Preface
In May 1951, Wu Xinquan, commander of the 39th Army, Liang Xingchu, commander of the 28th Army, Wen Yucheng, commander of the 340th Army, and Wu Ruilin, commander of the 42nd Army, received notices from Peng Dehuai, commander of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, asking them to return to Beijing to report to Mao Zedong immediately.
Soon after, the group returned to Beijing. Afterwards, Mao Zedong held a banquet in Zhongnanhai to invite the generals who fought bravely on the Korean battlefield.
Before the start of the meeting, Mao Zedong enthusiastically held Wu Xinquan's hand, "Comrade Wu Xinquan, sit next to me."
pic丨Wu Xinquan
The 39th Army that won the first battle
Who is Wu Xinquan? 1950 Resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea began, he was the commander of the 39th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
At that time, the 39th Army was training and participating in the Yinghe project for the governance of the Yinghe . In early July, Wu Xinquan suddenly received a telegram order, asking him to arrive in Wuhan immediately.
Wu Xinquan rushed to the Central South Military Region Command located in Hankou .
Military Region leaders Lin Biao, Tan Zheng and Tao Zhu told him that in order to prevent the possible crisis in the Korean War, the Central Military Commission of has ordered the 39th Army to immediately end production training and gather in the Liaoning area in early August, ready to enter North Korea to fight at any time. After receiving the command, Wu Xinquan rushed back to Luohe and quickly arranged a move and defense action. On July 21, the 39th Army Headquarters headed north. At this time, Wu Xinquan's wife had only three days to give birth to the child.
pic丨Wu Xinquan
Along the way, Wu Xinquan is considering the severe situation on the Korean battlefield. At that time, the US military had occupied , Pyongyang, and was advancing towards the Sino-North Korea border. Most of North Korea's territory had also fallen into the hands of the US and South Korean troops.
China entered North Korea to fight, and could only fight against the enemy in a very narrow area, and the enemy was the United States with the most excellent and heavy weapons.
Until October 20, 1950, the 187th Regiment of the US Airborne had already carried out airborne in northern Pyongyang, and the 6th Korean Division even rushed to Chushan on the side of the Yalu River and fired provocatively in China.
On October 26, after the 7th Regiment of the 6th Division of the South Korean Division occupied Chushan, the main force entered Xishan, and the 1st Division invaded Yunshan. The 24th Division of the US Army and the 27th Brigade of the British Army fled to the areas east of Taichuan and Dingzhou respectively.
On October 27, Peng Dehuai issued an order to the Dayudong Zhisi Department:
concentrates two divisions of the 38th Army and 40th Army and one division of the 42nd Army, first focusing on attacking the enemy of Xichuan; the 39th Army advances to the northwest part of Yunshan and blocking the 1st Division of the South Korean Army heading north.
pic丨Walker
On October 28, the commander-in-chief of the ground forces of the "United Nations Army" Walker put the 1st Cavalry Division into the Yunshan battlefield. Cavalry Division 1 is the American ace army and claims to have never been defeated in 160 years.
Walker believed confidently that such a force could definitely hold on to Yunshan.
But it is worth mentioning that Walker thought that the opponent he was facing was North Korea, and the 39th Army also thought that he was going to attack the 1st Division of the South Korean Division, and he had no idea that the 1st Division of the South Korean Division had been replaced by the 1st Cavalry Division.
On November 1, this battle filled with "accidents" began. In the morning, the 39th Army was ready for attack and planned to launch a general attack on the enemy at 7:30 pm.
At 5 pm, frontier observers of our army discovered that the enemy's tanks, , cars, and infantry began to be mobilized on the outside of Yunshan. All signs indicate that the enemy defending Yunshan may flee.
Wu Xinquan made a quick decision and ordered the 116th Division of the 39th Army to launch an attack in advance.
At that time, the 347th Regiment launched an attack on Yunshan along the west bank of the Santan River; the 348th Regiment launched an attack on Yunshan along the east bank of the Santan River, and the 346th Regiment, as the division reserve, followed the 347th Regiment.
In order to make up for the gap between the 347th Regiment and the 348th Regiment, Wu Xinquan also sent a battalion of the 346th Regiment to insert Yunshan between the two regiments and directly attack the enemy's command organs.
However, the enemy's strength cannot be underestimated. As soon as the 2nd Battalion of the 347th Regiment broke through the enemy's frontier, it fell into the enemy's firepower blockade. Fortunately, regiment commander Ji Gang quickly adjusted his deployment and concentrated all firepower, and then he captured Beishan in one fell swoop. The
Battalion was also hit hard, and finally it was the Rain Rift Grotto that defeated the enemy. htmlAt 2:00 a.m. on the 22nd, the 7th and 8th companies of the 3rd Battalion attacked Yunshan from the north and west respectively.When they entered the intersection of West Street, the soldiers of the 7th Company found three enemy tanks fleeing eastward. Everyone rushed up quickly. Seeing this, the enemy abandoned the car and ran away. Seven consecutive victories pursued the victory and captured the nameless highland on the south side of Yunshan in one fell swoop. On the other side of the
48 Regiment, the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion quickly broke through the enemy's frontier. Subsequently, the 1st Battalion was converted into a regiment reserve, while the 2nd Battalion continued to attack fiercely. 2 points, the 2nd Battalion captured Chaoyang Cave. At this time, the 3rd Battalion entered the battle and attacked Yunshan, while the 2nd Battalion carried out a roundabout way towards the southern part of Yunshan. htmlAt around 3 a.m. on the 22nd, the 3rd Battalion defeated more than 300 US troops and successfully cut off the road from Yunshan to Shangjiu Cave. Let’s talk about the 346th Regiment, the 2nd Battalion is responsible for the interspersion mission. When they arrive at the edge of Yunshan City, the battalion will immediately unfold and insert it into the city with the 4th Company from the northeast side of Yunshan City.
At that time, the US military even regarded the 4th Company soldiers as the Korean army, not only giving way to them, but also shook hands with them.
Even the soldiers were very clever. Everyone calmly passed the bridge calmly and headed straight to the US military command post. They killed the battalion commander Robert with one hand.
Facing the powerful offensive of the volunteer army , Walker had no choice but to retreat to Qingchuanjiang and turned to the defensive.
Cavalry 1st Division 8 retreated in a hurry, and the 39th Army immediately grabbed the fighter plane and launched an attack. The road from Yunshan to Longshan Cave was cut off, the enemy's 8th Regiment was in trouble, and there was only one battalion left by the division commander Guy.
Guy was very panicked. He called the commander Milborn and asked the enemy 7th Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment to return to the construction and help the enemy 8th Regiment to evacuate.
Unexpectedly, Milborn rejected his suggestion and only asked the enemy 8th regiment to break out by itself.
Guy was desperate. In the telescope, he saw the volunteers quickly and accurately inserting into the weak areas of the US military's defense line like a sensitive cat.
Some American soldiers who fled four times even shouted in a crash, "God, this is a Chinese-style funeral." After the victory of the Yunshan Battle, the victory soon reached Beijing. Mao Zedong said happily, "I fought the ace army of the US military and won the battle, which is gratifying! Facts have proved that the US military is not scary. Paper tigers are paper tigers after all. "
Occupy Seoul
After the first battle, the 39th Army retreated north to the area north of Taichuan to "tempt the enemy to go deeper". On November 24, Zhisi adjusted the deployment of annihilation of the enemy: the
40 army advanced eastward toward the 38th Army and 42nd Army to strengthen the assault force on the left wing; the 39th Army, 65th Army and 50th Army successively connected and defended, keeping the front line intact.
At dusk that night, the 39th Army began to advance eastward towards Taichuan to replace the defense of the 119th Division of the 40th Army. As expected, the enemy mistakenly thought that the volunteers fled in a cowardly manner because of the "evacuation" of the 40th Army, so the attack speed was accelerated across the board.
html At dusk on the 225th, all the enemies entered our army's preset battlefield. The 38th Army and 40th Army were caught off guard and launched a fierce attack on the Han 7th and 8th Divisions in Tokugawa and Ningyuan, opening the curtain of the second battle. htmlOn the 226th, the 38th Army and 42nd Army opened the battle gap and quickly deviated to the rear side. Peng Dehuai made a quick decision and ordered the 39th Army, 66th Army and 50th Army to encircle and annihilate the enemies they faced.9 Army faced the 24th, 27th and 35th regiments under the 25th Division of the US, as well as the 65th Tanks, 159th Howitzer, and 77th Battalion of Engineers.
Wu Xinquan quickly set his combat target as the 24th Regiment of the United States in accordance with the principle of "concentrating forces to fight an annihilation war".
at 22:00 pm, the 344th Regiment of the 115th Division took the lead in launching the attack. A few hours later, Stellay, the company commander of the 3rd Company of the 24th Regiment of the US, took 115 black soldiers under his command to surrender.
This incident surprised the enemy commander-in-chief MacArthur . Subsequently, the top military and political officials of the US military disrupted all black companies, squads and platoons, and mixed black soldiers into the white troops.
html At 9 a.m. on the 227th, the 24th Regiment surrounded by Shanglong Cave began to break out to the east. At the same time, with the support of aircraft, cannons and tanks, the 27th Regiment of the US 25th Regiment attempted to rescue the US 24th Regiment.At this time, the 2nd Battalion of the 348th Regiment was sandwiched between the two enemy regiments, especially the 4th Company, which was "focused" by the US military. The soldiers fought bloody battles, and the company commander, instructor and platoon leader died one after another. Finally, under the command of instructor Wang Lin, more than ten people survived the 4th Company firmly controlled the position.
The 24th American regiment saw that it had not been defeated for a long time, so they had to bypass and flee eastward.
The US military began to retreat on the whole line, while the volunteers pursued the whole line. Peng Dehuai issued a new order to the 39th Army: to cooperate with the 66th Army to siege the enemies in Ningbian, and after succeeding, he attacked and advanced along the railway towards Anzhou.
Wu Xinquan, who received the command, made a quick deployment. On the morning of the 29th, the 39th Army recovered Ningbian and continued to move south.
, which was afraid of being beaten, was the first to withdraw from Pyongyang before the volunteers could surround him. So, the 116th Division of the 39th Army easily entered Pyongyang and successfully met with the 1st Corps of the Korean People's Army.
Of course, the US military will not easily give up their ambitions. They have retreated to the south of "38th parallel ", trying to use the natural barrier to set up positions, defend, and find opportunities to invade the north again.
And although the Volunteer Army won two battles, it has not yet eliminated the enemy's vitality. If wants to truly gain the initiative on the battlefield, it must continue to push south.
So the third battle started. The 39th Army continued to move south, and they encountered the first obstacle - Linjinjiang .
Linjin River is located 75 kilometers north of Seoul, with a cliff about 10 meters high on the south bank. On the other side is the 1st Battalion of the 15th Regiment of the 1st Korean Division, which is a team with relatively strong combat effectiveness in the South Korean army.
was the vanguard of the 116th Division. After they arrived at the north bank of the Linjin River on December 18, they have been investigating the enemy situation.
html At dawn on the 220th, the 1st Battalion of South Korea discovered the traces of the volunteer army and immediately concentrated artillery fire to bombard violently. Then, a platoon of Korean soldiers rushed over from the pontoon bridge.Seeing this, the 1st Company of the 340th Regiment, which was responsible for the bridge guarding mission, seized the opportunity to fire together, and immediately killed some enemies. The remaining enemies quickly turned around and fled.
Subsequently, the Korean army bombed the 1st Company's position with aircraft and cannons in turn. But no matter how fierce the artillery fire was, even the position did not move at all.
html On the morning of 221, the Korean army organized another large-scale attack. This time, they directly used artillery fire to blow up the 1st Company's position.had no position, so the soldiers simply put the machine gun on the branches and continued to shoot, buying time for the main force to cross the river. In order to ensure the suddenness of the attack, the assault team built trenches and bunkers on a 150-300-meter-long front, which not only allowed the command posts at the division, regiment and battalion of the 116th Division, but also dozens of artillery .
All this was carried out under the enemy's nose, and the US and South Korean troops did not notice it at all. On December 31, Li Qiwei, who succeeded Walker, also took a plane and conducted a strict patrol on the north bank of the Linjin River, but no signs were found.
Later, when the volunteer army broke through the Linjin River and the BeiHanjiang River in one fell swoop, Li Qiwei also exclaimed, "I didn't expect that the Chinese launched their New Year's Day offensive on this lifeless wasteland."
At 16:40 on December 31, tens of thousands of shells exploded and bloomed on the south bank of the Linjin River. About an hour later, the volunteer infantry launched an attack and penetrated into the depths of the enemy's positions.
, and , which was praised by the Korean media as "the iron wall" by the Imperial River, was captured by the 116th Division of the 39th Army.
At the same time, other troops of the Volunteer Army have successively broken through the defensive positions of the enemy. On January 2, 1951, the US and South Korean troops retreated on their entire front.
On January 3, the 39th Army continued to advance south by the orders of Zhishi and occupied Seoul one day later.
pic丨Wu Xinquan
was praised by Mao Zedong
On November 27, the Volunteer Army launched the fourth battle. By the end of the fourth battle on April 21, the 39th Army wiped out more than 110,000 enemies.
Among them, Wu Xinquan's 39th Army also set a record:
The Volunteer Army captured the most US troops alive in a battle.
On February 11, the main force of the Volunteer Army East Front Group launched a raid in the Hengcheng area.
, which carried out the 39th Army's 117th Division, which was performing the interspersed roundabout mission, arrived at the designated position on time, seized the key points, and completely cut off the three regiments of the Korean 8th Division and one regiment of the US 2nd Division.
For a moment, the enemies from both north and south pressed against the 117th Division's position. During the fierce battle, the 4th Company fought until only three people were still holding their positions, and the 1st Battalion even repelled the enemy's attacks seven times in a row.
Because he could not conquer the 117th Division for a long time, the enemies on both sides were in a dilemma and were in trouble. The 117th Division took advantage of the victory and directly compressed the 8th Division of the Korean Division and the 2nd Division of the United States to an extremely narrow area.
At night, the enemy's advantage in equipment gradually lost, and the volunteers who are good at night battles take the initiative. The only enemy who was left to "wait for death" could only struggle to death and rushed south along the road.
9 Army will naturally not give up this good opportunity to wipe out the enemy completely. The 349th Regiment's 1st Battalion, 3rd Battalion, directly slammed the enemy tanks that were "crazy" on the bridge. followed by the powerful shouts of the volunteers. A few hours later, the battle ended. In this battle, the 117th Division of the 39 Army captured a total of 2,550 enemies, including more than 800 U.S. troops, creating a record that the volunteers captured the most U.S. troops in one battle. After the good news was sent back to the military headquarters, Wu Xinquan showed a proud smile and celebrating with all the leaders in the military.
pic丨Mao Zedong
It may be precisely because of the 39th Army's excellent performance on the Korean battlefield that Wu Xinquan was "specially treated" by Mao Zedong.
At the banquet at the end of May, Mao Zedong not only called Wu Xinquan to sit by his side, but also praised his 39th Army for setting five "firsts".
"First is to defeat the elite American cavalry division - the 1st Cavalry Division; the second is the 116th Division took the lead in recapturing Pyongyang; the third is to force a black American engineer company to surrender collectively through the battlefield; the fourth is to take the lead in attacking Seoul in the third battle; the fifth is to capture more than 800 American troops, setting a record for the most American troops captured by the volunteers in one battle."
