British strategist Robert Brown. Dr. O'Neill, in his book "The Battle of Changjin Lake", once commented on the Battle of Changjin Lake: "From their victory, China has become a world power that can no longer be despised by others.
This "victory" is the battle of Changjin Lake, and in 2021, the movie "Changjin Lake" will be released in China, and this movie will show the magnificent battle scenes to the fullest, so that people can have a more intuitive understanding of this war that has passed more than 70 years ago while watching the movie.
It is said that art comes from life and is higher than life, but in fact, the real battle of Changjin Lake is more shocking than the one deduced in film and television dramas, and it makes people feel that the older generation is respectable and admirable. In this battle, there was also a "famous scene" of 2,000 volunteers chasing and beating 100,000 American troops.
Despite this, the United States has always insisted that it has won a great victory on the Korean battlefield, but the truth is clear. So, who is the real winner in this brutal war?
The enemy pressed the border, and the volunteers entered the DPRK
In 1950, the smoke of World War II gradually dissipated, but the world did not usher in real peace, and the two camps of the United States and the Soviet Union tried their best to reshape the post-war world pattern in order to compete for the position of hegemon, and local wars and conflicts continued.
At that time, the U.S. military was invincible on all kinds of battlefields with its sophisticated equipment, and had great ambition and confidence in dominating the world.
The outbreak of the Korean Civil War on June 25, 1950 plunged the Korean people into dire straits, and at the same time gave the United States an opportunity to control Asia.
The United States immediately responded by sending troops to intervene in the Korean civil war, which soon reached the border between China and North Korea.
In addition to 160,000 soldiers, the US military also used 1,100 fighter planes, 900 tanks, and countless guns and ammunition. Coupled with the military of South Korea and other countries, the total strength of the US military exceeds 550,000, and the overall strength cannot be underestimated.
Among these units is the 1st Marine Division, the most proud of the U.S. military, which annihilated nearly 40,000 Japanese troops with 16,000 troops in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
While winning the war, it also gave the United States a huge advantage in the Pacific Campaign, and it can be said that it has a proud record. Based on his own strong military strength, MacArthur, a five-star general of the US military, claimed before the war that he "wanted to end the war before Thanksgiving."
At that time, New China had just been founded, and all Chinese were looking forward to living a peaceful life, but if they did not fight back in the face of the provocation of the US military, the enemy would think that New China was weak and could be bullied, and more countries would provoke trouble against New China in the future.
In order to keep the enemy out of the country, Chairman Mao ordered 150,000 volunteers to cross the Yalu River and enter the main battlefield in Korea, starting a vigorous battle to defend the homeland and defend the country.
Compared with the well-equipped US troops, the volunteers were particularly hasty when they went to the battlefield, and some young soldiers had just returned to their hometowns and returned to their units at the call of the Party Central Committee, and the rest of the supplies except the necessary weapons and equipment were not yet ready.
Therefore, when they set foot on Korean soil, many soldiers had not yet put on cotton clothes, and the minimum temperature in North Korea at that time had reached minus 40 degrees Celsius.
While the U.S. troops were enjoying the abundant food, the volunteer soldiers could only feed their hunger with potatoes, and even then they could only supply two per person per day.
It can be said that the soldiers of the Volunteer Army are not only fighting to the death against the US army, but are also enduring the tests of severe cold, hunger, shortage of materials, inferior equipment, etc., but despite this, their belief in defending their home and country has never wavered in the slightest.
Ice and snow Changjin Lake
Just when the Volunteer Army was undergoing many tests, the U.S. Army continued to advance northward to maximize the results of the battle, and their troops advanced along the Qingchuan River in two routes, and the eastern front came to Changjin Lake, and the purpose was extremely not simple.
The troops on the Eastern Front have been advancing northward, but in fact, they want to make a detour to the rear of the Western Front of the Volunteers, so as to form a situation of encirclement between the front and rear, and a game between the 10th Army of the US Army and the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army has begun.
The 10th Army of the US Army on the Eastern Front has a total of more than 100,000 troops, and there is also a large number of air force, navy, naval aviation and other support, plus the total number of troops of other countries, the total strength is much more than that of the Volunteer Army.
Although there are more than 200,000 troops on the Eastern Front on the volunteer army, they are only troops on paper, and the actual number of people who can join Changjin Lake is only 160,000, and the military equipment is much worse than that of the US army.
In the face of the enemy's large army pressing, the volunteer soldiers, under the arrangement of Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, intercepted the invading American troops separately, and the Battle of Changjin Lake began.
Before the battle began, Chairman Mao and Commander-in-Chief Peng formulated the operational policy of "luring the enemy deep and breaking through each one."
The geographical environment of the Eastern Front battlefield isolated the various units of the US army, so although the number of volunteers was small, as long as the two legs ran fast enough, they could achieve a situation of divine soldiers descending from the sky and suddenly attacking the US army.
At that time, the 27th Army completely annihilated the 31st Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division of the US Army in Xinxingli; The 20th Army climbed over the rugged mountains to withstand the US army's flight from the south to the north; The 1st Marine Division, which was known for its tenacity, also encountered resistance and had to choose to retreat.
Originally, the U.S. troops on the Eastern Front were full of confidence, but the elusive volunteers overwhelmed them, and the defeat was irreparable and they were forced to retreat, but it was not so easy to retreat.
Subsequently, the Ninth Corps led by Song Shilun marched rapidly as the main force of the Battle of Changjin Lake and arrived in the combat area in early November 1950.
After arriving at the battlefield, the Ninth Corps did not rush to engage the American troops, but lurked in the woods and valleys to complete the encirclement of the American troops, and monitored every move of the American troops at all times.
"Although the battle has not officially begun, there is a lot of trepidation in everyone's hearts. During the day, we always feel that someone is watching us all the time, and at night, everyone is even more afraid to sleep peacefully, for fear that they will be killed by the volunteers in their dreams. ”
On 27 November, the Volunteers had completed the encirclement of the Xinxingli area, and that night nearly 100,000 volunteers launched a fierce attack on the US troops.
After a night of scuffle, the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division were cut apart layer by layer, and the surviving American troops gathered together with all their might, and then hurriedly fled to the corner of the lower corner.
This move of the US army played into the hands of the volunteers, because on this route, there were also ambushes of our soldiers.
Therefore, this route became the "Huarong Road" of the US army, which only took three days to reach the 22-kilometer journey, and was fiercely attacked by the volunteers who followed it shortly after arriving.
In the face of the extremely brave volunteers, the US troops at this time had no intention of fighting, and leaving the battlefield alive became their greatest wish.
Under the leadership of Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, more than 100,000 American troops retreated to Hungnan Harbor, and MacArthur's ambitions were completely crushed.
In fact, at that time, the Volunteer Army was already "at the end of its strong crossbow", and there were only a handful of people who could continue to fight after the tragic battle, and there were only more than 2,000 soldiers pursuing the American army.
Where did the rest go? Most of the soldiers had already frozen to death and suffered frostbite before the battle began, and the advanced weapons and equipment of the US army also greatly reduced the number of volunteers to the army.
The heroism of the volunteers
Taking the 1st Marine Division as an example, they retreated from the road from Gutuli to Zhenxingli, and the Volunteers controlled the commanding heights on both sides of the highway in advance, so that the US troops only advanced more than 30 kilometers in 77 hours.
First of all, the military equipment of the volunteers is not as good as that of the US army, and secondly, the logistics and material support are not as good as the US army, especially the cold and warm clothing, but there are tens of thousands of casualties among the volunteers in this resistance war.
At the beginning, it was mentioned that the food of the volunteers was very scarce, and even then it could not be guaranteed, the food covered by heavy snow could not be delivered in time, and Changjin Lake was sparsely populated and could not raise food, so the volunteers could only rely on people's backs to send food, so that they could only eat some potatoes without filling.
Sometimes, in order to get to the next battlefield in time, the potatoes have to be eaten before they have much to eat, and in order to conserve their strength, the few grains they have to save for the next attack are not over.
If you want to take it by surprise, you must hide it, and it is indeed easy to hide when covered with snowflakes on heavy snowy days, but the cold also brings great damage to the volunteers, and the number of people who are directly frostbitten is even more due to the war.
From a distance, it seemed that his comrade-in-arms was still alive, but when he walked over and pushed it, he found that he had frozen with the gun, and such a scene happened more than once.
Even so, at the beginning of the war, the volunteers still had to fight with the American army, and the cold froze the bolts and grenades, and they could only engage in hand-to-hand combat with them.
Frostbite, freezing to death, combat attrition, etc., caused some battalions of the Volunteer Army to have only a few dozen people left in the end, and some companies only had single digits left in the end, for example, the 1st Battalion of the 262nd Regiment had 780 people when it entered the DPRK, and in the end only 5 people remained.
But even so, the volunteers still did not give up, and the small forces still did not give up, frequently interspersed on the battlefield, posing a threat to the US army.
These people added up to about 2,000 people, but the U.S. army at that time had become a frightened bird, and they had suffered a lot in the powerful interspersed battles and blocking battles of the volunteers, and they had no time to care about how many troops were left in the volunteers, so they only knew how to flee in one go.
In this way, there was a miraculous scene of 2,000 men chasing and beating 100,000 men on the Korean battlefield, and after arriving at the port of Hungnam, the US troops did not dare to stay at all, and boarded the warship and fled.
Before leaving, 34,000 artillery shells and 12,800 rockets were rained down, forcing the volunteers not to get close. After this war, the US army only lost a large amount of materials, and the number of people lost was not large, and the army structure was basically sound.
In contrast, the number of losses of the volunteers is painful, none of them died on the battlefield, most of them lost their lives because of the severe cold, and some died on the road......
After the war, the American army considered itself intact, while the volunteers suffered heavy losses, so they considered themselves the victors.
However, from a global point of view, the 9 Corps guaranteed the security of the flanks of the troops on the Western Front, which caused a crushing defeat for the elite units of the American army, and the result was achieved.
In general, the Battle of Changjin Lake was a great victory for our army on the Korean battlefield, and the victory in this battle completely smashed the US army's aggressive plan and also turned the tide of the war on the Korean battlefield in essence.
However, in the face of the defeat on the battlefield of Changjin Lake, the United States regarded itself as the victor, on the grounds that its own casualties on the battlefield were far lower than those of the volunteers.
In 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also described the performance of the U.S. military on the battlefield of Changjin Lake as a "miraculous achievement" in a public speech.
No matter which side you stand on, the cruelty of the Battle of Changjin Lake is undoubted, and from the moment the war began, both sides on the battlefield were destined to pay a heavy price.
Living in an era of peace, we should also cherish the hard-won life in front of us. What do you think differently about this?
Resources: https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=WOgJpqC0z4bRyVst-_pTDe3LrLPCNBxuu4Ka0qv_Xl4rLfin0QSOE9BkJ2J8OWfjf-SUIQYcMESYrok9-UqbE6IDd-NcWn9mUb4_Lq0xrcXZV_oBQHJgdGhY7_baU1aYc8zWZ2ng7bfGGNVHejotEg==&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS
https://kns.cnki.net/kcms2/article/abstract?v=WOgJpqC0z4b4Ke30tU3HfRF9BEe52i26AYoPp_XHjBsMh_sbS3-B33sDlhtfqNbZzrUttr5Yp3e2-YJqCzY6W2LOecQ3oyNtkx40aNGd3cGRsDLKq1qgrsWvMGKdq5QIApwy1AlMmEq8fvGspxgs3Q==&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS