What kind of army is the Volunteer Army? Except for the volunteer soldiers themselves and the leaders of the Military Commission, I am afraid that no one can have a better say on this issue than their opponents. As the commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces and a strong opponent of Mr. Peng, American General Li Qiwei used a lot of pen and ink to describe the Korean War in his memoirs, and also spent a lot of space to tell the world about the volunteers in his eyes.
For the Chinese, he should be a more difficult opponent than MacArthur, and compared with MacArthur, who was arrogant and often underestimated the enemy, Li Qiwei, who was born as a staff officer, was more cautious, and on the basis of relying on equipment superiority, he was more able to grasp the strategic characteristics of himself and his opponent. Therefore, it also created a lot of trouble for the volunteers. The fox of the battlefield is worthy of its name. What kind of confrontation did Li Qiwei have with the officers and men of the Volunteer Army? What would he say about the opponents he failed to beat?
Take over the command and grasp the key
In October 1950, the prelude to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea began, which brought about obvious changes in the situation on the Korean battlefield. The Chinese army, which is not favored by almost all countries, showed excellent combat capabilities in its first appearance after going to North Korea.
However, MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces at this time, did not realize the seriousness of the problem. As an outstanding general known to Americans, he has the arrogance that Westerners often have. In his opinion, the victory of the volunteer army was due to the preference of luck.
The time and place are favorable, and these three are indeed indispensable in the battle between the two armies. However, only the time and place are favorable, and without a group of excellent warriors throwing their heads and spilling blood, it is impossible to win the battle.
The megalomaniacal commander-in-chief said that he was going to wipe out the volunteer troops before Christmas, and then take his boys home for the holidays.
He also said that the Yalu River is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome, and that the Chinese volunteers are not a force that cannot be humiliated.
MacArthur was blinded by his prejudices, and he lost one after another, and was eventually replaced by Ridgway as commander-in-chief.
At the end of 1950, the battered United States had to make a change and send a Chinese expert to the Korean battlefield, and he was Li Qiwei.
This is an American soldier who once served as a deputy company commander of the US troops in Tianjin, and he is quite familiar with the military thinking of the Chinese, and he does not think highly of himself like MacArthur.
Although his fame is not as great as MacArthur's, his combat experience is also well-known.
The Sicily landing campaign of 1943 was a victory for the large-scale night airborne operations created by Ridgway. He showed the American generals that large-scale operations could still be fought in this way.
The subsequent Normandy landings made Ridgway even more famous. Since then, he has served as commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and later as deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Army.
His practical experience determined that he had a completely different way of thinking from MacArthur. As a general who was known for his carefulness and subtlety, he was actually more difficult to deal with than MacArthur.
In fact, for the volunteers, it is indeed much more difficult to fight opposite Li Qiwei. He was able to use Lin's astute strategic vision to see the weakness of the Volunteer Army.
There is no doubt that the volunteer army is strong. Unlike his previous commanders, who blindly attributed the actual victories of the volunteers to luck, he actually saw the strength of the military capabilities of each Chinese soldier.
At the same time, he also realized that the Volunteer Army is not a steel plate without weaknesses. There is no money, no materials, and logistics cannot keep up, and this is the biggest shortcoming of the Chinese side.
Normally, a fierce attack or surprise attack by the Volunteer Army can only last about five days. Sometimes they go deep behind enemy lines for three to five hours to wreak havoc, and when the time comes, they can only withdraw.
This is because the supplies they carry to sustain themselves can only last for a week, and sometimes for a shorter period of time. When the supplies are exhausted, they can only withdraw, or they will be trapped alive and die because they run out of ammunition and food, making senseless sacrifices.
In Ridgway's memoirs, he explicitly mentions this very characteristic worship offensive. The attack of the volunteers took about a week as a cycle, and when the time came, even if they had the upper hand, the volunteers would not be able to take advantage of the victory to pursue.
Looking back now, many Chinese will feel that this is a very regrettable thing. If the soldiers of the volunteer army can eat enough, even if they can divide two or three more frozen potatoes every day to fill their stomachs, then the time to resist US aggression and aid Korea may be shortened a lot.
If they can eat fresh vegetables and fruits, eat protein-supplemented beef and all kinds of canned food like the Americans, then it is very likely that the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea will be finished in about a year.
We have no doubt about the fighting ability of the volunteers, and in those difficult conditions, the loveliest group of people have done the best they can.
Such a distinct feature of the worship offensive allowed Ridgway to find a breakthrough. He began to focus on sabotaging the logistics supply lines of the volunteers, such as bombing our communication routes, accurately attacking our logistics troops, and sending bombers to pour out day and night.
The volunteers were good at night fighting, and Ridgway ordered American and United Nations troops to use incendiary bombs in large quantities. Their style is to consume resources like they don't want money.
The night was turned into day by their incendiary bombs, and the Americans were trying their best to destroy the close and night superiority of the volunteers. The change in their fighting style also shows that Ridgway is a rather difficult opponent.
Fortunately, there is a sky outside the sky, and there are people outside the people, and under such difficult conditions and such huge pressure, the volunteer soldiers still carried it. Even if there is a large number of non-combat attrition, even if the objective environment is quite unfavorable for us, victory will ultimately be ours.
Later generations always said that the volunteers fought the battles of three generations in one generation, and the suffering of three generations was endured by one generation. Their dedication and sacrifice have slowly become notes in history that can never be stopped.
How fierce and tough they are, the opponent's feelings are always the most intuitive. In his memoirs, Li Qiwei devoted many pages to describing the volunteers in his memory.
It can be seen that the volunteers are very admired by him, even if everyone is fighting to the death for their own country, but they are also soldiers, they can still achieve a kind of identity resonance in some things.
The most ferocious, not afraid of death
"This is the most ferocious army." Li Qiwei said. In his eyes, or in the eyes of many American GIs, the volunteer soldiers were like the Grim Reaper who came from hell to ask for their lives.
It is no exaggeration to say that they may have never seen such an army of volunteers who would not die when they started a war.
This often happens on the battlefield, when in the American garrison bunkers, several volunteer soldiers suddenly appeared. There are not many of them, and they cooperate with each other very tacitly, and with a glance or a few gestures, you can understand the next action intention.
Several people signaled to each other, cooperated with each other, wore shoes on their feet, and quietly advanced, crossing the line of defense under the noses of American sentinels. The opponents have already arrived at their doorstep, but the American soldiers are still unaware.
Going deep behind enemy lines, Chinese soldiers are the best at it. Once they have successfully reached the opposing position, they will look for military bases to hide important weapons, and then stuff a few blasters or grenades into them to leave the enemy with memories that will last a lifetime.
Sometimes, they would also launch surprise attacks in conjunction with the main forces of the Volunteer Army. Their actions fall from the perspective of American soldiers, like ghostly divine soldiers descending from the sky.
Before the American soldier knew that danger had come under his nose, he heard the trumpet of the Volunteer Charge suddenly blowing on his own position. Then they didn't have time to react, they didn't have time to make strategic deployments, and the prelude to the battle was already kicked off by the volunteers.
Seizing the opportunity on the battlefield originally represents more possibilities to seize the odds of victory. Therefore, the volunteers who deploy and act before the American soldiers are often able to crush them in surprise wars.
And it is worth mentioning that since some of the heavy weapons and equipment of the United States may be destroyed by the raiding volunteers, even if they react and want to confront the volunteers, they have no capital to turn over.
The horn of the charge, which sounded without warning in the depths of twilight, fell into the ears of the Americans, no less than the sound of a call for life. Because the next second they heard the horn of the charge belonging to the volunteers, they could lose their lives.
In addition to the surprise warfare, in the peacetime positional warfare and confrontation war, the charging horn of the volunteer army is also like a magic sound to them.
In peacetime, when fighting with mechanized weapons and covering each other's positions with firepower, the sound of the horn of the charge is generally not sounded. However, when the battle enters the white-hot stage and the two sides enter the hand-to-hand combat link, the charge horn will become the most important signal to boost the morale of the volunteers.
At this time, the volunteer soldiers had a momentum of God blocking and killing gods and Buddhas. No matter who stands in the way of the enemy, whether it is a diminutive South Korean force or a tall United Nations force, they will not be afraid, let alone show mercy.
The Americans had never seen soldiers fighting like this, carrying submachine guns and bayonets desperately slashing forward. Sometimes, knowing that the enemy's bayonet would stab them in the heart, they would rather give up their lives than send their own bayonets into the enemy's chest.
In the words of our Chinese, this is called one for one without loss, and killing two is even more blood gain.
Fierce, not afraid of death, not afraid of death, these words are not exaggerated at all on the volunteer army.
However, the volunteer army in Li Qiwei's eyes is not such a one-sided army. In fact, in his opinion, the Chinese volunteer army is also the most civilized in the world.
Be kind to your captives and show your demeanor
On the battlefield of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the United States and China are inseparable opposites. But even so, Chinese soldiers will strictly abide by relevant international regulations and norms, never abuse prisoners, and even show selfless humanitarian spirit and great power demeanor in front of the prisoners.
Sometimes, in the face of the enemy's attitude, we can often see the true bottom line of a nation. The national demeanor displayed in the war is often the most direct evidence of national charm.
Li Qiwei mentioned that the Chinese volunteer soldiers treated their captives very kindly, even if these prisoners had killed their own comrades, and they would not bully the weak after the opponent lost the ability to resist and fight.
Frontal confrontation under equal conditions is the open and upright combat style of the Volunteer Army. They will not take advantage of the situation, let alone tarnish the image of the country by mistreating the prisoners.
The materials of the volunteer army are very limited, whether it is daily necessities or medical supplies, they are very precious among the troops. But even so, when the captives encountered life-threatening problems, they were willing to offer the only food and medicine they had to help their former opponents get out of danger.
If nothing else, just talking about this pattern is not something that the military of any country can do.
Li Qiwei also deliberately compared the style of the North Korean army with that of the Chinese volunteers, and that the North Koreans would not treat their prisoners well, and sometimes they would torture and kill them. Of course, these practices can be understood from their standpoint.
It's just that compared with the practice of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, it belongs to the style of the country, and it is still superior.
Sometimes, when some seriously wounded prisoners were encountered, the volunteers not only did not take advantage of the most painful time of others to mend their knives, but also placed them on stretchers and placed them on the side of the road. And Li Qiwei also admitted that when they handed over the wounded, the volunteer troops would never take advantage of the chaos to shoot.
In fact, such a fine military demeanor was not only reflected in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In the years of the revolutionary war, the Chinese army always upheld such a demeanor.
Our army will try its best to educate the enemy who can be civilized, fundamentally change the ideological outlook of the other side, and solve the root causes of the existence of the conflict. Even if they can't be civilized, our soldiers will not casually take a person's life.
The U.S. government has often clamoured about human rights and that all men are created equal. These concepts are actually more like slogans in their mouths, and the class division and hierarchy of American society are very strict.
Although China does not like to shout slogans, it has always put the spirit of humanitarianism into concrete actions. Even in the face of the enemy, we will leave the other side with the human rights and dignity they deserve.
Civilization is not only the demeanor of an army, but also the demeanor of a country and a nation. As a ceremonial country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization development, China will naturally never admit defeat in this regard.
We have the most ferocious army in the world, and they can stand in front of the people of the whole country like a sharp sword, blocking all external threats. We also have the most civilized army in the world, they are the protector of the people, and they are the loveliest people.
epilogue
Although Ridgway is a difficult opponent to deal with, it is undeniable that he is also an opponent who deserves respect. He recognized the capabilities and merits of the volunteers, and he was also able to wisely use the battlefield situation and the comparison of strength to make strategic planning. At the same time, he has shown respect for his opponents, describing his best opponents in a comprehensive and objective way.
Reference:
China Youth Daily:
"Memoirs of Ridgway, 38th Parallel" by Ridgway