Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 269 Methods to Prevent Freezing

After Wang Gensheng finished fighting, he immediately gave the following instructions:

"Quickly clean up the battlefield, and oh, and take off all the US military uniforms!"

Duan Peng was taken aback and said:

"No! Why are they stripping the American soldiers of their uniforms?"

In response, Wang Gensheng said:
"Didn't you see? Wu Qianli's company and Ji Chungeng's sixth company are wearing very thin clothes. It's only November now, and the temperature will drop every day, even to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius. How are the soldiers supposed to go to the battlefield in such thin clothes? They'll freeze to death, let alone fight!"

It should be noted that in history, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the winter of the late 1950s, more people died from frostbite or froze to death than from combat.

On the night of November 27, 1950, the temperature in the Changjin Lake area of ​​South Hamgyong Province, South Korea, plummeted to minus forty degrees Celsius.

In the biting cold wind, a surprise attack force was silently approaching the American positions.

Suddenly, as bugle calls pierced the night sky, tens of thousands of soldiers from the relief force rushed out from all directions.

This was the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, a decisive battle that shocked the world, a battle that caused the elite US troops to retreat and also cost the reinforcements to Chaozhou a huge price.

However, as the smoke cleared, the heartbreaking truth came to light: the number of Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers who died or suffered frostbite during the entire campaign was more than twice as many as the number of combat casualties.

That winter, tens of thousands of young lives were forever frozen on the snow-covered shores of Changjin Lake.

The winter of 1950 was the coldest winter in decades for the Chaozhou Peninsula.

The Changjin Lake area is located on the Gaema Plateau, at an altitude of over 1,300 meters, and experiences extreme temperature differences between day and night.

The temperature drops to minus 20 degrees Celsius during the day and can reach minus 40 degrees Celsius at night.

For the soldiers who had just come from the south to aid Chaozhou, such severe cold was simply hell.

According to military records, the Ninth Army Corps of the Chaozhou Army, which participated in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, had a total strength of about 150,000 men.

The post-war statistics were shocking: more than 50,000 people died or suffered frostbite during the entire campaign, accounting for one-third of the total troops.

Among them, nearly 4,000 people died from severe frostbite, and many more suffered from numbness in their hands and feet due to frostbite, especially their feet, and were forced to have their limbs amputated after the war.

What's even more heartbreaking is that many soldiers didn't die from enemy gunfire, but were frozen to death in their hiding places.

For example, the famous "Ice Sculpture Company"—the 6th Company of the 117th Regiment of the 59th Lion of the 20th Army—had 125 men who held their ground in the freezing cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius. In the end, they all froze to death in their battle positions, remaining in their firing postures and becoming real ice sculptures.

Smith, then commander of the 1st Lion of the US Marine Corps, later wrote in his memoirs: "In my 32 years of military service, I have never seen such a scene."

Even in their final moments, those soldiers of the Huaguo Army maintained their fighting posture.

Their spirit is awe-inspiring, but the sacrifice was far too tragic.

It should be noted that, according to the pre-war plan, the Ninth Army Corps was originally intended to be the main force to relieve Taiwan Island and had been stationed at the front line of Suge.

After receiving the order to head north, the troops set off from the south at breakneck speed, traveling day and night to reach Chaozhou.

The problem was that the winter clothes originally prepared for them were still piled up in the warehouse in Dongbei, and they were taken directly to the front line by train before they could change into their new clothes.

Many soldiers went to the battlefield wearing only a single layer of clothing.

Some companies were temporarily issued cotton-padded jackets, but not cotton-padded trousers and cotton-padded shoes.

Even worse, many soldiers were still wearing rubber boots. The boots would get soaked as soon as they touched the snow, and their feet were all frostbitten.

Later, an American prisoner recalled: "When we were surrounded, we saw that many of the Kuomintang soldiers around us didn't even have decent winter clothes. I really don't know how they managed to hold on."

The logistical support at the time was a complete mess.

Because the U.S. military has air superiority, the transport convoys cannot operate during the day.

They could only transport some food and ammunition up at night, but the nights were long and the roads were in poor condition in winter, so their transport capacity was extremely limited.

Soldiers at the front often fought on an empty stomach, and couldn't get a hot meal at all during the entire operation.

In fact, the command of the troops aiding Chaozhou was not unprepared for the cold.

As early as October, the frontline command sent a special telegram to the headquarters, reminding them that the winter temperatures in the northern mountainous areas of Chaozhou were extremely low and requiring them to make full preparations for the cold.

The telegram specifically emphasized: "Winter temperatures in Chaozhou can drop below minus thirty degrees Celsius. Southern troops lack experience in this area and must prepare sufficient cotton clothing and quilts in advance."

However, the war situation developed too quickly. After landing at Incheon, the US forces advanced northward with unstoppable momentum.

MacArthur even arrogantly declared that he would end the war before Christmas.

Faced with this situation, the General Staff had no choice but to make an emergency decision to send troops immediately, in order to prevent the US army from reaching the Yalu River.

The original plan was to send troops from the Dongbei Military Region into North Korea first, and then move north after the Ninth Army Corps had completed its re-equipment.

However, the situation was critical and there was no room for following the established procedures. At the end of October, the General Headquarters urgently ordered the Ninth Army Corps to move north at full speed.

From receiving the order to setting off, it took less than a week.

In fact, the General Headquarters investigated the matter after the war.

The investigation revealed that there were many more little-known truths hidden behind this tragedy.

The logistics support system bears even greater responsibility than the decision-making level for its serious dereliction of duty.

It should be noted that the logistics department of Dongbei at that time did indeed stockpile a large amount of winter clothing, enough to equip 400,000 people.

However, the problem lay in the organization and scheduling. The unit responsible for changing the uniforms overemphasized secrecy and did not allow the soldiers to change their uniforms at the station. Instead, they wanted to wait until they arrived at the assembly point to change them all at once.

As a result, the train traveled all the way to the front line, and the US army naturally discovered Zeng Bing, so they began a fierce bombing of the Yalu River, cutting off the trains transporting cotton-padded clothes. Thus, the change of clothes was delayed.

Wang Gensheng was powerless to do anything about this, since the frontline commander had already given a heads-up, but the logistics were not up to par.

Therefore, Wang Gensheng naturally thought of using the enemy's military uniforms to keep warm and prevent frostbite.

Of course, using US military uniforms has one drawback: it can easily lead to confusion between friend and foe, resulting in friendly fire incidents. This was a lesson learned during the War of Resistance against Japan.

However, the simplest way is to deal with the rebel army during the war of relief. You should know that in order to avoid being accidentally injured, the rebels would consciously tie a piece of white cloth around their arms, so as to distinguish whether they were the old army or the rebels.

So you only need to tie a white cloth around your arm to distinguish between friend and foe. However, the most important thing is to inform the entire aid army in advance so as to avoid accidental injury. Otherwise, even if you tie a white cloth around your arm, it won't be of any use!
Another advantage of doing this is that it makes them less likely to be bombed. After all, from the air, it is difficult to notice whether the soldiers have white cloths on their arms. Thus, the pilots will stop dropping bombs involuntarily for fear of accidentally injuring them.

The battlefield was cleaned up quickly, and the clothes were stripped off quickly as well. After all, they were all veterans who had gained experience in stripping Japanese soldiers during the War of Resistance Against Japan.

(End of this chapter)