Global tour of Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Victory by surprise" in resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea

Global tour of Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Victory by surprise" in resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea The Yalu River Bridge spans the border between China and North Korea. It is a historical monument that has gone through the war to resist the United States and aid Korea...

The Yalu River Bridge spans the border between China and North Korea. It is a historical monument. It has been baptized by the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. Today, you can still clearly see the many bullet marks and remaining bullet holes on the iron frame of the bridge. There is also a broken bridge on the side that was bombed many times by U.S. military aircraft. Only half of it is left. Only a few bare bridge piers are left on the North Korean side. In 1950, 350,000 volunteers quietly crossed the Yalu River from this bridge and headed for the Korean battlefield. However, the United Nations reconnaissance planes flying in the sky and advanced electronic reconnaissance on the ground found no trace of the Chinese army. The Americans did not detect such a large-scale troop mobilization. China had already warned the United States in advance that it was going to send troops, and warned many times, but Truman and MacArthur did not believe it. MacArthur asserted that the war of aggression against Korea "is certain to be won" and that the possibility of China sending troops to participate in the war is "very small" and "not enough to cause trouble." Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai attached great importance to studying MacArthur's character and combat characteristics. Mao Zedong said that the more arrogant, conceited, and overachieving MacArthur is, the more beneficial it will be to us. "Soldiers are deceitful." China took full advantage of the arrogance and disbelief of the United States, taking it by surprise and taking advantage of it by secretly sending troops to North Korea. In a telegram to Peng Dehuai and Gao Gang, Mao Zedong clarified the combat policy for this battle. In the telegram, he stated that we must "take advantage of the suddenness that the enemy did not expect at all." Facts have proved that this policy became the key to the Volunteer Army's victory in the first battle and was an irreplaceable trick. Military strategists from the United States, Britain and other countries called this move "a miracle in the history of contemporary warfare." Mao Zedong even made clear and detailed requirements for combat reports. He instructed Peng Dehuai on November 5: "In order to confuse the enemy, it is still not appropriate to publish the battle report in the name of the Joint Command, but should publish the battle report in the name of the People's Army General Headquarters." "In the current few months, it's all talk, no action." Mao Zedong called various central bureaus to explain the matter and said that we would send troops secretly. The volunteers participated in the war for more than ten days and did not publish any news in newspapers. It was not until the major victory was achieved in the second battle that the Korean War situation was fundamentally reversed. On December 5, China officially announced the designation of the "Chinese People's Volunteers" and the news of sending troops to fight. The Volunteer Army headquarters judged that once the war started, the US military would send bombers to blow up the Yalu River Bridge and block the Volunteer Army's backup. Therefore, it was decided to divide the 15 divisions of the 4 corps into two left and right divisions to cross the river at the same time. Three artillery divisions were inserted into the left and right divisions to cross the river with the infantry. Peng Dehuai said that the art of war emphasizes attacking the enemy unprepared and surprising the enemy. If we can keep the secret of our army's crossing the river, we will be half sure of winning in the beginning. This "suddenness" became the main factor in the failure of the first battle between the United Nations Army and the Volunteer Army. As Marshall, the then U.S. Secretary of Defense, said: "We thought we knew everything, but in fact we knew nothing. But the other side knew everything, and so the war began." This is also an important reason why Americans have been feeling frustrated afterwards. Why don't they listen to the Chinese?