China's Battle for Korea

Xiaobing Li

Description

2015 Best Scholarly Publication Award for Original Research, Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences

Between November 1950 and the end of fighting in June 1953, China launched six major offensives against UN forces in Korea. The most important of these began on April 22, 1951, and was the largest Communist military operation of the war. The UN forces put up a strong defense, prevented the capture of the South Korean capital of Seoul, and finally pushed the Chinese back above the 38th parallel. After China's defeat in this epic five-week battle, Mao Zedong and the Chinese leadership became willing to conclude the war short of total victory. China's Battle for Korea offers new perspectives on Chinese decision making, planning, and execution; the roles of command, political control, and technology; and the interaction between Beijing, Pyongyang, and Moscow, while providing valuable insight into Chinese military doctrine and the reasons for the UN's military success.

List of Illustrations
Note on Transliteration
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: China's War against America
1. Beijing's Decision
2. From the Yalu to Seoul
3. The Last Attempt for Victory
4. The First Step: Three Problems
5. The Costly Offensive in the West
6. The Second Step: the Offensive in the East
7. Disastrous Withdraw to the North
8. From Battleground to Negotiating Table
Conclusion: What China Learned
Selected Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Military
• Korean War

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 28 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253011633
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

China s Battle for Korea
TWENTIETH-CENTURY BATTLES
Edited by Spencer C. Tucker
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The Battle for Manchuria and the Fate of China: Siping, 1946 Harold Tanner
The Battle for Western Europe, Fall 1944: An Operational Assessment John A. Adams
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The Battle of Heligoland Bight Eric W. Osborne
The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action H. P. Willmott
The Battle of the Otranto Straits: Controlling the Gateway to the Adriatic in World War I Paul G. Halpern
Battle of Surigao Strait Anthony P. Tully
The Brusilov Offensive Timothy C. Dowling
D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan Harold J. Goldberg
The Dieppe Raid: The Story of the Disastrous 1942 Expedition Robin Neillands
The Imjin and Kapyong Battles: Korea, 1951 Paul MacKenzie
In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942 Vincent P. O Hara
Midway Inquest: Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway Dallas Woodbury Isom
Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands Michael B. Barrett
Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania Michael B. Barrett
The Second Battle of the Marne Michael S. Neiberg
China s Battle for Korea
The 1951 Spring Offensive
Xiaobing Li
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931
2014 by Xiaobing Li All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Li, Xiaobing, [date]
China s battle for Korea : the 1951 spring offensive / Xiaobing Li.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01157-2 (hardback) - ISBN 978-0-253-01163-3 (e-book) 1. Korean War, 1950-1953-Participation, Chinese. 2. Korean War, 1950-1953-Campaigns. I. Title.
DS 919.5. L 536 2014
951.904 2351-dc23
2013037078
1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15 14
FOR MY PARENTS , Li Weiying and Zhang Xiaoyi
Contents
List of Maps and Charts
Acknowledgments
Introduction: China s War against America
Note on Transliteration
List of Abbreviations
1 Beijing s Decision
2 From the Yalu to Seoul
3 The Last Battle for Victory
4 The First Step: Three Problems
5 The Costly Offensive in the West
6 The Second Step: The Offensive in the East
7 Disastrous Withdrawal to the North
8 From Battleground to Negotiating Table
Conclusion: What China Learned
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Maps and Charts
MAPS
0.1. East Asia
1.1. China and Taiwan
1.2. PLA Deployment, June-October 1950
2.1. The First CPVF Offensive Campaign
2.2. The Second CPVF Offensive Campaign
2.3. The Third CPVF Offensive Campaign
2.4. The Fourth CPVF Offensive Campaign
4.1. Initial attacks of the first step, Spring Offensive, April 22-24, 1951
4.2. Continuing attacks of the first step, Spring Offensive, April 22-26
5.1. CPVF attacks through the first step, Spring Offensive, April 22-28
5.2. Positions of the CPVF attacking forces, April 22-29
6.1. Initial attacks of the second step, Spring Offensive, May 16-17
6.2. Continuing attacks of the second step, Spring Offensive, May 16-19
6.3. CPVF attacks through the second step, Spring Offensive, May 16-21
7.1. UNF attacks, May 23-24
7.2. UNF attacks, May 23-27
7.3. UNF attacks and CPVF withdrawal, May 23-31
7.4. UNF offensive and CPVF defensive lines, May 23-June 10
8.1. The Eighth Army Front Line, October 31, 1952
CHARTS
2.1. The CPVF Chain of Command, November 1950
3.1. The CPVF Chain of Command, April 1951
Acknowledgments
MANY PEOPLE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA (UCO), where I have been teaching since 1993, have contributed to this book and deserve recognition. First, I would like to thank Provost John F. Barthell, Vice Provost Patricia A. LaGrow, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Gary Steward, and Dean of the Jackson College of Graduate Studies Richard Bernard. They have been very supportive of the project over the past twelve years. The faculty merit-credit program sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs, a research grant from the Office of Research and Grants, and a research grant from the College of Liberal Arts at UCO provided funding for my research and student assistants.
I wish to thank my Chinese colleagues and collaborators at the China Academy of Military Science, China Academy of Social Sciences, Military Archives of the People s Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese National Defense University, Peking University, East China Normal University, China Society for Strategy and Management, China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, Logistics College of the PLA, Nanjing Political Academy of the PLA, and provincial academies of social sciences and history museums in Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. They made the many arrangements necessary for me to interview PLA officers and retired generals in 1999-2011. I am grateful to Chen Zhiya, Li Danhui, Niu Jun, Shen Zhihua, Wang Baocun, Wang Po, Yang Kuisong, Yang Shaojun, Zhang Baijia, Zhang Pengfei, and Zhang Tiejiang for their help and advice on my research in China. Thanks also to the staff of the China Reunification Alliance and the Veterans Affairs Commission of the Republic of China (ROC), in Taipei, Taiwan. They provided financial assistance and arranged many interviews for me with former prisoners of war during my several trips to Taiwan in 1996-2010.
Special thanks to Stanley J. Adamiak and Beverly Rorem, who proofread all of the chapters. Chen Jian, David M. Finkelstein, Walter Byung Jung, Steven I. Levine, Allan R. Millett, Richard Peters, David Shambaugh, Harold M. Tanner, Yafeng Xia, Shuguang Zhang, and Xiaoming Zhang made important comments on earlier versions of some chapters that were presented as conference papers. Pat Hoig proofread some of the chapters. Gregory Whitaker re-drew all the maps. Annamaria Martucci provided secretarial assistance. Several graduate students at UCO traveled with me to meet veterans, transcribed the interviews, and read parts of the manuscript. They are Colonel Ming-Hsien Chuang (ROC National Defense University, Chinese Nationalist Army, ret.), Major Phred Evans (U.S. Army, ret.), Technical Sergeant Charles D. Heaverin (U.S. Air Force, ret.), Captain Alex Zheng Xing (PLA, ret.), Haodu Li, Michael Molina, Senior Airman Oliver Pettry (U.S. Air Force), First Lieutenant Jimmy Xiangyao Xu (PLA, ret.), and Kevin Yang.
I also wish to thank Spencer C. Tucker, editor of the Twentieth-Century Battles book series for Indiana University Press, who offered many valuable suggestions and criticisms in the past four years. The press s anonymous readers also provided important suggestions. At the press, Robert J. Sloan, editorial director, patiently guided the production of the book. Any remaining errors of facts, language usage, and interpretation are my own.
During the research and writing over the past twelve years, my parents encouraged my interest in the Korean War and helped me with the contacts, interviews, and translations in China. I dedicate this book to them. My wife, Tran, and our two children, Kevin and Christina, got used to my working weekends and holidays and shared with me the burden of overseas travel. Their understanding and love made this book possible.
Introduction: China s War against America
CHEN FULIANG ( 1931-2008 ) HAD DIED. I GOT THIS GRIEVOUS news when his wife called and canceled our interview. You don t need to come, she said and hung up the phone. I made the trip to the village anyway, leaving the Australian film director and his Korean War documentary crew in Nanjing, the capital of southeastern Jiangsu (Kiangsu) Province. 1
Simple and brief, Chen s funeral was held in Shangzhuang, a small village on Tongkeng Mountain, in Lishui County, Jiangsu. Chen had been born in that same village; he was a peasant, a family man, and a Korean War veteran. Not many villagers attended his funeral on that rainy spring day. No one mentioned his service in the People s Liberation Army (China s combined army, navy, air force, and strategic missile force commonly known as the PLA). 2 I was surprised by his tolerance of unfair treatment and humiliation: some villagers, in their eulogies, commented on how quiet Chen had remained when he was tortured and later mistreated as a bad element for more than twenty years after his repatriation. At that time China did not value its returned prisoners of war because it was the Chinese tradition to fight to the death, rather than be captured by the enemy. He did nothing wrong, his daughter said, choked with tears, as she showed me photos of her father in uniform. 3
In November 1950, at age of nineteen, Chen had gone to Korea as a