Chapter 57: Breaking the Sabbath Offensive 6
After deploying anti-aircraft sentries and setting up high-altitude machine guns and anti-aircraft guns on the must-pass mountain roads, the Independent 1st Division and three other divisions began their retreat northward. The tank vehicles with open headlights illuminated the road, making it snow-white. Whether it was a cannon car pulling heavy artillery in a hurry, or a rumbling tank, or an automobile loaded with wounded soldiers moving slowly, they all maintained a distance of 50 meters between each other and advanced in an orderly manner. Every 1500 meters, there was a hidden air defense position. During the rapid advance of the large motorcade, under the command of Gao Quan, Zhang Dabiao's regiment had already arrived at Pingli to construct fortifications. Fortunately, not far from the last battle, the fortifications had not been repaired by the local people. Only many corpses seemed to have been taken away by the locals to "fertilize the fields"!!! Only a few charred corpses were buried.
When the US military forcibly "accepted" the "defeated" pseudo-military position in Rui State, the position suddenly became quiet. The US military thought of the Independent First Division, which was full of tricks, and immediately hid in the bunker. Who knows if this is the calm before the storm? If they wait for victory but end up losing big time! So the US military waited quietly in the bunker for the intense artillery fire from the Independent First Division. One hour, two hours passed, and the increasingly anxious US military began to wonder why the Independent First Division hadn't started attacking yet. Was there a bigger conspiracy?
When the humming US military planes dropped flares, illuminating the US position in a snowy white light, they were shocked to find that there were no Chinese soldiers, not even running around! Not to mention the tanks, artillery and vehicles of the Chinese army! There was no shadow at all! The US troops on the position were also surprised to find that the independent 1st Regiment attacking their position had disappeared. Did they know that our powerful air force would return to bomb? With caution, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division made a decision and dispatched several reconnaissance teams under the cover of tanks to determine whether the Independent 1st Regiment had really retreated. After the planes of the Air Force vented their anger by bombing the original attacking position of the Independent 1st Regiment and the hills behind with bombs and napalm, the US soldiers crouched down, relying on the cover of the tanks, slowly advancing forward to reconnoiter.
Suddenly, Jie Sheng's foot stepped on something very hard, and in the cold night, cold sweat burst out! "Lian Zhang, I stepped on a landmine!" The US military, who was suddenly frightened, fell to the ground, and only after hearing that it was a landmine did they wipe away the cold sweat from their heads. "Don't move your feet, I'll come over right away" Lian Zhang, who had thrown his gun aside, ran over with a bayonet. As the bayonet slowly dug through the loose soil, it turned out to be a huge anti-tank mine. All the soldiers stood up, and Jie Sheng also moved his leg that was about to cramp. Then, only a deafening explosion was heard, this sole surviving napalm landmine from the enemy plane finally fulfilled its duty, sending over 30 US soldiers and one tank to hell. And so, like flies finding rotten meat, the US planes buzzed again, starting another round of "repairing the earth" and "plowing the land".
After sending out several reconnaissance teams in front and back, and getting accurate reconnaissance reports, after the news that the Independent First Division had withdrawn, the soldiers cheered wildly and hugged each other. The excited and disappointed commander of the Cavalry First Division quickly reported the situation on the battlefield to Li Qimeng. Li Qimeng, who had just fallen into anger, also quickly received a telegram from the Yuanzhou battlefield, and it was still the Chinese army that withdrew! Calmly, Li Qimeng couldn't help but sigh "Gao Quan is this little fox more cunning than this old fox! It's too infuriating!"
On February 17, 1951, the Chinese army began to withdraw from the eastern and western lines. After blowing up the entrance of the tunnel works and covering it up, the 38th and 50th Armies also started to withdraw from their positions that they had defended for many days. Without the annoying American troops sticking around, the soldiers in the units felt exceptionally relaxed. Due to the segmented sniping, the 112th Division and other units rushed into Hanseong, Incheon, Paldang-ri, and Fuyo-san to take defensive positions.
The 8th Cavalry Regiment began a pleasant march, but after more than 40 kilometers, they were ambushed in Daping. Although the 8th Cavalry also sent out reconnaissance vehicles, the tanks and cars were separated by 50 meters, and the vanguard did not find any signs of Chinese troops on several hills along the way. However, the commander of the 8th Cavalry Regiment knew that "the abnormal is the norm", but General Li Qiwu's command required them to bite into the Independent 1st Brigade. When the crowded infantry transport trucks passed through a mountain foot, more than a dozen buried incendiary bombs suddenly exploded, setting the middle of the convoy on fire, and the cries of agony continued. The angry commander of the 8th Cavalry Regiment ordered all artillery and machine guns in the convoy to fiercely attack that hill.
It was just a small, hidden cave in front of the mountain, where two people were smiling foolishly. Liu Changying, who had just crawled in, immediately gave Li Daishi, who was laughing extremely lewdly, a severe slap on the face. Looking at Li Daishi's "grievous" expression, Liu Changying couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine, and goosebumps rose all over his body! On the highway, the aroma of roasted meat wafted through the air, not to mention the oil that dripped continuously onto the curved steel plate, which had been scorched by the fierce flames, making "sizzling" sounds, just like teppanyaki (the downside of eating too much meat!). However, after mourning the deaths of over 300 soldiers, the several thousand officers and men of the Eighth Regiment began to abstain from food, let alone meat. Many soldiers developed a liking for Korean-style vegetarian dishes, such as rice, seaweed, and purple cabbage, and some even converted to Buddhism, vowing never to eat meat again. This was also a habit formed by the few hundred surviving soldiers of the Eighth Regiment who made it back to America. In the annals of war psychology, this is known as the "Eighth Regiment BBQ Case".
"This Roast Meat Case" is a manifestation of using large-scale lethal weapons to cause great harm to our US, because it not only caused significant casualties among our troops but also severely damaged the combat confidence of our army. That high-ranking official is a scoundrel!
Teacher, I'd like to ask, were the napalm bombs used by that high-ranking official made in China? In the previous lesson, you mentioned that during the Korean War, due to China's industrial backwardness, not every soldier could be equipped with rifles, so many people carried large knives and other cold weapons. The sudden attack at the beginning of the war caught us off guard, but in the mid-to-late period, we inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.
According to your statement, those napalm bombs were either made by the Soviet Union or the US. However, some intelligence reports say that we left behind 30,000 gallons of napalm in Seoul, which were seized by the Chinese army and then used against our troops. I'd like to ask, did our military transport so many napalm bombs to Korea for humanitarian purposes?
In a burst of false voices, in a classroom at West Point Military Academy, an old lieutenant general hastily ran down from the podium!
