The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was the first battle after the founding of New China, and it was precisely in this war directly against the United States, the world's largest power, that the newborn calves of New China were not afraid of tigers, defeated the invincible US military with a huge equipment disadvantage, played the prestige of the Chinese army, and thus laid China's position in the international arena.
The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
It can be said that without the efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese army in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it would have been impossible for China today's international status. Interestingly, however, the more than 2.4 million Chinese troops who entered the Korean Peninsula to fight in the war did not participate in the war under the name of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which was called the Chinese Volunteer Army.
Obviously, the Chinese army participated in the war in an integrated manner, so why was the Chinese army that assisted Korea named it "Volunteer Army"? What is the name "Volunteer Army"? Why is this happening?
In fact, since the outbreak of the Korean War, especially after the United States led the United Nations army to brazenly participate in the war and crossed the 38th Line, although Chairman Mao and New China have decided to send troops to the DPRK to participate in the war, this does not mean that China hopes to fight a large-scale war with the United States and other Western countries, let alone declare war on the United States.
Three-eight lines
Because the new China at that time, which was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, did not have enough strength to fight an all-out war with the United States. Eager to build their own new China, they are even less willing to engage in all-round confrontation with western countries led by the United States.
Under such circumstances, confining the war to the Korean Peninsula without an all-out conflict with the United States has become China's first choice. Therefore, even if a large army is sent into North Korea to support the Korean people in battle, the name of the People's Liberation Army cannot be used.
Because once it enters the war in the name of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, it means that this army was sent by the Chinese government and is an act of direct confrontation with the United States, which is no different from the Declaration of War by the United States. Under such circumstances, even if the United States itself is not willing to expand the war, it has to declare war on China, which is obviously not conducive to China's interests.
The founding ceremony of the people's republic of China
Therefore, although the army that entered the DPRK to fight is indeed composed of the Chinese army, it cannot be called a certain unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, let alone directly subordinate to the People's Liberation Army. In view of this, Premier Zhou Enlai's first name was the Zhizhi Army, which, as the name suggests, is the army that supports the Korean people.
However, after Chairman Mao consulted the opinions of the democrat Huang Yanpei and others, he was rejected by Huang Yanpei, because Huang Yanpei held that since ancient wars, there have been famous sayings of divisions, and the so-called improper name is not smooth, and if words are not smooth, it is not easy to fight. However, the name "support army" means to send troops to support, and since it is to support North Korea, who sent it to support it? Who is the subject? Is it a country? Did that also make the mistake of declaring war on the United States?
Huang Yanpei's view is obviously very reasonable, and the reminder is also timely; therefore, Chairman Mao changed "support" to "volunteer" with a big stroke of the pen, and the meaning of volunteerism is naturally clear at a glance: The army that went to fight in Korea was not sent by New China, and the volunteer army's battle with the US army in Korea was not a state-to-state confrontation, but an act of the people, so naturally there is no possibility of direct confrontation between China and the United States or even a full-scale declaration of war.
Chairman Mao
Therefore, the name "Volunteer Army" was unanimously recognized by everyone attending the meeting, and since then, hundreds of thousands of officers and men of the Chinese People's Liberation Army gathered in the northeast have changed into the uniforms of the volunteer army as we know it, and the official name has become the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
Therefore, renaming the Chinese army fighting in north Korea to the Chinese Volunteer Army may seem superfluous, but in fact it is extremely necessary. Because it directly limited the scale of the Korean War and limited the battlefield to the Korean Peninsula, it not only avoided direct confrontation between China and the United States, but also avoided the further expansion of the war.
In fact, in the early days of the Korean War, the reason why the United States and other Western countries overreacted was directly related to the Third World War, which they were very worried about. At that time, the U.S. government even believed that the Korean War was likely to be a prelude to World War 3, so in order to gain an advantage in advance, the U.S. response and response were very extreme.
Changes in the map of the Korean War
If China had openly sent troops in the name of the People's Liberation Army to confront the U.S. military at that time, it was likely to further stimulate the United States, and in this case, even if the U.S. government was not willing to fight World War 3, it was likely to be forced by the situation to eventually expand the scale of the war, which was actually very unfavorable to both China and the United States.
Therefore, the change of the name of the Chinese army to the volunteer army is actually in the hands of the United States, Britain and other countries participating in the war. Because China does not want to expand the war, the United States, Britain and other countries do not want to directly confront China.
Especially for European countries that have just ended World War 2 and have not yet completely come out of the trauma of war, they are even more reluctant to expand the war in China. For example, after US President Harry S. Truman issued a blackmail of the use of atomic bombs by Chinese and North Korean troops, his statement not only did not frighten the Chinese people, but caused panic among his allies, and Western countries issued condemnations of the United States' attempts to expand the war.
Truman
There are also 76 Labour MPs in London, England, who jointly wrote to the british prime minister at the time, claiming that if the British government supports the DECISION of the United States to extend the war to China, they will vote no confidence in the government. Therefore, it is obvious that for the Western countries, if the United States expands the war, it will not only drag them into the quagmire of war, but also directly affect the US policy of first Europe and then Asia, which is simply harmful to western European countries and has no benefit. Naturally, it is impossible to gain their support for an expanded war.
Therefore, when the Chinese army entered the Korean War and beat the AMERICAN army to the ground, and the US troops who were constantly beaten on the battlefield shouted that they encountered no volunteer army at all, but the regular army of the Chinese Communist Party, even if they knew the situation of the volunteer army, the United States never exposed this.
Because the United States, which was unwilling to expand the war, deliberately turned a blind eye and even officially directly recognized the name of the volunteer army. Other members of the United Nations army gathered by the United States, such as Britain, France, and other countries that suffered a lot of losses on the battlefield, even declared that they had never fought against New China.
Volunteers crossed the Yalu River
Therefore, the name of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army is very clever, and it fully reflects the superb political wisdom of Chairman Mao and other revolutionaries of the older generation. The name Chinese People's Volunteer Army also put China in a very favorable position in the diplomatic struggle, and perfectly achieved the goal of limiting the scale of the war.
In fact, the title of "volunteer army" is not the first in China, and there is a precedent for volunteer troops in the world. Some of these armies, known as the Volunteer Army, are veritable civilian volunteers, while others, like the New Chinese Volunteer Army, are themselves government troops sent by the government.
For example, at the time of the American Revolutionary War, the American Independence Army, which had only 13 states, was far from being the opponent of the British Empire at that time. In the face of the suppression of the British colonial army, in order to contain and deplete the strength of the British army, the old enemy of the British at that time, France, sent a volunteer army composed of French government troops to the North American battlefield. And this French volunteer army eventually helped the United States win the War of Independence.
Female volunteer soldiers
The closest "volunteer army" to the Korean War was the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939, and in 1936, after the rebellion of the Spanish army in Spanish Morocco, the civil war affecting the whole territory of Spain broke out, when, with the support of Italy, Germany and other fascist countries, the rebel leader Francisco Franco led the rebel army to launch an attack on the government of the Spanish Republic. The government of the Spanish Republic at that time was led by the Spanish Communist Party.
Therefore, in the face of the joint attack of fascists and rebels, revolutionaries and Communists from all over the world formed volunteers to fight the rebels in Spain. At that time, anti-fascists from up to 54 countries came to Spain in various ways and participated in the anti-fascist war. These volunteers from all over the world formed seven international columns, with a total number of more than 35,000 people.
Spanish International Column
Chinese was also one of the components of the volunteer army, and at that time, there were more than 100 Chinese in the volunteer army of the Spanish International Column, most of whom were Chinese workers and Communists living in Europe and the United States.
Therefore, the formation of volunteers to participate in the war in the name of the civilian people has long been a common practice in the international community. It is not surprising that the Chinese army entered the war in the name of the People's Volunteer Army.
What's more, although the Chinese Volunteer Army participated in the war as a whole, this does not mean that the Chinese Volunteer Army is not worthy of its name. In fact, at that time, because the US Seventh Fleet was straddled in the Taiwan Strait of China, the US military invaded Korea and constantly sent planes to bomb cities in northeast China, coupled with the period of the Liberation War, the Us plunder of China and its support for Chiang Kai-shek's civil war had already aroused the general hatred of the masses of all strata in China.
Korean
At that time, China's anti-American sentiment was extremely high, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea itself was a common demand of the Chinese people. Therefore, when the central authorities issued a call to resist US aggression and aid Korea, both officers and soldiers within the PLA and ordinary people responded to the call and volunteered to join the volunteer army to fight with the US army in Korea. Therefore, the Chinese army that entered the DPRK, whether in name or in fact, is a veritable volunteer army.