November 24 was the time when MacArthur launched the "General Christmas Offensive". MacArthur, who was full of confidence, took a plane and flew to the Eighth Army headquarters on the Chongchon River.
The Eighth Army Commander Walker originally planned to start marching to the Yalu River on November 15, but supplies could not keep up and had to be postponed.
Yes, their supply lines were still not enough to satisfy MacArthur and Walker, but they both felt that continuing to delay might delay the fighter planes, and they agreed that they could not continue to delay.
MacArthur still firmly believed that during the first battle, the volunteers operating on the Korean battlefield only had three divisions. Every day, thousands of volunteers crossed the Yalu River. Little did he know that at this time, the strength of the volunteers on the Korean battlefield had already
Reaching more than three hundred thousand.
This does not include the ranks of the People's Army.
Not only is the Chinese People's Volunteers entering North Korea, there is also a more important reason. Extremely cold weather is coming to North Korea.
Winter is coming!
By then, the river will freeze, and the enemy will be able to cross the river more efficiently. They must take action before the Chinese have an overwhelming military advantage.
MacArthur spent a full five hours inspecting the frontline positions. What he saw during the inspection made MacArthur feel worried. To be able to become a five-star American general and win the Pacific War, even if it is arrogant, there is no denying his military vision.
The South Korean army had not yet regrouped, and the entire defense line was quite weak. In response to this situation, MacArthur decided that if the Chinese army attacked, he would immediately order a retreat and give up any idea of going north.
Therefore, he decided to conduct an investigation himself, intending to use his years of experience to determine the truth behind the enemy's defense lines.
MacArthur boarded the special plane and instructed the pilot, Major Tony Story, to fly to the mouth of the Yalu River.
The special plane was not equipped with any weapons and could easily become the target of anti-aircraft fire or air interception. MacArthur believed that there was no need to make any preparations if the Chinese army had advanced prevention and control weapons or their own fighter jets.
Fortunately, the Chinese military does not.
After flying over the mouth of the Yalu River, MacArthur asked the pilot to climb to an altitude of 5,000 feet, and then fly east along the Yalu River.
From this height, you can have a panoramic view of the entire international no-man's land all the way to the Siberian border. As far as the eye can see, there is endless barren countryside, with rolling mountains, wide open rock ravines, and the silent ice and snow tightly surrounding the Yalu River.
The black water is like a black belt running through the white sky and earth.
This is a ruthless wasteland, so desolate that it makes one's heart palpitate.
Whether it was an army or a large supply train that crossed the border, the traces left behind have been buried by the intermittent snowstorms in the Yalu River Valley.
MacArthur made an inspection and decided to let Walker hold his troops temporarily until the actual battle showed that it was necessary to retreat before it was too late to take action.
Unexpectedly, MacArthur was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this aerial inspection of the Yalu River, and later received the Combat Pilot Badge. It can be said that the Air Force was very partial to MacArthur.
After returning from the Eighth Army, MacArthur received a message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"If you openly march towards the entire North Korea and China's northeastern border, once a large-scale exchange of fire occurs with the Chinese army, it may trigger a full-scale conflict. The United Nations Army is increasingly uneasy about this, so certain proposals may impose restrictions on your march northward.
Unpleasant restrictions.”
"The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other officials reached a consensus on the political and military aspects at a meeting on Thursday and concluded that your mission should remain unchanged!"
"But it is imperative that a series of actions be developed at the highest levels of government to make North Korea's reunification possible while reducing the risk of further involvement in the conflict."
Before the second battle fully broke out, the US military was also very worried about China's large-scale participation in the war.
This also shows that the United States does not want the war situation in Korea to cause the outbreak of World War III.
At this moment, the focus of both the Soviet Union and the United States is on Europe, because Europe's economy and resources are more exciting.
North Korea, for now, is a U.S. interest in the Far East only because it is.
In fact, abandon North Korea and the countries in Southeast Asia.
However, the United States does not want North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union, to unify North Korea.
Anyone can see that North Korea is just a pawn, that China is being dragged into the water, and that the real instructions are from the Soviet Union.
The U.S. authorities then ordered MacArthur to advance to a position near the Yalu River and use the Republic of Korea army to guard the area to "secure the area that controls the channels of the Yalu River Valley." Moreover, the advance to the northeast should be limited to Chongjin.
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The cable continued: "Exploratory discussions have been launched to seek military measures that are beneficial to rectification activities and to ease the tension between us, Beijing, and the Soviet Union."
There are no blind military actions, only military activities that are purposeful and serve politics.
Even the first battle and the second battle of the Volunteer Army were not entirely to eliminate the US military, but to try to get the US to put down their condescending attitude and be willing to sit at the negotiating table to discuss how to resolve the Korean Civil War.
Neither the United States nor China want this war to last too long.
The first battle failed to defeat them, but the second battle should be enough.
MacArthur didn't think so.
He felt ashamed of the U.S.'s show of weakness. As the world's most powerful country, the U.S. military wanted to show weakness to the newly founded New China. This was a very shameful thing.
He said: "We can never make the Chinese people change their minds by showing weakness!"
MacArthur opposed the United States' policy of showing weakness. He firmly believed that victory often depends on the deployment of powerful firepower, rather than relying on showing weakness to win.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The US military showing weakness cannot change the situation of the Chinese entering North Korea.
On November 27, a large number of troops in China crossed the Yalu River, and China officially engaged in open combat with the US military and the Allied forces. China's two field armies faced Walker's Third Field Army and Almond's Fourth Field Army.
Launch an attack with overwhelming force superiority.
The four fields defeated the puppet Second Army, exposing the flanks of the U.S. Eighth Army. Walker immediately retreated quickly as planned. The U.S. Second Division and the Turkish Brigade in the rear performed well, allowing the Eighth Army to break away from contact and avoid being outflanked by the enemy.
The situation of the Tenth Army was even worse than that of the Eighth Army. Almond followed the instructions and immediately led his troops to retreat towards Wonsan. The 1st Marine Division was almost completely surrounded and had to fight under the command of its heroic division commander General Oliver Smith.
Work hard to break through.
MacArthur praised the two troops for their clever retreat and impeccable professionalism in their normal operations.
He said that the reason why the entire army was able to get off the line was due not only to the difficult decisions I was forced to make, but also to the superb skills of the field commanders.
But there is no mention of their overwhelming firepower superiority, absolute air supremacy, mechanized troops, the gap in weapons and equipment with the Chinese army, and the weakness of logistical supplies.
It would be a shame to mention it.
"The sad movement disrupted the enemy's timetable, forcing them to act in advance and exposing their secretly assembled army. They expected to quietly assemble a large army before spring and then annihilate our army in one fell swoop. If
If I didn't do this, we might have become a 'living target' waiting to be killed."
MacArthur was quite satisfied with the retreat and took all the credit on himself.
He even claimed that it was his orders issued in advance that caused the Chinese army's encirclement and suppression to fail, and also completely exposed their military strength.
MacArthur even made a statement, saying: "Our army's losses during the entire Yalu River operation were relatively minor. The Eighth Army's killed, wounded and missing personnel totaled 7,337, and the Tenth Army's 5,638. This is approximately the number of Iwo Jima
Half of the losses in the battle were less than one-fifth of those in the Battle of Okinawa, and they were nothing compared to the Battle of the Bulge."
MacArthur's calculation of casualties naturally ignored the casualties of Li's puppet army.
This is why our army destroyed a large number of enemies, while the US military suffered only a small number of casualties.
Of course, it was not only the Li Puppet Army that caused casualties, but also other soldiers of the United Nations Army.
Such as the British army, the Turkish army, etc.
"If we could have known the enemy's movements earlier, perhaps this situation would not have occurred."
"If Washington did not give me restrictions, the Korean War would have ended long ago!"
MacArthur put the blame for China's sending troops to Washington. At the beginning of the war, he ordered the air force to cross the Yalu River border without hesitation and did not mention the bombing of the Chinese border.
The reason why China is able to grasp all the movements of the United Nations forces is attributed to the fact that they can obtain intelligence from sources in Washington, USA.
Of course, MacArthur's statement was bound to arouse the dissatisfaction of the Washington authorities. After all, as a front-line commander, he blamed the Washington authorities for his incompetent command.
China learned of MacArthur's speech and took advantage of the situation and issued an official leaflet:
"The Washington authorities have prohibited General MacArthur from taking retaliatory measures against our army's supply lines and communication lines. If I had not known this in advance, I would never have launched an attack rashly, making fun of my subordinates and my military reputation."
The meaning is that we knew that you prohibited our supply lines and communication lines from being bombed by General MacArthur, so we brazenly sent troops.
This time, we are on MacArthur's side.
Originally, the Washington authorities were dissatisfied with MacArthur's speech, but China's official leaflet directly made the person in charge of the Washington authorities instantly blush.
There is no doubt that this is as short as standing in front of them and pointing their noses and saying that the failure of the first and second battles was caused by the actions of the Washington authorities and had nothing to do with MacArthur's command.
Any questions.
China: MacArthur was right.
This made the Washington authorities increasingly dissatisfied with MacArthur.
Soldiers are deceitful.
This official leaflet in China can be described as murderous and heart-wrenching.
MacArthur thought that China was helping him speak, and he even wrote China's speeches in his memoirs.
"Look, the Chinese people say it's Washington's problem, the problem is not mine."
However, MacArthur was right about one thing. The second battle also made all the units of the Chinese army clearly visible to the United Nations forces.
MacArthur wrote a report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "China has not only sent a large army to participate in the war in North Korea, but its military strength has continued to grow. Through interrogation of prisoners of war and other information, it is known that the Chinese troops currently fighting in North Korea are the 38th Army, the 39th Army, the 40th Army, and the 42nd Army.
Army, 66th Army, 50th Army and 20th Army, there are no North Korean troops. Any talk of small-scale support under the guise of volunteers or the like is untenable."
"We are facing a brand new war!"
MacArthur knew that he had suffered such huge defeats in the first and second battles. He had already begun to mobilize bacterial troops and even planned that when the war reached an irreversible situation, he would use nuclear weapons to attack industrial facilities in China.
City!
China's undeclared war, coupled with the defeat of two battles, put pressure on MacArthur.
He thought that if the next battle failed again, his idea of running for President of the United States next year might be in vain.
On November 29, after careful consideration, MacArthur sent an urgent message to Washington: "It is recommended that the theater commander be authorized to discuss directly with the Taiwan authorities to transfer the troops that are available and meet the requirements to the north and integrate them into the United Nations Army, so as to strengthen our military in North Korea."
exist.'
MacArthur tried to drag Bald Chiang into the water.
At this moment.
Bald Jiang was also looking forward to this moment.
At this time, New China had just been established, and heavy troops were massing northward. He had no time to consider the defense of coastal areas. He had already begun plotting a possible counterattack on the mainland.
After that, they launched several attacks on the mainland, but all ended in failure.
When MacArthur made suggestions to Washington, he sent a liaison team overnight to contact Baldy Chiang, hoping that Bald Chiang could send an army to assist South Korea.
After receiving telegrams from Syngman Rhee and MacArthur, Bald Jiang twice summoned Chen Cheng, Zhou Zhirou, Sun Liren, Gui Yongqing and others for meetings.
Baldy Jiang believes that sending troops to join the war is a God-given opportunity for them to "counterattack the mainland." If the plan goes well, they can enter the mainland from South Korea all the way north, opening a gap in the northeast first, and at the same time launching operations along the southeast coast, one in the south and one in the north.
Echoing each other from a distance.
Based on this idea, Bald Chiang decided to send 33,000 people from his ace unit, the 52nd Army, to South Korea.
Regarding Bald Jiang's decision, Field, the leader of the US military liaison team, was very happy.
He said that the current number of troops in South Korea is less than 50,000, while the number of troops in North Korea is more than 100,000. Without Baldy Chiang's timely support, the situation in South Korea would be very pessimistic.
On the other side of the world, U.S. President Truman expressed his attitude at the meeting: he agreed with MacArthur's opinion of letting Bald Chiang send troops, and agreed to recommend that United Nations member states actively participate in the Korean War.