On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out, and the fighting was extremely fierce. Great Britain, an ally of the United States, also participated in the battle and became an important factor in the outcome of the war.
In the early days of the war, Britain took the initiative and even used Britain's three royal ace armies as a means of fighting the volunteers. However, although the British clamed the Volunteer Army in a rampant manner, claiming that they could defeat a division or an army of the Volunteer Army with the strength of a regiment, in the end, these three royal legions were defeated by the Volunteer Army.
Although the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea ended with the victory of the Volunteer Army, the battle process was extremely difficult and tragic, especially in the face of the three ace armies of the British, our army paid a huge price.
These twists and turns are unimaginable even for current TV drama screenwriters.
The fierce battle between the Volunteers and the 1st Battalion of the British Royal Rifle Regiment left a deep mark on history. In the third battle in 1951, the morale of our army was high, and it pursued to the city of Seoul, successfully annihilated part of the American army, and surrounded the British soldiers.
However, while waiting for the support of the main forces, a misunderstanding of our army led to a tragedy. Due to the mispronunciation of "a wing" as "a company", our army made a mistake in judgment, which led to the deputy battalion commander Fu Xuejun leading the troops forward, only to find that the enemy's firepower was extremely fierce.
The volunteers later realized that they were working with the British 29th Brigade"1st Battalion, Royal Rifle Regiment"Engage in battles. Founded in 1973, this battalion is one of the elite units of the United Kingdom, and has participated in famous battles such as the Normandy landing campaign and the Battle of the Rhine.
They were troops led by the famous Marshal Montgomery and were skilled in positional warfare. This is not good news for the volunteers. The ferocious offensive of the Royal rifle regiment made the situation of the 347th regiment very difficult, during which soldiers continued to fall.
Chief of Staff Xue Jianqiang, Commander Zhang Ding, and platoon commanders, squad leaders, and deputy squad leaders all died in the process. The volunteer soldiers could not resist the enemy's fire suppression, and were wounded one after another, and the company commander Li Fengtang looked at Zheng Qi, the commander of the division who bandaged his wounds, and gave an order:"Go to the front and command the battle! "
Rest assured! I will be responsible for the position and resolutely defend it! "
Zheng Qi's old age photo) The brave Zheng Qi, with the only 13 soldiers left, stubbornly confronted the enemy. Despite their huge numerical and outnumbered inferiority, they were undaunted and resolutely held their ground.
However, the British firepower was fierce, and six more fighters died heroically. The British attacked again, outnumbered, with only a few men left to fight, and the bullets were exhausted.
But they did not give up, but used razors to fight the British army. At this critical juncture, Zheng Qi ran to the highest point of the position, commanded everyone to throw the only blasting pipe and grenade at the enemy, and then picked up the brass horn and blew it.
The British thought that the Volunteers were going to fight back and turned around and fled from their positions. It was the sound of the horn that resounded through the sky that bought time for the remaining seven people.
At the cost of almost total annihilation, the 7th Company of the Volunteer Army won hope for the victory of the battle. They held the hill, successfully held back the enemy, and completed the mission after the arrival of reinforcements from the 348th Regiment.
The elite units of the British army fought in the Normandy War, but this time they were defeated by the Volunteers, and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Rifle Regiment was wiped out here. Zheng Qi, the meritorious commander, made a special merit and won the title of second-class hero.
The bronze horn that "retreats from thousands of enemies with a single order" has also become an exhibit. Previously, the commander of the Ulster battalion had shouted that the strength of their regiment was enough to be worth a division or army of the Volunteer Army, but this time he was slapped in the face.
This was not the last defeat of the British army, and they would soon pay the price for the previous clamour.
Light infantry blasts heavy tanks, creating battlefield myths] On February 26, 1951, "People's **" published an article entitled "The Fall of the "Royal Heavy Tank Battalion", which described in detail the fierce battle between the 446th Regiment of the 149th Division of the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army and the "Royal Heavy Tank Battalion" of the British Army.
The British army's ace "Royal Heavy Tank Battalion" has always been known as the "heart" of the British army, and for the volunteers, this is a difficult battle. As early as the Anti-Japanese War, the Volunteer Army suffered heavy losses in battles with tanks, and even an entire battalion of soldiers was killed.
The battle was brutal, but on the other hand, it was spectacular. On January 3, in order to cut off the retreat of the British army, the 50th Army of the Volunteer Army sent the 446th Regiment of the 149th Division to seize the strategic Gaoyang, so that the main forces of the British army could be dispersed and weakened.
Although the Volunteer Army knew that it was going to face the tank unit of the 29th Brigade of the British Army, it was extremely powerful with such a strategy as heavy tanks. In fact, if it is only a tank, it is fine, but the most difficult thing to deal with is undoubtedly an armored vehicle with a flamethrower, which can spray a fire belt tens of meters long, which is very difficult to dodge.
Since there were no anti-tank ** in the troops at that time, this undoubtedly made the battle more difficult. However, these difficulties did not become an obstacle to the advance of the Volunteer Army.
In the absence of any anti-tank **, the volunteer army can only rely on grenades, blasting tubes, explosives packs, etc. to fight with tank units. According to the record of "Interpreting the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea", Li Guanglu, deputy squad leader of the machine gun squad of the 5th Company, rushed to the Spitfire armored vehicle with a blasting tube in order to blow up the tank, regardless of the danger to his own life.
In this fierce battle, Li Guanglu showed great courage and determination, blowing up a total of 3 enemy Spitfire tanks, and even fell unconscious many times because of the aftermath of **.
His heroic performance earned him the distinction of merit and made him a hero of the whole army. In addition, squad leader Zhang Lin, soldiers Gu Hongyun, Liu Xueji and others also fought bravely in the battle and successfully blew up many enemy tanks.
Their bravery and sacrifice made an important contribution to the victory of the battle. After a long and arduous battle, our army finally succeeded in annihilating the British "Royal Heavy Tank Battalion", captured a large amount of enemy equipment, and captured more than 200 enemy soldiers.
According to the book "The Vicissitudes of the Heart" written by a veteran, after the British battalion commander Major Cornish was captured, he expressed his incomprehension and dissatisfaction with our anti-tank equipment.
But when he learned that the ** that blew up the tank was just ordinary grenades and explosives packs, he was incredibly surprised. In this battle, our brave soldiers used their lives and courage to show our strength and determination and declare our victory to the world.
light infantry repelled heavy tank units", which was unbelievable both for the enemy and for our troops. When the good news reached Mr. Peng's ears, Mr. Peng once thought that the soldiers had made it up to boost morale, but after confirmation, the volunteers had indeed succeeded in annihilating the tank troops, and Mr. Peng was ecstatic and highly praised in the army.
Subsequently, after seeing Zeng Zesheng, the commander of the 50th Army, Mr. Peng held his hand tightly and said excitedly: "The 50th Army fought well, you commanded it well, I will give priority to upgrading the equipment of your 50th Army." ”
The matter later spread to ***, and he also met with Zeng Zesheng in Zhongnanhai and gave encouragement and praise. It has to be said that the feat of the light infantry of the Volunteer Army in repelling the tank units fully demonstrated the firm determination and indomitable spirit of the soldiers and the nation.
So, how will the successive defeats of the two ace units of the British army affect the situation of the war?
Battle of Xuemali: The Volunteers encircled and annihilated the British Gloucester Battalion] In the five major battles, the British ace troops were defeated one after another, but they did not expect that their strongest unit, the Gloucester Battalion, also fell into the hands of the Volunteers.
In April 1951, the 187th Division of the Volunteer Army successfully surrounded the Gloucester Battalion in Xuemali. The battalion is part of the Royal British Army and has a long and well-known history.
However, their heroism during the expedition to Egypt did not carry over to the Battle of Imjin. On 22 April, the British and Chinese sides battled each other in fierce battles, and the British tried to repel the Volunteers, but the Volunteers crossed the river from the flank and successfully launched an attack.
After discovering the movement of the volunteers, the British army immediately began to strafe the volunteers in the distance with machine guns, and the battle was unprecedentedly fierce.
The battle continued at 11 o'clock in the evening, and the main forces of the 187th Division of the Volunteer Army had all crossed the Imjin River and passed"Scattered interspersed with infiltration"gradually infiltrated the enemy camp, and at 3 a.m. successfully captured the strategically important Kondake Mountain, separating the main British forces from the Gloucester battalion.
Then, Xu Xin, commander of the 187th Division, ordered the 560th Regiment to surround the enemy forces in Xuelima, until 3:20 on the 24th, the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 560th Regiment launched a continuous attack and successfully broke through the unnamed high ground 700 feet northwest of Xuemali.
However, the subsequent attack was met with stubborn resistance from the British, which led to heavy casualties for our troops. Until dawn on the 24th, the Volunteer Army again besieged Xuemali.
After a long siege, the Gloucester battalion was already extremely poorly supplied, and at the same time their morale suffered a serious blow. In this case, the Volunteer Army occupied the 314 heights and cut off the rear of the Gloucester battalion, leaving it isolated.
After the British sent five battalions of reinforcements, the heroic resistance of the volunteers made the British troops trapped in Snow Horse like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. However, by the early morning of the 25th, the British army had exhausted its resources and could only launch a final breakthrough.
However, they were eventually defeated by the encirclement and suppression of the 560 regiment. In this battle, Liu Guangzi's fighters spotted a group of fleeing enemy troops, but instead of acting immediately, he let his comrades take cover with long-range snipers, and then quietly approached the enemy himself.
As he approached the enemy, he found several of them hiding behind stones, with several guns pointed at him. However, Liu Guangzi remained calm, he pulled out a grenade, pulled the safety open, and threw the grenade down the hill.
Because the grenade was strapped to Liu Guangzi's self-made "anti-tank grenade", the power was amazing, and thick smoke rose everywhere, and many enemies were blown to the ground.
Liu Guangzi showed his wisdom and courage in the chaos, and immediately commanded the reinforcement troops to attack. For the enemy who intended to kill him, he showed no mercy and directly counterattacked with a gun, which shocked the enemy army deeply.
In the end, the British army realized that they could not escape the siege and chose to surrender, and Liu Guangzi captured 63 prisoners in one go, and was awarded the title of "Lone Hero" by the headquarters, and won the first-class merit.
His heroic deeds were made into a documentary and included in "Wonderful Examples of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea". After this battle, the 560 Regiment of the Volunteer Army quickly eliminated the Gloucester battalion and captured 459 enemy troops, 48 vehicles and 18 tanks.
The defeat of the three royal ace armies of the British army one after another caused an international shock. The United States and Britain were surprised to learn of this, and these three bloody battles also changed Britain's attitude towards the Korean War.
The heroic battles of the volunteers not only created a myth on the Korean battlefield, but also washed away the shame of China's colonization by the British.
On the Korean battlefield, the three main forces of the British army were successively defeated by the volunteers, which fully demonstrated the bravery and strength of the volunteers. As an ally of the United States on the Korean battlefield, the destruction of the British army was inevitable.
The results of these three bloody battles, as well as the final victory to resist US aggression and aid Korea, undoubtedly proved China's rise and development, the enhancement of national cohesion, and the enhancement of national strength. China's past has been colonized by other countries, but all this will be gone forever.