Chen Geng is a legendary senior general in the history of our army, after the outbreak of the Korean War, he was ordered to enter the DPRK three times to participate in the war, writing a glorious chapter. Later, after the end of the Korean War, the American commander expressed his chagrin:He's not here to fight!
If Chen Geng didn't come to fight, then what did he come for?
When the Korean War broke out, Chen Geng was not in China, and he was in Vietnam at that time to assist the Vietnamese people in directing the War of Resistance against France. In early November 1950, after hard work, they achieved a brilliant victory in the border battle.
Although Chen Geng was in a foreign country, he cared about the motherland, so when the situation in Vietnam stabilized a little, he bid farewell to President Ho Chi Minh and set off from Cao Ping, Vietnam, to return to China.
On the way back to China, Chen Geng had already taken the initiative to ask *** to go to North Korea to participate in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and his request was approved by ***.
On November 29, Chen Geng returned to Beijing, and as soon as the plane landed, he went non-stop to report his work during Vietnam to ***, and then, after taking care of things, Chen Geng came to Shenyang from Beijing.
On January 23, 1951, Chen Geng arrived at the headquarters of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and met with Mr. Peng. The timing of his arrival was a bit coincidental, and the senior cadres of the Chinese and North Korean armies were preparing to hold a joint meeting, so Brother Peng said to Chen Geng"You've come just in time ......You can attend this meeting to learn about all aspects of the situation. ”
At the meeting, Mr. Peng made a speech"Summary of the Three Campaigns and Future Tasks".After listening to the report, Chen Geng was greatly inspired.
This time when he came to North Korea, Chen Geng did not rush to command the operation, he only stayed in the Ninth Command for a few days, and made a big circle around the front and rear of North Korea, and then he took a train back to Northeast China.
In February, when Mr. Peng returned to China to report to ***, he said:"It is recommended that the newly formed three corps commanded by Chen Geng be driven up for ...... as soon as possible”Previously, the fourth campaign of the Chinese People's Volunteers won the first stage of victory, annihilating the enemy 2There were more than 20,000 people, but the battle of Toping-ri failed, and our army's counterattack did not go well, and the results of the battle were not expanded.
After Mr. Peng asked *** for instructions, ** agreed. On April 25, 1951, Chen Geng was officially appointed commander and political commissar of the Third Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteers.
Originally, everything was ready, only the east wind was owed, and when Chen Geng set off for North Korea, his body was in condition. Chen Geng was overworked during his previous work in Vietnam because of the difficult conditions and continuous rotation. Later, after returning to China, he immediately went to the front line in North Korea without resting, so he suffered from traumatic arthritis of his left ankle joint, and his left calf was swollen and painful.
As a result, the plan had to be temporarily put on hold, and Chen Geng was forced to stay in Beijing to recuperate.
Until June of this year, Chen Geng's injuries had not yet recovered, and he did not have time to participate in the fifth campaign to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
By the time Chen Geng's leg injury got a little better, the time had come to August.
On August 17, 1951, Chen Geng entered the DPRK for the second time through Shenyang and Dandong, and the Third Corps under his command was stationed in Dashuidong at that time.
The 18th Division of the 60th Army under the 3rd Corps had previously suffered a defeat in battle, and Chen Geng immediately convened a meeting after learning about the damage to the troops, at which he analyzed in detail the reasons for the 18th Division's defeat.
Subsequently, a meeting was held in Kongsidong, where the headquarters of the Chinese People's Volunteers is located, and the main leaders and commanders of each corps attended the meeting.
Mr. Peng looked around and found that Wang Jinshan was not here. Wang Jinshan was the main person in charge of the Third Corps in the previous period. The comrades discussed a lot and wondered whether it was because the 18th Division of the 60th Army of the 3rd Corps had suffered serious losses before, so Wang Jinshan was embarrassed to come to the meeting.
** has always been a straight person, what to say, he didn't see Wang Jinshan, he saw Liu Youguang, director of the Political Department of the Third Corps, and asked him directly:"Why didn't Comrade Kinyama come? ”
Liu Youguang couldn't answer, and he couldn't help but answer, he said in a hurryHe ......The 18th Division did not do a good job ......He didn't dare to come to see you......”
"The purpose of the meeting is to study the lessons and lessons, and the 18th Division has suffered serious damage, and I am also responsible, and the main task now is not to investigate the responsibility, but to learn lessons. ”When everyone heard *** speak like this, they all gradually relaxed.
When he talked about the situation of the Fifth Campaign at the meeting, he specially took out the 18th Division and said it separately, and he asked Wei Jie, commander of the 60th Army"Your 18th Division can break through, why do you say it is surrounded? They were not surrounded, but the enemy ran ahead of them. ”
"Even if you can't rush through it during the day, can't you rush it at night? The night is our world, there is no enemy behind us, and there is no enemy in the middle, so it is completely possible to pass at night. ”
** The words are not said yet:"How can there be such a thing now, as soon as the enemy is surrounded and intercepted, the radio station is smashed and the code book is burned? ”
**The more he talked, the more angry he became, he saw Wei Jie lowering his head and not speaking, and the anger was about to come up all of a sudden, and asked him:"How did you become this commander? When the troops retreated, you just forwarded the telegram, why didn't you even arrange this?
There was silence at the venue, everyone knew Mr. Peng's temper, no one dared to speak for a while, Wei Jie knew what he was going to say at this time, but he knew that any explanation at this time was like an excuse, which was tantamount to adding fuel to the fire.
"What to do? ”Deng Hua, deputy commander of the Volunteer Army, quietly asked Hong Xuezhi next to him.
Hong Xuezhi was also in a hurry, he turned his head and saw Chen Geng sitting at the door, he walked over and said to Chen Geng:"Commander Chen, tell me about it! ”
Chen Geng is an old revolutionary, with deep qualifications, and he had a good personal relationship with Mr. Peng before, although Peng is always a violent temper, but what Chen Geng says, he will still listen.
Chen Geng didn't think about it, stood up and touched his stomach and said to ***"Mr. Peng, it's time to eat, my stomach is growling......”
Sure enough, after listening to Chen Geng's words, Mr. Peng didn't say anything more, he looked at his watch, thought for a while, and said:"Okay, eat. And so it passed.
Of course, afterwards, Chen Geng went to find Wang Jinshan alone in private. After losing the battle, Wang Jinshan himself was not comfortable, he was called "Wang Maniac", he had almost never lost a battle, but he stumbled here.
When Chen Geng was looking for him, he was lying on the table writing a review, and Chen Geng repeated Mr. Peng's words to him, and then said"Mr. Peng has taken the responsibility for you, now you have to think deeply about it." ”
Wang Jinshan was still worried that he would not have the face to see the boss, so Chen Geng gave him an idea:"You can go to Beijing and go directly to *** to ask for guilt! Then the review was handed over to Mr. Peng. ”When Wang Jinshan heard this, he said again and again:"There are still many ways for the old leaders. ”A storm subsided.
In late February 1952, Chen Geng returned to China. Then, less than a month later, he was ordered to enter the court for the third time. This time he entered the DPRK because Mr. Peng's physical condition was in condition, and the Military Commission asked Chen Geng to take over, so that Mr. Peng could return to China to recuperate with peace of mind.
After Chen Geng came to North Korea, he met with Mr. Peng and conveyed to him his opinion that he should return to China for treatment as soon as possible. It's just that Mr. Peng thinks that he still has a lot of things to deal with, and he will return to China in May.
In the end, he gave a death order, and kept urging, but there was no way, Mr. Peng handed over all the affairs to Chen Geng to take care of. **After returning to China, Chen Geng convened the Party Committee of the Chinese People's Volunteers and determined the members of the team after President Peng left.
The war was not over yet, Chen Geng found that in order to fight against the enemy and avoid enemy fire, the soldiers dug a "cat's ear hole" on the hill in front of the position, and later connected the two cat's ear holes inside and turned them into a horseshoe-shaped small tunnel.
Chen Geng was inspired by this, and he decided to improve on the basis of the cat's ear hole and develop it into an underground tunnel.
Since it was a pilot project, this idea was first tested in the Third Corps and the 12 th Army, and at the end of April, Chen Geng held a meeting of the chiefs of staff of various armies at the headquarters of the Chinese People's Volunteers, mainly discussing tactical issues in tunnel operations and technical problems in the excavation process.
In May, they held another meeting, and Chen Geng made a summary at the meeting:"The main feature of future operations will be a positional war in which the two sides face each other, and the enemy will still have the strength to launch a partial offensive.
"Therefore, our main countermeasure is to rely on the tunnels and mobilize artillery fire to concentrate on the attacking enemy, and at the same time launch small sorties. ”
When the *** who was far away in Beijing learned of Chen Geng's tactical arrangement, he praised it:"Whether you can keep it or not, this problem has also been solved. ”
Under the leadership of Chen Geng, the progress of our army's tunneling was very smooth, and until the Korean armistice, the Chinese People's Volunteers had built a total of about 1,290 kilometers of large and small tunnels, which was equivalent to building a stone tunnel between Xi'an and Lianyungang. In addition to the tunnels, the volunteers also dug trenches and communication trenches with a length of about 6,240 kilometers, which is longer than the Great Wall, which is a miracle in the history of world wars.
Tunnel warfare played a huge role during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and when the two armies were fighting, they dealt a heavy blow to each other.
Therefore, after the end of the war, the American commander will be very annoyed and say:"He's not fighting, he's building the Great Wall underground! ”
The Great Wall stretches for thousands of years, blocking foreign aggression for the Chinese nation; The underground "Great Wall" made an indelible contribution to the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.