The blockbuster "Chosin Lake" of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea is continuing to be screened, and the box office has exceeded 3 billion yuan during the National Day, which is expected to create a new box office record for domestic films.
Moreover, the lower part of "Chosin Lake", "Watergate Bridge", has also attracted widespread attention, and is expected to be released in the Spring Festival file, which is bound to set off a wave of movie watching again.
So, what is "Watergate Bridge" about? What touching stories happened here?
In fact, the Battle of Shuimun Bridge is also part of the Battle of Chosin Lake, and the "Ice Sculpture Company" that finally appears in the "Chosin Lake" movie is the story that took place in the Battle of Shuimun Bridge, and it is also the hardest and most regrettable battle in the Battle of Chosin Lake.
On November 27, 1950, the 9th Corps of the Chinese Volunteer Army under the command of Song Shilun and the 1st, 3rd, and 7th Infantry Divisions of the Marine Corps, the aces of the United States Army, launched an unprecedented fierce battle in the Chosin Lake area of North Korea.
Under the battle of the Chinese volunteers who were not afraid of sacrifice, a series of victories were achieved, completely annihilating the famous "Polar Bear Regiment" of the US army, and killing the US troops layer by layer, and the US troops had to retreat.
When the U.S. army retreated to Gutuli, the total number of troops was more than 14,000, and the number of vehicles of various types reached more than 1,400, at this time, if they wanted to successfully reach the Zhenxingli area, they first had to pass through two barriers, one was the Shuimen Bridge, located about 5.6 kilometers southwest of Gutuli, and the other was a two-kilometer-long "U" single lane under the Huangcaoling Valley after passing through the Shuitu bridge.
With a span of 8.8 meters, the Pratunam Bridge is not a bridge in the strict sense of the word, but a dam built by the Japanese at the Huangcaoling Hydropower Station, and the top of the dam doubles as road transport.
In fact, as early as the beginning of the Battle of Chosin Lake, Song Shilun had already set its sights on the Huangcaoling and Shuimen Bridge areas, so while blocking the US troops, the 20th Army of the Volunteer Army sent a reconnaissance battalion and the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division to the area quickly interspersed to the area, responsible for destroying the railway bridges, highway bridges and other traffic arteries around Huangcaoling.
Guo Rongxi, who was then the operational staff officer of the 60th Division of the 20th Army, was known for his explosives skills on the liberation battlefield, so on the night of November 29, the division commander Peng Fei ordered him to rush to the Huangcaoling area and be responsible for blowing up the Watergate Bridge.
On December 1, after intense and orderly preparations, Guo Rongxi led a team to successfully blow up the Watergate Bridge.
(Photo: Guo Rongxi on the left)
However, the volunteers underestimated the capabilities of the American engineers, and it was not long before the American engineers built a wooden bridge.
Guo Rongxi was not reconciled, and on the night of December 4, he led the bridge bombing squad to attack again, blowing up the Watergate Bridge for the second time.
However, the speed of the US army's engineer unit exceeded Guo Rongxi's expectations, and a simple steel bridge soon stood in the Watergate Bridge area.
In order to completely eliminate the US 1st Marine Division, the Volunteer Army decided to send two companies, each carrying a weight of 50 kilograms and carrying a large amount of explosives, on the mission of blowing up the Watergate Bridge for the third time.
On the night of December 6, after breaking through the barriers, Guo Rongxi came to the Watergate Bridge again, ordered everyone to place explosives at the bottom of the steel bridge base, and with a loud noise, the steel bridge was destroyed.
In the face of the frequent attacks of the volunteers, the mood of the US army can be described as seven up and eight down, especially the third blow up of the Watergate Bridge, which made them feel deep despair.
However, in the face of the relentless pursuit of the volunteer army, the US military still came up with a solution, the US military in Japan quickly issued an order to the Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, overnight rushed to produce 8 sets of M-2 type steel and wood standard bridge kits, and then with 8 transport aircraft, after more than 1,000 kilometers of flight, delivered to the US military's defensive positions, after a day of intense construction, the Pratunam Bridge restored its traffic capacity.
Although the Watergate Bridge was successfully repaired, it was still a huge challenge to pass through the two-kilometer-long "U" shaped single lane, from the single lane under the mountain to the top of the Huangcao Ridge, the altitude reached more than 640 meters, and all sides were steep slopes, if the volunteer army deployed a large number of troops on the Huangcao Ridge, it was possible to block the "U" shaped single lane with dense firepower.
The volunteers had already thought of this, so on the 1081 high ground of Huangcaoling, 2 companies of 1 battalion of the 180 regiment of the 60th Division were deployed.
After the U.S. army crossed the Watergate Bridge, it sent the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment to attack the 1081 heights, but after a full day of attack, the 1801 highlands stood still, leaving the American troops in a desperate situation.
However, it is regrettable that on the night of the end of the battle, due to heavy snowfall for several days, the temperature in the Huangcaoling area plummeted to minus 40 degrees, and the volunteer soldiers wore thin cotton clothes and ambushed in the ice and snow, and they were frozen into an "ice sculpture company"!
On the morning of December 9, when the American army launched another attack on the 1081 heights, the smooth process was unbelievable to them, and when they occupied the top of the mountain, they found that the volunteer soldiers had long been sacrificed, frozen to death on the position, and still maintained a fighting posture!
At this scene, even the AMERICAN soldiers were shocked and saluted these warriors one after another.
After the war, Song Shilun sent a telegram to the volunteer army headquarters, which read:
"After the battle began, none of the company stood up, and when they went to clean up the battlefield, they found that all the cadres and fighters of the company froze to death on the position in a combat formation, and the corpses were carefully examined without any wounds or blood."
According to Chairman Mao's guards, when Chairman Mao saw the telegram, he took off his hat and was silent for a long time.
This is the great Chinese volunteer army, wearing thin clothes, eating cold potatoes, using inferior weapons, but with amazing courage and perseverance, it resisted the FIRST Ace Division of the US Army and almost annihilated it at Chosin Lake!
Colonel Bowser, who was then the chief of operations of the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army, recalled the Battle of Chosin Lake many years later, and still said with some trepidation:
"Fortunately, they did not have enough logistical support and communication equipment, otherwise the 1st Marine Division would never have been able to escape lake Chosin."
(References: "Chosin Lake", "The Coldest Winter: Blood Battle of Chosin Lake")
#长津湖 #
#为中国革命而献身的英雄 #