Chapter 39 4. The Volunteer Army's Anti-Strangulation War

Facing the large-scale air offensive by the U.S. Army, the rear units of the Volunteer Army launched an all-out struggle against the "Strangling War".This is a joint operation of the Volunteer Army's rear railway troops, engineering troops, transportation troops, public security troops, anti-aircraft artillery troops, aviation troops, depot warehouses, and hospitals, and fought against the enemy in a large-scale rear anti-"air blockade" battle. By the end of May 1952, fighter units from nine divisions and eighteen regiments of the Volunteer Air Force participated in the battle, and some units of two bomber divisions participated in the bombing of Da and Xiaohe Islands, and cooperated with the ground forces to capture these islands.During the anti-"Strangling War", 447 pilots of the Volunteer Air Force participated in the battle, including 28 air crews.680 batches of battles were dispatched, 85 batches of air combat, 1602 times, 123 U.S. planes were shot down and 43 were damaged.82 of our side were shot down and 27 were damaged.The loss ratio of the Volunteer Air Force and the US Air Force was 1:1.46.The Volunteer Air Force has withstood the test of air combat.

The active combat of the Volunteer Air Force has weakened the air superiority of the US Air Force and eased the pressure on ground transportation.The U.S. military claimed that the Volunteer Air Force "seriously hindered the United Nations Army's air blockade of railway lines" and that the U.S. Air Force "had no other way for fighter-bombers than to throw bombs and flee for their lives."Therefore, the Far East Air Force was forced to decide, "Fighter-bombers will not carry out blockade activities in the 'MiG Corridor' in the future, and can only attack the railway line in the area between the Qingchuan River and Pyongyang."

While the Volunteer Army Air Force participated in the war, the Volunteer Army Command put the main force of the anti-aircraft artillery in North Korea into the struggle against the "Strangulation War". The anti-aircraft artillery of the Volunteer Army is composed of three parts: one is the field anti-aircraft artillery. During the struggle against the "Strangulation War", four divisions (61st, 62nd, 63rd, and 64th divisions) and several independent battalions participated in the battle. Each artillery division is equipped with 48 85 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns and 37 mm caliber small anti-aircraft guns, and 36 12.7 mm caliber anti-aircraft machine guns; the second is the city defense anti-aircraft artillery. Around, there are six independent battalions. The regiment is equipped with 85 or 76.2 mm caliber and 37 mm caliber medium and small anti-aircraft guns, a total of 36 pieces, and three anti-aircraft machine guns; the third is the anti-aircraft artillery team. After the fourth battle, each corps Equipped with six to nine independent battalions, the battalions are equipped with 37 mm caliber small anti-aircraft guns and twelve anti-aircraft machine guns (trunks).

From late September to the end of November 1951.The Central Military Commission and the Volunteer Army Headquarters divided North Korea’s northern railway into four air defense zones (Pyongyang, Anju, Dingju, Giancheon, and Suncheon districts; Yinsan and Sinchangri districts; Germany, Yongchiyuanli District; Pyongyang, Wukaili District), and designated volunteers stationed in the district anti-aircraft artillery as air defense combat units. All anti-aircraft artillery units arrived at the above-mentioned positions before the first ten days of October to undertake air defense tasks, leaving only a small number of troops to cover important warehouses.At the same time, the various corps and armies dispatched most of the anti-aircraft artillery battalions to undertake the air defense tasks of important bridges and lines around the station, leaving only six anti-aircraft artillery battalions to cover the frontline troops and artillery operations.

During this period, the Central Military Commission particularly emphasized in a telegram to Commander Peng Dehuai: It must be explained that the head of the troops responsible for the above-mentioned air defense mission fully understands the importance of this mission, and must not start from a partial point of view (such as being reluctant to take troops, reluctant to fire shells, not to supervise, not to check, or to solve the difficulties in the cover, etc.), And there must be long-term preparations, and the troops must not be withdrawn without an order. According to the above instructions, the anti-aircraft artillery unit of the Volunteer Army covering the railway transportation actively fought and dealt severe blows to the U.S. Air Force.

After the Volunteer Army strengthened the railway anti-aircraft force, the enemy planes adopted more cunning tactics in order to avoid the shooting of anti-aircraft artillery fire.The route of the attack, the batch of intrusion directions, and the interval time are extremely irregular.When attacking, some dive at a small angle and rise at a large angle, or dive at a large angle to escape at low altitude; some directly attack the target position; When the second echelon arrives, it suddenly returns for a joint attack. Volunteer anti-aircraft artillery also changed tactics accordingly.For example, use a small amount of firepower to attack feigning enemy aircraft, concentrate most of the firepower to attack its attacking aircraft group, and designate special firearms to attack enemy aircraft that are swooping and diving.This tactic effectively hit enemy aircraft.

By early 1952, the U.S. Air Force had grown terrified of the concentration of anti-aircraft artillery fire in the Volunteer Triangle Railroad area.Therefore, it was ordered to change the bombing area, and the method of frequently changing the bombing target was adopted to avoid the anti-aircraft artillery of the Volunteer Army. The history of the U.S. Air Force admits: Enemy ground fire also took a heavy toll on 5th Air Force's fighter-bombers.For this reason,...in September, 32 were shot down and 23 were damaged; in October, 33 were shot down and 238 were damaged; in November, 24 were shot down and 255 were damaged.

The U.S. carrier-based air force who invaded North Korea was very afraid of the accurate and violent anti-aircraft artillery firepower of the Volunteers along the Xinchengchuan-Plateau section of the railway. They called this area the "Valley of Death" and were unwilling to attack. History of the U.S. Air Force: At the beginning of January 1952, the combat officers of the 5th Air Force ordered to change the area where the air blockade of the railway line was implemented in view of the increasing concentration of communist anti-aircraft artillery fire south of the Cheongchon River. ... During February, various fighter-bomber groups continued to attack railway targets north of the Ching Chuan River, but they frequently changed their targets--changing from one railway to another to avoid the increasing number of enemy anti-aircraft guns .

At the beginning of March, the "saturation bombing" method was adopted again, that is, to avoid the firepower of the Volunteer Army's anti-aircraft artillery and select the attack target, "24 hours a day and night, all the aircraft that could be used to block the railway line were concentrated on several small sections of the railway. attack in order to completely destroy these sections of the railway line." In view of the characteristics of enemy aircraft bombing, the anti-aircraft artillery of the Volunteer Army adopted the combat policy of "focus on defense and high mobility" by relying on limited anti-aircraft firepower. With one force, it focused on defending the main railway bridges and material storage areas, while the main force was on the railway line. The division is assigned to several city defense regiments and independent battalions, and several combat areas are divided to carry out extensive mobile operations.so.Our army has reduced the blank area of ​​​​air combat firepower along the railway line, and effectively attacked enemy aircraft. From late April to mid-May, the 605th Regiment of the 62nd Division of the Anti-aircraft Artillery Corps conducted five daytime swimming operations, shooting down and injuring 11 enemy aircraft each. example of the enemy.

In the first half of 1952, the anti-aircraft artillery of the Volunteers covering the transportation of railway bridges shot down 198 enemy aircraft and damaged 779 aircraft. In the struggle against the "strangling war", the anti-aircraft artillery units of the Volunteer Army shot down more than 260 enemy aircraft and damaged more than 1,070 aircraft, which played an important role in crushing the "strangling war" of the US Air Force.