In the autumn of 1952, the Chinese Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army won a comprehensive tactical counterattack operation, and the "United Nations Army" became more and more passive. At this time, on the eve of the US presidential election and the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, negotiations on the repatriation of prisoners of war were at an impasse. In order to meet the needs of the political struggle, sabotage the tactical counterattack being carried out by the Volunteer Army and the People's Army, get rid of the passive situation on the battlefield, and seek a favorable position in the armistice negotiations, the "United Nations Army" first unilaterally announced an indefinite adjournment on October 8 to exert pressure on the DPRK and China, and then began to launch the "Kim Hua Offensive" on the Korean Central Front on October 14. Attacked the support point positions of two companies of the Volunteer Army in the Shangganling area north of Jinhua, Hill 597.9 and Hill 537.7, in an attempt to seize the Five Holy Mountains, the key points of defense of the Volunteer Army, and improve their battlefield posture.
The Golden Offensive, personally planned and commanded by commander of the U.S. 8th Army, J.A. VanVleet, was launched on October 14. The "United Nations Army" successively put in troops, and the participating units successively included the US 7th Division (with the US Airborne 187th Regiment, the Ethiopian Battalion, and the Colombian Battalion), the 2nd Division of the South Korean Army (attached to the 37th Regiment), and the 9th Division, with a total of 11 infantry regiments and 2 battalions, another 18 artillery battalions, more than 300 guns of more than 105 mm caliber, more than 170 tanks, more than 3,000 sorties of aircraft, and a total strength of more than 60,000 troops.
The volunteer army's defensive task in the Shangganling area was the 15th Army under the command of the 3rd Corps (Deputy Commander Wang Jinshan and Deputy Political Commissar Du Yide). The 597.9 Heights and the 537.7 Highlands North Hill were defended by 2 reinforced companies of the 135th Regiment of the 45th Division, and the two positions were constructed with 48 tunnels over 10 meters long (a total length of more than 760 meters). At the beginning of the campaign, the 15th Army was participating in the tactical counterattack in the autumn of 1952, and after the "United Nations Army" launched the offensive, the 15th Army immediately changed its battle plan and threw itself into the defense of the Shangganling area. In the course of the campaign, the volunteers successively participated in the battle, including the 45th and 29th Divisions of the 15th Army, 1 regiment of the 31st And 34th Division of the 12th Army, the 2nd and 7th Howitzer Artillery Divisions, the 1st 209th Regiment of Rocket Artillery, the 1st Artillery Regiment of the 601st and 610th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments, 114 Jishan Artillery, Field Artillery, and Howitzers, 24 Rocket Artillery, 47 Anti-Aircraft Guns, and two other engineering battalions, with a total strength of more than 40,000 troops. The entire operation was commanded by Qin Jiwei, commander of the 15th Army, and Gu Jingsheng, political commissar. The Rear Service Command of the Volunteer Army also adjusted its deployment and made every effort to support operations in the Shangganling area.
Folded through
In this campaign, the two warring sides have mobilized more than 100,000 troops and repeatedly fought for 43 days, and the scale of the battle has developed from a battle to a campaign, and its intensity is rare in the history of world wars. The artillery and aviation of the "United Nations Army" fired more than 1.9 million shells and dropped more than 5,000 bombs on the Shangganling area with a total area of less than 4 square kilometers, and blew up the earth and stones on the high ground by 1 to 2 meters. The defensive units of the Volunteer Army carried out the operational principle of "sticking to the defense and fighting for every inch of land", relying on the fortifications of the tunnels, and resolutely resisting the attack of the "United Nations Army". The entire campaign went through 3 phases.
Fold the first stage and compete for surface positions
After two days of artillery preparation, the "United Nations Army" began to attack at 5 o'clock on October 14. The "United Nations Army" originally thought that it only needed 2 battalions of troops to occupy highland 597.9 and 537.7 highland north hill in 5 days. However, after the attack was launched, it was stubbornly resisted by the volunteer army, and on the first day, a total of 7 battalions of the US 7th Division and the 2nd Division of the South Korean Army were invested, and more than 300 large-caliber artillery pieces, more than 30 tanks, and more than 40 aircraft were used to support. The U.S. army and the South Korean army took a multi-faceted and multi-wave approach and launched continuous onslaughts. The defensive detachment of the 45th Division of the Volunteer Army stubbornly resisted, repelling more than 10 attacks from 1 platoon to 1 battalion. By 17:00, most of the surface positions were lost, and the defensive detachment turned to the tunnel to continue the battle. That night, the 45th Division organized 4 companies to counterattack, all of which restored their surface positions. During the battle, Sun Zhanyuan, the platoon leader of the 135th Regiment, had his legs blown off, but he still insisted on commanding the battle, and finally pulled a grenade and died with the enemy. From the 15th onwards, the "United Nations Army" successively invested 2 regiments and 4 battalions of troops to attack in turn with the support of intensive artillery fire and aviation fire. The 45th Division adjusted its deployment, continuously increased its defensive strength, relied on tunnel fortifications, blocked during the day, counterattacked at night, and fiercely competed with the American and South Korean troops for surface positions. In the battle against the 597.9 heights on the 19th, Huang Jiguang, the squad leader of the 135th Regiment, blocked the enemy machine gun fortifications with his body, opened a charging road for the troops, and died honorably. By the 20th, after most of the surface positions were occupied by the enemy, the volunteer defense detachments all turned to the tunnels to hold on to the battle. In the first phase of the operation, the U.S. army and the South Korean army successively invested 17 battalions (9 battalions of the U.S. army and 8 battalions of the South Korean army), and the 45th Division of the Volunteer Army successively invested 21 infantry companies. The volunteers killed and wounded more than 7,000 enemy soldiers.
Fold the second stage and persist in the tunnel struggle
After the "United Nations Army" suffered losses in the first phase of the offensive operation, it adjusted its deployment, withdrew the heavily damaged US 7th Division from the battle, handed over the offensive task to the 2nd Division of the South Korean Army, and transferred the 9th Division of the South Korean Army to the area south of Kim Hoa as a reserve for the campaign. The 3rd Corps and the 15th Army of the Volunteer Army, in accordance with the instructions of Deng Hua, acting commander and acting political commissar of the Volunteer Army, on seizing the favorable opportunity of the enemy's attack in formation and regiments to inflict heavy casualties, made adjustments to the deployment of the Shangganling area in order to prepare for a decisive counterattack. The 15th Army ordered the 45th Division to devote itself fully to the 597.9 Heights and 537.7 Highlands North Hill, with a focus on trench operations; the 29th Division took over the defense of other parts of the 45th Division. At the same time, the troops of the 44th Division and the 29th Division strengthened the counterattack operations on the enemy's positions in the adjacent areas, pinned down the enemy's forces, and cooperated with the 45th Division. The 3rd Corps transferred the 31st Division of the 12th Army to the Area of The Five Holy Mountains as a reserve for the campaign; 2 artillery battalions and 7 artillery companies were added to the 15th Army. The Volunteer Headquarters also added 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment and 1 engineer battalion to the 15th Army. The 3rd Corps and the 15th Army also added 1,200 new recruits to the 45th Division. From the 21st to the 29th, the "United Nations Army" occupying the surface positions and the South Korean Army troops used bombing, blasting, poisoning, burning, blocking, and blockade to try to eliminate the volunteer detachments that held the tunnels. The volunteer army's sticking detachment gave full play to the role of the party branch as a fighting fortress and the power of political and ideological work, united as one, overcame unimaginable difficulties such as lack of food, ammunition, water, and dirty air, stubbornly held on to the tunnels, and organized squads or combat groups to attack the surface positions 158 times, killing and wounding more than 2,000 enemy personnel, and retaking 7 positions. The volunteer army's deep unit formed an artillery group with 19 artillery companies to support the operation of the tunnel detachment, protect the main tunnel openings of the two highlands, and repeatedly organized the troops to carry out counterattacks with the cooperation of the tunnel detachments to reduce the pressure on the tunnel detachments. With the effective cooperation of the troops inside and outside the tunnel, the volunteer army effectively persisted in the tunnel struggle, winning time and creating favorable conditions for preparing for a decisive counterattack.
Fold the third stage and carry out a decisive counterattack
On the night of October 30, the 15th Volunteer Army, with 5 companies of the 45th Division and 2 companies of the 29th Division, and 3 companies holding the tunnel, supported by more than 100 artillery pieces, counterattacked the 597.9 heights and recaptured the surface position