Chapter 315: Sniper Bingling

After the "Summer Offensive" and "Autumn Offensive" of the "United Nations Forces" in the "United Nations Forces" in the "United Nations Forces" at the same time, both the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the "United Nations Forces" realized a fact.

After many arduous position defense battles, the soldiers of the Volunteer Army finally discovered that even if they do not have modern weapons as a backing, even if they have to fight against the enemy's artillery fire, as long as the Volunteer Army is not afraid of the strong enemy, seriously builds a defensive position, and vigorously carry forward the spirit of our army's tenacious struggle, the Volunteer Army can completely compete with the mechanized forces of the "United Nations Army".

Similarly, after the "United Nations Army" led by the US military launched multiple attacks on our volunteer army, they also realized that what Chairman Mao said was correct. The main factor that determines the outcome of the battle is people, and they will definitely not be weapons in the hands of people!

Although the "United Nations Army" has powerful weapons and equipment as a backing, they faced the tenacious and unyielding volunteer soldiers. They knew that it would be a long way to go or an impossible task to defeat the Chinese Volunteer Army in the short term, or on the Korean battlefield.

Both sides understood a very realistic strategic issue, but the final results were different. From a strategic perspective, because of the successful defense of the Chinese army, the volunteer soldiers accumulated a lot of combat experience in the defensive war. They began to know how to deal with the mechanized equipment of the "United Nations Army" and also turned it back from the passive situation.

Once the "United Nations Army" realized that it could not defeat the Chinese army as soon as possible, since their main battlefield had to compete with the Russians for the European battlefield, they did not dare to invest too much power on the Korean Peninsula. After the "Summer Offensive" and "Autumn Offensive", under the leadership of the US military, the "United Nations Army" had to enter a dilemma on the Korean battlefield.

Attack, the attack cannot be moved; retreat, but unwilling to give up; seek peace, but you still want to save face.

Faced with such a painful situation, the "United Nations Army" took it for granted that it did not dare to launch a large-scale attack on the positions of the volunteers.

However, once the "United Nations Army" becomes such strategic confusion and at a loss, it will definitely allow the Chinese volunteers to find an opportunity to attack. Once the passive situation is reversed, the "United Nations Army" will take it for granted and it will be even more uncomfortable.

At that time, the front line of the "United Nations Army" had 6 divisions of the US military, one division of the British army, and six divisions of the Korean army, a total of 13 divisions; the second line had one division of the US military, two divisions of the Korean army, and the first Turkish Infantry Brigade, a total of 3 divisions and one brigade.

The front line of the Chinese and Korean army includes 8 volunteer army troops, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 11 corps (corps); the second line has 3 volunteer army troops, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 10 corps. In addition, there are 3 volunteer army troops, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the Korean People's Army, 3 corps of the total 3 corps (corps).

Both sides had almost the same force, but major changes were made in their strategy. While consolidating the rear, they dispatched troops and prepared for a new round of battle.

It is obvious that the "United Nations Army" has paid more and more attention to defense. After the "Autumn Offensive" ended, the "United Nations Army" mobilized the 8th Division of the South Korean Army, and the Capital Division began to clear out the Korean People's Army guerrillas operating in Zhiyi Mountain, Yunchang Mountain and Huiwen Mountain.

The 40th and 45th Division of the US Infantry Division, which were on standby in Japan, rotated with the 1st and 24th Division of the US Cavalry Division in North Korea. In addition, it is also planned to add 4 howitzer artillery battalions to each of the 10 Korean military divisions.

At the same time, the pressure in the United States is getting greater and greater, and more and more American young men are unwilling to stay bored and see any hope of victory in the war battlefield. They are increasingly unwilling to stay on the front line of North Korea, so the remembering point rotation system has also begun to be implemented.

Of course, a more significant adjustment occurred in the winter of the 51st year. NATO Allied Commander-in-Chief Dwight Eisenhower resigned from his military post because he was designated as the next Republican presidential candidate.

On April 28, US President Harry Truman appointed Lieutenant General Matthew Liechwei, Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Army, to replace Eisenhower and as Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Allied Forces; at the same time, General Mark Clark, Commander of the U.S. Domestic Forces, to replace Liechwei, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Army.

In fact, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been fighting for a long time. They all felt that Li Qiwei's historical mission had been completed. Now, because his too tough stance in the negotiations has become a stumbling block to American interests. However, since the status of being able to bargain with China and North Korea today was also earned by people's efforts, the White House and the Pentagon had to give him a position that was almost on par with the Chief of Staff of the US Army.

But this is still much better than the laid-off MacArthur's fate.

General Clark, who took over him, was also a general in the United States of America's army.

Like MacArthur, Clark, who was 56 years old at the time, was also a general. He was born in Madison, New York. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1917 and was a classmate with Li Qiwei. He participated in two World Wars. During World War II, as the commander of the Fifth Army in Italy, he commanded the landing operations of the famous Salerno and Anzio, seized Casino's strong position, and made great contributions to the liberation of Rome. At that time, Li Qiwei was under his commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

However, the US press believes that what really "makes it famous may be the battle in the Balkans as the commander of the 15th US Army, and the diplomatic debates carried out by the Austrian garrison commander and high commissioner and Soviet Marshal Konev on the Austrian neutralization agreement after the war."

The US President sent a commander to the "United Nations Army" who can fight and negotiate. It is somewhat meaningful in itself.

Clark visited the Korean battlefield in February 1951 and participated in the strategic planning of the US military after the war. He also said in his memoirs:

"I participated in Washington's strategic planning from beginning to end. When I was the commander of the American field forces in charge of training, I understood that this responsibility meant an emergency war. In less than a year, the Korean War really broke out, and we stepped up the expansion of ground forces and trained them to fight enemies who would only follow a few war laws."

I have to say that General Clark's arrival, from a certain perspective, is that the "United Nations Army" has already retreated from the Korean battlefield. General Clark even knows that his first mission is not to find a way to defeat the Chinese volunteer army on the other side, but to find a way to end this war that their citizens call extremely bad.

Take it for granted, the US military is already giving up, but what are the volunteers on the other side doing?

Compared with the "United Nations Army" that wanted to give up, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army was in a high morale. After the "Autumn Offensive" ended, our army won a series of local battles, which made the soldiers realize that although there were many cannons and many tanks on the opposite side, the Volunteer Army was not fighting with two legs, but when fighting, the Chinese army was actively preparing for the war.

If you want to attack the enemy, of course you must first defend your home. The first step to actively prepare for war is to consolidate your current position so that if the enemy attacks, they will face greater pain than the "summer offensive" and "autumn offensive".

You should know that although our army won most of the battles in the "Summer Offensive" and "Autumn Offensive", what made the volunteer soldiers extremely dissatisfied was that our army paid a huge price in these defensive battles.

The 67th Army and the 68th Army both suffered heavy casualties, and they withdrew and rested as soon as the battle ended.

The fundamental reason is that under the dense and fierce fire assault of artillery, tanks and aviation in the "United Nations Army", it is difficult for the Chinese and North Korean troops to effectively preserve their vital forces and conduct long-term defensive operations based on general field fortifications.

But it was also amid such huge casualties that the volunteer soldiers were reborn in the ashes. They were exactly the steel that was poured out by the "United Nations Army", prompting the Chinese and Korean troops to find a good way to preserve themselves and eliminate the enemy.

Volunteer soldiers creatively built air defense tunnels (later being "cat ear pierced" in the Vietnam War), and developed adjacent anti-aircraft tunnels into small horseshoe-shaped tunnels, becoming the prototype of tunnel fortifications.

During the defensive operations, the Korean People's Army's Eastern Front troops also successfully built mortar tunnel fortifications on the back slope, causing great difficulties for the attacking US and South Korean troops.

In the local battle of Maliangshan, the soldiers of the Xiaolong Special Forces Brigade creatively hid in the dead ends of enemy cannons and aircraft bombing, dug holes of hidden soldiers in key areas of the position, and brought new ideas to the volunteer army's defense tactics.

Everyone knows that it is very difficult for the Volunteers to defend against the US military's positional attack on our Volunteers. The biggest problem is that they must first face the bombing of enemy aircraft and cannons.

If there are too many people on the position, if they are bombed by the enemy's cannons, the casualties will be very heavy and it will be very difficult to defend. However, if there are too few people, it will not work. When the US infantry rushed to the position with the enemy's artillery fire, the small number of volunteer soldiers on the position could not be defended.

However, now that there is a Tibetan military cave, it is different. Digging the Tibetan military cave on the dead corner on the mountainside below the position makes it impossible for enemy planes and cannons to explode. However, you can rush to the position at any time, and you can even keep the enemy's sneak attacks at night and launch a counter-charge. The emergence of this good idea makes the defensive war of the volunteers undoubtedly more diversified.

After the autumn battle, the Volunteer Army Headquarters issued special instructions to build position fortifications, requiring each department to build tunnel fortifications at all key points of defense, and the strength of the fortifications must be able to withstand howitzers' bombardment.`

After winter, after the victory of the Maliangshan Battle, we learned about the benefits of the Tibetan military cave. The Chinese and Korean troops even carried out tunnel fortifications throughout our army, building the current positions into steel Great Walls.

I have to say that the surprising civil engineering capabilities of the Volunteer Army have made the world military history sigh. Everyone knows what winter on the Korean Peninsula is like. Legend has it that if you sprinkle urine, you may freeze into popsicles in the air. If you walk out of the door, you don’t know if you feel itchy, and you may fall off when you touch it.

On such a Korean Peninsula, the weather is cold in the middle of winter. The soil and rocks on the Korean Peninsula are extremely hard.

The volunteers do not have mechanized civil engineering capabilities, but their actual tools are only field shovels with them, and even farming tools borrowed from villagers on the Korean Peninsula. It is completely unimaginable how these tools can be used to build a defensive position. For people today, this is an unimaginable task.

However, in that passionate era, the cutest people of the younger generation completed the task of building a position under such circumstances.

The lack of tools, borrowed from fellow villagers and seized from the enemy, even more amazing to all countries, was that in order to complete these tasks, the volunteer soldiers also built small blacksmith shops in the army.

Of course, after building a blacksmith shop, it will involve the need for iron ore, but the Volunteer Army did another thing that stunned the "United Nations Army".

At that time, American aircraft were on the Volunteer Army's positions every day and also dropped bombs in the rear of transportation. The Volunteer Army's defense area was full of enemy shrapnel, which was much easier to use than those unsmelted iron ore. With the strong support of American aircraft, all the Volunteer Army units never lacked iron resources. Not only did all the excavation tools finally become provided by the "United Nations Army", but a considerable shrapnel were even transported to the rear of our army. They were made into bombs and returned to our artillery units and sent to the American devils again.

It's funny to say that later, because the Volunteer Army departments built their own small blacksmith shops everywhere, the spies sent by the "United Nations Army" sneaked into my rear and reported the situation to the "United Nations Army" command. It also said that the reason why the Volunteer Army built so many small blacksmith shops was because the "United Nations Army" threw too many bombs and wasted too much iron resources, which was a pity that it was all made into a tool for building a front. This report made Lieutenant General Weilan, the commander of the Far East Air Force of the US Army, very angry. In the end, they had to order their air force captains to give me the free strategic resources to the blacksmith shop of the Volunteer Army.

It has to be said that the volunteer army that fought the War of Resistance Against Japan was really a powerful army that struggled hard. They never were discouraged and never knew fear and failure. They could always learn lessons from the war and create better opportunities to annihilate the enemy. The adverse factors could be used to them well. What can such an army not be defeated?

It can be imagined that when the volunteer soldiers used various resources to build positions and defend positions for a winter, the pole that was displayed in front of the "United Nations Army" army was on the Great Steel Wall, which made any "United Nations Army" collapse.

In fact, it is not that the "United Nations Army" do not know the disadvantages of establishing such a defensive position for the Volunteer Army. In winter, when they see the work of the Volunteer Army positions in full swing, they also feel the crisis.

Therefore, the so-called "high-legged cabinet combat" aimed at destroying the tunnel fortifications being built by the Chinese and North Korean troops:

Heavy artillery and tanks were pushed to the top of the high ground, and the air force cooperated with the heavy artillery and bombs to directly bomb the back slope of the North Korean army, and frequently emitted poison gas. However, the fortifications of the early Chinese and North Korean army were not thick enough, and the tunnel entrances were not hidden enough, and the damage was severe.

The "United Nations Army" fired poison gas 32 times on the front lines of the Chinese and North Korean troops, causing 216 Chinese and North Korean troops to be poisoned.

The enemy planes blew up 42 Chinese and North Korean military tunnels and killed 236 people.

When difficulties arose, the enemy responded, caught the volunteer soldiers who built the positions at that time off guard.

This kind of casualties made the "United Nations Army" take some advantage, but they did not realize that the Chinese Volunteer Army at that time was the best force to summarize success and failure.

Indeed, at that time, Shishi strongly called on all military departments to carry out civil engineering operations, but due to the lack of experience in many troops, many troops first chose to dig tunnels, due to improper geological selection and soft soil, it was easy to collapse when it encountered bomb vibrations. Even in spring, the ice and snow melted, and collapse accidents also occurred, causing some casualties.

Taken for granted, if this happens, the various units of the Volunteer Army will begin to summarize the experience of tunnel excavation.

The Volunteer Army Headquarters issued timely instructions to all units, requiring tunnel fortifications to meet the requirements of "seven defenses", namely air defense, artillery protection, virus prevention (epidemic), rain prevention, moisture prevention, fire prevention, and cold prevention.

The Volunteer Army even held a meeting of the first-line corps and chiefs of staff to unify the specifications and standards of tunnel fortifications.

It is required that the top of the tunnel is generally more than 30 meters thick, and the top of the tunnel entrance is 10 to 15 meters thick, which can withstand the bombing of blockbusters; each tunnel must have more than two exits, with a width of 1.2 meters and a height of 1.7 meters.

This meeting unified the thinking, further developed the tunnel fortifications, and improved the technical and tactical requirements.

By the end of May, the tunnel fortifications in the front line of the Chinese and North Korean military and the field fortifications such as trenches, transportation trenches, anti-tank trenches and various firearm bunkers in the front line of the defense zone of the Chinese and North Korean troops had basically been completed. The entire line basically formed a support point-based defense system with tunnel fortifications as the backbone.

On the Korean Peninsula, extra-large "beehives" appeared, but there were no bees inside the honeycomb. They were all volunteer soldiers waiting to attack the US military with all their might!

In addition to further improving the fortifications of the first echelon, the fortifications in the second defensive zone were basically completed, and the core fortifications in key areas such as the third defensive zone and the east and west coasts have also begun to be constructed. The first echelon six armies built more than 190 kilometers of tunnels, trenches, 650 kilometers of traffic trenches, and 12,180 firearm bunkers. In addition to the fortifications on the second and third lines, the Chinese and North Korean troops formed a defense system with a depth of 20 to 30 kilometers, with tunnel fortifications as the backbone and support point, forming an indestructible underground Great Wall.

This "supporting point defense system with tunnels as the backbone" is the development of the trench defense system and the support point defense system, and is a new creation and new contribution of the Chinese and Korean army to the art of war. The formation of this defense system not only makes the Chinese and Korean army take the initiative in defense, but also has the potential to develop offensives and becomes a support for counterattack operations.

The enemy's several strikes summarized the defensive positions of the Volunteers. They were not weakened by the enemy's attacks, but became stronger. When the "United Nations Army" small troops attacked the Volunteers more than 60 times, none of them succeeded.

During the defensive operations in March 1952, the "United Nations Army" fired an average of 40 to 60 shells to attack our positions, but only injured one Chinese and Korean troops.

The tunnel fortifications fully demonstrate its unquestionable superiority.

The support point defense system with tunnels as the backbone has very important and special significance in the process of modernization of the Chinese military. In a sense, its emergence changed the traditional thinking model of winning battles simply by relying on the advantages of soldiers, thus making the battles of the Chinese military more artistic in the battles during position defense.

The tunnel fortifications have had a positive impact on the position defense tactics of the Chinese army in at least two aspects:

First, under the enemy's superior artillery firepower and aviation firepower, the Chinese army's field fortifications were destroyed and the surface positions could not be held, they could still retreat to the tunnel and continue to fight the tunnel. Finally, they cooperated with the superior reserve team to carry out counterattacks, annihilate the enemy and restore the position. In other words, although the surface positions were occupied by the enemy, as long as the tunnel was in hand, the entire position would not be lost, and the surface positions would be easier to recover with the cooperation of our deep counterattack troops.

Second, whether I rely on the tunnel position to defend or attack, I can form repeated battles with the enemy at a point, forcing the enemy to invest a lot of troops and weapons, so as to achieve the goal of killing and consuming the enemy in large quantities.

Not only that, the tunnel fortifications also add new winning factors to the position offensive tactics.

When carrying out position attack operations, the Chinese army can accumulate troops in advance in front tunnel fortifications to prepare for attack, or secretly build a garrison hole on the front or flanks of the enemy's warning position as an impact starting position to shorten the impact distance and the movement distance of the subsequent echelons, reduce casualties, and enhance the suddenness of the battle.

Until the self-defense counterattack operation in the southwestern border in the 1980s, this kind of support point defense system with tunnels as the backbone was still the main support for Chinese military position operations.

Soviet experts also said:

"This is a new contribution of the Chinese military to world military academics."

After the first-line troops were built, the Volunteer Army Headquarters believed that it could save the defensive forces of the front-line troops. At the same time, in order to increase mobility and strengthen east-west coast defense, it was decided to withdraw an army from the front of the 19th Corps on the Western Front and place it on the south bank of the Licheng River as the second echelon of the Corps, and to serve as the task of preventing the "United Nations Army" from landing from Haizhou. It was also recommended that the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army extract a division from the front and place it in Tongchuan area to take on the coastal defense. After agreement with the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army, the Sino-North Korea Joint Command made adjustments to the command relations between the Chinese and North Korea troops:

The 19th Corps of the Volunteer Army commanded four armies, including the 39th Army, the 40th Army, the 63rd Army, the 65th Army, and the 39th Army, the 40th Army and the 65th Army were placed on the front line, and the 63rd Army was the second echelon of the Corps.

The Third Corps of the Volunteer Army commanded the 38th Army, the 15th Army, the 60th Army, the 38th Army, and the 15th Army were placed on the front line, and the 60th Army was the second echelon of the Corps.

The 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army commanded the 12th Army, the 67th Army, and the 68th Army. The 12th Army and the 68th Army were placed on the front line, and the 67th Army was the second echelon of the Corps.

The Front Command of the Korean People's Army commands the First, Second and Third Corps.

The 20th Army and the 27th Army of the Volunteer Army, the 47th Division of the 16th Army and the Fifth and Seventh Army of the Korean People's Army that entered North Korea in September formed the East Coast Defense Force, the Korean People's Army served as the front-line defense, and the Volunteer Army was the second echelon. The East Coast Joint Command was commander and political commissar, Tao Yong and Lie Lifa, the commander of the Seventh Army of the Korean People's Army, and Lieutenant General Liefa, also served as deputy commander; the 42nd Army, the 64th Army, the 50th Army, the 4th Army of the Korean People's Army and the guerrilla detachment formed the West Coast Defense Force, including the 42nd Army and the 64th Army as the second echelon. The West Coast Joint Command was commander with Han Xianchu as the commander, and Lieutenant General Park Jung-de, the commander of the Fourth Corps of the Korean People's Army, was the deputy commander.

The 47th Army is the general reserve team of the Volunteer Army headquarters.
To be continued...