[Concurrent] Changjin Lake battlefield reporter Zhang Chongxiu
The general screamed, and the soldiers forgot to suffer, each one a potato, chasing to the end of the sea.
[Explanation] The old man with bright beard and eyebrows in front of me is named Zhang Chongxiu.
At the age of 92, he recalled the war-torn years 71 years ago, and he still vividly remembers it.
Zhang Chongxiu joined the New Fourth Army in the fall of 1942 as a soldier and cultural instructor.
Joined the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in 1950 and served as the head of the photography team of the Political Department of the Ninth Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
As a war correspondent, he used a camera lens to truly record the Battle of Changjin Lake.
Recently, at Zhang Chongxiu's home in Hefei, Anhui, he opened the war photography atlas while telling reporters the story behind the lens.
[Concurrent] Changjin Lake battlefield reporter Zhang Chongxiu
This is why after we entered North Korea, we did not expect that the Korean War was so complicated. At that time, our army only had rifles and grenades, and no other heavy weapons.
We have just received some heavy artillery, and we have not yet reached the front line. Under this situation, we have no other way but to rely on human courage.
[Commentary] According to Zhang Chongxiu's recollection, apart from the roar of artillery on the battlefield and the smoke filled with gunpowder, hunger and severe cold in the war are also the soldiers' biggest enemies.
At that time, North Korea was thirty or forty degrees below zero, and he was lucky enough to find a fur coat while passing through Shanhaiguan, wearing cotton-padded trousers and cotton-padded clothes, to save his life.
As roads and vehicles were destroyed by the U.S. Army, the troops had no food supplies for half a month, and the soldiers had to rely on a potato to feed their hunger every day.
[Concurrent] Changjin Lake battlefield reporter Zhang Chongxiu
At that time, the army had no choice but to eat potatoes, but potatoes buried in the homes of ordinary people.
That potato can be eaten by one person at most one frozen potato a day, I have eaten it all.
The Frozen Potato Force tells you to put it in your waist, and then slowly cover it, cover it and eat it.
[Explanation] Zhang Chongxiu's memory is not only the cold potatoes, but also the frozen skin on the soldiers' feet, like peeled cooked sweet potatoes.
Speaking of that war, Zhang Chongxiu was sometimes impassioned. The three armies of the 9th Corps of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, under difficult and difficult conditions, had a direct confrontation with the world-class weaponry and outstanding combat achievements of the US 10th Army, forcing the US troop to experience. This is the "longest retreat" in history.
In Zhang Chongxiu's view, a strong spirit is the key to victory.
[Concurrent] Changjin Lake battlefield reporter Zhang Chongxiu
No one wants to take a step back, so just like the soldier’s feet are rotten to that extent, his squad leader told him to wash his feet and go to the hospital at the back. He didn’t want to talk, he didn’t want to go down. This kind of spirit, he just doesn't want to go.
After taking it off, I felt my feet peeled like sweet potatoes and cooked sweet potatoes. I felt sad and crying.
[Explanation] US soldiers stepped down from the armored vehicle and surrendered, soldiers rushed to the highway to chase and flee the enemy, the night battle between China and the United States in Changjin Lake...In three years, Zhang Chongxiu took more than 2,000 precious photos in the rain of bullets. The "Victory Meeting" is his most satisfying one.
To take this photo, Zhang Chongxiu walked forty to fifty kilometers alone, and walked for seven or eight hours with iron feet to catch up with the vanguard, and finally recorded a "classic scene."
[Explanation] According to Xu Guo, vice chairman of the Anhui Federation of Literary and Art Circles, recently, the "Experience in Anti-US Aid Korea-Zhang Chongxiu's Battlefield Photography Exhibition" was exhibited in Hechai 1972 Cultural and Creative Park in Hefei, with 58 works on display.
Since the negatives of that year were all sent back to China, some photos were the first time that Elder Zhang Chongxiu himself had been seen.
This is the first time he meets history in the era of peace after 71 years.
[Concurrent] Xu Guo, Chairman of Anhui Photographers Association
The 58 works on display taken by Zhang Chongxiu are full of gunpowder, fresh, and cohesive with the battlefield. It can also be said that the cohesion between the enemy and the enemy.
Because there are some pictures not only of our brave Volunteer soldiers, but also of the American soldiers in a hurry. This is very rare and rare to see.
It is the 71st anniversary of the victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. It is very meaningful to review this history now.
Zhang Jun and Chu Weiwei report from Hefei, Anhui
Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]