Foreword: Located 10 kilometers west of Chosin Lake, Liutanli is the prelude to the Battle of Changjin Lake, on November 27, 1950, a fierce battle began in Liutan, guarding Liutan was the US 1st Marine Division from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, the attacking side was the 79th Division of the 27th Army of the First Anderson Division of the People's Liberation Army Huaye First Class, and its subordinate 235 Regiment was also the famous "Jinan First Regiment", which was also the prototype of movies such as "Crossing the River Reconnaissance" and "Battle shanghai". The two sides will compete in the ice and snow to see who is the king of kings.
First: the deployment of the Chinese army
On November 9, 1950, the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army arrived at Linjiang by train from Andong City, and distributed cotton coats, cotton hats and some cotton coats and cotton shoes at the stops, due to the tight time ammunition, medical medicines, combat equipment, and grain, especially one-third of the personnel did not have cotton coats, leather hats, cotton shoes, the 79th Division of the 27th Army marched on foot for seven days in the snow of minus 27 degrees after entering the DPRK, the road was sparsely populated, the mountain road was slippery, and it was also hit by five air raids, killing 15 people, in order to defend the air, in order to defend the air. The soldiers all wore white cotton coats and marched at night, due to the extension of the transport line, the 27th Army quickly ran out of food, and could only rely on potatoes and soybeans to support, on November 17, it reached the Lishuiping area to assemble, according to the orders of the Ninth Corps, the 80th Division and the 81st Division of the 27th Army attacked Xinxingli, the 59th Division, which was good at interspersing, moved back to the south of Liutanli, cutting off the American retreat, and the 79th Division, which was good at attacking the stronghold, simultaneously launched 3 regiments to attack Liutanli from north to south.
Xiao Jinghai, commander of the 79th Division, ordered the 235th Regiment to first capture the 1348.1282.1241 heights, the 237th regiment to occupy Xiaode Dongshan and Southwest Mountain, the 236th regiment to occupy the 1167th highlands, and then cross the river to capture the 1200 and 1100 highlands to divide the connection between Liutanli and Xinxingli. The 236th Regiment placed the 3rd Battalion on the left side of the road, After seizing the 1167.1 heights, Mei Xiangli crossed the river, if it could not cross the river, it cooperated with the 1st battalion attack along the north bank road, the 1st battalion was placed south of the school hole, waiting for the 235th regiment to occupy the 1240 heights before attacking, the 2 battalion occupied the 1264.6 highlands with a reinforced platoon of 6 companies as a flanking guard, the main force of the battalion served as the reserve of the regiment, and the 236th regiment consisted of three infantry battalions, 1 heavy mortar company, a human transport company, a stretcher company and - a bestial transport platoon. There are 4 100 mm heavy mortars, 18 heavy machine guns, 9 82 mortars and 27 60 mm mortars
The whole regiment should have 3434 personnel, but at that time the operation was imminent, in fact there were only 2810 people, including 108 people in the regimental headquarters, 80 people in the logistics department, 55 people in the special service company, 166 people in the reconnaissance company, 183 people in the stretcher company, 100 people in the rotation training team, 62 people in the mortar company, 111 people in the artillery company, 42 people in the health team, 46 people in the first battalion headquarters, 144 people in the machine gun company, 161 people in the 1 company, 158 people in the 2nd company, 139 people in the 3rd company, 47 people in the second battalion headquarters, 150 people in the machine gun company, 156 people in the 4 company, and 148 people in the 5 company. 143 men in 6 companies, 49 men in the third battalion headquarters, 144 men in the machine gun company, 137 men in the 7 company, 160 men in the 8 companies, 121 men in the 9 companies, 1 light machine gun per infantry squad, 2 submachine guns, one man with bare hands, one rifle per person, 4 grenades per combatant, equipped with a base submachine gun, rifle ammunition, 0.5 base light machine gun ammunition, 2.5 base heavy machine gun ammunition, and 1250 tons of ammunition remained in Linjiang, because the entire 27th Army only had 20 2-ton trucks. The whole army needs 85 tons of grain a day, and it takes 5 days to transport it once, and it is not enough to transport even grain, let alone ammunition.
Two: the deployment of U.S. troops
Commander of the 1st Marine Division, Oliver. Major General Smith decided that Chosin Lake was not suitable for mechanized American combat, but at MacArthur's urging, on November 24, the vanguard of his 1st Marine Division entered Liutan. On 24 November, the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division led by Lieutenant Colonel Landford Rockwood first entered Liutanli, followed by the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 7th Marine Regiment led by Colonel Homer Lizberg, and from November 25 to 27, the 2nd, 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Marine Regiment also arrived in Liutanli, and at 8:25 a.m. on the 27th, the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Wilmon Harris, advanced toward Wupingli and occupied Hill 1426 and Hill 1403. Subsequently the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment was commanded by Battalion Commander Haoud. Lieutenant Colonel Reuss marched towards Hill 1271, met with stubborn resistance, and Homer. Colonel Lizberg had a bad premonition, although some prisoners confessed that 2 Chinese divisions nearby were preparing to attack Liutanli,
But Homer. Colonel Lizberg looked at the thin clothes of the captives and was not quite convinced that the Chinese army wearing such clothes could fight in the field at minus 40 degrees. Colonel Lizberg sent an air reconnaissance and ground reconnaissance team, and the aerial reconnaissance found nothing, but the ground reconnaissance team found a large number of Chinese troops in the southwest and north, and after noon also found that Chinese scouts arrived near Liutanli to reconnoiter, and at 15:00 p.m., Colonel Lizberg and the leader of the 5th regiment, Raymond. Lieutenant Colonel Murray realized that the danger was imminent and could not continue the offensive plan, and immediately ordered the attack to be stopped and turned to the defensive, at this time the American army had a total of 5 infantry battalions plus 1 infantry company, 1 artillery battalion plus 4 artillery companies, 18 155 mm howitzers, 30 105 mm howitzers, and 24 107 mm mortars, which opened artillery positions southeast of Liutanli, under the unified command of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Fihan, commander of the 1st Battalion of Artillery, all pointing west and southwest.
Originally, each Marine Regiment also had an anti-tank artillery company with 5 tanks, but the U.S. army in Liutan did not have a tank that could be used, because the road in Hagaru-ri - Liutanli road was simple and a layer of thick ice, M26 heavy tanks may be difficult to pass, so on the 27th first sent 1 M4A3 tank to explore the way, this M4A3 tank took three hours to reach Liutanli, before dark tank crew in the helicopter back to Shimogasuri, ready to guide 4 M26 tanks through Hagaru-ri on the 28th - Liutanli Highway. On the same day, the 1st Service Battalion Detachment brought in 3 days' worth of C and B field rations, as well as chocolate, drinks, biscuits, bread, gum, fuel, and 2 base light weapons ammunition.
One in Liutan is a basin where four highways meet, surrounded by five peaks and rolling highlands, Homer. Colonel Lizberg set up a circular defense line around Liutanli with 10 infantry companies, the H Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment was placed on the top of the 1403 Highlands, the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 5th Marine Regiment was placed on the south slope of the 1403 Highlands, the D Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment was placed on the top of the 1426 Highlands, the 2nd Battalion F Company of the 5th Marine Regiment was arranged on the north slope of the 1426 Highlands, the 3rd Battalion G Company of the 7th Marine Regiment was placed on the top of the 1294 Highlands, and the A Company of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment was arranged in the valley between the 1294 Heights and the 1276 Highlands. The 1st Platoon of the 1st Battalion C Company of the 7th Marine Regiment was arranged on the top of the 1276 Highlands, the B Company of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment was arranged in the valley of the 1276Th Hill and the 1167Th Highlands, which is directly east of Liutanli, the D Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment was arranged on the top of the 1240 Highlands, and the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 7th Marine Regiment was originally arranged on the top of the 1384 Highlands, but the E Company went up the wrong hill, resulting in no one on the top of the 1384 Highlands, only the south slope had a platoon of the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, and the C Company and F Company of the 7th Marine Regiment were guarding The Lower Osama-ri - Dedong Pass in the middle of the Liutanli Highway.
Three: The battle in Liutanli begins
According to the plan, the 89th Division and the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division were responsible for breaking the H Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 7th Marine Regiment, the 2nd Battalion E Company and the F Company of the 5th Regiment of the 5th Marine Regiment, and the main force of the 79th Division was responsible for breaking the I Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the 5th Marine Regiment, the D Company and the Company E of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 5th Marine Regiment, capturing the 1384th, 1282nd, and 1240 heights, and the 59th Division breaking the C Company and the 2nd Battalion F Company of the 7th Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment, and seizing the retreat of Liutanli. Theoretically, each marine battalion has to face a division of China, but the mountainous terrain makes it difficult for the Chinese army to expand, the advantage is not ideal, the focus of the 79th Division is the 1403 heights, the 3rd Battalion H Company of the 7th Marine Regiment originally planned to control the valley with favorable terrain, but there is a gap between the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, the 2nd Battalion E Company and the F Company of the 5th Marine Regiment are on the road north of the H Company, the D Company is south of the road, at 22:00 on the 27th, the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division launched the first attack with artillery support. Penetrating from the gap between Company H of Battalion 3 and Company E of Battalion 2, it quickly captured Hill 1403,
The 2nd Battalion E Company of the 5th Marine Regiment immediately counterattacked, the assault platoon of the 1st Battalion of the 237th Regiment of the 79th Division suffered heavy casualties under the three-sided fire of the US army, and the remaining 5 people insisted until the 3rd Company arrived, and the two sides launched a repeated battle at the 1403rd Heights, the 237th Regiment eventually won, but the casualties were huge, the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 5th Marine Regiment also retreated to the valley, and at the same time as the 1403rd Highland Battle, the 1st Battalion of the 235th Regiment was supposed to attack the 1240th Heights, but took the wrong path and attacked the 1282 Heights defended by the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 7th Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment. Captain Philip, commander of the E Company, ordered the firing of the 1st and 2nd companies of the 1st Battalion of the 235th Regiment 3-4 meters away from the Americans, causing serious casualties in the 1st Battalion of the 235th Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 235th Regiment immediately changed its tactics, attracting the attention of the American troops with small units in the front, the main force moved back from the rear, killing Captain Philip, the two sides fought fiercely for 2 hours, the 1st and 2nd casualties of the 1st Battalion of the 235th Regiment were exhausted, and the 180-man E Company also had 40 people left.
At 3:00 a.m. on the 28th, the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 35th Regiment rushed to reinforcements, defeated the 1st Battalion A Company of the 5th Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment that rushed to reinforcement, and captured the 1282 heights at 5 o'clock, and the C Company of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Battalion of the US Marine Regiment rushed to launch a counterattack and recaptured the 1282 heights, and the 2nd Battalion of the 235th Regiment was responsible for attacking the 1384 Heights, which was originally defended by the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 7th Marine Regiment, but the E Company mistakenly went to the 1282 heights, and the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment found that it was too late to remedy, so it had to establish a cordon line on the south slope with 1 platoon of the 3rd Battalion I Company. In addition, the South Korean police placed two machine guns 270 meters behind them, because the main peak of the 1384 heights was undefended, it was easily occupied by the 235th Regiment 2nd Battalion, and then used 45 minutes to break through the 3rd Battalion I Company cordon, the South Korean police turned around and fled, the 235th Regiment 2nd Battalion attacked the 3rd Battalion Headquarters of the 5th Marine Regiment from a commanding height, killing the deputy battalion commander, Major John Canney, while the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel R-Taplitt, hid alone in the tent to organize a counterattack, recaptured the main peak and established a position.
Four: The battle that goes the wrong way
The most important battle in Liutan is the 1240 Highland, the 1240 Highland is steep, the jungle is dense, the summit is 20 meters long, about 4 to 5 meters wide, and the opposite is 300 meters with three domes, standing on the top of the mountain you can see the lower right of Liutanli and the highway, and the mountain corner is connected to the 1282 Highland, On the left side of the road is the 1167.1 heights, which were originally the target of the 3rd Battalion of the 236th Regiment, at 21:30, the 236th Regiment arrived at the school cave from Chishuili, the 3rd Battalion did not find the enemy at the 1167.1 Heights, the 8th Company of the 3rd Battalion partially occupied the southwest side of the 1167.1 Heights, partly occupied the southeast of the 1240 Heights, the 79th Division headquarters asked to find the sluice gates, reconnaissance for more than 2 hours did not find the sluices, the 79th Division Commander Xiao Jinghai ordered Zhang Chen Regiment Commander to command the 236 regiments across the river, they made a big mistake, if they continued to walk on the 1167 heights, they crashed into Hawe The artillery group commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Fihan had the opportunity to annihilate this artillery group that fired thousands of shells overnight and repelled the third round of onslaught of the 2nd Battalion of the 235th Regiment.
But Commander ZhangChen did not find the 3rd Battalion until 4:30 a.m., considering that it was going to be light, So the 7th Company was ordered to go west at The 1167.1 Heights, the 8th Company to the northwest at the 1240 Heights, the 9th Company to jointly attack the 1240 Heights from the north, giving up the best opportunity to break through Liutanli, as the sharp soldiers, the 6th and 4th 13th Soldiers of the 7th Company crossed the road first, and the D Company of the 7th Marine Regiment on the 1240th Heights suddenly fired 20 meters from the 3rd Group of the Sharpstreets, 6th Squad Suffered two casualties, the 6th Squad Leader let the 3rd Group and the Fire Group hold back, and the 1st and 2nd Groups moved back from the right back to attack the enemy. After annihilating more than 10 people, they entered more than 10 meters from the top of the mountain to drop grenades, injuring Captain Milton Hull, the commander of D Company, and the 6th squad attacked on three sides, driving Company D off the mountain at once, and Captain Milton Hull, who was covered in blood, held on to the slope with 16 people.
At 1:45 a.m., the 3rd Platoon of the C Company of the 5th Regiment of the Marine War rushed to reinforcements, collided with the 3rd Platoon of the 7th Company, more than 10 casualties of the 3rd Platoon, the company commander was killed, the deputy company commander Nie Ziyu and the 3rd Platoon Commander Lü Yizhi were hesitating to be attacked by two companies of the US army, the 3rd Platoon suffered complete casualties, the 8th Company thought that the 7th Company had won, rushed up, was shot by the D Company, the casualties were huge, The commander of the ZhangChen Regiment saw the defeat of the attack, ordered the 1st Battalion 9th Company and the 3rd Company of the 236th Regiment to cover the 7th Company and the 8th Company to withdraw from the battle, and the 1st Battalion and 3rd Company found that the US troops were occupying the top of the mountain in the cover. But did not preemptively occupy the top of the mountain, lost the opportunity, the 236th Regiment 3 Battalion casualties to only 3 platoons, rest until 8 a.m. to attack again, due to slow action, changed to 3 p.m., this time learned the lesson, to disperse the formation of the onslaught, successfully captured the main peak, the US 7 regiment D Company drove 150 meters, D Company almost all casualties, 5 Regiment C Company 3 platoon also suffered half of the casualties, to dusk 5 Regiment D Company replaced the 7 regiment D Company to prepare for a counterattack, and the 236 Regiment also replaced the 3rd Battalion with 2 battalions to garrison the 1240 heights.
After 134 men of the 6th company of the 236th Battalion 236 Regiment took up the defense at 22:00 p.m., Company Commander Wang Shaoyun defended the right side of the frontal defense hill with 3 platoons of 8 squads, 9 squads concealed on the left and right sides of the position, 1 platoon and 2 platoons of the rear side of the heights, ready to attack from the left and right, 6 companies had a total of 3 60 mm mortars, 6 light machine guns, 25 submachine guns, the battalion commander reinforced 5 companies and 3 platoons, two 82 mm mortars, 3 60 mm mortars, and two heavy machine guns to 6 companies. The mortars were divided into three groups and placed on the mountainside behind the 1st platoon position, and with more than 200 men and only 40 shovels and 8 pickaxes, the soldiers spent 5 hours building fortifications, but most of these fortifications were uncovered. Camouflage and communication trenches, artillery positions are also relatively exposed, the right side of the position is empty,
At dawn on November 29, the deputy platoon commander of the 2nd Platoon led 3 soldiers to reconnoiter, and on the mountainside was shot by more than 40 people of the D Company of the 5th Regiment of the Marine War who came to attack, and one person was sacrificed, and a few minutes later, the US artillery and fighters violently bombarded the 1240 heights for an hour, and then the US army rushed up, originally Wang Shaoyun Company Commander wanted to wait for the US army to approach 50 meters before firing, covering the flanking attack troops, but individual fighters opened fire at 200 meters, and The tactics of The Company Commander Wang could not be used, so he had to order the whole company to open fire. Destroyed the first attack of the US army, but the strong artillery fire of the US army destroyed many fortifications, at 14:00 in the afternoon, a platoon of the US army attacked the front of the 1240 heights, but was defeated under the bayonet and grenade blows of the 7th squad, and the 2nd platoon of the reserve team joined the battle, but the formation was very crowded, and the US artillery killed and injured 19 people, and the remaining near the top of the mountain was blocked by dense fire, and they lost their combat effectiveness before contact, and finally 10 people replaced the position of the 7th squad of the 3rd company, and the 3rd platoon of the 5th company took over the position of the 6th company and the 2nd platoon.
At this time, the temperature dropped sharply to more than minus 40 degrees, the snow soaked through clothes, resulting in frostbite, freezing and freezing to death, because there was no hot meal and eating ice and snow and general diarrhea, at 15:00 in the afternoon, more than 100 people of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment launched another attack under the cover of fire, almost destroying all the positions of the 6 companies, the 6 companies repelled the frontal attack after a fierce hand-to-hand combat, the US army used the dense forest to sneak to the front of the 3rd platoon, suddenly broke through the 8th squad position, Wang Shaoyun Company Commander led the 5 companies and 3 platoons along the left side to attack and retake the position. After that, the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment launched a fourth attack, but it was repulsed, and by the evening of the 29th, the 6th Company had killed and wounded more than 100 American troops, and itself suffered 75 casualties, and the commander of the Chapter Regiment believed that the 6th Company was unable to hold on, so he ordered the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion to replace it, on November 30, the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Company repelled the American army's repeated three-way attacks, and on December 1, the 94th Division of the 27th Army entered the battle, the American army began to flee, and the 236th Regiment occupied Liutanli at 14:30.
Five: Conclusion
In the Battle of Chosin Lake, the 27th Army, which had 50,501 men, lost a total of 2,614 people, wounded 4,195, frostbitten 10,410, lost 75 pistols, 77 carbines, 1111 rifles, 465 submachine guns, 142 light machine guns, 34 heavy machine guns, 31 mortars, 2 infantry guns, 5 howitzers and field guns, 69 cars, consumed 447 75 mm field shells, 604 75 mm mountain shells, and 4668 mortar shells. 23019 grenades, a total of 4381 American troops (including 1574 in Liutanli), 396 prisoners, captured 11 tanks, 164 cars, 32 howitzers, 83 mortars, 7 anti-aircraft guns, 28 recoilless guns, 133 rocket launchers, 170 machine guns, 2741 guns of various kinds, the battle in Liutanli was a failure, the 9th Corps was expected to use two divisions to surround and annihilate the 2 main regiments of the 1st Marine Division in one fell swoop, but the result was that the 236 regiments went in the wrong direction and fell short. U.S. postwar studies wondered why very weakly defended artillery positions were not attacked, and if the 236th Regiment destroyed these artillery, the U.S. troops without fire support in Liutan would not be able to survive for three days.