Chapter 39 "Tearing Combat": The Hardest Period

On the day that Peng Dehuai left Beijing to return to the North Korean front, Li Qiwei, the commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, the commanders of the U.S. Ninth Army, the Tenth Army, and the commander of the U.S. First Army Division held a meeting in the command post of the U.S. Ninth Army in Lizhou. The combat meeting discusses the issue of counterattack operations. After the Battle of Topingli, under the urging of Li Qiwei, the United Nations Army quickly resumed its offensive northward, and it was not seriously resisted by the Chinese army.Li Qiwei's judgment again: The Chinese army is in a difficult situation and must immediately start a new offensive to further expand the results of the northward advance.

The battle meeting ended at breakfast time.The Americans already knew that they could no longer name everything about the Korean battlefield as warm terms like "Carnation Flower", so the newly formulated combat plan was named: "Operation Butcher". The purpose of "Operation Butcher" is to launch an offensive again in order not to give the Chinese and North Korean troops time to rest and reorganize.On the west front, destroy the bridgehead of the South Han River and occupy the front line of the Han River; on the center line, advance to the north side of Topyeong-ri-Hengseong-Hangrim-ri; on the east line, advance to the north side of Gangneung and repair the unevenness of the front , in preparation for the next official northward move.

On February 20th, Li Qiwei signed the Eighth Army's combat order: "From 10 o'clock on February 21st, the U.S. Ninth Army and Tenth Army, with Yeongyue and Pyeongchang as the axis, along the Wonju and Hengcheng Launch an offensive to eliminate the enemy in the east of the Han River and the south of the 'Arizona' line (Fangrim-ri, Daemi-dong, Xuanchuan-ri, Sinchon, Fengshuiwon, 527 Highlands, and Yangpyeong line), and the Korean Third Army covers the U.S. Army The Tenth Army's eastern flank." When mobilizing troops, the arrogant Li Qiwei felt that the troops were insufficient.

The South Korean Third Army Corps was seriously damaged in the Battle of Hengcheng launched by the Chinese army. Its strength and morale could not reassure the U.S. military on its flanks. However, the existing U.S. troops had to advance northward on such a wide front. Moreover, if the Chinese army is not allowed to seize the gap, it is necessary to increase the density of troops advancing northward on the front.Then there is only one way: take Smith's 1st Marine Division up. However, after the First Marine Division escaped from the Changjin area of ​​North Korea, the officers and soldiers of the army were in shock for a long time. In addition, the loss of personnel and weapons and equipment was large.At the beginning of "Operation Thunderbolt", Li Qiwei gave this unit known as "the most elite division in the United States" a job that made the whole division feel very embarrassing: go to the mountains to fight against the guerrillas.

The US Marine Division 1 was used to deal with the guerrillas. First, the guerrillas were too difficult to deal with. Second, the 1st Marine Division suffered too much losses in the Changjin area.The officers and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division were very dissatisfied with the task Li Qiwei gave them, not to mention that the 1st Marine Division was a regular elite combat force, and because the 1st Marine Division had been exhausted since it entered the mountain. The whereabouts of the guerrillas were uncertain, and they ran to this village to rescue the South Korean army surrounded by guerrillas.After a while, he ran to another village to cover the transport convoy attacked by the guerrillas.In the rolling barren mountains and snowy mountains, the First Marine Division not only failed to catch the main force of the guerrillas, but also suffered casualties.The 1st Marine Division of the regular army is very tired of the hide-and-seek battle of "fleeing as soon as it is driven away, and reappearing as soon as it is withdrawn". They said: "It is not the task of the Marine Division to drive away flies."

The First Marine Division is finally going to the battlefield again. When Ridgway finished deploying everything for "Operation Butcher", he received a notice that made him feel uncomfortable: MacArthur was going to the front line in person. MacArthur's current situation is very embarrassing.When the Chinese army launched the third campaign and drove the United Nations troops to the vicinity of the 37th parallel, the panicked MacArthur said many times that because the US government tied his hands and feet, the war would definitely fail, so that the West The impression of all the Allies is that the Korean War has lost all hope.However, since Ridgway came to the Korean battlefield, he launched a series of offensives against the Chinese army and achieved surprising results, which proved that the Chinese army is not as "invincible" as General MacArthur said.Therefore, MacArthur had to find an appropriate excuse for the pessimism he had expressed, which was the saddest thing for MacArthur.People who worked next to MacArthur later recalled, "He was exhausted and lost the brilliance of his former charm." , he was a defeated man."

MacArthur soon began to defend the action.He once again proposed "measures to retaliate against China": "bomb the Chinese capital, encourage Chiang Kai-shek's army to carry out military operations along China's southeast coast, and block all maritime traffic in China."He described: "The Chinese army only has ten days' supply of food and arms. If the United States not only receives additional allocations, but also carries out amphibious landing operations with the cooperation of Chiang Kai-shek's troops, the Chinese will starve to death or surrender." To the surprise of the world, this "general who has gradually recovered his mental state" actually announced a sensational proposition: "I will use the by-products of the atomic energy industry to set up a radioactive waste area on the enemy's logistics supply line, and separate North Korea and North Korea." Manchuria." Officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States have always been on high alert for any claims by MacArthur to expand the war. defend".

MacArthur has repeatedly stated plausibly that the retreat of the Chinese army in the third battle is "a clever strategic move", "I have stretched the Chinese logistics line", and "the current situation shows that my strategy is effective".The officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who have always been extremely dissatisfied with MacArthur’s vanity, questioned after hearing this: “What lengthened the Chinese logistics line? According to this, if we go to the Philippines, isn’t the Chinese logistics line longer? ?” Secretary of State Acheson put it even more harshly: “It is hard to imagine that anyone can make a more heinous and stupid statement than this...the most obvious and foolish attempt to insist that they passed the Korean peninsula. It's really ridiculous to retreat all the way, and really deceive the Chinese!"

Li Qiwei is the most wary of MacArthur among all people.When he learned that MacArthur was going to the front, he had a premonition that something unpleasant would happen soon. Sure enough, as soon as MacArthur got off the plane, he put on an attitude of judging the situation in front of the crowd of reporters, and gave the reporters a very strong impression that he, the commander of the Far East, came to the front line, and after discussing with the front-line officers, he made a decision. A big decision has been made.In front of the reporters, MacArthur announced in a serious manner: "I just ordered the resumption of the offensive!"

Both Ridgway and the US military officers on the front line knew that the "Operation Butcher" plan had nothing to do with MacArthur, and MacArthur's words were tantamount to informing China that the US military's offensive was about to begin.For this reason, the deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Army, who was very dissatisfied, deliberately asked the press censor in charge of the army: "What if a general violates the confidentiality regulations on news releases?" Ridgway was furious at the "commander-in-chief's efforts to maintain his shining image": "General MacArthur's words to the press endangered the lives of the soldiers who fought for him. Whenever a combat offensive was launched, he inspected the attacking troops. And symbolically firing the gun of departure. This move is good for the morale of the troops, but it is also invaluable to the enemy's intelligence community."

MacArthur returned to Tokyo in a good mood, but as soon as he walked into his office, he was besieged by a group of petition groups of American military families from the American mainland. Before MacArthur could finish his polite words of inviting the ladies to watch the cherry blossoms in Japan, he was interrupted by the ladies’ continuous questioning: “We are here to ask you for a son! Last year you promised to let the children go home for Christmas. " "My husband is bleeding in North Korea, and those yellow-skinned Chinese are hunting him down!" "My poor John is most afraid of the cold, and I want him to come home!" MacArthur held back his anger and said: "Ladies, the mission of the Eighth Army is to unify Korea. If you want to reunite with your relatives on the front line, please wait patiently for their service to expire." "Let the children go home!" "You are responsible for the death of innocent Yu Nian!" MacArthur sternly said: "Dignified ladies, you are too much! Don't worry, I will take care of your relatives, and I will order their officers to send them, that is, your son or husband, to the first Go online! Let them charge! Go landmines! Understand?!" MacArthur slammed the door and left. At this time, Li Qiwei's "Operation Butcher" offensive started in the heavy rain and mud. The Chinese army entered the most difficult period of the Korean War. In order to level the concave front caused by the breakthrough of the Chinese army in the Battle of Hengcheng, while the U.S. troops on the western front were preparing to cross the Han River north, the U.S. First Marine Division, First Cavalry Division, British 27th Brigade and South Korean Army The 3rd Division and the 6th Division launched a fierce attack on the Chinese 42nd Army and 66th Army on the front line of Hengcheng. The 42nd Army was adjacent to the 66th Army and the 38th Army, and fought hard battles with the U.S. Army at Yingfeng, Zhongyuanshan, and Muyunxian. Wu Ruilin, the commander of the 42nd Army, knew very well that it was impossible for the troops to stick to their existing positions in the face of the fierce attack of the U.S. under the extremely difficult situation. The principle of "light at the front and heavy at the back" should be followed in terms of firepower allocation, and "space for time".In short, it is necessary to use a small force to repeatedly compete with the U.S. military in the forward position, consuming the time of the U.S. military, in order to implement the instruction of the superior to "delay the enemy's northward advance as much as possible." For this reason, Wu Ruilin ordered half of the regiment, battalion, company cadres and combat backbones on the first line to be drawn and stored in the second line. Once the front line is exhausted, the battle can be quickly reorganized. Wu Ruilin also left a regiment of reserve behind the position. In the face of the unprecedented fierce firepower of the US military, Chinese soldiers exchanged their lives for the time to delay the enemy's northward advance. It is not yet the rainy season, but the Korean peninsula is already raining heavily.In the cold rain, the battlefield was covered with mud. Chinese soldiers were covered in muddy water during the day, but at night they turned into mud and ice.The Ninth Company of the 371st Regiment, under the leadership of the company commander Jiang Hongxin, persisted in the Yingfeng blocking position for 16 days and nights. In the fight against the US tanks and the Shuhuan Group, the whole company paid a huge sacrifice.Zheng Jiagui, commander of the Sixth Company of the 370th Regiment, led the soldiers to the blocking position until the last moment. Two companies of the U.S. Army and ten tanks surrounded the small position tightly, and then stormed. The soldiers scuffled together, and the sound of fighting and cursing from both sides resounded through the valley.In the end, Zheng Jiagui's bayonet was broken, the butt of his gun was broken, and he threw away all the stones around him. Dozens of American soldiers surrounded him. With mud and blood all over his body, he blew off the explosives specially reserved for the last moment Bag. On the road from Guangtanli to Longtouli, Baolongli, located in the middle of the road, is the only place for the US military to go north. The second company of the 337th Regiment holds its position in Baolongli.The scale of the US Cavalry First Division's attack on Baolongli finally reached the strength of a regiment.On the fifth day of the siege, Zhao Xingwang, the second squad leader, was left alone in the forward position of the second company.The U.S. military climbed up to the position with only one Chinese soldier with two companies in two directions. Zhao Xingwang ran back and forth on the position, machine guns and grenades never stopped. The U.S. military thought that a large number of reinforcements were coming to the position, but they were still unable to climb up. . In order to seize the Chinese position in Baolongli, the First Division of the U.S. Cavalry organized 32 attacks in 6 days, and paid the lives of more than 220 U.S. soldiers. When the blocking battle was at its most difficult, a piece of news from the front made cadres at all levels nervous: a Chinese soldier shot down a U.S. plane with a machine gun. Guan Chonggui is the deputy squad leader and machine gunner of the 1st, 1st, and 2nd squads of the 375th Regiment. On the 24th, his company blocked the attack of a battalion of the 27th Brigade of the British Army on Heights 614. The positions that were set up all night, the fortifications dug all night, the enemy attacked at dawn. The officers and soldiers of the first company were sleepy and hungry, and the battle was already a fire. In the afternoon, the British attack not only did not stop, but became more violent, and more than a dozen American fighter jets also flew in to help.Since American pilots entered North Korea to fight, they have never encountered ground shooting, so they always fly close to the heads of Chinese soldiers, and when they dive, their wings can almost lift the hats of Chinese soldiers.The machine gun bullets and bombs dropped by the plane caused great casualties among Chinese soldiers.The machine gunner Guan Chonggui was so anxious that he picked up his machine gun and was about to shoot at the plane.Ma Kexin, the ammunition hand, quickly stopped: "Deputy squad leader, let's not make mistakes!" The Volunteer Army has a discipline, and it is not allowed to shoot into the air and masquerade.This discipline makes sense: small arms fire into the air not only fails to shoot down aircraft, but exposes ground targets, leading to more accurate bombing.This is a lesson that the Chinese army paid for blood in the early days of entering North Korea to participate in the war, so that this discipline was emphasized very strictly, and the punishment for violations was also very severe. Anxious Guan Chongzhi yelled: "At worst, shoot me!" Guan Chonggui fired.The first seven rounds fired missed.A plane swooped down on him, and he fired again, still seven rounds. As a result, he was stunned by the scene in front of him: a P-51 fighter jet slanted its wings, black smoke came out from behind its rear, and fell headfirst. After crossing the ravine, there was a violent explosion and a burst of flames. "Hit it! Beat that guy down!" The Chinese soldiers on the ground cheered. The American pilot on the plane jumped out of the parachute, but because the altitude was too low, he fell on the tree before the parachute opened and was stabbed to death by a branch. The news that a soldier in a row had shot down the U.S. plane with a machine gun quickly spread to the regiment, and the regiment immediately ordered to find out who fired the shot.The battalion sent people to the field to ask, but no one dared to admit it, and they all said they didn't know.Guan Chonggui believed that "a good man should do what a good man does" and he should not implicate others, so he stood up and admitted that he did it himself. Before the people in the battalion could tell how to deal with Guan Chonggui, the British army started another crazier attack. Guan Chonggui picked up his machine gun and fired back and forth on the position. He thought that as long as he was still alive, he would kill a few more enemies first. A battalion of British troops still failed to storm the Chinese position.The British suffered 50 casualties and one aircraft. Guan Chonggui's disembarkation of the plane was reported step by step, all the way to Peng Dehuai for advice on how to deal with it.Peng Dehuai, who was anxious about the Volunteer Army's weak air defense firepower, was extremely excited when he heard this.After inquiring about the process of shooting down the plane, he said: "This discipline has brought out an experience, that is, light weapons in the hands can shoot down enemy planes, and it has inspired the volunteer soldiers' confidence in air combat. We must give this soldier a heavy reward!" When announcing the order of meritorious service, Guan Chonggui felt that he was dreaming: he was awarded the title of "First Class Combat Hero" and recorded special meritorious service. Guan Chongzi still felt that he had violated discipline, so he asked for a penalty. Bao Nansen, the political commissar of the 375th regiment, said to him, "Don't be stupid, if you continue to be stubborn, I will really deal with you!" The headquarters of the Volunteer Army decided to carry out activities to learn from Guan Chongzi in the whole army, and to promote the experience of shooting down enemy planes with light weapons. Guan Chonggui's fighting spirit was greatly encouraged by this, and he showed amazing bravery and tenacity in the ensuing battle.He led a squad to persist in blocking the enemy, and all the soldiers in the squad were killed one after another, and he was the only one left on the ground.The large troops retreated, and three days later, U.S. planes were still bombing this position in turn. During the bombing interval, they vaguely heard the sound of resisting gunfire.The vast majority of the U.S. military said that the bombing has been going on for several days, and it is impossible for Chinese soldiers to resist, but the gunshots are indeed still ringing.Army commander Wu Ruilin was worried, and made up his mind to send two battalions to outflank the position from both sides.After the troops rushed up, they saw that there was indeed a Chinese soldier who was still alive on the position covered with the corpses of British soldiers and Chinese soldiers. He was Guan Chonggui. It turned out that when the large army retreated, Guan Chonggui did not come down.He hid in the crevices of the rocks in the position and shot at the enemy, and never let the enemy occupy this small position.Ammunition and food were gone, so he searched among the corpses, and he stood alone on this position for two days and three nights!When the Chinese soldiers who rushed up saw him, he could not stand up due to hunger and fatigue. Beside him, there were more than 30 rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns collected from the corpses of British soldiers. branch. Guan Chonggui's indomitable spirit made all Chinese officers and soldiers respect him. After Peng Dehuai, the commander of the Volunteer Army learned about it, he ordered: Use this soldier at three consecutive levels! Guan Chonggui was directly appointed as the deputy company commander from the deputy squad leader. The Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea awarded Guan Chonggui the "Medal of Honor for Soldier First Class". Guan Chonggui is brave and lucky.During the most difficult period of the Chinese army, the hardships and sacrifices faced by Chinese soldiers were enormous.The spring is cold, the ice and snow have not melted, and the cold rain is falling.Without food, many troops began to eat wild vegetables and bark.A set of cotton-padded clothes has not been taken off all winter, and the buttocks are even exposed. The soldiers sewed a piece of cloth with thick needles to cover it, and the worn-out cuffs made the exposed half of the arm purple from the cold.There was a big gash in the soldier's hand, and the blood flowed so much that the soldier had to suture it with thread to stop the bleeding.Every time they retreated to a position, the hungry and cold soldiers immediately built blocking fortifications with simple tools, and at the same time built artillery holes to cope with the bombardment of tanks and artillery and the bombing of crises.If there is still a little more time, the soldiers will pull out the weeds in front of the position, clear the shooting area, and create a firebreak.At dawn, except for the guard post being on alert, as long as the enemy is not attacking, the soldiers will just stuff their mouths with something, then pour them into the cold muddy water and close their eyes.In combat, the extreme lack of ammunition deprived Chinese soldiers of the basic means of defending their positions and themselves, and the rocks on the mountains in central Korea were often the weapons they used to fight artillery and tanks.Countless Chinese soldiers fell in ragged clothes in the uninhabited barren mountains with their stomachs empty.When the large army retreated, their remains lay silently in the cold rain.Even the soldiers of the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army could not help but feel tremors when they saw these remains of Chinese soldiers. The military history of the 1st U.S. Marine Division recorded: "These corpses were lying in disorder, and many of them were still with American soldiers. Due to the cooling of the corpses, it was impossible to separate them. When the Chinese army retreated, they sometimes buried the corpses, but due to the rush, the corpses of both the soldiers of the country and the soldiers of the enemy were buried lightly, almost barely It's a layer of dust plowed up by bombs." On March 5, the Seventh Regiment of the First Division of the U.S. Marine Corps discovered at dawn that there was no one in the blocking position of the Chinese army ahead, and the United Nations Army occupied Hengcheng.At that time, all the troops of the United Nations Army reached the occupation line designated by the "Operation Butcher" plan-the Arizona line. "Operation Butcher" was being implemented. On February 22, the U.S. Department of the Army released a battle report, stating that since the start of the war, the Chinese army had lost 206,000 people, of which 185,000 were killed and wounded, and 21,000 were frostbitten and sick, excluding prisoners.At the same time, the Ministry of War also released another battle report: Since the start of the war, the U.S. military has lost a total of 52,480 people, including 8,553 dead, 33,781 wounded, and 8,724 missing. At the same time, high-level U.S. military officers circulated a confidential "information": "Lin Biao, the commander of the Fourth Field Army of the Chinese Communist Army, was transferred from North Korea, and Peng Dehuai was appointed as the commander of the Chinese Communist Army entering South Korea." Now that the war has been fought, the U.S. military, which claims to have the most sensitive intelligence agency in the world, has not even figured out who the commander of the opponent on the battlefield is, and where does the battle report of battlefield casualties accurate to "one" digit come from? ? When Peng Dehuai returned to the front line of North Korea, Li Qiwei had completed "Operation Butcher" plan, and immediately started a new round of operations. The Americans named this new combat plan "Operation Tear". If "Operation Butcher" is full of blood, then "Operation Tear" has a tactical flavor.Li Qiwei was not satisfied with the results of "Operation Butcher", because in the attack on the center line, he failed to completely capture and annihilate China's Forty-second Army and Fiftieth Army, while the Chinese Fortieth Army and Thirty Army The attack of the Ninth Army "affected the effect of the attack because of the heavy rain."Li Qiwei believes: "The Chinese army was not defeated, but retreated on its own initiative."Then, the next combat mission of the U.S. military is to recapture Seoul from the hands of the Chinese army. However, a large-scale battle is bound to occur if it is captured from the front, so Li Qiwei decided to detour from the center line.The so-called "tearing" refers to tearing an opening in the center line of the battlefield and driving in, separating the Chinese army from the North Korean army, threatening the defense line of the Chinese army in front of Seoul, and encircling Seoul. The goal of the "tearing operation" is: the U.S. military reaches the line between the key points on the south side of the 38th Parallel from the east side of Seoul to Chuncheon.Li Qiwei named this line: "Idaho Line". Americans on the Korean peninsula must always think about their hometown where they don’t know when they will return, so the Far East had “Arizona” and “Idaho” during those years Such place names. On March 7, the "tearing operation" began when the 25th US Division crossed the Han River. At 5:50 in the morning, the U.S. military began artillery preparations.On the bank of the Han River, Li Qiwei personally supervised the battle with two grenades hanging around his neck.He said to his subordinates that "the commander should be with the troops that are engaged in fierce fighting." He is here today to set an example.Li Qiwei, who was setting an example, was still a little worried, and the reason still came from his chief MacArthur.The plan to launch the "tearing operation" had to be reported to MacArthur for approval. In order to prevent MacArthur from performing on the front line again, he lowered the tone of this operation to the lowest point, but MacArthur said that he would still come. He came, but MacArthur still came.Fortunately, MacArthur did not "publicly leak military secrets" this time.Despite this, Ridgway was still uncomfortable because of MacArthur's arrival. At this moment, in front of Li Qiwei, the US 25th Division's artillery preparations before crossing the river can be called "one of the most violent artillery fires in this war." 148 field guns, 100 tanks, 48 ​​heavy mortars, 25 M-16 self-propelled anti-aircraft machine guns, 100 heavy machine guns, and more than 10 bombers in the sky all fired at the positions of the Chinese army on the other side of the river. , Li Qiwei was very satisfied with the magnificence of the scene.After 20 minutes of firepower preparation, the U.S. troops began to cross the river, but they were immediately blocked by artillery fire from the Chinese army, and the shells hit Li Qiwei's side. Li Qiwei once again felt what it meant to be an invincible Chinese army. Preparations for crossing the river were carried out extremely carefully for a week. The U.S. military used the most advanced crossing equipment. Apart from being not too violently shot, the U.S. 25th Division crossed the Han River smoothly. Perhaps a graduate of West Point Military Academy will do this.After Li Qiwei left the south bank of the Han River, he took a helicopter to the front line of Wonju, where he estimated that the battle was the most intense, and stood on the side of the road to watch the attack of the US Tenth Army.There are still a large number of war reporters following Li Qiwei, and Li Qiwei instinctively feels that something needs to be done now.At this time, a thin soldier from the 1st Marine Division walked over with a heavy radio on his back, limping and turning. It turned out that the soldier's shoelaces were loose and he tripped every step he took. The radio prevented him from squatting down to tie them on. Laces, so it looks stumbling.The soldier shouted something to Li Qiwei who was standing by the road, but Li Qiwei didn't hear clearly, but he hurried over, squatted down, and tied the soldier's shoelaces.The reporters lost no time in capturing this precious shot.The photo was published in the newspaper, but it caused more satire than praise. People said that Li Qiwei was showing off. Li Qiwei explained: "If a soldier squats down to tie his shoelaces by himself, the heavy radio may make him unable to stand up. He is calling me, so I went. This is helping a person in difficulty. An impulse in my heart made me do it." Because the newspaper made an article about the two grenades on his neck by the way, so he also explained happily by the way: "I don't want to be a prisoner if I don't resist!" The Chinese army in extreme difficulty will not retreat again, but in the face of a large-scale attack by the US military, most of the Chinese army's positions were occupied by the US military only when all soldiers were killed or injured.On the south bank of the Han River, the 38th Army and the 50th Army of the Chinese Army, when the U.S. Army crossed the Han River, there were still several companies that were stubbornly resisting. All the Chinese soldiers in the company fought to the last person. people back up. In the direction of Hengcheng and Yuanzhou, the Chinese army's resistance was also very tenacious.The casualties of the troops on the front line were so great that during the battle, the organization of the severely reduced company was disrupted, and the surviving personnel of several companies were formed into a new company. Often, a regiment could only form four to eight companies. When Peng Dehuai returned to the frontline headquarters, he started a two-day "tearing operation" It has already created an unfavorable situation for the entire front: if the United Nations forces break through from the center line, it will inevitably encircle Seoul.If you don't take a larger distance to retreat, you are likely to fall into a greater passivity.Therefore, Peng Dehuai called all the armies: starting from March 10, the entire front will start to move and defend, and retreat northward in an orderly and large-scale manner. In a telegram to Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai proposed the idea of ​​abandoning Seoul: I arrived at the headquarters before dawn on the 9th, and the enemy began to attack across the board on the 7th. In order to shorten our army's defense line and buy time, I decided to abandon Seoul and take defensive measures , to maintain vitality.The current transportation situation has not improved, and the troops still often have no food to eat, and it will be impossible to raise food on the spot in the future.With the increase in troop strength, the increase in supply demand, and the increase in the enemy's air force, if our air force cannot cover the transportation accordingly, this difficulty will not decrease, but will increase, and this will affect the decisive next battle. On March 14, 1951, the Chinese army abandoned Seoul. The time for the Chinese army to enter Seoul, the capital of South Korea: 70 days. On the day Peng Dehuai decided to abandon Seoul, the reconnaissance team of the South Korean First Division sneaked into the urban area of ​​Seoul, and they found that there were no Chinese troops in Seoul.These scouts raised the South Korean flag at the presidential palace, shouted long live, and then returned to the division headquarters with a North Korean prisoner. Only then did Bai Shanye, the commander of the South Korean First Division, know that the Chinese army had retreated and Seoul was already An empty city.Baek Sun Yeop immediately called Milburn, the commander of the US First Army commanding him, and asked for the permission of the South Korean First Division to enter Seoul immediately. Milburn immediately said: "Start!" This is an action to change Li Qihui's battle plan without authorization.Li Qiwei's original plan was to encircle Seoul after breaking through the center line.But now we have to enter Seoul before the siege is implemented. On the morning of the 15th, the South Korean First Division entered downtown Seoul from different directions.Without resistance, let alone street fighting, the South Korean army returned to the ruins of Seoul. Syngman Rhee was overjoyed by the recovery of Seoul, and he immediately sent a letter to MacArthur to express his gratitude.The next day, MacArthur returned a cold letter to the old South Korean man: It is gratifying that the rioters have retreated.But this time, unlike last September, the enemy's garrison did not suffer a decisive defeat. Although the recapture of Seoul is of great psychological significance, from a military point of view, it cannot be considered that the security of Seoul in the future is completely guaranteed.In my opinion, it is unwise for your government to return to Seoul immediately. Although MacArthur didn't say anything, he felt strongly in his heart that there seemed to be some kind of conspiracy to set up a trap in the retreat of the Chinese army. Due to MacArthur's low profile, neither South Korea, the United States, nor China reacted more violently to the change of hands of Seoul. Li Qiwei was not obsessed with the recovery of Seoul. He ordered the troops to resolutely follow the predetermined target of "tearing operations" and advance northward. Peng Dehuai ordered the heavily damaged Chinese front-line blocking forces to move to the rear for rest. Among them, the 50th and 66th armies returned to China, and the 38th and 42nd armies retreated to Suchuan and the area west of Wonsan. The second-line unit of the Chinese People's Volunteers officially took over on the 12th. Because Peng Dehuai decisively ordered the troops to retreat on a large scale, a trap carefully arranged by Li Qiwei failed to achieve its goal. This was the Wenshan airborne operation of the US 187th Airborne Regiment.The purpose of the Wenshan airborne operation is to use the rapid maneuvering of the airborne troops to drop a large number of troops on the retreating road of the Chinese and North Korean troops and encircle them.According to intelligence, as long as the airborne is implemented in Wenshan, at least 24,000 Chinese soldiers can be surrounded by the US military's net.Li Qiwei even planned to lead the soldiers to parachute himself. His reason was that he was an old paratrooper, but he was rejected by his subordinates on the grounds that he was 56 years old.Not reconciled, Li Qiwei ran to the airborne field again. He wanted to see with his own eyes how the American paratroopers surrounded and killed a large number of Chinese soldiers.This airborne operation organized 80 C-119 aircraft and 55 C-46 aircraft. However, after the airdrop began, there were many accidents. The first round of airdrop deviated from the scheduled airdrop point. The pursuit of soldiers.In subsequent jumps, 84 more soldiers were injured in parachuting accidents, and 18 soldiers were killed or injured by ground fire after the troops landed.The ground-to-air fire of the Chinese army damaged five transport planes, and another transport plane exploded on the way back to the base, killing all people on board. As a result, the large-scale airborne operations in Wenshan did not encircle any of the retreating Chinese troops, and Li Qiwei was once again very surprised by the speed of the transfer of Chinese troops. On the 20th, the US military occupied the "Idaho Line" and the "Tearing Operation" was completed. On that day, the Chinese army retreated to the north of the 38th parallel - the place where the Chinese army launched its third battle. From February to March 1951, newspapers in Japan and Western countries were full of headlines such as: "U.S. Army Ceases Operations on the 38th Parallel," "Secretary Ways to Solve Diplomacy," "U.S. Army's Cautious Entry into the Korean War." Starting point", "The Eighth Army is 18 kilometers away from the 38th Parallel", "Premonition of the counterattack of the Chinese army", "President Li attended the Pusan ​​mass rally: fight to the north! ""Britain's attitude towards China""A distance of 1.6 kilometers from the 38th parallel""South Korean army patrols crossed the 38th parallel""Truman hopes to end the war decently""MacArthur said he was going to meet the enemy general" So far, North Korea The prospect of war is uncertain.