"In the two-year-and-nine-month War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, in order to defend their homeland, their fathers crossed the Yalu River and braved many difficulties to advance into the Korean battlefield. In this war, many generals with outstanding talents emerged, and they commanded many significant and special battles, among which the Hengcheng counterattack was particularly eye-catching, and it showed extraordinary counterattack ability with its unique offensive and defensive conversion strategy. "
Under the instructions of his superiors, Deng Yue led his troops to march for five days without a short rest, and finally successfully arrived at Dayudong near Beizhen on October 24.
Deng Yue and his soldiers were resting on the stones on the side of the road in Daeyudong, when suddenly a soldier with four North Korean military guards walked in front of them. The guard saluted them and conveyed the request of the commander-in-chief: "The headquarters of the KPA is in the ravine ahead, and the commander is there now, and he wants you two to go over and see him." ”
Deng Yue knew very well that this war in Korea was not only related to the important task of the country, but also a test of his personal ability, so he immediately stood up and prepared to meet new challenges.
Deng Yue and Zhang Yuhua immediately followed the pace of the North Korean comrades, walked quickly to *** and paced back and forth in the house, looking very anxious. Deng Yue walked to the door, tidied up his appearance, put his legs together, saluted a military salute, and then reported loudly.
**'s eyes fell on Deng Yue, and when he saw his military salute and report, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he warmly invited them into the house. In the house, ** introduced the situation of the battlefield in a simple and clear way, and told them that they should seize the fighter plane, fight the first battle abroad, and make a good start for the future war.
He stressed that the current situation is very urgent, and Comrade Kim Il Sung is also there, and their task is to set up a pocket in the north of Onjeong, annihilate a part of the advancing enemy, and strike at the arrogance of the enemy.
After finishing speaking, Deng Yue immediately assured that they would complete the task and would not live up to the expectations.
Nodding and smiling, Deng Yue looked around and couldn't help but suggest: "Mr. Peng, I suggest you retreat for a while......."However, ** shook his head in refusal, and said firmly: "I will stick to this and see how you fight, whether it works or not." ”
**'s serious expression made Deng Yue restrain his emotions, salute *** again, and left the room with the political commissar. Turning his head to look at the half-open room, the image of ** left a deep impression on Deng Yue's heart, and he began to discuss the tactics of this battle with the political commissar, determined to ensure that this battle could show the majesty of the country and achieve victory, and at the same time ensure the safety of *** and Kim Il Sung, so he needed to find a foolproof way to ensure safety.
On February 11, 1951, in order to launch an attack on the US defense line, the volunteer troops decided to launch a counterattack in Hengcheng. ** The general sent a telegram to all the men in his personal name, emphasizing the importance of the battle.
He pointed out that the key to this campaign lies in whether the 66th Army of the People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers can complete the task of cutting off the enemy's retreat as planned, and this is of great importance for consolidating past victories, expanding the international influence of the anti-aggression wars of the Chinese and DPRK armies, and gaining time to reorganize and train the troops.
Stressing that the importance of this campaign is self-evident, I hope that cadres at all levels and all fighters will be able to give full play to their enthusiasm, overcome difficulties, and destroy the enemy bravely and tenaciously, and wish victory to the people's army led by Kim Il Sung.
At dusk, the Volunteer Army began a large-scale counterattack in the Hengcheng area, in which the 118th Division commanded by the young division commander Deng Yue was the main assault force. As the sun set and the temperature plummeted, the 39th Army of the Volunteer Army carried out a rapid march interspersed, and the enemy's reconnaissance planes overhead were constantly shuttling.
At this moment, two flares were dropped by night planes flying from the south, and the silent and solemn valley was instantly illuminated. Long before the enemy planes arrived, the soldiers of the Volunteer Army took advantage of the terrain to hide in the mountains, forests, ditches, and ridges, and scattered in all directions.
Holding his breath, he kept a close eye on the situation of the enemy aircraft. Under the reflection of the flares, only the lonely old scalper came into view, and the plane, which did not notice anything, did not give up and leave.
The volunteer soldiers took advantage of the terrain to hide themselves and fired fiercely at the old ox with machine guns, causing them to flee in all directions in fright. Eventually, the machine-gun shell hit the scalper, causing it to fall to the ground.
After lasting more than ten minutes, the night plane finally confirmed that it could not blow up anything again, so it flew away from the scene. During the night phase of the campaign, the 118th Division of the 40th Army of the Volunteer Army, which was responsible for the frontal attack, successfully broke through the defensive front of the 8th South Korean Division and continued to advance lightly, inserting to the north of Hoengseong.
The 120th Division of the Volunteer Army successfully captured Limuting and made great contributions to supporting the interspersed operations of the 118th Division.
At the same time, the 198th Division of the 66th Army of the Volunteer Army also launched a fierce battle at Wuyin Mountain, destroying the enemy, and overnight, the formation of the 8th Division of South Korea was completely disrupted.
This sudden and fierce attack inflicted heavy losses on the South Korean 8th Division, which had to pray for peace with their backs against the trees. After reorganizing the remnants of the army, they retreated all the way to the valley of the Crane, and the worries that had hung in their hearts finally disappeared.
The volunteer army will never give up the offensive easily, and they will not let this "lamb in hand" slip away easily. At the command of the deputy commander of the artillery battalion of "Open Artillery", all the shells were concentrated on strafing the enemy's troops.
The enemy's army was bombarded with shells, and the heart that had been laid down was once again hanging high and fleeing in a hurry. Seeing that the enemy was under the bombardment of artillery fire, it was difficult to maintain the initial indifference, but the volunteer soldiers did not have too much joy in their hearts.
The regiment leaders decided that if the enemy did not find out, the battalion and company rushed through as units and could not fight, and then rushed to Hegu to concentrate as fast as possible.
After the division, the two armies joined forces to capture the "Great Iron Gate" in Hakgok-ri, successfully blocking the attack and escape route of the South Korean army, and putting the enemy in a predicament of being attacked from the enemy's back.
Despite this, the enemy forces tried to find a chance to survive and, after urgent consultations, decided to organize forces for a final resistance. They first mobilized all their tanks and artillery to violently bombard the positions on the commanding heights on both sides of the Hegu-ri road, and then urgently called for air support.
Fortunately, the Air Force really came, hovered in the air and fired a fierce strafing fire, giving the enemy a possible chance of survival.
The hilltop position turned into a sea of fire in an instant, and the smell of burnt trees permeated the tip of everyone's nose. The enemy tried to escape under the cover of artillery fire, but was unable to do so. Volunteer fighters continuously thwarted enemy attacks and showed strong combat effectiveness.
Under the personal command of Deputy Commander Deng Hua, from the night of 11 February to the early morning of 13 February, after three days of counterattack on the eastern front, six volunteer units quickly interspersed and launched a fierce counterattack against the 8th Division of South Korea, achieving the fourth great victory, with brilliant results and remarkable results.
Deng Yue, a native of Dahekan, Yunwushan Village, Shunhe Town, Macheng City, Hubei Province, has made great achievements in battle, and has been promoted from an ordinary soldier all the way to the commander of the 118th Division of the 40th Army. He has deep qualifications, great contributions, and is highly respected in the military.
In the Hengcheng counterattack of the Fourth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the 118th Division played an important role. Deng Yue led his troops to adopt bold and roundabout tactics and successfully divided and surrounded the enemy.
He always kept a close study of the map to provide precise directions for the army's movements.
In the direction of the main attack of the 118th Division, there was a Y-shaped junction, which was the intersection of the two roads and the only way for the South Korean troops to escape. If it can be rationally arranged, it is possible to annihilate the enemy army.
Deng Yue looked at the map and pondered that if the retreat of the South Korean army was to be stopped, this intersection must be blocked. As a rule, this requires a small detachment to intersperse and block the intersection.
However, Deng Yue made a choice that surprised everyone, he sent a regiment to intersperse, completely blocking the retreat of the 221st Regiment of the 8th Division of the Korean Army in front.
In the face of the division commander's order, although some subordinates were puzzled, they still accepted it all. Under the command of Deng Yue, the 353rd Regiment on the left flank managed to break through two defensive positions of the South Korean army in only one hour.
The 354th Regiment on the right flank also showed no weakness, and the 2nd Battalion captured the blocking position in only half an hour, eliminating a reinforced company of the South Korean army. During this period, the 352 regiment of the main forces took the opportunity to penetrate behind enemy lines and rapidly develop, approaching in only 6 hours"Ya"Zigzag intersections.
The 352nd regiment, in the face of the fierce attack of the armored battalion, did not flinch, quickly threw grenades, successfully hit the car and quickly burned it.
In a fierce battle, the volunteer soldiers of the 352nd Regiment fought bravely and engaged in a fierce contest with the American army. In the end, they managed to kill more than 530 American soldiers, destroy more than 140 vehicles, more than 20 howitzers and 10 anti-aircraft machine guns, and inflict heavy losses on the American army.
These heroic volunteer soldiers were originally sent by the U.S. military to support South Korea, but they were defeated by the Chinese volunteers on the way before the mission was completed.
After the war, the leading organs of the Volunteer Army gave a general order to the 118th Division, and the battalion of the 352nd Regiment also received a collective second-class meritorious service. Among them, the 2nd Battalion received the pennant of "Brave and Resourceful, Intercepting and Annihilating the Fleeing Enemy", and the 3rd Battalion was awarded the pennant of "Brave and Penetrating, Destroying the Enemy and Winning" in recognition of their heroic performance.
Deng Yue blazed a trail, and the 118th Division declared success with a magnificent victory. Years later, Western military historians still praise the battle and Deng Yue's command.
The division of labor among the three corps, when pondered, reveals its subtleties: two corps break through side by side from the front, and one corps is responsible for penetrating into the rear. This trick was certainly sinister, but it was also novel and unique, and it left an indelible impression on the American GIs, so much so that they would be in awe and trembling at the mention of it.
In his memoirs, Ridgway described the battle of Hengcheng, in which he stated that the division was completely defeated by an enemy night attack, leaving the flank of the US 2nd Division completely exposed.
At the same time, the South Korean army suffered huge losses under the blows of the squadron. Chinese soldiers often brought extreme fear to the South Korean army, and they were seen as god-like beings.
When CCP soldiers wearing rubber-soled shoes suddenly appeared on the positions of the South Korean troops, the South Korean soldiers were often frightened and panicked and fled for their lives. "
The South Korean army, which had always relied on strong support from the U.S. military, appeared panicked in the face of heavy artillery fire from the Chinese volunteers. In particular, the "Hengcheng Counterattack" was an indelible defeat for the US side.
They racked their brains and couldn't figure out why they, who had advanced ** and facilities, failed miserably in front of the Chinese volunteers who were stepping on rubber shoes. This lesson has made them more cautious after 2010.
On Route 29, go south from Cha Feng Lane 4In the valley at 8 kilometers, many fleeing soldiers and vehicles are hiding, flares pierce the night sky from time to time, Chinese fire fiercely on the ridges on both sides, and dense mortar shells around **....The Battle of Hoengseong was a "forgotten battle in a forgotten war" experienced by the Americans, and they tried their best to put this history to sleep, but the cruelty of war was often not one-sided.
From this battle, which the United States kept silent, we can see the heroic resistance of the Chinese Volunteers, and the victory of the Hengcheng counterattack forced the United Army to retreat 26 kilometers, which played a vital role in the completion of the campaign defense tasks of the Volunteers and the People's Army.