On November 27, 1950, the time finally came for the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army to launch a general offensive against the U.S. 10th Army at Chosin Lake.
The first place where the battle began was Xinxingli, where the volunteers were opposed to the 31st Regimental Battle Group of the US 7th Division. During World War I, the regiment invaded the Soviet Far East and was awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" by then-US President Wilson.
At that time, the 31st Regiment in the Xinxingli area was not the 31st Regiment in the true sense of the word, because the US 7th Division was ordered to go to the east side of Chosin Lake to take over the positions of the 5th Marine Regiment, so it instructed the 31st Regimental Headquarters and the 3rd Battalion of the 31st Regiment, which were closest to the 5th Marine Regiment, together with the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Regiment, the 57th Field Artillery Battalion, and 1 heavy mortar company and 1 anti-aircraft machine gun company to form the 31st Regimental Battle Group, with Colonel McLean, the commander of the 31st Regiment, as the commander-in-chief, to camp in Xinxingli and replace the 5th Marine Regiment.
(1) The "Sun Monkey" type of deputy commander was pulled by the Song Dynasty wheel onto the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
Just as McLean was leading the 31st Regiment (hereinafter referred to as the 31st Regimental Battle Group for the sake of narrative) to the east side of Chosin Lake, he thought that the Chinese army was retreating, completely unaware that the 80th Division of the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army and 1 regiment of the 81st Division were encircling them.
The commander of the Volunteer Army was Zhan Danan, then deputy commander of the 27th Army and commander of the 80th Division. This founding major general was originally a member of the North China Military Region. During the Battle of Pingjin, he led a division to block Fu Zuoyi's ace force, the 35th Army, but the motorized unit of the 35th Army was unable to move forward, and finally had to retreat to the new security guard, and was caught in an urn by the People's Liberation Army. After hearing Zhan Danan's deeds, the chairman clapped his hands and laughed, saying that this guy was like a Sun monkey in battle and was best at "making a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace."
General Zhan Danan
Before entering the dynasty, Song Shilun, commander of the 9th Corps, met Zhan Danan in Beijing, pulled him aside and said, "I lack a deputy commander there, follow me." Zhan Danan thus came to the 9th Corps and participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Without thinking about entering the DPRK, Zhan Danan encountered a hard battle. Based on previous reconnaissance, intelligence officers determined that the size of the U.S. army in Xinxing was 1-2 battalions. Zhan Danan felt that it was more than enough to eat these enemies with the strength of 4 regiments, so he quickly issued a combat mission, with the 238th Regiment of the 80th Division as the main attack, and limited to one night to solve the battle.
(2) Snow Night Surprise Attack, the squad leader unloaded the grenade before sacrificing and handed it to his comrades-in-arms: kill a few more enemies for me
However, everything is difficult at the beginning. Just before the general offensive was about to begin, the 238th Regiment called: the troops had gone the wrong way and requested that the attack be postponed!
What's going on? It turned out that the 238th Regiment was marching on an old map from the Japanese and pseudo-japanese periods, and with heavy snowfall, there was no marker on the ground, until they were halfway through the trip, they found that they had deviated by 5 kilometers.
At this point, the rest of the troops had entered the position where the attack was launched, and now the situation was on the string and had to be fired. Moreover, in order to covertly meet the enemy for several days, the troops lay in the snow every day; in order to prevent air raids by enemy aircraft, they could not make fires for warmth. After a few days, there have been cases of freezing to death.
It cannot be delayed any longer, and the attack must be launched immediately. The 239th Regiment temporarily changed from assists to main attacks, responsible for capturing the 1221 heights of the battlefield and opening the breakthrough of the battle.
Several flares took off, and Zhang Jingui, instructor of the 2nd Battalion of the 239th Regiment, took the lead in taking the lead in the operation. The Americans were caught off guard, and the sentry was quickly destroyed. Zhang Jingui ordered the commander of the 4th Company to lead the 1st and 2nd platoons to copy bread from the side, and the instructor led the 3 platoons to make a frontal assault, rushing through an open field with a single blow and breaking into a US military camp. Song Baozang, the leader of the sharp knife squad, burst into the camp first and threw two grenades into the first tent, followed by a carp rolling and sneaking into the second tent. No, just as he was about to pull out the grenade again, an American soldier suddenly rushed in, and the two immediately wrestled together. The American soldiers were tall and tall, and they threw Song Baozang to the ground at once. Fortunately, the soldier Yan Lu arrived in time and used the butt of his submachine gun to smash the American soldiers to pieces in the brain and fell to the ground and died.
The two men took down the second tent and immediately threw themselves at the third tent. However, at this time, a string of bullets came from the side, and Song Baozang was busy pushing Xiao Yan away, but he fell down.
In severe cold weather, because there is no blood transfusion (plasma is frozen), the most feared thing to fight is to lose blood from injury. Soon, Song Baozang would not be able to do it. With the last bit of strength, he unloaded the grenade on his body and handed it to Xiao Yan: "Kill a few more enemies for me!" He closed his eyes.
After the war, The Treasure of Song was posthumously awarded the First Class Meritorious Service.
(3) A difficult breakthrough, destroying a tank and sacrificing 29 officers and men
On the flank of the second battalion, the first and third battalions of the 239th Regiment also made a breakthrough, breaking into Xinxingli from the south and southeast directions respectively. The three battalions covertly received the enemy, cut off the barbed wire, touched the sentry, and entered a forward command post of the US army. The American troops inside were sleeping, confused and became prisoners, and the three battalions captured 11 people alive, destroyed two armored vehicles, and broke through to the depth of the American army. The first battalion, on the other hand, did not play well, and after their breakthrough, they found that the front was a fire point that had not been found in the previous reconnaissance, which contained 3 American heavy machine guns and 2 recoilless guns. One battalion was killed by flank fire while engaging the enemy, and suffered heavy casualties. Due to the lack of firepower of the 9th Corps, the only way to attack the strongholds that were difficult to fight was to rely on the soldiers to carry out blasts with their flesh and blood. A battalion fought hard all night and gained very little, so they had to suspend the offensive.
At this time, the 238th Regiment, which had been the main attacker, finally arrived, and they immediately entered the battle. Song Xiesheng, deputy company commander of the 7th Company of the Third Battalion, led the sharp knife squad to the forefront, and suddenly found someone lying on his stomach in the snow. He hurried over to observe the situation, only to see that it was a platoon of volunteer officers and men. Touching it with my hand, everyone's body was frozen. Song Xiesheng couldn't help but cry, what a good warrior, just because he was hidden in the snow, he was frozen alive like this!
The 238th Regiment proceeded well at first, but soon hit the nail. The reacting Americans immediately formed a steel defensive line with tanks and used self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to shoot a net of fire to block the volunteers. The U.S. military's M19 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is a twin-mounted 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, which can hit more than 300 shells per minute, and one shot is equivalent to a grenade explosion, and the power is good. The volunteers, who did not understand the performance of this weapon, suffered heavy losses, and many fell to the ground in the dense rain of bullets. Song Xiesheng led the soldiers to destroy a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun with captured bazookas, and was blocked by tanks.
M19 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun captured by the Volunteers
Many volunteer veterans recall that they are not afraid to fight bayonets with American soldiers, but they are afraid of hitting American tanks. The U.S. M26 Pershing tank, originally developed to deal with the German famous Tiger tank, weighs 41.9 tons in combat and has 120 mm thick frontal armor. In the face of such a steel beast, the weak volunteer army was extremely difficult to deal with.
The 1st Battalion of the 238th Regiment organized an explosives team to blow up the tanks with explosives, resulting in the loss of one squad of troops, but only the tracks of one tank were damaged. And the captured Us-made bazookas can't penetrate the frontal armor of the tank, and if they want to hit the side armor and rear armor, the US army will surround the tank in a circle and will not give you a chance. In the end, the first battalion had to concentrate all the machine guns and mortars to suppress the enemy tank fire, and then sent people to stuff rifles and other hard objects into the tank tracks to make it impossible to move, and then used explosive packs and blasting barrels to blow up the chassis, and finally destroyed a tank, but sacrificed as many as 29 officers and men!
(IV) When the whole army fights again, the biggest enemy is not the US army, but the hungry stomach
After a night of fierce fighting, the volunteer units suffered heavy casualties, the second battalion of the 240th Regiment only had two platoons of officers and men left, and many companies of the 238th and 239th Regiments were basically exhausted. Seeing that the sky was about to dawn and the US planes were approaching, Zhan Danan could only order the withdrawal from the battle, and all the departments should pay close attention to making adjustments to their organization, replenish their ammunition, and prepare to attack again at night.
At this time, through the battle situation reflected by the various units, Zhan Danan understood that he encountered not one or two battalions of American troops, but a battle group with a strengthened regimental size! It should be known that the volunteer army at this time has never eaten a battle example of an American reinforcement regiment in one bite. The "Polar Bear Regiment" is worthy of being the elite of the US army, and although it was hit, it did not panic, but instead launched a counterattack against the volunteer army. The 239th Regiment bore the brunt of the attack, somewhat caught off guard, and was overwhelmed by the Americans. Fortunately, the 238th Regiment arrived in time, stabilized its position, and drove the American troops back.
Realizing that Zhan Danan had encountered a hard stubble, Song Shilun immediately sent reinforcements, and the 241st and 242nd regiments of the 81st Division went to Xinxingli to fight, replacing the 239th and 240th Regiments with heavy casualties.
Zhan Danan, who had received fresh troops, immediately deployed a second attack on Xinxingli. After nightfall, the 238th Regiment took the lead in attacking to open the breakthrough, followed by the 241st and 242nd Regiments to expand the results.
But after a night of fighting, the U.S. military learned to be smart. They strengthened their firepower and set up a large number of tripwire flares according to the characteristics of the volunteers' offensive. The 241st and 242nd Regiments, which had not yet fought with the U.S. Army, did not know the fierceness of the U.S. army's firepower, and received the enemy in a dense formation, and were caught in firing, and in an instant, 4 companies lost their combat effectiveness.
U.S. tanks played an important role in defensive warfare
Due to the lack of communication equipment of the volunteers, the orders could only be sent down to the battalion level, and some could even be passed on to the regiment, which led to the various departments having to fight separately, and soon became a melee. Fortunately, because the US military relied too much on firepower, the self-propelled high artillery ammunition that had previously been recklessly and mighty was exhausted, and the firepower was sharply reduced. Seeing that the situation was favorable, Zhan Danan resolutely ordered all the troops to overcome the difficulties and continue the offensive.
For the volunteers at this time, the biggest enemy was not the American army, but hungry. As the U.S. army blocked the transport line with air strikes, the volunteers had to fight the enemy in the midst of hunger and cold. Before the battle began, everyone had not eaten for two days, hoping that they would capture the canned food of the American troops after the fighting. Zhang Jingui rushed into a house of ordinary people with the second battalion and found two baskets of apples. Everyone looked at the apple and drooled, but because they could not violate discipline, no one ate. Huang Wanfeng, commander of the 1st Company of the 243rd Regiment, found an old man's family, and when the old man heard that the volunteers were coming, he cooked potatoes for them without saying a word. The potatoes cooked by the old man saved the lives of more than 300 soldiers.
(5) Surrender to the "polar bear"
After two days of bloody fighting, the 80th and 81st Divisions suffered heavy casualties, froze and starved, and their strength was greatly damaged. The 238th Regiment was downsized to 6 infantry companies (each with only 50 or 60 men), while the 239th Regiment was reorganized into 3 infantry companies, 1 heavy machine gun company, and 1 mortar company. However, in view of the unsatisfactory battle conditions in Liutanli and Hagaru-ri, the situation required that the 9th Corps must annihilate the enemy in order to strengthen the army. After receiving the instructions of Song Shilun to concentrate on destroying the 31st Regiment, Zhan Danan had no choice but to grit his teeth and issue an order to continue the attack.
On New Year's Day 2020, General Zhan Danan, who was lying on a hospital bed at this time, recalled the scene at that time and couldn't help but shed tears: "The sacrifice was too great, but there was no way, the 59th and 79th divisions were in Liutan, the 58th and 60th divisions were in Xiajiao, everyone was fighting for victory with their lives, what reason did we have to retreat?" ”
General Zhan Danan died on November 21, 2020, at the age of 106
At this point, the situation on the battlefield began to tilt toward the Volunteers—Colonel McLean was killed in battle. Lieutenant Colonel Feith, who succeeded him, saw no point in holding out and decided to break out in the direction of the 1st Marine Division in Xiayuli.
As soon as the US troops moved, they were bound to come out of their steel defenses, and that would be easy to fight! Zhan Da went south with a death order: as soon as the enemy set out, he began to attack, and all the shells should be fired in the shortest possible time!
On November 30, the time for the decisive battle arrived. As soon as the U.S. army left Xinxingli, the light and heavy firearms of the 242nd Regiment opened fire at the same time. Ye Yong'an, deputy squad leader of the 9th Company, led two soldiers to creep forward and quietly approached the tanks headed by the Us army. The two fighters first shoved the blast canister into the tank tracks, and Ye Yong'an suddenly jumped up when it exploded, stuffing a string of cluster grenades from the tank barrel and maiming it. Immediately after that, he rolled under the chassis of the second tank and destroyed it with an explosive packet. The third tank wanted to make a U-turn, and Ye Yong'an climbed into the tank and lifted the hatch to throw two grenades.
Destroyed U.S. military vehicles
After the war, Ye Yong'an was awarded the title of First Class Meritorious Service and "Anti-Tank Expert".
Lieutenant Colonel Fiss ignored the casualties and ordered his troops to rush forward at all costs. Despite the fact that the two armies were in close combat, he called for aircraft to launch an air raid. Because the distance was too close, although the napalm bombs of the US planes turned the volunteer positions into a sea of fire, dozens of US officers and men were also burned into coke.
The 8th Company of the Three Battalions of the 241st Regiment suffered almost all casualties, leaving only the soldier Yan Hongquan. He fought alone until reinforcements arrived. Sui Chunnuan, the commander of the third battalion of the 240th Regiment, found that the flanks of his position had been broken, and rushed up to fight with the enemy with a loud roar, but he was shot 5 times in the body and still fought bravely, annihilating more than ten enemy people, and RongLite and other meritorious achievements.
Under the stubborn resistance of the volunteer army, the American army suffered heavy casualties, and Feith was also seriously wounded and died soon after. As soon as he died, the U.S. army immediately fell into disarray and collapsed.
In the Battle of Xinxingli, the volunteers killed or wounded 2,807 people under Colonel McLean, commander of the U.S. 31st Regiment Battle Group, took 384 prisoners, destroyed 7 tanks, 161 cars, captured 11 tanks, 199 cars, destroyed or captured 16 howitzers, 7 anti-aircraft guns, 28 recoilless guns, 88 mortars, and all kinds of guns, rocket launchers, communication equipment, and sapper equipment. Unfortunately, most of the captured equipment was eventually destroyed by U.S. air raids.
The Battle of Xinxingli was the only time in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea that the Volunteer Army formed an organization to eliminate a regiment-level combat unit of the US army, and wrote a strong and colorful stroke in the history of the people's army. Although the volunteer soldiers paid a huge price for this, the miracle of war they created to defeat the inferior and the weak over the strong will be remembered by the world forever!
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