At the end of 1950, inside the Kremlin, Stalin was furious and cursed at a military director in charge of aiding Chinese fighters, because not long ago, the Soviet military had aided a batch of Soviet MiG 9 fighters to China.
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At that time, China and the Soviet Union had already formed an alliance, the Soviet Union had promised military assistance to China, and the Chinese army had launched its first campaign in the Korean battlefield. How to solve this matter in the future?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="6" > China sent troops to Korea, and the Soviet side hesitated</h1>
China and the Soviet Union were allies, and the two countries had common interests in Korea, so why did Stalin have a strange attitude toward the entry of the Soviet Air Force into Korea?
On June 25, 1950, six infantry divisions of the Korean People's Army and three mechanized units of more than 90,000 men, under the cover of 150 aircraft, launched an attack on the unprepared South Korean army. At the beginning of the war, with the advance of T30 tanks, Korean towns fell one after another, and after only three days of fighting, the South Korean capital Seoul fell. After a month, South Korean troops and U.S. troops were approached to Busan, where the Korean People's Army had already occupied 90 percent of the korean peninsula and 92 percent of the population.
The war has begun, the top level of China and the Soviet Union has been paying attention to the direction of the war, just as the two sides are looking at the telegram, a news that makes the Korean battlefield variable came: On July 7, 1950, under the control of the United States, the United Nations formed a "United Nations Army" to participate in the Korean Peninsula War and support the Syngman Rhee government of South Korea. On September 15, 1950, uncom troops under the command of MacArthur launched the Inchon landings, and the situation in Korea took a sharp turn for the worse.
After the Inchon landing, the Korean People's Army fell into the north-south attack of the US and Roksar armies and was gradually defeated and retreated. On July 13, 1950, the Central Military Commission agreed to form a border guard army in northeast China, which played a role in protecting the national border on the one hand, and on the other hand, supported the Korean People's Army at any time and resisted the US invasion.
However, although China has decided to join the Korean battlefield, the People's Liberation Army at this time has not established an air force, the lack of air force rushes to attack, and the logistics supply line of the volunteer army will inevitably be bombed by the US army. Thinking of this, our country called the Soviet side before sending troops, asking the Soviet Air Force to send troops to support the volunteer army and coordinate the ground operations of the volunteer army.
air force
At this time, Stalin had already begun to consider this issue in the face of the new China's request for help, china sent troops to conduct ground operations, and the Soviet Union provided air support. At this time, the strategic center of the Soviet Union was mainly concentrated in the European region, so it was very likely to trigger a conflict between the two countries for directly sending the air force to the Korean Peninsula to engage in a direct exchange of fire with the US military, so at this time Stalin's attitude was very strange, on the one hand, he asked China to send troops, and on the other hand, he was suspicious of directly exchanging fire with the US Air Force.
However, on October 1, 1950, Stalin had already received an urgent letter from the Korean leader Kim Il Sung to China and the Soviet Union, and after reading the letter, Stalin understood that if the Korean People's Army was completely defeated, then the Korean Peninsula would fall into the hands of the United States, the political and military structure of the Far East would change accordingly, and the Soviet Far East would be seriously threatened, first of all, the Soviet Pacific Fleet would not be able to go to sea.
For reasons of national interest, Stalin would not allow the United States to occupy the entire Korean Peninsula, but the Soviet Union could not directly conflict with the United States. After the end of World War II, the economic construction of the Soviet Union was just beginning, and the national strength had not yet been fully restored. After some thought, Stalin finally thought of China, because he understood the significance of the Us occupation of the Korean Peninsula for China, so Stalin proposed to China a plan to assist Korea: China sent troops to Korea to fight the US and South Korean troops, and the Soviet Union provided China with advanced weapons and ammunition.
On October 11, Stalin met with Premier Zhou, who was visiting the Soviet Union, during which he said that the Soviet side had promised to provide weapons and equipment for the Chinese Volunteer Army, and that in two or two and a half months the Air Force would be dispatched to support the Chinese volunteers.
On October 7, the Chinese top brass had received news that U.S. troops had crossed the 38th Parallel and were attacking Pyongyang. China's bottom line has been breached, a peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue is no longer possible, and China has decided to send troops to North Korea. At this time, Stalin still did not answer whether the Soviet Air Force entered the Korean War, and the changes in the Soviet Union did not shake China's will, and the Chinese Volunteer Army fought alone and also had to send troops to Korea.
On October 19, the Chinese Volunteer Army assembled on the border between China and North Korea, "majestic, angry! "Cross the Yalu River.
Units of the Volunteer Army to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="42" > soviet air force entered Korea, and Stalin helped China build an air force</h1>
At the end of 1950, why did the Soviet Union increase its military assistance to China, and did it remind china of its obligations as an ally?
On October 25, after the first battle, the Volunteers annihilated a large number of American troops, causing the Americans to stop advancing. The dangerous situation in the Korean War was brought under control, and Stalin was determined to send the Soviet Air Force to fight in The Korean airspace to support the Volunteer Army against the American invading forces. Could it be that just because of the victory of the volunteer army, Stalin began to keep his promise to send troops to Korea?
It turned out that after the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States had placed the national center on the Korean Peninsula, and in Europe, the United States had sent most of its air force to the Korean Peninsula, and at this time the United States remained in Europe with only one division. After repeated inferences by the Soviet military, the United States wants to start a war in Europe, and it is completely insufficient without air support, so without several years of preparation, it is difficult for the United States to make moves in Europe.
Under these circumstances, the Soviet Union, in the context of ensuring the security of its own Strategic Interests in Europe, began to draw its energies to the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, in order to ensure that the Sea of Japan was not controlled by the US Navy and that the Soviet Pacific Fleet could be used, Stalin issued instructions to the Soviet military: part of the Soviet air force was drawn from Europe, transferred to the Far East, and then secretly the northeast China airfield, ready to enter the airspace over Korea for combat.
Before Soviet troops entered Korea, Moscow took a considerable amount of security measures in order not to anger the U.S. authorities. In order to prevent the identity of Soviet pilots from being exposed and to cover the signs of Soviet equipment, the Soviet Union ordered All American pilots who entered the Korean War to wear the uniforms of the Chinese Volunteer Army, wear the uniforms and badges of the Volunteer Army, and when entering China, all the belongings of the Soviet pilots were removed, and the fighter jets and logistics vehicles were all smeared with the volunteer air force logo.
People's Volunteer Air Force
In the first few days of operations in North Korea, Soviet pilots complied with the prohibitions set by the Soviet army: they were not allowed to fly on the sea, they were not allowed to attack American ships, they were not allowed to enter places 60 miles away from the front, and Soviet pilots who participated in the war must have Chinese and Korean languages. Because of these constraints, the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Air Force was difficult to effectively exert, and the air war suffered some hardships in the first period of time.
The Soviet Air Force successfully arrived at the front at the end of 1950 and began to fight alongside the Chinese and North Korean Air Forces. During the battle, Soviet pilots made some adjustments according to the actual situation on the battlefield, and soon the ban on tying their hands and feet was broken, and a fierce battle was fought with the US Air Force.
In early 1951, the U.S. Air Force began a large-scale bombing of the rear of the Volunteer Army, during which Soviet pilots took off several times a day, fought with full force, and with the cooperation of the Volunteer Air Force, fought fierce battles with American fighters in the airspace north and northwest of the Korean Peninsula. On January 21, the U.S. military dispatched more than 50 jet fighters to sneak up on an Air Force regiment at Andong Airfield.
Under the command of Colonel Paskovich, the Soviet Air Force directly flew the aircraft to forcibly take off, and fought fiercely with the United States Air Force, after a day of fighting, the whole regiment shot down 11 American aircraft, but did not lose a single aircraft, and the air battle achieved a major victory.
The most intense battle between Soviet pilots and the U.S. military was over the northwestern side of the Yalu River over North Korea, when 36 Soviet MiGs lurked high in the clouds and pounced at a rapid pace on more than 40 U.S. bombing formations on bombing missions, shooting down 15 U.S. aircraft in an instant. The day was called "the darkest day" by U.S. Air Force officials.
Graph source network
Although Stalin sent the Soviet Air Force into the Korean Peninsula to fight, he felt that helping China strengthen its air force was very beneficial to sharing the strategic pressure of the Soviet Union in Asia, and the Soviet Union began to strengthen military assistance to the Chinese Air Force, mainly including assistance in aircraft and aircraft-related supporting facilities, and training pilots.
Many of the equipment aided by the Soviet Union was bought by our country on "credit", and the interest rate was only one percent. At the end of 1950, the Soviet military only agreed to hand over the Soviet MiG-9 fighter, which was relatively weak, to China for China's air force assistance.
But when Stalin saw this document, he was very angry. Because Stalin wanted to help China build an air force that would strengthen trust between China and the Soviet Union and reduce Soviet military pressure in the Pacific, the Soviet military's behavior was inconsistent with his original intentions.
So Stalin, after criticizing the military director in charge of the matter, made a decision on the spot to supply 372 MiG-15 fighters that the Soviet Union had just put into production, and the Soviet Union had just produced fewer than five hundred in the country. In addition, the Soviet Union also provided assistance to the long-term development of the Chinese Air Force, helping China train pilots, teach Chinese Air Force technicians aircraft repair techniques, and build and protect airports.
< h1 class ="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="44" > the Chinese and Soviet air forces fought hand in hand, and the two sides competed for the Korean battlefield</h1>
Before entering the Korean War, the volunteer pilots did not have enough flight time, so they had to fight and practice in battle.
According to Soviet statistics, Soviet pilots shot down a total of 1,300 U.S. aircraft over the Korean Peninsula, and the Soviets themselves lost 345 aircraft, of which 202 pilots died in air battles. In World War II, the United States called the pilots who shot down five enemy aircraft ace pilots, and in the air battle in The Korean Battlefield, there were 7 ace pilots in China, 52 ace pilots in the Soviet Union, and 12 ace pilots in the United States.
However, on the Korean battlefield at that time, there were more than 200 Chinese pilots participating in the war, more than 1500 in the Soviet Union, and more than 1700 in the United States, and the proportion of ace pilots in the three countries was: 28.6 : 1, 28.8 : 1, 141.7 : 1, and the proportion of ace pilots in China ranked first.
Among the ace pilots of the Soviet Air Force, Colonel Pelyaev set a record for one person to shoot down 23 US aircraft in the Korean War, and forced the landing of the latest F-86 jet fighter of the US Army, thus becoming a treasured booty obtained by the Soviet Union in the Korean battlefield and winning people's appreciation.
After the Soviet pilots went to fight in Korea, although they deliberately covered up moscow's actions, the US intelligence agencies gathered information from all aspects and learned of the fact that the Soviet Union entered the war. However, because neither the United States nor the Soviet Union at that time wanted to cause a large-scale conflict to escalate the scale of the war, it was strictly kept secret, so that the matter was not known for many years.
Among the ace pilots of the Volunteer Army, Zhao Baotong shot down seven US fighters and injured two US fighters, creating a record for the Volunteer Air Force to shoot down US fighters in battle, while Zhao Baotong flew far less than the standard training time before going to the front line, only more than ten hours.
Zhao Baotong
After the end of the Korean War, the fighter jet piloted by Zhao Baotong already had 9 red stars, and Zhao Baotong was the only volunteer pilot who twice won the merits of Rong Lite and other meritorious service. He was honored five times and was awarded the title of "Hero of The First Class". After the end of the Korean War, Kim Il Sung personally awarded him the Order of Independence of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Second Class, and a National Flag Medal of the Third Class.
Like Zhao Baotong, before participating in the Korean War, the volunteer pilots did not have enough flight time, but they continued to learn on the Korean battlefield with their tenacious will, and they matured rapidly in actual combat and showed superb driving skills. Volunteer pilots joined hands with the Soviet Air Force to make the indomitable American army on the Korean Peninsula.
In the Korean War, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, the combat capability of the Chinese Air Force was improved, which enabled the logistics supply line of the Volunteer Army in the later period to be guaranteed, promoted the victory of the Korean War, and laid the foundation for the development of the Chinese Air Force.