar Bear Regiment" that was once beautiful was surrendered in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the regimental commander was killed, and the end was that the entire army was destroyed, and our 27th Army also paid a huge price, with nearly 10,000 casualties, more than half of which were frostbitten.
The Volunteers completely annihilated the American Polar Bear Regiment
Surrender of U.S. troops
The polar bear regimental flag captured by the soldiers of the Volunteer Army to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
Today, the regimental flag of the "Polar Bear Regiment" captured that year is stored in the Military Museum in Beijing, and China's war to resist US aggression and aid Korea also ended with the signing of an armistice agreement by the United Nations army. And those ice sculptures that sacrificed on the battlefield, we can never forget, without their fearless sacrifice, there would be no stable and happy life today. Here, we would like to pay tribute to every volunteer soldier and every martyr in the Battle of Chosin Lake!
Volunteer soldiers charged at the Battle of Chosin Lake