Back to the Republic of China to be a editor

"Battalion Commander, is this American unit particularly difficult to fight?"

The 172st Battalion of the 1nd Regiment was the first wave to launch an attack after the battle started, so they were also arranged at the front.Looking from a distance, trucks coming and going can be faintly seen in Xiajieyu, a few kilometers away.

"I have never seen this American, but I have seen American tanks and cannons." The battalion commander put the fried noodles in the palm of his hand into his mouth, and poured a handful out of the fried noodles bag, "It's early, I It must have been January 1947 when the Kuomintang army attacked American weapons for the first time. At that time, I was still a small squad leader.”

A young soldier who only joined the army in 1950 heard that the battalion commander had fought against the US Army, and asked, "Are the US weapons really good?"

"Is it powerful? The name is very powerful. It is called the 'First Fast Column of the Ministry of National Defense'. They not only have cannons and tanks, but also a lot of trucks, such as cannons and shells. They can even go out without walking. Just get on the truck, so it is called the fast column, which means it runs very fast."

"Battalion Commander, are the American cannons accurate? Are the shells powerful?"

"I don't know. The first fast column of the Ministry of National Defense, we rushed up and shouted at the national soldiers, raise your hands! They raised their hands, and then we worked with the captured soldiers to find a way to put the cannon Pull it out of the mud."

Little soldier: "..."

"Hehe. That fast column couldn't take down a village, and wanted to slip away. As a result, the commander had a problem with his head, and he walked the wrong way after a daze, trapping more than 2000 people, together with trucks and cannons. into the mud. Then his beauty becomes our beauty."

The small half bag of fried noodles in the battalion commander's hand has been eaten.There is still a small bag of fried noodles in the backpack behind me, which can be eaten for a day or two. After the fried noodles are eaten, there are compressed biscuits at the bottom of the box.

……

"Song Corps: The enemy's 5st Marine Division has already marched northward. The division has a large organization and is extremely cautious in combat. We need to be patient to find opportunities. Currently, the 7th and 11th regiments of the division are stationed in Liutanli, and there is little desire to advance westward. Strong. If the group does not move westward, can your department cut off the link between Liutanli and Xiajieyuli? Peng Ye, November 25."

"Song Corps: On the Eastern Front, it is recommended to use one of the 20th and 27th armies to divide and encircle the two existing groups of the first marine division, so as to prevent them from moving; The 26st Regiment of the 27th Meibu Division advancing from Jinhudong, after annihilating the regiment, the 7th Army joined the 31th and 26th Army, looking for an opportunity to annihilate the entire division of the 20st Marine Division, or one of the two groups of the division. Zhu Mao, 27 11th of July."

"Song Corps: The enemy must focus on attacking Xiajieyuli. The enemy has repaired the Xiajieyuli airport. Try to ensure that it is captured and firmly occupied. In case we cannot hold on to Xiajieyuli for a long time, we also need to take the airport Evacuation is only possible after complete destruction. Zhu Mao, November 11."

27 days and nights.

Three flares exploded in the air.The battle on the Eastern Front of the Second Campaign - later known as the Battle of Changjin Lake or the Battle of Changjin Lake - officially began.

After intelligence revealed the importance of Xiajieyuli, especially after the Xiajieyuli Airport had been activated and the C-47 transport aircraft had taken off and landed, the 9th Corps attached great importance to Xiajieyuli.

20军58、59师分进合击，在切断陆战5、7团与下碣隅里联系的同时，共同向下碣隅里发起进攻。

The 20th Division of the 60th Army occupied Gancikai and Xiaomintaili, resolutely prevented the U.S. military from fleeing south and the route of north aid, and attacked Gutuli with one part.

The fourth division of the 20th Army, the 89th Division, had one regiment watching the scene in Shecang, and two regiments served as the reserve team of the 58th and 59th Divisions to ensure the capture of Xiajieyuli.

The 27th Army moved earlier than the 20th Army. At 5 o'clock in the evening, the 27th Division of the 79th Army launched an offensive in Liutanli, restraining this large group of enemies from moving around.

The 80th Division was on the east bank of Changjin Lake, attacking Xinxingli, Xindaili, and Neidongzhi here, putting pressure on the 7st Regiment of the 31th Meibu Division fighting in this area.

81师不在长津湖战区，而是向东北进击，占领了小汉岱看场子——预防在东北100多公里外梦游的美步7师17团、32团突然醒过来回援。

The 27th Division of the 94th Army temporarily serves as the reserve team.

The three divisions of the 26th Army temporarily decided not to expose them, waiting for the 7st Regiment of the 31th Division of the US Army to drill into their pockets.

On the morning of November 11, the U.S. military was horrified to find that the troops of the 28st Marine Division and the 7th Mibu Division at Changjin Lake had been divided into four parts:

The 7st Regiment of the 31th Division of Meibu;

The 5th and 7th regiments in Liutanli are a big lump;

Fushengli, Gutuli, and the U.S. troops who were expelled from Xiajieyuli, this is the division headquarters of the [-]st Marine Division, the [-]st Marine Regiment, and several auxiliary battalions, also gathered into a big lump;

In Xixingling, where the 5th and 7th Marine Regiments stayed yesterday, a small group was surrounded. This is a battalion and an engineer battalion left by the 5th Marine Regiment. The equipment for the 5th regiment camped overnight was collected, so they still stayed where they were.

……

On November 11, on this morning, Smith, the commander of the First Marine Division, was completely dumbfounded.

At 1 o'clock in the morning, the temperature was lower than during the day, about minus 35 degrees. An engineering battalion and a marine battalion in Xiajieyu were shivering in tents and sleeping bags. The criminals who are out there are enduring the north wind like a knife, and the Chinese army can still launch an attack at this time!

First there was a storm of shelling. In just one minute, hundreds of shells landed in Xiajieyu. This round of shells seriously shook the defense of the US military.

As soon as the shelling ended, gunfire sounded from the northwest and northeast directions.In the bone-chilling snowy field outside the base, countless Chinese soldiers suddenly stood up, wearing white cloaks, half of their faces covered by huge snow goggles. Amidst the shouts of the sky, before the soldiers behind the sandbag wall had time to pull the bolt of the machine gun, the grenade flew into the fortification.In a hurry, the [-]st Marine Division could only abandon the fortifications, organize the team while resisting, and retreat southward.

On the way to retreat, Smith asked the soldiers of the infantry battalion who were the lookouts at the time, and the answer he got was that "many of these shells flew with trailing flames, and they were probably rocket launchers rather than howitzers."

According to this, the Chinese army used Katyusha?

The headquarters of the First Marine Division withdrew 5 kilometers south and entered Fushengli.There is a Marine Battalion, an Artillery Battalion, and a full Tank Battalion, as well as two Logistics Support Battalions.The two battalions withdrawn from Xiajieyu had a total of more than 400 casualties, but the engineering battalion accounted for two-thirds of the casualties.Smith decided to let the Marine Battalion withdrawn from Xiajieyu also participate in the counterattack, and turned around to fight back.

But not now to launch a counter-offensive.Smith planned to wait for air support.Just received the telegram that the two aircraft carriers in the Sea of ​​Japan have already taken off and will arrive over the theater in 45 minutes.

In the field hospital next to the temporary division headquarters, the screams one after another made Smith feel very worried.

A soldier whose left calf was hit by shrapnel was carried to a field hospital. The soldier didn't scream in pain, but was trembling all over, his teeth rattling, and he occasionally groaned.The doctor touched the soldier's leg, feeling like he was touching an icicle, and he immediately understood why the soldier's leg had such a good hemostatic effect.After being injured, the medical soldiers cut off his trouser legs to expose the wound to spray hemostatic powder, and tied a tourniquet on his thigh, but forgot to cover it again to keep warm... During the transfer, blood, skin, and blood from the soldier's entire leg Muscles were all frozen into ice cubes.

The doctor tapped on the soldier's calf with his knuckles, making a loud "pushing" sound.

The doctor was so familiar with this sound. He took out a frozen chicken from his refrigerator and knocked it.

Going up, knees, thighs, above the tourniquet, the doctor finally felt that this was living human tissue. "From here, amputate immediately. Prepare the bone saw for me."

I don't know if he knocked on the part where the wounded soldier still felt, or if the wounded soldier heard the word "amputation", the young man howled loudly.

"No, not yet." The assistant vetoed, "The morphine has just been brought in from the outdoor material storage point and cannot be injected."

The assistant put a frozen morphine injection into his mouth to thaw with his own body temperature, and at the same time reached out his hand and gestured "wait a moment" to the doctor.

Walking out of the field hospital, Smith's heart was even heavier.When the reporter asked him "where will the [-]st Marine Division fight in the next stage", Smith said slowly:

"We're going to fight in hell."

Chapter 90, Shock on the Eastern Front

The news that Xiajieyuli fell, and the 7st Marine Division and the [-]th US Army Division were divided and surrounded in Changjin Lake shocked the United Nations Command, and even the top US officials on the other side of the ocean were also shocked.

On the morning of November 11, that is, at night in the United States, Bradley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who had gone home to rest, was called by his secretary.After being informed of the report on the battle situation in Northeast Korea, Bradley immediately sent a telegram to MacArthur asking him to switch from offense to defense. "The United Nations Army... All previous offensive orders should be cancelled, and defensive deployment adjustments must be made. The consistency of the actions of the 28th Army and the 10th Army must be maintained, so that the forces on the east and west lines can be integrated."

However, MacArthur still wanted to give it a go and sent a telegram to express his opposition. "The 10th Army geographically threatens the main supply line of the Chinese army. It is precisely because of the threat of the 10th Army that the Chinese army is forced to invest 8 divisions to block the attack of the 8st Marine Division. Naturally, the 10th Army As long as the 8th Army is in its current position, the Chinese troops on the western front will not dare to advance south easily. Any idea that the 10th Army and the [-]th Army will form a line of defense at the waist of the Korean Peninsula is irrelevant practical."

MacArthur's idea is that the 7st Marine Division and the [-]th US Army Division first resolve the current crisis on the spot, break through the division and encirclement of the Chinese army, and then prepare to hold on or attack westward, cutting off the volunteer army's supply line. At that time, the volunteer army on the western front will have to retreat .

But now, the top priority of the 10th Army is to retake Xiajieyu-ri and restore contact with the divided U.S. forces.

Under the coordination of MacArthur and Almond, the plan for counterattack operations was determined.First, the 1st Regiment of the 3st Marine Division in the south of Hagaru-ri, 5 battalion-level affiliated units, and the British Royal Marine Commando, with the support of the Air Force, attacked Xiagaru-ri. The supplies accumulated there should also be destroyed; the clusters of the 7th and 7th regiments of the 31st Marine Division immediately turned around, broke the blockade to the southeast and joined the two battalions in Xixingling, and then continued to attack Xiajieyuli to the southeast; The [-]st Regiment of the [-]th Meibu Division in Lidongbei also turned around and counterattacked.

This mountain town on the south bank of Changjin Lake became the focus of the battlefield on the Eastern Front.

The original combat plan of the 20th Army, the three divisions first attacked the five key points of the Changjin Lake-Hamxing Highway, and after winning the five key points, two or three regiments were concentrated to attack Xiajieyuli.However, on the morning of the 27th, the 9th Corps directly sent electricity to the 20th Army, requesting a change in combat deployment, and a surprise attack must be made on the night of the 27th to seize Xiajieyuli.Judging from the tone of voice, this suggestion for combat deployment adjustment may come from Zhisi or even Beijing. The 20th Army immediately changed its plan and concentrated two divisions and all army artillery to attack Xiajieyuli, while the other division made diversionary attacks elsewhere.

Beijing, Zhong-South-Hai, Korean War Situation Center.

The chiefs on duty at the combat situation center gathered together to listen to the syllables of the radio station on the tape recorder.It's all in English, but it doesn't matter, everyone has a Chinese-English translation of the interview recording.