On April 22, 1951, the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was officially launched, and due to the addition of three new corps and the replacement of many Soviet-style equipment, the volunteer offensive was fierce. However, the new commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army", Ridgway, was much more difficult than MacArthur, keenly discovering the weakness of the volunteer army's insufficient logistics, inventing targeted "magnetic tactics", maintaining limited contact with the volunteer army, and killing and wounding our army with superior firepower.
With regard to Ridgway's new tactic, our army lacked preparation and insufficient response, so it was invincible on the battlefield, and although the front line was pushed forward by tens of kilometers, the number of annihilated enemies was far from the expected goal. Moreover, as the front line continued to lengthen, the logistical supply began to fail to keep up, and the front-line troops were already short of food and ammunition, and Shiji was forced to order a retreat to rest. Seeing that there was an opportunity, Li Qiwei immediately mobilized heavy troops and launched a full-line counterattack.
The US army is a mechanized march, extremely fast, coupled with our army's underestimation of the enemy's counterattack, there is no alternate cover retreat, and soon fell into passivity in the overall situation. On May 27, 1951, after the U.S. army entered the line of Wenshan, Yongping, Huachuan, Fupingli, and Linjiao, it continued to attack in the direction of Tieyuan and Yangkou. Tieyuan is not only an important material replenishment base for the volunteer army, but also a very important transportation hub, if the US military captures the iron plain, the retreat route of hundreds of thousands of troops of the volunteer army will be cut off, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
At this time, the closest to Tieyuan was Fu Chongbi's 63rd Army, and Peng Dehuai immediately gave the task of defending Tieyuan to the 63rd Army, and issued a death order: "At any cost, hold the position and prevent the enemy from attacking. At this time, after the first and second phases of offensive operations, the 63rd Army has undergone a certain reduction in personnel, and the total strength is only more than 24,000 people, while the US army on the opposite side is 4 divisions of more than 50,000 people, with more than 1,600 artillery pieces of various types, more than 300 tanks, and strong air support.
The firepower of the troops is inferior to that of the opponent, so how can we hold the position? After consulting with several division commanders, Fu Chongbi decided to "lighten the front and rear weight" in the deployment of troops, and the firepower should be "heavy before and light after the rear."At the same time, there were fewer troops in the forward positions and more troops, so as to minimize the damage caused by the enemy's artillery fire, and to dispatch small detachments at night to attack and harass the enemy, stagnating and exhausting the enemy. Under the guidance of this operational ideology, the 63rd Army fought a bloody battle between Tieyuan and the superior enemy for 12 days and nights, which won extremely valuable time for the main force of the volunteer army to establish a solid defensive position on the 38th Line.
In the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, the 63rd Army killed and wounded more than 15,000 enemy troops, and it also paid the price of more than 20,000 casualties. When the surviving warriors of the 63rd Army withdrew from the battlefield, Peng Dehuai personally came to visit, looking at these ragged soldiers with smoke on their faces, peng Dehuai, who had been in the battlefield for a long time, had tears in his eyes, and he choked up and said: "The motherland thanks you!" Everyone present burst into tears. Fu Chongbi was also seriously injured in this blood and fire blockade battle, and was in a coma for four days and four nights before waking up.
In the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, Fu Chongbi turned the tide and guarded the life passage for the main force of the retreating volunteer army, and made great contributions. However, when the rank was awarded in 1955, Fu Chongbi, as the commander of the 63rd Army, was only awarded the rank of major general. Many people believe that this is because of Fu Chongbi's shallow qualifications, although he joined the Red Army at the age of 16, he was a political work cadre for a long time, and his position was not high, until the end of the Liberation War, when he served as deputy political commissar of the 64th Army of the 19th Corps.
If you only look at seniority, Fu Chongbi has no problem conferring major generals, but he has made great achievements in the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, and he should have extra points when awarding the title. Let's take two examples to compare and we all know that Pi Dingjun, who should have been awarded the title of major general because of his outstanding military achievements in the Central Plains Breakthrough, eventually became a lieutenant general; Cui Jiangong, commander of the 45th Division, joined the Red Army after being captured in the Battle of Zhiluozhen, and his seniority was far inferior to That of Fu Chongbi, and his position was not as good as Fu Chongbi's, but because of his outstanding performance in the Battle of Shangganling, he was finally awarded the rank of major general.
If you refer to Pi Dingjun and Cui Jiangong, Fu Chongbi, who performed qigong in the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, should be awarded the title of Lieutenant General, and the main reason why he lost a star was that before the Tieyuan Blockade Battle, the performance of the 63rd Army was not ideal. After the start of the fifth campaign, when the 63rd Army was forcibly crossing the Linjin River, the leading group of the army did not grasp the timing of the 189th Division's input, and not only released the Belgian battalion, but also suffered heavy bombing losses from enemy aircraft, and the division commander Xu Cheng was greatly remembered.
In the second stage of the campaign, the 63rd Army was entangled by the ROK 6th Division, and the use of reserves failed to nibble the enemy down, and the American army took advantage of the situation to attack and surrounded the 63rd Army. Seeing that the situation was critical, Fu Chongbi did not have time to ask Zhisi for instructions, and led his troops to retreat decisively, thus exposing the left wing of the Third Corps, and the 180th Division was also in an extremely unfavorable situation. Both battles were deducted points, and although the famous Tieyuan Blockade Battle was later fought, Fu Chongbi was eventually awarded the rank of major general.