Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Chapter 154 Operation Thunderbolt!

During the following period of time, the Third Battalion also gradually added some soldiers, but the number was very small.

There are only a dozen people assigned to the Seventh Company, and there is nothing we can do about it.

All the troops on the front line need to replenish a large number of troops, but transferring troops from the country is also very difficult.

After the end of the Second Battle, Zhisi originally promised to supplement the Ninth Corps with 40,000 troops. However, due to the shortage of troops in various front-line units, more than a month passed and the Ninth Corps only received a few thousand additional troops.

However, the superiors are also trying to find ways to replenish the troops of each unit as soon as possible.

The newly added troops are basically configured with one veteran and two or three new recruits.

The so-called recruits do not refer to new recruits who have just joined the army. They have all undergone at least several months of training, or even one or two years of training. The reason they are called recruits is that these soldiers have never been on the battlefield and have basically never participated in a battle.

Because at that time, most areas of Northeast China and North China had been liberated for two or three years, and many of the new soldiers recruited during this period had never participated in combat.

Even Li Guotao had been in the army for more than a year, but before coming to the front line, Li Guotao was just a rookie who had never been on the battlefield. He had been training in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for the whole year and had no chance to go to the battlefield. Entering Korea was also Li Guotao's first time to participate in the war.

The veterans were drawn from various units. They had participated in the War of Liberation, and some were even veterans from the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. They are all backbone forces.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the front-line troops, it is naturally necessary to add some such combat backbones.

The delay in the arrival of additional troops made Li Guotao realize that the situation on the front line was not as optimistic as reported in the newspapers.

Since entering North Korea, the Volunteer Army has experienced three large-scale battles. Although it fought fiercely for several months and achieved fruitful results, these troops that participated in the war in the early stage also suffered heavy casualties.

Moreover, due to the difficulties in logistical support, as the front line continued to advance southward, it became increasingly difficult to supply the Volunteer Army.

Therefore, the next round of offensive originally planned by the Volunteer Army was delayed, and it really did not have the strength to launch a new round of offensive.

Therefore, the offensive plan had to be postponed. According to the boss's plan, the new round of attack had to be scheduled for spring, launching a spring offensive.

The purpose was only to wait for the subsequent reinforcements such as the 19th Corps to arrive at the front line before launching a decisive battle with the enemy.

As the highest commander of the coalition forces on the front line, although Ridgway had two grenades hanging on both shoulders every day, with his long face, he looked like a large crotch thing.

But don't judge a book by its cover. This seemingly stupid guy is actually a very shrewd and excellent commander.

After taking office, although he suffered a disastrous defeat in the third battle, this guy did not lose heart. Instead, he continued to sum up his experience and lessons, ready to launch a counterattack at any time.

At a meeting of senior generals convened by Lieutenant General Ridgway, Lieutenant General Ridgway vowed to his generals: "After this period of research, I have found a way to defeat the enemy."

"Since the Chinese entered the war, they have launched three large-scale attacks against us."

"You can take a look at the information in your hands."

At this time, a major general said: "Don't worry, we have been defeated in these three battles. We have retreated again and again. We were almost reaching the Yalu River, but now we have been driven to the vicinity of the 38th parallel."

Lieutenant General Ridgway said: "Yes, we did fail in these three battles." "But I don't want to show you that. You can look at the time of the three battles and how long the large-scale offensive launched by the enemy lasted."

"If you look closely, you will find that their large-scale offensive can only last seven to ten days."

"why?"

"The reason is simple. It's because their logistical support capabilities are insufficient. The food and ammunition they carry can only last for so long at most. When their ammunition and food are exhausted, they will have to stop the attack."

"So my conclusion is that no matter how fierce the enemy's offensive is, it can only last about a week. I call it the 'week offensive'. This is the enemy's weakness."

"Although we did not launch a counterattack during this period, we were not idle. We continued to intensify the bombing of their rear supply lines."

"As the battle line moves southward, the enemy's supply lines become longer and longer, and their logistics supply becomes increasingly difficult."

"This is the enemy's weakness and the key to defeating the enemy."

Li Qiwei paused for a moment, then continued: "And the facts have proved my guess. Due to the difficulties in logistical support, they are no longer able to launch a large-scale offensive, at least in the short term."

"Our reconnaissance found that there were no traces of the enemy's main forces near the contact line between the two sides. This directly proves that they are not prepared to launch an attack in a short period of time."

"We have also carried out Operation Hound in the past few days, which is to send a small group of elite troops deep into the enemy's defense zone to conduct reconnaissance attacks in order to find their main force and test their true line of resistance."

"And the gains from this Hound Operation are also considerable. We have determined that their real line of resistance is near the Han River."

"This also confirms once again that they are now completely in a defensive posture."

"From the previous battle situation, the enemy has won. Despite this victory, the enemy is still on the defensive. This further confirms my previous speculation that they do not have the ability to continue attacking."

"Now is our chance to counterattack. We must take advantage of this opportunity to defeat them completely and avenge our previous defeat."

"As long as we seize this weakness of the enemy, we can not only completely reverse the situation of the battle, but also completely defeat them."

"So I decided that on January 1, the entire army would launch a full-scale general attack on the enemy, and defeat them completely before they were fully prepared, and save the situation."

"I call this operation 'Operation Thunderbolt'!"

It has to be said that this idiot Lieutenant General Ridgway's war command ability is still very strong after he successfully conquered the generals under his command.

The main force of the enemy, under the command of Lieutenant General Ridgway, mobilized its entire army on January 1 and launched a large-scale counterattack against our army.

The fourth battle officially began with the US military's massive counterattack.

And just as Lieutenant General Ridgway guessed, our army was not fully prepared at this moment, so at the beginning of the fourth battle, our army was very passive.

The enemy's offensive was swift and they quickly broke through the buffer zone between the two armies and advanced rapidly to the south bank of the Han River, where they were met with stubborn resistance from our army.

(End of this chapter)