The Battle of Changjin Lake is a miracle.
This war took place under the conditions of extremely cold weather and extreme shortage of supplies for the volunteer army . In the harsh reality, countless volunteer soldiers fought against the well-equipped US military with their own flesh and blood, and finally achieved a key victory. General Haotian still remembers many details many years later.
General Chi Haotian and Changjin Lake
In front of the older generation of revolutionaries, Chi Haotian was a "rising star". He enlisted in the army in July 1945. He has always been conscientious in his work.
After the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea began, he rushed to the front line without hesitation. At this time, he was the instructor of the 3rd Battalion of the 235th Regiment of the 27th Army of the Ninth Corps. He was only 21 years old. After
entered the DPRK, the first battle he had to face was at Changjin Lake.
After the first battle to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea , the " United Nations Army " took a short rest, and then divided the troops into two groups and invaded north, heading straight for the river boundary where the North Korean government was temporarily located.
Faced with such a critical situation, the Party Central Committee and Chinese People's Volunteer Army urgently dispatched the Ninth Corps to North Korea to assume the Eastern Front combat mission.
In other words, the Ninth Corps was completely forced to march and was ordered to do so in the face of danger.
This unit was formerly an elite unit of the East China Field Army. On the battlefield of liberation, they participated in the annihilation of Zhang Lingfu 's troops. They also pursued and annihilated Du Yuming's hundreds of thousands of troops, and participated in the Crossing the River campaign and The battle to liberate Shanghai.
On November 1, 1950, the Ninth Corps joined the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and was renamed The Ninth Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers. The commander and political commissar were both Song Shilun.
Before receiving the order, this unit was still training along the southeast coast, but the US military was extremely vicious and did not give them much time to prepare.
They rushed all the way to Shandong. After a short rest, they took a train and headed straight to the Northeast. They didn't even have time to bring many heavy weapons with them.
The US military has always liked to use aircraft to bomb supply lines, which has led to many soldiers of the Ninth Corps heading to the battlefield without even having time to change into winter clothes.
The temperature they felt dropped from 15 degrees Celsius to minus 40 degrees Celsius. You can imagine how bad the situation was.
He Jinnian, the then deputy commander of the Northeastern Army , saw this situation and stamped his feet even more anxiously.
He said: "If you just go over like this, let alone go to fight, the cold will freeze you to death!"
At that time, he asked the Northeast cadres and soldiers at the station to throw their cotton-padded clothes into the car. , obviously, these coats are just a drop in the bucket.
In addition to the lack of materials to withstand the cold, the Ninth Corps also faced big problems with its team equipment. Some soldiers had captured Japanese equipment, some belonged to the Kuomintang, and some even had equipment made in Hanyang.
Under the unified deployment of the Volunteer Army Headquarters, the Ninth Corps adopted the method of "circling, cutting off, encircling and annihilating" after entering North Korea.
With an order, hundreds of thousands of thinly-clad soldiers marched day and night through mountains and woods covered with thick snow.
Overcame numerous difficulties, they finally arrived at the preset battlefield: Changjin Lake.
Their goal is to set up an ambush first, and then wait until the US military arrives to divide, surround and annihilate them.
Starting from late October every year, Changjin Lake will enter winter. Until late November, the average temperature of Changjin Lake can drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
However, it was even more amazing in 1950.
Documentary records show that at the end of October 1950, the Changjin Lake area experienced extremely cold weather that had not happened once in 50 years.
The Ninth Corps had no supplies at all and could only eat frozen potatoes that were too chewy to bite.
Chi Haotian's 27th Army needs to ambush in the north and northeast of Changjin Lake.
He also knew that this battle was definitely no less brutal than the previous battlefields.
When he was a boy, he and his father once " traveled to Guandong ". The temperature there was also very low, and his father also taught him many ways to keep out the cold and freeze.
So, Chi Haotian quickly asked everyone to move and not to stay in place for too long.
After your hands and feet are frozen, you cannot use fire to bake them. You must "cool them with cold". You must wash your face with cold water and rub your hands with ice and snow, so that you will feel warm.
Chi Haotian, who has had experience, knows that these are related to the survival of the soldiers and cannot be careless. Many soldiers in the south have never experienced such weather.
Whether in the company or on duty, he taught everyone all the methods and asked everyone to implement them. If anyone missed it and did not watch the soldiers do it, then he must be directly held accountable.
Chi Haotian's 3rd Battalion was ambushed in the ice and snow, and inevitably suffered some frostbite, but there was no large-scale attrition.
What they are waiting for is the 1st Marine Division of the US Marine Corps, and the 3rd and 7th Infantry Divisions.
The opponents are also experienced in many battles, especially the 1st U.S. Marine Division. They fought from Normandy to the Pacific Ocean. Going forward, they also participated in the battle during World War I Soviet Russia's intervention operations were awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment".
In the entire US Army , this unit ranks high.
On November 27, 1950, shortly after Thanksgiving, American soldiers heard that the fighting would be over before Christmas.
According to the recollections of a reporter accompanying the US military: "At that time, we always felt that someone was watching us, but the Americans never thought that the reconnaissance aircraft , which was 50 meters away from the ground, did not find anything unusual, but it was quietly ambushing hundreds of thousands of people. "Human troops."
That's because the soldiers of the Volunteer Army's Ninth Corps had been lying in wait in the ice and snow for three days. Put the potato on a warm part of your body, and then nibble a little after it melts a little.
That night, the Battle of Changjin Lake officially started.
Hundreds of thousands of people suddenly rushed up from the ice and snow. The US military did not react at all. They could not imagine where these soldiers came from.
For the entire day on November 28, the US military's positions at various stages were still unable to be opened up, and they could only advance at a speed of 500 meters per hour.
Until early December, Chi Haotian's two divisions of the 27th Army launched a comprehensive siege against the 31st Regiment of the US 7th Division in Xingxingri.
The US military commander, Colonel McClain, was shot and captured, and died of his injuries a few days later; Lieutenant Colonel Faith, who took over the command, was seriously injured and was shot dead while leading his troops in retreat.
The 1st U.S. Marine Division, equipped with sophisticated equipment, was still helpless in the face of the onslaught of volunteers.
They did not start to break through the siege until December 1. It took the two groups three days to cover the 22 kilometers.
22 kilometers of road took more than 1,500 US military casualties to complete.
In this process, Chi Haotian's 79th Division had a heavy task.
They must prevent the US Army's Marine Division from escaping all the way south, and they must also occupy the US military's blocking high ground.
Chi Haotian redeployed the troops based on strategic needs. He and the deputy company commander led the seventh company, and asked deputy battalion commander Gao Yunlong to lead the ninth company. He also specifically told Gao Yunlong: "We cannot afford steel with the US military. We must Fight wits; attack first, and then attack to win if the sneak attack fails."
Afterwards, Chi Haotian formed two platoons of commandos and asked them to penetrate into the rear of the US military and get in touch with the 337th regiment.
In the rapidly changing situation, he also took a "dangerous move", which was to allow the assault troops to attack during the day to achieve a surprise effect.
This kind of action that can be boldly interspersed during the day has indeed achieved miraculous results, and the US military soon became confused.
During the one-and-a-half-hour battle, Chi Haotian led his troops to capture 4 highlands and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition, creating an immortal legend. Behind the legend of
, it can be said that there is a direct competition between agricultural civilization and industrial civilization.
The U.S. military’s fire attack caused huge casualties to the Volunteer Army. In particular, the incendiary bombs launched by the U.S. directly turned the Volunteer Army’s position into a sea of flames. It was under such a passive situation that the hero Yang Gensi picked up the explosive bag and perished with the enemy.
When the US military tried every means, even at the cost of airlifting bridge components from Japan, to restore the Watergate Bridge that was constantly bombed by the Volunteer Army, the Volunteer Army still had small groups of troops that continued to intercept the US military.
and " ice sculpture with " were discovered by the US military under this circumstance.
The Battle of Changjin Lake lasted until December 24, and ended with the withdrawal of US troops from Xingnan Port.
After this battle, the Volunteer Army recovered a vast area in eastern North Korea and reversed the situation on the battlefield. It can be said that this battle laid a solid foundation for the subsequent armistice negotiations.
But for Chi Haotian, the war is far from over.
From the end of December 1950, the 27th Army entered the Changchuan-ri and Dingping areas for combat readiness training, summed up experience and lessons, worked hard to restore the unit's organization, and actively carried out military training.
During this period, Chi Haotian carefully educated all the soldiers in the battalion on "Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aiding Korea, Defending the Home and the Country", so that everyone could understand the importance of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea.
visited the United States and met his rival's descendant
. After returning to China, Chi Haotian began to actively supplement his theoretical knowledge.
In 1958, he went to the People's Liberation Army Advanced Infantry School to study; from 1959 to 1960, he went to the Synthetic Department of the People's Liberation Army Military Academy to continue his studies.
Subsequently, he worked his way up to the position of political commissar of the Jinan Military Region and was awarded the rank of general in 1988.
He has also witnessed the entire process from the bloody battles to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. The game between major powers has become the background of the new era.
During the period from December 8 to December 18, 1996, Chi Haotian paid an official visit to the United States.
The U.S. invites the Chinese military delegation to visit the MIA2 tank at the Fort Hood base, which is also the training base of the U.S. First Cavalry Division.
Coincidentally, this first division, which was hailed by the United States as the "Founding Fathers Division", was severely damaged by the Volunteer Army during the first battle to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. This was also their first defeat in history.
After the American personnel introduced the performance of the tank and the electronic system it was equipped with, they suggested that Chi Haotian test-fire a gun.
Chi Haotian immediately said: "Fight, fight!"
After all, the veterans who did not flinch at all on the battlefield to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea did not feel anything at all in the face of these. From a distance of 1,500 meters, one shot hit.
During this visit, he was received by US Marine Corps Commander General Charles Krulak.
After Charles Krulak learned that Chi Haotian was a Chinese veteran who participated in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, he was immediately in awe.
This is because Charles Krulak's father is Victor Krulak, who also participated in that war.
At that time, Victor Krulak was the deputy commander of the 1st Marine Division of the US Marine Corps during the Battle of Changjin Lake.
Changjin Lake has naturally become a nightmare for many American soldiers who participated in that war.
At that time, Bowser, Chief of the Operations Division of the 1st Marine Division, was still haunted by the scene of the panicked escape from Changjin Lake: "I believe that the ice and snow of Changjin Lake and the Chinese army's ruthless attack regardless of casualties are the hallmarks of every land battle. The nightmare that lingers in the minds of the team members."
When Chi Haotian recalled the scene of meeting Charles Krulak, he said: "His father was the colonel and deputy commander of the 1st Marine Division. His father thought it was an unforgettable experience in his life. The Volunteer Army planes could not stop the blockade and bombing. The ice and snow can't stop it, and the soldiers can't stop it. It's incredible! "
Moreover, Charles Krulak also said to Chi Haotian at that time: "My father ran out with great effort! "
Yes, if his father had run slower back then, General Charles would not exist.
Chi Haotian said to him: "At that time, our volunteers basically still had millets and rifles. "
In his later years, Chi Haotian often recalled what happened during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. After so many years, he was still filled with emotion when he mentioned Changjin Lake.
His uncle Ou: "The first time I saw a soldier, my eyes widened. It was very big, with a smile on its face, and its face was covered with ice. After it melted, it looked very quiet. I have never seen such a scene before, and I have never seen so many people freeze to death at once. "
Among the soldiers who froze to death, there was a Shanghai soldier named Song Amao. The words written on his piece of paper also represent the aspirations of many soldiers: Ice and snow, I will never succumb to you, even if it is frozen. Even if I die, I will stand proudly on my position.
That time, the 1st US Marine Division fled to Busan , and Commander Smith received preferential treatment from the US military.
Only he knew in his heart that the 1st US Marine Division. When they escaped, what exactly did they face along the way, and how embarrassed they were. They fled in a panic.
The US military awarded a total of 17 honors to the Marine Corps fighting in Changjin Lake. Medal and 70 Navy Cross , this is also the most combat medals awarded in the history of the United States.
"Time" magazine also wrote a special article, saying that the Battle of Changjin Lake was unparalleled in the history of the US military. A tragic battle.
As for the volunteers, everyone shared the same ideals and beliefs. The soldiers who participated in the Battle of Changjin Lake all had some traces of frostbite on their bodies.
In order to fight the founding of the country, 71 Years ago, the soldiers who were in their prime years resolutely stepped onto the battlefield of gunfire, and were injured, disabled, or buried in the ice and snow.
With the high box office of the movie "Changjin Lake", the great volunteer soldiers. They are mentioned again and again.
They deserve to be remembered.
Looking back at the past, I think back to what Charles said when General Chi Haotian visited the United States in 1996, that his father ran in Changjin Lake. It was too fast and strenuous, and I was really afraid of the iron blood and bravery of the volunteers.
Reference
Biography of Chi Haotian (Serial 4) Participating in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea 2010-04-15
Chi Haotian talks about Changjin Lake and is very sad: I have never seen him freeze to death. So many people
Sino-US military exchanges CCTV
