At the end of November 1950, the 31st Regiment of the US 7th Division, also known as the "Polar Bear Regiment", was surrounded by our volunteer army in Xinxingli on the shore of Chosin Lake, and after several days of resistance, the entire line collapsed. When the US military fled, it saw that it was impossible to break through by taking the "land route," and some US troops "rushed to the middle of the wisdom" instead took the "waterway" in an attempt to cross the frozen Chosin Lake and face the southwest to break through.
But I don't know whether I was confused or lacked basic common sense, and the US military actually drove tanks and cars on the ice. As a result, a funny scene appeared: the ice collapsed because it could not withstand the pressure, and tanks, cars and countless American troops sank to the bottom of the water in an instant...
In the end, the desperate "Polar Bear Regiment" was completely annihilated by our volunteer army, and the regimental flag became a trophy, which is still displayed in the Museum of the Chinese Military Revolution.
Today, we're going to talk about this story.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="58" > ace "polar bear" to fight in North Korea</h1>
After the first battle of the Volunteer Army, the US 8th Army on the western front was forced to retreat, but the US 10th Army on the eastern front continued to advance northward. According to MacArthur's wishful thinking, the US 10th Army would advance all the way to the Sino-Soviet and Sino-Korean borders along the Tumen And Yalu Rivers, and then one of the US troops would advance westward, cut off the logistics supply line of the Volunteer Army, and complete the encirclement of the Volunteer Army with the US 8th Army. Among them, the task of the US 7th Division was to march in a direction directly north of the area east of Chosin Lake and advance towards the Yalu River.
The U.S. 7th Infantry Division is considered the "trump card" of the U.S. Army, and the 31st Regiment to which it belongs is considered the "ace of aces."
Formed in 1917, the 31st Regiment fought well in Siberia during World War I, earning it the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" (hereinafter referred to as the "Polar Bear Regiment"). During World War II, the "Polar Bear Regiment" participated in the Battles of the Aleutian Islands, the Marshall Islands and Okinawa in the Pacific Theater, and played very well, so it was considered the "ace" in the 7th Division.
As an "ace", the equipment and firepower equipped by the "Polar Bear Regiment" are naturally first-class. The "Polar Bear Regiment" consisted of three infantry battalions and a tank detachment, equipped with and equipped with 59 tanks, 46 guns, and 57 anti-tank guns. During combat, the Air Force will also be supported by 2-8 aircraft sorties per day. In contrast, a regiment of the Volunteer Army at that time was only equipped with small-caliber artillery and bazookas, no tanks and no aircraft, and there was a huge gap in the equipment of the two armies.
In mid-November, in accordance with the deployment of the US 7th Division, the "Polar Bear Regiment" advanced to the village of Xinxingli on the east side of Chosin Lake, preparing to repair and continue to advance north.
Xinxingli is located on the west side of Chosin Lake, opposite Liutanli across the lake. Xinxingli is surrounded by mountains at an altitude of about 1,300 meters, with dense forests, rugged roads, sparse villages and few people. In addition to the dangerous mountains and rivers, the temperature is also extremely low. In 1950, North Korea encountered a cold winter, and by late November, the temperature in the Chosin Lake area had dropped to minus 27 degrees Celsius, and the battlefield environment was extremely dangerous.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > volunteers kept "polar bears" in iron cages</h1>
But what the "Polar Bear Regiment" never expected was that just as they were marching north and settling in Xinxingli, more than 100,000 people of the 9th Corps of our volunteer army had already evaded the modern reconnaissance methods of the US army, entered Korea from the eastern front and headed for the Chosin Lake area. Among them, the 80th Division of the 27th Army (with three regiments of 238, 239 and 240) and the 242nd Regiment of the 81st Division had secretly arrived in the area north of Xinxingli on November 27, braving the severe cold and heavy snow, in preparation to annihilate the American troops in Xinxingli.
On the night of the 27th, four regiments of the Volunteer Army launched an attack on the enemy in Xinxingli. Among them, the 238th and 239th regiments were responsible for attacking the enemy in Xinxingli, the 238th regiment attacked along the ravine valley from the north side of Xinxingli, and the 239th regiment attacked From east to west to Xinxingli, and divided its troops to capture the 1250 heights southeast of Xinxingli.
The 240th and 242nd Regiments were responsible for cutting off the retreat of american troops in Xinxingli and preventing American troops from other areas from aiding Xinxingli. Among them, the 240th Regiment was responsible for launching an attack on the American forces in the inner cave on the west side of Xinxingli, where there was a part of the US 32nd Regiment (which later fled to Xinxingli); the 242nd Regiment detoured back to the south of Xinxingli, controlled the road from Xinxingli to Houpu, and closed the gate for the "Polar Bear Regiment" to escape south.
After arranging the combat mission, the four regiments of the Volunteer Army covertly received the enemy in the snow and launched an attack around midnight.
Because of the strong firepower of the American army, the battle was very fierce, and many heroes emerged in the volunteer army.
8 companies of the 3rd Battalion of the 238th Regiment encountered the obstruction of the enemy's fire point during the attack, and suffered a great sacrifice. The divisional artillery regiment, which was ordered to cooperate with the 238th Regiment, pushed a 92nd infantry gun to the front of the position, ready to destroy the fire point by approaching fire.
However, the weather was cold and the situation was urgent, and the soldiers could not build a suitable firing position in a short period of time, so they had to find a similar terrain to anchor the artillery left on a piece of frozen soil. The left hoe is put away, but the right hoe has no place to put it, and can only hang in the air, so that the artillery will definitely not be accurate.
Seeing that the enemy's fire points were constantly spewing tongues of fire, the soldiers of the 8th Company could not lift their heads, and the soldiers of the artillery regiment were in a hurry. At this time, a warrior named Kong Qingsan stepped forward, inserted a shovel into the handle of the right hoe, and then grasped the handle of the shovel with both hands, pressed it against the shoulder, and used his flesh and blood body as the base of the cannon.
The enemy's fire point was destroyed by a cannon, but Kong Qingsan was killed by the impact of the recoil of the artillery and was hit by a burst of shrapnel. After the war, Kong Qingsan was posthumously awarded the honorary title of "Hero of the First Class".
The 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 239th Regiment rushed into Xinxingli from the southeast. During the battle, company commander Li Changyan found that the enemy was extremely fierce in defending three houses in the village.
Is there anything famous about these three houses? Li Changyan immediately adjusted his deployment, concentrated his strength and firepower, and stormed the three houses. The enemy was beaten away, and the volunteer soldiers rushed into the house.
Sure enough, it is famous. The house was full of telephones, telegraphs, and military maps, and it turned out that these three houses were the command posts of the U.S. military in Xinxingli.
The occupation of the US command post was not yet over, and the military map that the enemy had not had time to take away gave a big gift to the 4 companies. Li Changyan found a hidden artillery position in the US army on the military map, and he immediately led the soldiers to touch it.
The enemy was defenseless, the artillery positions were destroyed in an instant, and all 12 large-caliber howitzers were captured by 4 companies.
After the war, because the 4th Company destroyed the command system of the US Army and destroyed the artillery positions, greatly shortened the battle in Xinxingli and greatly reduced the casualties of our army, the 4th Company was awarded the honorary title of "Xinxingli Combat Model Company" by the 27th Army.
Other units have also achieved their stated objectives. The 240th Regiment captured the Fengliuli River Bridge, cutting off the connection between Xinxingli and the enemy in Neidongzhi. The 3rd Battalion of the 239th Regiment fought fiercely with an American battalion at Hill 1250 until 6 a.m., finally capturing this last commanding height held by the enemy.
The American resistance stopped, the battlefield fell silent, and the soldiers began to take prisoners, pick up guns, and clean up the battlefield. According to pre-war reconnaissance, the US military stationed a battalion in Xinxingli, which seems to have been completely annihilated by our army.
But at dawn, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. It turned out that there were mistakes in pre-war reconnaissance work, and the US army in the new was not a battalion, but a regiment or even more. On the night of the 27th, the American troops, who were not good at night combat, were caught off guard, and most of them hid in various hidden corners and nearby ravines in Xinxingli. After dawn, they regrouped and, taking advantage of their firepower, launched a counter-offensive against our army.
The enemy's fire was too fierce, and the troops of our army in Xinxingli suffered heavy casualties and had to temporarily withdraw from the village. However, the highlands outside the village were still controlled by our army, and the AMERICAN troops could not stand out after several rushes, and the "polar bear" was locked in a narrow iron cage of less than two square kilometers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > the "Polar Bear" regiment and captured the "Polar Bear" regiment</h1>
At the same time, the US 1st Marine Division stationed in Houpu also dispatched a part of the infantry on the morning of November 28, with the cooperation of 12 tanks and 8 aircraft, along the road to the 1250 heights, in an attempt to open the connection between Houpu and Xinxingli and rescue the American troops in Xinxingli.
The American troops from Houpu were firmly blocked by the 3rd Battalion of the 242nd Regiment underground. In this battle, the 8th squad of the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion was awarded the title of "Hero of Anti-Tank" because of its excellent fighting of tanks, and the deputy squad leader Ye Yong'an was awarded the title of "Hero of Anti-Tank".
A volunteer veteran recalled that the front scouts brought back information that the enemy "had tanks", and the 8th Squad set up barricades on the road, and then ambushed on both sides of the road with bazookas and explosives packs.
The enemy tank stopped before reaching the barricade, and the infantry on board climbed down to remove the barricade. At this time, the soldiers of the 8th Squad suddenly opened fire, knocking down the infantry in front of the tank. Deputy squad leader Ye Yong'an rushed to the first tank with a bazooka, approached the attack, and the tank company was hit by two bullets and then caught fire. The turret of the second tank opened, a US probe probed out, and the soldier Kan Litian threw out a grenade with his hand, accurately drilled into the turret, and the sound of "bang" came to a center blossom. Ye Yong'an took advantage of the great chaos of the US army to rush close to the third tank, stuffed a bag of explosives into its tail tracks, and blew the tank upside down again, and the barrel of the gun was placed on the snow...
The battle was not until 4 p.m., and the American troops who came to the aid of Houpu were unable to take a step forward, so they had to retreat in a daze.
At 6:30 p.m. on November 28, the volunteer units were ordered to attack Xinxingli for the second time. The battle on the night of the 27th was caught off guard by surprise and achieved very good results, but the battle on the night of the 28th was difficult to fight, because the US troops had already made preparations, and their firepower was too strong -- the US army relied on strong fortifications to give full play to its superiority in the firepower of tank artillery, recoilless guns, and multi-mounted anti-aircraft machine guns, blocking the way forward of our army, and the various units of our army suffered heavy losses, but they could not develop in depth.
Later, a volunteer veteran recalled the battle and said: "The US army in xinxing is not a paper tiger, it is a real tiger." ”
At this time, the command organs of our army have already realized that the number and firepower of the enemy troops in the new area far exceed the strength of a battalion. In order to avoid passivity, Zhan Danan, deputy commander of the 27th Army, the supreme commander of the battlefield, ordered all units to withdraw from the battle, leaving only some troops to control the positions that had been gained.
After two days of investigation and assessment of the fighting situation and interrogation of prisoners of war, it was finally confirmed that the US army in the Xinxingli area had 5 battalions of troops, including the 31st Regiment known as the "Polar Bear", 1 battalion of the 32nd Regiment running from the Neidong Ridge, an artillery battalion and a tank detachment, and the strength of the troops was three times our original estimate.
After two consecutive nights of fighting, the four regiments of our army suffered a lot of attrition due to fighting and frostbite, and some regiments even reduced their number by more than half. With such a force, it was no longer possible to complete the task of encircling and annihilating the enemy in Xinxingli.
Therefore, after studying and deciding by the superiors, the first unit of the 81st Division was dispatched to Xinxingli to cooperate with the 80th Division to annihilate the enemy in Xinxingli.
On the morning of November 30, the 241st Regiment of the 81st Division also joined the battle of Xinxingli, at which time our army attacked Xinxingli with 5 regiments and 2 divisions of artillery directly under it.
On the night of the 30th, heavy snow fell. At 23:00 that night, our army launched a general offensive and besieged Xinxingli from all sides. At that time, the U.S. troops in Liutanli and Hagaru-ri near Xinxingli were besieged by volunteers, and there was no time to rescue Xinxingli, and the "Polar Bear Regiment" was abandoned.
After a night of fighting, the various units of our army broke through the US defenses from all directions, and the two armies fought in a trench and a trench in Xinxingli Village, and fought one house after another, attacking and defending anxiously. After dawn, dozens of US aircraft flew to Xinxingli to assist in the battle, but because the front line was intertwined and difficult to identify, the US aircraft did not dare to bomb and strafe, and could only circling helplessly in the air.
Seeing that the situation on the battlefield was favorable to our army, Deputy Commander Zhan Danan resolutely ordered the attack to continue during the day and completely annihilate the enemy.
At about 11:00 a.m., the U.S. front in Xinxingli completely collapsed, and some of the remnants of the enemy fled south along the road under the cover of dozens of aircraft and more than a dozen tanks. However, our army had long been prepared, and the 241st regiment and the 242nd regiment were fortified on the upper ground on both sides of the highway, and a large number of enemies were wiped out on the road.
The xinxing Renan highway was built on the shore of Chosin Lake, and some US troops saw that it was difficult to escape on the road, and "in a hurry", they wanted to cross Chosin Lake and face southwest to escape. The surface of Lake Chosin has long been frozen, and there is no problem in leaving. However, the US military did not know whether it was knocked unconscious or had no common sense, and actually drove the tanks and cars to the ice. As a result, the ice could not withstand the weight of tanks and cars, and suddenly broke, tanks, cars and a large number of American soldiers fell into the cold lake and drowned, and only more than 200 American troops escaped along the hidden road by the lake.
(There is a follow-up story about the total annihilation of the "Polar Bear Regiment": In 1979, Peng Deqing visited the United States as the Minister of Transportation and chatted with a senior American official.) When the other side learned that he was the former commander of the 27th Army who destroyed the "Polar Bear Regiment", he was shocked and said: "If you had eliminated a little more at that time, you would have eliminated me." ”）
At this point, the Ace of the US Military "Polar Bear Regiment" was completely eliminated. In this battle, our army killed and wounded a total of 2,807 enemy soldiers, including McLean, the commander of the "Polar Bear Regiment," took 348 prisoners, destroyed and captured 18 tanks, 360 cars, and captured 100 artillery pieces.
In addition to capturing various military supplies, the volunteers also captured the regimental flag of the "Polar Bear Regiment".
In the center of the "Polar Bear Regiment" is an eagle, one claw grasping the arrow beam, one claw grasping the olive branch, and above the eagle is a polar bear, dancing claws with open teeth. Underneath the eagle was a ribbon with the unit's number: "31st Infantry Regiment."
The flag of the "Polar Bear Regiment" is still in the collection of the Museum of the Chinese Civil Military Revolution. It tells people that the arrogant-looking U.S. military is not invincible, and that they have lost their flags in the Battle of Xinxingli.