Author: Forget about the jianghu
December 23, 1950, just 2 days before Christmas.
Walton Walker finished a meeting at the headquarters of the 8th Army in Seoul, ate in the officers' cafeteria, and joked with the people around him: "I think the most incredible thing is that people like Patton actually died in traffic accidents."
The accident occurred in December 1945 when Barton and Chief of Staff Guy collided with a truck while riding a jeep across an iron track crossing. Guy, the guard, and the driver, Woodring, were unharmed, while Patton, who was sitting in the co-pilot, was wounded and killed.
Lt. Gen. Walton Walker did not expect that, more than an hour later, the spell would be fulfilled on him.
Walton Walker on the cover of Time Magazine
The Second Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was a battle in which the Volunteer Army won a complete victory, with heavy losses of the 8th Army group on the western front and the 1st Marine Division of Smith on the eastern front fleeing all the way. The total collapse of the U.S. army on the east-west front was also due to macArthur, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.
Not afraid of god-like teammates, afraid of pig-like teammates. This was applied to MacArthur and almond, the commander of the 10th Army, and it was not at all unjust: the two always believed that the volunteer army was no more than sixty or seventy thousand people at most.
The encounter of the first battle, the attack of the 1st Cavalry Division at the Battle of Unsan, was frustrated, and MacArthur was not alerted. Commander Almond of the 10th Army was a die-hard fan of Old Mai and strongly supported the northward advance. However, walton Walker, commander of the 8th Army, and Major General Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, had a relatively clear understanding of the volunteer army's participation in the war.
MacArthur had his own wishful thinking: the Western Front used the 8th Army to resist the attack of the 6 corps of the Volunteer Army, and then sent his own loyal Almond's 10th Army north to sneak north to attack the Chosin Lake area, with a "mantis catching cicadas, yellow finches behind". Next, along the Yalu River, the boundary of the temporary capital in the north, "one stone and two birds" encircled the rear road of the volunteer army on the western front.
To be fair, MacArthur's move really has some ancient strategies, which cannot be described as ruthless.
The Attempt of the American Army to attack the Volunteers from north to south
The devil was a foot high, and MacArthur's wishful thinking was expected by the volunteer army.
The 150,000 troops of the Ninth Corps quietly crossed the Yalu River to aid the eastern front, the 20th Army and 100,000 men of the 27th Army were ambushed in the lofty mountains around Chosin Lake, and the vanguard of the US 10th Army plunged into the pocket array of the Song Shilun.
On November 25, the battle on the Western Front was the first to be fought, and the Volunteer Army annihilated the Han 7th Division, the Han 8th Division and most of the Turkish Brigade of the 8th Army for eight days, severely damaging the US 1st, 2nd And 25th Divisions, and annihilating more than 23,000 enemy troops.
On December 3, MacArthur, who "stole chickens and did not become erosion of rice", ordered the abandonment of Pyongyang, Gushan, and Wonsan, and the whole army retreated to the 38th Parallel. On December 6, the 116th Division of the 39th Army of the Volunteer Army and the 1st Army of the People's Army liberated Pyongyang.
At Chosin Lake on the Eastern Front, both the Volunteer and Coalition attacks were scheduled for December 27, with the 27th and 20th Corps of the Volunteers attacking first. More than 30,000 people, including the 1st Marine Division, the 7th Division, and the 3rd Division of the Rok, were trapped in the siege of the 100,000-strong army of the Volunteer Army, and if it were not for the blizzard weather of more than -30 degrees below zero, coupled with the lack of logistics of the Volunteer Army, the US army would be completely annihilated.
On 11 December, the battle on the Eastern Front ended. For a dozen days from the 12th to the 24th, the U.S. 1st Marine Division and other troops retreated to the port of Hwangnam, and 193 ships were transported to southern Korea. At this point, the coalition forces were driven south of the 38th Parallel.
38° north latitude line
Walton Walker, born in Texas in 1889, graduated from The United States Military Academy at West Point in 1912.
In 1914 Walker participated in the invasion of Mexico, capturing Vera Cruze with his team. In June 1918, he was appointed commander of the machine gun company. Neutral in the Battle of Saint-Mière and the Battle of Meuse-Argonne. In 1923 he was appointed tactical instructor at the Military Academy at West Point.
In 1930, he was stationed in Tianjin with the 15th Regiment for three years, and was a colleague of Stilwell and Wei Demai, and the regimental commander was Marshall.
In February 1942, Walker was promoted to major general and in 1944 led the 20th Army to Britain. In July, he participated in the landing in Normandy, marched into Shensu, known as the "Ghost Army", was heavily respected by George Patton, and was promoted to lieutenant general at the end of the war.
In the European battlefield, Walker was known as the "offensive authority", and people gave him the nickname "Bulldog".
Lieutenant General Walton Walker's 8th Army, with more than 200,000 U.S. troops, 100,000 South Korean troops, more than 10,000 British brigades, 5,000 Turkish brigades, and a small number of other multinational forces, was the number one main force of the Coalition.
Compared with Almond, commander of the 10th Army, who was ambitious and had a low eye, Walton Walker, commander of the 8th Army, and Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were more rational, cautious in front of the volunteer army, and more difficult to deal with.
The emblem of the U.S. 8th Army
Walker's style has many similarities with Patton,eg, such as a hot temper and love of driving fast cars.
On December 23, 1950, Walton Walker gave a tactical briefing at the headquarters of the 8th Army in Seoul, then finished his meal in the officers' canteen, inspected the troops in a jeep, and stopped by a ceremony to attend a ceremony.
The awards were given to the government, and when Aide-de-camp Joe Turner learned that Walker's son had been awarded the Silver Star Medal of the Second Class, he proposed to award Sam Walker the award. Then the driver, Belton, drove on the road.
Belton also likes to drive fast cars, and Joe Tanner has repeatedly warned that Walker and Belton disagree.
About 3 kilometers away from the government, Walker's jeep encountered a long line of han 6 division transport vehicles. At this time, there happened to be a truck in front of it that had a malfunction and stopped on the side of the road, Walker ordered the driver to accelerate backwards and overtake, but he did not expect to turn into the retrograde lane, a Korean military truck sped up and collided head-on with the jeep!
The jeep rolled over the icy road, and Tyner, the machine gunner, and Belton were thrown out of the jeep, but they saved their lives. Only Walker crashed head-on into the window of the car, and he died of severe head injury.
Jeeps commonly used by the U.S. military
Although Walton Walker suffered greater losses on the Western Front than Major General Almond of the 10th Army on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Chosin Lake, the initiator of the Defeat of the American Army was undoubtedly the adventurous MacArthur.
Walton Walker was awarded the Army Cross of Merit in 1944 and 1950.
Before the Second Campaign, U.S. President Harry S. Truman nominated Walton Walker for the rank of four-star general.
On January 2, 1951, Walker was posthumously awarded the title of four-star general. British writer Callum McDonald said: Walker's fault is blind optimism that leads to fiasco. But in the face of the volunteer army's soldiers, replaced by any other general, it was impossible to do better than him.
Ridgway
The unnatural death of Walton Walker and the loss of a formidable enemy to the Volunteers were undoubtedly good news. But soon, his successor, Ridgway, flew to the battlefield, and Peng Dehuai and the volunteers ushered in a stronger opponent.
[Deeply cultivate the history of war, carry forward positive energy, soldiers say that all parties are welcome to submit articles, private messages will be restored]