Chapter 17 3. Battles on the Eastern Front

On November 26, 1950, there was a sheet of ice and snow on the Gaima Plateau in northern North Korea.The temperature during the day is minus 20 to 25 degrees Celsius.The cold Siberian wind blowing from northeastern China sweeps across the barren and steep ravines of the plateau.A narrow, winding gravel road climbs deep into the plateau from Hamhung on the east coast of the Korean peninsula, snaking into the messy, giant folds of the Langlin Mountains, through places with creepy-sounding names : Dead Eagle Ridge, Sword Mountain Ridge, Barren Mountain Ridge, Snow Cold Ridge... Smith, the commander of the First US Marine Division, sat on a helicopter and looked down. What he saw was a world covered in snow and mist.In this chaotic world that has always made him wary, Smith tried to find a squirming team on the ice and snow: this team has no obvious nationality marks, and the cotton coats of the soldiers are similar to the color of exposed rocks. Cotton clothes and quilts are covered on the head, and the quilts are not all military-style, and some are farmer's floral quilts.Such a team should be very eye-catching on the Gaima Plateau at this moment.

As the commander of one side of the war, Smith is in a strange mood now. The attacking army shouldn't expect to see the appearance of an enemy team, but now Smith wants to see the team he imagined. This is not because he is eager to fight, but It is he who has a principle: as long as the traces of the Chinese are found, the troops will stop attacking immediately. Smith saw nothing on the Gema Plateau, although he ordered the helicopter pilot to fly lower. Smith flew from the division headquarters in Xingnan Port to Liutanli, the front line of the First Marine Division's offensive in the morning.The Seventh Regiment of the First Marine Division arrived here only an hour earlier than him.Colonel Homer Lizberger, commander of the Seventh Regiment, came out to meet him.Smith looked around this mountain village called Liutanli, and immediately felt that it was a worthless place.Huge mountain peaks surround a small basin, and the mountain villages in the basin have been destroyed by bombs. Of course, this is the masterpiece of American pilots. Except for a few old and weak Korean mountain people who have no strength to escape from the war, trembling in the ruins, There is nothing alive left in this mountain village.

The only reason why the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army arrived in Liutanli was because several small mountain roads converge here, and the mountain road has several branches to the north and west. MacArthur's order is: First Marine Division, attack! At this time, on the west side of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, the offensive of the Chinese army on the western front of the battlefield had already begun. The Gema Plateau is hundreds of kilometers away from the Western Front, and Smith's heart is empty and uneasy. The Seventh Regiment captured three Chinese soldiers and identified them as members of the Chinese Twentieth Army.

Twentieth Army!A new Chinese army designation! The confession of the Chinese soldiers is: There are two Chinese troops who are about to attack the first US Marine Division.At the same time, the Chinese army will attack Xiajieyuli and cut off the road in Xiajieyuli. It's a terrible confession. But the reliability of the confession is questionable.Such a precise battle plan of the large corps is not something that ordinary soldiers can know.MacArthur once said: Orientals are very cunning, and there is always a look of mocking each other in their small black eyes.They like to brag about their strength to give their opponents nightmares.

If there are really two Chinese armies here, according to the establishment of the Chinese army, there should be at least 80,000 people. With such a huge army approaching, how many vehicles and horses should there be?I heard that the Chinese are very good at hiding, but they can't walk under the soil like moles, can they?The reconnaissance plane of the 1st Marine Division flew to the ferry by the Yalu River and reported back that there was indeed no sign of the large corps approaching. Although Commander Smith was in a conflicted mood, he and the commander of the Seventh Regiment, Colonel Lizberg, reviewed the combat order issued by the commander of the Tenth Army, General Almond, on the 23rd:

The army directed the main attack direction to Wupingli in the west, assaulted the back of the Chinese army facing the Tenth Army, and coordinated with the Eighth Army's offensive.After capturing and annihilating the Chinese army, march northward from Wupingli and occupy the south bank of the Yalu River. The time for the attack was the twenty-seventh.The 1st Marine Division served as the main offensive task.The U.S. 7th Infantry Division, as an assisting force, advanced northward from the east side of the Marine Division via the east bank of Changjin Lake.The US 3rd Infantry Division covers the left flank of the 1st Marine Division.

Smith and Lizberger looked for Wupingli on the map, which is 90 kilometers away from Liutanli.As long as you get there, the condition of the road will be better, and you can go directly to the river boundary beside the Yalu River. Smith's last order was still conservative: first occupy Longlin Cave, 43 kilometers southwest of Liutanli, and then continue to attack from there on the 27th.The Fifth Regiment was responsible for the main attack, and the Seventh Regiment not only ensured Liutanli, but also covered the safety of the supply line between Xiajieyuli and Liutanli, and the First Regiment followed up.

After giving the order, Smith boarded the helicopter and flew back. The deafening sound of the helicopter engine made Smith's mood even more restless.In order to see the situation on the ground more clearly, Smith opened the hatch, and the fierce cold wind immediately penetrated his thick leather jacket and pierced his bone marrow like a knife. Extremely cold! Smith glanced at the thermometer hanging by the cabin door. Frost had formed on the surface of the thermometer. He wiped it with a leather glove, and finally managed to see the scale clearly. The temperature was minus 40°C! Smith closed the hatch, sat stiffly, and his mind was also stiff. He felt that his brain had frozen.

Oliver P. Smith, a veteran Marine in the U.S. Navy, is a commander who pursues the "ideal that should be" of the Marine Corps like a martyr.Beginning as the battalion commander of the Icelandic Defense Forces in World War II, he served successively as the commander of the 5th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division in Guadalcanal, the Chief of Staff of the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Tubul, and the 1st Marine Division during the Battle of Pereli Island. Division deputy division commander.After the war, he worked in Washington as Deputy Commander of the Marine Corps.At the beginning of the Korean War, he was transferred to the 1st Division, which enjoys the highest honor in the Marine Corps, as the commander.The evaluation of him in the US military archives is: indomitable, far-sighted, decisive and firm.

However, Commander Smith's current boss, General Almond, commander of the U.S. Tenth Army, has reservations about this. On Thanksgiving Day, that is, on November 23, the U.S. troops on the Eastern Front and the U.S. Army on the Western Front enjoyed a sumptuous holiday dinner.In the headquarters of the U.S. Tenth Army, the degree of exaggeration of the festive atmosphere made many officers, including Commander Smith, feel uncomfortable.Table linen, napkins, china, silverware and cutlery, cocktails and fancy name cards, what should be on a beach in California now absurdly on a battlefield in the Far East , The officers fell into a weird mood that they couldn't get rid of.What made the officers feel even more weird was the elated expression of Commander Almond. At one end of the dining table, the general kept making obscene jokes that are common in the military. Huishan Town on the banks of the Yalu River, and the officers and soldiers of the U.S. Seventh Division took a group photo with Manchuria, China as the background.General Almond's excitement lies in the fact that his troops were the first (and only) to reach the Yalu River among the American troops participating in the war in Korea. The Seventh Division has made rapid progress since landing. Entered Huishan Town on the bank of the Yalu River, where the American soldiers saw the frozen Yalu River and the Chinese villages and towns on the other side of the river.General Almond, like all American officers and soldiers, regarded reaching the riverside as a symbol of "the end of the war." Eighteen people froze their feet, but what interested Almond was to immediately report the good news to MacArthur.MacArthur telegraphed back: "Tell Barr that the 7th Division has done a lot of hard work. Only 20 days ago, the 7th Division made an amphibious landing on Liyuan Beach, advanced 200 miles in rugged and steep mountains, and defeated the stubborn enemy in the severe cold. This event will go down in history as a military achievement of distinction."

When Almond, commander of the U.S. Tenth Army, talked about the "glory" of the Seventh Division at the Thanksgiving banquet, Commander Barr whispered to Commander Smith his concerns about the US military's actions on the Eastern Front: "He's the one who pushes me forward with no flanks, the weather is insane, I never have more than a day's worth of supplies on hand, it's like taking an outpost on the Yalu River is fucking winning the game It's a bloody war, it's really confusing! We'd better be careful in this ghostly place with no roads at all!" Mr. Barr's fears will be brutally confirmed in the near future.After his short-term satisfaction on Thanksgiving, his US Seventh Division immediately fell into the blizzard of the Gaima Plateau. They walked step by step into the death trap laid by Chinese soldiers in the severe cold. Mr. Smith looked at his superior Almond with anxious contempt. Almond is 58 years old and has experienced two world wars. He has worked under MacArthur since 1946 and became the chief of staff of the Far East Command in 1949.He was similar in character to MacArthur: arrogant, energetic, and short-tempered.In the U.S. Far East Army, officers and soldiers feared and hated him. The 57-year-old Smith is quite different from Almond. Although he has made great achievements in the two world wars, in the eyes of US military officers and soldiers, he is more like a scholar. The experience of working in the US embassy in Paris in the 1930s gave this tall but handsome Texan a kind of French gentleness in his demeanor. People who don’t know him tend to take this temperament as weakness. De thinks so.In fact, the conflict between Smith and Almond is not so much a difference in personality as it is the long-standing mutual hostility between the US Army and Navy.In Smith's eyes, Almond is a veteran who is good at flattering, and he plays the role of MacArthur's megaphone in commanding operations.Although Smith understands that confronting Almond is tantamount to competing with MacArthur, he also knows that even if he confronts, it will not have a big impact on his future. interested in the evaluation. However, it is now on the battlefield after all, and Smith will not take war as a game.After the Marine Division joined the Tenth Army's Eastern Front Operation, Commander Smith basically obeyed Almond's orders, and Commander Almond's attitude towards the Marine Division was also polite, although this kind of politeness sometimes made Smith feel uncomfortable—— When Almond inspected the Marine Division, he decided on the spot to award a company commander with a silver star medal in recognition of the company commander's spirit of fighting after two wounds.With no medal in hand, Almond wrote a note: "Silver Star for bravery and tenacity in battle - Almond." The note was pinned to the company commander's coat - which attracted The officers and soldiers of the Marine Division laughed, because they thought it was funny that Commander Almond put the note on the company commander's coat, and the note dangling in front of the coat was even more funny. To Almond's annoyance, Smith's marine division was advancing surprisingly slowly. When the advance team sent by the Marine Division reported that there was almost no road ahead and captured Chinese prisoners of war, Almond still ordered the Marine Division to advance at full speed.Smith resolutely rejected this order, saying: "It is said that there are three Chinese divisions already appearing, and it is unnecessary to move quickly in the direction of Yudam-ri in the severe cold." Almond's resistance to Smith was almost unbearable. , once again insisted that the Marine Division advance immediately, and that the troops should be divided into two groups to cooperate with the attack on the western front.Smith again refused to obey the order, and proposed three conditions: full security of supply lines; stockpiling of supplies; and construction of an airfield at Hagaru-ri.If these three conditions are not met, the attack is simply impossible.Smith's reasons are: 1. The far right wing of the United Nations Army on the western front is far away in Tokugawa, and the flank of the Marine Division is completely exposed. 2. If the supply route to Xiajieyu-ri is not guaranteed, once it is attacked, it will be helpless. 3. Since the attack requires a great deal of logistical material, it cannot be done without an airfield. 4. The current force of the whole division is in a dispersed state, and it is not possible to attack in a dispersed state. This is military common sense. On the day that General Almond ordered the Marine Division to attack, Commander Smith gave his troops instructions: slow down and stop advancing until our troops really rendezvous.If you want to move forward in a leisurely manner, you must set a goal every day. Almond was furious, and Smith had nowhere to vent his anger, so he wrote to General Cates, the commander of the Marine Corps far away in the United States.Smith's famously long letter has since been one of the documents of greatest interest to military historians of the Korean War as a commentary on the unprecedented brutality of fighting in eastern Korea in late November 1950 : Although the Chinese had retreated to the north, I did not urge Lizberg to advance quickly.Our orders were still to advance to the Manchurian frontier, but we were the left flank of the Tenth Army, and our left flank was unprotected, and our left flank had no friendly presence for at least eighty miles. I don't want to imagine that the Marine Division will be deployed along the only 120-kilometer mountain trail from Hamxing to the Sino-North Korean border.Of great concern to me was the ability to supply combat teams in the two mountains during the winter.Melting and freezing after snowfall will make this road even more difficult to pass. Airdrops in winter are not enough to provide supplies for two regiments. Due to the climate and the dispersion of troops and altitude, it is difficult to inspect troops even by helicopter. To tell the truth, my confidence in the tactical judgment of the Tenth Army and the reality of their plans has not yet been restored. They draw up their plans on a one-millionth map.We're on a map that's one in 50,000.Troops are constantly being dispersed, and troops are giving missions to small units, which puts them at risk.This style of warfare appears to be common in North Korea.I am sure that many of their failures here are the result of this disregard for the integrity of the unit, regardless of the time and place. I tried many times to tell the commander of the corps that the Marine Division was a great force for him, but that if dispersed it would lose its combat effectiveness and be of no use.Perhaps I have had more luck than other division commanders in standing my ground. Someone at a high level had to make up their minds about our goals.My mission is still to push to the frontier.I believe that winter combat in the mountains of North Korea is too harsh for an American soldier or Marine division. When Smith wrote this letter, it happened that Morehouse, Chief of Staff of the Far East Navy, visited the First Marine Division.Smith felt "at home" when he saw Morehouse's navy uniform.He said bluntly that the combat plan of the Tenth Army led by Almond lacked reality, and the enemy's capabilities were seriously ignored when formulating the plan.When talking about the experience of dealing with the Army, Smith said: The Army is either extremely optimistic or extremely pessimistic. "There is no middle state in the mood of these guys." Smith's cautious attitude spread to other officers in the division, and a mood bordering on pessimism arose in the division.Lewis, the head of the first regiment, said something like this to the officers and soldiers: "Now you have to do what I say-write to your family and tell them that we are fighting a damn war here. Tell them that those The North Koreans with their butts smashed have brought many so-called elite American troops here by boat. We have no secret weapons and can only fight hard.” Commander Lewis said in a letter to his wife: “ Only one fiasco will change our current system, which is leading us to disaster." The bad mood of the officers and soldiers of the First Marine Division also came from the severe cold weather.American soldiers had never experienced such a cold climate. Every time after night, all the vehicles could not start, and all the soldiers looked pale.A hungry black bear on the plateau almost took a frozen second-class soldier for food. The second-class soldier was so frightened that he made a Soviet flag with a sickle and a hammer on it, and wrapped it around his body.Americans have always compared the Soviet Union to a black bear, and the privates think that this is telling the black bear not to eat its own family.Although the soldiers were always huddled in sleeping bags to keep warm and boiled soup on diesel stoves day and night, they still suffered from chilblain, and their skin turned blue, especially the toes, which were black with cold. The order of Almond, the commander of the Tenth Army, has not changed, and the content is the same every day: go forward!Go fast! At this moment, Mr. Smith on the helicopter looked at the ground again through the porthole.The wind is blowing on the Gaima Plateau, and the swirling north wind blows up the snow powder, making the plateau foggy. Maybe the Chinese army really hasn't arrived yet?Smith thought that judging from the thin clothes of the Chinese prisoners, it was impossible for them to withstand such cold. If they lay motionless on the snow here for even half an hour, they would freeze to death—in any case, the Chinese Soldiers are people too. Smith was wrong. Just under Smith's helicopter, tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers are hiding in the misty snow and ice of Gaima Plateau in North Korea.They were not frozen to death, they were alive, and they were waiting for the order to attack. In the Korean War, the battle that took place on the Eastern Front in late November 1950 was described very briefly, at least in all relevant Chinese historical materials.Not sure why this is the case. Perhaps the battle was fought too hard. Perhaps the price paid by both parties was too high. Perhaps afterward both sides declared a "brilliant victory" in the battle a bit exaggerated. Perhaps it is a painful thing to truly recall the tragic and costly battle. On the morning of November 27th, it was a cold and sunny morning.Soldiers of the 1st U.S. Marine Division who spent the first cold night in Liutan climbed out of their sleeping bags, stomped and clapped their hands around the tent, they roasted field food on a diesel stove, and waited for the food to heat up Some soldiers were also roasting their guns during the day - the parts of the complex carbines and Browning automatic guns were frozen to the point of losing their function.One Marine said he had found a way to keep his guns from malfunctioning by using Nogen hair cream instead of gun oil. At this time, the soldiers of the Marine Division began to circulate a book printed in Chinese characters, which was said to be dropped by Chinese soldiers on the battlefield.The title of the book is "Bloody History", the author is a Soviet navy captain named Soyizashvili, and it is about the US Marine Corps in North Korea.A translator who understands Chinese translated a sentence, and the soldiers laughed for a while. This book made this cold morning a little relaxing: When the American imperialist plunderers provoked a bloodbath in North Korea, MacArthur, the watchdog of Wall Street, demanded that the so-called Marine Corps of the United States be placed under his command immediately.The professional butcher and unrepentant war criminal intended to throw them into battle as quickly as possible, aiming to deal what they thought was the final blow to the Korean people.MacArthur's request was based on the fact that units of the United States Marine Corps are trained more than any other type of United States force to carry out the unprecedented brutality, brutality, and plunder against the peace-loving heroes of the Korean people sex wars. This is exactly what MacArthur said to the Marine Corps: "There is a city of abundance before you, where there is inexhaustible food and wine, where the girls are yours, and the property of the inhabitants belongs to the conqueror, you These properties can be sent home." Using such outrageous words to describe the Marine Corps made the soldiers feel embarrassed and helpless; at the same time, MacArthur did not say such words as food, wine, girls, and property to the soldiers of the Marine Division, which made the soldiers of the Marine Division feel inexplicable. sorry. Lizberger, head of the Seventh Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, finally issued an advance order: Lieutenant Colonel Royce led the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment to advance westward first, followed by the 3rd Battalion. road to the southwest.The Seventh Regiment carried out a circular defense around Liutanli to protect the flanks of the Marine Division, and advanced after the Fifth Regiment. The combat plan of the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army is all based on the idea that it will advance hand in hand with the Eighth Army on the Western Front and advance to the Yalu River together. It was this morning that Commander Lizberger and even Commander Smith did not know that the Eighth Army on the Western Front had collapsed across the board. No one could explain clearly why Almond, the commander of the Tenth Army, who should have understood the whole battle situation, was still ordering the First Marine Division to advance at full speed. The soldiers of the Marine Division began to advance, slowly and cautiously.Walk along the dirt road for a while, then climb up the hill next to the road.The speed of the third battalion behind was faster. By 10:00 a.m., Company H occupied the first target: Height 1403 without encountering any situation.Company J to the south--the company commander was the one who was awarded by Almond with a piece of paper medal, which was stuffed into the military rucksack in a mockery--occupied the main peak to the southwest. Then, suddenly, bullets came from about a few hundred meters away from them.Due to the long distance, they didn't care, because similar interference shooting by North Korean guerrillas happened almost every day. The leading company of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Regiment was F Company led by Peters. This company was shot from the front almost as soon as it left Liutanli.Together with Doug's Company of the 5th Battalion, they were forced off the road and up the hill, but the frontal fire became more and more intense, and by 15:00 they finally stopped their advance.Lieutenant Colonel Royce ordered them to dig trenches on the spot. The daytime offensive of the First Marine Division ended in this way.As in the past, the forward plan has not yet been completed.The marine division's plan to advance was 50 kilometers, and when Royce gave the order to stop advancing, all troops were no more than 2 kilometers away from Yudam-ri. At 18:00, the Marine Division dug simple fortifications in the mountains. The 10 companies of the 7th Regiment were deployed on the high ground, of which C Company and F Company were isolated on the side of the road, and the 2 battalions of the 5th Regiment were located in the valley near the village. Forty 105mm howitzers and 18 155mm howitzers are deployed at the southernmost point in Liutanli, and the ring is equipped with 75mm recoilless guns and mortars. The sun was setting. The soldiers of the Marine Division huddled in the trenches and began to endure the unbearable cold.A sergeant of a marine division who survived the war recalled: "It was impossible to wear more clothes to keep warm, you were tightly bound with gloves, parkas, long men's underwear, hoods and all, Sweating is a surefire way to climb a mountain, and the result is that the sweat freezes in your goddamn clothes once you stop going. Oh, it's crazy how you want to get along with an M-1 rifle or carbine, then The steel guy is ice, your hands will stick to it, the only way to get rid of it is to take off a layer of skin. My mouth can't open, my saliva freezes with my beard. Costs millions of dollars Specially developed waterproof shoes with straps for winter, in the severe cold for a few hours of inactivity, it will make you uncomfortable, sweat soaked feet will slowly swell up and hurt like hell. I believe everyone is thinking, why did we come to In the blizzard of Asia?" Night fell. An officer approached Royce and gave him a marching glass filled with brandy. "Today is my birthday," said the officer. "I wish you well," Royce said. "Thanks, if I'm still healthy after a while." Before the officer’s words had finished, the entire valley of Liutanli suddenly burst into loud gunfire. Among them, what particularly frightened the American officers and soldiers was the sharp and clear horn sound mixed with the gunfire! Chinese! It is the Chinese army. A large number of Chinese troops. The thin rubber-soled shoes of the Chinese soldiers made a "rustling" sound on the ice and snow at night. I don't know if the shouts of the Chinese soldiers came from their frozen throats, or because the cold temperature distorted the propagation of the sound, it sounded like a trembling sea tide come surging. Almost at the same time, it was reported that several Chinese soldiers who could hardly move due to severe frostbite were captured. From the mouths of these Chinese soldiers, the US Marine Division 1 heard the name of a Chinese general: Song Shilun. On the eastern front of the Korean battlefield, new Chinese troops assembled in the area after the first battle.Willoughby, the intelligence director of the U.S. Far Eastern Command, wrote in the report to MacArthur: "The Chinese army assembled in the Changjin Reservoir area north of Hamhung may now be able to seize the initiative and launch a coordinated attack southward. attack to cut off the UN forces northwest and northeast of Hamhung." Willoughby reported the time when the UN forces began the "Christmas Offensive" on the Western Front. This time, Willoughby was right. Unfortunately, MacArthur just did not pay attention to this report. MacArthur stubbornly believed that, no matter from which aspect of analysis, the Chinese army would not carry out a large-scale assembly on this desolate plateau covered with ice and snow. As early as November 5, before the end of the first battle, Mao Zedong sent the following telegram to Peng Dehuai regarding the Eastern Front issue while planning the second battle: In terms of Jiangjie and Changjin, it should be determined that the Song Corps will be fully responsible, with the goal of luring the enemy to go deep and looking for opportunities to wipe out the enemy.Then the corps will be directly commanded by you, and we will not remotely control it.An army of the Ninth Corps should go straight to Jiangjie and go to Changjin as soon as possible. The Ninth Corps, one of the main forces of the Third Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, governs the 20th, 26th, and 27th armies.This force, reorganized from the original East China Field Army, was gathering in China's southeast coastal area at this time, preparing to liberate Taiwan. Peng Dehuai immediately sent a power call to Song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, ordering the Ninth Corps to immediately gather along the Shandong Jinpu Railway and prepare to enter the DPRK. Song Shilun, a veteran of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, graduated from the famous Whampoa Military Academy in China at the age of 17. He joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1929. He has successively served as guerrilla captain, division commander, army chief of staff, and army commander. He has extremely rich combat experience. Due to the urgency of the military situation, on the third day after Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Peng Dehuai to mobilize the Ninth Corps, Song Shilun led his troops to an unfamiliar battlefield-North Korea. The order of the Ninth Corps entering the DPRK is: the 27th Army is the first echelon, advancing from north to south to the east, advancing towards Changjin in North Korea; Followed by the reserve team. It is said that North Korea is very cold, how cold it is, all the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Corps can't imagine.At the border, they received cotton-padded coats and caps, but they were not enough. Some soldiers had cotton-padded coats but no trousers, some soldiers only received a cotton-padded cap, and some soldiers received nothing at all. On November 7, the vanguard of the Ninth Corps crossed the border between China and North Korea and entered North Korea. The Ninth Corps was heading east, and all the soldiers entered the desolate and cold mountains of North Korea at once. The U.S. aircraft immediately spotted the car transport team of the 27th Army of the Ninth Corps, so more than 40 cars full of supplies were bombed by gasoline bombs.The Ninth Corps had no choice but to pack lightly, and a team of tens of thousands marched desperately to the snowy battlefield. Langlin Mountains, high mountains and deep snow.In the howling north wind, the sun on the dangerous peaks is like a piece of white paper.Snow powder hit him head-on, and he couldn't open his eyes.At the beginning, the officers kept shouting: "Be careful of the slippery road! Pull each other!" Then the shouting stopped, and everything was frozen except for the long line that was still moving slowly.Hunger made the officers and soldiers feel completely numb because they were frozen from the inside out. On the first day of the march, more than 700 soldiers were severely frostbited. On November 24, the troops were still two days away from the scheduled battlefield. However, Peng Dehuai's order arrived, ordering the Ninth Corps to launch an attack on the US military on the 25th: The 26th Regiment of the Third Li Puppet Division has entered Shecangli, and the 65th Regiment of the Third American Division has entered Shangchuanli and Longquanli.I should use one division to encircle and wipe out the Li 26th Regiment in Shecangli and Heishuili.After succeeding, attack and advance to Shangtongli south of Huangcaoling.Do occupy the line, cut off the retreat of the US Marine Division 1 and the enemy of the northern aid.Another division was attacked from Shecangli to Huangcaoling and Baohouzhuang (the headquarters of the first U.S. Marine Division), and annihilated the headquarters of the division.After succeeding, attack and advance to Gutuli, and cooperate with the main force to encircle and wipe out all the fifth and seventh regiments of the US Marine Division 1 in the Gutuli and Liutanli areas. Peng Dehuai asked the Ninth Corps on the Eastern Front and the troops on the Western Front to start attacking at the same time on the 25th. Song Shilun said that this order could not be carried out because the troops were not ready, and the attack time would have to be two days at the earliest. Since the Eastern Front is a relatively independent battlefield, Peng Dehuai did not insist. Two days later, it was November 27. On the night of the 27th, the north wind blew on the Gaima Plateau and the sky was dark.The 27th and 20th armies of the Ninth Corps launched attacks on the U.S. troops in Liutanli, Xinxingli, Xiajieyuli, Gutuli and Shecangli respectively. The mortar shells from the 89th Division of the Chinese 20th Army first fell on the heads of Company H of the Seventh Regiment of the First US Marine Division in the defensive position in Liutanli.This is the company that occupied the 1403 Heights without encountering any enemy during the day.With the explosion of shells, the company commander, Captain Cook, shouted loudly, asking his soldiers to immediately enter the blocking position.The American soldiers had barely put their guns in their hands, and the first shock wave from the Chinese soldiers had already begun.It was the 267th Regiment of the 89th Division that attacked this high ground.The grenades fired by the Chinese soldiers formed a dense barrage on the heads of the American soldiers, and the sound of explosions was continuous.In the fierce battle, several small openings were torn in the US military positions. Under Cook's strong command, the breakthrough did not continue to expand. "Guys! The Chinese don't have reserves!" Cook yelled as he ran around in the dark.This was the last cry the soldiers heard from Captain Cook, as he was knocked down by a hand grenade in an instant. There were signs of collapse on the right side of the 1403 highland, and the Chinese soldiers had rushed up and started a short-distance struggle with the American soldiers.When Lieutenant Harris, the new company commander sent by the battalion headquarters, rushed to Company H's position under the hail of bullets, he found that it was impossible to keep the position: except for a lieutenant named Newton who was still in command of the battle, the Even all the officers were dead or wounded, and more than half of the soldiers were casualties.He glanced to the front of the position, and in the flames of shell explosions, Chinese soldiers were rushing over the corpses of their companions like a tide.Lieutenant Harris was extremely shocked by the tenacious and bloody fighting spirit of Chinese soldiers throughout his life. At midnight, Company H's position was lost. The 1240 highland, defended by the D company of the seventh regiment of the first marine division, was also attacked by the Chinese army at the same time.The 236th Regiment of the 79th Division of the 27th Army of the Chinese 27th Army recklessly swarmed up wave after wave of fierce US fire in a dense shock formation. When the company headquarters was also attacked and occupied, The confidence of Captain Hull, the company commander who had been wounded twice and his face was covered in blood, was shaken.The shadows of Chinese soldiers had already been seen on the main position, and the entire company of D Company was gradually retreating, until it retreated to the lower part of the high ground.When a platoon from Company C of the Fifth Regiment came to reinforce them, Hull and some soldiers were already compressed in a corner of a slope.The arrival of the reinforcements allowed Hull to make a rough count of the number of people. He found that there were only 16 people left in the company of more than 200 people after less than 4 hours of fighting.Under the reinforcement of C Company's reinforcement platoon, Hull once counterattacked to the top of the mountain, but under the impact of Chinese soldiers again, they retreated again.At this time, almost all the officers and soldiers of Company D were casualties, and the reinforcement platoon of Company C also suffered more than half of the casualties. At 10 o'clock in the morning on the 27th, Lizberg, the commander of the Seventh Regiment, the supreme commander of the US Marine Division in Liutanli, held a meeting of officers in his tent with four leaks.He reported the relevant information to the officers: According to analysis, there are at least three Chinese divisions around Liutanli.The intention of the Chinese army is to wipe out the two marine regiments in Liutanli.At the same time, the Chinese division was also found near Dead Eagle Ridge, cutting off the connection between Liutanli and Xiajieyuli. Xiajieyuli has now been surrounded, and the road from Gutuli to Xiajieyuli has also been cut off ——In other words, the Chinese army has not only launched an offensive in front of the First Marine Division, but the retreat of the First Marine Division is also facing a crisis.In the silence of the officers, Lizberger glanced out of the tent, and he saw a "Sherman" light tank, which is currently the only tank in Liutanli.Originally, Master Smith promised to give him four "Pershing" medium tanks, but the tank driver said that the ice on the road was too slippery, and the heavy "Pershing" tanks could not drive into Liutan, so he drove out a Light tank scouts. “谢曼式”坦克刚开到这里，驾驶员立即乘直升机回下碣隅里去了，说是去引导其他坦克往这里开。利兹伯格看见的这辆坦克因为没有驾驶员实际上等同了一堆废铁。四周的枪炮声一阵紧似一阵，军官们在不知所措的情绪下开始抱怨：食品和油料只有三日份，弹药只有两日份，如果师里不赶快支援，仗没法打下去。不过，庆幸还是有的，陆战一师运输车队白天给柳潭里拉来物资之后，返回的时候拉着伤员（大部分是冻伤）回下碣隅里去了，如果这个时候身边还有一大批伤员，那就更让人头疼了。 利兹伯格布置了这一夜的防御计划，要求无论如何要把中国军队顶在柳潭里四周的山上。同时，因为柳潭里有两个团，而他是七团的团长，他要求在这个时候统一指挥，协同作战。最后，利兹伯格笑了一下，他说，过不了多久，中国人就会明白，他们今天对柳潭里的攻击肯定是错了，而且是一个战术上的低级错误。如果是他指挥中国军队，不会这么早就对陆战队向北伸出的触角进行攻击，而是要再让这些陆战队队员们往北走远一点，距离柳潭里越远越好，然后把脆弱的美军补给一切断，那样的话，陆战一师七团和五团的狗崽子们兴许就再也走不出那些大山啦。 这时传来报告：1282高地快不行了。 在整个柳潭里攻防战斗中，双方争夺得最激烈的就是柳潭里北部的1282高地。在1282高地防守的是陆战一师七团的E连。1282高地是柳潭里北面一个最重要的高地，一旦占领高地，柳潭里就完全暴露了。美军的炮兵阵地距离这个高地不远，40门榴弹炮彻夜进行180度的射击，炮口的火光使炮兵阵地的位置暴露无疑。由于地表冻结达40厘米，美军配备的TD-14型推土机根本不起作用，美军火炮一律在如同混凝土一样僵硬的地面上十分暴露地配置着。但是，令柳潭里的美军炮兵奇怪的是，警戒兵力十分薄弱的炮兵阵地竟然没有受到任何攻击，中国军队只是在向步兵阵地的正面进攻。 关于中国军队在对柳潭里的美军陆战一师进攻的时候，为什么不把美军引到远离柳潭里的地方再攻击？为什么在攻击中不采取中国军队善用的迂回切割的办法，而仅仅坚持着正面袭击？为什么在攻击步兵阵地的同时不对美军的炮兵阵地进行突击？这些都是战争中的历史问题。 对1282高地实施正面攻击的是中国军队第二十七军七十九师二三五团的一个营并一个加强连。 美军陆战一师七团E连的官兵们在向柳潭里推进的路上已经心力交瘁，冻伤累累。白天，在连长菲利普斯的催促下，士兵们勉强在高地上挖出了可以应付战斗的工事，并在山脚下布置了绊索照明弹。黑暗中，他们听见了中国士兵的胶鞋踏在冻雪上的脚步声，直到看见了中国士兵的黑影时，他们才拉动了绊索照明弹的绳索，在突然亮起的惨白的光亮下，中国士兵黑压压的冲击浪潮令美军士兵惊呆了。阵地前立即组织起机枪和手榴弹的火网，连长菲利普斯从指挥所跑向山顶的阵地，他看见凯内莫中士正在伤亡人员的身上搜集手榴弹，并且一边把搜集来的手榴弹分给其他的士兵，一边准备自己投弹。可中国士兵投上来的手榴弹已下雨般地砸来，其中的一颗在凯内莫的身边爆炸了，他跪下去，正跪在另一颗冒着烟的手榴弹上，爆炸的火光中，凯内莫的双腿像两根树枝一样地腾飞起来。菲利普斯连长尖厉地大叫起来，并把带刺刀的步枪戳在地上：“从这条线起一步也不许后退！”就在这时，数发机枪子弹同时击中了菲利普斯的肩胛骨和大腿，他一头栽下了雪坡。 1282高地上的激战达到高潮以后，战斗突然中止了一会儿。 守在山顶阵地上的美军指挥官是E连一位名叫扬西的排长。扬西中尉在六个月之前还在阿肯色州小石城经营着一间小酒店，他是以陆战队预备军官的身份入朝参战的。扬西在二战中也曾在陆战队服役，在瓜达卡纳尔岛和冲绳岛的战役中和日本人打过仗，获得过一枚海军十字勋章。他不怎么喜欢陆战队这个活儿，拒不承认自己是个职业军人，就在他参加仁川登陆的时候，他得知妻子为他生了个孩子。此时，他在1282高地上感到呼吸十分困难，因为弹片削去了他的鼻子，流出来的血迅速冻结在他的脸上。 短暂的中止立即结束了，扬西中尉听见了一阵由哨声和喇叭声组成的稀奇古怪的声音，然后就是几千双胶鞋踏在雪地上的嘎吱嘎吱的声音。 扬西立即命令步话机员请求照明弹和炮火的支援，但不知为什么，指挥部拒绝了他的请求。他火了，骂着，带着士兵开始射击。山顶上很快就布满了冲击上来的中国士兵，美国兵全部被压到了山腰。扬西强制性地命令几名士兵跟他反冲击时，一颗子弹撕开了他的下腭，子弹居然钻到他的嘴里并热辣辣地停留在他的舌头上。小小的反冲击立即被中国士兵击垮了，在一颗手榴弹的爆炸声中，扬西的面部又一次受到重创，双目失明的扬西这一次真的倒下了。 中国士兵席卷了1282高地。 当28日天亮的时候，共有176人的陆战队E连伤亡了130人，增援而来的五团C连两个排和A连的一个排也伤亡了85人。 攻击1282高地的中国第二十七军七十九师二三五团一营伤亡一半以上，其中很多的中国士兵是因为严重冻伤而死的。 当东线的战斗打响后不久，远在美国加利福尼亚德尔马军营的美国海军陆战队训练中心里，一位军官冲进司令官梅尔里·特文宁准将的办公室。 “将军！”他喊道，“在朝鲜，中国人已经包围了陆战一师！” 特文宁准将漫不经心地抬起头来，他说：“年轻人，我只能说，我真为那些中国佬惋惜！” 特文宁准将没过多久就知道了，他到底是应该为谁而惋惜。