"Chosin Lake" may be the most thoughtful domestic war blockbuster with the most details so far, and it has achieved the greatest restoration of that history from a little detail. "Chosin Lake" invested 1.3 billion yuan, just to restore the real war, the details determine success or failure, the truth touched people's hearts, when "Chosin Lake" did this, its success is like the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it is inevitable.
There is a very touching scene in the film, before entering the DPRK, the staff of the railway station chases the train, and while running, he takes off his cotton clothes and throws them into the carriage to give to the soldiers of the Seventh Company. The details of this scene show that, on the one hand, in the previous plot and lines, it is explained that the Northeast Military Region did not prepare winter clothes for the Ninth Corps, in fact, the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region issued more than 100,000 sets of winter winter cold equipment to the Ninth Corps, but due to the military emergency, some of the vanguard troops and rapidly mobile units did not receive or receive full winter clothes.
Due to the tense situation on the peninsula, China established the Northeast Border Defense Army in July 1950, and then began to prepare for the war in Korea. The first batch of volunteer troops to enter the DPRK were all from the Northeast Border Defense Army, including the 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, 66th, 50th, 20th, 27th, and 26th Armies, a total of 9 armies and 30 divisions, all of which were first-class main forces, and only the 50th Army was a Kuomintang uprising force.
At that time, in September 1950, the troops were still wearing type 50 uniforms, and when the order to enter the DPRK was issued, the officers of some units began to change into the uniforms of the People's Army in the north of the peninsula, and cadres at or above the division level wore general uniforms, regimental battalions wore school uniforms, and company platoon posts wore lieutenant uniforms. Dynasty-style high straight-barreled military hat, stand-up collar yellow tweed top, cowhide armed belt, yellow tweed breeches, black long riding boots. But there are no rank epaulettes.
However, in addition to some wearing the winter field uniforms of the People's Army (in fact, the pullover striped cotton uniforms of the Soviet Union during World War II), the vast majority of the soldiers who entered the DPRK first also wore the winter uniforms of the Type 50 military uniform, but removed the HAT badge and badge of the People's Liberation Army. Due to the long-term stationing in the northeast, the troops who entered the DPRK in the early stage did a relatively good job of keeping warm, and the cotton clothes and quilts were complete. Since it had not yet entered winter, the first batch of troops entering the DPRK did not produce frost damage casualties.
Because it is a volunteer army, all troops are required not to wear any insignia, and the Type 50 uniforms are stripped of the "Bayi" hat emblem and the "Chinese People's Liberation Army" badge. All persons must leave all items bearing the emblem of the People's Liberation Army in the country, such as hat badges and badges, and hand over all seals, documents, and certificates of officers and soldiers.
In order to prepare the volunteer army to go abroad to fight, as early as July 1950, the General Logistics Department arranged for the Northeast, North China, East China and Central and Southern Military Regions to rush to produce 340,000 sets of cotton clothes, 360,000 pairs of cotton shoes, 400,000 pieces of cotton hats, velvet pants, cotton vests, cotton coats, and 700,000 pairs of cotton gloves and socks. However, due to the increase in the number of troops entering the DPRK and the urgency of the situation, the second batch of troops entering the DPRK did not have time to complete the winter clothes. In particular, many officers and men of the Ninth Corps wore thin cotton coats from East China, wore large brimmed cloth hats without hats and ears, and wore rubber-soled shoes on their feet.
After the Second Campaign, Chairman Mao made a special telegram to the headquarters of the Volunteer Army and the Ninth Corps: "The 9th Corps has completed a huge strategic task under extremely difficult conditions in this operation on the Eastern Front. Due to the cold climate, lack of supplies and fierce fighting, the number of personnel was reduced to 40,000, and the central government greatly missed this." The 9th Corps suffered 19,202 combat casualties, 28,954 frostbite and more than 1,000 people froze to death, and more than 3,000 people died after frostbite treatment, for a total of 48,156 casualties.
I also noticed a small detail while watching the film, which showed how seriously the whole crew was shooting. That is the "gun salute".
During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the salute of the troops was rarely the same as it is now, and most of the salutes of the soldiers with guns were "gun-holding salutes." Officers armed with short guns are the ones who raise their hands. The military salute of "gun supporting ceremony" is very ancient, it is a military salute handed down by the army in the Republic of China period, the left forearm is horizontally pasted to the right (holding a riding gun obliquely) on the chest, the palm is inward, the five fingers are straight and aligned, and the upper end of the gun is lightly supported.
Mainly because the bolt-action rifles of the past were very long, when soldiers stood with guns, the salute of holding the gun was more convenient and beautiful than raising their hands and eyebrows. Therefore, before the fifties of the last century, the gun salute was one of the most used military etiquettes. It was not until after the 1950s that our army changed into a large number of Soviet-style automatic weapons, and the gun ceremony was abolished in the internal affairs ordinance and changed to three kinds of military salutes: the salute of raising the hand, the ceremony of looking at the eyes, and the salute of raising the gun.
An impressive detail in "Chosin Lake" flashed so much that many people didn't notice it. At the military parade held before the departure of the Ninth Corps of the People's Liberation Army, a sign was hung on the wall of the small building in the background: We must liberate Taiwan. This is a very realistic scene reproduction, indicating that the crew is very careful in the details of the shooting.
In the second half of 1950, the Ninth Corps, before entering the DPRK, was stationed in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, which was originally preparing to liberate Taiwan. It was originally planned to launch a cross-strait landing operation in late 1950 or 1951 to complete national reunification. However, all this was interrupted by the outbreak of the Peninsular War on June 25, 1950, and the entry of the U.S. Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait on June 27, when western countries imposed a blockade on China. This detail in the movie is also very allegorical, that is, the country has not yet been reunified, and we must eventually liberate Taiwan.
Another intimate detail of "Chosin Lake" is the volunteer shell copper whistle, which is the bullet shell whistle unique to the volunteer army. In a large number of U.S. memoirs, almost all U.S. troops have been impressively described that when the volunteers launched a charge, they were often accompanied by "heart-rending military trumpets" and "sharp whistles", and the unique combat sounds of these volunteers accompanied them like a nightmare, even to the end of their lives.
This "heart-rending military trumpet" that makes the US military feel frightened is actually not a traditional military trumpet, but a small size trumpet, or a small trumpet, which is used differently from the traditional military trumpet, and is mainly used for liaison and command when fighting in grass-roots squads. And the "sharp and piercing whistle" is the bullet shell copper whistle used by individual soldiers.
This shell copper whistle is quick to make and easy to use. It was used by many armies in World War II, but was more commonly used in volunteers, usually with brass sentries for platoon commanders, squad leaders, deputy squad leaders, and combat team leaders. The use of shell copper sentry is too many, can be used day and night, can be contacted, issued orders, prompt enemy information, combat coordination and so on.
In the past, war movies like "The Gathering" were purely Westernized tactical actions and sign language, which was not the PLA at all, but the Korean special effects team's self-righteous understanding of the PLA's combat tradition. And "Chosin Lake" is very realistic.
In the whistle of this up and down, the spirit of the volunteer army, which was overwhelming, tenacious, brave and brave, and not afraid of sacrifice, was called "the enigmatic oriental spirit" by the US military. This also reflects that the volunteer army at that time was already a master of the art of light infantry combat, and our army developed infantry tactics to the peak.
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although the volunteer army had rudimentary weapons and an absolute generational difference with the US army, it did not fall behind in the face of the US army armed to the teeth. The reason why the volunteer army was able to repulse the US army, and even in the second battle, almost created a campaign situation in which the two-way United Nations army was completely annihilated, relying on a strong patriotic spirit, the supreme sense of honor of the soldiers, the firm will to fight like steel, and the infantry tactics of pure fire to the perfection.