Several historical facts about " Changjin Lake Water Gate Bridge"
Lu Hua
The movie "Changjin Lake Water Gate Bridge" premiered on the New Year's Day in 2022, the restoration is The real history of the battle of Shuimen Bridge in the Battle of Changjin Lake during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Here is an introduction to the historical facts related to the Battle of the Watergate Bridge for your reference.
Changjin Lake Terrain.
First, the battle of the Watergate Bridge is the key battle of Changjin Lake battle . Jangjin Lake is an artificial lake in the upper reaches of the Jangjin River in South Hamgyong-do in northern North Korea. The lake water passes through the Gozhanling Mountains, flows into the city in the south, and then flows into Hamhung Bay. A campaign is the sum of many battles in the same area during the same period. The Battle of Changjin Lake lasted for 28 days. It was an important part of 's Second Battle to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea . Although the Battle of Changjin Lake experienced several arduous battles, the decisive battle was the Battle of Shuimen Bridge. Shuimen Bridge is located 5.6 kilometers south of Gutuli, with a span of only 8.8 meters. is a suspended single-lane bridge on the water diversion pipeline of Changjin Lake. There is no detour around . After crossing the Water Gate Bridge, further south is the endless Hamhung Plain, which leads directly to Heungnam Port under the control of the "United Nations Army". Why is the Watergate Bridge battle so important? Because the Water Gate Bridge of Changjin Lake is the only channel for the retreat of the US Marine Division ,Once the Watergate Bridge was blown up, the only way for the U.S. military to retreat was cut off. Therefore, both the Chinese and American armies have realized the extreme importance of the Watergate Bridge, and the combat intentions of the two armies are also very clear: our army will blow up the Watergate Bridge, and the US military will desperately protect the Watergate Bridge. Expand.
Situation map of the Battle of Changjin Lake.
Second, my volunteer army blew up the Watergate Bridge three times, but the US military built the Watergate Bridge three times with mechanized and modern means. On November 27, 1950, the Battle of Changjin Lake started, and the participating troops such as the First Marine Division of the US Army were divided and surrounded by the Volunteers. In the first stage of the Battle of Changjin Lake, the Volunteer Army Ninth Corps fought tenaciously, annihilating the enemy's active forces with relatively large casualties, including the annihilation of the US "Polar Bear Regiment", forcing the US military to retreat across the board.
The view of the Watergate Bridge.
Who organized the three bombings of the Watergate Bridge? According to the available information, "the bridge bombing operation was organized and carried out by Guo Rongxi, staff officer of the 60th Division of the 20th Army, and Jiang Qingyun, the commander of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion, 240th Regiment, 27th Army, 80th Division, ". (Ma Rongsheng: "Blood Battle of Changjin Lake: Three Bombed Watergate Bridge: The Worst Failure since the First Division of the U.S. Marine Warfare" "Party History Bocai" February 1, 2022.) Specifically, the first and second The second bridge bombing operation was completed by a reconnaissance team led by Guo Rongxi, the staff officer of the 60th Division of the 20th Army of the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army. Guo Rongxi was a blasting expert during the War of Liberation and has rich experience in blasting. The first time the Watergate Bridge was blown up was on December 1, , but American engineers built a wooden bridge on the same site the next day. On December 4, Guo Rongxi led the 60th Division reconnaissance detachment to blow up the Watergate Bridge for the second time.The next day, the U.S. military built a stronger steel bridge at the root of the remaining bridge, and strengthened the defense of the Watergate Bridge. The Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army was determined to blow up the Watergate Bridge, but the reconnaissance detachment of the 60th Division of the 20th Army of the Volunteer Army blew the bridge twice, using a chime for explosives, so on December 6th, the 27th Army, the 80th Division 2, was dispatched. The 40th Regiment, 3rd Battalion and 7th Company came to reinforce. Under the command of the 7th company commander, Jiang Qingyun, they formed two platoons of death squads. After the discovery, he attacked with his flesh and blood against the well-prepared U.S. military bullets, and finally blew up all the roots and bases of the steel bridge. According to past experience, it will take a long time for the US military to repair the destroyed Watergate Bridge. Therefore, the headquarters of the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army immediately urged the 27th Army and the 26th Army to speed up their advance towards Gutuli and Shuimen Bridge, and work together to annihilate the "turtle in a urn" of the rest of the First Marine Division of the US Army.
The picture shows the watergate bridge that was blown up for the third time.
In the face of the dilemma of the First Marine Division of the US Army, US President Truman and the US Department of Defense were very anxious and studied countermeasures overnight. Under the proposal of the U.S. Marine Division Commander Smith and the First Marine Division First Engineer Battalion Commander John Partridge to urgently produce new bridge components and airdrop them near the Watergate Bridge, the commander-in-chief of the "United Nations" MacArthur Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produced 8 sets of steel M2 rut bridge components overnight. The erection of the Watergate Bridge requires 4 sets of M2 rut bridge assemblies. Finally, 8 C-119 transport aircraft transported the prefabricated 8 sets of rut bridge assemblies to the vicinity of the Watergate Bridge, and used giant double parachutes to air drop them to the US military positions. At 4:00 pm on December 9th, a watergate bridge with a load of 50 tons that can pass through tanks was re-erected in less than two days. More than 10,000 people and more than 1,000 tanks and cars of the First U.S. Marine Division fled in a hurry. To escape the Changjin Lake battlefield. The U.S. military then blew up the newly erected Watergate Bridge to intercept the pursuit of the Volunteers. The rest of the U.S. Marine Division 1 just slipped away from the Changjin Lake battlefield.
Double parachute airdrop rut bridge assembly for the US military.
Third, more than 4,000 wounded soldiers from the First Marine Division of the US Army fled the danger through the airstrip temporarily built in Hagaru-ri. The 1st Marine Division of the US Army fought against the 42nd Army of the Volunteers on November 2. The Volunteers' fighting style left a deep impression on Smith, commander of 1st Marine Division . Therefore, when the division was surrounded by Changjin Lake, he tried to repair the airstrip, and it played a role in transporting the wounded. From transporting the wounded at Hagaru-ri airstrip to setting up the water gate bridge with prefabricated and air-transported rutted bridge components, the difference in the capacity of the volunteers' walking and mule-horse transportation is in stark contrast to the mechanization and modernization of the U.S. military. Asymmetric operating environment. It is precisely for this reason that the Chinese military has so far not relaxed the pace of national defense modernization. It has gradually realized mechanization from walking and mule-horses, and has moved towards modernization, informatization, and intelligence.
" ice sculpture with ".
Fourth, the great significance of "Ice Sculpture Company" is the same as the sun and the moon. In the Battle of Changjin Lake, the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army had at least 5 "ice sculpture companies" successively. For example, the 6th Company of the 3rd Battalion, 239th Regiment, 80th Division, 27th Army, 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army, lay down on the ice and snow for a long time in order not to expose the target. In the end, more than 100 commanders and fighters all froze to death on the ground in a fighting posture. Such an "ice sculpture company" includes the 6th Company of the 172nd Regiment of the 58th Division of the 20th Army, the 6th Company of the 177th Regiment of the 59th Division of the 20th Army, and the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division of the 20th Army. The second company and the fifth company of the 242nd Regiment of the 80th Division of the 27th Army. Presetting an ambush on the way to the retreat of the US military shows the ability and foresight of the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army and the headquarters of the 20th and 27th Army to strategize strategies. During the battle of the Watergate Bridge, the volunteers were ambushed before and after the Watergate Bridge in advance. All of them froze to death on the ground due to the extremely cold weather, and they all remained in battle formation ready to shoot until they died.
"Ninth Corps Review of Operations on the Eastern Front"
December 11, 1950Song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army, wrote in the telegram reporting "The Ninth Corps' Review of the Eastern Front Operations": "After the battle started, this company (referring to the 6th Company of the 172nd Regiment of the 58th Division of the 20th Army) No one stood up, and when they were cleaning the battlefield, they found that all the cadres and soldiers of the company were frozen to death on the ground in battle formation, and there were no wounds or bloodstains on the corpses. (Volume 1), Golden Shield Publishing House, July 1986, p. 147.) According to the official data released by China in 1988, the Ninth Corps of the Volunteer Army in the Battle of Changjin Lake died in combat 7,304 people, wounded 14,062 people, and suffered frostbite There were 30,732 wounded and a total of 52,098 attrition. (The Ministry of Health of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army: "Summary of Health Work in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea · Health Service", March 1988, 1st edition, p. 327.) Another According to statistics, during the Battle of Changjin Lake, the Ninth Corps " A total of 30,700 people suffered frostbite in the three armies, with an incidence rate as high as 22.1% (3 and 4 degrees frostbite accounted for 27.4%), and the frostbite death rate accounted for 3.7% of the frostbite wounded." ("The History of the Joint Logistics Department of the Shenyang Military Region of the PLA" Vol. 1, pp. 314-315.) After the war, it was learned that the temperature of the volunteer soldiers was as low as minus 54 degrees Celsius on the night when the volunteer soldiers were ambushed on the high ground beside the Watergate Bridge. Outdated weapons, thin military uniforms and extremely cold weather prevented the volunteers from standing up to stop the retreat of the U.S. Army, but the great patriotism and revolutionary heroism displayed by the "Ice Sculpture Company" made all the enemies tremble with fear. Be sure that the Chinese army is invincible. Robert O'Neill, a strategist at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, commented after the war: "China leapt from their victory to a world power that could no longer be despised... If the Chinese had not If you are firm on the battlefield, the course of world history will be different from now on.” (Quoted from the 3rd edition of the People’s Liberation Army Daily, October 3, 2021.) Even today and in the future, 72 years later, the spirit of the “Ice Sculpture Company” will still be there. It is the immortal soul of our army, which is still awe-inspiring and still makes the enemy's heart linger. This is the great significance of the "Ice Sculpture Company".
(Lu Hua is a researcher of Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences , a distinguished professor of Dandong Spiritual Training College of Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, an associate editor of the Journal of Dandong Anti-American Academy, Memorial Hall of Resisting America and Aid Korea Specially Invited Researcher, Hekou Resisting America and Aid Korea Exhibition Hall Chief, honorary curator of the exhibition hall of the former site of the 64th Division of the Artillery Force of the Dandong Volunteer Army.)
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