Narrator: Gao Ruifang Finishing: Sun Huangping
Eighth, the shortage of grain is a huge problem
During the Battle of Changjin Lake, we didn't even have fried noodles, and everyone brought ten catties of raw rice and ten catties of cooked dry food when they entered the court. In the process of marching, the cooked dry food was eaten first, and then they could only eat raw rice, because they had to arrive in the war zone before the enemy's car wheels, and there was no time to make a fire to cook, and because they were afraid that the cooking smoke would be discovered by enemy planes and attract air raids and bombing, so everyone was hungry during the march, so they grabbed a handful of raw rice and put it in their mouths to chew, and marched every day, and the physical exertion was very great, and everyone's dry food bags soon bottomed out. What to do? You can only mobilize everyone to go around and raise food on their own.
After a little bit of food, I found that it was a barren alpine mountainous area, and except for potatoes, there were no decent crops at all, and even potatoes could not grow much. But at the beginning, I was able to find local villagers and raise money to buy potatoes. But there were too many troops to find food, and they ran out in a few days after they couldn't last a few days.
Subsequently, the local villages were bombed into ruins by US planes one after another, and people were sent out for half a day, and sometimes even the common people could not find a single one. Some people went to the ruins of the village to dig through the rubble, and sometimes they happened to dig out the cellars of the villagers, but most of them were empty, with the occasional small potato, and thank goodness. Our people still strictly abide by the discipline of the masses as they did when they were fighting wars at home, and do not take a stitch from the masses, and without the presence of the Korean villagers, they will leave money or other items of corresponding value in the potato cellars of the villagers while taking away the potatoes. But the further back you go, the harder it is to find, and sometimes the people who send out look for it for a day and find nothing. When the weather is cold and the ground is freezing, there is nowhere to dig wild vegetables, so you can only run out of food.
At that time, at most, one person could distribute four small potatoes a day, and in the later period, when it was difficult, one person could only divide 1~2. When there was a break, our medical staff first distributed it to the wounded. At that time, everyone understood that we had no air supremacy in Korea, and all transportation lines were repeatedly bombed by US planes like locusts in the sky, and it was very difficult for domestic supplies, including food, to be transported to the front line. In particular, we were fighting in the alpine mountains, where the roads were rugged and narrow, freezing and slippery, and the cars could not drive at all.
At that time, every bullet and every mouthful of dry food that the troops needed, it would be best if they could find the kind of wooden climbing plough pulled by cattle and transport it, and they could often only be transported by manual shoulders. Blood and lives in exchange for it.
Therefore, although there was often a shortage of food, during the entire Battle of Changjin Lake, and even for a long time after the battle, there was never a single star of vegetables, but everyone never complained or complained.
Every time we carry the iron bucket to the cooking class to eat, we have to walk for a while, after arriving, the cooks according to the number of wounded people in your place, count the potatoes into the iron bucket we brought, and when we bring back from the ice and snow, the potatoes have already frozen, the wounded are all young men, they can only swallow this cold little potato in desperation, and they can't eat at all, and then we try to find a way to find a coat or cloth wrap the iron bucket, In this way, it is possible to barely maintain the potatoes that the wounded can get in their hands and not freeze through.
Dried mushrooms
After the end of the second battle, when the rest was over, a large number of dried mushrooms from the Northeast were finally transported from the country, at first everyone was very happy, and finally there was a dish to eat, or the impression was very delicious mushrooms, but I didn't expect that the dried mushrooms boiled in salt water without oil would be so unpalatable, and they had not changed their patterns for more than a month, only this kind of dish, and finally everyone was sick to their stomachs when they ate it, and they were disgusted when they smelled it. That's why I've hated eating this dried mushroom all my life.
Gray cabbage
Or when the army was resting, spring arrived, one day I was outside in the field, found a small green wild vegetables, went forward to take a closer look, it was the same gray cabbage that grew in our country, and was overjoyed and quickly pulled up, although it was only a few small wild vegetables, go to the room with boiling water to scald, mix with a little salt, two mouthfuls of belly, feel that this is simply the best delicious delicacy in the world.
After the Battle of Changjin Lake, our logistics troops finally overcame all difficulties and dangers to transport grain to the front line. Whether it is rice, millet, or sorghum rice, they are all piled up in temporary grain stations.
See Album of Resisting US Aggression and Aiding Korea
Carry food in a bag of dry food
Those of us who have experienced extreme hunger and hardship, when we heard that there was food to eat, we were so happy, because there were wounded people in the hospital, and there was a lot of food, and there was no means of transportation, so the medical staff had to carry it by themselves, and we had to cross the mountains and rivers all the way, and there were 40~50 miles back and forth, and it took most of the day each time.
When we arrived at the grain station, the comrades there had already packed the bags, regardless of men and women, each of them carried half a bag of grain (about 25 catties) on their backs, carried it on their shoulders and left, our female soldiers were as capable as male soldiers.
The Fifth Campaign was the last large-scale battle during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and since then, it has turned into tunnel warfare. Our troops began to dig tunnels on a large scale, which was a proven method of hiding from enemy artillery fire.
The above three photos show the soldiers of the 27th Army repairing the tunnel. (See comrade-in-arms Dong Wenfu's photo album)
After the tunnel was built, all our commanders and fighters, including the hospital, moved in. Although the inside was relatively dark and narrow, the rock walls were always wet and seeping out, and there were always small streams of water flowing out at the bottom of the tunnel, we cut a lot of thick branches from the mountain and set them up on the ground neatly, and after laying the futon, everyone squeezed together to sleep, and the second winter felt much warmer.
As long as we stayed in the tunnels, we could sleep at ease, and we no longer had to turn a blind eye to the fear of bombing by enemy planes, and the casualties of the troops were significantly reduced after that. In addition, vegetables can be grown outside the tunnel, and the food of the troops has also begun to improve slightly.
In short, the commanders and fighters of the Ninth Corps have experienced the most bitter period of the entire War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, but for the peace of the motherland and the peace of the people, we have no regrets no matter how much hardship we endure and no matter how great the sacrifice we make!
9. Heroic and tenacious and tragic battles
As soon as we entered the DPRK, we participated in the famous Second Battle, also known as the "Battle of Changjin Lake". We are facing units of the 10th Army of the US Army, including the 1st Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Division, and so on, and these units are the elite and pride of the United States.
And the soldiers around us, all of them are warriors, even if the enemy is strong and I am weak, even if the weather is cold, they rushed to the front line without the slightest hesitation for the motherland and the people, and launched a desperate contest with the most powerful opponent in the world!
The oath of the 27th Army before the second battle of the 79th Division
Although the comrades of our division hospital did not go directly to the forward position, we immediately felt the fierce battle at the front. Because all the doctors and nurses in our hospital were divided into different teams and set up temporary ambulance stations in different locations, as soon as the battle began, a steady stream of seriously wounded people from the front line were carried over, including war wounds, frostbite, and more frostbite after war wounds. Many of the wounded died in front of us before they could be rescued. We also heard from the fighters from all over the world about the fierce battles on different battlefields.
See "27th Army History Album"
In this battle, in Xinxingli: the 80th and 81st Divisions of the 27th Army cooperated to annihilate the 31st Reinforced Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division of the United States Army, which was awarded the title of "Polar Bear Regiment" for its outstanding achievements in the invasion of Russian Siberia in World War I, and killed its colonel McLean, and captured its regimental flag, which is unique in the history of the American army. It marks the disappearance of this once invincible "ace group" forever.
Soldiers of the 27th Army proudly escorted the prisoners of war of the Polar Bear Regiment
See the 27th Army History Album
The spoils captured by the 27th Army in this battle:
The polar bear regimental flag on display in the Military Museum of the Chinese Revolution
In Liutanli: The 79th Division of the 27th Army and the 20th Army divided the 1st Marine Division into four sections on the first night of the offensive, and the American commanders realized that they had encountered an "extremely tough opponent." After that, our 94th Division was also ordered to rush to participate in the coordinated operation.
27 Army History Album
Simulated sculpture of the Battle of Changjin Lake in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution
In the harsh environment beyond the limits of human existence, many volunteer soldiers were extremely hungry, tired, and delirious from freezing, dragging their frozen legs and charging into battle like a mountain and a sea, stubbornly pursuing the mechanized US army.
For the first time, the U.S. military saw the bravery, tenacity, and unafraid sacrifice spirit of the volunteers. The next thing we can only think about is how to break out of the encirclement.
Soldiers of the 1st Marine Division of the besieged U.S. Army
My biggest wish is to see the sun tomorrow
Desperate eyes
In the documentaries made by the Americans, many of the surviving Marines will never forget what they saw and heard when they fought the volunteers on a cold winter night:
For the first time, I saw Chinese soldiers coming like a tidal wave!
For the first time, I heard the clear and piercing horn of the (Stormtrooper)!
For the first time, I heard the thin rubber-soled shoes of the Chinese soldiers who were rapidly approaching the position making a "rustling" sound on the ice and snow!
For the first time, I heard the heartfelt shouts of the Chinese soldiers during the charge!
The icy and snowy terrain of Changjin Lake and the ruthless attacks of the volunteers regardless of casualties are a nightmare that will never linger in the hearts of every marine.
The ferocity and tenacity of the Chinese soldiers caused extremely strong psychological pressure on the American soldiers, and the American soldiers even doubted whether the bullets fired from the carbine in their hands were real - the Chinese could not be killed!
Officers and men of the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army under siege
Captured Polar Bear Regiment soldiers
The Chinese Volunteers created a miracle of war in which the inferior defeated the superior and the weak defeated the strong, because this was the only glorious example in the history of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in which a reinforced infantry regiment of the US Army was completely annihilated and its flag was captured. After the war, even the U.S. military had to admit that the Chinese infantry was the best soldier in the world.
We camped on the high mountain, with white cloth for camouflage, lying on the ground and looking down, through the transparent portholes in the cabin, sometimes we could see the silhouette of the American pilot, and when we were very close, we could even see his high nose and sunken eyes. But there was strict discipline at the beginning, and the troops could not casually hit the plane and expose the target. Later, after receiving the order to fight the planes, the soldiers of our unit only seized the opportunity to look at the planes that were bold and flying very low, and set up their machine guns to aim at them. Once, when we saw a plane that was still showing off in front of everyone's eyes, shortly after it flew away, it rolled down the mountain stream with black smoke in front of another nearby hill, and this was shot down by our troops, and everyone couldn't help but cheer.
At the end of the second campaign, our troops pursued the fleeing American troops from Liutan-ri to the southeast coast, and along the way, we could see the corpses of American soldiers everywhere as far as the eye could see, both white and black, and all the clothes on the corpses were stripped off by the poor people of North Korea and taken away to protect them from the cold.
The enemy threw down a large number of corpses
At this time, the American devils had already fled by ship to the south of the 38th parallel, and the American troops did not want to leave their military supplies to the volunteers, so they fled to the warship and blew up the munitions warehouse here with heavy artillery fire. The entire city of Hamxing was also bombed all over, and the city of Nuoda could not even see a complete house, and there were broken walls and ruins everywhere.
Because our division hospital followed behind the large army, when we arrived, the martyrs of the Volunteer Army had been buried in a large tomb with a diameter of about ten meters (I can't remember how big, I have the impression that it was so big), and the tall circular mound was densely filled with small wooden signs two fingers wide and one palm long, each wooden card had the name of a martyr written on it, and the joint burial tomb was the home of many of our young soldiers. Most of the young warriors were not yet 20 years old, but now they were all buried forever in this foreign land. The tragic scene of the war is so bloody and shocking in front of us, and it has carved a deep imprint in the minds of those of us who are already veterans that will not be erased for a lifetime. Until now, I still dream of them, and after 70 years, every time I think of those young comrades-in-arms who died in North Korea, my heart is extremely sad.
One of the three volunteer martyrs' cemeteries on the shore of Changjin Lake
After the Battle of Changjin Lake, the martyrs were buried en masse in the tomb, and their heads were all facing the direction of the motherland. There are three large tombs in the entire Changjin Lake battlefield, each of which has about 1000~4000 people.
History will always remember that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation began with the victory at Changjin Lake. Those volunteer soldiers who died in the cold and fire were the most valuable Chinese in the history of the world. It is these Chinese soldiers who have stood firm in the snow, snow, cold and bullets that have supported the Republic and our peace and tranquility today!
The Volunteers of the Ninth Corps and the Korean People's Army joined forces on the east coast
After the battle, the four divisions of our 27th Army did not participate in the third and fourth battles due to serious attrition, and for a long time they rested in the area of South Hamhung Province, and at that time our divisional hospital was stationed in Dingping.
At this time, the 94th Division received an order to withdraw its organization, and the former division commander, Comrade Wu Lanting, was appointed commander of the 80th Division. The 94th Division's 281st Regiment, which was good at winning battles and made the U.S. troops pee on the Yalu River pay the price, was organized into a special service regiment in the army, and the other two regiments were organized into a stretcher regiment and a recruit training regiment respectively. However, the staffing level was still far from meeting the requirements, and 10,440 new recruits were added from the country.
27 Army History Album
However, our 4th Field Hospital has always retained its establishment. It is not known whether it is related to the fact that no one has been reduced in staff at the hospital itself, and everyone is actively working hard.
After that, our hospital directly listened to the dispatch of the army and continued to complete various tasks of saving lives and helping the wounded, such as: our hospital is responsible for assigning male nurses and trucks to transport the wounded and sick to China, and assigning our nursing class to be responsible for the rehabilitation and recuperation of cadres above the regiment level.
It was not until after returning from North Korea that all the medical staff of the hospital went to the 27th Army Teaching Regiment in Tai'an, Shandong, and were disbanded after three inspections and three rectifications, and the personnel of the Fourth Hospital were reassigned to the other three divisions.
After the second battle, we rested at Dingpyeong, South Hamgyong Province
From left to right: Yu Cuifang, Xia Guidong, Gao Ruifang, Liu Shuqing.
In this way, the entire 27th Army rested for several months, and it was not until April and May that it participated in the fifth largest campaign during the period to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and in the first stage of the campaign, our 27th Army fought all the way to the south of the 37th parallel. In the second phase of the campaign, he was forced to retreat because of the inability to guarantee logistical supplies. At this time, the troops were divided and surrounded by the enemy, and the situation was very serious, but under the correct command of Commander Peng Deqing, the three divisions covered each other and retreated crosswise, and also covered the retreat of some other brother units along the way, and also captured some of the enemy's prisoners. The whole army was basically intact and withdrew to the north of the 38th parallel, and beautifully completed the combat mission. Later, the unit also participated in the defense of Geumseong and the defense of the east coast of Korea. It was not until the end of the round battle in October 1952 that the 27th Army finally returned home.
10. Maneuvering with US military planes
US military planes flew in the sky like locusts
When the first entry into the DPRK, the air supremacy was in the hands of the Americans, and the visibility was good during the day, and the planes of different types of the US military were like locusts all over the sky, because the volunteers had almost no decent air defense at that time, so they were very arrogant and flew very low. Not to mention hitting people, even if you hit an animal or even a dog, you will shoot it in the same way.
1. Dean Sui was injured in the rescue
Dong Wenfu, a comrade-in-arms of a nursing class with me, once followed Dean Sui Shuchun to the villager's house to change the dressing of the wounded, and encountered an enemy plane swooping down and strafing on the way, the dean reacted quickly, and suddenly knocked Dong Wenfu down and lay on her, the enemy plane swooped over and aimed at them is a long shuttle, and the mud splashed by the strafing almost buried them, and after the enemy plane flew away, they finally turned over the clods of soil on their bodies and drilled out of the soil, only to find that the dean was wounded, and he received a bullet in the buttocks. A series of traces of the enemy plane's strafing were close to Dong Wenfu's scalp, and three of her five-strand long braids were broken. Thankfully, they both came back with a life.
Nurse Dong has long braids before and short braids after
Dean Sui Shuchun is a military doctor, he is more than ten years older than us, he is a very good person, and he is also my introduction to the party. Usually at work, he always teaches us various operations by hand, and his prestige in the hospital is very high.
Dean Sui Shuchun
This time, if it weren't for his sacrificing himself to save others and reacting quickly, Nurse Dong might have died. After Dean Sui was injured, he did not return to China for treatment, so he treated the wound in the hospital and persevered until it healed. The dean has set a good example for all the medical staff in our hospital with practical actions. Therefore, all the comrades of our hospital were able to serve the wounded and sick wholeheartedly during their entire period in Korea, and no matter what the situation encountered, they never complained of being tired and tired, and everyone was doing their best to fulfill the duties of the angels in white.
2. The old nurse is calm and avoids danger
Nurse Tian Xiuming
After dealing with enemy planes like locusts overhead all day long, almost every one of us veterans has developed the ability to detect and evade aircraft bombing in time.
Like Tian Xiuming, a nurse in our hospital, her eyes are more myopia, and she can't see anything even if she raises her head when the plane comes, but she is also a veteran, and she is calm and calm, as long as she hears the roar of the plane, she can judge that the plane has arrived, and she immediately lies down on the spot, not moving, and our earthy yellow military uniform itself is a cover color, so there is no accident.
3. The junior officer panicked
There is a young female political officer surnamed Li in the hospital, her name can no longer be remembered, I don't have a photo of her, every time the plane comes, she is very nervous, immediately run wildly to dodge, in fact, like her is the most dangerous, because the moving target will be easily discovered by the enemy plane, and then the machine gun under the belly of the plane will chase you and shoot, and the two legs of the person can not outrun the plane even if they run fast.
Once she went out with me, was walking on the side of the road, the enemy plane flew over, I was just about to lie down on the spot, I found that she was about to run again, I quickly stepped forward and grabbed her, too late to lie down, so I dragged her and I to squat on the waist-high ridge next to the road, I pressed her shoulders tightly, and said to her: "Don't move, the plane can't see you at all, as long as you move, the plane will find you immediately!" "She was held down by me, and I could feel her shivering under my hands. Sure enough, the plane turned around and didn't find anything, so it really flew away.
But then there was finally a time when she was still running around while avoiding the plane, and was chased by the plane and broke her leg, and went back to China for treatment, and never saw her again.
4. A chance encounter with laundry by the river
It was this helicopter that saved the pilot
It was after our young air force entered the DPRK that the pilots were not afraid of a strong enemy, carried forward the spirit of fighting bayonets in the air, and fought bravely against enemy planes. At the same time, with the strengthening of Soviet aid, our antiaircraft artillery units entered the DPRK one after another, and the ground air defense force gradually increased.
I haven't seen a fierce air battle before, so I don't remember it. But once, when I was sitting alone on a stone by the empty river and washing clothes, I suddenly saw a helicopter from the US military flying in the direction where I was. I saw the enemy plane circling in a circle, hovering in front of me, I can't remember how far it was, but I could clearly see what happened next, I saw the cabin door open, and slowly lowered a soft ladder from the inside, hanging under the plane, and a person immediately ran on the ground, only to see him grab the soft ladder, climb up hand and foot, the cabin door closed, and the plane flew away. It dawned on me that it must have been an enemy plane shot down by our planes or ground air defenses, and the pilot on board parachuted here, and then he called a rescue helicopter to pick him up. It's a pity that our medical staff don't wear guns, and there are no hospital guards around, so we just watched him run away.
5. Downed enemy planes and pilots
This was the first enemy plane shot down by our troops, the pilot parachuted and landed on the position of our 27th Army, he sent out a distress signal, and then this helicopter flew to the rescue, but this unlucky helicopter just rushed over, and was immediately shot down by the 80th Division of the 27th Army, this is the captured helicopter and the pilot.
6. Rescuing the wounded during the bombing by US planes
Korean dwellings
The houses of the North Korean villagers are all similar to small grass-roofed bungalows, and they never use bricks and stones to build their houses, and the entire walls are actually made of logs, and this kind of wooden structure of the house cannot withstand the bombing of US planes at all, and once it is hit by a bomb or napalm, it will immediately burn and soon collapse the house.
At the beginning of the war, the wounded were still scattered in the houses of the villagers, and the Korean-style houses had to be entered with their shoes off, and there were several steps at the entrance of the house, and there were knee-high thresholds in the house, so it was really not an easy task to rescue the wounded. It is not uncommon for hair and eyebrows to burn, clothes to catch fire, and skin burns on hands and hands.
It was not long after the beginning of the second battle, and once at a critical moment, the house where the wounded lived was blown up and set on fire, and all our medical personnel present rushed in desperately, both inside and outside the house, and some carried the wounded with a wounded leg on their backs, and some carried the wounded with a head injury, and I can't remember how many times I went in and out, but I remember that the smoke from the fire was getting bigger and bigger, and I carried a seriously wounded man on my back, and when I arrived at the door, I turned around and put the wounded on my back outside the threshold.
Someone took it over, I turned around and returned to the house, and found that a room of wounded people had been basically rescued by several of our medical staff, only the last big man in the corner of the room was injured in the thigh, I hurriedly helped him to stand up, but he was too big, I couldn't carry him at all, at the critical moment, I could only use all my strength to support him while supporting one leg to jump to the threshold, seeing that the fire was about to burn to the door frame, I was anxious, I didn't know where the momentum came from suddenly pushed the big man out of the door, Seeing that he was picked up by his comrades, I jumped out after him, and as soon as we came out, the house collapsed. Afterwards, several of us were praised by our superiors, and I also made a third-class meritorious service for it.
Health personnel are transferring the wounded
11. Rescue the wounded on the shore of Changjin Lake
After the Battle of Changjin Lake began, our 94th Division made a long journey to Liutanli, and was ordered to cooperate with the 79th Division to fight against the 1st Marine Division of the United States. Although our medical staff work hard every day, in the harsh environment of the cold and freezing, even the blood that flows out after the wounded will be quickly frozen, and many of the wounded have died of their injuries and freezing before they can be transferred to our hospital. During this period, there was one wounded man who made a special impression on us.
One night, we were nursing the wounded in the house, suddenly heard a movement outside the house, after opening the door, we were surprised to find a dying person crawling on the snow, everyone hurriedly went out, carried him into the house, after inquiry, only to know that he was also from the 26th Army of the Ninth Corps, and also a Shandong soldier. He was wounded in battle, and was knocked unconscious by a shell, and when he woke up to find that the troops had been evacuated, and because one leg was broken, he could not stand and walk, and it is difficult to imagine what extraordinary perseverance he relied on, gritted his teeth and crawled for two days, at first using both hands and feet, and then his hands and feet froze, and he could only rely on the elbow joints to support his body and move forward alternately, before climbing down the mountain and reaching his own people. We quickly found food for him to feed first, everyone checked his hands and feet, and found that he had been completely blackened by freezing, and seeing this situation, our medical staff knew in their hearts that this was a long-term severe frostbite, which had led to local necrosis.
Because frostbite is only red and swollen at the beginning, and gradually aggravated it will turn purple due to poor blood flow, if it is not treated accordingly, the local blood circulation will be completely blocked and not circulated, and finally the blood loss tissue will slowly necrosis, to this step, it is too late to do treatment, because necrosis is an irreversible pathological change, once it develops to this point, it is impossible to move the gods to the sky. The wounded man in front of him belonged to this situation, he was injured and lost blood first, and he stayed in the cold field for two whole days, without any calorie supplement, and he insisted on crawling, and he consumed a lot of extra calories, and now he is extremely weak and on the verge of dying in life...... All of us present were shocked by the extent of his frostbite, but at the same time even more moved by his strong will to survive and his actions that went beyond the limits of his life. Then work hard for him no matter what!
Someone immediately brought in a few pots of snow, and several of our medical staff all went forward, picked up his hands and feet and rubbed them respectively, but no matter how everyone rubbed and tried, his hands and feet could no longer change color...... and we were very sad for our powerlessness to watch him fall asleep from exhaustion.
The next day, we gave priority to the plough and sent him back to China, and although we knew that the hope of him surviving was very slim, we all prayed in our hearts that this particularly tenacious soldier would return to the motherland alive and receive the best treatment.
This is Yantai's "Volunteer Army Veterans Assistance Program" volunteers, when they sent cotton clothes to Chu Baojin, a veteran of the 94th Division, on 2019-10-26, taken by Qiu Hong, a descendant of the 27th Army.
We were too wounded at that time, everyone was busy, on duty at night, but also from time to time to make rounds, go to the bed of each seriously wounded and lean down to listen to their breathing, found that they did not breathe to confirm that they had died, they had to immediately carry out and send them to the designated place outside, I remember that our nursing team of only 3-4 people had carried out 17 martyrs in one night at most.
For the treatment of frostbite, to be honest, there were no good treatments and medicines at that time. The best treatment is to let the frostbite person live in the house of the villager in the early stage. Later, when US planes discovered that the wounded of our army were living in civilian houses, they began to bomb the houses as soon as they saw them, so that we did not dare to put the wounded in the houses. For the more severe frostbite wounds, we will arrange for them to be transferred back to China for treatment as soon as they have the opportunity. After the bombing of North Korea's houses, there was no place for ordinary people to live, so they were familiar with the environment, so they went to live in caves in nearby mountains for refuge. For those who were not qualified to be transferred back to China for treatment, they were arranged to be hospitalized in our hospital, and the hospitalization conditions at that time were unimaginable to people today:
In the harsh environment of the cold and the earth, there is not even a house;
The wounded need to be warmed, but they lack basic warm clothing;
The wounded needed to be nourished and provided with calories, but they could not even meet the basic food rations, and even drinking hot water was a luxury.
The wounded need the best medicines, but they don't even have the most basic antiseptic potions, topical frostbite ointments.
How can so many difficulties be solved? How to improve? It was so difficult for the medical staff at that time.
The lack of houses forced us to find our own places, such as sometimes placing them in caves, sometimes in low livestock sheds (not easy to be detected by enemy planes), and more often simply setting up simple tents under trees, under bridges and other hidden places to treat the wounded.
This low, inconspicuous cowshed also housed the wounded
A humble temporary field ambulance station for the 27th Army
For the wounded who did not have a quilt, sometimes our medical staff covered one for two people, and even took out a quilt for the wounded to cover, I remember that we had a male squad leader (name forgot) gave his own quilt to the wounded to cover. The night was so cold that he couldn't bear it, so he was bold, so he went to build a quilt with a martyr to keep warm, and slept like this all night. At that time, we female nurses admired him.
Every time we come back from a meal, we medical staff would rather save a bite for ourselves than give an extra bite to the wounded. In this way, the wounded also suffered a lot, because of the cold, because of the lack of nutrition, their war wounds are not easy to heal; Frostbitten limbs are not easy to recover, but they are well aware that all of our medical staff have done their best, so they never complain about us. When they are discharged from the hospital, they salute us with excitement and express their heartfelt thanks to the soldiers in white!
A childish little soldier of the 27th Army is walking towards us (see comrade-in-arms Dong Wenfu's photo album)
12. Sepsis and tetanus
As soon as we entered the DPRK, the convoy of 45 trucks of our 27th Army transporting logistics supplies was burned to the ground by napalm bombs dropped by US planes.
Later, the cars that overcame many difficulties and drove in, even if the wheels were tied with anti-slip chains, because the weather was cold, the road was slippery and difficult to walk, and they had to avoid the bombing of enemy planes in the sky, and many cars accidentally overturned in the roadside ditch, and later I heard that a large amount of materials were backlogged in Ji'an and Linjiang on the northeast border at that time and could not be transported to the front line, so the shortage of medicines in each field hospital in the early days was very serious.
When our hospital was in North Korea, all the non-surgical wounded were treated, and under normal circumstances, ordinary trauma could be treated, but once we encountered a wounded person who needed surgery, our hospital did not have the ability to operate, so we had to transfer to a special surgical team in the army.
Therefore, in the case of a shortage of medical treatment and medicine at that time, the few medicines that were finally transported from China must first be used by the operating team, and in the end, the medicines that could be distributed to our division-level hospitals were pitiful.
At first, the only thing that could be done when changing dressings every day was to clean the wounds of the wounded with some salt water, but you must know that there was no normal saline solution available to clean the wounds at that time, and the salt water used could only be prepared by the relevant personnel of the hospital every day. It is also necessary to use sparingly.
In the case of a wound and without strict disinfection measures, it is easy to contract tetanus and sepsis, and these two diseases can deteriorate quickly if they are not properly treated. So both of these were fatal diseases at the time.
At that time, there were a small number of unscrupulous capitalists in China who used black-hearted cotton with a large number of germs as a first-aid kit for the volunteers, and they were sent directly to the battlefield without disinfection, so it led to the deterioration of wound infection of the wounded at that time, and the injury worsened after using the first-aid kit after using the first-aid kit, and even directly threatened the life of the wounded.
For those soldiers who had sepsis, now even ordinary people know that the best treatment is antibiotics, but at that time there were no antibiotics on the battlefield, and it was good to have a small amount of sulfonamides that could be taken orally. Not to mention that there was no condition for infusion, and at that time there was no muscle injection.
If the patient has a high fever or even chills, we can only give them a proper cold compress to physically cool down; Wash the wound with salt water every day to promote the wound to heal as soon as possible; Encouraging them to drink plenty of water, urging them to take sulfonamides on time, and taking their temperature every day, we can observe that the high fever is gradually decreasing, which is the common expectation of us and the wounded.
I was impressed by those who had the misfortune to get tetanus, because tetanus bacilli is a special pathogen that invades the central nervous system, but is confined to the spinal cord and does not affect the brain. As the disease progresses, the symptoms gradually appear, the muscles of the face and all parts of the body will have convulsions, trismus can not open the mouth, unable to eat, especially when stimulated by strong light, sound, and vibration, the convulsions will be aggravated and frequent. They couldn't open their mouths and couldn't speak, but they were always conscious until they died, and the painful look that came out of their eyes made people look particularly uncomfortable, but at that time we didn't have a special drug in our hands - tetanus antitoxin, so we could only watch, for medical staff, this is really a kind of helplessness! Therefore, once it is confirmed that it is this disease, as long as there are conditions to transport them away, we will give priority to arranging for them to be transferred back to China for treatment.
Many of the wounded have seizures due to spasms, trismus, unable to eat or drink, and if they are too long, they will be dehydrated and life-threatening, and at that time there will be unconditional infusion, so we will try to gently pull the wounded's lips apart and feed them a little soup; The wounded were lined up on the bed to defecate and defecate, and we scrubbed them little by little; When the wound suppurated, we gently cleaned the wound with salt water and changed the dressing. Do everything you can to alleviate their suffering.
Once the stretcher team arrived, when we saw them off, we would put a sign on them stating that they were tetanus patients, and then repeatedly tell the porters to treat them with caution.
Later, the news from our front line was fed back to China, and the domestic emergency organization produced a large number of tetanus vaccines and sent them to the front line, and we finally got the vaccine and can start injecting the soldiers.
At this point, a new problem arises. There was no alcohol or cotton balls for disinfection on the battlefield, and we nurses could only get one syringe in each hand.
It is absolutely impossible to achieve the requirements of the current conditions: strict alcohol disinfection before injection; One person changes the needle tube at the time of injection.
What to do? Then adapt to local conditions and break the routine!
We all fought to tear the cotton wool out of our quilts, first into cotton balls one by one, and then put them in a pot of boiling water with the syringe to boil them, and then use this cotton ball to wipe the soldiers to sterilize it. With this syringe, I pulled out one person's arm and then drew medicine and tied it to another person, from morning to night.
Medical workers vaccinate fighters
Vaccinations on the battlefield in Korea. (See Photo Gallery to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea)
Although this method was very non-standard, it was the only option at the time. And it works well in terms of effectiveness. From now on, even if the vaccinated fighters are injured, they will no longer get this terrible infectious disease.
After all the soldiers were vaccinated, most of the quilts of our medical staff were emptied, and many of them slept covered with only two layers of cloth. Fortunately, God helped at this time, and the weather gradually began to warm up.
13. Typhus and relapsing fever
Impressively, there was also a phase of infectious disease on the Korean battlefield.
At that time, some people began to have a high fever for unknown reasons, and after being hospitalized, there was no effect on the treatment of a common cold, and soon a similar disease spread among the troops, and most of the patients had an ultra-high fever of more than 40 degrees that persisted, and there were many people with headaches or severe headaches, and some people also had a red rash, and the symptoms were indeed not like a cold. In a small number of serious cases, the neurological symptoms were obvious, the speech was slurred, dizziness, and gradually became unconscious, and finally turned into a coma, and the hospital began to transfer the seriously ill and the cadres and patients at and above the regimental level (this is the regulation of the army) back to China.
But this is not the main problem, the most difficult thing is that it has not been able to diagnose, all the doctors, including the dean, are so anxious that they can't find the reason, the dean keeps asking for instructions and reporting, and the leaders also attach great importance to it and come to ask. The only suspicion at this point is that these patients are suffering from infectious diseases.
But as long as the diagnosis is not diagnosed for a day, it means that effective treatment cannot be carried out for a day. Seeing that more and more people are falling day by day, soon our hospital is full, new patients are still emerging every day, and all the medical staff are busy.
At this critical moment, a professor surnamed Zhang (the name is really hard to remember) was invited from China, it is said that the professor was originally the president of the Kuomintang Nanjing Central Hospital, in 1949 when the Kuomintang fled and withdrew to Taiwan, the professor checked all the luggage on the plane first, but at this time, his pregnant wife suddenly appeared in labor, anything can be delayed, but this matter can not be delayed, he can only stay with his wife to give birth, and as a result, he was captured and retained by our People's Liberation Army.
I still remember the impression I had when I first saw Professor Zhang: he was of medium height, about 40 years old, and he wore a pair of leather riding boots that were almost knee-length, and he was particularly shiny and shiny.
After coming to our hospital, he immediately put himself into work, he went to visit the patients, and after carefully questioning and examining some patients, he finally found out the cause and made a clear diagnosis.
When he came to the ward where I was caring, I followed him curiously with the doctor, only to see him come to a patient's bed, first ask for a consultation, then listen and touch the ground to examine the whole body, and immediately tell our medical staff that this is a typhus patient; Looking at another patient, he said that this was a patient who had returned to fever....... This seemed amazing to me, and I admired him very much at the time.
After the epidemic turmoil, he stayed in the DPRK and stayed in our hospital, and his arrival greatly strengthened the level of medical diagnosis in our fourth hospital. The big guy admits that he has indeed made a great contribution to dealing with that epidemic of infectious diseases.
We finally understood that everyone was suffering from endemic typhus and epidemic relapsing fever.
The two infectious diseases do have many similar clinical symptoms. From the point of view of the cause of the disease, they are all transmitted by lice, and they are all insect-borne infectious diseases (lice-transmitted). With tetracyclines (there was no tetracycline at the time, was oxytetracycline already available?) ) are valid. The obvious difference is in the different types of pathogens. Endemic typhus is caused by Rickettsia Moschi. Epidemic relapsing fever is caused by relapsing thermospira.
At that time, it was believed that the cause of these two diseases was that the Korean battlefield conditions were difficult, and they were always on the march to fight, and they could often only sleep in their clothes, and they were not in a good position to take a good bath and change clothes, so even our female soldiers were no exception, and everyone had a large number of lice. I often jokingly call lice "glorious bugs", and they all say: Whoever has more lice is glorious.
In their free time, the warriors often open their arms to catch lice. Occasionally, a bonfire would be lit, and the warriors would sit in a circle, and they would gently take off their shirts, hold them in both hands, and shake them violently against the fire, and in an instant the sparks flashed, and the "horns" sounded, and a large number of lice were buried in the fire.
There was a male Korean interpreter in our health team, once, I can't remember what he was going to say to us female soldiers, I saw him take out a small notebook from the left breast pocket of his underwear, everyone looked at the small notebook intently, as soon as he opened it, suddenly a bunch of lice fell out of it, "hahaha" suddenly caused our group of female soldiers to lean back and laugh, he stood there with a red face and a thick neck, and stuttered for a long time. As a result, everyone couldn't remember what he wanted to talk about when he took out his notebook, only the pile of lice that fell.
As the saying goes, if there are too many lice, you don't bite, and you can't feel the itch anymore, so you don't think it's a big deal, but this time it's different, because the pathogens carried by the lice have caused a big outbreak of endemic typhus and relapsing fever.
The female soldiers in the hospital eliminated lice by bathing and ironing clothes, while the soldiers of the company were really full of lice and couldn't take them, and they couldn't get rid of the roots no matter how they bathed and ironed their clothes. Some of them burned 666 powder in a sealed bunker, took off their clothes, and threw them in the bunker to smoke, so that all the lice were wiped out.
It just so happened that at this time I was also infected with typhus when I was nursing the sick, so for many days, I was burned to the ground, confused, my whole body hurt everywhere except for my teeth, I couldn't eat anything, I always felt thirsty and wanted to drink water, I remember to pour a glass of water, she put it on the other side of my head, I struggled for a long time before I turned over, then I felt that the strength of the whole body seemed to be exhausted, I wanted to raise my arm to get the water cup, but I couldn't lift it, I didn't have the strength to take the cup that was close at hand……。
At that time, there were already treatments, small oral pills, but I had forgotten the name of the medicine. I only remember that in the end, after a rash, my condition slowly improved, and when it was completely cured, I was so thin that I lost my shape, and I really understood the severity of this disease.
Fortunately, after Professor Zhang's diagnosis, the treatment measures were finally improved, and a large number of treatment drugs were transferred from China, and the disease was finally brought under control and the situation began to improve.