Chapter 154 Shangganling surface position lost again

The meat to the mouth was spit out again, and Van Fleet was angry. At dawn on the 15th, the United Nations Army sent two regiments of the Seventh Division of the United States, two regiments and two battalions of the Korean Army to launch continuous wave attacks on Shangganling. Facing an enemy ten times larger than itself, the guards repelled the enemy's counterattacks more than 30 times. They resisted until 12 noon. The casualties were too large, and the position was lost again. Obviously, Van Fleet used troops crazily, regardless of the cost, in order to take Shangganling again in one fell swoop before the Volunteers fully reacted.

The leaders of the 45th Division lost their composure and wanted to fight their opponents desperately. Master Cui Jiangong simply moved the bed to the combat duty room of the division command post, and regarded the duty room as his home and the command post.When the staff officer answered the phone, he was by his side, and he could keep abreast of the situation and make dispatches at any time. Sometimes, the chief of staff and operations section was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he sat down, so he would answer the phone directly. During the battle, the commander of the 45th Division ate very little and relied on drinking tea and smoking to support himself, and his voice was so hoarse that he could hardly hear clearly.

It is this Shangganling division that has produced combat heroes such as Huang Jiguang and Long Shichang. In the face of constant tension, Qin Jiwei once again showed the calmness of a military strategist. Qin Jiwei: "What's the rush? If you lose it, try to find a way to get it back!" In the first two days, the volunteers lost their positions during the day and seized positions at night.As a result, the enemy was closely guarded at night and continuously fired flares, illuminating the two highlands as they did during the day, making it difficult for our army to utilize its night combat expertise.

Qin Jiwei made a bold decision: attack during the day!And strengthen the artillery bombardment. In this way, Qin Jiwei hit Van Fleet with a suddenness. The two highlands were taken back by the volunteers. During this time, Van Fleet shot violently and wanted to win in one fell swoop.It can be said that the decision was correct. But he succeeded twice and missed twice. At this time, Van Fleet changed from sudden to anxious. For decision-makers, impatience is irrationality, and they are about to make mistakes. Van Fleet sent the 187th Airborne Regiment of the United Nations Army, a regiment of the Korean Army, the Colombian Battalion, and the Ethiopian Battalion to the battlefield.

Qin Jiwei was also unambiguous. He quickly put all the 133rd and 134th regiments of the 45th Division of the 15th Army of the Volunteer Army into battle. The battle lasted until the 20th, when the enemy was strong and we were weak, and ammunition was not available. Except for positions 0, 4, 5, and 6 on the 597.9 highland, the rest of the surface positions were occupied by the enemy. Volunteers drilled into the tunnel again. After playing for a whole week, the surface position changed hands many times. The United Nations suffered 7,065 casualties. Volunteers also suffered more than 3,000 casualties.

On the morning of the 20th, when the surface position of Shangganling was lost, the 45th Division did not have a complete organic company, and more than half of the 21 infantry companies suffered casualties. The United Nations army invested 17 battalions, with 7,000 casualties, so miserable that each company had less than 40 people.According to a report by Wilson, a reporter with the US military: "A company commander called the roll call, and the next answer was 'yes', only one sergeant and one private." The one who was beaten was a little stunned: Why did you do this? Those who beat people are also a little confused: Why can't they get it done?

On October 21, Deng Hua, the acting commander of the Volunteer Army, saw that Shangganling was fighting like this, so he called and asked Qin Jiwei's judgment on the direction of the battle. Qin Jiwei believes: "The superficial position has been lost and regained, and has changed hands many times. For the time being, we will not launch a large-scale counterattack, but hold the bull's nose and fight the bull. At the same time, adjust the troops, study tactics, and fight a decisive counterattack." Confucian General Deng Hua listened and voted for Qin Jiwei. In order to hold the position, Qin Jiwei ordered the troops to carry out the hard-core activity of "one man sacrifices his life, ten men are hard to be".It is required to pledge to live and die with the position in the past, and now to never let the position lose half a point.He also emphasized that the positions must be preserved, and the people must be preserved.

The deputy commander of the Corps, Wang Jinshan, known as Crazy Wang, personally called and asked Yang Dezhi for the "Katyusha" rocket launcher, ammunition, and supplies. He ordered: "The four-level command organizations of the corps, army, division, and regiment must move forward." Regarding the ammunition supplies, Hong Xuezhi patted his chest: "The ammunition supplies in Shangganling, I, Hong Mazi, will carry them up for you!" The surface position could not be defended, and the volunteers went into the tunnel. In Shangganling, the tunnels dug by the volunteers with painstaking efforts showed results.

It can be said that if there were no tunnels, such good tunnels, Shangganling would belong to the Americans. On the surface of the position, the United Nations army bombed the tunnels, blasted them, cut off water, poisoned them, built fortifications and blocked them with rocks and soil, trying to eliminate the volunteers in the tunnels. The volunteer army suffered a lot. Eat: In many cases, each person in the tunnel can only eat half a biscuit per day. There was a tunnel, more than 10 soldiers starved to death, and were guarding the entrance of the tunnel with submachine guns... Drinking: Many people can't drink a drop of water, which can be fatal.what to do?In desperation, he had to drink urine.

Drinking urine doesn't sound good, but there's nothing I can do about it, or I won't be able to live. Volunteer soldiers also gave the drink a beautiful name: "Glorious Tea". In order to make the urine taste better, they came up with many tricks, such as wrapping the wet soil in a towel, pouring the urine on it to filter it, and then squeezing some toothpaste, the smell of urine will be much smaller. When Army Commander Qin Jiwei heard the news that the soldiers were drinking urine in the tunnel, tears welled up in his eyes. At this point, Apple has become a treasure.

"Send an apple into the tunnel and make a second-class merit!" This is a standard of meritorious service in the stage of the Shangganling Battle insisting on tunnel warfare. Once, an apple was delivered to the tunnel of the 7th Company of the 135th Regiment. An apple, more than 20 soldiers.The company commander Zhang Jifa gave the apple to Li Xinmin, the walker operator, and asked the four walker operators to share the apples, because they wanted to talk. The walk-talking pilots thought that the seriously wounded were the most in need of hydration, so they gave the apple to Lan Baofa, the seriously injured correspondent.Lan Baofa said that the company commander commanded the battle too hard, so he returned the apple to Zhang Jifa. Company commander Zhang Jifa had no choice but to give the apple to the bugleman.As a result, the bugleman gave it to the hygienist, and the hygienist gave it to Lan Baofa... After more than 20 people went around, the apple returned to Zhang Jifa. Company Commander Zhang Jifa ordered: "Eat them all, one bite per person!" One person, one bite, turned around, and as a result, there was more than half of the apple left. Turned around again before finishing the apple. This is the soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteers. The nearest tunnel is 500 meters from the main peak of Wusheng Mountain, and the farthest is more than 1,000 meters. It was such a short distance that the U.S. military pulled nearly 10 blockade lines, with machine guns, cannons, and barbed wire. It's so hard to give it away!Even at the entrance of the tunnel, it is difficult to enter the tunnel. Often when a squad is sent, two-thirds die on the way. It may take several lives to send a pot of water. The 15th Army relied on "creeping transportation" and "relay transportation" to send 30,000 mortar shells and a large amount of food and supplies into the tunnel. In the entire battle of Shangganling, transport personnel suffered more than 1,700 casualties, accounting for one-sixth of the casualties of the entire volunteer army.