Chapter 150 A war beyond the control of both sides

Shangganling, south of the Five Sacred Mountains in central North Korea, has two highlands: the 597.9 highland on the right, and the 537.7 highland Beishan on the left, covering 3.7 square kilometers. 3.7 square kilometers, that is to say, the length and width of these two small hills are less than 2,000 meters, which is much smaller than the residential quarters built by developers today. For this Shangganling, the U.S. military originally planned to use two battalions of troops to take it down with 200 casualties in 5 days. The commander of the United Nations Army commanding this battle was General Van Fleet, commander of the US 8th Army.

Commander Van Fleet's judgment should be said to be justified. Why does it make sense? Because, it is in line with common sense. However, it was the competition for this small hill that produced an astonishing result: Time: 43 days. Invested troops: more than 60,000 members of the United Nations Army and more than 43,000 volunteers. The two sides have invested a total of 100,000 troops. Artillery fire: 300 cannons with a caliber of 105 mm or more for the United Nations Army, and 110 cannons for the Volunteer Army with a caliber of 75 mm or more.In addition, the United Nations Army dispatched 3,000 sorties of aircraft and 170 tanks.

Ammunition Consumption: The United Nations Army poured more than 1.9 million shells and 5,000 aerial bombs into Shangganling.At most one day, 300,000 rounds of shells; non-stop, an average of 6 rounds per second. The Volunteer Army fired more than 400,000 shells, which also set a record for the firepower density of the Chinese military unit. Casualties: 25,498 United Nations troops and 11,529 volunteers. Heck, if the dead are stacked on top of the dead, they can be stacked half a meter high in Shangganling. Qin Jiwei said: "The Battle of Shangganling was the cruelest battle in my life."