.Before the 1st Armored Brigade broke through, the second battle that morning also started.

The second infantry division was still the battle, but the 2nd Infantry Brigade, to be precise, the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade after being strengthened.

The Second Infantry Division had a total of three combat brigades, but only the 1st Armored Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Brigade were full. The 3rd Armored Brigade deployed in Fort Lewis, Washington was just a single unit, that is, only officers were usually there, and soldiers were recruited from the National Guard until wartime.

Affected by this, after the Second Infantry Division joined the war, it has been mainly composed of the 1st Armored Brigade and the 2nd Infantry Brigade.

It was in late September, that was, after the first battle, the 3rd Armored Brigade arrived in South Korea. Then, the coalition command dismantled the brigade, the 1st Battalion of the 32nd Armored Regiment was strengthened to the 1st Armored Brigade, and the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Armored Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment were strengthened to the 2nd Infantry Brigade. In order to enhance the mobile combat capabilities of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, the US military upgraded the 1st Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment into mechanized infantry battalions, each supplemented with a tank company.

In this way, the combat effectiveness of the 2nd Infantry Brigade surpassed that of the 1st Armored Brigade.

At that time, the 2nd Infantry Brigade had at least 214 m1a2, as well as more than 300 m2a3 and m3a3, and there were about 80 m109a7 of two battalions. In terms of the size of the troops, the 2nd Infantry Brigade had more than 6,500 people, which was more than a Korean infantry division.

However, the 2nd Infantry Brigade is still a unit that lacks mobility.

It is not that the brigade does not have enough armored forces, but that the brigade does not have enough logistical support capabilities, and the only forward support battalion cannot undertake all support tasks. Therefore, when deploying, the coalition forces had to place the 2nd Infantry Division on the second line of defense and cooperate with the support battalion of the division headquarters.

Before the second battle began, the 2nd Infantry Brigade was deployed in Shaliyuan.

The one who fought with it was the 39th Army that had just arrived from the Eastern Front.

Because from Shariyuan to Pingshan is the second strategic line of defense planned by the coalition forces. If the Third Infantry Division is defeated by the volunteers on the front battlefield, the coalition forces will not be able to defend Pyongyang no matter what, and must take the initiative to retreat. If they want to defend Kaesong, they must establish a line of defense between Pyongyang and Kaesong, which is the main reason why the coalition forces focus on guarding Shariyuan. Affected by this, before the outbreak of the second battle, the coalition forces built a large number of defensive support points from Shariyuan to Pingshan, among which the outermost defensive support point was in Shitan on the east side of Shariyuan.

The battle begins here.

Before this, the vanguard of the 54th Army had arrived at Gushan and controlled the high-level highway from Pyongyang to Wonsan. However, the western end of the highway was still under the control of the coalition forces, so the volunteers could not use this highway. In this way, Shitanli, located in the west of Gushan, became the focus of attack target of the volunteers.

When the 2nd Infantry Brigade arrived, the Korean army in Shitan was struggling to support it.

Strictly speaking, the attack of the 39th Army was not smooth. The main reason was that the 39th Army could not fight, but that Huang Zhibo adjusted the combat plan. According to the original plan, after the 54th Army stayed in Yangde, it would provide logistics support for the 39th Army. At that time, the logistics troops that had previously followed the 54th Army to fight will transport combat supplies to the 39th Army to ensure that the 39th Army can quickly assault westward. After the adjustment, the 54th Army continued to move south, so the logistics support troops followed south, and less than one brigade of troops provided for the 39th Army. Under this influence, the 39th Army could only use one reinforcement brigade's front, leaving the main force behind, and leaving enough troops behind to transport combat supplies.

The result is obvious that when encountering the 2nd Infantry Brigade in Shitanli, the 39th Army had no advantage in force.

The battle in Shitan was not smooth. When the 2nd Infantry Brigade arrived, this small town with a population of less than 5,000 was still under the control of the South Korean army. In addition, there were some North Korean civilians in the town at that time. The 39th Army did not dare to use the 47th Army method to throw mines into the town and prevent the US troops from entering the town.

At around half past ten, the two sides exchanged fire for the first time.

The first battle was normal. The assault troops of the 39th Army launched in time and fought a more formal armored battle with the 2nd Infantry Brigade south of Shitanli. It was just that there was no military advantage, and the US military had enough infantry, and the Volunteer Army failed to stop the US military from advancing towards Shitanli.

Two hours later, the 39th Army attacked Shitanli again.

After receiving reinforcements from the US military, the morale of the South Korean army guarding Shitan was greatly boosted, and the US military's armored mobile forces played a very significant role in defensive operations.

From 15:00 to 2:00 p.m., in 45 minutes, the 39th Army lost 67 main battle tanks on the coalition positions in Shitan. Because it made full use of the favorable terrain in the town, the US military suffered very little losses, and only a few tanks were destroyed by direct fire.

The battle was extremely difficult, and the stone pond became a stumbling block to prevent the volunteer army from advancing.

This situation was obviously beyond Huang Zhibo's expectations, but it just didn't worry him much.

The 47th Army had completed its mission and annihilated the first mobile unit of the coalition forces and was advancing towards Pyongyang. It could reach the outskirts of Pyongyang before dark. Although the 47th Army had become the last of its strength after the battle in Jiangdong, it was difficult to invade Pyongyang as planned, and it was even more impossible to use more than 20,000 officers and soldiers to destroy more than 100,000 Korean troops, the coalition forces no longer had mobile forces north of Shariyuan.

Huang Zhibo was unable to ask the South Korean army to fight mobile warfare in the field with the 47th Army.

In other words, at this time, it doesn’t matter whether the 47th Army can capture Pyongyang in time. As long as it arrives outside Pyongyang in time, the volunteers will firmly grasp the initiative.

As for the battle of the 39th Army in Shitan, it is enough to hold back the 2nd Infantry Brigade.

Affected by this, Huang Zhibo issued an order to the 39th Army at 2:30 pm: minimize combat losses and retain sufficient reserves.

What Huang Zhibo really needs to worry about is the Fourth Infantry Division, which is shrinking towards Shunchuan.

Although from a time perspective, it would be great that the Fourth Infantry Division could complete its contraction on the night of the 17th and advance towards Pyongyang on the morning of the 18th. By this time, the 47th Army had arrived outside Pyongyang. If it was not entangled with the South Korean army, it could fight the Fourth Infantry Division. However, the coalition forces would not let the Fourth Infantry Division break through alone, and would definitely let the South Korean army launch a counterattack at the appropriate time and delay the 47th Army.

With the combat effectiveness of the 47th Army, it must be a bit difficult to deal with two enemies at the same time.

Huang Zhibo had two choices: one is to let the 47th Army turn off attack and defend after arriving outside Pyongyang, use a small amount of troops to deal with the counterattack of the South Korean army, place the main force in the north, and prepare for a decisive battle with the Fourth Infantry Division; the other is to invest in the reserve team in time, strengthen the troops near Pyongyang, and cooperate with the 47th Army to encircle and annihilate the Fourth Infantry Division.

Obviously, the latter is more ideal.

But in the long run, if the Fourth Infantry Division spends too much effort, it will definitely have an impact on the battle between the Second Infantry Division and the Seventh Infantry Division.

If the reserve team was used too early, the subsequent annihilation battle would be impossible.

After deep thought, Huang Zhibo made a choice: to turn the 47th Army into defense on the night of the 17th, and focus on the road from Pyongyang to Shuncheon, use the main force to block the Fourth Infantry Division that broke through Pyongyang, and at the same time prevent the South Korean army from launching a counterattack to the north.

Huang Zhibo's order is very simple: the Fourth Infantry Division must be prevented from entering Pyongyang. As for the South Korean army guarding Pyongyang, you can ignore it.

In other words, if the South Korean army breaks south, the 47th Army can leave it alone.

This order very directly reflects Huang Zhibo's campaign attempt: to annihilate the vitality of the US military and allow the United States to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Volunteer Army without a choice.

You know, at this time, there were only four US military advisors on the Korean battlefield.

If these four US military divisions can be wiped out, even if the US authorities make the decision to increase troops and send two armored divisions that have completed the mobilization, they can only set up defenses on the 38th parallel, and they will not be able to confront the volunteers in North Korea, and that will happen a long time later. Before the US reinforcements arrive, the volunteers have enough time to burn the war into South Korea and force South Korea to surrender first.

In fact, this is exactly the method Huang Zhibo must take to win this war.

As long as the US military is taught a lesson, the Korean army with weak combat effectiveness will not pay attention to it.

However, this afternoon, the focus was still in the stone pond.

According to Huang Zhibo's deployment, the 39th Army reduced the intensity of the offensive. At around four o'clock, as several additional infantry battalions arrived with combat materials, the 39th Army changed its tactics and no longer launched a strong attack, but built a defensive position on the periphery of Shitan.

There is only such a big place in Shitan, and the coalition's defensive positions are less than forty square kilometers.

A circle of defense lines is only more than fifty kilometers away.

With the strength of the coalition forces, defending the enemy in Shitan will definitely cause huge casualties to the volunteers who launched the attack, but it is a bit difficult to break through the enemy in Shitan.

However, the coalition forces did not give up.

In the evening, the Infantry Brigade fought a battle with the 39th Army, which was encircled in the southwest of Shitanli. Although the scale was not very large, the assaulted coalition armored troops were quickly returned by the volunteer tanks that rushed to the scene, but the coalition's actions have proved that the 2nd Infantry Brigade trapped in Shitanli was just a turtle in a jar. If there was no foreign aid, sooner or later the ammunition and food would be exhausted.

The question is, can the 2nd Infantry Brigade receive rescue?

At night, the third battle of the day began, and the coalition forces also used the third mobile unit.
Chapter completed!