<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > Author: Ivory Mountain Boys</h1>
The PVA 80th Division's action plan on the night of November 27-28, 1950, did not include U.S. troops in the Inner Cave, perhaps because the 31st Tank Company was there. In any case, the inner cave was quiet that night. Although fighting is raging a mile or two to the north. But the U.S. troops in the Inner Cave Didn't know it at the time.
After Captain Drake unsuccessfully returned to The Inner Cave after Captain Drake's search for Colonel McLean, 31 Ambulance Company reached the Inner Edge. It was part of the 31st Infantry Regiment and was in a hurry to meet McLean's headquarters. Drake briefed the company's captain about where the 31st Regiment had arrived on the east side of the reservoir and what he had just seen on his way to the forward position. The commander of the ambulance company was in a hurry, trying to meet the 3rd Battalion at least at the inlet that night. Drake advised him to stay in the inner cave for the night and go with his tank company the next day. But the commander insisted on leaving, and after midnight he and his company disappeared on the road to the north.
Later in the night, when the exact time was unclear, one of the ambulance company's sergeants reappeared at Drake's command post. He was disheveled and emotional. He said chinese troops had ambushed the ambulance company a kilometer or two away and that he had fled back along a ditch next to the road. He didn't know what was going on. He was the only survivor of the ambushed ambulance company that Drake saw, but according to Major Witt, the intelligence staff officer of the 31st Regiment, three or four members of the ambulance company returned to the water hole. None of them knew how many men had rushed out of the ambush to the 3rd Battalion at the inlet.
The ambulance company was ambushed on the first slope north of Shuidong Ridge, At Heights 1221. This was confirmed after dawn. There, the road was littered with the bodies of American soldiers, as well as several ambulance company vehicles that had been destroyed at the same time, and the road continued northward in a V-shaped bend along the recess in the middle of the saddle.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > ambushes and barricades at Hill 1221 were typical tactics of the Volunteer Army</h1>
In battle, the volunteers often launched one or two attacks on the front, and sent a considerable number of troops around the back to avoid the retreat of the attacked enemy. There they occupied ridges and highlands on the side of the highway, erected obstacles on the highway, and then controlled the highway from the highlands on both sides.
Therefore, when the 80th Volunteer Division attacked the forward position of the American 1st Battalion and the camp at the inlet, they set up roadblocks behind both to cut off the American retreat. Later fighting showed that the Volunteers had at least one battalion at the 1221 heights. And it has been held there throughout the battle on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir, which has a great impact on the fate of the US 31st Regiment.
On the night of November 27-28, the volunteer attack on the U.S. 31st Infantry Regiment had its own characteristics, which can be clearly seen in the analysis of the course of the battle afterwards. After launching an attack on the Americans at Fiss 1st Battalion and The Inlet Camp, before dawn. The Volunteers launched another larger offensive against another Part of the American Army on the east side of the reservoir. Attacking the Americans here was the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division of the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army. Originally, the 79th Division was waiting as a follow-up force to attack the enemy after the attack of the 80th Division, but the American troops that appeared on the east side of Chosin Lake exceeded the original estimate. So the 79th Division entered the battle ahead of schedule. The targets of the 237th Regiment were the battalion headquarters of the US 57th Artillery Battalion and the D Company of the 15th Automatic Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.
U.S. troops camped in a small valley below the western slope of Hill 1456 on the east side of the road south of the inlet. The 237th regiment was inserted here from the east. They first bombarded enemy positions with mortars. Their mission was to take down this artillery group with M19 and M16 anti-aircraft guns.
Soon, a shell from the mortar operator Zhang Zhixian hit the fuel tank of an M16, which immediately detonated the ammunition loaded on the vehicle, and after an explosion, the flames soared into the sky, reflecting the narrow valley. Soldiers of the 4th Company then covered up the command post of a platoon of the enemy. The command post was set up in a small courtyard, and the commander of the 4th Company commanded the soldiers to attack from all sides of the courtyard.
Suddenly, the bullets rained down, and Major Morris, the deputy commander of the 57th Artillery Battalion, was shot dead at the gate. A warrior struggled to throw two grenades into the courtyard, and the enemy in the courtyard was blown up. Soon the courtyard became a ruined wall. It's a mess.
By the time enemy reinforcements arrived, the volunteers had once again disappeared into a snowy field. They killed and wounded more than 40 U.S. troops and blew up an M19 and an M16 tank.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" >2nd, the 7th South Korean Division became the turtle in the urn</h1>
On November 28, 1950, after a night of fierce fighting, the sun rose as usual. The snow-covered mountains look like giant sculptures that shine brightly. On the snowy plains, the bodies or wounded of soldiers on both sides were scattered, and guns and ammunition could be picked up everywhere. Compared with the noisy night that has just passed, the whole day of the 28th is relatively calm. Both sides are busy resting and replenishing.
However, the scramble for the 1475 Heights lasted almost all day, becoming the fiercest battlefield east of Chosin Lake during the day on the 28th. The battle begins at dawn. The U.S. 1st Battalion felt a stab in the back at this position that had protruded among them, which had once belonged to them and had been taken by the volunteers, and would be relieved to be able to pull it out. The volunteers would not give in. As if the whole battle was about fighting for this high ground, the contact between the two sides continued to heat up.
Holding this high ground was the 1st Battalion of the 238th Regiment of the 80th Division of the Volunteer Army. Du Shujun, the commander of the battalion's machine gun company, placed their four Maxim machine guns halfway up the hill facing west. The soldiers of the 1st Battalion set up three lines of defense from the base of the hill to the top of the hill; the first circular trench was dug at 1/3 of the hillside, the second was dug at 1/2 of the hillside, and then the last line of defense was set up at the top of the hill.
Squad leader Liang Chaowei and his squad were on the first ring line of defense, and last night's battle had left only 6 people in his squad. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, and it was impossible to tell what color it was. At night, he fought bayonets with two American soldiers. At that time, the American-made Tom submachine gun in his hand was frozen, an American soldier seemed to want to catch him, and pounced on him with his bare hands, not knowing that before Liang Chaowei joined the army, he was learning boxing in his martial hometown of Shandong, he swept with one leg, and the American soldier fell in response to the sound, rolling out of the snow in the mountains, Liang Chaowei pounced on him, at this time another American soldier turned out from behind a big tree and stabbed him with a bayonet.
Liang Chaowei was shattered, the bayonet cut a three-inch long cut in his forehead, he felt as if his head had been cut in half, but his reaction was extremely fast, and he grabbed the American soldier by means of a downward rush, and in one meal, before the American soldier could stab the second knife, he had collapsed, stood up, and threw this thick American soldier over the shoulder. His hands tightened, the American soldier's neck was twisted by him, his head was weakly hanging down, and the other American soldier rushed away.
What pleased Liang Chaowei was that the few remaining fighters were almost unharmed in the battle, and although they had fought fiercely overnight, their morale was still high. Apparently, the raid caught the Americans off guard, and everyone talking about last night's battle felt that although the enemy's fire was fierce, they did not dare to drill out of the fortifications to fight with the volunteers.
"We will hold the 1475 heights," Liang Chao said to his soldiers, "and when our large army returns to the enemy's rear, the enemy will become the king of the altar and will be captured." ”
At about 9 o'clock, the enemy began to attack the 1475 heights. They first fired hundreds of mortar shells at the hill, and then about a company of enemy attacked the first line of defense without a word, and the soldiers of the 80th Division, who had been tested by the flames of war, were not surprised by this situation, and they stayed in the trenches without incident, and some of the fighters began to count the number of enemies.
The slopes were covered with snow, the wild grass had been covered by snow, and only some trees stood tall. In addition, there are many huge stones. After advancing to about 400 meters from the volunteer line, the Americans began to lie down, and then used the cover of the terrain to move towards the volunteer position.
There was still no movement on the volunteer positions, and the Americans began to charge. At this time, the four heavy machine guns on the second line of defense roared in unison. The American soldiers fell a dozen at once. The rest of the struggle rushed forward.
"Fight!" The platoon leader of the 2nd row gave an order. Almost at the same time, the submachine gun in Liang Chaowei's hand jumped. He aimed at an American soldier in the front, who was wearing a steel helmet and was jumping from behind a stone, when Liang Chaowei's bullet hit him, and he fell silently as if he had suddenly been sucked out of his soul.
Halfway up the hill, four heavy machine guns stood tall and built an impenetrable net of fire in front of the first line of defense. The Americans seemed to have no choice. After more than ten minutes, it began to retreat.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track = "9" > the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 238th Regiment of the 80th Division always firmly controlled the position</h1>
At about 11:00 a.m., in order to reduce the pressure on the highland defense, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 238th Regiment organized a detachment of nearly 100 people and launched an active attack on the enemy positions south of the highlands. The enemy did not seem to anticipate this hand, and hurriedly mobilized men and horses to defend the south. The volunteers of this detachment were very brave in battle, which made the US army feel tight for a while, and even put the cooking soldiers and logistics personnel into battle.
At 1 p.m., four aircraft flew in and began an aerial attack on Hill 1475, the fighters flew low and made a piercing roar, napalm bombs were constantly poured on the volunteer positions, some burned fighters crawled out of the cover, and enemy aircraft strafed them with machine guns.
About 400 enemies gathered and began the fiercest attack of the day. Under the command of the air dispatch, the enemy planes dropped bombs and incendiary bombs one after another along the first line of defense and bunker of the volunteer army, and the position fell into a sea of fire, and the aircraft seemed to embolden the American soldiers, this time they were no longer hidden, but kept a charging posture to pounce on Liang Chaowei's position.
Liang Chaowei's position was almost a scorched earth. The commander of the 1st Battalion decisively ordered them to abandon the first line of defense and begin to retreat halfway up the hill.
Volunteer soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Liang Chaowei's squad sacrificed two more soldiers, and three others were wounded, Liang Chaowei fired at the enemy on both sides and also retreated to the mountain, du Shujun's machine guns provided them with strong fire cover in the upper two.
The enemy tailed and tried to attack the hill with a single blow. The soldiers of the second line of defense, who had long been waiting for the momentum, threw countless grenades at the enemy, and the rain of grenades was almost no less powerful than the bombs thrown at our position by the enemy, and then the soldiers of the second line jumped out of the trenches and counterattacked the enemy. The enemy, who was unable to defend himself, did not expect the volunteer soldiers to be so fighting, and hurriedly withdrew down the hill. Dozens of corpses and several wounded and groaning companions were thrown away.
The enemy planes tried to attack our positions again, and Du Shujun asked a soldier to put a machine gun on his shoulder and shoot at the enemy plane. Overconfident pilots flew too low, and a single shot of bullets punched a Pirate fighter several holes. The pilot was taken aback and fled in a hurry. He never showed up again.
After repeated attacks, the enemy made several more attacks, but the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 238th Regiment of the 80th Division always firmly controlled the hill, leaving the enemy helpless.
At 3 p.m., both the volunteer soldiers on Hill 1475 and the American soldiers on the surrounding hills saw a spectacular scene at the same time: a large number of Chinese troops were facing south from the east. There were also some cavalry, and the troops continued to pass for more than two hours in a row. The soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Volunteer Army cheered and fired their guns into the air. Feith's American troops were puzzled by this, unaware that a catastrophe was imminent.
On the morning of the 28th, Almond and his 26-year-old entourage, Lieutenant Hagrid, flew from Hamungung to Hakatari in an L-17 aircraft. There he discussed the situation with Rear Admiral Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division. The latter had just arrived in Hagaru to establish his headquarters. Almond then arranged for a helicopter to take him to the front of the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Regiment to meet Feith and McLean.
During a conversation with Feith and McLean, Almond discovers that they know no more about the situation than he does. Almond believed that the previous night's battle had been fought against the troops of the Chinese 124th, 125th, and 127th Divisions.
During the conversation, Almond found that Feith was somewhat nervous about the situation. His troops had suffered heavy casualties in the enemy's raid the night before, and the enemy had captured the highest point of his position. Almond told Feith that he should capture the eastern high ground before dark, part of which Company C had lost in the fighting the night before and that morning.
McLean told Almond that he planned to set up his headquarters south of Feith's position. He believes that his forces can control the situation. Almond agreed and said he believed that as soon as the 1st Battalion of the 31st Regiment arrived, the troops could attack north.
Before returning to Hagaru-ri, General Almond told Feith that he had 3 Silver Star Medals and one for him. The other two prizes are given to people selected by Feith. Feith saw Lieutenant Smallley, a platoon commander of Company C, who had been wounded in the battle the night before, sitting nearby, and asked him to come and receive the silver stars. Stanley, the cook sergeant of the battalion's company, happened to pass by the battalion headquarters, and he had also performed well in the battle the night before, and Feith stopped him and awarded him the 3rd silver star. Major Curtis came over when the award ceremony was over, and he saw Hagrid making a formal written record of it in his notebook.
Later, after the 7th Infantry Division had been rumored to have left General Almond, Lieutenant Fiss and Lieutenant Smalley had ripped Silver Star from their uniforms, jones recalled:
"At that time, General Almond told Feith not to be upset with the Chinese troops, they were just the troops who were fleeing north behind, and after General Almond left, Feith pulled the silver star off his jacket and threw it to the ground."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > Author Profile: Ivory Mountain Boy, Northeast History Enthusiast, Serious and Comic History Teacher. </h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > welcome history buffs to share and exchange. </h1>