On the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, a special unit made outstanding achievements and created many miracles in Korea. They were the first to invade Seoul; they set a record for annihilating a British tank battalion; and they withstood the frenzied attacks of the Americans at the cost of more than half of the casualties on the famous Han River Line.
This army is a legend on the Korean battlefield, Chinese the 50th Army of the People's Volunteer Army. There are many stories and legends about this unit, as well as their commander, Zeng Zesheng, who is also a legendary general.
But it was such an outstanding general in our army who was not a member of the Communist Party, and he once proposed to actively join the Party, but Chairman Mao rejected him. What's going on here?
Let's take a look at the story of General Zeng Zesheng.
Zeng Zesheng was born in Yunnan, where the four seasons are like spring and the scenery is beautiful, when he was young, he saw the backwardness of the country and the suffering of the people, and like many young people with lofty ideals at that time, he realized that the most direct reason why China was backward was that the army was too backward and weak. Therefore, he was determined to join the army and serve the country.
He was admitted to the Yunnan Daowu Hall, and later was admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy, and his military achievements were very good. But his path to the military was not so smooth.
Zeng Zesheng had a straight personality and an upright personality, and he was extremely disgusted with the corrupt atmosphere in the official arena at that time, so when he graduated from the military academy, he was incompatible with the chief officer of the army where he belonged, and it was difficult to get the space to play.
It was not until Long Yun became the chairman of Yunnan Province that Zeng Zesheng returned to Yunnan to serve in the military under Long Yun. Long Yun attached great importance to the construction of the Dian Army, and vigorously promoted talented young yunnan officers, and Zeng Zesheng was one of the best. Because of his bravery in battle and excellent military quality, Zeng Zesheng was quickly promoted and promoted to the post of regimental commander. Become one of the few young celebrities in the Dian Army system.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese launched the long-planned Lugou Bridge Incident, and a full-scale war of aggression against China broke out. As soon as the battle began, the military and people of the whole country were indignant. Long Yun also responded to the voice of the people of the whole country and sent his cousin Lu Han to lead the Dian army to North China to support the anti-Japanese resistance, and the regiment led by Zeng Zesheng was the main force of this expedition.
The first battlefield the Dian army went to was Taierzhuang. And here in charge of the overall command was their old rival of the Dian Army, Li Zongren of the Gui clan. The Warlords of the Gui and Dian clans have fought many battles over the years for territory, and the grievances between the two sides are also quite deep.
Before the generals of the Dian army arrived on the battlefield, they were worried about whether Li Zongren would declare a personal vendetta, and after the Dian army entered the battle, they found that the battle sent to them by Li Zongren was very difficult to fight, and the Dian army suffered heavy casualties.
Many generals of the Dian Army watched their brothers for many years fall on the land of a foreign land one by one, and no one even collected the corpses, and they could not swallow this breath. So they clamored to take the troops back to Yunnan, so that the battle would not be fought.
When Lu Han saw that his generals were actually making trouble because of the sight of the portal at this time, he was furious and rushed to the crown, and took out a snatch and slapped it on the table. He yelled, "What are you going to do?" Where are you going? Now is not the time for our own people to fight our own people, what the Japanese devils want to destroy is the species of our Chinese, and we are now fighting for the whole nation. Our battle was not easy to fight, and many brothers died. Is the battle of the Gui clan easy to fight? Aren't they hundreds of thousands of dead people every day? If the battle is not good, it will not be fought? Are you afraid of the many dead? Who dares to say that Lao Tzu will shoot him now when he goes home, so as not to embarrass us Yunnan people! ”
Zeng Zesheng was touched by Lu Han's righteousness at that time, so he took the lead in leading a group of generals of the Palace Army back to the battlefield and continued to fight with the Japanese army to the death.
To be fair, it was indeed very difficult to win the great victory of Taierzhuang, and Li Zongren not only had Gui troops under his command, but also many local warlord troops such as the Dian Army and the Sichuan Army. And it was these warriors of various provinces, whom Chiang Kai-shek despised as a miscellaneous army, who severely damaged the Japanese army in Taierzhuang with their flesh and blood, and fought the first great victory of the Nationalist army against the Japanese army on the frontal battlefield.
After that, Zeng Zesheng participated in many large-scale battles on the anti-Japanese battlefield, and because of his outstanding military achievements, he was gradually promoted to the commander of the 60th Army of the Nationalist Army. Of course, the 60th Army is still the old foundation of the Dian Army, and it has not been included in chiang kai-shek's concubine line.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army was the main force in the front, many troops from various provinces also participated in the war and made great contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance, the most famous of which was the Dian Army led by Lu Han, in addition to the Sichuan Army.
Because Yunnan is located in the rear area and has an important position in the international corridor between Yunnan and Burma, Yunnan has not received the spread of war during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Various industries and U.S. military aid took root in Yunnan, which became one of the few areas that could be developed at that time.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek focused his attention on the territory of Yunnan. Yunnan was able to develop in such a way in the era of war and strife, and Long Yun was indispensable, so he was the first person Chiang Kai-shek had to get rid of.
Long Yun was also a generation of tyrants, and if he wanted to get rid of him, he must first transfer his troops away from his side. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Dian army to form the main force of the Second Expeditionary Force and once again leave the country to receive the surrender of the Japanese army. Long Yun did not know what the plan was, so he sent the main force to Burma.
Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, took this opportunity to send special personnel to Yunnan to arrest Long Yun on trumped-up charges and deprive him of his power. Later, due to the strength of the generals within the Dian Army, Chiang Kai-shek asked the highly respected Lu Han to succeed Long Yun. Lu Han was known for his prestige in the Dian army, and he was also Long Yun's cousin, and it was only after he took office that he calmed down the chaos within the Dian army. Chiang Kai-shek still did not have full control of Yunnan.
In order to completely hold Yunnan in his own hands, Chiang Kai-shek once again transferred the remaining main force out of Yunnan, and this time it was Zeng Zesheng's 60th Army. And this time they are going to fly from the great southwest of China to the northeast thousands of kilometers away, almost spanning the whole of China.
Chiang Kai-shek's mind, not only Lu Han knew, Zeng Zesheng and his officers and men also knew in their hearts that they wanted to consume the Dian army and then control Yunnan in one fell swoop, so the 60th Army had no intention of fighting with the Platon Army in the northeast battlefield.
Chiang Kai-shek's perverse and perverse forced civil war was originally opposed by many patriotic generals. On the northeast battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek made trouble for the front line one after another, first withdrawing Du Yuming and Xiong Shihui, then sending an incompetent Chen Cheng, and finally having no choice but to move out of Wei Lihuang.
Wei Lihuang was also driven to the shelves by ducks and did not want to come, but was forcibly assigned. After Wei Lihuang arrived in the northeast, he insisted on resisting and never taking the initiative to attack, and the Nationalist army was in an increasingly passive position on the battlefield. When Lin Biao fought four battles and four draws, Zeng Zesheng took the initiative to demand that Jilin be abandoned, retreat to Changchun to join zheng dongguo's new army, and hold Changchun.
At this time, Zeng Zesheng's greatest wish was to find ways to save these 30,000 Yunnan disciples and take them home safely, and he was not willing to fight with the People's Liberation Army at all.
With the defeat of the Nationalist army on the northeast battlefield and the overall situation of the Liaoshen Campaign, Zeng Zesheng also received news from the underground party of the CPC on many occasions, hoping that he could abandon the dark and throw in the light, choose a way of life for the brothers of the Dian Army, and contribute to the peaceful liberation of the whole country.
After much consideration, Zeng Zesheng finally decided to lead an uprising, and finally all the officers and men of the 60th Army were reorganized into the 50th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the overall team of this unit was maintained as a disciple of Yunnan.
After being reorganized into the People's Liberation Army, the officers and men of the 50th Army, including Zeng Zesheng, profoundly realized the difference between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. The Communist Party is a party that truly seeks the welfare of the poor people of the world, and the People's Liberation Army is an army that fights wars for the country, the nation, and peace.
Therefore, they immediately turned their guns around and followed the Northeast Field Army all the way south, breaking through the momentum, constantly pursuing the remnants of the Kuomintang reactionaries until the liberation of Sichuan.
The 50th Army also made a name for itself in the Liberation War and became an outstanding force in the reorganized troops. Many units of the Nationalist army could not help but sigh that the miscellaneous army, which had been quite despised in the sequence of the Nationalist army, immediately became a victorious division as soon as it arrived on the side of the Communist Party, and the reasons for this aroused people's deep thoughts.
Lu Han led his troops to revolt in Yunnan, Yunnan was liberated, and then vigorous land reform spread rapidly in Yunnan. The officers and men of the 50th Army also received long-awaited family letters, and their relatives told them that they had been allocated land. From then on, there was no longer any need to pay rent, no longer had to be exploited by landlords and toastmasters, and their parents at home also told them to fight bravely in the plaster troops of the People's Liberation Army and make a peace for the poor people all over the world.
The officers and men of the 50th Army were greatly encouraged not to fight for the reactionaries or the warlords, but for the poor like their own families. When all of China is liberated, all the poor people will be able to have their own land, and we will not have to suffer and be poor.
Just as the People's Liberation Army was sweeping across the great southwest with a destructive force and sweeping away the remnants of the reactionaries, rumbling cannons came from the Korean Peninsula.
Us imperialist ambitions took advantage of the Korean reunification war to forcibly intervene, macArthur made a sudden landing at Inchon, and sent military planes to invade China's airspace and bomb our border city of Anton.
Chairman Mao had great foresight and saw at a glance the ambitions of US imperialism, so he ordered the Northeast Field Army to be reorganized into a volunteer army, accepted the request of the Korean leader Kim Il Sung, and sent troops into Korea to fight against the imperialist aggressors.
The 50th Army was also included in the list of participants in the Korean War and became a glorious division across the Yalu River.
Under the command of Mr. Peng, the volunteer officers braved the severe cold and chewed fried noodles, and they dealt a heavy blow to the United Nations army led by the US army. General Zeng Zesheng led the officers and men of the 50th Army to fight with the brother troops, fought fierce battles with the enemy, and won many victories.
In the third battle, our army gained the advantage and crossed the Linjin River all the way to pursue the enemy's defeated troops. The 149th Division of the 50th Army was the fastest force to pursue the enemy, and soon they were approaching Seoul, an important south Korean city, which is now the capital of South Korea, Seoul.
The Un army had already collapsed at this time, and in order to ensure the retreat of the main force, the American commander ordered his 4th Regiment to serve as a rear guard to block the 149th Volunteer Division, which was in hot pursuit.
But the commander of the 4th Regiment was already frightened, and he had fought with the 149th Division, knowing that this unit would not be killed in battle, and even if it could stop them, it would soon be surrounded by volunteer troops who followed.
Therefore, the commander of this regiment did not carry out the task of blocking the attack at all, directly abandoned the position, and fled with the large troops. At that time, there was another team responsible for blocking the attack, that is, the British 29th Brigade, which was an elite British unit that had made many achievements in the battlefield of World War II. And this unit was equipped with advanced tanks, armored vehicles and other strong fire weapons after World War II.
Although the sudden retreat of the U.S. 4th Regiment exposed the British 29th Brigade to the 149th Division, the British commander did not take the Chinese army seriously. With their long-established fortifications and powerful armored forces, they were ready to kill a rifle here and teach the Chinese volunteers a lesson.
The British were very rigid in fighting, and they had even rehearsed the course of the battle in advance, and everything was deployed according to the expectations of the General Staff. However, when the 149th Division arrived on the battlefield, it did not launch a suicidal charge in front of their armored forces with flesh and blood as the British expected.
Instead, it quickly interspersed from the side back to its vicinity, and then suddenly launched a charge. Armored vehicles and tanks are powerful at medium and long distances, but once the infantry rushes to the side, they are powerless.
In the War of Liberation, the officers and men of the 50th Army had accumulated a lot of combat experience against tanks along with the Northeast Field Army and the Kuomintang mechanized troops. They attracted the attention of the enemy with fire from outside the range of the enemy in front, and then sent multiple commandos to quickly intersperse back to the enemy's flank, seeing the timing and suddenly launching a charge.
After the commando rushed into the enemy position, the power of submachine guns, light machine guns, and grenades was immediately exerted, and the British army was not good at this kind of hand-to-hand combat, nor did it have the spirit of desperate fighting, and the position was quickly scattered, and the infantry fled in all directions.
Many tanks and armored vehicles were closely arranged according to the original deployment of the formation, and when they encountered this sudden situation, they did not know how to deal with it, and they were crowded into a group, and they could only flee for their lives.
One of the tank battalions tried to break through the blockade of the 149th Division and desperately fled outside. Although the tank is powerful, it is not fast, and although its firepower is fierce, the speed of the turret rotation cannot keep up with the agile movement of the commando fighters.
The fighters quickly caught up with the tank battalion, and they used grenades, Molotov cocktails and explosive packs to wipe out the entire tank battalion. A record was set for the complete annihilation of a tank battalion on the Korean battlefield.
This tank battalion was not simple, they were equipped with the most advanced "Centurion" tanks of the British Army at that time, which was very expensive to build, and few units in the entire British Army had so many such advanced tanks.
When the senior British commander heard that a battalion of tanks was surrounded, he immediately ordered the British troops who had already broken through to turn back alone and make sure to get those tanks back at all costs.
General Zeng Zesheng is a veteran general who has experienced hundreds of battles, and when he sees that such an advanced tank has been taken down by us, the enemy will certainly not give up and will certainly return to the division to rescue him. Therefore, Zeng Zesheng made a plan, set up an ambush on the way to the rescue of the British army, and gave the British a good lesson in the siege of the point to help.
In order to retake these tanks, the British really spent blood money, transferred back a large number of troops to compete, and the soldiers of the 149th Division took advantage of the favorable terrain to carry out segmented attacks on the British army, constantly harassing their advance, and at the same time encountering them at the ambush site to carry out fierce battles.
The troops sent to the rescue were also equipped with this centurion tank, and Zeng Zesheng understood that the British army was reluctant to give up their precious tank, so he ordered the troops to follow this tank and fight hard. The bullets could not penetrate, so they sent the commandos to rush to the front and threw the Molotov cocktail on it.
Tanks are most afraid of Molotov cocktails, although they cannot cause fatal damage to tanks, but the high temperature will force all the personnel in the cockpit of the tank to run out, and they can't go back for most of the day.
The British rescue team not only failed to rescue the tanks and soldiers captured by our army, but also fell into the constant attack and encirclement of our army. The British top brass feared that this unit would repeat the same mistakes, and even more afraid of the arrival of the volunteer follow-up troops, so they quickly ordered the rescue troops to retreat immediately and abandon the rescue mission.
The 50th Army took advantage of the victory and crossed the Han River to attack Seoul on January 4, 1951, which was a significant victory.
Seoul was the most important strategic stronghold and key city for South Korea near the 38th Parallel, but after the 50th Army crossed the Han River, it did not encounter the fierce resistance expected by Tsang Taek-sang, and the enemy army had completely withdrawn from Seoul.
The withdrawal of U.S. troops burned Seoul to the ground and destroyed a lot of infrastructure. When the volunteers entered the city, they searched for remnants of the enemy while also assisting seoul residents in repairing the damaged infrastructure.
The volunteers quickly searched the command post of the American commander, Ridgway, and he took everything with him, leaving only a nightgown and a letter with only one sentence written on it: The commander-in-chief of the United Nations Army, Ridgway, salutes the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Volunteer Army!
After reading this letter, Mr. Peng realized that the US army was consciously retreating, and at this time the main force of our army had crossed Seoul and was continuing to pursue south. Mr. Peng immediately ordered all troops to immediately retreat to the north of the Han River in case the enemy launched a sudden counterattack.
Mr. Peng was right to predict that this was Ridgway's strategy to lure the enemy. He found that the supply of the volunteers could only last for a week or so, so a week before the engagement he ordered the troops and the volunteers to maintain a distance of thirty to forty kilometers. Neither engaging in large-scale engagements nor complete disengagement is aimed at firmly attracting our army and launching a sudden counterattack when our army's supplies are exhausted.
Sure enough, two days later, the US army began to launch a large-scale counterattack, our army's supply line at this time was very long, and Ridgway ordered the air force to carry out an even more crazy bombardment of our rear supply line in an attempt to completely cut off the supply of our army's front line.
On the one hand, Mr. Peng ordered the front-line troops to retreat quickly, and on the other hand, he ordered the 38th Army and the 50th Army to set up a defensive line on both sides of the Han River to block the pursuit of the enemy.
The volunteers had no mechanized transport force, retreated on two legs, and lost their supplies at this time, which was equivalent to running hungry and would soon be caught up by the enemy. The only way to escape from the enemy's pursuit is the Han River defense line, as long as the Han River defense line can block the enemy for ten days, our army can withdraw to within a safe range.
At that time, in addition to the 38th Army, only the 50th Army was able to participate in the Han River Defense Line in a whole structure. When General Manager Peng found Zeng Zesheng and asked him if he could hold on, Commander Zeng told General Peng that although we are rebel troops, we are the same Chinese soldiers, and in order to defend the country, all the officers and men of the 50th Army will do whatever it takes to coexist and die with the position.
Under the command of Zeng Zesheng, the 50th Army quickly built a large number of fortifications on both sides of the Han River, and together with the 38th Army, it undertook the arduous task of blocking the enemy.
Suddenly, two Chinese armies appeared on both sides of the Han River, blocking the unidentified advance of the UN army with rudimentary weapons. This greatly surprised Ridgway, who did not understand where the courage of these two Chinese armies came from, daring to expose themselves to the powerful artillery and bombardment range of the Us army.
At that time, Ridgway had just succeeded MacArthur, and although he had studied a large number of actual war reports and knew that the Chinese army was extremely brave in combat and extremely tenacious in its will to fight, he had no actual contact after all, and with his many years of combat experience, he did not want to believe it.
However, this time the Han River defense line made Ridgway really realize his mistake, and what the war reports said was all true and not exaggerated.
The U.S. army first carried out a fierce land and air fire attack on the defense line on the south bank of the Han River, and heavy howitzers and heavy bombs exploded in turn on the volunteer positions, which looked no longer a position but an exploding ammunition depot.
When the shelling stopped, the American ground troops quickly launched an attack, and at this time, countless volunteers would suddenly appear on the Han River defense positions to launch a fierce counterattack against the enemy. The UN forces on the ground were never able to rush up.
U.S. artillery observers and front-line commanders measured the density of shell explosions, coupled with heavy bombs dropped in the air and even solid gasoline bombs. They thought that there should be no more creatures alive on the opposite position, but the Chinese army did not know what method was used, and could always climb out of the position again and again to continue to block.
The powerful United Nations army was blocked by the troops of the two armies on the south bank of the Han River, and Ridgway, who had always been calm and calm, could not sit still, and ordered the artillery and air force to continue to increase their efforts to carry out non-stop attacks on the positions on the south bank of the Han River.
Under the continuous blow of the powerful firepower of the US army, the 50th Army and the 38th Army desperately resisted, suffering heavy losses, but at the same time dealt a heavy blow to the enemy.
In the Han River Blockade War, the most famous is the Repair Mountain "Blood Ridge Blockade Battle". The 444th Regiment of the 148th Division of the 50th Army was responsible for holding its position here, also known as the "Gyeongbu National Highway" of Korea, which was the throat fortress to Seoul.
The 444th Regiment was ordered to hold on to Repair Hill, while the attack was carried out by the U.S. 25th Infantry Division, the 15th Regiment of the 1st South Korean Division, and a Turkish brigade. The protagonist is naturally the US 25th Infantry Division, which has made many achievements in the South Pacific battlefield, has the reputation of "Tropical Lightning Division", and is especially good at tackling tough battles.
The U.S. army is still an old move, first led by heavy howitzers and air force bombing, and then by infantry to launch a charge.
Our army relies on bunkers and caves that have been dug long ago to avoid enemy bombardment, and then launches a counterattack against the enemy when they rush up.
The battle was extremely fierce, and from the very beginning it entered a white-hot degree, and the battle was personally commanded by Zeng Zesheng, who ordered all the officers and men of the 444 regiment to fight the last person in the whole regiment, and they could not withdraw from the position without orders, otherwise the military law would be engaged.
The soldiers of the 444th Regiment resisted desperately, and the AMERICAN troops were not vegetarians, and they did not want to die when they started a war, and they must take the position with a breath. According to the memories of the veterans who survived the war on both sides, the blood ridge had been hit to the point of blood flowing like a river, and the soldiers on both sides had killed the red eye, and there was no concept of fear of death at all, only one thought to kill the other party.
What the U.S. military did not expect was that a small mountain with an altitude of only 500 meters actually blocked them for ten days. Ten days later, Zeng Zesheng told the 444th Regiment that they had successfully completed their mission and could retreat. At this time, there were not many officers and men left in the 444th Regiment, and they took advantage of the night to withdraw to their positions on the north bank of the Han River and continue to participate in the blockade task.
Even Peng Dehuai did not expect that the Han River blockade battle would be carried out for more than fifty days, far exceeding the pre-war estimates, and the 50th Army and the 38th Army had paid a huge price.
At the end of the blockade war, Peng Dehuai personally rushed to Zeng Zesheng's headquarters and wanted them to withdraw, and Zeng Zesheng firmly told Peng Dehuai that the task had not yet been completed and could not be withdrawn. Peng Dehuai wondered why the 50th Army had already made great sacrifices and why it did not withdraw.
Zeng Zesheng tearfully told Mr. Peng that although the 50th Army was an uprising force, it was also an upright Chinese army. Since entering the Korean War, Shiji has been taking great care of the 50th Army, and the most dangerous and worst battles are fought by the old troops of the People's Liberation Army, who have suffered the greatest sacrifices and losses.
This was the exact opposite of when they were in the Kuomintang troops, and the soldiers felt very lucky at the beginning, but the more they came later, the more they felt that it was a shame. Why can't our rebel troops fight the main attack, and are we afraid of death?
In this Battle of the Han River Blockade, we have a hard time taking on the main task, no matter how difficult it is and how much sacrifice we have made, we will definitely complete the tasks we promised. This time, we also let the brother troops see that all of our Yunnan disciples and soldiers are iron-boned men, and when we fight Japanese devils, we have never been afraid of death, and we will not provoke the Americans.
Please believe in our 50th Army, we will never lose people to the fathers and fellow villagers in Yunnan, and resolutely complete the task of blocking the attack.
Peng Dehuai was overwhelmed with excitement when he heard this, and with tears in his eyes, he said to him: "The Communist Party has never taken you as a harem, and this mission is still carried out by your 50th Army to the end!" ”
After more than 50 days of bloody blockade, the 50th Army and the 38th Army made great sacrifices and finally successfully completed the task, and the main force of the Volunteer Army all retreated to a safe area and completed the defensive deployment.
Ridgway once again lamented after the war that although he had sufficient psychological preparations for the stubborn will of the Chinese army before the war, the Battle of the Han River greatly exceeded his expectations.
Many U.S. military commanders have made a hypothesis that if the UN army and the Chinese army are at the same level of equipment, what will happen, and will the commanders and soldiers of the UN army still have the confidence to win?
The 50th Army made great achievements in the Korean battlefield, and after returning to China, it was commended by the Central Military Commission, and the people of Yunnan were also proud of the bravery of the officers and men of the 50th Army.
At that time, General Zeng Zesheng was not yet a member of the Communist Party, and after returning to China, he applied to Chairman Mao to join the Party. But Chairman Mao did not agree, and Zeng Zesheng was a little confused at that time: Was he disgusted that I was an insurgent army?
Chairman Mao saw his thoughts, laughed, and slowly explained to him that you do not join the party more than joining the party. Who says we Communists only reuse Communists? Can't party members take on heavy responsibilities? Can't it be valued and reused by the Party Central Committee? You will maintain the status of a person outside the party and let everyone in the world know that our Communist Party does not engage in factional struggle, as long as it is talented, as long as it contributes to the country and the nation, we do not discriminate. Moreover, doing so can set a good example for those generals in Taiwan, so that they can return to the embrace of the motherland and the people without worries in the future.
After Zeng Zesheng understood the chairman's foresight, he was greatly moved, so he continued to hold important posts as a non-party figure, and objectively set an example for Taiwan's generals.
In 1955, General Zeng Zesheng was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and became the glorious founding father!
I am the Phantom of Shi Hai, and I am following me to praise history.