Chapter 7 Chapter Six: The First Battle to Honor the Motherland

After the "United Nations Army" headed by the United States successfully carried out a large-scale landing at Incheon Port on September 15, it exposed its attempt to cross the "38th Parallel" and occupy the whole of North Korea with a strategic quick-fire battle.Under this severe situation, the Chinese government solemnly warned the United States: If the US military really wants to cross the "38th Parallel", China cannot sit idly by.However, the "United Nations Army" believed that China's warning was nothing more than false intimidation. Under the command of its commander-in-chief Douglas MacArthur, it consisted of 4 armies, 10 divisions, 1 brigade and 1 airborne regiment, with a total of more than 130,000 people. The troops were divided into three groups in early October, crossed the "38th Parallel", and continued to advance northward frantically.

On October 10, the 1st Army Corps of East South Korea occupied Wonsan, and on the 17th occupied Hamhung. On the 19th, the 2nd Army Corps of South Korea in the center occupied Yangde and Chengchuan; the 1st Army of the West Army occupied Pyongyang.At this time, MacArthur became even more complacent.He believes that the organized resistance of the Korean People's Army seems to have ceased to exist, and the fall of Pyongyang "symbolizes the complete defeat of North Korea."They clamored to occupy all of North Korea before "Thanksgiving Day" (November 23 this year), and immediately ordered the "United Nations Army" and the South Korean Army to advance straight to the border between China and North Korea at high speed.

On the day when the "United Nations Army" and the South Korean Army occupied Pyongyang, the first batch of Chinese People's Volunteers to enter North Korea consisted of 4 armies, 3 artillery divisions, and 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment. Secretly cross the Yalu River, and according to the tasks entrusted by the Central Military Commission and Chairman Mao Zedong, it is planned to use favorable terrain to organize defenses and control certain areas on the lines of Guicheng, Taichuan, Stadium, Dechuan, Ningyuan, and Wulaoli, stop the enemy's attack, and stabilize the situation. Cover the North Korean People's Army for rectification.The 40th Army crossed the river from Andong (now Dandong) and headed for the stadium, Dechuan, and Ningyuan; Arrive at Pixian and Nanshidong to deploy defenses; the 42nd Army crossed the river from Ji'an (now Ji'an) and moved towards Shecangli and Wulaoli; the 38th Army followed the 42nd Army across the river and went straight to Jiangjie.

As soon as the volunteer commanders set foot on the territory of North Korea, they saw the ruined walls shrouded in gunpowder smoke, displaced women, children, and children, many towns and villages had been turned into scorched earth, and the bodies of the murdered people were everywhere. The mood for war became even higher, and one after another said: "The disaster of the Korean people is caused by US imperialism. The US aggressors are the great enemy of the Korean people and ours." "We must resolutely destroy the US aggressor army and must not let Go to the motherland."

The "United Nations Army" and the South Korean Army are arrogantly strong, and they are making rapid progress. On October 20, the 2nd South Korean Army Corps on the western front entered the line of Suncheon, Xincang, Chengchuan, and Poeup, only 90 to 130 kilometers away from the planned defense area of ​​the Volunteers. Lao Li and Hong Yuan have already entered the area that the Volunteer Army intends to defend.However, the Volunteer Army only had 5 divisions across the river, and they only entered the east of Yizhou and the south of Shuozhou and Manpu, and it was impossible to reach the predetermined defense area before the enemy.However, at this time, the enemy had not yet noticed that the Volunteers had entered the DPRK, and they were still boldly advancing in separate routes, and their forces gradually dispersed.The emergence of this situation created favorable conditions for the Volunteers to take advantage of the enemy's misjudgment that the possibility of China's sending troops was very small and the weakness of dividing troops into aggressive advances to carry out surprise attacks during the movement and annihilate the enemy one by one.

Based on this, Mao Zedong judged the situation and made a decisive decision. On October 21, he telegraphed the Volunteer Army to abandon the original plan of organizing defense and adopt the policy of annihilating the enemy in motion.He instructed: This is an excellent opportunity to strive for the first victory abroad and start to change the situation in the Korean War.Now it is a question of fighting for fighter opportunities, and it is a question of completing the deployment of campaigns within a few days so that operations can start a few days later, instead of deploying defenses for a period of time first, and then discussing the question of attack.Then, Mao Zedong telegraphed several times: the first battle must be aimed at the 2nd Army Corps of the South Korean Army, which is outstanding but weak in combat effectiveness.If you do not plan to fight the South Korean Army on the Eastern Front in the first battle, it is enough to place a division of the 42nd Army in Changjin to block the enemy, and the main force of the army should be placed south of Monsan to cut off the distance between Wonsan and Pyongyang. In order to contain the enemies in Wonsan and Pyongyang so that they cannot be aided by the north, we can concentrate the three main forces and annihilate the 6th, 7th, and 8th divisions of the 2nd Army Corps in South Korea.He also instructed the Volunteer Army to use the principle of facilitating the main force to penetrate the enemy's back and side and wipe out the enemy in terms of tactics; pay attention to luring the enemy into the mountains and then encircle and wipe them out.He also repeatedly warned that the enemy is in a hurry, and the most important thing is to capture fighters, and if it is too late, it may be too late.

Peng Dehuai resolutely carried out Mao Zedong's instructions, and immediately concentrated the 40th Army to the north of Wenjing and east of Beizhen, waiting to attack and annihilate the 6th Division of South Korea in the northwest of Wenjing; the 39th Army assembled in the northwest of Yunshan, preparing to encircle and wipe out the 40th Army During the 6th Division of South Korea, the 1st Division of South Korea was mobilized to the east, and the 1st Division of South Korea was annihilated near Unsan; the 38th Army also commanded the 125th Division of the 42nd Army to gather in the north of Xichuan, preparing to annihilate South Korea The 8th Division was in Xichuan; the main force of the 42nd Army was ordered to go to Zhanling and Huangcaoling south of Tianjin to block the enemy's northward advance, contain the enemy on the eastern front, and cooperate with the western front.At the same time, the 60th and 66th armies of the Volunteer Army were ordered to enter the DPRK to gather more troops.

At the same time, the Political Department of the Volunteer Army issued a political mobilization order, calling on all commanders and fighters to carry forward the brave and tenacious fighting spirit to ensure victory in the first battle, change the situation in the Korean War, and win glory for the motherland.The vast number of commanders and fighters responded immediately, full of energy, determined to fight the first battle well, and let the enemy know the glory of the volunteers. In order to do a good job in the logistics support of the Volunteers, the Logistics Department of the Northeast Military Region established a forward logistics command post, which has three logistics divisions, three automobile regiments, a hospital with 45,000 beds, and a stretcher team of more than 30,000 migrant workers. Three longitudinal depot lines were deployed from Changdian Hekou to Beizhen, Ji'an to Wupingli, and Linjiang to Changjin.

On the evening of October 24, the 40th Army of the Volunteer Army was marching towards Wenjing and Yunshan in two columns.When the 118th Division on its left route entered Lichuan Cave, northwest of Beizhen, the division commander and political commissar learned that Commander Peng Dehuai was in Dayu Cave nearby (the leading organization of the Volunteer Army was located here later), and immediately went to meet with him. .Commander Peng was very happy to see the troops coming up, and instructed: The enemy has already crossed Yongbyon and is approaching Wenjing. The situation is very urgent. You should use the Wenjing area as a "pocket" and wipe out some of the enemies with cameras, so as to attack the enemy's arrogance.Our army's first battle abroad must be fought well.

On October 25, the "United Nations Army" on the western front and the South Korean Army became dizzy because they did not encounter strong resistance. Unsan, Onjeong, Hinokidong, and Xichuan are approaching the 40th Volunteer Army; its vanguard, the 7th Regiment of the 6th Division of South Korea, has entered Guchangdong and continues to advance to Chushan on the Yalu River. In the early morning of the 25th, the 118th Division of the Volunteer Army, which entered the southeast of Beizhen, was ordered to take an expected encounter with the enemy to occupy the highlands from Liangshuidong to the northeast of Fengxiadong, north of Onjing, and prepare to ambush the enemy who invaded from Onjing to Beizhen; The 120th Division to the north of Yunshan was also ordered to use its 360th Regiment to occupy Yunvfeng and other highlands on the east side of Yunshan, preparing to resolutely block the enemy who invaded from Yunshan to Wenjing north. At about 7 o'clock, the vanguard of the 1st Division of South Korea, led by tanks, aggressively marched north along the Yunshan-Onjong Highway to the front of the 360th Regiment of the 120th Division of the Volunteer Army. After being beaten hard, Luohuang fled back to Yunshan.

At about 10 o'clock, the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 6th Division of South Korea and an artillery company drove quickly from Onjeong to Beizhen by car.When the vanguard entered Liangshui Cave and the rear guard entered the north of Fengxia Cave, the commanders and fighters of the 354th Regiment of the 118th Division of the Volunteer Army launched a sudden and violent attack on the enemy by blocking the head, cutting the tail, and chopping the waist. After a fierce battle, immediately split the road and rush to the road, dividing the enemy into 3 sections.At this time, the two battalions of the 353rd Regiment immediately attacked from the right wing of the 354th Regiment, and cooperated with the 354th Regiment to fight.This group of enemies was frightened by this sudden blow, turned around in shock, and immediately became a mess. Before the artillery could be fired and the ammunition could not be unpacked, they were wiped out, and an American consultant accompanying the team was also taken prisoner.The Volunteers fought a very beautiful battle of annihilation as soon as they started the war.At that time, the soldiers of the volunteer army shouted, "Give up your guns and don't kill, treat the prisoners leniently", but the South Korean officers and soldiers couldn't understand them, so they just got under the car.Volunteer soldiers had to drag them out from under the car.When Commander Peng learned of this situation, he immediately ordered the entire army to learn a few battlefield shouts in English and Korean to try to capture more prisoners. The vanguard of the 1st Division of South Korea, which retreated to Unsan, launched an attack after reorganization, attempting to seize favorable terrain and cover the main force to continue advancing.The 360th Regiment of the 120th Division of the Volunteer Army resolutely blocked, and the fighting was fierce.Shi Baoshan, the squad leader of the 3rd company of the regiment, had run out of bullets and the position might be invaded by the enemy, he resolutely picked up two blasting tubes and rushed towards the enemy group, and died together with more than 20 enemies.The soldiers shouted "Revenge for Shibaoshan!" Picking up their bayonets and stones, they repelled the enemy.Qin Yongfa, deputy squad leader of the 2nd company, blew up an enemy tank.He was the first volunteer to blow up an enemy tank with a blasting tube, and was awarded the title of Anti-Tank Hero.After repelling the enemy's fifth attack, the 5th company's machine guns were all destroyed and most of the ammunition was consumed. Four comrades successively acted as company commanders and continued to fight.When there were only 12 people left in the first and third platoons, they recommended Du Shusheng to unify the command, repelled the enemy in a row, and held the position. That night, the Volunteer Army's 118th Division and 120th Division captured Wenjing with two regiments each and wiped out part of the enemy. The battles fought by the volunteers at Yunvfeng, Liangshuidong and Wenjing opened the prelude to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In view of the fact that the enemy forces were too scattered, it was very difficult for the Volunteers to gather and wipe out two or three divisions of the enemy in one battle. In one battle, one or two divisions of the enemy army were wiped out in several battles, preventing the enemy from running around and stabilizing people's hearts.Chairman Mao Zedong immediately replied and pointed out that Commander Peng Dehuai's plan to annihilate the enemy separately "is correct." On the 26th, the "United Nations Army" and the South Korean Army were unwilling to give up, and were still advancing in separate ways.A battalion of the 7th Regiment of the 6th Division of South Korea has rushed to Chushan by the Yalu River, and blatantly bombarded the Chinese border. The main force of the division retreated from the stadium to Xichuan. to Xichuan; the main force of the 1st Division of South Korea entered Unsan; the 24th Division of the United States and the 27th Brigade of the United Kingdom entered Yongsandong and Bochuan.In order to seize the opportunity and realize the determination to annihilate the aggressive enemies separately, the leaders of the Volunteer Army ordered the 118th Division of the 40th Army to go north from Wenjing, and the 148th Division of the 50th Army to go west from Ji'an to wipe out the enemies of Guchang and Chushan; The 38th Army also commanded the 125th Division of the 42nd Army and the 40th Army to attack and wipe out the main part of the 6th Division and 2 regiments of the 8th Division in Xichuan South Korea; the 39th Army attacked and wiped out the 1st Division of South Korea in Yunshan, The main force of the 66th Army and the 50th Army moved south from Sinuiju to ensure the safety of the side and rear. On the evening of the 26th, the 40th, 39th, and 38th armies of the Volunteer Army marched towards Xichuan and Yunshan respectively.The 6th Division of South Korea also moved towards Onjeong to assist the 7th Regiment, which was far away from the main force.The next day, the 40th and 39th Army of the Volunteer Army confronted each other with the South Korean 6th and 1st Divisions to the east and south of Onjeong, and the 38th Army was still 60 kilometers away from Xichuan.The leaders of the Volunteer Army then changed their plan to attack Xichuan, and ordered the main forces of the 38th, 39th, and 40th armies to gather and annihilate them in the north of Yunshan and east of Wenjing when they waited for the enemy to advance again, so as to open up the battle. On the evening of the 28th, the main force of the 40th Army of the Volunteer Army was ordered to launch an attack on the enemy of Onjing. After a night of fierce fighting, most of the two battalions of the 6th and 8th Divisions of South Korea were wiped out. On the evening of the 29th, the 118th Division of the army annihilated most of the 7th Regiment of the 6th Division of South Korea, which had fled back from Chushan, in Guchangdong, Liuliangdong, and Yonggudong areas. deserved punishment.At the same time, the 38th Army has occupied Xichuan, and the 8th Division defending the enemy South Korea has abandoned the city and fled south in panic.The 39th Army surrounded the 1st Division of South Korea in Unsan from the northeast, northwest, and southwest. At this time, although the "United Nations Army" had discovered that the volunteers had entered North Korea to participate in the war, they believed that China was sending troops "symbolicly", and a small number of Chinese volunteers could not pose any threat to them when they went to North Korea.Therefore, while MacArthur adjusted his deployment and replaced the defeated South Korean Army with the U.S. Army, he continued to divide his troops and march toward the border between North Korea and China.Still dreaming of taking over all of Korea before Thanksgiving. On October 31, the 24th US Division on the Western Front entered Taichuan and Gucheng, and continued to advance to Shuozhou; the British 27th Brigade entered Dingzhou, Xuanchuan, and continued to advance to Sinuiju; the 1st US Cavalry Division It was transferred from Pyongyang to Unsan and Yongsandong in its southwest to reinforce the 1st Division of South Korea.The main force of the 1st Division of South Korea withdrew to Yongbyon, leaving a regiment in Unsan; the 8th and 7th Divisions of South Korea retreated to the stadium, Dechuan and other places respectively.The 2nd Division of the United States was transferred from Pyongyang to Anju as the reserve force of the US 8th Army. The "United Nations Army" has adjusted and deployed in this way. Although it has increased the strength of Qingchuan and Jiangbei, it is still in a dispersed state, which is conducive to the volunteer army's defeat.At this time, all the troops of the Volunteer Army on the western front had arrived, and their strength was superior. About 150,000 people from 10 to 12 divisions could be concentrated to fight.Based on this, Commander Peng Dehuai decided to adopt a detour to the enemy's rear, combined with a frontal assault, cut off the north-south connection, concentrate his forces, and wipe out the enemy one by one to the north of the Qingchuan River.Order the 38th Army to quickly annihilate the enemies on the field, and then attack along the left bank of the Qingchuan River to Yuanli, Junyuli, and Sinanju to cut off the enemy's retreat; the 125th Division of the 42nd Army assaulted Tokugawa; and occupied the area to stop the enemy Reinforcement; the 40th Army encircled the main force of the 1st Division of South Korea in Yongbyon with the main force and wiped it out, and then continued to develop southward, cutting off the retreat of the enemy in Yongsandong; the 39th Army attacked and wiped out the enemy in Unsan, and prepared to cooperate with the The 40th Army encircled and wiped out the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division in Longshan Cave; the 66th Army contained part of the U.S. 24th Division west of Guicheng, and the main force of the army attacked from the enemy's rear as appropriate to wipe out the enemy; The Central Military Commission ordered the main force to advance to the southeast of Sinuiju to defend against the enemy's westward advance and defend Sinuiju. On the evening of November 1, the armies of the Volunteer Army on the Western Front launched an attack on the enemy according to the above order. The 39th Army launched an attack on the enemy at Yunshan at 5:00 pm.At this time, Yunshan had been replaced by the 8th Regiment of the 1st Division of the US Cavalry.The 116th Division, which was in charge of the frontal attack mission, launched an attack with two regiments supported by artillery fire. Along the way, it encountered a stubborn resistance from the U.S. Army. After fierce fighting, it captured Longpu Cave and 262.8 Highland in the northwest of Yunshan Mountain at 23:00, approaching Yunshan Mountain .During the attack, they discovered that it was not the South Korean Army that was fighting, but the U.S. Army, and their fighting mood immediately doubled.When Zhang Sheng, a soldier of the 2nd Company of the 347th Regiment, blocked the attack road at an enemy machine gun position, he went around to the enemy machine gun position and pushed the enemy shooter and machine gun off the cliff together, opening the way for the company to attack.Gu Renbai, the deputy political instructor who was born as a young student in the 5th company, reorganized the organization in time when the cadres of the company were injured, took the lead in the attack, captured several hills in succession, and successfully completed the task.The two comrades were honored with first-class merit and were awarded the title of Battle Hero.After the 246th Regiment of the division's reserve team was ordered to join the battle, the 4th company of the sharp knife of the regiment was bold and resourceful, and quickly went straight into Yunshan from the enemy's gap, and broke into Yunshan Street in one fell swoop.When entering the command post of a U.S. battalion, the company commander gave an order, and the whole company opened fire. The U.S. troops were caught off guard, and the enemy battalion commander, Major Robert Ormond, was killed immediately, and the command post was destroyed.The company immediately occupied the nearby highway bridge, intercepted more than ten vehicles full of enemies, killed more than 70 enemies, captured 8 enemies, and destroyed 1 enemy tank.The fierce battle ended at 3 o'clock on the 2nd. After the 116th Division occupied Yunshan, it continued to attack in the direction of Shangjiudong in the southeast of Yunshan with one regiment. It captured 4 enemy planes, tanks, and more than 60 vehicles at the airport, and captured the enemy More than 100 people.The 117th Division attacked from the northeast at Samju-ri east of Unsan, surrounded and wiped out part of the 12th Regiment of the 1st Division of South Korea, and joined the 116th Division in the early morning of the 2nd.The main force of the 115th Division, which attacked from the southwest of Yunshan and served as the task of breaking the enemy's retreat, intercepted and surrounded the 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment and the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Regiment retreating from Yunshan at dawn on the 2nd at Zhuren Bridge. There are more than 700 people in the battalion. On the 2nd and 3rd, with the support of aircraft and tanks, the besieged enemy tried their best to break through the siege many times, but failed. On the evening of the 3rd, when the besieged enemy was exhausted and desperate, the 115th Division launched a fierce attack and wiped them out.The Battle of Yunshan was the first direct confrontation between the Chinese and American armies. For the first time, the Volunteers with inferior equipment wiped out most of the 8th Regiment of the 1st Division of the US Cavalry with modern equipment, killing, wounding and capturing more than 1,800 US troops.The disastrous defeat of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division, the founding "father division" established in the Washington era, in Yunshan shocked the White House.Truman's daughter later wrote: In Korea startling events began, and the 8th Cavalry was nearly defeated. While achieving the great victory in Yunshan, other units of the Volunteer Army on the Western Front also won successive battles.The 40th Army pointed directly at Yongbyon on the evening of November 1st and November, annihilating one artillery unit of the 8th South Korean Division and the 1st US Cavalry Division, and approached Yongbyon on the 2nd.After the 38th Army captured the stadium on November 1, the main force immediately attacked along the left bank of the Qingchuan River. Occupying the courtyard on the 2nd constituted a great threat to the enemy's rear on the western front.The 66th Army entered the suburbs of Guicheng on November 1, blocking and pinning down the 24th US Division.On the evening of the same day, the 50th Army crossed the river from Andong and entered the south of Sinuiju, preparing to block the British 27th Brigade fleeing to Nanshidong. On November 3, under the continuous assault of the Volunteer Army, especially when its flanks were threatened, the enemy troops on the western front began to retreat to the south of the Qingchuan River for fear that their rear would be cut off, which would be unfavorable to them.In order to prevent the enemy from fleeing, the Volunteers adopted various methods and tried every means to delay the enemy.Finally, due to the rain the next day, it was difficult to pursue on foot, so that the enemy was able to escape by car.So far, on the western front, except for the enemy with a small number of troops holding the beachhead on the north bank of the Qingchuan River to block the attack of the Volunteers, the main force retreated to the south of the Qingchuan River.In view of the loss of the opportunity to wipe out the enemy and other considerations, the Volunteer Army Headquarters ordered all armies on the Western Front to stop attacking on November 5 and end the first battle. While the enemy troops on the western front were rampantly invading the north, the enemy troops on the eastern front also split their way to the Jiangjie and the Tumen River.In order to ensure the main operations on the western front and prevent the enemy from aiding the west, the two divisions of the 42nd Volunteer Army on the eastern front, with the cooperation of the first part of the Korean People's Army, started on October 25 with heroic and tenacious fighting spirit. In the Huangcaoling and Gozhanling areas, fierce battles were fought with the North Korean Capital Division, the 3rd Division and the 1st Marine Division of the US Army.After several days of fierce fighting, the Volunteer Army's food and ammunition were exhausted, and the number of wounded continued to increase. The situation was very difficult.Under such circumstances, the commanders and fighters embraced the revolutionary spirit of living and dying with the positions, determined to fight the enemy to the end, used grass roots as food and stones as weapons, and repeatedly repelled the enemy's battles with planes, artillery, A ferocious attack backed by tanks.After 13 days and nights of hard work, more than 2,700 enemies were wiped out, and finally stopped the enemy's attack, held the position, shattered the enemy's attempt to detour to the river boundary, effectively cooperated with the volunteers on the western front, and made important contributions to the victory of the entire campaign. In the first battle, the Chinese People's Volunteers and the Korean People's Army fought bravely, annihilating more than 15,000 enemies, smashing the enemy's attempt to occupy the whole of Korea before Thanksgiving, and driving the enemy from the Yalu River to the south of the Qingchuan River, and achieved great success. The victory in the first battle initially stabilized the situation in the Korean War, gained initial experience in fighting the U.S. military, enhanced confidence in victory over an enemy with superior equipment with inferior equipment, and created favorable conditions for subsequent operations.