Many Americans commented on "Chosin Lake" as follows: "Chosin Lake is not suitable for military operations at all, and Genghis Khan did not want to conquer it." ”
However, in the winter of 1950, a world-renowned battle took place here, where the US 10th Army, which had made great achievements, was strongly blocked by the 9th Corps, and the US 1st Marine Division, which had not been defeated in two hundred years, was also crippled in this battle, with a reduction of more than 10,000 personnel.
The battle turned the tide of the Korean battlefield in one fell swoop, and the "United Nations Army" was forced to abdicate near the "38th Line" under the blows of the 9th Corps, and completely shattered MacArthur's arrogant cry of "ending the war before Christmas".
However, for the 9th Corps, although the battle was won, for many commanders and fighters of the 9th Corps, they were reluctant to recall this war, because this war was also a painful memory for many commanders and fighters: many soldiers in that "Purgatory Land" had already frozen alive on the battlefield at the moment of the launch of the campaign, and they could not even cry out in the face of frozen comrades, because the tears would be frozen.
Although the volunteer army won the "Battle of Chosin Lake", there were many controversies in this battle, especially a large number of non-combat attrition of fighters, and the casualties of the 9 Corps in the Battle of Chosin Lake reached more than 50,000, of which the non-combat attrition reached more than 30,000.
After this battle, the 9th Corps was seriously injured and was forced to return to China for several months to rest before reappearing in the Korean battlefield during the Fifth Campaign.
The reason why Chosin Lake suffered so many casualties may be that the volunteer soldiers in Jiangnan did not know the cruelty of the northern winter, so many people were wondering why they did not send the 19th Corps into the DPRK at that time.
At least compared to the 9th Corps, the 19th Corps does have this concept, because the 19th Corps has been fighting in North China and Northwest China for a long time, and they are afraid that they will feel the same for the cold weather in the north, at least not so hastily.
We often say "don't fight unprepared battles", so why didn't we choose the 19th Corps first?
The combat effectiveness of the 9 Corps is significantly stronger than that of the 19 Corps
In fact, it is precisely in order to fight the "battle of preparation" that the 9th Corps will be allowed to enter the DPRK, from the point of view of cold tolerance, the 19 Corps is indeed stronger than the 9 Corps, because they often fight in North China, and they are afraid that they have a deep understanding of the cold weather in the north.
Most of the soldiers of the 9th Corps are composed of soldiers from Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Shandong, and there may not be a concept of cold, and perhaps in their impression, the cold in the north may feel cool and fluttering as much as the south.
However, the combat effectiveness of the troops is obviously not simply considered by the hardiness aspect, but by all aspects to comprehensively compare, first of all, the operation of the large corps is the most test of the command ability of the commanders and fighters of the troops, but because the commanders of the corps at that time were all famous generals in hundreds of battles, and no one had fought with the US army, leaving aside this point, let's talk about others.
First of all, in terms of troop strength, the gap between the various corps that entered the DPRK and participated in the war at that time was very different, and the 13 corps that entered the DPRK earlier should be said to be the most powerful of all the troops entering the DPRK, and he was also the unit with the strongest combat effectiveness in the four fields.
At that time, the 13th Corps had 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, 50th, and 66th Armies under its jurisdiction, of which the 38th Army had 44,500 men, the 39th Army had 52,000 men, the 40Th army had 48,300 men, the 42nd Army had 53,000 men, the 66Th Army had 41,000 men, and the 50Th Army had 36,000 men.
Except for the 50th Army, which was an insurrectionary force, plus it had just been transferred in, the size of the rest of the troops had reached 50,000 people, and the total strength of the 13th Corps had reached 280,000, so after the Second Campaign, the 13th Corps was directly under the command of Shiji.
Among all the corps of the People's Liberation Army at that time, the only one that could compete with the 13 corps was the 9 corps, because among the four major field armies, Sanye's record could almost compete with the four fields.
In terms of troop establishment, the 9th Corps is also a four-four formation like The Four Fields, and there are nearly 50,000 people under one army.
The 19th Corps was much inferior in comparison, the 19th Corps initially belonged to the combat sequence of the North China Field Army, and was later allocated to the First Field Army, because the First Field Army is located in the barren northwestern land, so the weapons, ammunition and personnel supplies are certainly not as good as the rich northeast and east China.
At that time, the number of the 19th Corps had only just reached about 80,000 people, until the eve of the Fifth Campaign, the 19th Corps was supplemented with three armies, 63, 64 and 65, but at this time, the number of the three corps of the 19th Corps was about 35,000 or so, even if it was added to other auxiliary units, its total strength was only about 120,000 people.
At that time, in the Battle of Chosin Lake, the US 10th Army facing the Volunteer Army had a scale of nearly 100,000 people, so with the situation of the 19th Corps at that time, it was impossible to bite such a big bone, and only the 9th Corps that sent troops and the 13th Corps wanted to be might be able to fight with one.
Secondly, the equipment of the 19th Corps was not comparable to that of the 9th Corps at that time. In the early days of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union always held a wait-and-see attitude on the Korean issue, so the aid that should have arrived was delayed, and at the beginning of the campaign, most of the weapons and equipment of the volunteer army were captured during the Liberation War.
The situation of the 9 corps at that time was better, because East China was the lifeblood of the old Jiang Jiang and Zhejiang consortium, so at that time, most of the old Jiang's low suction was in the East China Battlefield, and most of the old Jiang's mechanic divisions were also gathered on the East China Battlefield.
Even the miscellaneous armies with slightly weaker combat effectiveness were already equipped with Japanese armaments at that time, so the victory in the Huaihai Campaign really made the East China Field Army an "upstart."
And how to fight the US army, at least the 9 corps can have a reference value, although the US ordnance army and the real US military are very different, but it can also be regarded as a direction.
The 19th Corps was different, in the early days of the Liberation War, their opponent was the Fu Zuoyi clique in North China, because North China was not a strategic powerhouse at that time, so old Chiang Kai-shek did not put the center of gravity here, so it can be called a "concentration" of miscellaneous troops, and most of its captured weapons were Japanese weapons and equipment, and the performance was certainly not as good as that of American weapons.
Later, the 19th Corps was transferred to the Northwest Field Army to fight against the Majia Army in the Great Northwest, and although the Majia Army was strong in combat, due to the poor land in the northwest, its equipment even used "Hanyang-made" or "Zhongguo", and it was obviously not in line with the actual situation to use such equipment to fight against the US 1st Marine Division.
The US 1st Marine Division is the main force of the US army in the Pacific Theater, and it must be the vanguard of every major war, and has experienced many bloody battles such as the Guadalcanal War and the Battle of Charge Island, and its combat effectiveness is very strong.
And the US division and our division is not the same, the US 1st Marine Division in full formation 25,000 people, according to the domestic structure at that time, the US Marine 1st Division is already a military structure, from the perspective of Smith's battlefield vigilance, he is indeed a very strong opponent, but also because of his vigilance, the 9th Corps failed to complete the annihilation of the US Marine 1st Division.
Fighting such an opponent, it was impossible to compete without sending elite troops, and the 13th Corps was already glued to the western front, and it was impossible to withdraw at this time, and only the 9th Corps could compete with the US 1st Marine Division at that time.
Therefore, considering comprehensively, only the 9 Corps is the most suitable, and before the "Battle of Chosin Lake" battle, Chairman Mao specially asked the 9 Corps to enter the DPRK:
"It is necessary to use the main force of the Song Dynasty wheel to be sure in this regard."
The military situation was urgent, and only the 9 corps could quickly penetrate to Chosin Lake
During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, New China had nearly 5.4 million troops at that time, but because the opponent was a powerful American army, the troops who entered the Korean War were the main forces of the major field armies: the 13th Corps of Siye, the 9th Corps of Huaye, the 3rd Corps of Erye, the 20th Corps of the North China Field Army, and the 19th Corps of Yiye.
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the central authorities had already begun to plan for the deterioration of the Korean War situation in the future, so after that, the 13th Corps formed the Northeast Border Defense Army, ready to enter the DPRK at any time, and other major field armies would be prepared to enter the DPRK in batches after this.
However, at that time, the situation in New China was also unstable, and at that time, there were still millions of bandits in the southwestern border of the motherland who were harming the people in the countryside, and Lao Jiang disregarded the lives and deaths of the people of Li for the sake of his dream of "counterattacking" and actually took advantage of these bandits.
In order to thoroughly eliminate this "cancerous tumor" that has harmed China for more than two thousand years, the central authorities ordered Erye to pay fees in the vast southwest region to pay back the people and a brand-new China; in the vast northwest land, the northwest had just been pacified at that time, and troops were needed to garrison and carry out aftercare work, and the 19th Corps could not be separated for a while.
Moreover, from the perspective of straight-line distance, the 19th Corps simply did not have time to participate in the "Battle of Chosin Lake", and at that time, the main force of the major military regions was the strongest in combat, and the closest to North Korea was the 9th Corps.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the central government had anticipated that the 13 corps alone would not be enough to cope with the war, so it ordered the 9 corps to rush to Shandong to stand by.
However, after this, due to The leak of Secrets by Jang Dong-sun, the US military was on guard, and the situation in the Korean War situation had further deteriorated.
To this end, the central government urgently ordered that the 9th Corps did not need to assemble and then go to Korea, and the 27th Army, which had reached the northeast first, directly entered Korea through Dandong, and then the 26th Army and the 20th Army gradually followed.
Once the US troops on the eastern front break through Chosin Lake, then the entire Dprk will collapse, and then the threat will be New China, Chosin Lake is only 100 kilometers away from the Yalu River, and at the speed of the MECHANIZED MARCH of the US military, it is only half a week.
Therefore, under the circumstances at that time, it was really a last resort to send the 9th Corps to urgently enter the DPRK to participate in the combat mission on the Eastern Front.