On November 1, 1950, the morning in Yunshan City was shrouded in thick fog.
In the afternoon, Wang Yang, commander of the 116th Division of the 39th Army of China, suddenly became nervous. Through observation, he discovered that enemy tanks, cars and infantry in the northeast of Yunshan began to move backward. Enemies also began to come and go frequently. At the same time, the observation post on the right wing also reported that they found that the enemy in front of them had picked up a backpack and started to drive backwards in a car. Wang Yang's first reaction was: Yunshan's enemies had realized that they were surrounded on three sides and wanted to escape. Wang Yang looked at his watch. At 16:00, there were still more than three hours left before the scheduled attack time. If he did not attack immediately, the fighter plane would be lost. The Chinese division commander's heart beat violently.
This is the day when the Korean War will undergo an important turning point.
The right wing of the United Nations army was defeated without being able to finally determine where the troops fighting them came from. Although Walker adjusted his deployment and the number of troops crossing the Qingchuan River increased, the troops Still in a scattered state. Driven by an inexplicable sense of luck, MacArthur planned to end the war before Thanksgiving.
Peng Dehuai keenly felt that the somewhat chaotic situation of troop mobilization when the Volunteer Army first entered the DPRK has ended. Each army has now reached its designated position, and the Volunteer Army can concentrate 10-12 divisions***15 Fighting with tens of thousands of troops, the superiority of troops ushered in the opportunity to win. Peng Dehuai's battle plan to deal a huge blow to the United Nations Army was to break through the enemy's shattered right wing, conduct a frontal attack combined with deep detours, cut off the north-south connection of the United Nations Army, and annihilate the enemy in the area north of the Qingchuan River.
However, when they were not attacked, Yunshan's enemies showed signs of escaping. Wu Xinquan, commander of the 39th Army, had to decide to advance the attack time to 17:00.
Peng Dehuai agreed.
The Chinese army that has been preparing for a long time in front of Yunshan is about to sweep into the small Yunshan City, and Peng Dehuai's attempt to completely annihilate the enemy depends on the 38th right wing crossing horizontally to the west. The speed and quality of the army's advance.
It was later learned that the United Nations troops in front of Yunshan discovered by Wang Yang, the commander of the 116th Division, were not retreating, but that the troops of the South Korean First Division were changing defenses with the Eighth Regiment of the US First Cavalry Division. .
After the change of defense, the Eighth Regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division was at the forefront the moment the Chinese army launched its attack. The officers and soldiers of the 39th Chinese Army did not know this. After the attack began, they Still believe that the other party is the troops of the First Division of South Korea.
The anxious Chinese 39th Army's artillery preparations began at 16:40 on November 1.
Colorful flares soared into the sky in the dusk, and the sounds of various firearms shook the Yunshan Valley. Following the artillery fire, the volunteer infantry began to attack Yunshan.
In the battle to clear the small highlands outside Yunshan, the South Korean army's defense line was quickly broken through. Colonel Johnson, the commander of the 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, saw the retreating South Korean soldiers and later described them this way: "They were clay sculpture troops, completely in a state of trance. I was completely confused about my jeep and the occasional gunshots nearby. Not caring, expressionless, just like the American soldiers I saw before surrendering in Bataan."
The Chinese army's attack quickly approached the US military. According to U.S. military war history records, China's artillery fire was very fierce. After checking the ballistics, it was found that it was the 82mm Soviet-made "Katyusha" artillery that appeared in Stalingrad during World War II and terrified the German army. The emergence of this weapon meant that the attacking army was not an ordinary army. At this time, the U.S. Eighth Cavalry Regiment began to realize the reality. The Chinese army's almost invisible formation of attacking people appeared and disappeared in all directions, and they rushed in front of the US military in an instant. A Chinese soldier named Zhang Sheng of the 347th Regiment came to the back of the machine gun position when his troops were stopped by a machine gunner. Instead of using a gun, he hugged the American machine gunner and rolled down the cliff together - -Similar scenes happened everywhere in the darkness on the hills around Yunshan. The highlands outside Yunshan were broken through one after another. American soldiers continued to be killed or injured or scrambled to escape amidst the shouts they could not understand. , the US military's defensive positions were quickly compressed.
In the battle to clear out the outskirts of Yunshan, the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion of the 348th Regiment of the 39th Army set a record in the Korean War. They attacked along the east bank of the Sandan River in the direction of Unsan. After a hand-to-hand battle with American soldiers on a highway bridge, Li Lianhua, the deputy squad leader, discovered four house-sized objects not far ahead in the flames of the shell explosion. .
Li Lianhua visited here for reconnaissance before the war, and it was originally an open land. He cautiously moved forward and saw clearly that there were actually four planes here. It turned out that this open area had become a temporary airport for the US military. The American soldiers guarding the airport immediately came into contact with the Chinese soldiers. In the battle, one squadron suffered serious casualties, and only Li Lianhua was left. and another soldier. The two Chinese volunteer soldiers stubbornly approached the plane. Although both of them were injured during the approach, they never fell down until they dragged the last American who resisted out of the cockpit of a plane.
After the Chinese soldiers occupied the temporary airport, they immediately tried to use manpower to push the heavy aircraft to a hidden place and hide it. However, they could not push it, so they used a large amount of corn stalks to cover the four aircraft.
It was later learned that this was an artillery school shooting aircraft and three light aircraft, sent by the US military Far East Headquarters in Japan. They took off from Tokyo Airport, Japan, that afternoon, and the aircraft were on board. It was a reporter who came to interview the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army. The reporters encountered fighting before they could cover anything. The emergency takeoff was unsuccessful because the plane was surrounded by Chinese soldiers. Chinese volunteer soldiers seized four American aircraft with rifles and bayonets in their hands. This was the only time during the Korean War that the Chinese Volunteer Army captured a US military aircraft.
“The fierce battle is over,” Zhao Shunshan recalled. “Both Yu Shixiong and Tian Youfu were lying next to the fortifications. They were unconscious. I knelt beside Yu Shixiong, and his left hand was still tightly held. The enemy's pistol was clenched with teeth. I wiped the blood on his body and found the wound of the pistol bullet on his stomach. I felt very sad. He was injured because of me. Tian Youfu was lying next to Yu Shixiong. , his right leg was broken, and the entire trouser leg was stained red with blood. He was injured before the melee fight, but when the enemy rushed up, he still jumped up with his only leg and hugged the enemy, dragging him until I "This is my first battle abroad. This is the battle where I really test the strength of the Americans. The so-called 'ace' is just that. Victory will always be ours."
At this time, Yunshan City was already in chaos. The fourth company of the 346th Regiment of the 116th Division of the 39th Army that rushed into the city reached the highway bridge. The bridge was guarded by Company M of the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division. "A column of soldiers from a company approached the south bridge solemnly and neatly along the main road leading to Yongsan-dong. The American soldiers guarding the bridge probably thought they were South Korean troops and let them pass without questioning because they were upright. , walked over very quietly," the U.S. military war history records said, "After passing the bridge, the column continued to move north on the main road, and soon approached the battalion headquarters. Suddenly the bugle was blown, and they began to attack the battalion headquarters together. "Four. The company's military operations were like performances on a stage. In addition to their audacity, the Chinese soldiers' wit was most vividly demonstrated here. According to historical records of China's 39th Army, Chinese soldiers even "shaked hands with the U.S. military" when crossing the bridge. The headquarters of the Third Battalion of the Eighth U.S. Regiment immediately fell into chaos. The Chinese soldiers spread out in a fan formation, and there was the sound of hand-to-hand fighting around the battalion headquarters.
The U.S. military’s war history describes this battle in detail: The Chinese opened fire indiscriminately, constantly throwing grenades and explosive packets into the car, and the car was hit. However, some units around the command post were still sleeping soundly in fox holes or hidden fortifications. Apparently, they were waiting for the order to retreat. One of the soldiers later recalled that when he woke up, the battle had already begun... Someone woke me up and asked me if I heard a group of horses galloping and neighing... In a moment, our station was riddled with holes... When I heard When I heard the sound of bugles and horse hooves in the distance, I thought I was still dreaming. The enemy seemed to be descending from the sky in the clouds and mist, and their figures were blurred. They shot at anyone they saw, and even stabbed them with bayonets.
A volunteer grenade seriously injured the U.S. battalion commander, Major Robert Ormond. He and a captain named McCabe escaped from the battalion. McCabe’s helmet was immediately blown away and his shoulder blade was drilled. A bullet was inserted. He was lying on the roadside unable to move due to excessive blood loss. At this time, something strange and lucky happened to the American captain: several Chinese soldiers pointed their bayonets at him, but did not stab him or even hand over his gun. They just said something to each other. McCabe pointed to the south edge, and the Chinese soldiers turned around and left. McCabe survived. He is still amazed at how he survived. He thought that the Chinese soldiers surrounding him were discussing something with each other, and the result of the discussion was that he did not look like an enemy. After dawn, "Mosquito" aircraft and bombers came and bombed the Yunshan Highway Bridge, a traffic artery occupied by the Chinese army. Only then did the Third Battalion of the Eighth Regiment of the First U.S. Cavalry Division have the opportunity to count the number of people, but the number of dead It was impossible to count them all, but there were 170 wounded lying in the small circular position formed by three tanks.
Only four people from the vanguard of the volunteers who rushed into the streets of Yunshan were still uninjured. They worked in pairs and searched along the streets, but their way forward was blocked by a US tank. The heavy machine gun fire on the tank caused casualties to the following Chinese troops, and Zhao Zilin, the leader of the vanguard, became angry. He crawled to a small shop and got a blasting tube from a neighboring unit that was shooting at a US tank. Zhao Zilin grabbed the blasting tube and climbed towards the tank. U.S. tanks covered several trucks filled with U.S. soldiers and fired wildly at the approaching Chinese soldiers. In order to cover Zhao Zilin, the Chinese soldiers desperately struggled with the U.S. troops, and Zhao Zilin finally got close to the tanks. The sound of the tanks was so loud that the ground in the street shook violently. Zhao Zilin suddenly stood up in front of the tank. When the tank drove in front of him, he pulled the fuse of the blasting barrel. He didn't have time to hide. The huge explosion was earth-shattering. Zhao Zilin finally opened his eyes forcefully. Chinese soldiers were rushing towards the American soldiers through the black smoke.
The U.S. troops in Yunshan City began to flee south, but their retreat had been cut off. Soldiers from the 345th Regiment of the 115th Division of the 39th Army of China have seized a highway intersection called Zhuren Bridge.
At the end of the battle, dozens of American soldiers surrendered with white flags under fierce attack. They told the translator that their officers had said that there were four conditions for surrender: first, there were no bullets, second, there was no dry food. The third is that contact is interrupted, and the fourth is that it is impossible to break through. They met all conditions for surrender.
The Eighth Regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division, which was compressed in a narrow open area south of Yunshan, was faced with the fate of being surrounded by enemies on all sides.
At dawn on January 2, the U.S. Eighth Army ordered a full retreat. The US 24th Division on the west coast received only one sentence: retreat to the line towards the Qingchuan River. The American officers and soldiers in this division are full of uneasiness at the moment. Is the Soviet army participating in the war? Did the Chinese army cut off the escape route? Or was North Korea's total surrender the end of the war? The American soldiers were uneasy amid the rumors that mixed sorrow and joy. The U.S. military's war history stated: "The officers and soldiers began to retreat with disappointment and a general mood of being fascinated by foxes."
Reports from telegrams, phone calls, and reconnaissance planes came to the U.S. Eighth Army like a snowflake. Army headquarters flew in. The large amount of fragmented and pessimistic intelligence was also mixed with optimistic reports, which caused a disaster of judgment for Walker's staff. When describing the atmosphere at that time, the U.S. Army’s war history wrote: “This was a day of hysterical and fanatical work all day long with the worst results. It was also a day when several mistakes occurred... Orders were changed one after another day and night, in a steady flow. Send out..."
At this time, the fifth regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division rushed in from the direction of Bochuan, but when they arrived near the road between Longchengdong and Longtoudong in the south of Yunshan At that time, they were stubbornly blocked by the Chinese army. The blocking force was the 343rd Regiment of the 115th Division of the 39th Army of China. The U.S. military used tanks and heavy artillery to violently bombard the Chinese blocking positions. U.S. Air Force planes dropped a downpour of gasoline on the blocking positions, and then launched their incendiary bombs. The Chinese blocking positions suddenly became a sea of ??flames. It is extremely difficult to block. On the position of the third company of the 343rd Regiment, dozens of US military fighter jets were strafing and bombing in the sky, and waves of tanks and infantry were attacking on the ground. The originally dense woods on the position had turned into scorched earth. There were 160 people in the entire company, but only a few dozen remained at the end of the fight. During the brutal battle, a deputy battalion commander ran away when the sound of tracks of US tanks sounded again in the sea of ????fire. However, all the soldiers in this battalion still stood firm amidst the violent gunfire. When the American soldiers were only 20 meters away from the front of the blocking position, the Chinese soldiers in the fire stood up again. The U.S. military encountered a deadly and violent counterattack by the Chinese army. During the counterattack, the Chinese soldiers whose uniforms were burned by the fire also captured more than 40 American prisoners.
The US military does not understand why the Chinese cannot be burned to death. In fact, the Chinese method is very simple, which is to organize soldiers to dig fire trenches on the blocking position. Chinese soldiers who are farmers are no strangers to the work of digging trenches. While shrapnel was flying, trenches were dug continuously to isolate the fire from the fortifications where the soldiers were hiding. Even when the battle was about to end, the commander of the 343rd Regiment walked onto the battlefield and saw that his soldiers were still digging trenches frantically!
The Americans in the bridge head fortifications of the highway bridge were shooting wildly. Suddenly, they saw a Chinese soldier walking towards them. Soldier Li Fugui took out the 1 million Northeastern coins he was carrying to buy a pen and gave it to his squad leader, saying that he would not come back until the fortification was blown up. He jumped barefoot into the frozen river and was shot in the left shoulder in the middle of the river. The pain made him shed tears, but he did not stop. He walked to the US military fortification and stuffed five grenades tied together. Enter the US military fortifications. The grenade exploded, and the bodies of a squad of American soldiers flew into the air together with the cement and steel of the fortification. The bloody Li Fugui stood in the river and smiled. He was about to raise his legs to follow his troops in pursuit, but he fell into the water. It turned out that his bare feet had frozen together with the river water.
What shocked the US military even more was that Chinese soldiers showed no fear in the face of a 55-ton tank. A Chinese soldier named Wang You in the 39th Army climbed onto a US tank that was shooting wildly during a fierce battle. He held up a grenade and looked for a gap where he could throw it into. There were five American soldiers not far from the tank, watching this scene. Stunned without firing a shot, when Wang You blew up the tank and rushed toward them, they raised their hands to the Chinese soldier.
Night came, and the 7th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division as a reserve sent a battalion to reinforce again in an attempt to rescue the 8th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division which was being gradually eaten by the Chinese army. McHone, a captain and platoon leader of this battalion who later became the director of the Intelligence and Operations Division of the U.S. Army Command in Japan, recalled: "When I saw troops walking by as if nothing had happened, I thought they were Korean troops. But they didn't look like them. So the company The commander asked the battalion commander, "Are there any Korean troops going south?" He replied, "I don't know." Then he asked, "Can we shoot?" He said, "Wait a moment." "It is the practice of the US military not to attack at night, but this night is more terrifying for the American soldiers in this battalion than the attack. The U.S. military war history describes: “Throughout the night, bugles, trumpets, and whistles sounded all around the high ground. A small number of Chinese scouts walked around the camp, playing inappropriate instruments at inopportune times.
The officers and soldiers who faced off against the Chinese army for the first time, without understanding the actual situation, were restless all night and were made nervous. This is a primitive but extremely effective form of nerve warfare. Therefore, the US military named this highland 'Trumpet Heights'."
While the 39th Army was besieging Yunshan, the 40th Army also began to attack Yongbyon. The Ninth Division was on the left, and the 120th Division was on the right. The 118th Division followed up and was intercepted by fierce artillery fire near Shicangdong. The two companies quickly penetrated deep into the enemy's rear and followed the sound of enemy artillery shells for five kilometers before discovering the US artillery position. They immediately launched an attack to paralyze it and captured more than 30 US soldiers. This was the 40th Army. The Chinese soldiers saw the Americans for the first time. They were "tall and fair-skinned." The Chinese soldiers described them in surprise.
The 119th Division encountered in Qubo Yuan and was sending reinforcements to Yunshan. The 119th Division immediately surrounded the two regiments of the South Korean Eighth Division. The South Korean Eighth Division did not receive any information that it would encounter the enemy here, and was caught off guard and was suddenly attacked by the Chinese army. Defeated. The Chinese soldiers captured too many South Korean soldiers. One of the Sixth Company captured more than 200 people. There was nothing to feed these prisoners, so the South Korean prisoners plucked all the cabbage from the people and hung them on the eaves. In the eyes of the Chinese soldiers, this was a "serious violation of mass discipline", so they released the prisoners after handing over their guns. Several of the prisoners were members of the First Division of the U.S. Cavalry. The Chinese soldiers looked at them and said strangely: "Why don't these cavalry have horses? ”
When the Forty Army continued to advance towards Yongbyon, its 120th Division’s 358th Regiment’s 3rd Battalion and 9th Company were at the forefront. On the roadside in the Pyeongdong area, they encountered a The bell-shaped barbed wire fence was covered with bells the size of teacups. When they wanted to get closer to get a closer look, fierce shooting hit them, and the company suffered heavy casualties.
The Ninth Company encountered Congtai. The US 24th Division retreated from Sichuan.
The Chinese 40th Army was the first unit to fight on the Korean battlefield. Interestingly, their opponent was also the first unit of the US military to participate in the Korean battlefield. Ten days of continuous fighting made the soldiers of the 40th Army extremely hungry. Although they made great sacrifices, they never broke through the US military's blockade, thereby losing the opportunity to encircle Yongbyon and cut off the enemy's retreat in Unsan. In the end, Peng Dehuai's combat plan partially failed.
In the repeated battles with the US military for position, the 40th Army inadvertently did something meaningful for the Chinese army, that is, China. The soldiers seized two things they had never seen before during the battle: one was a recoilless rifle with a long and black barrel, a trumpet-shaped tail, and many holes in the shell; the other was a short and thick barrel. , a rocket launcher that looked like a big carrot. These two items were handed over from the regiment to the division, from the division to the army, and from the army to the volunteer army headquarters. No one had seen them, and they were later sent to a military industry research institute in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China. , these two weapons were imitated and quickly equipped with the Chinese army.
The Battle of Yunshan was the first successful battle in which the Chinese People's Volunteers severely attacked the US military with inferior equipment*. ** Annihilated most of the 8th Regiment of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division with modern equipment and one section of the 12th Regiment of the 1st Division of the South Korean Army. Annihilated 2,046 enemy troops, including 1,840 U.S. troops. 4 aircraft were captured and shot down. 1 enemy aircraft was destroyed and captured, 28 tanks, 116 cars, 190 various guns, and a large number of guns and ammunition were captured.
The Battle of Yunshan was regarded as a model battle after the Korean War. The book "Introduction to Combat Theory" included in the Japan Army Self-Defense Force Cadre School says: "For the Chinese army, the Battle of Yunshan was the first battle with the US military. Although the US military's tactical characteristics and combat capabilities are not fully understood, It was still a complete success, mainly because they faithfully implemented Mao Zedong's ten military principles, concentrated an absolutely superior force to surround the isolated and dispersed US military, and actively and bravely carried out hand-to-hand combat at night. ”
Chinese soldiers found that almost all of them had several Korean copper bowls in the backpacks of the American soldiers captured during the Battle of Yunshan. Later I realized that this was because the American soldiers had heard that the East The bowls used by people are all made of gold, so they collected Korean copper bowls while fighting. From this incident, it is not difficult to see how naive Americans are about Eastern peoples. Therefore, a name for North Korea was given. The small town of Yunshan must have survived the sound of trumpets blown by Chinese soldiers. If they were still alive today, Americans with gray hair would never forget it.