introduction
*This article is excerpted from the second series of "Yangxin Literary and Historical Materials" (March 1987), the author Zhu Rongtang (a native of Zhujiazhuang, Lei's hometown, Yangxin County, after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was assigned to Changshu County Agricultural Machinery Factory in Jiangsu Province as branch secretary), the original title is "Memories of the Second Battle of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea - Liutanli Battle Fragment Original Second-Class Battle Hero to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea"
As for the significance of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, textbooks have repeatedly taught us. Given the situation at the time and the impact of decades, it may be the best solution. If it is purely for ordinary North Koreans, I am afraid it is difficult to explain. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom is perhaps the best way to illustrate this – statism is never the road to prosperity. This was true of the Nazi Germany, of the Red Soviet Union, and of the Golden Fat Family...... Not to mention the Khmer Rouge, which has been in turmoil for decades – there is no essential difference between dictatorship and autocracy.
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Time is like an arrow, and thirty-seven years have passed with a flick of a finger. In 1950, less than one year since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the military and people throughout the country are concentrating all their efforts to prepare for the solution of Taiwan's historical mission of accomplishing the great cause of reunifying the motherland. Like the commanders and fighters of the All-China People's Liberation Army, I am actively engaged in training troops at sea and painstakingly training my skills in cross-sea combat in order to liberate Taiwan. At this time, the situation suddenly changed, and US imperialism brazenly launched a war of aggression against the DPRK in a vain attempt to use the DPRK as a springboard to strangle the newly born People's Republic of China in its cradle. The CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao called on us to block the enemy from the gates of China, and not to infringe on the sacred land of the motherland. Under the call of the party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, the people of the whole country quickly set off an upsurge of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea to defend the country and protect their hometowns, and they asked one after another to join the Chinese People's Volunteers and go to the Korean battlefield to fight side by side with the Korean People's Army to fight against US imperialist aggressors, defend the motherland, and defend their hometowns. At this time, I immediately volunteered to join the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
After going to Korea, in the second battle of 1950, the "Liutanli Battle," our 6th Company accepted the combat mission of holding the 124O Heights, blocking the ace army of US imperialism, and attacking the Yalu River of the motherland by the 1st Marine Division. This is the first time that our army has fought millet plus rifles against the modernly armed US military. At that time, I was an ordnance sergeant in the 6th Company. Before the war, the company commander made a brief mobilization for the battle, mainly explaining that the opponent of the battle was the 1st Marine Division of the US Imperial Army, and that it was necessary to hold the 1240 heights and block the enemy's attack. This position was not easy to come by, and it was obtained after bloody battles and repeated battles by fraternal troops. Although this position was not high (only 1,240 meters above sea level), it played a major role in destroying the enemy in Liutanli. The battalion and regimental command post is behind us, and we must be in the position, live and die together with the position, satisfactorily complete the glorious task assigned to us by our superiors, and fight the first battle of the DPRK well.
After the battle mobilization was over, it was getting dark, and we took advantage of the darkness to enter the position and dig fortifications. Because the battle in this position had just ended, the battlefield had not yet been cleaned, and the mountain was littered with corpses, guns and ammunition. After entering the position, the company commander led the platoon commanders to the front of the position to observe the terrain and arrange combat missions. I was near the company command post, collecting some guns and ammunition, and the busier I was, the faster the time passed, and everyone was busy preparing for battle, and before I knew it, the sky was gradually getting brighter. At dawn the next day, two enemy planes circled over our position for reconnaissance, and the company commander ordered the troops to stop operations and enter the position. As soon as the company commander's words fell, the enemy's artillery bombardment began, and at this time, some of them had not yet finished their work, especially the company commanders, who were busy with their work and had not had time to enter the position, were killed and wounded by the enemy's artillery bombardment. The company commander immediately ordered to quickly rescue the wounded and throw them into battle. At this time, the entire position was filled with gunsmoke, and after a while, the three platoons that held the forefront fought with the enemy with grenades. The sound of bombardment by planes and the guns of the enemy attack became one another. Then the company commander received a report from the third platoon requesting reinforcements, and immediately personally led the second platoon of the company's second echelon to attack the third platoon position.
After the company commander left, the company command post was empty. When the company commander attacked, I didn't receive any tasks, I think the troops have gone to the forward position, what am I still doing here? So, I carried some ammunition on my back and followed behind the second platoon, moving towards the forward position. The enemy discovered the line of our movement and blocked the second platoon with heavy artillery, and suddenly a platoon of shells fell on the path of the fifth squad of the second platoon, and the fifth squad suffered heavy casualties. When I found out, I immediately bandaged and rescued them, but after I transferred the wounded to the ambulance, the troops had already gone away. At this time, the enemy planes were still bombing and strafing in the air, and I thought that the gunfire was an order, and there was a fierce gunfire, and there were our fighters fighting. So, I ran in the direction of the fierce gunfire. At that time, the armoured sergeants were unarmed. As I ran, I thought, go to the front line and go directly to the battle, what if I encounter the enemy? So I picked up a gun and a few grenades on the position, ran in the direction where the gunfire was most intense, and just ran 70 or 80 meters, I met Comrade Ju Yuanzeng, the commander of the second platoon, and at this time there were only three people left in the second platoon, so I asked to follow the second platoon to participate in the battle. At this time, I was very sad to learn that the company commander had died honorably in the counterattack. The second platoon commander suddenly discovered that about 70 to 80 meters from the woods down the hill in front of him were dozens of enemies rushing towards our position. Then, fifty or sixty meters to the left, a platoon of the enemy rushed towards us, and the second platoon commander ordered us to seize a high ground in front of us as soon as possible. At this time, my gun was also damaged by the enemy, and at this critical moment, another soldier also died honorably, and the second platoon commander was also seriously wounded, leaving me alone with a six-ying grenade, rushed up, and seized the favorable terrain, at this time it was only twenty or thirty meters away from the enemy, and at this critical moment, I first rushed to the enemy in front of me, threw out three grenades, and pressed the people down the mountain, and the enemy lay down and shot at me. I took the opportunity to lie down on the hidden terrain, and while observing the enemy's movements, I took a breath, turned my head and saw that there were five or six enemies on my flank, and they were surrounding me, only a dozen meters away from me, and I quickly threw two grenades. With the explosion of grenades, the enemy fell in response. While the enemy was falling, I rushed forward with the only remaining grenade, picked up an American eight-shot semi-automatic rifle next to the enemy's corpse, and as soon as I looked up, I found that an enemy had not yet been killed. When the enemy spotted me, he was about to shoot at me, and at that moment, I shot him first. Then he quickly picked up some guns and ammunition, found a hidden place and lay down, waiting for the enemy to attack again. The enemy's defeat further angered the enemy, and the enemy again concentrated artillery fire on our positions. As the enemy's artillery fire extended, the enemy, under the cover of machine guns, rushed towards our position. When the enemy was thirty or forty meters away from me, I immediately fired at the enemy with the captured American semi-automatic rifle, but when the enemy found that I was alone, he became even more emboldened and continued to charge at me. One victory after another has inspired my confidence and fighting spirit to stick to the 124O heights. I took advantage of the gap in the battle to gather some ammunition and guns and prepare for another attack by the enemy. After waiting for about half an hour, I discovered that a platoon of the enemy was firing at my rear position with two machine guns seventy or eighty meters behind me. At that time, I felt very strange, and in order to find out the enemy's situation, I secretly climbed out and looked in the direction of the enemy's shooting, only to see that the enemy's machine guns were blocking the movement road of our battalion's second echelon to support the 124O heights. I quickly found a favorable terrain and aimed at the enemy's machine-gun shooter, which was a shuttle, and one of the enemy's machine guns immediately became dumb, and the shooter of the other machine gun threw down the gun and fled. Soon, a platoon of the 5th Company, which reinforced the 1240 Heights, quickly entered the battle and, after a struggle with the enemy, consolidated the position that was about to be lost. However, when the enemy found out about the arrival of our reinforcements, he concentrated his artillery fire even more frantically and fiercely bombarded our positions. My ears were buzzing with the tremors, the snow on the mountain was gone, the trees on the mountain were broken off, some were uprooted, and the whole position was scorched. After a while, the enemy's artillery fire began to extend to the rear of our position, and I took advantage of the gap to fill the bullets, opened the lid of the grenade, prepared for battle, and watched the enemy attack. At this very moment, the enemy, with the strength of a battalion, began a larger-scale attack on our positions from three sides. A platoon of the fifth company on the enemy's flank had already engaged the enemy with grenades. The fact that the platoon of the 5th Company was engaged in the battle strengthened my confidence, and I raised my submachine gun and fired a fierce strafing fire on the enemy, and seven or eight of the enemy fell on the spot, and the enemy was crushed on the mountainside only forty or fifty meters away from me. At this time, the platoon commander Comrade Xu Damo also ran towards us, and I was very happy that under the joint resistance of me and Xu Platoon Commander, the enemy's attack was crushed again. In the end, the enemy concentrated artillery fire on our position, and I was wounded in the leg and mouth, and blood flowed. The hygienist of the fifth company also came up, and he quickly bandaged my wounds, and just as I was about to finish bandaging, a volley of enemy shells came and landed near us, and the hygienist died honorably in order to cover me from being hit by shrapnel. When I saw this scene, I felt very sad, and the platoon commander, Comrade Xu Damo, comforted me while mobilizing me to withdraw from the position. I said, "If you are slightly injured, you must avenge your comrades-in-arms." After a day of intense fighting, dozens of enemy attacks were crushed. In order to accomplish the task of holding on to the 1240 heights, I endured the cold, hunger, thirst, and severe pain from my wounds, and made preparations for the war.
When it was almost dark, the enemy, who was afraid of the night battle, was shaken at the foot of the mountain, and when I found the enemy in disarray, I shouted: "Comrades, rush!" The enemy has fled! Taking advantage of the darkness, he rushed down, fired fiercely at the enemy, recaptured the forward positions occupied by the enemy, and drove the remnants of the enemy back into the willow pool. The 1240 Heights were still under the control of our army, laying the foundation for the future annihilation of the enemy in Liutanli.
It was getting darker and darker, and we lay down on our positions, and at about nine or ten o'clock in the evening, the battalion commander sent a messenger to find us and say: "You have successfully completed the combat mission, and the battalion commander orders you to return to the battalion command post and accept a new combat mission." In the end, only six people withdrew from the forward positions. When we returned to the battalion headquarters command post, the battalion commander was busy studying the battle plan in Liutanli.
After the end of the second campaign, I was awarded a commendation by the army commander and was awarded a special meritorious service, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea awarded me the Medal of Honor for a soldier of the first class. In 1951, I joined the delegation of the Chinese People's Volunteers returning to China and honorably attended the first meeting of heroes and models of the Third Field Army of the East China Military Region. After the congress, he reported to the people of various provinces and municipalities in East China on the deeds of the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea. The honor I have won is the result of the long-term training and education of the party and leaders at all levels, the result of the bloody sacrifice and heroic struggle of countless martyrs, the result of the coordinated operations of all fraternal units, and the result of the vigorous support of the people of the whole country in every possible way.
Original editor's note:
Comrade Zhu Rongtang is a native of Zhujiazhuang, Lei's hometown in our county. After the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was assigned to Changshu County Agricultural Machinery Factory in Jiangsu Province as the branch secretary.
Sources:
Yangxin Literature and History Materials, Volume 2 (March 1987)