.In modern warfare, passive defense can never win.

In order to defend the long front, the Fourth Infantry Division had to disperse its troops across the entire front. Because the Marines had proved that the centralized deployment of artillery was not very meaningful, when deploying defensive positions, the Fourth Infantry Division could only disperse a limited number of artillery troops on several positions.

The decentralized deployment of artillery forces has caused the US military to lose its last means of firepower strike.

Faced with the armored torrent of the 54th Army, the Fourth Infantry Division was in a very difficult situation. On the morning of that day, the most important thing the US commander did was to contact the front-line combat troops as much as possible, and then add forces to the breakthrough of the 54th Army.

Because the orders are not conveyed in time, it is difficult for the US military to organize large-scale counterattacks.

According to the combat report of the 54th Army, on the morning of the 15th, the US military organized more than ten counterattacks, or more than ten encounters. Each time it was not large in scale, and the US military rarely had more than one battalion, and the vanguard of the 54th Army was a reorganized armored division.

These encounters did not seriously affect the 54th Army's assault operations.

On the contrary, because the US military would organize counter-assaults long ago, the 54th Army strengthened its vanguard strength and arranged two artillery battalions for the assault troops. Therefore, in the encounter, the US military not only did not take advantage, but suffered a great loss, and all counter-assaults were defeated.

To the east of Tokugawa, the battle in Ningyuan Town is the most telling.

At that time, there was only one US infantry company stationed in Ningyuan, and there was also a Korean army with a force equivalent to one battalion. There were only four m1a2 main battle tanks and six m2a3 infantry fighting vehicles in total, and there was also an artillery platoon equipped with 82 mm mortars.

Before the 54th Army came, the US military sent an enhanced infantry battalion to Ningyuan.

According to the US military's battle report, the battalion has three mechanized infantry companies, one armored company and one artillery company. In addition, it has been strengthened by a tank company and a self-propelled artillery company. It has a total of eighteen m1a2 main battle tanks, thirty-two m2a3 infantry fighting vehicles, twelve m109a7 self-propelled artillery, and more than 30 armored personnel transport vehicles, as well as twelve self-propelled mortar vehicles.

According to the Marine Corps' standards, the battalion's combat effectiveness is absolutely not bad.

In Ningyuan, the US military has also built a relatively complete defensive position. Relying on the position, the US military is fully capable of blocking the progress of the 54th Army.

Unfortunately, the US reinforcements did not arrive in time.

The Fifty-Fourth Army arrived only fifteen minutes earlier than the US Army!

Before the encounter began, the US military did only one right thing: let the armored forces unfold.

Unfortunately, facing more than ten times the enemy, the US military has no chance to win at all.

At that time, the Fifty-fourth Army invested at least three battalions, one of which was the standard tank battalion.

There is no suspense to use hundreds of 99-type and 96-type to deal with eighteen m1a2s. Because of the huge gap in strength, most US tanks have to face more than three tanks, and even one m1a2 is hit by six armor-piercing bombs at the same time, while the US tanks’ counterattack under heavy pressure is very weak. According to the battle report of the Fifty-Fourth Army, only one 99-type and three 96-type tests were hit by armor-piercing bombs, and one 96-type was accidentally injured by friendly forces. Three of the four tanks were subsequently repaired and re-entered the battle that night.

After less than half an hour of armored attack, the US reinforcements were less than 500 meters away from Ningyuan's coalition positions. When the coalition guarding Ningyuan saw that the reinforcements were defeated, they immediately lost their fighting spirit. The South Korean army first surrendered to the volunteers who had turned back, and then the US military also laid down their weapons.

It was not until the afternoon that the US military organized the first large-scale counterattack.

The battle took place in Changsuri, southeast of Tokugawa, which is less than 80 kilometers away from Pyongyang, and is the weakest place on the defense line of the Fourth Infantry Division.

It must be admitted that US military commanders do not lack talent.

After discovering that the Volunteer Army launched an attack, the commander of the Fourth Infantry Division realized that Changsukeri would be the only way for the Volunteer Army to go south. If the Volunteer Army was allowed to capture Changsukeri, they could march south to Kaicheng, and they could attack Pyongyang in the west, and they could also surround Tokugawa and Shunchuan.

While organizing tactical counterattacks, the US commander sent three battalions of troops to Changsuri in one breath.

Perhaps this little force was nothing, but the 4th Infantry Division could find only these three battalions.

Crucially, one of them is equipped with thirty-eight m1a2 main battle tanks, and the other two mechanized infantry battalions also have twelve main battle tanks each.

In other words, the Fourth Infantry Division gathered 62 main battle tanks in Changsui, whose residents were less than 5,000.

When they reached Changjieri, the assault forces of the 54th Army had only about four battalions left, with less than seventy main battle tanks.

Judging from the strength of the troops, both sides are equally matched.

However, the highlight of this battle is not the tanks of both sides, but the wheeled armored combat vehicles of both sides.

It can be said that this is also the first armored battle after World War II, with wheeled armored vehicles singing the protagonist.

At that time, there were about 90 wheeled armored combat vehicles among the three battalions of the US military, mainly "Strick", one-third of which were "infantry fighting vehicles" equipped with machine guns and anti-tank missiles. There were about 100 wheeled armored combat vehicles in the assault units of the 54th Army, but half were equipped with 100 sliding self-propelled assault guns, or wheeled self-propelled anti-tank combat vehicles.

This configuration method is enough to show that both sides attach great importance to the anti-tank capabilities of wheeled vehicles.

The US military is very easy to understand. The battle on the Eastern Front battlefield has made the US military realize that tanks are still the protagonists of land warfare, and it is crucial to improve the anti-tank capabilities of the troops. During the short truce, the US military used strategic airlift forces to transport a large number of anti-tank weapons to the front line and made comprehensive improvements to the combat vehicles in their hands, mainly to equip a large number of anti-tank missiles to a large number of combat vehicles that do not have anti-tank capabilities.

Obviously, there is no way.

In the environment of electromagnetic warfare, the combat effectiveness of anti-tank missiles is almost zero. On the Eastern Front battlefield, many infantry fighting vehicles of the US Marine Corps and South Korean troops were unable to use anti-tank missiles. Instead, they were equipped on frontier positions and were used as direct firepower to exert great power.

If possible, the US military will definitely install large-caliber anti-tank guns for wheeled combat vehicles.

Unfortunately, it is obviously impossible to do it in just a few days.

Although the US Army has increased its procurement of anti-tank assault guns, and more than half of the newly produced "Strick" tanks are equipped with assault guns, when the second battle started, the US military's assault guns were very limited, and the main ones sent to South Korea were provided to the Second Infantry Division to supplement the armored forces lost in previous battles. The Fourth Infantry Division did not get a single assault gun.

Compared with the US military, the advantages of the Fifty-fourth Army are very obvious.

As a light armored force, the 54th Army did not have many main battle tanks, so when building wheeled armored forces, they attached great importance to anti-tank capabilities. Although it is difficult for a hundred skating to penetrate m1a2 from the front in actual combat, as long as the maneuver is in place, it is no problem to penetrate m1a2's side armor to deal with infantry fighting vehicles such as m2a3, as well as the fixed defense fortifications of the coalition forces.

At that time, the rugged terrain was the difficult terrain that made it difficult for both sides to exert.

Changjieli is located in the heart of the Central Mountains. The town is in a mountain valley with an area of ​​less than two square kilometers. Therefore, it is difficult for both defenders and attackers to deploy tanks, and it is even more difficult for tanks to fight in rugged mountains. Wheeled armored vehicles are lighter and have better mobility on mountain roads, so they have become the first choice for both sides and the main force of the armored assault forces.

More importantly, the US military did not defend passively, but instead fought a battle with the volunteers.

This is also a helpless choice.

Before this, the Changjielili front line was more than 50 kilometers, and it was 30 kilometers away from the 65th Army in the east. With the barriers from the mountainous areas, the coalition forces did not deploy heavy troops here, and even did not build a complete defensive position. After the Volunteer Army arrived in just a few hours, the US military had no choice but to try to use the rugged terrain outside the town to defeat the Volunteer Army's assault troops outside the town.

The fierce battle was fought from 2pm until dark.

Because neither side prepared night combat equipment, or the night combat equipment was damaged in the electromagnetic warfare, the 54th Army temporarily stopped the attack and the US military also retreated to Changjieri.

Subsequently, the US military used strategic transport aircraft to airdrop a batch of military supplies to Changjieli.

Although the US military's transport aircraft entered the gap between electromagnetic warfare, the entire airdrop operation lasted only ten minutes and was withdrawn before the rocket equipped with electromagnetic warheads fell, the US military did not obtain the electronic equipment they wanted. After the 54th Army launched another attack, it continued to electromagnetically suppress the US military.

When they reached Changjieri, the Fifty-fourth Army had advanced about sixty kilometers.

This evening was crucial. After the capture of Changsuri, the 54th Army made a breakthrough on the coalition's defense line. The Fourth Infantry Division either retreated in full or waited on the front line to be surrounded and annihilated by the volunteers. However, the most important battle this evening was not in Changsuri, but on the front of the coalition's defense line.

During the day, only the Fifty-fourth Army was performing, and the other armies remained silent.

It was only after dark that Huang Zhibo issued an order to the 24th Army, which was responsible for the frontal attack. The firepower preparations began at 7:45 and lasted until 8:40.

Within fifty-five minutes, the independent artillery brigade of the 24th Army and the two artillery brigades drawn from the 47th and 13th Army poured nearly 10,000 tons of artillery shells into the defensive positions of the US Third Infantry Division, and the cover fire strike was repeated three times.
Chapter completed!