Chapter 114 The Unexpected Fifth Campaign

For the fifth campaign, Mao Zedong placed great hopes and made great efforts; Peng Dehuai also placed great hopes and made great efforts. For the Chinese side, there are mainly the following "most": One "most": invest the most troops.The Volunteer Army invested a total of 770,000 troops, which can be called the largest battle in the history of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, surpassing the Battle of Huaihai.It was more than three times the number of troops invested by the Volunteers in the first battle, more than twice the number of troops invested in the second battle, and more than twice the 340,000 troops invested by the United Nations Army.

Two "most": invest the most elite.In this battle, the 3rd, 9th, and 19th Corps, as well as the original 13th Corps, all participated in the battle. Just looking at the designation, you can tell that this is not an ordinary army, but the main force of the main force of the People's Liberation Army, the elite of the elite.Among the troops going to the DPRK, there are generals like clouds and soldiers like tigers. All of them are masters who are good at fighting evil and fierce battles. They have fought in the ocean of war for many years, and they are all full of creativity and personality. It's amazing to start a battle.To fight this war, we are short of moving a few old men to North Korea!

Three "most": the strongest firepower.Army equipment ordered from the Soviet Union arrived one after another, the artillery unit was greatly strengthened, and new weapons such as anti-tank destroyer guns and anti-tank grenades began to be used on the battlefield, which was incomparable in previous battles. Four "most": the best logistics support.Although there are still many difficulties, the logistics support is not what it used to be. The tight supply of guns and ammunition has been eased, the purchased cars have continued to drive in, and the supply of food, clothing and quilts has been strengthened to a certain extent.

These four "most" make the volunteers even more powerful.According to the situation of previous fights, 230,000 people can win the first battle, 380,000 people can win the second battle, and 770,000 people can win the fifth battle. There should be no problem. Look at the combat policy again. The fifth campaign strategy determined by the Volunteer Army Command is: to implement a combination of campaign division and tactical division, and a combination of campaign encirclement and tactical encirclement and detour. In terms of deployment, concentrate the three corps of the Volunteer Army and one corps of the People's Army on the western front, and carry out the main assault between Munsan-ri and Chuncheon; use the most important forces to split the gap in the battle from Kimhwa to Gapyeong, so that the United Nations Army can be separated from the east and west, and they cannot interact with each other. Reinforce, then attack weaker enemies, and annihilate them one by one.In addition, the three armies of the Volunteer Army are located in the Suchuan, Wonsan, and Pyongyang areas, and the two corps of the People's Army are located in the Huaiyang and Shariwon areas, which are respectively responsible for anti-landing and anti-airborne missions.

Fighting, interspersing, dividing the enemy, and then eating the enemy separately is a tried-and-tested combat method of the People's Liberation Army. In theory, there is no problem.This time, it also adopts such a tactic. Looking at the command of the campaign, from the perspective of the entire process of the fifth campaign, although the command of Peng Dehuai, the Volunteer Army Command, and the major corps could not be called perfect, although there were some mistakes, the problem was not very big. There is no problem in strength, there is no problem in the combat policy, and there is no major problem in command. Is there no problem in fighting this battle?

The process and results of the fifth campaign were far beyond China's expectations. It was beyond Peng Dehuai's expectation. It was also beyond Mao Zedong's expectations. As far as China is concerned, if the fifth battle can be called a victory, it is also a miserable victory. First, with so many troops fighting for 50 days, although more than 82,000 people were killed, wounded and captured (among them, the volunteer army wiped out more than 67,000 enemies), the volunteer army also paid the price of more than 75,000 casualties. The losses of the two sides are almost equal, and the Chinese side has not taken advantage of it.In particular, the United Nations Army was wiped out without an organized system (division by division, regiment by regiment).

Second, in the first stage of the fifth campaign, the Volunteer Army broke through the land occupied by the 38th parallel, and was later retaken by the United Nations Army.That is to say, the two sides in the war fought on both sides of the 38th parallel. The Volunteer Army pushed over and was pushed back by the United Nations Army, and did not recover much land.Through this large-scale offensive and defensive battle, the Americans figured out the limits of the Volunteer Army's offensive power, which made the Americans determined to stick to the 38th parallel and never retreated sharply.

Third, the Volunteer Army mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to attack, but it ended in the opponent's counterattack that was caught off guard.The large-scale attack of the Volunteer Army was frustrated, which made Li Qiwei and other United Nations generals more deeply understand the attack limit of the Volunteer Army, so that the American generals completely calmed down and began to take the initiative to launch large-scale attacks on the Volunteer Army, effectively engaging in rapid penetration and even division. surrounded. Of course, the large-scale offensive of the Volunteers forced the U.S. government and Commander Ridgway, who advocated offense, to reassess the strength of the Volunteers and the Korean People’s Army, and had to accept the armistice negotiations. This was a great strategic success.

It can be seen that China's battle this time is similar to the situation in which the Americans launched the first and second battles. They both started with an active attack by one side and ended with a passive defense.However, in the first and second battles, the Americans were beaten and fled quickly. In the fifth battle, although the United Nations launched a large-scale counterattack and caught the Volunteers by surprise, the Volunteers resisted tenaciously and held on. The front line has stabilized its position, there has been no major retreat, and no land has been lost. Fourth, in the fifth battle, the Volunteer Army lost a 180th Division, which is unique in the combat history of the Chinese Communist Army. It is also known as several defeats of the Chinese Communist Army along with the bloody battle on the Xiangjiang River, the Southern Anhui Incident, and the defeat of Jinmen.

The U.S. claimed that during the battle in late May 1951, a total of 17,000 Chinese prisoners were captured. This figure accounted for more than 80% of the total number of volunteers captured in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.The loss of a division also made Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communist commanders realize that under modern combat conditions, a large number alone cannot solve the problem, and it is even easy to fall into a passive position.From then on, I changed my style of play, changed the human sea tactics of fighting a large-scale annihilation war, and began to engage in piecemeal fighting and tactical confrontation with the Americans.