(i)
The Battle of Shangganling was one of the most classic battles in the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Shortly after the battle was fought, on December 29, 1952, according to the order of the Headquarters of the Volunteer Army, the 24th Army from Wonsan on the Eastern Front went to the Central Front to take over the defensive operations of the 15th Army in the Shangganling, Jinhua and Pingkang areas.
The distance between Yuanshan and Shangganling is more than 200 kilometers. After receiving the order from Zhisi, the 24th Army put forward the slogan of "making good defenses, marching well, taking over the heroic positions, and consolidating and developing the victory of the big brother troops." It took out the momentum of the flying troops who had rushed across Menglianggu in those years, carrying more than 70 kilograms of ammunition and clothing equipment on their backs, and quickly marched towards Shangganling. Faced with mountains and rivers, icy snow and winds, and enemy planes bombarding and bombing from time to time, the commanders and fighters of the 24th Army eliminated all kinds of interference, overcame all kinds of difficulties, quickly moved forward, and arrived at the Shangganling area on time in early January 1953.
According to Wan Haifeng, who was the director of the artillery of the 24th Army at the time, unlike the large troops, he and a young staff officer named Gu Kairong came to the 15th Army Headquarters in advance, mainly to do a good job of receiving artillery defense. When it was almost time to reach the headquarters of the 15th Army, Wan Haifeng asked The Gu Staff Officer to get out of the car and walk to the military headquarters with him to show respect for the heroic troops.
The ancient staff officer was only 18 years old at the time, still a lively and active young man, and had just come to the Korean front shortly after he was assigned from the artillery school to the headquarters of the 24th Army. For a young staff officer who has not yet been on the battlefield, curiosity is inevitable. At this time, when he saw a group of wounded people coming from the opposite side, he took the initiative to grab a soldier with a leg wound and greeted: "You have just come off the line of fire, hard work."
The soldier heard from the questions of the ancient staff officer that he was his Fellow Sichuan compatriot, so he seemed particularly kind. Immediately replied to the ancient staff officer: "What a hard work, the mountains are all flattened, it is really enjoyable!" ”
As soon as the soldier spoke, the ancient staff officer immediately heard the accent of a Fellow Sichuan. In particular, one of his sentences, "Really enjoyable," further aroused the curiosity of the ancient staff officer, so he then asked: "Fellow, I have just come to the front line, and I want to find out the bottom, is this American devil really good at fighting or not?" ”
"There's nothing remarkable about American devils. In addition to the aircraft cannons, they are simply inferior to the infantry, and they are not at all as good as Zhang Lingfu." The warrior replied proudly.
When the ancient staff officer saw that the soldier mentioned Zhang Lingfu, he immediately asked, "Fellow, do you know Zhang Lingfu too?" ”
"Zhang Lingfu who doesn't know, he is the commander of the Kuomintang ace division, and the 74th Division is the number one main force of the Kuomintang army," the soldier then asked, "By the way, fellow, which army are you?" ”
"I am from the 24th Army, and our army has fought seven battles and seven victories," the ancient staff officer continued, "but that is all in the past." Now I don't know how to fight the Yankees. In the previous period, our army only served as a garrison in Wonsan, and we had not really fought hard with the Yankees, so we had no experience, and we had to learn from your big brother troops. ”
"The 24th Army, your army is also very cattle, zhang Lingfu is not your army to kill?" The warrior then said, "Meng Lianggu, you can all fight, Zhang Lingfu you can all be destroyed, there will certainly be no problem in defending Shangganling"...
After saying goodbye to the little soldier of the 15th Army, The Ancient Staff Officer ran to Director Wan Haifeng and described the content of their chat to Director Wan Haifeng. The warrior's words echoed in both men's ears from time to time. In particular, the sentence "Zhang Lingfu you can all be destroyed, there will certainly be no problem in guarding Shangganling."
(ii)
As a strong force in the three fields, the 24th Army was relatively late to enter the DPRK than several other armies. Seeing that so many armies entering the DPRK were fighting very beautifully, it was obvious that the 24th Army must also have a lot of pressure. The ancient staff officer asked the soldier of the 15th Army whether the US army was good at fighting or not, were they really better at fighting than Zhang Lingfu? These issues are undoubtedly of the greatest concern to the commanders and fighters of the entire 24th Army who joined the KOREAN War.
Fortunately, this is an old unit with a glorious tradition, a unit with brilliant achievements. The bloody words of the veteran commander Wang Bicheng, "Fighting the 74th Division cannot be less than our 6 columns," have always been infused and transmitted to this unit.
When he first entered the dprk and served as a garrison of Wonsan, the 24th Army did not fight any battles. Only the struggle with the US aviation force, during which 2 planes were shot down and more than 20 were damaged.
When they heard that they were preparing to take over the Shangganling position of the 15th Army, the commanders and fighters of the 24th Army were undoubtedly excited and excited. As mentioned earlier, the 24th Army not only sent artillery director Wan Haifeng and others to accept artillery defense. The military department also organized dozens of cadres at and above the regimental level and some combat backbones to go to the 15th Army in advance to study "learning from the scriptures" in order to better meet the requirements of shangganling's defensive operations.
Interestingly, among the dozens of people who were studying and "learning the scriptures," there was a backbone combat squad leader named Wang Yuben, who was from the 8th Company of the 214th Regiment. While studying and "learning the scriptures," Wang Yuben was approved to participate in the battle of attacking the red clay bag by 4 companies and 1 squad of a certain unit of the 15th Army. The history of the 24th Army records:
"Wang Yuben was brave and good at fighting, resourceful and flexible; he single-handedly blew up 9 enemy bunkers, annihilated 10 enemy soldiers, and captured 1 enemy; he created a record of his own army fighting abroad to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and engaging the enemy for the first time; he not only killed and wounded the enemy army, but also captured the enemy army alive; he showed the fighting style of this heroic unit of our 24th Army and left a deep impression on the brother troops. After the war, Wang Yuben was awarded the second class meritorious service and was praised by the military for his meritorious service in the first battle. ”
No one expected that the 24th Army had opened the curtain of the Shangganling defensive operation in such a special way.
After taking over the Shangganling position of the 15th Army, the 24th Army immediately threw itself into various operational preparations, such as reconnaissance of terrain, rushing to repair fortifications, drawing up battle plans, and hoarding grain and other combat materials.
In view of the situation that there was a fight and talk at that time, and there was no major battle to be fought, the 24th Army launched a small detachment combat activity of "grabbing a handful and leaving." In line with the principle of "going out quickly, fighting quickly, and withdrawing quickly," we organized crack detachments in a planned manner, selected accurate targets, and struck at the enemy unexpectedly. When the 3rd Squad of the 5th Company of the 208th Regiment attacked the position of the 6th Company and 1 Platoon of the 7th Regiment of the US 3rd Division, it took only 5 minutes to annihilate the enemy 1 squad. On his return, he encountered the patrolling enemy. The whole class immediately opened fire, annihilating two squads in one fell swoop. In the two battles, a total of 26 enemy soldiers were annihilated, and 7 people below the platoon leader of the American lieutenant were captured. After the war, he was awarded the first class of collective merit.
In view of the protracted confrontation between the positions of the enemy and us, the 24th Army also carried out the "cold gun and cold cannon" campaign to kill the enemy and create a "hundred snipers" activity. Zhang Taofang of the 214th Regiment, Chen Baijin of the 221st Regiment, and others stood out in this battlefield environment and became famous sharpshooters of the whole army. Chen Baijin killed and wounded 120 enemy people with 375 bullets in 75 days; Zhang Taofang killed and wounded 214 enemy people with 436 bullets in 32 days, and was listed as one of the 64 heroes in the "Biography of Heroes of the Volunteer Army".
Looking back, it is the same as Wang Bicheng's sentence that "we cannot fight the 74th Division without our 6 columns," and this time in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, under the efforts of Commander Pi Dingjun, the 24th Army stationed on the southeast coast was not missing in the end. During the entire period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, just as the soldier of the 15th Army said, the 24th Army showed the momentum of giving up its own self to fight Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division; although it entered the Korean War late and only participated in the Shangganling Defensive Operation and the Battle of Jincheng, it still played with momentum and divine might, annihilated a total of 19,216 enemy personnel, and better fulfilled the assigned combat tasks.
Main References: History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, History of the 24th Army, And Majestic Forces