"Siege" Operation Frustrated

President Kim Il Sung was the greatest military thinker, the iron-willed commander endowed with matchless courage and grit and the outstanding military strategist who created the Juche-oriented military strategy, tactics and method.

During the years of anti-Japanese armed struggle, the President achieved victory after victory, pushing the enemy into a position of passive defensive with his excellent strategy and tactics.

The great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il said.

"He was not only an outstanding theoretician, a great statesman and an iron-willed commander but also strongest in faith, will and courage."

The anti-Japanese armed struggle led by President Kim Il Sung was a great bloody war against the one-million strong army of Japan equipped with modern military hardware under very arduous and difficult circumstances and conditions where there was no solid home front or flank support.

He turned adversities into favorable situations by means of offensive tactics with strong conviction and courage even in the siege of the incomparably superior enemy.

One day in March, 1937, while making an expedition into FuSong, the main force of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army led by the President encountered thousands of enemy troops in the forest of XiaoTangHua. Having been dealt a telling blow once in the battle, the enemy further reinforced their troops to form the siege and attempted to defeat the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in the valley of XiaoTangHua.

When it got dark, a sea of campfires were built by the Japanese troops in the valley of XiaoTangHua.

Officers and soldiers of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army became tense at the thought of another battle to break through the enemy's siege.

However, President Kim Il Sung, with his calm face, looked out on the enemy's position and told the orderlies to call the officers for a meeting.

The officers immediately gathered and asked the President to prepare for the do-or-die battle as there assembled thousands of the enemy.

It was unimaginable in common sense to break through the siege without fighting against the enemy.

He said to the officers who were making a grim resolve that the great task of advancing into the homeland was waiting for them and they should preserve their forces to the maximum and get to the fatherland without fail, so they should come up with the way to break through the siege.

At that moment he was thinking out the plan of victory with an insight into the enemy's weak point. The information about the enemy's movements, including troop strength, deployment, tactical attempt and weak point, was already in his hands, which was provided directly by a sea of campfires, the "map of campfires".

Later, the President recalled the day, saying that the enemies themselves revealed how many they were and how to defeat the Korean People's Revolutionary Army by building a sea of campfires in the valley of XiaoTangHua, which was their carelessness like operation documents being stolen.

It was the result of the "map of campfires" fathomed only by President Kim Il Sung who was endowed with brilliant intelligence and iron-willed courage and grit.

He said to the officers that they should leave the forest zone of XiaoTangHua for the populated area and that it was his decision to get to the populated area and march along the main road towards TongGang.

The officers were surprised at the word "main road", which gave rise to serious concern among them because they thought it might be too risky attempt. The reason was that the enemy might stand a guard over the main road or leave some of their troops at the rear.

He explained to them that the enemy assembled thousands of troops there, which meant they collected not only army and police but also self-defence corps around FuSong as well as XiaoTangHua, with no armed forces leaving in the immediate vicinity of villages and roads. He added that the enemy paid attention only to the forest zone, not imagining the guerrillas could escape along the main road, so that they should quickly move to the TongGang camp by making use of their weakness.

According to his order, the main force of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army slipped out of the enemy's "siege" towards the main road, avoiding the campfires.

The tactics of marching towards the populated area by making use of the enemy's weakness-this was the operational plan worked out only by President Kim Il Sung who broke through the created difficulties with the outstanding military stratagem and the matchless courage and grit, always taking the initiative in any adversity.

In this way, the legendary stories about the Korean People's Revolutionary Army that spread among Koreans during the years of anti-Japanese armed struggle showed the far-sighted acumen and the distinguished leadership of President Kim Il Sung.