Major General Peng Deqing
Preface
When Peng Deqing was in his 80s, he once wrote a poem describing his feelings. Among them are two sentences: "The years are easy to pass, and the heart is there, and the ideals and beliefs will last forever." ”
This poem is Peng Deqing's persistent pursuit of his lifelong ideals and beliefs. It is also a portrayal of his firm will in the Battle of Chosin Lake.
It can be said that in the Battle of Chosin Lake, without firm ideals and convictions, it would have been impossible to command the troops to fight in a single-clothed and starving in the weather of minus 40 degrees.
Entered the War in Korea
In 1949, Peng Deqing was promoted from deputy commander of the 23rd Army to commander of the 27th Army of the 9th Corps.
In September 1950, U.S. troops landed at Inchon, North Korea, blatantly invading Korea. After the US troops landed, they began to attack North Korea in separate routes and batches, directly approaching China's northeast border.
The first on the left is Peng Deqing
At this time, Peng Deqing was leading the 27th Army in the Pinghu, Zhapu, and Haiyan areas of Zhejiang Province, conducting intense seafaring landing combat training and making preparations for the liberation of Taiwan at any time.
On October 27, the Central Military Commission sent a telegram ordering the 27th Army to travel north by car, waiting for the order to enter the Korean War.
After several days of preparation, Peng Deqing led his troops to the northeast Ji'an (present-day Ji'an) area on November 1 and assembled on standby.
Due to the urgency of the military situation, Peng Deqing, political commissar Liu Haotian, deputy commander Zhan Danan, chief of staff Li Yuan, and others mobilized the troops for combat on the moving train.
On November 3, Peng Deqing received orders from the headquarters of the Volunteer Army that the 27th Army immediately reached Andong (present-day Dandong) and entered Korea to participate in the first battle.
On November 4, under the leadership of Peng Deqing, the 27th Army crossed the Yalu River and came to the White Horse area of Korea, where it cooperated with fraternal forces to annihilate the British 27th Brigade, which was advancing north on the Western Front.
Under the continuous attack of the volunteer troops, the enemy quickly retreated. In order to gain the initiative, the commander-in-chief of the Volunteer Army, Peng Dehuai, ordered the troops to stop the attack, and the first battle was successfully concluded.
Peng Dehuai
Soon after, under macArthur's command, the UN forces launched a "general offensive to end the Korean War by Christmas." In a vain attempt to quickly take over all of North Korea.
On November 6, the 27th Army received an order from the 9th Corps to march eastward from Korea on foot to participate in the eastern front of the second campaign.
According to the vision of the Volunteer Command, it was ready to launch an unexpected counterattack against the 1st Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division in the Chosin Lake area.
At this time, North Korea had entered the mid-winter season, and Peng Deqing led the soldiers of the 27th Army, wearing single clothes worn when they were in Jiangnan, wearing a big hat on their heads, wearing rubber shoes on their feet, and carrying the only little grain and ammunition they carried with them, walking through the ice and snow of North Korea, and marching forward with the tenacious will of the soldiers.
In order to find a way to protect the soldiers from the cold, Peng Deqing organized the soldiers to dig up the proposed camp fortifications, and during the march, he used a short break to sew cotton clothes and pants by himself, inventing and vigorously promoting the dual-purpose hand and foot cover when marching and the foot when resting.
Volunteer soldiers in single clothes
It was under such circumstances that many frostbitten soldiers still demanded to join the march with tenacious will. The warriors said, "Even if you climb, you must climb to the battlefield and fight the enemy." ”
Under the command of Peng Deqing, all the commanders and fighters of the 27th Army completed the assembly in the Chosin Lake area according to the scheduled time. This march has been considered by the outside world to be "a miracle in the history of contemporary warfare."
On November 24, the Corps sent an order that the 27th Army, in coordination with the 20th Army, first annihilate the main force of the US First Marine Division in the xinxingli, Liutanli, Xiajie, and Yuri areas, and then annihilate the enemy who fled and reinforced.
After receiving the order, Peng Deqing immediately summoned his subordinates and held an operational meeting to jointly study the operational deployment.
After the meeting, in accordance with our army's special skills, Peng Deqing decided to adopt the traditional tactics of our army in close combat and night combat, attack them unprepared, and defeat the enemy and win victory.
According to intelligence, the 27th Army under peng's command this time was facing a reinforced regiment of more than 4,000 men with extremely modern equipment and full capacity, which belonged to the Thirty-first Regiment of edward Almond's Seventh Division of the U.S. Tenth Army.
Commanders and fighters of the Ninth Corps pose in Korea Peng Deqing on the second from the left
This Thirty-first Regiment, in the First World War, successfully invaded Russian Siberia, made outstanding military achievements, and was awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" by President Woodrow Wilson and the "Polar Bear Flag" by himself.
The "Polar Bear Regiment" that Destroyed the US Military
In the daytime operations of this regiment, there will be dozens of aviation air fire support, which shows the importance and combat situation of this regiment.
The equipment of the Volunteer Army's 27th Army was only a small number of portable small-caliber guns and bazookas, because when it was in China, the 27th Army carried out the training task of crossing the sea, so it was not equipped with heavy artillery and tanks.
At the beginning of the battle, the 238th Regiment of the 27th Army discovered the howitzer positions of the US Thirty-first Regiment, and the soldiers swept with machine guns and exploded with grenades, completely destroying these howitzers of the enemy.
During the battle, the 239th Regiment found a platoon of American soldiers sleeping in a tent, and the soldiers had full fire in their hands, and quickly eliminated the 30 or so American soldiers in this platoon.
American soldiers
On the other side, American soldiers were in a house, not knowing what they were shouting. After the soldiers opened fire and knocked down a few American soldiers, the remaining American soldiers also fired.
Due to the well-equipped American soldiers, the firepower was extremely fierce. The warriors could only climb down behind a large rock, but the enemy's fire was too fierce to weigh on the warriors.
The soldiers of the 239th Regiment took a roundabout approach, encircled the enemy, and threw grenades from their waists into the house, and in an instant, with the explosion of "boom boom...", the house was full of fire.
Soon, the warriors took over the house.
While cleaning up the battlefield, the soldiers saw that in each room there was a telephone, a telephone, a telephone, and a combat map hanging on the wall.
On the ground, the soldiers also found some unburned combat documents and the body of a colonel's officer.
It was later confirmed that the body of the colonel's officer was McLean, the commander of the Thirty-first Regiment of the United States Army, and that the house was the command post of the enemy Thirty-first Infantry Regiment.
During the fight, in order to deal with the American fighters, a fighter put a machine gun on his body and asked his companions to fire at the aircraft, and because one of the American planes flew low, it was punched through several holes.
This surprised the American pilots inside the plane, pulled up the plane, and fled in a hurry.
U.S. military aircraft
On the night of November 27, after losing air fire support, the 31st Regiment, known as the Polar Bear Regiment, after its regimental headquarters was wiped out by volunteers, retreated to the corners of Xinxingli and nearby ravines, waiting for the opportunity to escape.
After the 80th Division captured this area, it did not find a large number of enemies, and thought that most of those enemies had been annihilated, and when it was dawn, it would clean up the battlefield.
On November 28, soldiers of the 80th Division were cleaning up the battlefield when suddenly a large number of American troops appeared. As soon as these American troops came out, they launched an attack on the volunteer troops who were cleaning up the battlefield.
In the face of the sudden change in the enemy situation, Peng Deqing, after calm thinking and analysis, after obtaining the consent of Tao Yong, deputy commander of the 9th Corps, ordered the 80th Division and the 81st Division to annihilate this new enemy together.
At this time, supported by a large number of aircraft, tanks and artillery, the enemy began a more fierce counterattack.
At this time, the temperature dropped to about minus 40 degrees, coupled with logistical difficulties, most of the soldiers were hungry, and hunger and cold threatened the fighters' bodies.
Many of the soldiers' faces, hands, and feet were severely frostbitten, and some of their feet, socks, and shoes were frozen tightly together, making it very difficult to move. In this way, the soldiers on the front line could only eat frozen potatoes once a day to fill their hunger.
The soldiers of the Volunteer Army
Peng Deqing ordered the logistics department of the troops to raise food and cold supplies at all costs. On the other hand, it issued an appeal to the soldiers, carry forward the revolutionary spirit of our army's arduous struggle, overcome all difficulties with tenacious perseverance, overcome the severe cold, hunger and fatigue, and completely annihilate the enemy.
On the night of November 29, Peng Deqing ordered his troops to take advantage of our army's night battle and launch a third attack on the "Polar Bear Regiment".
At night, because the American troops did not dare to come out, they strafed the volunteer soldiers with intensive firepower.
The fighters of the assault force braved the rain of bullets and bullets to launch a fierce attack in four directions towards the enemy in Xinxingli at the same time.
Carrying forward the spirit of combat bravery, the fighters rushed into the tank defense circle of the US army and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the US soldiers with unparalleled heroism.
At noon on November 30, U.S. transport planes came over Xinxingli. Since all around the U.S. army were volunteer troops, the planes circled back and forth in the air a few times before dropping some guns, ammunition, and food.
Most of these war materials fell on the positions of the volunteers, so that the soldiers of the volunteers received some replenishment.
In the early morning of December 1, the 27th Army participated in the battle, broke through the enemy's forward positions, and launched a trench-by-trench battle with the enemy, and the war was extremely fierce.
At 11 o'clock, under the cover of more than 40 aircraft and more than 10 tanks, it broke through to the position of the 242nd Regiment of the 81st Division to the south, and the 242nd Regiment, which stubbornly blocked the front of the enemy's breakthrough, stubbornly blocked and wounded a large number of American soldiers.
By dusk, under the blows of the Eighty And Eighty-first Divisions, the remnants of the "Polar Bear Regiment" had collapsed and were cornered.
Under the cover of dozens of tanks, the remnants attempted to escape across the snow-covered Lake chosin.
However, when the cars of these manchurian American soldiers crossed Lake Chosin, they collapsed on the ice, and many American soldiers fell into Chosin Lake, froze to death, and drowned.
There were also some soldiers of the "Polar Bear Regiment", under the cover of Us military fighters, riding dozens of cars, opened the way by tanks, and broke through along the road, but were blocked by the 80th Division.
According to a soldier of the 80th Division:
“...... By the time the enemy charged toward the top of the hill, there were about 600 men left. But they could no longer organize an offensive of a scale. The American soldiers scattered and fled for their lives, regardless of whether there were volunteers in front of them, just choosing the route they thought they could escape, and the largest number of enemies was only about 40 people. Many people jumped off the road and climbed up the sheep gut trail. Other American soldiers climbed up from the cliffs with branches and rocks. They just want to get out of here as soon as possible. ”
Then, the remnants of the soldiers of the 80th Division were blocked and fired intensively, and the American cars were hit, and even Lieutenant Colonel Feith, who had just taken over as the commander of the "Polar Bear Regiment", was killed by shells in the car.
After fierce fighting, at 3:00 a.m. on December 2, the soldiers of the 27th Army rushed onto the road and surrounded and annihilated all the remnants of the American "Polar Bear Regiment".
The Thirty-first Regiment of the U.S. Seventh Division, which was personally awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" by the President of the United States, was completely annihilated, and even the regimental flag painted with polar bears was captured by the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army.
In the second campaign, Peng Deqing led the 27th Army, creating a record of total annihilation of a whole regiment of the US army, creating a miracle in the history of world warfare, which also became an unprecedented example in the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
To this end, Chairman Mao and the General Headquarters of the Volunteer Army both issued commendation orders to the Ninth Corps, and the Volunteer Army Headquarters also issued a special order to commend the Twenty-seventh Army.
Peng Dehuai said: "The scale of the five battles is very large, the strength of the enemy and us is in the millions, and a regiment of the US army has been completely annihilated, and not a single person has run away; only once in the second campaign, the rest are the formation of the annihilation battalion." ”
Since then, the U.S. army has revoked the number of the Thirty-first Infantry Regiment.
The regimental flag painted with polar bears has also become a national first-class cultural relic, and is stored in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution.
Later, Ray Embrey, commander of the U.S. Fifty-seventh Artillery Battalion, recalled:
"I have never seen such a large number of Chinese soldiers and such tenacious and repeated attacks." They braved the bitter cold and the marine artillery fire to come, and their spirit of seeing death as a home made the Marines awe-inspired! My feelings about this battle are strong, because I have lost many comrades. We suffered heavy casualties. I've never seen a fight like this. I had encountered the last german counterattack in the Ardennes in World War II, but it was not as fierce as the Battle of Chosin Lake, and the scene was really unbearable. ”
The flag of the "Polar Bear Regiment" captured by the 27th Army
After a period of rest, the 27th Army took part in the Fifth Campaign.
Peng Deqing led the 27th Army to break through the defense line of the US 24th Division from the front, and together with the brother troops, defeated the Korean 3rd Army, and won five victories on the Eastern Front.
During the transfer later in the campaign, the Volunteer Army was interspersed by the mechanized strength of the American Army, and the 27th Army was blocked behind enemy lines.
At this time, the 27th Army was facing the encirclement and interception of the US airborne regiment and tank troops. In addition, the whole army has run out of food and is in a very difficult situation.
Peng Deqing was not afraid of danger, calmly commanding the various units of the 27th Army, alternately covering, interspersing back and forth between the gaps of the US army.
When encountering the enemy's large troops, Peng Deqing commanded the troops to take a detour forward, and when they encountered small units, they resolutely defeated them and completely destroyed them when they had the opportunity.
In the end, without any losses, Peng Deqing not only led the 27th Army back to the north safely, but also captured hundreds of prisoners along the way, achieving good results.
Zeng Ruqing, Pi Dingjun, and Peng Deqing were in Korea
After the end of the Fifth Campaign, Peng Deqing led the 27th Army and undertook the garrison mission in the Jincheng area, and later, he served as a garrison task on the east coast.
Return to the motherland with honor and make new contributions
In October 1952, Peng Deqing was ordered to lead the 27th Army back to China.
Just before returning to China, Peng Deqing and Zeng Ruqing, political commissar Zeng Ruqing, made a special trip to Pyongyang, North Korea, to meet with Marshal Kim Il Sung of North Korea.
When Peng Deqing and others arrived in Pyongyang, they were warmly received by Kim Il Sung.
During the meal, Kim Il Sung deliberately let Peng Deqing sit next to him. This is an affirmation of the merits of the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army in the past two years of entering Korea.
Peng Dehuai and Kim Il Sung
During the banquet, Kim Il Sung gave the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army a very high evaluation in front of Peng Deqing.
Later, for his outstanding achievements in the Korean battlefield, Peng Deqing was awarded two National Flag Medals of the Dprk Second Class and one Medal of Freedom and Independence of the First Class.
In 1954, Peng Deqing was transferred to the East China Navy as deputy commander, deputy commander of the East China Sea Fleet, commander of the Fujian base, and political commissar.
On January 18, 1955, Peng Deqing commanded the East China Navy to successfully coordinate operations with the army and air force and liberated Yijiangshan Island. In the same year, Peng Deqing was awarded the rank of major general.
On August 23, 1958, under the wise decision of Chairman Mao, the People's Liberation Army began shelling Kinmen.
Chairman Mao had a cordial conversation with Peng Deqing
Peng Deqing commanded 6 companies of coastal artillery in the Xiamen area, and in coordination with the army's ground artillery, fired at Kinmen. In 1 hour and 25 minutes, more than 30,000 shells were fired at the Kuomintang positions, including more than 2,600 coastal artillery shells.
In the artillery battle, the Platon Killed Lieutenant General Zhao Jiajun of the "Kinmen Defense Department," Lieutenant General Ji Xingwen, deputy commander of the "Penghu Defense Department," and two U.S. military advisers at the cost of two casualties.
On August 24, under the orders of Peng Deqing, the People's Liberation Army shelled more than 10 Kuomintang ships anchored at the anchorage of Dajinmen Zhiluo Bay. Six naval torpedo boats were dispatched to pursue the Taisheng, Zhonghai and other ships that escaped after being shot. Soon after the pursuit, the "Taisheng" sank in the sea, and the "Zhonghai" was also severely damaged.
On the night of September 1, the Navy's torpedo boats were ordered to attack the enemy ship "Weiyuan", and the 174 and 180 torpedo boats collided and sank after being shot, and the soldiers who fell into the water put on life jackets and gathered tightly together, maintaining physical strength and waiting for our army to rescue them.
General Peng Deqing
Peng Deqing asked the comrades of the headquarters to calculate the accurate position on the chart. He also ordered the dispatch of escort boats to rescue all the fallen soldiers.
As the shelling of Kinmen continued, Chiang Kai-shek's army stationed in Kinmen appealed to Chiang Kai-shek.
On the night of September 7, under the direct escort of a U.S. cruiser and four destroyers, two landing ships of the Kuomintang "Mei" character entered Kinmen Zhiluo Bay with full loads of soldiers and cargo to unload their cargo.
After receiving the report from the front, Peng Deqing commanded 4 companies of our shore artillery and the army and air force to resolutely open fire on the enemy ships, and the US fleet formation immediately raised anchor and fled in the direction of Taiwan.
On September 10, the Kuomintang switched to aircraft to transport supplies in the military. Peng Deqing ordered the troops to measure the runway of the enemy airfield and immediately open fire on the enemy planes when the enemy planes landed on the runway and taxied, forcing the enemy planes not to dare to land at the Kinmen airfield, so they had no choice but to airdrop supplies at Kinmen.
On October 16, Defense Minister Peng Dehuai ordered: "For a period of 7 days, stop shelling, you can be fully free to deliver supplies, but on the condition that there is no American escort." ”
Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai
On October 25, Peng Dehuai issued a statement: "Do not fight Kinmen Airport, docks, etc. on two days, and do not necessarily fight on a single day, but still on the condition that there is no US ship escort." ”
Since then, the shelling of Kinmen has become mainly sporadic shelling, stopping and stopping.
November 3 is the day of the U.S. Congress. On this day, the firepower was increased again, and a fierce shelling of kinmen was carried out.
In 1965, Peng Deqing was transferred to the Ministry of Communications and served as deputy minister.
In 1977, Peng Deqing led the salvage of the "Awa Maru" shipwreck, which was a complete success. This move has promoted the rapid development of China's help and salvage business.
In 1981, Peng Wasqing was appointed Minister of Transport.
In his new post, Peng Deqing conducted in-depth investigation and research, understood the actual situation, and actively promoted the development of new China's transportation industry.
During his term of office, Peng Deqing resolutely made a port construction plan and worked hard to enhance the carrying capacity of the ocean-going fleet under the Ministry of Communications. It has also actively opened up Sino-US shipping routes and promoted the process of resuming navigation in the Taiwan Strait.
On the right is Peng Deqing
In 1983, Peng Deqing retired to the second line and served as a member of the Central Advisory Committee of the Communist Party of China.
In September 1993, at the age of 83, Peng Deqing took his wife Wu Xuan back to his hometown of Tong'an County, Fujian Province.
During the more than 20 days of living in Tong'an, Peng Deqing disregarded his old age and the fatigue of the journey, went deep into the old revolutionary areas, small island fishing villages, factories, schools, hospitals, and other places to observe the people's feelings, and had cordial conversations with people from all walks of life in Tong'an.
At the age of 85, Peng Deqing was not afraid of his advanced age and edited the book "Chinese Sea Soul". This book has enabled New China to achieve new results in the field of marine culture research.
In his later years, Peng Deqing also wrote revolutionary memoirs such as "Recalling the Struggle to Escape from Prison with An", "On the Last Period of the Annan Red Army Guerrillas", "Recalling Tang Shabai", "Mourning Li Jianle's "Sacrifice of the Faithful Soul", "Chronicle of the Shelling of kinmen", and other excellent articles of historical value, which were published in various periodicals such as Xiamen Daily, Party History, and Literature and History.
In his later years, Peng Deqing
In 1990, Chi Haotian, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and minister of national defense, wrote an inscription for General Peng Deqing, the veteran commander of the army:
"Veteran of the horse, good commander, high wind and bright festival for my division"
This is a simple summary of the life of the old general Peng Deqing. Although the words are simple, it can be seen from them that the life of General Peng Deqing is noble, pure, respected and remembered!