Chapter 42 Celebration of St. George's Day

On the evening of April 22. The big, round moon rose. Every large-scale attack of the Chinese army fighting at night must choose the time of the full moon. The soft light of the bright moon just illuminates the path of Chinese soldiers. On the frontal front with a width of 200 kilometers, the artillery of the Chinese army's large-scale counterattack suddenly roared. In the Kongsidong mine, Peng Dehuai was sitting in front of a huge map. He was used to sitting like this throughout the battle, watching the staff put up small flags on the map, which indicated where the armies had arrived.

The artillery preparations before the battle, regardless of the number of artillery pieces or the time of shelling, are unprecedented. At that moment, Peng Dehuai may have imagined the scene of the enemy's frontier being bombarded by the Chinese army's fierce artillery fire. It's time to hit. start! Suddenly the staff reported that some troops called and asked: "We are still moving to the position where the impact started. Why did we order the impact to start? Can the impact time be delayed?" How much time can one night have?If the infantry does not attack immediately after the artillery is ready, then the artillery preparation is useless?When they reach the impact position, it will be midnight, and they won't be able to make a breakthrough before dawn. What do they expect in broad daylight?What's up with these troops?

Peng Dehuai's face turned livid. rush!Desperate, direct impact! Although something went wrong, all Chinese officers and soldiers, including Peng Dehuai, were confident about this large-scale battle: look at this formation!With so many troops invested at once, what problem can there be in fighting the American devils? Bugles sound! Nearly 200,000 Chinese officers and soldiers began an overwhelming impact on the entire front! The left-wing Ninth Corps quickly broke through the enemy's defensive frontier, and its main force developed in depth, annihilating one part each of the 24th U.S. Division and one part of the Sixth Division of South Korea. On the 23rd, it had advanced 30 kilometers into the enemy's depth.

Although the Third Corps of the Central Group arrived at the attack position only ten days ago, it also penetrated into the depths of the enemy and cut off the connection between the east and west enemies. After the right-wing 19th Corps wiped out the enemy on the west bank of the Linjin River, it forcibly crossed the Linjin River on the 23rd and launched a continuous attack on the enemy in front of it. In the face of the sudden counterattack launched by the Chinese army, the first reaction of the commander of the US Eighth Army Van Fleet was to organize the troops to retreat.But the exception is that he was determined from the very beginning not to give up Seoul no matter what. He believed that the loss of Seoul was not only the loss of a city, but the key to the entire war situation.

Who said that this "old-fashioned soldier" doesn't understand politics? Van Fleet immediately ordered the emergency transfer of the 187th Airborne Regiment to Yeongdeungpo on standby, and allocated the 5th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Reserve Cavalry to the 9th Army to strengthen the frontal defense of Seoul. At the same time, he ordered the entire line to retreat to the "Kansas Line". The US 24th Division was immediately hit hard by the Chinese army.Due to the rapid defeat of the Sixth Division of South Korea, the flanks of the U.S. Ninth Army were exposed. The troops of the Ninth Army retreated while fighting, and the troops were almost out of control.The 25th Division of the United States was hit even harder. The shock troops of the Chinese army not only fired fiercely, but also participated in tanks.At midnight, the 27th Regiment couldn't stand it anymore and began to retreat to the Shibaura-ri line, and the 24th Regiment also retreated to the south bank of Hantan River to organize a defensive position.The Chinese army surrounded the Turkish brigade during the retreat of the 24th regiment. The brigade made a desperate resistance. The artillery fired all the shells overnight, and led the whole brigade to escape to the south with a battalion as the lead. , They withdrew 15 kilometers south overnight.

The 27th Brigade of the British Army was covering the withdrawal of the United Nations Army from Seoul. The 27th Brigade once again acted as the vanguard for the United Nations forces.VanVleet's order: "Hold your ground." When the Chinese army launched a counterattack, only the 29th Brigade of the British Army was not affected at first.They looked at the artillery fire that was shining in the red half of the sky, and the violent gunshots from the positions on both sides of the east-west line, and they didn't understand why there was no movement here. The brigade has made all preparations for the ceremony.Because the next day is an important day for the British: St. George's Head.This is a religious memorial day, and the British generally call it Patron Saint Day.

However, when the Patronus Day came, what fell on the British was not the patronage, but the fierce attack of the Chinese army. When the 29th Brigade of the British Army suddenly felt that there was movement around its position, the Chinese army had surrounded them on three sides. The Belgian battalion at the forefront was the first to be hit.The battalion was located on the north bank of the Linjin River. When the first shock wave of the Chinese army started, the battalion immediately fell into chaos.The communication link with the brigade was cut off, with the big river in the dark behind, and the killing sounds of Chinese soldiers in front, so the whole battalion cried out in despair.A battalion from the 29th Brigade tried to cross the river to rescue them, but soon the battalion was overwhelmed.The Belgian battalion was engulfed by the flood of Chinese soldiers, and the panicked Belgians jumped into the Linjin River to flee for their lives. The survivors went ashore under the cover of tanks, and disappeared in a swarm of night as they fled southward.

The most urgent was the Gloucester Battalion on the left flank of the 29th Brigade.In the middle of the night, the soldiers of the Chinese 63rd Army who had crossed the Linjin River surrounded Company A at the front of the battalion after their first assault. At dawn, with most of the company's casualties, the Chinese army occupied the high ground on both sides of the battalion, cutting off the British army's retreat.The 29th Brigade invested in a battalion of artillery support, and each gun of a battalion fired thousands of shells, and the barrels were red, but there was still no way to improve the situation of the Gloucester Battalion.The U.S. aircraft began to drop a large amount of supplies to the position, but the materials dropped in the melee between the enemy and the enemy were basically used by Chinese soldiers.The Gloucester camp ran out of ammunition and food, and dirges sang on all sides.The latest order they received from the brigade headquarters is still: stick to the spot.

The Gloucester Battalion is the only unit in the British Army to wear two hat badges. This is the honor that this unit won when the expedition to Egypt was besieged 150 years ago. Before dawn, the world began to drizzle.Yang Dezhi, commander of the 19th Corps of China, and his headquarters waded across the Linjin River.The captives escorted by Chinese soldiers came head-on.There are corpses and scattered supplies all over the river bank.A team of British tanks was heading north, captured from the 29th British Brigade. The Chinese soldiers, who couldn't drive, drove the British prisoners.As the sun rose, the generals of the XIX Corps marched with branches held above their heads for air defense.

As soon as the train transporting the 19th Corps entered North Korea, because it could not travel during the day, the train hid in a cave.As a result, the train's brakes failed.Sliding along the steep slope without the front of the car, the sliding became faster and faster. After 10 minutes, it rushed into a station at lightning speed, and was about to collide with the carriages parked in the station. Fortunately, a young North Korean boy drove quickly. The switch made the carriage slide onto a safe track.All the senior commanders of the Nineteenth Corps in the carriage, including Yang Dezhi, felt a little terrified when they thought that a North Korean boy who was as tall as a gun had saved the entire Corps.In addition, before the start of the battle, Fu Chongbi, the commander of the 63rd Army, took several staff officers to find the First Army Corps of the North Korean People's Army. Unexpectedly, they encountered a group of enemy tanks. When asked, the First Army Corps of the People's Army had already retreated. , the U.S. military is now fighting back.Commander Fu Chongbi could only hide on the mountain. As a result, the 63rd Army began to block the enemy before reaching the predetermined defensive location.

When the 63rd Army's blockade was fierce, the 64th Army, which was tasked with interspersing the Ui government, made slow progress.The Ui government threatened Seoul's offense and defense from the front, and Peng Dehuai paid special attention to this.After the 64th Army crossed the river, it was still unable to move forward under the blocking of US tanks and aircraft.For this reason, Yang Dezhi received a telegram from Peng Dehuai: "You must continue to work hard, organize a combination of firepower and movement, and advance bravely towards the Ui government and its north-south lines. Otherwise, the frontal enemy will fight back and forth and retreat to the south bank of the Han River. It will increase the difficulty of crossing the river to carry out the war situation, hope to understand this idea deeply, and resolutely implement it." Therefore, Yang Dezhi sent two consecutive telegrams to the 64th Army, urging them to quickly break through the enemy's blocking line of defense. The remaining people, although they have fortifications, strong firepower, and crazy bombing by planes, are scattered on the front forty to fifty miles wide. (2) The main force of our army has stopped in the narrow backwater area of ​​the south of the Yangtze River. If we do not resolutely attack, we will die, and we will inevitably suffer unnecessary losses and cause more difficulties. (3) All military divisions should sacrifice their lives according to their original tasks tonight, and organize firepower to closely coordinate and actively cooperate to resolutely attack and wipe out the place.If the divisions of the Sixty-Fourth Army do not rush into their destinations to complete their combat missions, they will be sanctioned by revolutionary discipline. Due to the obstruction of the 64th Army, the 19th Corps was forced to send the 65th Army of the second echelon to reinforce the 64th Army. Yang Dezhi directly communicated with Zeng Siyu, commander of the 64th Army, and ordered him to break through quickly. , Interspersed in depth, complete the task at all costs. However, after the fierce battle, only one reconnaissance team and one battalion of the 64th Army were able to break through. Although the subsequent penetration reached 120 kilometers in depth and occupied the traffic leading to Seoul to give way to Dobong Mountain, it posed a great threat to the US military. However, due to too few troops, it could not hold on effectively.The main force of the 64th Army was still unable to advance despite repeated attacks. The 65th Army, the second echelon that was ordered to reinforce, came up and stood behind the 64th Army that could not advance. As a result, the five divisions of the Chinese Army More than 60,000 people were all crowded on the narrow riverside on the south bank of the Linjin River.They couldn't advance forward, and there was no order to retreat. It was daytime when U.S. planes bombarded and strafed Chinese soldiers who had no air defense capabilities. On the left wing of the Chinese army's assault front is the Ninth Corps led by Song Shilun, which governs the 26th, 27th, 20th, and 40th armies.During the second battle, the Ninth Corps suffered huge losses in the battle against the First Division of the US Marine Corps on the Eastern Front. The number of soldiers with frostbite was greater than the casualties in the battle. They rested on the Eastern Front for five months. After supplementing with recruits and equipment, they re-entered the battle of the fifth battle. On the front of the Ninth Corps, at the forefront is the Sixth Division of South Korea. Just the day before the Chinese army launched a counterattack, the Sixth Division of South Korea was still marching northward as planned.At around 17:00 in the evening, they were suddenly attacked by a large-scale Chinese army on their way to the north.After only a symbolic resistance, the division commander Zhang Duying ordered the troops to retreat to the "A" line.The so-called "A" line is a predetermined defensive line a few kilometers to the rear.However, the army was defeated like a mountain, and the position of the second regiment was rounded by the Chinese army from both sides. After the regiment command post was bombarded, the whole regiment immediately retreated. Seeing what happened to the Second Regiment, the Nineteenth Regiment did not dare to advance rashly. After watching for a while, they found that Chinese troops also appeared behind them, so they knew that something was wrong and began to retreat.During the retreat, the 19th Regiment was disrupted by the impact of the Chinese army. The head of the regiment, Lin Yichun, was unable to organize the troops to block the attack, so it was defeated across the board.As the reserve team, the Seventh Regiment had originally made blocking preparations on the "A" line, and the task was to cover the retreat of the main force, but they soon understood that as the division's reserve team, they would become the front line in an instant, and the fate of the front line was unbearable. , so the Seventh Regiment began to flee wildly without fighting. In this direction, the task of the Chinese 40th Army is to penetrate. After the 120th Division launched a full-scale attack on the 6th Division of South Korea, the three regiments of the division intersected side by side, chasing and fighting fiercely.During the attack, the 360th Regiment discovered that an enemy mechanized team two miles long on the road down the mountain was retreating southward.The head of the regiment, Xu Rui, saw the "fat meat" and could not be considered, so he immediately ordered the troops to attack.It turned out that the Artillery Battalion of the 6th Division of South Korea was on the road to the south and the self-propelled artillery battalion supported by the 24th Division of the United States head-on. The road was surrounded by a cliff on one side and a big river on the other. Go back to the front to fight while South Korean soldiers keep the US troops out of the way. When there was a quarrel, the Chinese army came.Chinese soldiers sealed off both ends of the road, then rushed towards the steel formation with light weapons in hand.American soldiers and South Korean soldiers fled under the cover of tanks, but the violent mortar shells and bullets of Chinese soldiers turned this section of the road into a sea of ​​flames.Chinese soldiers chased the fleeing American soldiers and South Korean soldiers in the flames, killing or capturing them under cars and in tanks.At dawn, Commander Xu Rui got on the road, and he saw a scene that shocked even a veteran: countless tanks, cars and self-propelled guns crowded together and burned, and many cars had been knocked upside down by the tanks.A self-propelled artillery was crushed on a jeep, and the American officer in the jeep was crushed.The corpses of South Korean soldiers and American soldiers are everywhere, and the corpses have been charred. On the entire road, the air is filled with a choking smell... The 358th Regiment of the 120th Division encountered the troops of the 1st Marine Division of the US Army during the interlude.First, Han Qinzhong of the seventh squadron found a helicopter parked under the hillside, and several US military officers were coming out of the cabin.Han Qinzhong immediately led the seventh squadron to rush forward, but the helicopter was broken by the explosion of the grenade and the strafing of the machine gun.The U.S. troops ran up the mountain, and the seventh squad chased them. Who knew they caught up with a position belonging to the first U.S. Marine Division.Han Qinzhong and his soldiers couldn't control that much anymore, and rushed up the mountain resolutely and bravely.The U.S. infantry was startled by such a fearless impact, left their positions, turned around and ran away. A tank fired at the Chinese soldiers, and Han Qinzhong was wounded.Angry, he got up and rushed to the tank, throwing a Molotov cocktail on the tank.The Chinese soldiers kept chasing the U.S. soldiers into a cave, and about one platoon of U.S. soldiers realized that only a few Chinese soldiers were beating them, so they started to fight back.Han Qinzhong was wounded again, this time in the chest, and blood gushed out.At this time, he heard the sound of bugles, and looking back, the main force had arrived, and he fell to the ground because of excessive bleeding. Han Qinzhong was brave in battle and was the first infantry soldier in the Volunteer Army to destroy a U.S. helicopter. Therefore, he was recorded as a first-class meritorious service and won the "Medal of Honor for Second-Class Soldiers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea". The 358th Regiment, with the cooperation of the 2nd Battalion of the 359th Regiment, surrounded the U.S. troops who were compressed in Banweidong.It was already dawn, and under the cover of dozens of aircraft, the US military began to break out.Regardless of the bombing of the planes and the blocking of artillery fire, the Chinese army resolutely charged, but due to the lack of anti-tank weapons, it failed to block the breakout of the US military, and saw the US military run away. In the face of the powerful firepower of the U.S. military, even if the Chinese army surrounded the U.S. military, even with a force several times that of the enemy, they could not completely devour the enemy. This was revealed in the previous battles of the Korean War. The problem, is still being repeated in this campaign. The Second Battalion of the 359th Regiment of the 1st and 2nd Army Division surrounded an artillery battalion of the US Army during the pursuit.This is the 92nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion of the United States. It is equipped with large-caliber artillery. There are two companies of 155mm armored self-propelled artillery and one company of 200mm towed howitzers. Provide fire support.They have already built the circular fortifications and are equipped with a firepower network of tank groups and anti-aircraft machine guns. Therefore, they don't take the attack of the Chinese army seriously. They also intercept the fleeing South Korean soldiers on the road and call them all asshole.The Second Battalion of the 359th Regiment of China, in order to remove this artillery position that caused great damage to the Chinese army's attack, the two companies took turns to attack desperately. They fought for three days and three nights. In the end, there were only less than a hundred people left in the two companies. , but still failed to knock down this US artillery position. The U.S. field artillery battalion blocked the attack of the Chinese army while fulfilling the support task that the group army continued to give them to fire in all directions. They persisted for three days and three nights before retreating, and the entire battalion suffered only 15 casualties. The 118th Division quickly broke through the powerless resistance of the South Korean Sixth Division, and developed rapidly in depth.The 354th Regiment, which fired the first shot into the war, served as the assault regiment on the left wing of the division.The 354th Regiment's fierce interspersed and quick movements even surprised the division headquarters.Because the third battalion was interspersed too fiercely, after defeating the enemy's many interceptions, it penetrated 120 kilometers behind the enemy.At dawn, they arrived at a place called Mudongli.At this place, the third battalion discovered that the South Korean army in front of them had long since disappeared. The enemy confronting them was white-skinned and blue-eyed soldiers, using British-made "Century Captain" tanks, and submachine guns were also British-made. When the prisoner asked, it turned out that he was a Canadian.The 3rd Battalion, which was too far away from the follow-up troops, was soon surrounded by the 25th Canadian Brigade. The strength of the troops was disparate, and the food and ammunition were exhausted. Liu Yuzhu believes that the task of interspersing troops is to cut off the enemy's horizontal reinforcements. Now that they have reached this point, they must fight bloody to the end, disrupt the enemy's rear, and do their best to disrupt the enemy's planned deployment.Determined, all the cadres burned their documents and notebooks, and went into battle in a desperate state. With the support of planes and tanks, the Canadian army launched a crazy attack on this lonely Chinese army.The steel tanks broke through the blocking formation of the Chinese soldiers, besieging the Chinese soldiers who were scattered and resisting on several hills beside the road.Some Chinese soldiers started hand-to-hand combat with Canadian soldiers. The rocket launchers of the machine gun company ran out of ammunition after destroying several enemy tanks, and the Chinese soldiers rushed towards the enemy to grab their guns.Health worker Yu Changan was holding a wooden splint that was only intended to fix the broken bones of the wounded. The Canadian soldiers didn't know what kind of weapon it was, so they threw it down and ran away.The clerk, Jiang Chen, felt exhausted when wrestling with the tall Canadian soldier, so he reached out and touched the Canadian soldier's face, and pulled out his eyeballs with all his strength.At the last moment, the battalion commander Li Lunzhang discussed with the regiment chief of staff Liu Yuzhu, and each led a team to break through from the east and west directions.Li Dezhang broke through first and attracted the enemy's firepower. The team suffered all casualties before crossing the road, and Li Dezhang was also shot and fell down.Liu Yuzhu was killed in the violent machine gun fire, and the troops he led were also dispersed. Liu Yuzhu, who joined the army in 1949, was brave in combat and cared for soldiers. He was a commander loved by the officers and soldiers of the whole regiment.He has gone through several brutal battles since the Battle of the Huo Dynasty, and he has always been at the forefront with the soldiers. The remaining soldiers of the third battalion resisted tenaciously in the breakout, and persisted until dark, and the Canadian army withdrew. After Li Dezhang woke up, he led all the wounded soldiers to the enemy's rear, and returned to the army four days later. The Chinese officers and soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 354th Regiment restrained the enemy's reinforcements in depth, thus creating favorable conditions for the frontal forces to attack. Battalion Commander Li Dezhang was a good man and lived a long life. He passed away in 1994.His old comrade-in-arms wrote in the elegiac couplet given to him: It is rare to be ambitious and bold, to lead the way, and everything is inevitable; he has always been outspoken, sticks to his faith, and is daring all his life. On the 23rd, the armies of the Left Wing Corps had advanced 15-20 kilometers deep into the enemy. The thirty-ninth army has a special mission.The army wants to use part of its forces to contain the first U.S. Marine Division in Huachuan, so that it cannot be aided from the west.Fighting with the 1st Marine Division of the United States, there is also a South Korean Marine Corps.On the day when the Chinese army began to attack, the South Korean Army Marine Regiment was still marching north. They used pontoon bridges and amphibious vehicles to cross the North Han River and occupied a high ground in the Hwacheon area near noon.The military history of the South Korean Army wrote about this: "After fierce fighting, the Chinese Communist Army fled in embarrassment, and joined with the Fifth Marine Regiment to share the joy of victory." For this reason, Smith, the commander of the First Division of the US Marine Corps, called Here is a "congratulatory message": "Your officer and the officers and soldiers under your officer fought against the enemy's powerful attack, resolutely resisted, and stood firm. I am deeply grateful for this brave fighting spirit. We are grateful for the fact that we can work together with such a powerful Korean Marine Corps." Fighting with pride." However, a few hours later, "such a powerful South Korean Marine Corps" retreated under the strong pressure of the Chinese 39th Army.First, the junction of the 1st U.S. Marine Division and the 6th South Korean Division was broken through by the Chinese 39th Army; the South Korean Marine Corps immediately retreated, and before it could gain a firm footing on the new defensive position, its tenth company position was in danger: The company commander was seriously injured, and the soldiers carried the company commander and ran back.Immediately afterwards was the crisis of the eleventh company's position: the company commander of the eleventh company was also injured and carried off the position.During the retreat of the South Korean Marine Corps and the 1st Marine Division of the US Marine Corps, the support plane of the US Marine Corps in the sky actually dropped a bomb on the command post of the 1st Battalion of the South Korean Marine Corps. The fire of the napalm bomb burned its own people . At the same time as the left and right wings of the Chinese army assaulted, the Third Corps of the Central Assault Group also assaulted in the direction of Huachuan.After the breakthrough, it was stubbornly resisted by the U.S. Third Division and the Turkish Brigade north of Lianchuan, and the progress was not fast. It was only on the 23rd that it returned to the Dalianchuan area and continued to attack in the direction of horizontal and Shaochengli. In the direction of Seoul, the Gloster Tube of the 29th Brigade of the British Army still persisted in isolation.To relieve the battalion, the 29th Brigade ordered the Filipino Battalion to go for reinforcements under the cover of a tank company.When approaching the Gloucester Camp, the Philippine Battalion was blocked by the Chinese army and could not advance. The tanks were also attacked. The front tank was destroyed by the Chinese soldiers and blocked the road.After the failure of the reinforcements, the 29th Brigade added the Belgian Battalion and the Puerto Rican troops of the 65th Regiment to the reinforcements, but it was still unable to move only two kilometers from the Gloucester Camp.Soon, the 29th Brigade was forced to retreat, and the encircled Gloucester Battalion finally received an order to break out, but there was no hope of breaking out.Half of the battalion was killed, and including the wounded, less than 300 survived.The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kahn, asked for artillery support and broke through, but because the 29th Brigade had already run too far, the answer was "cannot support".Lieutenant Colonel Kahn was forced to issue the order to "disperse the breakout".The wounded gathered in the field, and with the wounded were the battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Kahn, the military doctor Captain Hickey, three medical soldiers, and the chaplain Davis. The British soldiers who broke out immediately fell into the Chinese army's net. Liu Guangzi, a soldier of the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the 561st Regiment of the 187th Division of the 63rd Army of China, was born in Liuxiao Village, Jianzidi Township, Hangjinhou Banner, Inner Mongolia. He was 30 years old.He was born in a poor peasant family fleeing famine. In order to repay the rent owed, he served in the Kuomintang army for ten years. In 1948, he was "liberated" by the People's Liberation Army and joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army.He is introverted and doesn't like to talk.From the time he entered the DPRK to fight, he had the idea of ​​making military exploits. When pursuing north with the troops, he found several escaped British soldiers.He was determined to catch him alive.After approaching, he shot and stood up, shouting, which startled him, and a large group of British soldiers stood up behind the stone! Dozens of fierce faces and dozens of black muzzles approached him. He encouraged himself: calm down!Hold your breath! The British's muzzle pressed against Liu Guangzi's chest. An officer's pistol was aimed at his forehead. Liu Guangzi pulled off the safety of the grenade calmly. At the moment when the grenade was about to explode, Liu Guangzi shrank back, threw the grenade, and rolled down the hillside. The sound of the grenade explosion attracted the troops, and the Chinese soldiers began to encircle and suppress the British soldiers.Waking up, Liu Guangzi chased the fleeing British soldiers in the dark night.The cotton coat on his body was already drenched with sweat, and he was panting like a bellows. He was determined to catch up and catch a few alive to make a great contribution! Liu Guangzi once again intercepted a large group of British soldiers.He stood in front of the British and shouted: "Whoever runs again will be killed!" A tall British soldier with a machine gun in the lead put down his gun first and raised his hand.Other British soldiers also dropped their guns on the ground. There was a group of British soldiers running not far away. Liu Guangzi swept the shuttle with a machine gun and shouted that the group of British soldiers stopped running. Liu Guangzi gathered a large group of British soldiers around him, and took out the English leaflets in his arms for them to read, and the prisoners quieted down. The company was a little nervous not seeing Liu Guangzi's shadow for a long time, thinking that he was injured or sacrificed.I was anxious, and suddenly saw a group of soldiers from a certain army coming from a distance. When I was about to shoot, I saw these British people raised their hands, and Liu Guangzi, covered in blood, followed behind with a machine gun. The Chinese soldiers immediately counted the prisoners captured by Liu Guangzi, and counted them twice before they could count: 63. This is the highest record for a Chinese soldier's second team to capture an enemy soldier in the Korean War. Liu Guangzi was awarded first-class merit. The British soldiers captured by Liu Guangzi belonged to the Gloucester Battalion, because they all had two cockades on their hats. The 29th Brigade of the British Army lost most of its personnel and most of its equipment. However, from the perspective of the overall situation on the battlefield, perhaps it was the Gloucester Battalion of the 29th British Brigade who persisted in the forward position for three days, which to some extent contained the development of the Chinese army in front of them, and made the United Nations in the direction of Seoul. The army was able to retreat relatively completely. On the 25th, the fourth day of the fifth campaign, the Chinese army fought for three consecutive days and nights. Although a gap in the battle was opened in the direction of Gapyeong, which posed a serious threat to the US flank, the development of the battle was basically flat and the enemy was not wiped out. .The United Nations forces gradually retreated to the second-line positions of Jinping Mountain, Zhuye Mountain, Shuping County, and Chuncheon to continue to block. Van Fleet resolutely implemented Ridgway's tactical thinking, with a maximum retreat of 30 kilometers per night, because 30 kilometers is also the maximum limit for the Chinese army to attack at night.Stop after retreating 30 kilometers, and then immediately use the daytime to turn to defense, giving full play to its powerful firepower advantage to kill as much as possible to the Chinese army.When it gets dark, retreat again depending on the situation.At this time, Van Fleet also knew that the duration of the Chinese army's offensive operations was limited. On the 26th, Peng Dehuai made the following report to Mao Zedong on the development of the fifth campaign and his plans for the next step: (1) In order to delay the enemy's landing and avoid fighting on two fronts at the same time, we started this campaign ahead of schedule on April 22, Inadequate preparations.The enemy's troops are deployed close together without any gaps; tactically, when they advance, they step at every step, and when they retreat, they resist every step of the way.We had to go through serious battles to penetrate the enemy's depths before opening the gap. Therefore, after three days and nights of fighting, we failed to reach a plan to detour the government and cut off the return route.It is estimated that the results of the battle are limited and not enough to break the enemy's landing attempt. (2) North Korea has a narrow terrain, a long coastline, many ports, and the enemy has a powerful navy and air force. These are the convenient conditions for its landing.Send large numbers of reinforcements to Japan, and the landings in our rear will be more obvious.In the next battle, we must prepare to fight the enemy's landing force.If our army is fighting in North Korea, if it cannot wipe out a large number of enemy landing troops, it will never give up its landing ambition.At the same time, North Korea has a narrow terrain, and if the enemy does not land, it will not be easy to separate if the troops are concentrated.It is better to use the enemy's landing to isolate its connection, which is conducive to defeating each one. (3) If the enemy lands soon, although I am prepared, it is still difficult to deal with a two-front battle.If we can delay the enemy's landing for a month to one and a half months, we will be able to deal with operations on both fronts at the same time. (4) According to the above, in this battle, the main force of our army should not go too far south.After breaking the enemy's resistance, we plan to use one corps and two corps of the People's Army to pursue them to the 37th parallel.If the enemy is guarding the Han River and the bridgehead positions in Seoul, we will use small troops to monitor and attack them, and send part of the enemy's reserve corps to reinforce the front, delay their landing time, and weaken their landing force in order to wipe them out.The main force of our army is placed in the mobile area north of the 38th parallel and is ready to annihilate the enemy's landing forces, or attack the enemy's frontal counterattack. Peng Dehuai is very sure that the US military will definitely implement a landing operation.Judging from a large amount of information from all parties involved in the war after the war, although both MacArthur and Ridgway always had the idea of ​​landing behind the Chinese army, the US military never really prepared for this.The reason is simple, in the Korean War.The military actions of the U.S. military are inevitably affected by political factors. From the perspective of the Truman administration, the U.S. government has no plans to further expand the war. was dismissed early. Mao Zedong agreed with Peng Dehuai's analysis, and emphasized again that "at present, we should prepare for the enemy's landing soon, so as not to be passive." As a result, the Chinese army continued to develop in depth on the 26th, and occupied the second-line positions of the United Nations Army on the same day. On the 28th, the 19th Chinese right-wing soldiers occupied Guosi Peak.Ogeum-ri and Baekyundae areas; the 3rd Corps of the middle road entered the Ziil-ri and Bupyeong-ri areas, and the 9th Corps of the left wing entered the Jinpha-ri, Julingsan, Cheongpyeong-ri, Gapyeong, and Chuncheon areas. On that day, the main force of the US military withdrew to Seoul and south of the Bukhan River and Soyang River to organize defenses. Once again, the city of Seoul was in a state of panic. No matter what Syngman Rhee or even Li Qiwei said they would never give up on Seoul, there was still the third wave of refugees fleeing from Seoul since the outbreak of the Korean War. The First Division of the U.S. Cavalry was ordered to go to Seoul and organize a dense firepower network around Seoul.The firepower network is composed of cannons and aircraft. Each artillery company fired an average of more than 3,000 shells. On the 28th, the U.S. Air Force carried out 39 violent bombardments on the frontier of Seoul. precedent. At this time, the Chinese army had no intention of occupying Seoul. All the troops of the Chinese army at the front are now exhausted. On the 29th, Peng Dehuai ordered the Chinese army to stop attacking across the board. The fifth battle began on April 22, 1951 and ended on April 29, which lasted seven full days. Seven days is a week, which is exactly what Ridgway called "weekly offensive". But what should the Chinese military do when the attack ceases?