How did the China Volunteers compete with the US military for the Western Hills of Matari?

After defeating the seventh division of the US Army in Laotushan, the volunteers fought in Dongshan Mountain, which is called Vega Mountain in the northwest of Gaolangpu.

For the US military, the significance of this target group is not only to control the rear transportation lines of the volunteers, but more importantly, these highlands control the strategic artery of North Korea's attack on Seoul, which is located 30 miles south.

This is also one of the reasons why 1 Division was transferred to this area from the eastern front in 1952.

Once these highlands fall into the hands of volunteers, volunteers can further attack the main peak at a closer distance and even break through the main peak.

Therefore, the 1st 1 Marine Division of the US Army spared no effort to strengthen the garrison in these three highlands.

The task of guarding these highlands fell to the 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the Marine Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel paulette. The other highland in Dongshan and Meijiangli is stationed by Company C of 1 Battalion, while the garrison task of Vega Mountain is undertaken by Company H of Battalion 3, but its command belongs to 1 Battalion.

In the Dongshan Highland in Meijiang River, the US military dug two main ditches. The first ditch is perpendicular to the ridge line and extends to the positive slope of the mountain, and the second ditch is in the reverse slope direction of the mountain.

At the intersection of the two trenches, there is a tunnel for the American troops guarding the position, and ammunition is also stored in the tunnel.

Generally, the number of US troops stationed in the Dongshan position in Li Meilian is between 40 and 43, and it is rotated every 8 to 10 days.

They have four machine gun positions to defend positions in four directions. The weapons on the position include 18 M 1 rifle, 6 Browning automatic rifles, 5 A4 light machine guns, 2 flame throwers, 1 carbine and 7 pistols.

Matari Xishan Highland is the highest of the three highlands, with a distance of 13 10 meter from the main peak.

Around the position is a 250-meter-long trench with 13 shooting holes. There is a traffic ditch in the middle of the position. There is a trench leading to the main peak behind the position, and there is a shallow tunnel near the intersection with the circular trench.

The position is manned by about 40 American soldiers, who have two flamethrowers, 1 3.5-inch rocket launchers, four machine guns, three pistols and other light weapons.

Behind these outposts, there is the 5th Regiment of Army Battalion 1 Battalion, which is stationed on the main peak and is in charge of companies A, B and C. On the east side is the 5th Regiment of 3rd Battalion of Army Battalion, and the 2nd Battalion serves as the regiment reserve.

After that, it was the artillery unit of the 1 1 marine corps. The first battalion of this regiment is the light artillery battalion, which is responsible for supporting the 5 th Marine Corps. The second battalion, as a reserve, supported the firepower of the first battalion. The fourth battalion is a medium-sized artillery battalion and the first rocket launcher company, which can support the defense area of the whole division.

In addition to the artillery corps of Marine 1 Division, the 1st 1 Division of Marine 1 Division is also equipped with military artillery units. The 623rd Field Artillery Battalion can support the 5th Marine Regiment with the 155 howitzer, while the C Company of the 17 Field Artillery Battalion, the B Company of the 204th Field Artillery Battalion and the158th Field Artillery Battalion all have formidable 8-inch heavy guns. If there is danger ahead, they can support all sections of MLR at any time.

The 5th Corps also belongs to Company A of the Division 1 Tank Battalion, and has M46 tanks and fire-breathing tanks, which can be supported by Company B of the reserve team. In addition, the frontline positions of the First Marine Division can also receive air support from the Marine Corps Aviation and Air Force.

With such strong fire support, the First Marine Division hopes to turn the front line into a sea of fire when the volunteers attack, and completely turn these relatively isolated outposts into meat mixers of the volunteers.

Therefore, the morale of the American troops in the outpost is quite good.

Such a strong and fortified target group seems to be an insurmountable obstacle for volunteers.

However, Zheng Zhishi, the division commander of the Volunteer Army 120 Division, has a well-thought-out plan.

Mr. Zheng Zhishi's confidence comes from two aspects: on the one hand, compared with the beginning of the Korean War, the artillery of the Volunteer Army has made great progress in scale, technology and artillery coordination; On the other hand, his subordinates have experienced many battles and have rich experience in fighting with the US military.

In order to provide sufficient fire support for attack force, Zheng Zhishi concentrated 105 howitzer, 19 howitzer, 38 field guns, 6 mountain guns, 8 76.2mm field guns, 18 mortars and 65438+ from a howitzer company of the 44th Artillery Corps. Such artillery strength can be said to be stronger than Mazhuang.

Two years ago, the 40th Army took part in the Battle of Horizon, and supported the attack on thousands of United Nations troops with only 10 guns. It's really different that volunteers can mobilize so many guns in order to support the US attack on two hills that is less than 100.

Responsible for the main attack on Xishan Mountain in Matali and Dongshan Mountain in Meijiang River, it falls on the 358th regiment of 120 Division under the command of Duke Xueyou, the head of the regiment, and Li Youtang, the political commissar.

The 358th Regiment has a glorious fighting history. In Liaoshen Campaign, the 25th Regiment of Dongye 3rd Vertical, the predecessor of 358th Regiment, performed well in Yixian Campaign. Liao Yaoxiang Corps was stopped in western Liaoning, the new Kuomintang army was cut off, and the first echelon landed in the battle of Hainan Island.

In the Korean War, the 358th Regiment defeated the 6th Division of South Korea in Wenjing. In the second battle, the second division of the American army fleeing south was stopped at the stadium; In four battles, in the counterattack of Hengcheng, he defeated the Eighth Division of South Korea at the peak of victory; In five battles, the United Nations defense line was divided into horseshoes.

Therefore, handing over the crucial task to the 358 regiment can be described as using good steel on the blade.

The head of the 358th Regiment made a battle plan, and set the attack targets as Matari West Mountain and Dongshan Mountain in Li Meili, as well as positions 0233 and 056 behind these two highlands.

The latter two positions are the US military's support positions for Mount Matari and Dongshan positions in Li Meili. They are unattended during the day and controlled by fire, while a small number of troops are stationed at night.

The plan of the 358th Regiment is that the 3rd Battalion, 1st Battalion and 3rd Company are responsible for the attack, and the 2nd Battalion, 1st Battalion and 2nd Company hold their ground.

The specific plan is as follows: 1 company, platoon 2 and platoon 3 form two commandos to attack the east mountain of Merili, with 1 platoon as the reserve; Two commandos composed of company 8,/kloc-0, platoon 3 attacked Matari Xishan, with platoon 2 as the reserve team; The other 3, 7 and 9 companies are combat reserves; It belongs to the artillery and forms an artillery group, which is divided into four groups to support infantry operations.

In order to fight this battle well, the division and the youth league members scouted the enemy's situation, surveyed the terrain, made a terrain sand table, and worked out the coordination plan and communication plan for infantry and artillery.

The artillery formed five reconnaissance teams, scouted and demarcated each other's positions, repeatedly organized and inspected the artillery situation, and set up observation stations and smoke release personnel.

Teams conducted drills for 15 days, and commandos repeatedly conducted sand table operations and conducted actual drills on similar terrain 10 to 30 times. They also built two stationed tunnels, and even dug a hidden traffic trench to the other side before attacking the target.

Commandos specially planned and rehearsed the battle to destroy American troops in the tunnel. These planned tactical actions have predetermined the fate of American soldiers on the ground.

However, the US Army's 1st Marine Division is not blind. The obvious reduction of artillery fire and attacks on the front line of the volunteers attracted the attention of the marine intelligence department, so the US military began to carefully prepare for the possible attacks of the volunteers.

However, the intelligence department of the U.S. military failed to predict the exact time of the volunteers' attack, and even failed to determine the main attack direction of the volunteers for a period of time after the fighting started.

The time has finally come. At 0: 00 on March 26th, the participating troops of the Volunteers held a solemn expedition ceremony in the assembly area.

Volunteers read the oath: resolutely obey orders, obey orders, where the superiors point, resolutely fight, overcome all kinds of difficulties, never retreat, and fight to the end with one shot! Carry forward the style of class hard bones, do not complain about serious injuries, persist in fighting for minor injuries, unite and be friendly, support each other, create greater glories, and win glory for our country and Chairman Mao.

Mr. Zheng Zhishi, Li Guanzhi, and Li Youtang, political commissar, toasted the officers and men participating in the war and wished victory in the battle.

Two commandos drove into the station tunnel at night. The approaching shooting unit in charge of the artillery group also secretly entered the launching position.

This day is the 26th. It was a sunny day. The weather is unusually warm and the front line is calm.

After nightfall, volunteers suddenly appeared in the front line, but their activities were just as usual, so they didn't attract the attention of ordinary American soldiers.

As everyone knows, murder is brewing in this calm, and a big war is about to break out.

1953, March 26th 18, the preparation for the volunteer fire began.

The artillery group of the Volunteers fired 270 artillery shells with 8 guns at the US military positions in Xishan, Matali and Dongshan, Meijiangli, destroying 24 US military bunkers and destructively shooting the barbed wire in front of the US military positions with 4 82 mortars.

At the same time, four howitzers and three heavy mortars were used by volunteers to suppress the US artillery positions, and 1 * * fired 840 shells, which suppressed 12 US artillery positions, resulting in only a few scattered artillery positions for the US military to counterattack.

At the same time, the volunteers also violently shelled other positions of the other side, which made the US military confused about the main direction of the volunteers.

The American army was attacked by the fierce and extensive artillery fire of the volunteers, and the front position was in a hurry.

The personnel of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 5th Army reported that in the first 20 minutes, China's 60mm and 82mm mortar shells dropped at the speed of 1 round per second, and in the following time, they dropped one round every 40 seconds until 2 1 afternoon.

Two positions in the defense zone of the Fifth Army Corps were also hit by mortars and light weapons from volunteers.

In the area of the first marine corps, the fire of the volunteers was a few minutes ahead of schedule, and the first-class volunteers also had limited attacks.

At 18 and 10, the volunteer military 19 howitzers and four heavy mortars extended their fire to the highlands 0233 and 056 behind the western hills of Matali and the eastern hills of Meijiangli, firing 1550 shells.

This is the most violent and concentrated shelling since the 120 Division entered the Korean War, and the frontline infantry of the Volunteers cheered.

Zhan Sen, an American sergeant who participated in the reinforcement of Dongshan Highland in Meijiang, later recalled: The path leading to Dongshan Highland in Meijiang was completely leveled by China people, which shows the fierce artillery fire of the volunteers.

18: 08, 19, the commandos of the first 1 company and the eighth company of the volunteers jumped up and launched attacks on Dongshan in Meijiang and Xishan in Matali respectively.

The war history of the U.S. military set the time for the volunteers to launch an attack at 18: 08, and recorded that 3,500 people from the 358th regiment of the 46th Army of the Volunteers120th Division swarmed down from the position, assembled in the 5th regiment defense zone of the Army War Situation, and launched a regiment-level attack.

Obviously, the estimate of the number of volunteer assault troops in the history of the US military is seriously outrageous and exaggerated by dozens of times. On the one hand, it is difficult for the US military to count the real number of volunteers attacking at night, on the other hand, it also reflects the thunderous trend of volunteers attacking.

Seeing that the volunteers began to attack the main direction, the US artillery responded quickly. Three light artillery battalions covered the assembly and attack routes of the volunteers and protected the outpost with air raid barrage. The medium artillery battalion is used to support the defense of artillery fire and suppress the artillery positions of the volunteers, while the 8-inch heavy artillery is used to counter the suppressed artillery fire of the volunteers.

Correspondingly, according to the war history of the volunteers, 18: 22, the US military fired a large number of air-exploded grenades at the volunteers from deep artillery fire, which stopped the shooting of the volunteers' infantry. A row of empty grenades turned Dongshan in Meijiang and Xishan in Matali into two fireballs.

Under the leadership of Gao Qing, the company commander of the Eighth Company of the Volunteers, the soldiers were divided into three ways. It took only 10 minutes to occupy the water surface position of Matali Xishan, and there was no casualty.

Jiang, the squad leader of Class 8, cooperated with Lu Changyou to blow up two other bunkers.

/kloc-around 0/8: 40, American soldiers guarding the western hills of Matari reported to the rear that their positions had fallen. They hid in the tunnel and asked for air raid firepower to reinforce them.

Subsequently, the communication between Victoria Heights and the rear was completely interrupted.

After conquering the surface position of Matari West Mountain, the Eighth Company of the Volunteers continued to develop into the enemy's depth, but it was violently bombarded by the other side's deep artillery fire, and the company commander Gao Qing died heroically.

Ma Qinghe, the third platoon leader, took over the command and led the rest to continue to expand the results.

Yu Yunde, a soldier of Class 7, blew up a big mother fort with 15 kg explosive bag; Jiang Pinghao, a soldier of the Fifth Artillery Squad, simply pulled out the other side's machine gun from the hole and captured the American soldiers in the bunker alive.

In the other direction, it took only five or six minutes for the volunteers to attack the Dongshan position in Meijiangli.

When Class Four rushed halfway up the mountain, it was blocked by American machine gun fire, and the monitor of Class Four and five other soldiers were injured. Zhao Shucai, a class four blaster, first blew up a bunker with a charge, then destroyed another bunker with a charge, and finally ignited the gasoline in a bunker with a Grenade, destroying this weapon point and ensuring that a company commandos occupied the water position of Dongshan in Meijiang.

At about 18: 35, the American troops in Meilijing Dongshan Highland informed the rear that they had lost their ground positions and the volunteers had invaded the trenches. Now, the marines are forced to hide in the central tunnel and demand the air explosion barrage of friendly forces.

However, the air explosion barrage on Meilidong Mountain brought great trouble to the volunteers. The second platoon suffered heavy casualties and the commandos lost radio contact with the rear.

This made Colonel James Li very anxious. He used the reserve team to organize three classes of reinforcements in succession. Among them, under the leadership of Gu Hongyan, the instructor of the first battalion, Class Three Company made a detour from the west side of the highland to the back of the main peak, avoiding the enemy's frontal fire, and formed a centripetal attack with the officers and men of a company.

By 19:00 10, the attacking volunteers began to relax and began to retreat at 20: 35.

By the time of 19, the volunteers had completely occupied the ground positions in Meilidong Mountain and Matari Xishan.

The U.S. military blamed the loss of positions on the so-called absolute strength advantage of the volunteers of 20 1. Obviously, once again, the US military has seriously overestimated the number of assault troops of the Volunteers, because the main attack direction of the Volunteers is no more than two companies, and the strength advantage is only 2 1 4 1.

For the volunteers, the occupation of the ground positions on two hills was only a preliminary victory, and there were 10 American troops in the tunnel under their feet.

If the volunteers can't quickly destroy the American troops in the tunnel and stay on the surface for too long, they will be killed by the superior artillery fire of the American troops, and the reinforced American troops will quickly arrive to cooperate with the American troops in the tunnel.

Therefore, the attack on the tunnel is a race against time, and every second delay may lead to more casualties of volunteers.

The situation of Mei Lijing's volunteers on Dongshan Mountain is not optimistic. After occupying the water position, the second platoon suffered heavy casualties, and the second platoon leader Jin Yugui was seriously injured in the head and was rescued from the battlefield.

Li Renzhi, the platoon leader in charge of battlefield rescue work, took the initiative to take charge of the command work. He and Wang Zhongyuan, the company's rescuer, each took five grenades, guarded the entrance of the US military tunnel, and then began to attack the tunnel.

They first put a Grenade into the tunnel, rushed into the tunnel with thick smoke, and then opened the road alternately with grenades and submachine guns along the right wall of the tunnel.

After entering the tunnel for 30 meters, the tunnel diverged, and the two men could not move forward separately. In addition, the smoke caused by grenades in the tunnel was too thick and they were forced to withdraw from the tunnel.

At the entrance of the tunnel, an injured US Marine threw a Grenade at Li Renzhi, causing him to be injured.

At this time, Wang Zhonglin is the only volunteer who can continue to fight, and there are 10 American soldiers in the tunnel!

At this critical moment, Class Three and Class Four, under the guidance of the instructor Gu Hongyan, rushed to the tunnel entrance and fought against the tunnel.

However, during the movement, Class 3, Company 4 also suffered heavy casualties. Gu Hongyan was seriously injured, leaving only Wang Zhaoxing, the leader of the combat team, and three other soldiers.

The injured platoon leader Li Renzhi used these five soldiers to organize another attack. They formed a three-man combat team. One shot continuously with a submachine gun, one lit it with a flashlight, and the other threw a Grenade into the corner first, and then quickly occupied the corner.

After 15 minutes of fierce fighting, all 56 American soldiers and soldiers in the tunnel were annihilated, and six marines who pretended to be dead were also captured.

Only Li Renzhi, the platoon leader of the Volunteers, was injured, and the whole tunnel attack took only 30 minutes. By 20: 30, Meili Dongshan all fell into the hands of volunteers.

The failure of the US military in Xishan, Matari, made Taylor, commander of the US Eighth Army, who had just been frustrated in Laotushan, flustered. He hurried to inspect the front line by helicopter on the 27th.

According to the announcement of the Eighth Army of the United States, his helicopter crashed during the inspection, and two officers traveling with Taylor were slightly injured, but he was lucky not to be injured.

The flustered Taylor was desperate and ordered the US military to fight back crazily. He used tanks, dive bombers, artillery and mortars. However, the overwhelming volunteers repeatedly dealt devastating blows to each other.

The powerful artillery of the volunteers cooperated closely with the heroic infantry and beat each other out of the water.

Harold johnson, an American lieutenant who took part in the battle when our army counterattacked Mount Matali, later said that there were too many shells fired by the volunteers, and people couldn't stay on the ground. It's been like this almost ever since.

Under the attack of the volunteers, the American counterattack failed again and again.

United press international and the Associated Press described the frustration of the US counterattack again and again, saying: In the counterattack at noon on the 27th, the Marine Corps braved the heavy artillery fire of the South Korean army and made great efforts to try to recapture two lost outposts on the historical main road leading to Seoul. But they did not succeed.

The heavy shelling of the * * * army shattered one of the two battalions attacked by the Marine Corps and prevented the troops to be dispatched from reaching the top of Vega.

United press international and Associated Press also reported that on the morning of 28th, the troops of the 7th Marine Corps carried out four attacks along the south slope of Mount Vega, but none of them moved the position of China's army. China's army fired machine guns and mortars, and baskets of grenades were thrown down. Attack the attacking marines.

News from united press international shows that the volunteers have adopted flexible tactics to wipe out more American troops.

United press international and the Associated Press also described that, for example, in the battle on the 28th, the volunteers once rushed the American troops to the top of the mountain, and that night they bombarded the besieged hill with artillery and mortars, and shells rained down on the exposed positions of the Marine Corps.

An American officer said: There is no hiding place on the top of the mountain. The American troops fled in a hurry, but when they retreated from the top of the mountain along the south slope, the China army surrounded the Marine Corps, forming a steel encirclement.

The commander of the marine corps has just reported to his superiors that we are shooting with heavy firepower. Five minutes later, he reported that my brothers had been attacked. Oh, my God, they're attacking again.

A few minutes later, the marine corps commander was also killed.

Countless American soldiers died needlessly in the crazy counterattack ordered by Taylor.

United press international admitted that the casualties of the Marine Corps were very serious.

In a communication written for united press international, Captain Price described the situation behind the American front, which was badly beaten by the volunteers. He said: This place was covered with fragments of shell casings and mortars, and many broken equipment and wounded soldiers were lying on the ground. Walk 300 yards through this trench and across the rice fields, and you will find the outpost named Vega Mountain.

Starting from 7 pm on 26th, the 1st Marine Division threw hundreds of people and thousands of artillery and mortar shells at Mount Vega in an attempt to recapture it from China's army. The Marine Corps called it "the highest beachhead position in North Korea".

It's hard to see these dead and wounded soldiers. Some people lying on stretchers are full of tears and painful expressions, and some people have lost consciousness because of excessive blood loss. One stood there crying, then looked back at Vega Mountain and said,' They are all dead. All my friends are dead. He hid in a bombed bunker and covered his face with his hands.

All the people feel very tired. They haven't slept for nearly sixty hours. There were five people sitting against the bunker at the checkpoint. When they attacked the hill, their trousers had worn their knees. They are the surviving soldiers among the top soldiers of E Company. They were so tired that they could hardly speak.

At that time, American newspapers were full of words such as the hard work of the US military, the exhaustion of the US military and the serious casualties of the Marine Corps.