The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 903 Stop the Chase
"I knew it was a futile effort to stop the mass exodus of these frightened soldiers who couldn't understand what they were saying. But I had to try anyway, so I jumped out of the jeep, stood in the middle of the road, raised my arms, and motioned to an oncoming truck to stop. The first few trucks didn't slow down and went around me."

"However, I still stopped a convoy of trucks carrying South Korean officers. The officers on the first truck did not understand what I meant and did not obey my signal. Soon the whole convoy started moving again. Now, the only effective way is to set up many checkpoints in the back and have our military police, led by officers, patrol there to restore control of the troops."

AFP reporters wrote that long lines of soldiers returned from the front, their faces haggard and blackened, they were exhausted from fighting, and on the way to Hancheng, there were burning supplies and warehouses along the way.

Behind the lines, the retreating troops were always in a hurry, cursing, and in a mess, with long lines of retreating motorcycles and some cars sometimes stuck in the mud, the Associated Press reporter wrote.

As the enemy fled, they killed many civilians along the way. There were corpses everywhere in the villages, on the roadsides, and in the ditches. The soldiers who were chasing them saw this and were furious:

"If we allow the American bandits to cross the Yalu River, our people will suffer the same cruelty as the North Korean people!"

During the pursuit of the enemy, the enemy fled in panic and abandoned a large amount of supplies and equipment. They could be seen everywhere, making it difficult for the pursuing soldiers to have a full meal.

In the direction of Seoul, the advance team stayed in Seoul until the eighth day and received orders from the military.

"Stop the pursuit!"

After the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army broke through the 1th parallel, they fought until January 8, pushing the entire line to Suwon, Icheon, Yeoju and Gangneung, and driving the enemy to Pyeongtaek, Anseong, Jecheon and Samseop near the 37th parallel north.

At this time, the 112th Division of our army was chasing the fleeing enemy and had advanced to Taihua Mountain and Lichuan area on the south bank of the Han River. On that day, they were ordered to stop the pursuit and rest on the spot.

The third battle went quite smoothly, and the full-scale offensive caused the enemy to retreat. This battle was a large-scale offensive against an enemy that had prepared for defense, and more than 1.9 enemies were killed.

The 1150th Army annihilated more than enemies.

This battle liberated Seoul and shattered the enemy's iron positions on the 38th parallel. The enemy's attempt to reorganize the defeat and prepare to commit another crime was further deepened by the victory of this battle.

Taft, the leader of the Republican Party in the United States, believed that this was the most serious defeat the United States had ever suffered. He also criticized the Truman administration for pursuing a policy that had destroyed the United States' prestige in the eyes of the world. Britain was worried that failure in the Korean War would damage its own interests and advocated negotiations between China and North Korea.

The victory of this war expanded the political influence of the Chinese and North Korean militaries among peace-loving countries and peoples around the world, and also promoted the continued upsurge of the people's mass movement to resist the United States and aid Korea and defend the country.

In this major offensive, the comrades of the troops broke through the 38th parallel with great momentum and drove the enemy to the south bank of the Han River. Their morale was high and they wanted to reach the Nakdong River and Busan in one fell swoop.

After completely defeating the invaders, many comrades could not understand why the pursuit suddenly stopped.

Stopping the pursuit was a decisive decision made by Zhisi.

This is because under the powerful offensive of our army in this battle, the enemy was extremely afraid of being annihilated by our army, so its main force quickly withdrew and moved together, and did not dare to disperse.

As a result, our army was unable to annihilate a large number of enemy forces.

The enemy's movements shown on the map looked like a planned retreat, just like our army's planned retreat to lure the enemy deep into our territory during the second battle!
There was a feeling that the enemy wanted to lure me deeper.

However, they landed from the side and rear of our army, cut off our retreat, and launched a pincer attack on our army.

After receiving the order from the Zhisi, all armies quickly stopped the pursuit. Except for the 112th Division as the reserve force, which was responsible for the bridgehead position on the south bank of the Han River, the army required all units to seize the time to rest and reorganize in preparation for the next battle!
Based on the actual situation in the rear and our army, the Volunteer Army planned to make corrections within two months.

Under the condition of huge disparity in equipment, our army's combat guiding ideology must be to focus on concentrating absolutely superior forces and firepower to annihilate the enemy one by one.

In terms of tactical application, we should strive for night combat and close combat. Under the conditions of infiltrating deep into the enemy's rear, bypassing the enemy's rear, or pursuing the fleeing enemy, daytime combat is still possible and necessary. We should strive to implement bold encirclement and penetration, and bravely infiltrate the enemy's depth and rear.

At the same time, we organized elite and brave small units to attack enemy artillery positions and command posts and disrupt enemy deployments.

This meeting unified the combat thinking, strengthened the unity of the Chinese and North Korean troops, and boosted their fighting spirit.

After driving the U.S. troops and their accomplices to the vicinity of the 37th parallel, the th Army was ordered to stop the pursuit and station on the west bank of the Han River east of Seoul.

Seoul, located on the coast, is situated in the lower reaches of the Han River.

Going east along the river to Fenyuanli, you will find the Namhan River and the Bukhan River, which have many tributaries and nourish the Korean land along both sides of the river. When you come to the south of the 38th parallel, it feels like you have arrived in the Jiangnan region of my country, which is also a land of rich fish and rice.

The 20th Division traveled a long distance during the pursuit. They were responsible for guarding the wide front and depth of the south bank of the Han River, from Taihua Mountain and Dinggai Mountain on the front line to the bank of the Namhan River, with a depth of 40 kilometers. From Jiajun Mountain in the east to Taihua Mountain in the west, it was a -kilometer front mountain position.

The 112th Division was on guard and resting at the same time.

The third company is still in motion.

They had to rush from the 114th Division's defense line to the 112th Division's defense line. A batch of supplies previously seized would be handed over to the 114th Division for transportation to the army. The credit went to the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 335th Regiment of the 112th Division. Considering that they were far away from the 112th Division, the 114th Division gave them a military truck.

As for supplies, it is unlikely that they can be transported because the journey is too far. If they are destroyed by enemy planes, the losses will be great.

Besides, no matter which division the supplies belonged to, they were all spoils of the 38th Army.

The troops were indeed tired from participating in three consecutive battles, and their sense of organization and discipline had also become somewhat lax. Some comrades believed that since entering North Korea, they had either been fighting or marching, and that the troops had suffered many casualties, so they were looking forward to the arrival of the Second Corps so that they could take turns and rest.

The leadership at the time had a different idea.

Just as the United States was discussing withdrawing from Korea, the rear area assessed the Korean War and believed that the enemy would not automatically withdraw from Korea until its main force was defeated. It warned the volunteers to be prepared to persist in long-term combat and decided to adopt a strategy of rotating battles.

According to the instructions from the rear, the Zhisi prepared to organize a new offensive after the second corps came up, and planned to use two months of rest for the front-line troops and launch the spring offensive in March. To this end, the military leadership grasped four things to facilitate the troops to fight again.

First, after stopping the pursuit, the first thing to do was to arrange the work within ten days, such as taking care of personal hygiene, tidying up the army, treating frostbite, digging shelters, and collecting firewood to keep out the cold. At the same time, they also publicized the victory, summarized and evaluated the merits, restored the work system, and carried out small and diverse cultural and entertainment activities.

Considering the extension of the transportation line and in order to ensure the supply of food, each division was divided into a grain-raising area, and each regiment was required to raise at least 10 kilograms.

Fortunately, the south bank of the Han River is relatively prosperous and has many landlords, so there is still hope of raising grain locally.

The second is to send people back to the country to comfort the wounded, and send the army's political propaganda minister to join the returning delegation to report to the people of the motherland.

Third, the army staff will lead the main military cadres at the regimental level and above to return to Yangshen to participate in study to improve their combat command capabilities against modern enemies. Other people from each division will rest at home, and the troops will conduct merit evaluation activities based on the combat summary.

Four is to prepare for the Spring Festival!

All companies have actively made preparations for the festival.

Guo Zhongtian, the platoon leader of the second platoon of the first company of the 337th regiment, was promoted to the company commander of the third company. The third company had a traditional custom of loving dancing, and Guo Zhongtian also loved to dance the yangge. They used the enemy's parachutes to make many colorful costumes, preparing to dance and dance the yangge to celebrate the victory during the Spring Festival.

The logistics department also transported festival food, fish, meat, cigarettes and alcohol from the motherland to the troops.

Thereby easing the quarrels among the American aggression groups.

Under such circumstances, our army had to stop resting under extreme difficulties and was forced to launch the fourth battle ahead of schedule.

In order to delay the enemy's advance, cover the Second Corps' entry into North Korea to participate in the war, organize a new offensive, and deal a heavier blow to the enemy, the Zhisi and the Lianhe Command decided to use the 38th Army, the 50th Army, and the First Corps of the People's Army on the western front to organize defense on the south bank of the Han River, pin down the enemy's main offensive group, cover the 39th Army, the 40th Army, the 42nd Army, the 66th Army and the Korean People's Army to lure the enemy deep into their territory, and then concentrate on launching a counterattack.

Strive to destroy one or two enemy divisions and stop the enemy's attack.

Because our army did not fully understand the role of the enemy's modern equipment in the war, it did not expect that the enemy would recover quickly and launch an attack on our army on all fronts.

The enemy suffered heavy losses after the continuous attacks in the first three battles, but they had highly mechanized equipment and could quickly mobilize, adjust their deployment, and reorganize their forces. They could quickly switch from offense to retreat and from retreat to offense.

Therefore, just as our army was preparing for the Spring Festival and waiting for replenishment of troops, food and ammunition to fight again, the enemy discovered that our army's transportation lines were extended, food and ammunition were insufficient, and the troops were in great difficulties. They immediately concentrated all their forces on the east and west fronts, namely 7 US divisions, 2 British brigades, and 9 puppet army divisions.

Under the cover of the air force, artillery fire and tanks, they launched a counterattack towards the positions on the south bank of the Han River.

On January 1, in order to find out the situation of the Volunteer Army, the enemy began to adopt the "magnetic tactics" and launched a tentative attack from Suwon to Icheon.

The magnetic tactics is to use a small number of tanks and vehicles carrying infantry to maintain contact with the Volunteer Army before a large-scale battle, or to conduct armed reconnaissance, or to seize a certain area of ​​the Volunteer Army, or to delay the Volunteer Army's actions and cover the transfer of its main force, so as to consume the Volunteer Army.

Before the enemy launched an offensive, three or five tanks often entered the front or rear of the Volunteer Army's position to investigate the situation of the Volunteer Army's position. The enemy knew that the Volunteer Army lacked anti-tank weapons, so they used tanks so frantically to conduct reconnaissance or disrupt the Volunteer Army's offensive.

Although everyone lacks weapons to deal with tanks, they all have experience in dealing with tanks.

As soon as Xia Yuan arrived at the 335th Regiment's defense zone for rest, he learned that enemy tanks were approaching, just near their rest area.

The regiment commander sent two boxes of anti-tank grenades, which were quite effective against tanks. He had used this type of grenade before and knew how to use it.

Then everyone set off with grenades. The enemy came with five tanks in a column. Their tank soldiers did not show their heads at all, but drove over in a high-profile manner.

Xia Yuan selected seven people, took anti-tank grenades and a machine gun, went down to the street, used the houses to get close to the enemy tanks, stuffed the anti-tank grenades into the enemy's tracks, and with a bang, the tank tracks were blown up.

But the enemies inside did not come out, and the soldiers could not do anything to them for a while. Xia Yuan found some mud and blocked the enemy's periscope opening. In this way, although they could not deal with the tanks, the enemy's tanks could not see the situation outside. As long as they were blocked here, these tanks would have no way to stop them.

Unfortunately, the enemy tanks can be called for reinforcements. Xia Yuan originally planned to surround these tanks and they would surrender soon, but then the enemy sent another batch of reinforcements and took away the tank soldiers in these tanks.

It doesn’t matter, the machine gun in the tank was retained.

Xia Yuan asked everyone to dismantle all the usable items on the enemy tanks and take them away. The large-caliber heavy machine guns equipped on the enemy tanks were dismantled and were completely suitable for use by front-line combat troops.

In the fourth battle, in addition to the magnetic tactics, the enemy also adopted the sea of ​​fire tactics, that is, using its superior artillery, air force firepower and tank firepower to launch intensive and highly intense firepower assaults on the Volunteer Army's defense zone.

In order to kill the volunteer army's manpower, the volunteer soldiers suffered a lot.

Rows of tanks were placed in front of the Volunteer Army's positions, using artillery fire to directly destroy the Volunteer Army's fortifications, or driving to the sides and rear of the Volunteer Army's positions to conduct reconnaissance and fire. It was extremely crazy!

At that time, the volunteers had not yet come up with the concept of digging tunnels to avoid enemy fire. Most of them built fortifications. However, even the solid fortifications could not withstand such fierce enemy fire.

While Xia Yuan was resting with the Third Company, the position of the 335th Regiment came under enemy artillery attack, which lasted for more than an hour. It was really crazy!

To this end, he submitted a plan of "digging tunnels to resist enemy fire" to the regiment commander, which pointed out the idea of ​​a protracted war proposed by the rear.

If we want to sustain a protracted war, we cannot do so by simply digging bunkers on the ground. The enemy can easily destroy our bunkers with fierce artillery attacks.

The idea of ​​digging tunnels proposed by Xia Yuan can be said to be very suitable for resisting the enemy's fierce artillery fire.

But the superiors did not adopt it.