In October 1952, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea entered the decisive stage. In order to reverse the passive situation on the battlefield and seek a favorable position in the negotiations, the US military unilaterally announced the indefinite suspension of the armistice negotiations. In the early morning of October 14, the US military launched a frenzied attack on our army in the village of Shangganling and its vicinity in the southern foothills of Wusheng Mountain in Jinhua County, central Korea, and the Battle of Shangganling was officially launched.
△ Volunteer soldiers who held their positions in Shangganling shot at the enemy
On the same day, the 18 artillery battalions secretly assembled by the US military near Shangganling suddenly opened fire, pouring 300,000 shells into our positions in one day, and dispatched 250 sorties of aircraft, dropping more than 500 aerial bombs, and the dense shells reached six rounds per second.
△ In the Battle of Shangganling, the logistics personnel of our army made great sacrifices
Movie "Shangganling"
Seventh Company Commander: What? What the? I'm the seventh company commander, battalion commander, you wait, my ears deafened the shells. Instructor, you come and listen!
Instructor: Yes. Battalion commander, I am the instructor of the Seventh Company, we have already beaten down the fourteenth charge of the enemy, the cost is very high, now we only have one platoon of troops, yes, we must insist on coming to the logistics force!
△ The soil and stones of the 597.9 highland and 537.7 highland North Hill positions were blown up by one to two meters
Although the two sides had a huge disparity in strength and a huge gap in equipment, under the stubborn resistance of the volunteer army with the determination to die, the position was lost and regained many times. Subsequently, the two sides continued to increase their troops and heavy weapons in the Shangganling area, so that Shangganling developed into a local campaign scale. At noon on October 27, Sun Jingkun, a 28-year-old deputy platoon leader who was ordered to reinforce Highland 161, rushed to the heights with 9 soldiers, carrying 8 boxes of grenades and 2 boxes of bullets, and he was stunned by the sight in front of him.
Sun Jingkun: After going up, there was basically no one in the position, and there was a reporter with the surname Liu. Covered in blood, I was ready to ask the enemy to come up and be together(the same end). There were only 4 people left with me.
△ A corner of the Shangganling position
In Shangganling, which was about 3.7 square kilometers defended by two companies of the Volunteer Army, the US military successively invested more than 60,000 troops, dispatched 3,000 aircraft and more than 170 tanks, fired more than 1.9 million shells, and dropped more than 5,000 bombs. However, the volunteer defenses resisted the enemy's offensive, and the fierce battle lasted for 43 days, and the volunteers and the Americans repeatedly fought for positions 59 times, repelling more than 900 American charges. In the end, the volunteers held their positions and won the victory.
△ Volunteer soldiers pick up water dripping from rocks in the tunnel
In the 1956 movie "Shangganling" episode "My Motherland": A big river with wide waves, the wind blowing rice and flowers on both sides, my family lives on the shore, listens to the trumpet of the Gonggong, and is accustomed to seeing the white sails on the ship...
In the Battle of Shangganling, many heroic figures and heroic deeds that can be sung and wept emerged, such as Huang Jiguang, Sun Zhanyuan, Hu Xiudao, Niu Baocai, and so on. In 1956, the film "Shangganling" shot by Changchun Film Studio was based on this arduous battle, leaving us with one great and classic moment after another in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
△ Warriors guarding the mouth of the tunnel
The victory in the Battle of Shangganling completely smashed the enemy's "Kim Hua Offensive", after this battle, the US army never launched a battalion-sized attack on the volunteer army again, and the Korean war situation has since stabilized at the 38th parallel. This battle not only militarily crushed the enemy's offensive, but also played out the command art, fighting style, and unity spirit of our army, and played a role in the prestige of the country and the military. So much so that later some people said that the real understanding of Chinese Americans began in Shangganling.
Edited by Yang Li