Kraft candy is known as "a must in Yangzhou" and is a specialty of Yangzhou. The taste is sweet, the outer layer of sesame seeds is uniform, the cut surface is brown and bright, translucent, elastic, fragrant, fine chewing non-stick teeth, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad, as early as the Qing Dynasty Qian, Jia years have been marketed in Yangzhou
Between battles in Shangganling, volunteer soldiers played songs with homemade instruments at the mouth of the tunnel
The scale of the fifth campaign was very large, with millions of troops on both sides. There is no abolition of the formation of one regiment of the US army, only the formation of one battalion is destroyed; the puppet army and one division are eliminated, and the rest are destroyed without formation. Generally speaking, it takes two days to surround a regiment of the US army and annihilate it all, because our army's technical equipment is too backward, and his air force and ground mechanized units are desperately trying to rescue them. A whole regiment of the US army was completely annihilated, and no one ran away, only once in the second battle, and the rest were the formation of the annihilation battalion. Usually when the siege could not be annihilated at night, he had a way to rescue him during the day the next day.
At this time Chairman Mao sent a telegram instructing that the mouth of the war against the US army should not be opened too wide, and that the method of knocking on the candy of the cowhide must be adopted, little by little. This is a good approach, but there needs to be a transitional approach to stabilize the position. If you can't stand firmly, you can't knock on others.
Volunteer soldiers quench their thirst by melting the snow
From the end of the fourth to fifth campaigns, after more than two months of fierce fighting, the enemy army was quite tired; the positions of our army have begun to form and gradually consolidate, and the ground defense war has changed into an underground defensive battle. In terms of operational forms, our side further constructed the deep fortifications of the tunnels and gradually completed them along the "38th Line." The strengthening of the tunnel fortifications and the inability of the enemy to breach our positions (the appearance of the Shangganling position is an example), so that the enemy's attacks again and again were thwarted.
I concentrated my forces to selectively and preparedly break through the enemy's positions, and learned to use the tunnel fortifications as a cover for defensive warfare and the tunnel fortifications to carry out offensive position warfare.
In the summer and autumn of 1951, a battle to build a solid position appeared, and the tactic of "knocking on the candy" of the chairman's instructions to the enemy began. That is, to concentrate the maximum amount of firepower and troops, do a good job of concealing the offensive positions, and annihilate one enemy unit at a time, most of which is the enemy's one battalion. There have been many such annihilation battles, about four or five times a month, and there are many concentrated battles, and they have really learned to attack the strongholds of the positions.
In May 1951, after listening to a report by Chen Geng, chief of staff of the Volunteer Army's Liberation and 3rd Corps and political commissar on the situation in korea, Mao Zedong gave clear instructions on the combat methods that the volunteers should adopt on the basis of the experience of the volunteer army in five consecutive campaign battles after entering the DPRK and the combat characteristics of the US and British armies. He said: "The general political task of the Volunteer Army is to take turns to fight, and the elimination of nine divisions of the American and British army (including several miscellaneous brigades and battalions) can solve the Korean problem." In terms of playing, he agreed with The principle of constantly annihilating the enemy in turn, that is, the method of 'zero knocking on the candy'.
Battle hero Guan Chonggui (left) uses a light machine gun to repel multiple enemy attacks and shoot down one enemy aircraft
The goal of fighting against the U.S. army was to completely annihilate one battalion of the enemy at a time. Use three or four corps at a time (you can also use a little more), and the other units are ready to fight when they have the opportunity. Such a rotation of combat will weaken the enemy in the three seasons of summer, autumn and winter, and a large-scale offensive can be carried out in the next spring. (Mao Zedong's Military Manuscripts Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, Vol. I, p. 492)
Kraft candy is a traditional piece of sugar with strong viscosity refined from glutinous rice and malt in rural China, which is knocked down small piece by piece with metal utensils for human consumption. Mao Zedong used this metaphor to fight a small war of annihilation.
In June of the same year, after five battles, the volunteer army drove the enemy back to the vicinity of the 38th Line, turning the tide of the war. However, because the enemy's technical equipment was superior and it held the air superiority on the battlefield, it had a great impact on the combat operations of the volunteer army and the supply of the rear. In addition, the more the front line moved south, the more difficult the supply of the volunteer army became, the more exposed the two wings became, the greater the threat of the enemy landing, and the unfavorable conditions for the volunteer army to fight increased.
At the same time, Korea is a narrow peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, and due to geographical conditions, it is difficult for the troops to carry out extensive maneuvers and annihilate the enemy in large numbers. At that time, the volunteer army surrounded 1 division or even 1 regiment of the US army at a time, and it was difficult to completely annihilate it.
According to this situation, after the end of the Fifth Campaign, the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee formulated the strategic principle of "protracted combat and active defense." The basic requirements are: While strategically practicing defensive operations, we should actively carry out offensive operations in campaigns and tactics; while consolidating and improving our own positions, we should adopt the method of "zero knocking on the candy" and fighting all kinds of small-scale annihilation wars, constantly annihilating and depleting the enemy's living forces, so that the enemy is often in a passive position of being beaten, and prompting the war situation to constantly develop in a direction favorable to China and the DPRK.
On the basis of adequate preparation and certainty, and on the basis of several selected tactical points, all units of the Volunteer Army have concentrated their superior forces' firepower and adopted sudden actions, gradually developing from annihilating the enemy squads, platoons, and company support points to eliminating the enemy's formed battalions, thus effectively striking at the enemy and seizing the initiative in defensive operations. From June 11 to the end of November 1951 alone, the Chinese and North Korean armies achieved the goal of annihilating more than 250,000 enemy troops. In 1953, the volunteer army broke through the defensive front of the enemy's 4 divisions in the area south of Jincheng, penetrated into the enemy's depth of more than ten kilometers, and achieved the result of annihilating more than 50,000 enemy troops, forcing the enemy to seek peace and armistice.
The last breakthrough of the position was the night before the armistice (a night in late July 1953), when we used four armies to break through the enemy's tunnel fortifications twenty-five kilometers deep in one night, eliminating most of the four divisions of the South Korean Army and a heavy artillery regiment of the Us army.
We have developed such a new tactic of active defense of positions, that is, our army with inferior equipment can break through when attacking the enemy's positions; when it defends, it can hold; it can attack and defend, and grasp the initiative on the battlefield.
This is a manifestation of the combination of the excellent political and military qualities of the revolutionary army and has created extremely favorable conditions for protracted trench warfare.
This victory forced the enemy commander-in-chief, Admiral Clark, to request that the armistice be signed immediately, and Clark and his subordinates said: "For the first time in The history of the United States, the American Admiral signed an armistice that did not win." "When I signed, I thought in my heart: Since the precedent has been set, it will be a long way to come to Japan, and this is also a joy for the people. However, at that time, our battlefield organization, which had just been ready, did not make full use of it to deal a greater blow to the enemy, and it seemed that there were some regrets.
The experience of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was rich. The experience of working in the rear without the cover of the air force is also valuable. In anti-germ warfare, a lot of experience has also been gained.
On the Korean battlefield, the Chinese Volunteer Army fought side by side with the Korean People's Army, supporting each other in a brotherly manner. In the course of three years of common struggle, the blood-soaked fighting friendship between our army and the Korean people and the Korean People's Army has been further consolidated, and the feelings of internationalism have become deeper.