On May 21, 1951, after the end of the second phase of the fifth campaign of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in order to strive for the troops to assemble and recuperate, the Volunteer Army Headquarters decided that each combat corps should retain the strength of one division to one corps, and adopt the combat form of mobile defense to block and kill and injure the enemy, so as to win time for the main force to retreat and recuperate.
In fact, after the launch of the Fifth Campaign, all units of our Volunteer Army were like a bamboo, and although they were also resisted during the period, they generally advanced at a relatively fast speed, and even crossed the "38th Parallel" for a time and approached Seoul.
However, during the actual combat period, our army's logistical supply has become a major problem, and the front-line troops are always in a dangerous situation of being short of both, and if they continue to move south regardless of everything, they will inevitably repeat the mistakes of the people's army.
In such a case, **immediately order:All forces at the front stopped the offensive.
On May 21, Zhi Si ordered: All armies on the front line quickly retreated and turned to the vicinity of the "38th Parallel" for defense.
However, Li Qiwei's movements were faster, and the day before Zhiji ordered the retreat, Li Qiwei had already given the order for the entire front.
After a period of offensive and defensive switching, Tieyuan finally appeared in the field of vision of the Chinese and American armies.
Cheorwon, located in the middle of the Korean Peninsula, is where three railways from North and South Korea meet, leading to Seoul in the south, Wonsan in the north, and Mount Kumgang in the east.
Cheorwon is the rear supply base of our volunteers, and it is also an important transportation hub, from which many supplies and rear organs of our army are being withdrawn.
In order to block the enemy's attack, ** sent an urgent telegram to Yang Dezhi, commander of the 19th Corps, and Li Zhimin, political commissar:The 19th Corps was ordered to "hold Cheorwon for 15 to 20 days."
At that time, the headquarters of the 19th Corps had just stopped to rest in a state of transfer, and the current situation of the 64th Army and the 65th Army under its jurisdiction was not very good.
The former was entangled with the American forces in the westernmost part of the front, while the latter suffered heavy losses in the battle and was simply unable to undertake this important task.
Therefore, the task of defending Tieyuan can only be handed over to General Fu Chongbi's 63rd Army.
The 63rd Army has been fighting continuously in the Korean theater for more than two months, and although there has been a certain degree of attrition, there are still 2More than 40,000 people.
However, the defensive line they had to defend was 25 kilometers wide on the front, and the American army commanded by Van Vleet had four integrated divisions with more than 50,000 troops, more than twice as many as them.
In addition to the superiority in military strength, the US military also has more than 1,600 artillery pieces of various types, more than 300 tanks, and strong fire support from the air force. And Fu Chongbi's 63rd Army was heavy, with only 240 artillery pieces.
Under such a huge disparity in strength and firepower, it is self-evident how difficult it is for the 63rd Army to accomplish the task of blocking the attack.
Yang Dezhi also knew that the burden on Fu Chongbi's shoulders was very heavy, but there was no way, Mr. Peng had already given the order to die:"Even if the 63rd Army is wiped out, it will be held on to Tieyuan for another 15 to 20 days!”
Yang Dezhi strictly ordered Fu Chongbi to defend to the death, and at the same time specially supplemented him with 500 veterans with rich combat experience.
Fu Chongbi, who is only 35 years old, not only did not evade this difficult task, but seemed extremely excited, he said: "We are determined to fight to the last man, and we will never let Van Vliet advance half a step!"”
In this way, an arduous and brutal "Cheorwon Blockade Battle" began!
Fu Chongbi knew that in the case of a serious asymmetry in terms of strength and firepower, the frontal hard steel was tantamount to an egg hitting a stone, so he had to work tactics.
To this end, Fu Chongbi arranged the three divisions of the whole army into an inverted "pin" shape, with the 189th Division on the left flank of the front, the 187th Division on the right flank, and the 188th Division as the rear reserve.
In addition, the military party committee studied and decided to takeThe tactics of the deep echelon equipment, that is: less troops, more troops, in order to reduce the losses of our army;At the same time, in the form of combat groups, they are entangled with the enemy in the forward positions, so that they cannot approach the main positions of our army prematurely.
In the case of unequal forces and firepower, this method can be said to be the most effective, with low damage, in exchange for high victory, it is very cost-effective.
After the battle began, the US military began to concentrate ground-to-air firepower to strike fiercely at the positions of our troops. After a bombardment, dozens of hills around Tieyuan were blown flat by more than one meter, and the trees on the mountains were also blown away.
In order to hold forward positions and block the enemy's attack,Fu Chongbi ordered the 188th Company of the 563rd Regiment of the 8th Division to garrison Tieyuan 2551 Heights.
After the 8th Company received the mission, the company commander Guo Enzhi immediately led part of the personnel to 2551. Conduct field surveys on the high ground!
After investigation, it was found that there was a T-shaped road in front of the high ground, which led to the enemy's position to the south and to the rear of our troops to the east, which was the only way for the enemy to attack in depth with us.
In addition, in 2551 On the east and south sides of the highland, there is also a highland, which is 200 highland and unnamed highland.
According to the topography of this place and the characteristics of the enemy's battle, Guo Enzhi quickly made up his mind and decided to carry out defensive and combat deployment here: 2 platoons to defend 200 heights, 1 platoon to defend unnamed heights, and 3 platoons to 2551 on the high ground as a reserve!
After the battle began, the enemy began to concentrate his forces to launch a fierce attack on the 200 heights, but both charges were fought back by the fighters of the 2nd platoon, and apart from leaving seventy or eighty corpses behind, nothing was gained, and the attack could only be temporarily stopped.
Then, the enemy began to use its firepower superiority to cover the three heights where the 8th Company was stationed.
Under such circumstances, Guo Enzhi immediately ordered the officers and men of the whole company to quickly enter the shelter department, do a good job of protection, and reduce the number of people.
After the artillery stopped, Guo Enzhi immediately walked out of the shelter and climbed a cliff to observe the situation in front of the position, and suddenly found that in front of the nameless height, the US troops were taking advantage of the shadow at the foot of the mountain to quickly approach our nameless height, and they also wanted to use smoke bombs as cover to carry out a surprise attack on the 1st platoon.
Seeing this, Guo Enzhi immediately led the company's 60 mortar and heavy machine gun squad to run to the nameless high ground where a platoon was stationed.
After arriving at the nameless heights, Guo Enzhi immediately summoned the deputy company commander and the platoon commander who were commanding the battle on the heights and briefly introduced to them what he had thought out deeply"Three Flowers" tactic, and agreed on the signal of a coordinated offensive, the specific deployment is as follows:
After the enemy launched a charge, when the first shot of the company commander was heard, the comrades of the mortar squad fired one shell at the front, rear, left and right of the enemy's formation, forming a 'plum blossom' shape, driving the enemy to the middle;
Then, after hearing the second shot from the company commander, the heavy machine gun fired heavily into the middle of the enemy, sending the enemy a "string of red" and driving the enemy to both sides.
As soon as the third shot was fired, the counterattack team quickly attacked from both sides of the position, forming a "lotus" shape and encircling and annihilating the enemy.
Everyone unanimously agreed with the "three flowers" tactic proposed by Guo Enzhi, and immediately quickly entered their respective positions in accordance with the instructions and made preparations for battle
At this time, the enemy troops had approached the foot of the unnamed heights, and marched forward in a straggler formation, only about sixty meters from the mortar positions of our troops.
And at this time, the fighters of the mortar squad had already picked up the shells and put them on the barrel, just waiting for the gunshots to sound!
Suddenly, I heard the "horn" of Guo Enzhi's company commander's pistol, and immediately after, several loud noises came from the hillside, and several craters immediately appeared in the enemy pile, forming a large plum blossom shape, killing and wounding more than 20 enemies, and the remaining enemies were so frightened that they hurriedly hid in the middle.
Immediately afterwards, another gunshot rang out, and the heavy machine gunners fired fiercely at the enemy group according to the signal given by Company Commander Guo, and the enemy fell down one after another howling wolf.
At this time, in order to evade the fire of heavy machine guns, the enemy quickly divided into two routes, left and right, and continued to charge forward along the positions on both sides.
However, this happened to be Guo Enzhi's plan. Guo Enzhi saw that the time was ripe and pulled the trigger again. When the deputy company commander heard the gunfire, he quickly led two counterattack teams to attack from both flanks, cutting off the enemy's rear route, and like a "lotus," the enemy was 'wrapped'.
Then, the troops in charge of the frontal defense immediately launched a charge, and the counterattack team led by the deputy company commander gave the enemy a front and rear flank attack, completely annihilating the attacking enemy in one fell swoop.
In this blocking battle, the officers and men of the 8th Company skillfully used the self-created "three flowers" tactic to stubbornly resist the enemy in terms of strength and firepower.
In this battle, our army annihilated more than 800 enemy troops at the cost of only 14 people, successfully completed the task of delaying the enemy and covering the transfer of the main force, and also bought valuable time for the second-line defense troops.
Of course, this resistance battle is only one of several examples of our volunteer army units defeating inferior and superior battles on the battlefield of "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea," and these examples perfectly embody the superb wisdom of our volunteer officers and men, as well as their rich imagination and creativity.
These experiences and practices are still of very important reference significance even in today's warfare under the conditions of informationization.
In the entire "Tieyuan Blockade Battle," the 63rd Army under the command of General Fu Chongbi fought very bravely and tenaciously, and while blocking the enemy's advance, it also constantly organized forces to counterattack and stubbornly contained the powerful offensive of the US army.
After 14 days of fierce fighting, the 63rd Army had more than 20,000 people, of which the 563rd Regiment of the 188th Division had more than 2,700 soldiers when it entered Korea, and after the first battle of Tieyuan, only 266 people remained, and the situation of other departments can be imagined.
In the specific battle, General Fu Chongbi was always on the front line of the battle, personally commanding the battle, and finally was seriously wounded and fell into a serious coma.
Of course, the situation of the American army was not much better, more than 20,000 American troops were killed in the battle, and Li Qiwei, who was supported for the reconquest of Seoul, was also blamed for it.
It is worth mentioning that after the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Army withdrew from a scorched earth position, ** personally went to offer condolences.
And when he saw that many of the soldiers had only a pair of blood-stained pants left on their bodies, the veteran commander choked up, and he said to the soldiers in a trembling but firm tone: "The motherland thanks you!"”
Finally, after surgery, General Fu Chongbi, who had been in a coma for four days, finally woke up!Fu Chongbi saw the first sentence of ***, there were only three words-"I want soldiers!”Everyone present burst into tears.
Holding his hand tightly, with tears in his eyes, he said in a firm tone"Give you soldiers, I'll give you 20,000!”
A week later, 20,000 recruits were added to the 63rd Army, and Fu Chongbi looked at these young men with firm beliefs and bravery, and his heart was extremely excited!