Commander of the U.S. Eighth Army Van Fleet (that famous "Van Fleet Ammunition Measure") said, "Personally, the Chinese soldier is a tenacious enemy. They have no bulletproof undershirts, no steel helmets. They wore only uniforms, military hats, and stepped into a pair of canvas shoes. They carried rifles, belted on their hips with two hundred grain bullets. The few poorly made grenades they carried had less than half the explosive power of the American troops. Food was made from rice and miscellaneous grains ground into a powdered form and packed in a long, tubular cloth bag that would last for ten days if necessary.
The Chinese army is poorly equipped with medical equipment, nothing to compare with our medical teams, front-line ambulance stations, and well-established rear hospitals. But they were always forward fighting, defiant, and sometimes even penetrated behind our defenses, leaving us helpless."
Van Fleet Profile:
This man served as the commander of the 8th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division during the Normandy landings of World War II, and was awarded three medals for valor on the first day of the landings.This man was known for his bravery and resourcefulness, and was more similar to Patton, but unlike Patton, Van Fleet was keen to be on the front line and directly in command of the actual battles, and his performance led to a few months' promotion from Colonel-in-Chief to Lieutenant General.
At the time of the Ardennes campaign, he commanded the Third Army, which came directly under Patton's responsibility. The army killed, wounded and captured nearly 110,000 Germans at a cost of less than 16,000 casualties, destroying 470 German tanks and 680 German artillery pieces during the breakthrough battle for the Moselle Line. And at the Battle of Ballatine in February 1945, the Third Army killed, wounded and captured more than 80,000 Germans at a modest cost of 2,100 casualties.