Volunteers bombed the watergate bridge three times

The Shuimen Bridge is located between Gutuli and Zhenxingli at the southern end of the Gaima Plateau on the Korean Peninsula, and the Huangcaoling Pass about 6 kilometers south of Gutuli. Although it has a span of only 8.8 meters and can only accommodate one car, it is the only one. A lane bridge leading to areas outside Changjin Lake. After the Battle of Changjin Lake began, the enemy troops were cut into several sections. The 31st U.S. Regiment Combat Team (also known as the Polar Bear Regiment) in Xinxing was encircled and annihilated. The Dreisdale Task Force, which went north from ancient Tuli to support Xiageli, was almost completely annihilated. The 1st U.S. Army Division was preparing to escape when the situation was not good. Its 5th and 7th regiments fled to Xiageli via Liutan Liutan, after meeting with the division headquarters, he began to flee south through Gutuli. As a necessary bridge between ancient Tuli and Zhenxingli, the Shuimen Bridge has become the focus of contention between the two sides. The Chinese People's Volunteers bombed the bridge three times, and the enemy troops escaped to Zhenxingli after three repairs. The south of Shuimen Bridge and Zhenxingli is the Xianxing Plain with warm climate and convenient transportation. The 1st Division of American Army finally fled all the way from Shuimen Bridge to Xingnan Port and went out to sea in a mess, escaping the doom of annihilation. The Shuimen Bridge, which was bombed and repaired by both sides, also became the focus of the later stage of the Battle of Changjin Lake.

　Divide and encircle, block in front and chase behind, and the Watergate Bridge becomes the key bridge to block the enemy.
In order to smash the enemy's plot to advance westward through Changjin Lake with the 1st Division of the U.S. Land War as the main force and capture the river boundary to seize the eastern front of the whole Korea, the 9th Corps of Volunteers entered the DPRK urgently and made a long-distance attack. In mid-to-late November 1950, they arrived in Changjin Lake area one after another. On November 27, Song Shilun, commander of the 9th Corps, gave an order. The Corps suddenly launched an attack. The 27th Army stormed from the front, while the 20th Army made a detour from the side. The fierce battle overnight cut the enemy into five sections, forming several encirclement circles such as Liutanli, Xinxing Li, Xiadieyuli and Gutuli. In the next few days, except for the successful encirclement and annihilation of the "Polar Bear Regiment" in Xinxing, the war situation in other regions showed a stalemate. Our army was severely starved and reduced, and the combat effectiveness of various ministries gradually declined. After the enemy troops were hit hard, they intended to gather in one place, and there were obvious signs of joint efforts to flee south.

Song Shilun decided to change the original split encirclement and annihilation tactics and adjust it to front blocking and rear chasing. The 26th army, which is arriving one after another, is the main force to chase and attack and retreat the enemy. The 20th army relies on its occupied positions to block the enemy fleeing from the south. The 60th division is attached to the rest of the 58th division to block the enemy on the Huangcaoling line between Gutuli and Zhenxingli. The 27th army is attacking from the right-wing economic community to the west of Xianxing, capturing Xianxing and Xingnan, cutting off the enemy's retreat from the sea. On December 7, the 5th and 7th regiment battle groups of the 1st Division of the U.S. Army War retreated to the ancient Tuli area one after another. The Shuimen Bridge, located about 6 kilometers south of ancient Tuli, and the 1081 highland 1 kilometer away on the south side became the last barrier to prevent the enemy from escaping from the siege.

　Brave and tenacious, fighting wits and courage, three bombing of the water gate bridge into the ice and snow desperate situation
The volunteers have long realized that the Watergate Bridge will be the only way for the U.S. military to retreat. On December 1, the 172 Regiment of the 58th Division sent engineers to blow up the Watergate Bridge, but two days later, the U.S. engineers built another wooden bridge on the damaged bridge. On the 4th, the volunteers sent engineers to blow up the Watergate Bridge that had just been repaired by the US military, but the US military engineers soon built a simple bridge composed of steel and wooden rutting plates at the root of the remaining bridge, and sent a battalion of troops and more than 40 tanks to guard it.

On the evening of December 6, the volunteer army organized "death squads" to carry explosive kits, put life and death outside the limits, drilled holes through mountains, and did not fear sacrifice. Finally, they broke through the enemy's layers of defense and successfully blew up the bridge and the base repaired by the US military for the second time. At this time, the American army was retreating awkwardly from Lower Jieyi to the ancient soil, as described in the book "Decision on the Korean War": tanks and trucks behind the temple followed the convoy into the ancient soil 10 miles south of Lower Jieyi, carrying dead bodies that had been killed and frozen stiff and injured numbers that were decorated or frostbitten-the scene was really horrible.

The watergate bridge was blown up for the third time, and the 1st division of the US land war, which was in a desperate situation, hurriedly asked for help from its superiors. On the 7th, eight sets of M2 rutting bridge components, which were urgently manufactured in Japan, were transported over Shuimen Bridge by C- 119 large transport aircraft and dropped by giant parachute to the US military position. on the afternoon of the 8th, the new watergate bridge was assembled under the leadership of engineering battalion commander lieutenant colonel partridge. On the afternoon of the 9th, the main forces of the 1st Division of the US Land War began to evacuate across the bridge one after another.

　Breaking the enemy's retreat, destroying the will, the Watergate Bridge is at risk of becoming a ghost gate for the American troops to be wiped out.
After the Shuimen Bridge was blown up by the volunteers for the third time, the US military finally realized that the Chinese army, which was backward in equipment and short of food and bombs, had willpower and combat effectiveness beyond their imagination. They not only wanted to drive the US military from Changjin Lake, but to wipe it out.

In addition to blowing up the Watergate Bridge, our army also made arrangements to block the high ground above the Watergate Bridge and the adjacent 1081 high ground. the 172nd regiment of the 58th division of the 20th army deployed a company on the high ground overlooking the watergate bridge to block the watergate bridge with commanding fire. The 1081 highland is dangerous, with an overlooking of the Shuinmen Bridge to the north and Huangcaoling Mountain Pass to the south. On the 8th, the 2nd Company of the 180th Regiment of the 60th Division of the Volunteer Army, which defended the 1081 heights, repulsed many US attacks. On the 9th, the U.S. military climbed to the high ground and saw that all the officers and soldiers of my 2nd company froze to death on the high ground. The soldiers' hands were frozen on the bolt and could not be separated. This is the spiritual monument forged by the iron will of the volunteers-the ice sculpture company.

On the 11th, in order to prevent the volunteers from pursuing the troops, the 1st division of the US land war sent engineers to blow up the watergate bridge repaired by itself. On the 12th, after passing through the Shuimen Bridge, the 1st U.S. Marine Division, under the support of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Division, under the cover of 7 aircraft carriers and more than 500 aircraft from Yunji Xingnan Port, arrived at Wulaomi and escaped from the Volunteer Army. Encirclement. Airdropped to repair the bridge and crossed the ghost gate of the Watergate Bridge. As the ace of the U.S. Army, although the 1st Division of the U.S. Army escaped the doom of annihilation, it suffered more than half of its own casualties and suffered the heaviest defeat in the history of the division in the battle. In the entire Changjin Lake campaign, including the Shuimen Bridge blockade, despite the bad weather, backward equipment, and serious shortage of supply, the 9th Regiment of the Volunteer Army still dealt a heavy blow to the 1st US Marine Division with its strong combat effectiveness supported by willpower. Even the Americans have to admit that in less than 20 days from November 27 to December 15, the first division of the US land war lost 7321 troops, accounting for more than 1/3 of its total strength.

The volunteers blew up the Shuimen Bridge three times, which delayed the enemy's supply, transportation and retreat plan to a certain extent. More importantly, in an extremely harsh environment, under the conditions of a huge gap with the opponent's equipment and support, it was not afraid of the strong enemy and dared to show its sword. The bloody iron bone formed a great psychological shock to the enemy. The courage and fearlessness of the volunteers, like an ice sculpture company that never fell and stood tall, threatened the U.S. military to finally flee and permanently withdraw from the eastern front battlefield.

The brave wins when they meet on a narrow road. The confrontation between the two armies is not only a contest of strength and equipment, but also a contest of determination, will and courage. The heroes of the 9th Corps who fought bravely in the snowy night under the Changjin Lake Watergate Bridge became a symbol of the Chinese People's Volunteers fighting the strong enemy with bloody and iron bones.

Source: Learning Times