On June 2, 1951, Ma Zhaomin, commander of the 563rd Regiment of the 188th Division of the 63rd Army of the Volunteer Army, suddenly received an urgent telegram from the commander Fu Chongbi, who ordered the 563rd Regiment to rush to the position to take over the 189th Division to establish a new defensive line at Gaotai Mountain, which was a full day earlier than the 188th Division originally planned to take over the 189th Division, and the troops entered the position ahead of schedule, which showed that the deterioration of the situation in the front had exceeded the forecast, and the fact was just as Ma Zhaomin expected. In order to cover the shift of the main force of hundreds of thousands of volunteers participating in the fifth battle, the 189th Division, which was responsible for blocking the 50,000 northbound United Nations Army, fought until June 2, most of the battalion-level units were no longer formed, and the last 60 people left in the division service battalion had lost the ability to continue to hold out, and their unfinished tasks would be transferred to the 563rd Regiment of the 188th Division.
Volunteer soldiers held their high ground to block the enemy
At the same time that the 563rd Regiment rushed to the position, the commander of the US 8th Army in Seoul, Van Fleet, also became more and more manic, due to the stubborn resistance of the Volunteer 63rd Army, the steel fighting vehicles of the United Nations Army were repeatedly frustrated, and the artillery bombardment for several consecutive days not only did not play the miracle that Van Vleet expected, but accelerated the completion of the second line of defense of the Volunteer Army, although the Un Army was advancing every day, but it could not get the speed that Van Vleet needed, which made Van Vleet anxious. Seeing that the volunteer army was about to build a new defensive line north of the Iron Plains, Van Vleet, who had always advocated fire suppression, also thought about opening a larger intensive fire cover.
Van Fleet
On June 3, when the soldiers of the 563rd Regiment braved the rain to arrive at the Gaotaishan position, most of the fighters had not received any food and ammunition replenishment for seven days and seven nights, because the domestic economy was not optimistic at that time, coupled with the enemy's frenzied bombing of our army's rear transportation line, many supplies had been blown up before they reached the hands of the soldiers. Lucky to eat a good meal is only potatoes, fried noodles and steamed buns, these foods have also been eaten out of the experience, potatoes to be hot to eat with armpits, fried noodles to be kneaded with snow, so that they will not choke, but even these most basic ration volunteers can not guarantee that they can eat all the time.
Hungry volunteer soldiers could only feed themselves with some wild fruits
In contrast, their opponents are too generous, the US military logistics support system not only transported endless bullets and shells, but also brought a large number of small roosters, pumpkin pie and canned sour jam, and even Japanese seaweed and squid appeared on their tables from time to time, they divided the food into three levels of abc, A level is Western food including steak, b level is hot food such as hot sausages, and C level is some portable canned food and compressed rations that quickly replenish physical strength, and later they are tired of eating. Throwing a large number of canned lunch meat on the battlefield, it turned out to be a crazy delicacy for the locals, and decades later, lunch meat and kimchi were deeply carved into the genes of that land, and the soldiers of the 563 Regiment rushed to the front line in such a disparity in strength, and before they set out, each of them knew that they might not be able to return, but despite this, they still had no remorse.
U.S. Marines enjoying turkey legs
From the topographic point of view, the width of Gaotai Mountain is very large, which means that if there are not enough people to defend, the enemy can easily conquer its defense line, so the main task of the 563rd Regiment is to defend several highlands on the south side of Gaotai Mountain, which are separated by several kilometers, but can also be mutually coordinated, which is an excellent defensive position.
Volunteer soldiers crossed mountains and mountains to block the "United Nations Army"
At 7:00 a.m. on June 3, 1951, the officers and men of the 563rd Regiment who had just arrived at the position immediately entered a state of wartime readiness, but before the communications could be established, the unincorporated offensive followed, this time acting as the vanguard of the famous U.S. First Cavalry Division, which was the proud ace elite unit of the U.S. Army, which became famous during the Civil War, and later performed well in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the early days of the Korean War, because of its outstanding achievements. MacArthur also specially instructed the First Cavalry Division as its own "Royal Forest Army" when he entered Japan, although they were named after the cavalry, but in fact this unit had already achieved full mechanization, and Van Vleet put such an ace army into the battlefield, it was obvious that it was necessary to determine the victory and defeat in a game, and the 563rd Regiment, which was in a hurry, inevitably had to fight a hard battle.
The Advancing American Riding Division
After the battle began, the US First Cavalry Division immediately locked two positions on the front line of Gaotai Mountain, these two positions are adjacent to each other, there is a ravine in the middle, which is very conducive to the advance of the US mechanized troops, in order to defend these two positions, the regimental commander Ma Zhaomin ordered the first company, the second platoon and the eighth company to hold two places respectively, the first day of the battle the US army mainly attacked the position defended by the eighth company, and the previous mode of attack, the US first bombarded the position of the eighth company, and put in a large number of napalm and heavy artillery shells. Then with 2 companies of troops to sweep the entire heights, in the dark scorched earth, the U.S. army thought that there would be no more living people, but what they did not expect was that the volunteers hiding in the bunkers were already ready to attack, and when they approached 30 meters, the volunteers suddenly fired a salvo of fire, instantly knocking down more than 60 enemy troops.
American artillery is ready and awaiting orders
Responsible for leading the eight companies to block the enemy is the 563rd Regiment famous heroic company commander Guo Enzhi, before entering the Korean war, Guo Enzhi has participated in more than 20 major battles, has received material rewards 6 times, in the matter of fighting he not only has the motivation, but also summed up a set of experience, flexible and changeable is his biggest feature, after several exchanges, Guo Enzhi soon discovered the weakness of the US offensive, they almost every attack before the first use of artillery fire, and then the group charge, which shows that most of the US troops are not good at fighting alone However, the U.S. military never considered this a weakness, because they believed that under the absolute suppression of firepower, the single-handed way of fighting would not play any role, but it was precisely this point they ignored that gave the volunteers the perfect opportunity to counterattack.
Guo Enzhi
In view of the weakness of the US military's individual combat ability, Guo Enzhi commanded the soldiers of the Eighth Company to wait in the trenches, let the US troops enter the position and then shoot at close range with fierce fire, and then use the small detachment to take advantage of the counterattack, using this method to attack the US troops under the High Platform Mountain for three consecutive days and failed to break through the defense line of the Eighth Company, which made the commander of the US First Cavalry Division, Major General Hobart Guy, more and more angry, and in the next few days, the US artillery fire became more fierce, and the aircraft artillery took turns to bomb this small highland intensively. However, it was never possible to completely eliminate the soldiers of the eight companies hiding in the bunker.
The commanders and fighters of the Volunteer Army inspected the enemy's situation and terrain at the front of the position
Major General Guy, who could not attack for a long time, turned his eyes to the defensive heights of the first and second platoons, and on that day many American devils and cats approached the positions of the first and second platoons under the cover of smoke bombs, but before they could launch an attack, Guo Enzhi, who had discovered the direction of the American devils in advance, launched a fierce attack on them and rescued the crisis of the second platoon.
Volunteer soldiers were looking for suitable positions to deploy mortars
The "three flowers" tactic is three new tactics that Guo Enzhi studied after summing up and summarizing his many years of combat experience; he named the "three flowers" "plum blossoms," "a string of red," and "lotus flowers, and the three flowers together are a complete set of tactics; "plum blossoms" refers to the fact that our army first uses mortars to fire a shot at the front and rear of the enemy before the start of the battle, so that the enemy will take the initiative to move closer to the middle, just like a blooming plum blossom, and "a string of red" refers to the fierce strafing of heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns of our military when the enemy gathers together. Forcing the enemy to disperse on both sides, the "lotus" refers to the counterattack team from the left and right sides to take the initiative to insert into the enemy's rear, using grenades and bayonets to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop.
Three-flower tactics
Originally, this tactic Guo Enzhi was ready to use to fight a sports war, but it was not impossible to fight a position war, and replacing defense with an active attack would definitely surprise the US army. In the ensuing battle, Guo Enzhi led the soldiers of the Eighth Company to enter the battle position according to this tactic, and agreed to take the three gunshots of the shell gun in Guo Enzhi's hand as a signal, when the enemy was close to the position 50 meters, Guo Enzhi fired the first shot, the mortar fired in an instant, blowing up more than 20 enemy troops, and formed a plum-shaped crater on the ground, suddenly shelled, the enemy who was in a hurry subconsciously dodged to the middle, at this time Guo Enzhi fired the second shot, and before the enemy could react, our heavy machine gun had completed strafing The blood of the enemy accompanied by a wail resounded throughout the valley, and the enemy troops who survived by chance scattered and fled in a panic, but this was exactly in Guo Enzhi's plan, and with the sound of the third shot, our army took up the bayonet and annihilated all the fleeing enemy troops on the spot.
After nightfall, when the enemy's cannons were squirted, Guo Enzhi led the soldiers to the mountainside to clean up the battlefield, and at the same time repaired the fortifications that had been almost destroyed, during which the soldiers of the Eighth Company collected the collar badges of more than 200 UN soldiers who had fallen to the ground, which also showed that the enemy lost more than 200 people in the battle that day.
The Americans who survived by chance raised their hands and surrendered to the volunteer soldiers
Relying on this tactic, our army and the two battalions of the US First Cavalry Division circumnavigated for 6 days and 6 nights; although our army had only 40 men, it repelled 15 enemy attacks, annihilated more than 800 enemy personnel, and inflicted 14 casualties on its own.
However, also because the volunteer army was too tenacious, the enemy army that could not be attacked for a long time became more and more impatient, and finally did not hesitate to launch the tactics of the sea of people in a row to pounce directly on the position of the eighth company, from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside, from the ground to the air, there was an enemy army anywhere you could think of, the battle was so fierce, the casualties of our army were also rising sharply, almost all the front-line fighters fought with bayonets, and many times a squad leader was still a squad leader in the morning, and by noon he became a company commander, just because the backbone was lost.
The U.S. army's firepower coverage at any cost tortured the volunteers
In the face of such a fierce offensive by the enemy, the regimental commander Ma Zhaomin had to make a final choice; at present, there was only one way for the Eighth Company to break through, that is, to attract the enemy's firepower by the first company and two platoons on the other side, but although this could save the Eighth Company, the first and second platoons would inevitably fall into the enemy's heavy encirclement, and there was almost no possibility of a breakthrough.
Volunteer soldiers who held their positions and never retreated
After Guo Enzhi led the soldiers of the Eighth Company to successfully break through under the cover of the first company and the second platoon, Ma Zhaomin immediately sent an order to try to rescue the soldiers of the encircled company and the second platoon, but the 563 regiment, which was insufficient, ultimately failed, although the encircled company and the second platoon struggled to counterattack, but in the face of the enemy's fierce artillery fire and the direct shooting of the tanks, the soldiers of the second platoon knew that the breakthrough was impossible, and after the eight warriors shouted "Victory belongs to us, long live the motherland" on the position, they jumped off the cliff, and only three of the eight warriors were dragged by the branches under the cliff and survived The names of these eight warriors deserve to be remembered forever, they are Li Bingqun, He Chengyu, Cui Xuecai, Zhang Qiuchang, Meng Qingxiu, Zhai Guoling, Hou Tianyou, and Luo Juncheng.
Volunteer soldiers who swore an oath to Chairman Mao's photograph
Today, 70 years later, many Americans still do not understand what these volunteer soldiers who fought for their lives on the Korean battlefield were for, and they are not afraid of death. They are from all over the world, they have their own ideas, but they are all people, they are all comrades, they are all fighting for the protection of the common country, they are fighting for the protection of the common country, they are fighting with their heads held high, they are fighting for nothing else, just for those behind them to have a better future.