The Battle of Jincheng The true history behind King Kong River .

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When the clock hand on the Korean battlefield pointed to 1953, there were signs that the war was coming to an end.

As two opponents who have been fighting and wrestling repeatedly near the 38th parallel for three years, both China and the United States have felt that a "truce" is an imminent matter.

This consensus on an "armistice" was not easy to come by – although the armistice talks began as early as 1951, because both sides had their own demands, they continued to "fight and talk" for more than a year.

But this year, the two sides really want to sit down at the negotiating table seriously.

On the US side, in particular, since Eisenhower took office in the United States, the first thing he wanted to solve was to end the "Korean War" as soon as possible.

Because when the war reached its third year, the Americans still couldn't answer a series of questions:

Why are we fighting in North Korea? Why are we fighting with China? What exactly are we for?

The Battle of Shangganling, which began on October 14, 1952, was a battle fought by China and the United States while talking. The battle lasted 43 days before and after, in 3More than 2.3 million shells were fired over an area of 7 square kilometers, and the soil on the ridge was blown up at least 3 meters on average. The U.S. military has never been able to conquer Shangganling.

Since then, the U.S. military has never launched an offensive on the Korean battlefield on a battalion scale or above, and the Americans realized that negotiations would ultimately have to be needed to end the war.

The Korean Peninsula, which had been devastated by three years of war, finally saw the dawn of peace.

However, one person said that he resolutely could not accept an "armistice".

This person is South Korea's ** Syngman Rhee.

Ever since he became the founding father of South Korea, he has gradually taken "centralization" as his primary goal. He is well aware that if the US military announces its withdrawal, his regime is likely to collapse with it.

Syngman Rhee. Seven years after the armistice of the Korean War, when he was in office for the fourth time, the "April 19 Revolution" occurred in South Korea, and his rule was overthrown by the people. Syngman Rhee was forced to resign and go to Hawaii, where he died five years later at the age of 90.

On June 18, 1953, something unexpected and shocking the world happened

South Korea** "opened" four prisoner-of-war camps without notifying any parties, and 270,000 North Korean People's Army prisoners of war were "released".

Syngman Rhee then publicly announced that he would put this 270,000 prisoners of war were integrated into the South Korean Army and continued to fight to the end for the reunification of all Korea.

In other words, Syngman Rhee resolutely disagreed with the "truce" and showed a gesture: even without the US military, we will go it alone!

Of course, Syngman Rhee is not willing to really "go it alone", he just hopes to continue to drag down the US military.

His actions, while sensational, were completely the opposite:

Against the backdrop of an imminent full-scale truce on the Korean battlefield, the whole world was stunned by this treacherous act, and Western countries, including Britain and Canada, issued condemnations, while the United States was even more disgraced - didn't you say no fighting? Why didn't your little brother agree? Can you really control your little brother?

On the Chinese side, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese People's Volunteers*** set off from Beijing for Korea on June 19 as originally planned, and was originally going to participate in the signing of the armistice agreement. However, just after Syngman Rhee's "release" of prisoners of war, **on the 20th, he called the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang***

In order to deepen the internal contradictions among the enemy, it is planned to deal another blow to Syngman Rhee's puppet army and destroy another 15,000 puppet troops (according to Deng Hua in the first half of June, 15,000 puppet troops will be eliminated). Properly or not. ”

*** on the battlefield in Korea

The signing of the armistice must be postponed, and the appropriate time to postpone it will depend on the development of the situation. It is extremely necessary to annihilate more than 10,000 puppet soldiers. ”

Kim Il Sung also agreed.

As a result, the Chinese side is ready to fulfill Rhee's desire to "go it alone."

"The task of teaching the South Korean army was given to Yang Yong, who was only 40 years old at the time.

In June 1953, Yang Yong, who had only been the commander of the 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army for just one month, received the task of "launching the third phase of the summer operation".

Although he had only been in the court for a month, Yang Yong, who had become the head of the regiment at the age of 24, was determined to fight a beautiful battle.

After fully studying the map, Yang Yong proposed a plan to use the "Golden City" as the starting point for the attack.

Jinseong is located in the east-central part of North Korea.

With Geumseong as the central point, it stretches from Geumhwa to the northeast to Geumseong, and then from Geumseong to the southeast to the confluence of the Geumseong River and the Bukhan River, and this arc-shaped area of about 25 kilometers long originally belonged to the defense zone of the South Korean army.

Yang Yong decided: In one go, this "big steamed bun" that broke into the defense area of the volunteer army was directly wiped out!

Schematic diagram of the attack route of the "Battle of Jincheng". From the northernmost south of the Blue Line to the north of the Red and Blue Lines of confrontation, it was originally the jurisdiction of the South Korean army.

Since the Volunteers switched to positional warfare in the Korean theater, they have never organized such a large-scale offensive campaign. The most glorious record of the Volunteers after entering Korea was that the 27th Army completely annihilated a regiment of the US Army in the second battle. If we want to "wipe out" this area, we must encircle and annihilate the four main divisions of the South Korean Army with the cooperation of the US military.

But Yang Yong has a bottom in his heart.

First of all, the 20 Corps under his command had four corps plus a 33rd division, and had 1,000 artillery pieces with more than 82 mm mortars, which had an absolute advantage in strength and firepower. Secondly, the opponent's four divisions have been attrition to varying degrees, and the defensive system is not completely stable.

After Yang Yong's battle plan was submitted, he was approved by his superiors, and several "dishes" were added: The 28th Regiment of the Second Artillery Division, one battalion of the 30th Artillery Regiment, the 201st Rocket Artillery Regiment, the 601st Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment, three antitank artillery companies, and four engineering battalions were all transferred to the 20th Corps, and the 24th Army was ordered to cooperate in the operation to ensure the safety of the right flank of the 20th Corps.

Yang Yong. He entered the DPRK in May 1953 and served as the commander of the 20th Corps.

In front of Geumseong, the Volunteer Army laid out a total of 6 corps, equipped with 1,483 artillery pieces of 82 mm mortars or higher, ready to swallow the four main divisions of the South Korean Army in one go.

In the comparison of troops, the volunteer army has a 3 to 1 advantage, and the artillery ratio is 17 to 1.

At 9 o'clock in the evening of July 13, 1953, in the drizzle, the "Battle of Jincheng" began.

As soon as the battle began, the 20th Corps directly defeated the South Korean army.

Before the infantry charged, the 20th Corps mobilized more than 1,100 artillery pieces and carried out a 7 to 28-minute artillery attack on the South Korean army positions south of Jinseong, and about 1,900 tons of artillery shells were poured on the South Korean army's positions in this short half hour, 30 percent of the South Korean army's positions were instantly destroyed, and more than 80 percent of the road obstacles were cleared.

The squadron, which was always thought to only use the "crowd tactics" to charge, has experienced three years of baptism on the Korean battlefield, coupled with the strengthening of logistics and transportation, and can already fight locally with a density of artillery fire no less than that of the US army.

After intensive artillery preparations, the 3rd assault group of the 20th Corps of the Volunteer Army and the 24th Corps of the 9th Corps launched an attack at the same time on a frontal 25 kilometers from the west bank of the North Han River to Yangdi Village in the east.

Within an hour, all four divisions of the South Korean Army had broken through the defensive forward positions.

During the Battle of Jincheng, the Volunteers launched a charge against the enemy's positions

The "White Tiger Regiment", the strongest regiment of the "Capital Division" with the strongest combat effectiveness among the four divisions, was actually taken out by the special forces of the Volunteer Army.

Capital Division"It is the division that Syngman Rhee has made the most efforts to build, and it is also the number one among the four main divisions of South Korea"Ace"Division, once called the "First Honorary Division" by the U.S. Army, was called the "Invincible Tiger" in South Korea. The "White Tiger Regiment" is the number one main force of the "Capital Division", which has repeatedly made military exploits, and Syngman Rhee has personally awarded it"Tiger Head Flag", because of this bloody white tiger head flag"White Tiger Regiment"Hence the name.

After the Volunteers launched a general offensive on 13 July, the 2nd Battalion of the 609th Regiment of the 203rd Division and a reconnaissance team of the 607th Regiment formed an "interspersed team," whose task was to destroy the regimental headquarters and artillery positions of the "White Tiger Regiment" and create an opportunity for the main force of the division to completely annihilate the regiment.

In the intersperse, the reconnaissance squad of the 607th Regiment, composed of 11 people, under the leadership of Yang Yucai, deputy platoon commander of the reconnaissance platoon, was "bold" and directly disguised himself as a South Korean soldier (Yang Yucai even disguised himself as a US military adviser), went deep into the rear of the enemy army, passed through several checkpoints of the South Korean army, and directly assaulted the regimental headquarters of the "White Tiger Regiment" to the war room, beating the regimental headquarters of this "ace regiment" from the inside out. Although the deputy division commander Lin Yichun escaped, he was captured by the volunteers on the way, and became the highest-ranking general on the South Korean side captured by the volunteers during the entire Korean War.

Interspersed with the regimental flag of the "White Tiger Regiment" seized by the detachment on the spot, it is now collected in the China Affairs Museum. Some people have also verified that this is actually the "division flag" of the capital division

The reconnaissance squad was awarded the collective special merit, and Yang Yucai was personally awarded the title of "first-class combat hero" by the head of the Chinese People's Volunteers. The Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK conferred on him the title of "Hero of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and the Order of the National Flag of the First Class and the Gold Star Medal.

Peking Opera model opera "Surprise Attack on the White Tiger Regiment".

In fact, the rout of the "Capital Division" was only a microcosm of the rout of the South Korean army:

As of 6 p.m. on July 14, after only 21 hours of fighting, the Chinese volunteers had occupied all the predetermined strategic targets and destroyed a total of 1 enemy40,000 people, advancing as far south as 9At 5 km, the "Capital Division", the 3rd Division, and the 6th Division of the South Korean Army were all disabled, and they had to withdraw from the first line for reorganization.

The war collapsed so quickly that it shocked not only the South Koreans, but also the Americans.

In a sense, the Americans are quite happy to teach the Chinese a lesson to the South Koreans.

But the offensive of the volunteers was so fierce and the progress was so rapid, the Americans still panicked: Do the Chinese really not want to stop the war and want to fight again in one breath?

In the early morning of July 14, Lieutenant General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the US Eighth Army, rushed to the front-line command post in a hurry.

Maxwell Taylor is also a famous general of the U.S. Army, commanding the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division in World War II to fight many famous battles, and leading his troops to defend Bastony in the "Ardennes Campaign" can be called the most classic battle in his life.

However, at the same time that Taylor was dispatching troops, Yang Yong, commander of the 20th Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers, had already telegraphed at 9:40 p.m. on the 14th that all groups would switch to the second phase of operations and continue to attack and rush southward.

In this process, due to the heavy rain for several days, the river water rose sharply, coupled with the continuous bombing of enemy planes, most of the bridges in the frontline area were blown up, and the engineering units of the Volunteer Army sacrificed their lives and forgot their lives to repair them day and night, and even the infantry regiment also joined in at the critical moment, and finally ensured the transportation needs of the front-line operations.

Stills from the movie "King Kong River". "King Kong River" is based on this historical background. However, the prototype character, Zhang Zhenzhi, the commander of the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Engineer Regiment of the Volunteer Army, repaired the bridge during June 1953

At this time, the Volunteer Army also happened to be too long in logistics and supply routes, and began to switch to strategic defense, desperately resisting the enemy's counterattack. In the defensive battle, the 180th Division, which fought against the odds, fought particularly bravely, this ill-fated unit in the Korean War did not retreat, in the defensive battle of the 867 Heights, a company of volunteer soldiers in the defensive position was surrounded by enemies several times their own in the end, only 2 survived, and the whole company died heroically.

The battle lasted until 8 p.m. on July 16, except for the loss of Heights 867, the rest of the positions were in the hands of the Volunteers, and the South Korean Army** in charge of the attack had exceeded 3,000 men.

In the following days, the South Korean army carried out a frantic counterattack, especially on July 23, because Syngman Rhee personally went to the front line to cheer up the troops, the South Korean army launched 107 times in two days, but all of them returned in vain, and all the positions held by the volunteers did not move.

As for the US troops, the US Third Division only launched a few company and platoon level offensive tests, and after the failure, it refused to attack again.

At this point, all the frontal positions taken by the 20th Corps had been consolidated.

On July 25, although the "Battle of Jincheng" was not officially over, the congratulatory telegram from the Communist Party of China and the Military Commission to the headquarters of the Volunteer Army had already arrived

Congratulations to the Volunteer Army on their major victory in the summer campaign.

The reason why it is described as a "major victory" is that it is supported by objective data:

From the beginning of the "Jincheng Campaign" launched by the Chinese People's Volunteers on 13 July to 27 July, in just two weeks, a total of 5 enemy enemies were annihilatedMore than 30,000 people completely crippled four divisions of the South Korean Army and regained more than 160 square kilometers of positions.

And a more important layer of significance is that this is the largest offensive campaign of the Chinese People's Volunteers against an enemy with a strong defensive offensive after entering the Korean War. Facts have proved that from artillery and infantry coordination to logistical transportation, the Volunteer Army is no longer the same as when it first entered the DPRK three years ago.

In fact, the "Battle of Jincheng" was fought until July 27, and it did not end from a tactical point of view.

It is said that Yang Yong was still at the headquarters of the commander of the 20th Corps at that time to arrange the counterattack tasks of each group, preparing to attack further south and in depth.

However, the campaign had to stop.

At 10 a.m. on July 27, 1953, at a place called "Panmunjom" in the central and western part of the Korean Peninsula and 5 kilometers south of the 38th parallel, the DPRK, China, and the United States finally sat down together and signed a ceasefire agreement on the "Korean Armistice Agreement" and the "Interim Supplementary Agreement to the Armistice Agreement."

The scene of the signing ceremony of the armistice in Panmunjom

However, he no longer dared to "go it alone" on his own.

At this point, as the last battle of the entire Korean War, the Battle of Jincheng came to an end.

Because, the war is finally over.

End of text).Yaqiu said

In fact, the words I wanted to write below were originally intended to be said in Friday's "King Kong River" movie review.

But because the "Battle of Jincheng" was the last battle of the entire Korean War, I couldn't help but want to write two strokes.

On the whole, the "Battle of Jincheng" ended with a complete victory for the volunteers, and it may not be too much to describe it as "devastating".

However, as long as it is a war, it will kill people.

In the "Battle of Jincheng", 19-year-old Anhui soldier Li Jiafa, in the battle to capture the main peak of Jiaoyan Peak, was hit by seven bullets, and finally desperately pounced, blocking the machine gun hole of the enemy's pillbox with his body, and winning the opportunity to charge for his comrades behind him.

And he was just one of the volunteer soldiers who died in this battle.

Such sacrifices, in the three years of the Korean War, were too much. Some people may say that compared with Changjin Lake, compared to Songgu Peak, compared to Tieyuan, and compared to Shangganling, the number of volunteers killed in the "Jincheng Campaign" is not large, and it seems that there is no tragedy in these battles mentioned earlier.

However, sacrifice is sacrifice, and such a sacrifice will add more grief in the "Battle of Jincheng":

It was July 1953, and it was only two weeks before the end of the war.

In Mr. Wang Shuzeng's book "The Korean War", two such short stories were recorded.

On July 26, a female soldier of the Volunteer Army Art Troupe named Xiaoyan was bombed by a U.S. plane while taking care of a North Korean woman who was about to give birth in a North Korean village, and she was killed by a bomb while covering her North Korean villagers into an air-raid shelter - there was only one day before the armistice.

On 27 July, a young soldier of the communications corps sent a letter to the forward position with a note that "the war will be officially ceased at 22 o'clock tonight, and not a single cannon or shell will be fired." When he was about to arrive, he was knocked down by an enemy shell, and one foot was blown off by his ankle - it was only two hours before the armistice.

These people all fell at the last moment before peace came.

It can be said that without the great victory of the "Battle of Jincheng", the signing of the armistice agreement at Panmunjom may have been delayed for some time, and even some twists and turns. In this sense, the "Battle of Jincheng" was a battle that must be fought.

But it was also in this battle that a group of volunteer soldiers who could return to their hometowns fell on a foreign land.

After the armistice came into effect, ** braved the smoke of gunpowder and went to the forward position where the previous fierce fighting was still fierce. A team of stretchers carried the remains of Chinese soldiers past, and when they lifted the white cloth covering the stretcher, tears flowed.

Just a few hours away.

He picked out a white enamel water cup full of bullet holes from the dirt of the position, and stood there for a long time, without saying a word.

On the enamel cup, seven red words were written:

To the loveliest of people".

End of full text).The main references in this article:

1. "The Final Contest - Documentary of Participating in the Battle of Jincheng" (Liu Fengwen, "Party History", 1998.06).

2. "Jincheng Battle Experience" (Su Chonghui, National Defense Times, November 23, 2011).

3. "Jincheng Counterattack Experience" (Ding Chengping, National Defense Times, December 23, 2011).

4. "Jincheng Counterattack I Advance with the 180th Division" (Wu Jialing, "Happy Old Man", October 2017).

5. "The Battle of Jincheng - The Last Battle of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" (Part I), (Part II) (Li Peng, Liu Liqun, "Weapon Knowledge", 2003.08).

6. "The Battle of Jincheng: A Quasi-Ruthless Battle of the Tiger's Mouth" (Han Gang, People's Liberation Army Daily, June 13, 2019).

7. "The Battle of Jincheng in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" (Qi Dexue, "Chinese Soul", 2012.04).

8. "Why the Jincheng Counterattack War in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea Can "Force Peace with War" (Lu Lei, Study Times, October 5, 2020).

9. "Korean War" (Wang Shuzeng, People's Literature Publishing House, April 1, 2009).