In late October 1951, in order to commemorate and celebrate the first anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army's entry into the DPRK and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and also to commend the commander of the Volunteer Army, General Manager Peng Dehuai, for leading the five great victories in the Five Campaigns to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the senior head of the Korean People's Army decided to award Peng Dehuai the National Flag Medal of Honor of the First Class.
But after Peng Dehuai learned of this matter, he directly shook his head and refused: I am not worth it. What's going on? The content of this issue is to declassify Peng Dehuai, leading the military and people of China and the DPRK to defeat the arrogant US army in 5 battles with an overwhelming advantage, and make immortal merits that have attracted worldwide attention.
Why refuse the Order of the National Flag awarded by North Korea? What exactly was his consideration at the time? After the news returned to China, how did Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu react?
North Korea awarded Peng Dehuai the National Flag Medal of the First Class, why did Peng Dehuai refuse?
One day in October 1950, early in the morning, the sky was just dark. Peng Dehuai's car quietly drove out of the Beijing Hotel, passed the straight Chang'an Avenue, and went straight to the western suburbs of Beijing Airport. He was discussing a detailed plan for entering the DPRK with Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and other head of the headquarters, but he did not close his eyes for almost a night, so he fell asleep in the car.
When the car slowly stopped in the square of the western suburbs airport, Peng Dehuai suddenly woke up, accompanied by the secretary and guards, boarded a special plane to Shenyang in the northeast.
As soon as he got off the plane, Peng Dehuai went straight to the headquarters of the Northeast Military Region and went straight to the point: Starting from today and now, the whole country has entered a state of combat readiness, and this time entering the DPRK operation is much more difficult than when we liberated the northeast and fought the Liaoshen campaign. In the afternoon of the same day, Peng Dehuai's special plane quietly arrived at the dandong border in the northeast under the cover of 4 fighter jets.
We must fight well the first war to resist US aggression and aid Korea
The Yalu River Bridge under the cover of night, the cold is compelling. After shaking hands with the cadres and comrades at all levels of the Northeast Military Region who came to see him off, Peng Dehuai got into the car and issued the highest order to "drive out of the whole army." This was the first time in Peng Dehuai's life that he had gone abroad to fight, and his heart was inevitably tense and worried.
When the car was about to enter North Korean territory, Peng Dehuai ordered the driver to stop, and then he rolled down the car window, stretched out his head and stared in the direction of the motherland, suppressed the complex emotions that surged in his heart, closed the car door, and signaled the driver to continue forward.
In the bitter cold wind of rain and snow, Peng Dehuai's special car arrived in North Korea's border city: Sinuiju. This opened the prelude to the great War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in which "China was born, The DPRK was buried, and the Glory was glorious."
On October 23, 1950, Peng Dehuai issued an operational order to Wen Yucheng, commander of the 40th Army, the vanguard of the whole army, at the headquarters of the Volunteer Army: Now that the enemy is tracking and attacking, it is chaotic everywhere, and the situation is very critical, and orders the 118th Division to seize the time to ambush on the spot, tie up a large pocket to attract the enemy, and then gather and annihilate, and give me a fierce blow to the arrogance of the enemy.
This is the first battle of the Volunteer Army to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and we must fight it well for me. At the pre-war mobilization meeting on the afternoon of the 24th, the chiefs at all levels of the Zhi division unanimously adopted the operational principle and strategy proposed by Peng Dehuai to detour the campaign, divide and encircle the interspersed, and seek to move to annihilate the enemy, striving to gain a firm foothold, stabilize the situation on the Korean battlefield, and look for fighters to counterattack and annihilate the enemy in real time.
On the 25th, the U.S. United Nations army and the South Korean army divided into multiple routes and quickly advanced northward. At 10:00 a.m., the 6th Division, the vanguard of the South Korean army, broke into the pocket array set up in advance by the 118th Division of our volunteer army, and all the officers and men of the 118th Division were highly responsive to Peng Dehuai's strategic proposition that "not a single enemy can let go."
Adopting the tactical tactic of "pinching the head and removing the tail and cutting off the waist," we fought a bloody battle with the South Korean army for several hours in the ice and snow, and finally annihilated all the vanguard troops of more than a few hundred people in South Korea, and the first battle to resist the United States and aid Korea was officially launched and achieved full success.
On October 25th, chairman Mao hand-picked it as the anniversary of the People's Volunteer Army's entry into the KOREAN Campaign: the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and Defend the Homeland.
When the good news came, Peng Dehuai urgently held an enlarged meeting after the war late that night, anticipating that the enemy army was not sure whether the Chinese army would participate in the war, so he put forward the tactic of annihilating the enemy in separate ways, and strived to win a complete victory in the first battle of the volunteer army entering the DPRK.
At the beginning of November, all the road armies and division-level high-level combat units of the Volunteer Army, in accordance with the supreme orders of Shiji, began to divide, encircle, and annihilate the enemy army. After a day and night of arduous and bloody battle, most of the Eighth Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army and a part of the South Korean Army were completely annihilated, and countless logistics and military supplies were captured.
This was also the first head-on confrontation between our volunteer army and the US army, and the victory in the first battle not only greatly encouraged the determination of the vast number of officers and men of the volunteer army to dare to fight and win.
At the same time, the first battle was a complete victory, as if to give the US military a blow, the myth of the world's first military power was completely shattered, fully demonstrating Commander Peng Dehuai's extraordinary and powerful command ability in the military field.
"Living radar" Peng Dehuai
On January 8, 1951, after the victory of the Third Campaign, Peng Dehuai commanded both the Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Coalition Army, and worked together to suppress the US army south of the 38th Line, and took advantage of the situation to go south, after crossing the 37th Line to liberate Seoul, the shortcomings of the volunteer army's logistics and transportation were undoubtedly revealed.
Because they firmly occupy the power of accusations, the US military planes take off day and night to fight, closely monitoring the railway and road transportation lines from the Yalu River to the 38th line, and not even sparing a dog. Even if you find a little light at night, you will immediately carry out indiscriminate bombardment.
Therefore, in this case, the trains and cars of the logistics and transportation department of the Volunteer Army did not dare to go during the day, and they could only be dispatched at night, and they could not turn on the lights, which was slow and inefficient, which made Peng Dehuai very anxious.
At this moment, the combat staff officer suddenly came to report that one of the units had a very good logistical transport work, the transportation speed was fast, the loss of vehicles was small, and the supply of food, weapons and equipment and ammunition was very timely. After Peng Dehuai saw the report, he was very curious about this unit and rushed to the unit's garrison in a special car overnight to exchange experience with them.
When Peng Dehuai's car climbed over a mountain beam and arrived at a three-forked intersection, there was a sudden roar on the other road, followed by a group of trucks speeding on the road with headlights, quickly surpassing Peng Dehuai's car.
The secretary of the guard was deeply afraid that the lights of the convoy would lead to the bombardment of The Us aircraft, so he ripped open his voice and shouted: Air defense, pay attention to air defense, the lights are turned off, turn off the lights and drive.
But the speeding truck could not hear the shouts of the guards, so in desperation, he pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into the sky. As soon as the crisp and loud gunshot sounded, the truck speeding in front of it suddenly turned off all its headlights and began to crawl slowly.
But after waiting for a while, I didn't find any movement, and in the truck leading the way, there was a sudden burst of angry voices: You have nothing to shoot?
The guard couldn't help but shrink his head, and his tone weakened a little: I, I remind you to pay attention to air defense. So is there a plane coming now? An unpleasant sound came from the truck again.
The guards were a little confused and aggrieved: You are driving through the market with your headlights on, are you still afraid that the plane will not come? Without an airplane, what gun did you fire? The truck driver did not know that Mr. Peng Dehuai was at the scene, muttered a few words in disgust, and ordered everyone to turn on the lights, add enough throttle to drive forward, and after a while there was no trace.
It turned out that this convoy of trucks was one of the truck squads of the logistics unit that Peng Dehuai was going to visit tonight, and they set up an air defense post on each truck to monitor the US planes, and as soon as they found an abnormality, they immediately fired warnings.
Then the convoy immediately turned off the lights, slow passage, as long as the US aircraft passed, the danger was lifted, the truck convoy all turned on the lights and drove rapidly, so the transport time of this logistics unit was short, the task workload was completed very efficiently, and the loss was basically very small when it came down.
Later, after Peng Dehuai learned of this situation, the whole person seemed extremely excited, and immediately issued an order to set up special air defense posts on the logistics and supply line of the volunteer army, and all the cars undertaking the transportation task turned on their lights.
After the volunteer army adopted this method and method, the air blockade of the US aircraft was soon broken, and the logistics and transportation capabilities and efficiency of the volunteer army were greatly improved, and the logistics transport unit also gave Mr. Peng Dehuai a good name: living radar.
From the beginning of his participation in the revolution, Peng Dehuai has always believed that actual combat is the only best way to verify the truth and solve difficulties.
Therefore, Peng Dehuai once said with great emotion: An excellent commander, shouldering the life and death of the whole army, after encountering problems, he hid in the room alone, pondered hard, and could never find a solution. At this time, we must go deep among the masses and take a look within the masses, and perhaps we will be able to suddenly be enlightened.
The Communist Party of China, since its birth in 1921, 28 years of arduous revolution, more than 20 million people across the country have heroically sacrificed for the common ideal, has verified this countless times, only the broad masses of the people, is the key to determining the outcome of a war, they are the real heroes.
I don't deserve it, what merit do I deserve?
On October 23, 1951, in order to commemorate the first anniversary of Peng Dehuai's leadership of the Chinese Volunteer Army into the Korean War, and also to commend and celebrate peng Dehuai's command of the five major victories in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. The senior chiefs of the Korean People's Army, after a meeting and voting, unanimously agreed:
Comrade Peng Dehuai, in leading the Korean people in the campaign to resist the armed aggression of US imperialism, showed outstanding and extraordinary military command art, led the Chinese volunteer army with LinkedIn xiong, gave the US military aggressors a thunderous blow, and made tremendous efforts and major contributions to stabilizing the Korean Peninsula.
But after Peng Dehuai learned about it, he directly shook his head and refused: I don't deserve this, what credit do I have? Worthy of the award? I have only done some simple work of giving orders in the rear command, and this medal should be awarded to the combat heroes of the front who have made unnecessary sacrifices, and my credit is no greater than theirs.
Later, Peng Dehuai personally sent a telegram to the headquarters of the Central Military Commission in China, expressing his unwillingness to accept the DPRK's award of the order, but Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu called back in the name of the Central Military Commission saying that they should respect the DECISION of the DPRK Government.
On October 25, the first anniversary of the volunteer army's first shot of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the delegation of the Korean People's Army specially came to the volunteer army station and held a very grand commendation meeting for Peng Dehuai.
After expressing their condolences and gratitude, all the volunteer officers and men of the DPRK representative team hung the national flag medal symbolizing the highest honor of the DPRK government on Peng Dehuai's chest. But Peng Dehuai looked at the golden medallion on his chest and felt uncomfortable.
He said more than once: It is not appropriate for me to confer this medal on me, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is not my own merit, and if the comrades in the rear had not tried every means to transport grain, ammunition, weapons, and other military supplies to the front, the volunteer army would have been unable to win the war no matter how determined they were and how strong their individual combat ability was, so this medal should have been awarded to them.
Peng Dehuai was very satisfied with the work of Hong Xuezhi, who served as the logistics commander-in-chief of the volunteer army; in the telegram sent back to the Korean front, he repeatedly commended and appreciated Hong Xuezhi's outstanding contributions to logistical work.
Without the reliable logistical support provided by Big Man Hong, even if I, the commander, performed well and the soldiers on the front line were no longer afraid of death, it would have been impossible to win the war to resist US aggression and aid Korea.