Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 11: Battle of Wenjing (Part 1)
Wenjing is a small town in North Korea. It has no strategic location to defend and even no city walls. The reason why it became the garrison of the South Korean Sixth Division is that there are two roads from Wenjing that lead directly to the Yalu River. One is from Wenjing to Guchang and then to Chushan by the Yalu River, and the other is in the direction of Liangshuidong where we just marched.
It was a freezing cold day, with a bright moon and sparse stars. The cold light from the waning moon made the whole world shrouded in a hazy white light , allowing us to clearly see the hills, gullies and trees outside Wenjing that were weighed down by the snow.
The cold weather made all the insects and birds hide in their nests, unable to make any sound. But who would have thought that in this dead silence, on the outskirts of this inconspicuous town, there were two divisions of the Chinese Volunteer Army with nearly 30,000 troops lying in ambush.
Lying on the cold snow, I shivered uncontrollably as I felt the chill coming from below. But at this moment, I had no time to care about the cold, and I frowned as I stared at the bonfire in the warm well.
My worries did not come from the enemy in front of me. In fact, I was very clear that the South Korean troops stationed in Wenjing consisted of only one regiment of 3,100 people. The Volunteer Army did not know how many troops the enemy had deployed here, nor did it know the enemy's strategic intentions. Therefore, it arranged two divisions of the 40th Army, the 120th Division and my 118th Division with nearly 30,000 people to attack this small town.
If 30,000 battle-hardened volunteers were to fight against the 3,000 South Korean troops who were in a mess, it would be an easy task for them to defeat them in one battle.
What I was worried about were the dozens of bonfires lit by the South Korean soldiers for warmth.
Although these bonfires exposed the South Korean army, they also illuminated the way for the American bombers. Although the Chinese soldiers had fought against the American , they had never fought against the Americans head-on, so they were not familiar with their combat methods, that is, they did not know how advanced their communication equipment was, nor how fast their bombers were...
Therefore, the result of this battle in history was that as soon as the Volunteer Army attacked, the 3,100 South Korean soldiers retreated completely without any resistance. In the end, 2,700 people escaped to the Chongchon River. In other words, the Volunteer Army killed, wounded, and captured only 400 South Korean soldiers.
Because of this battle, an American writer wrote the following: "One reason may be the traditional fear of Chinese soldiers that is deeply rooted in the minds of Koreans. Whatever the reason, 2,700 of the 3,100 officers and soldiers of the 2nd Regiment later fled to the Chongchon River, which strongly shows that they worked harder in running away than in fighting."
But the subsequent indiscriminate bombing by American planes caused heavy losses to the volunteer army. More than 2,000 soldiers died in the bombing without ever seeing the Americans.
No, I can't let this happen! I stole a glance at my comrade who was lying motionless near me. Among the more than 2,000 people killed, there might be him, or him, or even... myself. So even if not for others, for myself, I must change this result.
Thinking of this, I moved back and crawled to the side with my body bent.
“Shh…”
A voice attracted my attention. I turned around and saw Hu Zi staring at me fiercely with a pair of tiger eyes. I couldn't help but shudder. His gaze was as cold as the moonlight, as if he wanted to eat me alive.
"If you have to poop, just poop in my pants." Hu Zi lowered his voice and said, "If you expose your target, I'll be the first to jump on you!"
"I...I'll find the leader and report the situation!"
"Why are you talking so much nonsense? Go back!"
I hesitated for a moment, but thinking about the lives of more than 2,000 volunteers, I decided to ignore Hu Zi's order and continue to crawl to the side. But suddenly, a cold light flashed, and several bayonets appeared in front of me at the same time. Under the moonlight, the blades with black blood stains reminded me that if I moved again, those bayonets would mercilessly cut my throat.
This made me realize that there is no room for jokes on the battlefield, and anyone who might expose the target of the troops will be ruthlessly eliminated. However, is there really no way for me to change this situation? Thinking that the volunteer soldiers were about to suffer heavy casualties under the bombing of US warplanes, I couldn't help but lower my head in despair.
"Comrade, come this way!"
As a haggard-looking myopic man appeared in front of me, the bayonet next to him was quickly and silently withdrawn, which made me realize that this middle-aged myopic man in front of me was of some importance.
After the middle-aged man climbed for a while, we turned to the back of a small hill. The middle-aged man sat up straight, adjusted his glasses, pointed at me and said in a stern and low voice: "What are you doing? You are still doing small things when the war is about to start. You have no organization or discipline at all. Reporting the situation? If everyone reports the situation like you, crawling around to find the regiment commander, what's the point of fighting? Comrade... We are revolutionary soldiers. Where have you learned the three major disciplines and eight points of attention? You should reflect on yourself..."
I was so anxious. The battle was about to begin. Once the charge was sounded, it would be too late for everything.
"Chief...Chief, you are..." I interrupted him cautiously, hoping that he was someone who could make decisions.
"Hey, you...you're asking about me?" The shortsighted man got angry when he heard it. I could see his glasses widened through the thick lenses: "What? Do you think I'm not qualified to criticize you? Well...I'll tell you, I'm Chen Ye, the political commissar of the 354th Regiment. Comrade, we revolutionary soldiers must not have a bureaucratic style. If we make mistakes, we must have the courage to admit them, accept criticism and self-criticism. Not just me, anyone..."
It turned out to be the political commissar. I was excited when I heard it. In the Volunteer Army, the political commissar was an officer of the same rank as the regiment commander, but the regiment commander was in charge of the battles, while the political commissar was in charge of guiding the political and ideological work. So I interrupted him again and said hurriedly, "Comrade Political Commissar, I...I want to report the situation!"
"I'm asking you, comrade, what's wrong with you?" Chen Ye was so angry that he was stunned: "You..."
"Comrade Political Commissar, the military situation is urgent." I didn't allow him to say another word, and said hastily, "It will be too late if you delay. Comrade Political Commissar, please listen to me first before you punish me."
Chen Ye was stunned, hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, tell me!"
"Comrade Political Commissar, this..." When I really wanted to say it, I didn't know what to say, so I simply pulled Chen Ye out of the hill, pointed at the bonfires and said to Chen Ye: "Comrade Political Commissar, look at those bonfires, aren't we going to dig a warm well? There are dozens of bonfires lit inside, and the whole warm well is illuminated. Our two divisions with 30,000 people rushed in, and the enemy was driven away. We won the battle, but the bombing by the American planes..."
Chen Ye couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, his expression immediately turned serious. After a moment's thought, he ordered the guard next to him, "Quick, call Captain Chu, now! Tell him to come no matter what!"
After a while, I heard a slight rustling sound. I looked closely and found that two guards were dragging Captain Chu all the way over. It seemed that his wound was too painful to crawl, so he had to use this method . I couldn't help but respect and admire this tough guy.
"Old Chu..." Before Captain Chu could speak, Chen Ye said hurriedly: "We were so focused on attacking the enemy that we forgot about the American planes."
After saying that, he pointed to the hundreds of bonfires scattered throughout Wenjing City.
Captain Chu was startled, and soon understood what was going on. He didn't care about the pain, and suddenly sat up and said, "What should we do? There are only ten minutes left before the attack. It's too late to notify the division commander to cancel the battle plan."
"It's definitely too late." Chen Ye shook his head helplessly, sighed and said, "Even if we have enough time to inform the division commander to cancel the battle plan, what about the 120th Division? I think we have to... we have to inform the division commander to pull the troops out as soon as possible after the battle to minimize the losses!"
"This is the only way!" Captain Chu gritted his teeth, nodded in agreement, and his face turned very ugly.
"Report to the commander." Because I didn't dare to stand up, I saluted while sitting, looking very awkward.
"Oh, this comrade reminded me of this just now." Chen Ye nodded and said, "This comrade has made a great contribution. If he could have done it earlier..."
"Report to the political commissar." I saluted again and said, "It's not too late. I have a way to prevent the American planes from bombing us!"
"What?" The political commissar and the regiment commander looked at me at the same time, their eyes full of disbelief.
