Chapter 109 Won the Hengcheng counterattack, but lost the overall situation

On the evening of February 11, 1951, the Hengcheng counterattack started. The Volunteer Army concentrated the heavy forces of 9 divisions and implemented a perfect triple pincer-shaped encirclement of the United Nations Army in Hengcheng.A few hours later, the 8th Division of the Korean Army lost all contact with its affiliated regiments and subordinate units.It was completely beyond the imagination of Li Qiwei and the top leaders of the United Nations Army. They never expected that the Chinese side would have the power to launch such a large offensive in Hengcheng, thus delaying the precious retreat time.And the retreating United Nations army set up a line-shaped retreat formation, which is a very stinky practice.

After two days and one night of intense fighting, China wiped out a total of 12,000 United Nations troops, including 2,000 U.S. troops, at the cost of 4,100 casualties.This counterattack also captured 7,500 Korean soldiers and 500 American soldiers, making it the battle with the largest number of Korean soldiers captured in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Regarding the defeat in Hengcheng, Almond, the commander of the US 10th Army, had an unshirkable command responsibility. It was Almond's blind command that gave Deng Hua an opportunity.General Almond, on the other hand, scratched his hat and blamed the cause of the failure on the "commander's lack of proactive leadership", accusing "the senior commander on the scene did not proactively command the neighboring forces and take various measures when the crisis emerged." , including the mobilization of air, artillery, armor and infantry to destroy the enemy surrounding our forces".

After losing the battle, Li Qiwei, who is strict with the army, sent an investigation team.In the report of the US military investigation team, it pointed the finger at the unlucky Korean army, saying that "the sudden and complete failure of the Korean 8th Division with little or no warning has dragged down the US 2nd Division." Baek Sun-yeop, the commander of the Korean army, wrote in his memoirs: "Why is the Korean army under the command of Almond always under the first round of attacks, but not elsewhere?" The possibility of a Chinese offensive in China. The Battle of Hengcheng was one of the most beautiful and successful battles launched by the volunteers in the Korean War.On this point, both China and the United States agree.

Although the Volunteers played well in Hengcheng, it's hard to say whether they played well in the overall situation.