The heavens start from Changjin Lake

November 11 was the time when MacArthur launched the "Christmas Home Offensive". The confident MacArthur took a plane and flew to the Eighth Army headquarters on the Chongchon River.

Walker, commander of the Eighth Army, originally planned to start marching to the Yalu River on November 11, 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 number of volunteers active on the Korean battlefield was only 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, making it more efficient for the enemy to cross the river. 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 a personal investigation, 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 5000 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 world.

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 political and military consensus 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 completely 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 outbreak of World War III to occur because of the war situation in North Korea.

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, China is being dragged into the water, and the real inspiration is the Soviet Union.

The U.S. authorities then announced that after MacArthur advanced to a position near the Yalu River, he used the Republic of Korea army to guard the place in order to "secure the area that controls the channels of the Yalu River Valley", and the advance to the northeast should be limited to Chongjin. .

The cable continued: "Exploratory discussions have been launched to seek military measures that are beneficial to the remediation 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.

The US's show of weakness made him feel ashamed. As the world's most powerful country, the US military wanted to show weakness to the newly established 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 U.S. policy of showing weakness. He firmly believed that victory often depends on the deployment of powerful firepower, rather than winning by showing weakness.

The US military's show of weakness cannot change the situation of the Chinese entering North Korea.

On November 11, a large number of Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River, and China officially engaged in open warfare with the US and Allied forces. China's two field armies faced Walker's Third Field Army and Almond's Fourth Field Army, launching attacks with overwhelming troop 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, and the gap in weapons and equipment between the Chinese army and the weakness of their 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 that, we might have become a 'living target' waiting to be killed."

MacArthur was quite satisfied with the retreat and took all the credit for himself.

He even claimed that it was his order 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 slight. The total number of killed, wounded and missing persons in the Eighth Army was 7337, and the number in the Tenth Army was 5638. This is approximately the number of Iwo Jima. Half of the battle losses 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 has destroyed a large number of enemies, while the US military has 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 didn't 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 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 military reputation."

What it means is that we know that you have banned our supply lines and communication lines that General MacArthur bombed, so we brazenly sent troops.

This time, we sided with MacArthur.

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 failures of the first and second battles were caused by the actions of the Washington authorities and had nothing to do with MacArthur's command. any problem.

China: MacArthur is right.

This made the Washington authorities increasingly dissatisfied with MacArthur.

Soldiers who, deception also.

This official leaflet in China can be described as murderous and heart-breaking.

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 not only sent a large number of troops to participate in the war in North Korea, but also continued to increase its military strength. Through interrogation of prisoners of war and other intelligence, it was learned 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 small-scale support under the guise of volunteers is untenable. "

"We are facing a brand new war!"

MacArthur knew that he had such a huge failure 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 and prosperity in China. City!
China's undeclared war, coupled with the defeat of two battles, increased MacArthur's pressure sharply.

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 11, 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 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 Baldy Jiang received the telegrams from Syngman Rhee and MacArthur, he twice convened meetings with Chen Cheng, Zhou Zhirou, Sun Liren, Gui Yongqing and others.

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 launch 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 52 people from his ace unit, the 3.3nd Army, to South Korea.

In response to Baldy 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 5, while the number of troops in North Korea is more than 10. 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. (End of chapter)