In July 1953, the Korean Armistice was signed, which heralded the end of the Korean War. Both China and the DPRK were overjoyed and excited.
After the victory of the war, the mainland began to think about the withdrawal of troops. For various reasons, the time for all the volunteers to return to China was in 1958.
In 1958, the 1.3 million volunteers who entered the Korean War were successively returned to China. With the glorious return of these 1.3 million soldiers, a problem has also appeared in front of the central authorities, that is, how to resettle the soldiers after they return to China.
At this time, a founding general on the mainland put forward a proposal to the central authorities, and after discussion, the central authorities basically agreed to the general's proposal.
Since then, the resettlement of 1.3 million volunteers has been handled according to the general's suggestion, and the problem has been perfectly solved. So, who will make the proposal? How were the volunteers resettled?
In July 1953, the fighting on the Korean Peninsula finally stopped burning. With the extinguishing of the war, the volunteers who had fought in Korea for nearly 3 years also began their way back to China.
At this time, the number of volunteers was 1.3 million, and how to resettle these 1.3 million people became a problem, and if the arrangement was not proper, it would affect the whole body. So why are there 1.3 million volunteers?
This must begin before the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
In September 1950, after the flames of the Korean War, with the promotion of the United States, burned to the border of the mainland, Chairman Mao and other central leaders immediately made the decision to send troops to Korea.
As early as the outbreak of the Korean War, the central authorities anticipated that the war would not be as smooth as North Korea had expected, so on July 7, 1950, dozens of days after the outbreak of the Korean War, Premier Zhou presided over a national defense conference.
At the meeting, Premier Zhou decided to form the Northeast Border Defense Army, which was composed of the former Siye 15th Corps Headquarters, 4 Corps of the 13th Corps, 3 artillery divisions, 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment, and 1 engineer regiment. The total number of troops is about 200,000 people.
The well-formed Northeast Border Defense Army was deployed as a precautionary plan and was stationed in Fengcheng, Liaoyang, Tonghua, Benxi, Dandong, and other areas.
As the situation on the Korean Peninsula became increasingly unstable, the Central Committee, which was always concerned about the situation here, adopted a plan on September 3 of the same year to strengthen the Northeast Border Defense Army and strengthen the second and third front troops.
In order to complete the planned deployment, the central government mobilized 36 divisions of 11 armies, plus artillery, engineers, armored troops and logistics units, a total of about 700,000 people, and asked to complete the assembly by the end of the year.
At the time of the mainland's deployment, what the central authorities did not want to see still happened: on September 15, the United States landed at Inchon to expand the war situation.
On October 1, 1950, North Korea sent an urgent telegram, hoping that China would send troops to Korea. After several days of discussion, the central government finally formed a unanimous agreement on October 4 - to send troops to North Korea. A day later, the central authorities officially made the decision to "resist the United States and aid Korea, defend the family and defend the country", and formed a volunteer army to help The DPRK.
Due to the precautions taken by the central authorities before, it was not difficult to form troops to fight in the DPRK at this time. On October 8, 1950, the Central Committee, in its order on the Volunteer Army, stated: "The Northeast Border Defense Army was changed into the Chinese Volunteer Army, and it was immediately dispatched to the territory of the DPRK." ”
On October 19, the first volunteer army: the 38th Army, the 39th Army, the 40th Army, the 42nd Army, the 50th Army and the 66th Army, a total of 6 corps, plus infantry divisions, artillery divisions, anti-aircraft artillery regiments, engineer regiments and logistics, a total of 300,000 people, took advantage of the night, crossed the Yalu River, and quietly entered Korea.
A month after the first batch of volunteers entered the DPRK, the second group of volunteers, 3 corps and 12 divisions of the Ninth Corps, totaling 150,000 people, entered Korea. At this time, the strength of the volunteer army that entered the Korean war totaled 450,000 people.
In February 1951, the third group of volunteers began to fight in North Korea, this time entering the North Korean Volunteer Army for 3 corps and 9 divisions of the 19th Corps, with a total of 150,000 people. In April of the same year, 3 corps, 3 corps, 9 divisions totaling 150,000 people entered the Korean War as the fourth batch of volunteers.
In July and September, the fifth and sixth groups of volunteers, a total of 200,000 people, entered Korea, and by October, the total strength of the volunteers fighting in Korea reached 1.1 million, of which 840,000 were combat troops.
However, this was not the peak of the Volunteer Army's strength in Korea, which peaked in March 1953, when the total strength of the Volunteer Army reached 1.35 million.
By July 1953, after the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, the total strength of the Volunteer Army was 1.3 million.
After the end of the war, all 1.3 million volunteers did not want to return to China as soon as possible, after all, it was normal to miss the countryside after 3 years of absence from their hometown, and what the soldiers longed for, the superiors were also very clear. However, although the superiors understood the hearts of the soldiers, there was no way to achieve it overnight and let them return home immediately.
This was done because the volunteers left North Korea and faced two problems:
First, this has a bearing on the strategic security of China and the DPRK. At that time, although China, the DPRK, and the United States signed an armistice agreement, the United States and the Syngman Rhee administration were not willing to accept their defeat. To this end, they often engage in small actions, such as they will send agents to secretly infiltrate the demilitarized zone to sabotage.
At the same time, armed personnel in the United States and South Korea will also approach the 38th Parallel to cause trouble. This shows that under the surface of peace, the Korean Peninsula is still an undercurrent, so the departure of the volunteers from Korea is not only a matter of retreat, but also a matter of post-war security on the Korean Peninsula.
Second, when 1.3 million people suddenly return to China, and they are still soldiers who defend their homeland, they must solve the problems of eating, wearing, living, traveling, and working. This needs to be carefully considered and cannot be arranged arbitrarily. It is precisely because of this that the superior must think in all aspects.
In order to make the volunteer army better evacuate Korea, and in order to solve the arrangements for the volunteer army to return home, the superiors held a discussion, and in the process of discussion, General Yang Yong, who was a member of the General Headquarters of the Volunteer Army, put forward his own suggestions on this.
Yang Yong
Although General Yang Yong only entered the Korean battlefield in 1953, he organized and participated in the summer counterattack operation and commanded the Battle of Jincheng, which played a threatening role for the US and South Korean armies and made great contributions to the next armistice.
At the same time, after participating in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Yang Yong realized that the war was about to stop in the near future, so at this time, he had already thought about the arrangements for the volunteer army after the war.
Therefore, at the seminar, General Yang Yong said that in order to make the volunteer army successfully withdraw, it is possible to withdraw in batches, first withdraw a batch, observe the reaction of the US troops, and then make corresponding preparations according to the response of the US troops, and then let other troops slowly withdraw. At the same time, in order to smoothly evacuate the volunteer army, a command organ can also be set up in Jilin to deal with unexpected situations.
And these volunteers who returned to China in batches could be sent to different regions one by one and do different work. In this way, if there is any situation, on the one hand, it can be dealt with in a timely manner because the number of people is not so large, and on the other hand, it also provides experience for the volunteers who will return to China after the arrangement.
The participants, after listening to General Yang Yong's suggestion, all thought it was feasible, so the crowd conducted a meticulous discussion based on Yang Yong's suggestion.
After many discussions, it was decided that the first batch of retreating troops would go to the northeast region as an outpost to keep a close eye on the situation on the peninsula; the second group of withdrawn troops could be arranged to go to East China; and the last troops returning to China would be arranged to go to central China and Sichuan to support the construction of factories in these areas.
In the order of retreat, the policy of "first forward, then west coast, and finally middle" is adopted. Subsequently, Shiji reported the results of the discussion to the Central Committee. After careful study and discussion, the Central Committee issued a directive: Agree.
In this way, the issue of the withdrawal of the volunteer army and the resettlement after returning home was finally determined. Soon after, Shiji informed the troops of this plan. After reading the results, everyone talked about it.
For the arrangement of the superiors, the volunteer soldiers are in favor, but many people still have some resistance in their hearts, so when they really implement this plan, they encounter many problems, and some soldiers will always find various excuses to shirk and escape.
The reason for this situation is that among the volunteer soldiers, there are many people whose homes are stationed in different positions than those arranged by their superiors, and they do not want to return to their homeland and leave their hometowns.
In addition, there are some fighters who are reluctant to go to places where conditions are difficult and work; some fighters have even planned to change jobs after returning home and work in other industries.
At that time, Premier Zhou happened to be in the army, doing patrol work, and he felt both angry and sad after knowing the soldiers' thoughts. You must know that in the tempering of blood and fire, the volunteer army did not talk about difficulties or fear of suffering, and it was not long after victory that they had the idea of fearing difficulties and enjoying themselves.
If the soldiers' thoughts are not corrected in time, will the volunteers be able to do the same as before when they encounter a more ferocious and powerful enemy in the future?
Therefore, Premier Zhou immediately held several forums in the army to do ideological work for the soldiers, pointed out the erroneous views in their minds, and said: If we cannot suffer a little now, if we encounter a more powerful enemy in the future, how can we win victory?
In Premier Zhou Xiaozhi's emotional and rational speech, the soldiers were deeply ashamed and corrected their thoughts in time. After this, the arrangement of the volunteer army was finally carried out smoothly.
The first group of soldiers who evacuated and returned to China came to Heilongjiang and always observed the situation on the peninsula, the second group of soldiers evacuated went to Shanxi to garrison, the last batch of returned fighters were arranged to Henan, and the staff of Zhisi and other directly subordinate organs were arranged to work in other industries of the army.
Since then, the volunteer soldiers have made their best efforts and contributions to the development of the country in their respective posts. These lovely people, we will never forget!