On June 25, 1951, shortly after the end of the fifth campaign of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, ** convened a meeting of the leaders of each corps and the commanders and political commissars of each army in Kongsidong, where the headquarters of the Volunteer Army was stationed. It was impossible to sit in the cave, so the meeting place was set up in the woods, and a large shed was temporarily erected to conceal it, and the top was covered with a layer of soil and branches, so that enemy planes could not see it from the air.
At the end of the fifth campaign, the 60th Division of the 180th Army had a problem in retreating, was surrounded by enemy troops, and suffered heavy losses. Before the meeting, the heads of the corps discussed one after another, saying that Wang Jinshan, deputy commander of the 3rd Corps, would definitely be criticized. On the same day, the leaders of the 3rd Corps and the subordinate armies arrived at Kongsidong one after another, but Wang Jinshan was nowhere to be seen.
Mr. Peng asked Liu Youguang, director of the Political Department of the 3rd Corps, "Why didn't Comrade Jinshan come?" Liu Youguang hesitated for a moment and said, "He ......."The 180th Division has not been fought, and he does not dare to come to see your ......Mr. Peng said, "The meeting is to sum up experience and lessons, and it is not his responsibility alone, the 180th Division suffered losses, and I am also responsible!" Our main thing is not to pursue responsibility, but more importantly to find lessons learned. ”
** At the headquarters of the Volunteer Army.
On the whole, the fifth campaign achieved part of its objectives, smashed the attempts of the US troops to land from the east and west coasts and threaten the flanks of our troops, stabilized the battle line in the area of the 38th parallel, and annihilated the enemy20 thousand. The first stage of the campaign was still good, but the front was too long for the volunteers, and it was extremely difficult to replenish.
In the second stage, the food and ammunition were about to run out, and the enemy army relied on mechanized superiority and air supremacy to counterattack, and in this case, the volunteers could only retreat. Both the Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army considered the Fifth Campaign to be a victory overall, but the number of Chinese and North Korean coalition forces** plus the number of people who were scattered totaled 850,000, the losses were a little more than the enemy's, mainly because the 180th Division was defeated on the Han River and "dragged its feet".
Most of the troops retreated in an orderly manner, but the 180th Division had many wounded, and its two legs could not outrun the enemy's mechanized troops, and it fell into an unfavorable situation of fighting against the enemy on three sides on the south bank of the Han River. Before the battle, there were still more than 8,000 people in the 180th Division, but the first battle of the Han River was broken up, and only 4,000 people were finally rebuilt.
This was the biggest defeat of the Chinese Volunteers in the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and Chen Geng, commander and political commissar of the 3rd Corps at that time, did not arrive at his post due to illness, and Wang Jinshan, the deputy commander who had full command of the operation, certainly had an unshirkable responsibility. Not only that, but after the war, the headquarters of the Chinese People's Volunteers and the heads of various units realized that the fifth campaign was "fought in a hurry," and this situation was also caused to a certain extent by Wang Jinshan and other corps leaders.
General Wang Jinshan.
From mid-February to April 1951, the Volunteer Army took time for the defensive war with movement, waiting for the 3rd Corps led by Wang Jinshan and the 19th Corps led by Yang Dezhi to arrive from China, and let the 9th Corps, which suffered heavy losses, rest for a while. It is not easy for hundreds of thousands of troops to go from going out to complete combat readiness, and logistics support is the top priority.
At that time, there were only 6 corps of the Volunteer Army and 4 corps of the People's Army on the front line, and they were at a disadvantage in terms of enemy strength. According to the instructions of the headquarters, the Volunteer Army blocked the enemy step by step, slowly luring the enemy to cross the north of the 38th parallel again, and preparing for the next **.
At the beginning of April, it was learned through intelligence that the US military had increased its troops from the country, and in order to coordinate its frontal attack, it was preparing to land in the vicinity of Wonsan Port on the east coast of Korea and Nampo on the west coast of Korea, and to attack our troops from the east and west. According to the instructions of ***, after the 3rd Corps and the 19th Corps arrived at the front line, the Volunteer Army will advance southward, take advantage of the unstable foothold of the US army, annihilate as much of the enemy as possible, and smash its landing plan, and the specific combat plan will be formulated by the Volunteer Army Command.
According to the marching speed of the 3rd Corps and the 19th Corps, they rushed to the area north of the 38th parallel and began to deploy, and it would be around April 20 at the earliest, and if they were in a hurry, the assembly could be completed on April 21.
The Shiji Operations Office drew up an operational plan and suggested that in order to allow the six armies newly entered Korea to rest and recuperate after a long journey and familiarize themselves with the enemy's situation and the topography of the front line, it would be more appropriate to launch the fifth campaign after 25 April.
Volunteer Army Civilian Labor Transport Team.
Deng Hua, Hong Xuezhi, Han Xianchu, deputy commanders of the Chinese People's Volunteers, and Xie Fang, chief of staff, all agreed with the opinions of the Operations Department and reported to General Peng. Mr. Peng initially agreed. In mid-April, MacArthur, commander-in-chief of the "Joint **," was removed from his post and replaced by Ridgway, commander of the US 8th Army, whose landing plan may be brought forward.
So General Peng convened a meeting of the two corps leaders and the 9 corps chiefs who had just entered the DPRK. Wang Jinshan, deputy commander of the 3 Corps, Du Yide, deputy political commissar, Yang Dezhi, commander of the 19 Corps, and Li Zhimin, political commissar of the 19 Corps, all attended the meeting.
Mr. Peng talked about the current war situation and the enemy's intentions, saying that our army should strive to launch the first initiative before the US troops landed, and this meeting was to solicit everyone's opinions. The commanders of the corps said that their troops could reach the north of the 38th parallel by April 20 and be ready at the starting point of the battle.
The first four battles were fought well, and the 3rd Corps and the 19th Corps, which had newly entered the DPRK, wanted to fight a big battle from top to bottom, and the morale of the vast number of officers and men was high, and they could not wait to compete with the US army. Wang Jinshan, in particular, was very optimistic and said in his speech at the meeting, "Mr. Peng, it will not be a problem for us to destroy the enemy and a division with one corps, and I promise to capture 5,000 American prisoners alive." Yang Dezhi and others are also full of confidence.
According to Yang Di, deputy director of the Operations Department of the Zhi Division who attended the meeting, after Wang Jinshan spoke, Mr. Peng was silent, Deng Hua, Hong Xuezhi, Han Xianchu and other heads of the Zhi Division smiled, you look at me, I look at you, a little like he wants to say something, and then Deng Hua spoke.
Yang Dezhi (right) and Li Zhimin (left) in North Korea.
Deng Hua was the first deputy commander of the Zhi Division, and said in a very tactful tone: According to the experience of our four campaigns, the US army is not comparable to the Kuomintang army equipped with American weapons, their tanks and artillery are much stronger than the Kuomintang army in terms of quantity and quality, and the navy and air force are also very powerful, and they completely control air supremacy.
Mr. Peng and other leaders of the Zhi Division agreed with Deng Hua's statement, and Song Shilun, commander and political commissar of the 9th Corps, was also deeply touched by this. However, the commanders of the new corps who entered the DPRK had never fought with the US military, and they still regarded the US troops with the experience of fighting the Kuomintang US armament units, and they were eager to make meritorious contributions, and they did not listen to Deng Hua's reminder at all.
Several deputy commanders of the Volunteer Army were all in the Corps in the War of Liberation, and they were at the same level as Wang Jinshan and Yang Dezhi, Wang Jinshan was nicknamed "Wang Maniac", and he was very crazy in the war, Deng Hua and others wanted to convince them that it was impossible, and Song Shilun was even more difficult to say. Even Mr. Peng couldn't pour cold water on Wang Jinshan and them.
Yang Di watched from the side, feeling that Wang Jinshan's mood was the same as that of the 13th Corps and other units when they first arrived in North Korea, they were all very optimistic and confident, but the equipment of the Volunteer Army and the US Army was too far apart, and they fought for several months, and at most they had annihilated a regiment of the US Army in a single time, and they could not annihilate a division of the US Army in a structured manner. Therefore, Yang Di felt that Wang Jinshan and others were too underestimated.
Volunteers make fried noodles.
Of course, Yang Di couldn't intervene on this kind of issue, and he quietly said to Xie Fang, chief of staff of the Zhi Division, that the units of the 3rd Corps and the 19th Corps could only assemble initially on April 20, and there were still dozens of miles away from the designated starting point for the attack, and the artillery was not in place, and the operational deployment of infantry and artillery coordination had not yet been drawn up, so how could an attack be launched?
Yang Di wanted to let the solution speak and "cool down" the leaders of the corps, but the solution was also very difficult, he said, you didn't see the atmosphere at the meeting, they couldn't even listen to what Deputy Commander Deng said, and it was inconvenient for the two deputy commanders Hong and Han to speak, and it was useless for me to speak, so let's wait and see what happened.
Previously, on April 8, there was also an accident that was very unfavorable to the campaign preparations of the Volunteer Army. The Sandeng reservoir area, where the volunteers were transporting logistical supplies, was attacked by enemy planes, and the losses were very heavy. Located east of Pyongyang and south of Chengcheon, the Samdeng reservoir area is relatively secluded and serves as a storage and transfer station for the supply of the Volunteer Army.
On the day of the incident, the train that had not yet departed from the Sandeng reservoir area was discovered by enemy planes, and many enemy planes bombed in turn, and the air defense fire in the vicinity was insufficient, resulting in the burning of 84 of the 150 wagons of materiel after the bombing, and the loss of 2.6 million catties of raw and cooked military rations, 330,000 catties of soybean oil, 400,000 sets of individual military uniforms and shirts, and a large amount of other materials. The loss of the Samden reservoir area had a considerable impact on the preparation of the campaign, but the launch of the campaign was not postponed because of this.
For Mr. Peng, this commander-in-chief is not easy to be, the sooner he is **, the sooner he can crush the landing attempt of the US army. On the other hand, the Korean People's Army is also urging to hurry up, and the head of the corps who has just arrived in North Korea is also eager to fight, in short, after listening to everyone's reports and speeches, Mr. Peng pondered for a while, and finally agreed with Wang Jinshan, Yang Dezhi and others, and decided to launch the fifth campaign on the evening of April 22.
Yang Di's worries were fulfilled. After the meeting, both Wang Jinshan and Yang Dezhi urged the troops to step up their march. Not to mention the situation of the 3rd Corps, on the side of the 19th Corps, after the Volunteers issued the combat mobilization order on April 19, Yang Dezhi ordered the 63rd Army and the 64th Army as the first echelon, and the 65th Army as the second echelon, to be sure to start forcibly crossing the Imjin River at dusk on April 22.
However, the two armies of the first echelon had not yet arrived at the position where the attack was launched, and the artillery of the 64th Army had just begun to enter the position, which was not ready, and the artillery regiment attached to the operation was still on the way. The army commander Zeng Siyu reported the situation to Yang Dezhi and asked if he could give another day to prepare?
Yang Dezhi said, don't ask more, just carry out the order. Zeng Siyu didn't understand what was going on, and he couldn't figure it out, so he had to give the 64th Army a death order and let them run into the designated position at all costs. Due to the hasty preparation and poor coordination of infantry and artillery, the troops appeared unnecessarily in the early stage of the campaign.
Zeng Siyu couldn't figure out why Commander Yang Dezhi ordered the troops to rush to attack. It wasn't until decades later that he met with Yang Di and listened to Yang Di talk about the meeting of the Zhisi before the fifth battle, that he suddenly realized that it was Wang Jinshan and Yang Dezhi who were too full of words, and the two major corps were ready to send arrows.
In the fifth campaign, the 19th Corps performed well, but the 3rd Corps and the 180th Division suffered an unprecedented defeat. After the war, in Yang Di's words, Wang Jinshan was depressed, "crazy" and couldn't get up, and he didn't dare to participate in the summary meeting of the Zhi Division. Mr. Peng was furious at the meeting and severely criticized Wei Jie, the commander of the 60th Army, and others. At that time, Chen Geng had already arrived in North Korea, stood up to play a round, and helped Wei Jie and them out of the siege.
After the meeting, Chen Geng went to find Wang Jinshan, Wang Jinshan was writing a review with a sad face, Chen Geng said, "You Wang Maniac, you used to fight as a tiger, why have you become a rat now, and even Mr. Peng dare not go to see it?" Wang Jinshan sighed and said, "It's not that I don't dare, the 180th Division is like this, I really don't have the face to see Mr. Peng." ”
Wang Jinshan asked Chen Geng, you are my old leader, you see what is wrong with my command, even if you scold me! Chen Geng said frankly, you still hold on to the previous combat thinking, too careless, too light on the enemy. Wang Jinshan said distressedly that he accepted criticism, but he didn't know how to face Mr. Peng.
In the end, Chen Geng gave Wang Jinshan an idea, "You can do this, you are afraid of seeing Mr. Peng, you can go to Beijing to find *** to ask for guilt, and at the same time hand over the review to Mr. Peng." Wang Jinshan said happily, "Yes, I am guilty!" There are still many ways for the old leaders! ”
And so it was settled. Wang Jinshan was ashamed and brave, and in the later stage of positional warfare, the 3rd Corps fought very well and made great achievements, such as the Battle of Shangganling, which was fought by the 3rd Corps. Wang Jinshan also found "Huwei".