Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Chapter 202: Pick on the weak!
"Counterattack?"

Hearing this word, Van Vleet suddenly became excited and said, "Yes! We still have to counterattack."

"The enemy's offensive has been going on for several days. From what I know about them, such a large-scale offensive will not last long."

"Because their logistics support cannot sustain long-term combat. As long as we continue to persevere, they will eventually be worn down by us, and we can turn defeat into victory."

"We have also learned from the last lesson this time, and we will definitely achieve greater results."

"So I hope that all the troops can hold their respective positions, take the opportunity to delay time, and consume their strength."

"We must never allow such a large-scale rout to happen again."

"Yes sir!"

……

In the next few days, although the volunteers continued to launch attacks, they were unable to make much progress due to the enemy's tight defense.

As the war progressed, these American soldiers had strong learning abilities. They gradually adapted to some of the Volunteer Army's tactics, identified their weaknesses, and developed some corresponding tactics, which made the war even more brutal.

It has become increasingly difficult for the Volunteer Army to defeat the enemy on a large scale and achieve fruitful results as before.

Of course, it is not so easy for the enemy to defeat the reinforcements.

Faced with the current severe situation, Zhisi finally issued an order to temporarily stop the offensive, and the first phase of the offensive in the fifth campaign was basically declared over.

The Volunteer Army's offensive lasted for seven days, from April 4 to April 22, which was what the enemy called the Sunday Offensive.

The reason for stopping the attack was also a helpless move.

Because if they continue to fight, the logistics of the Volunteer Army can no longer be guaranteed. It would be troublesome if they wait until the army is really out of ammunition and food and then stop the attack.

The enemy will inevitably seize the opportunity and launch a large-scale counterattack, just like during the fourth battle, and the volunteers will be forced to retreat.

This time, the Volunteer Army also learned from the lessons of the fourth battle, ended the offensive ahead of schedule, and switched the troops to defense.

During this stage of the battle, the Volunteer Army also achieved fruitful results, annihilating tens of thousands of enemies and pushing the front line southward for dozens of kilometers.

Although the 19th Corps on the Western Front approached Seoul, it did not attack Seoul again.

Because the volunteers had already realized the enemy's conspiracy at this time, Van Fleet now deployed a large number of elite troops around Seoul to lure the volunteers to attack the city.

The Volunteer Army lacked siege weapons, the enemy had air superiority, and its firepower was too strong.

If we attack Seoul by force, it will inevitably cause heavy casualties, and it is unknown whether we can capture Seoul.

Therefore, there is no chance of success at all if we counterattack Seoul now, and it might even lead to a disastrous defeat.

Therefore, Zhisi decisively gave up the plan to attack Seoul and the entire army went on defense.

Van Vleet was also very excited after receiving the news.

"They finally couldn't hold on any longer!"

Lieutenant General Van Fleet said excitedly: "I knew long ago that they wouldn't be able to hold on for long, and the facts have proved my guess."

"Now that they have stopped attacking, it means they have run out of ammunition and food and have no energy to continue attacking."

"And the time for our counterattack has come. We must seize this opportunity and completely defeat the enemy."

"Immediately order all units to concentrate their forces to launch a full-scale counterattack against the enemy and strive to completely defeat the enemy." "Yes sir!"

Under the order of Lieutenant General Van Fleet, the enemy immediately launched a full-scale counterattack.

Under the cover of a large number of aircraft and powerful artillery fire, the enemy successively launched large-scale fortifications along a front line of hundreds of kilometers.

Zhisi ordered all frontline troops to hold their positions and resist the enemy's attack.

In fact, at this moment, the Volunteer Army still had the strength to fight. It was not at all like what Lieutenant General Van Fleet had guessed, that they had run out of ammunition and food and were exhausted.

Therefore, the enemy's counterattack did not achieve the expected effect.

Relying on favorable terrain, the volunteer army tenaciously blocked the enemy's offensive.

Although the enemy took the opportunity to occupy some positions, it was wishful thinking for them to completely defeat the Volunteer Army.

Therefore, the enemy's offensive did not achieve much success due to the tenacious resistance of the volunteers.

After several days of fierce fighting, the enemy's attacking forces suffered heavy losses and their morale gradually declined.

Lieutenant General Van Fleet also realized the problem. If they continued to consume their troops like this, even if they could win, they would inevitably pay a heavy price.

This was definitely not what he wanted to see, so Lieutenant General Van Fleet had no choice but to order a temporary halt to the attack, and the two sides fell into a stalemate.

Lieutenant General Van Fleet and his officers have been studying how to defeat the Volunteer Army.

At this moment, Zhisi was also studying the same problem, how to defeat the enemy on the opposite side.

After a series of discussions, the top management of Zhisi finally reached a consensus.

The U.S. military is extremely powerful, and it is very difficult to defeat them head-on.

The puppet army was relatively easy to defeat. Although they received a lot of support from the US military and were well-equipped, their combat effectiveness was far behind.

Even though the combat effectiveness of the puppet army seems to have improved somewhat over the past few months, it is undoubtedly still the weakest.

Since the puppet army is easy to fight, let's fight them.

Therefore, the leaders of the Zhisi turned their attention to the easternmost part, the eastern coastal area, which was mainly defended by puppet troops. They deployed one of their corps with a strength of nearly 100,000 soldiers.

The tens of thousands of main forces of the friendly Northern Dynasty troops have been in a standoff with them.

If at this time, the Volunteer Army quietly mobilized its main forces, moved to the eastern front, and launched a sudden attack, it would surely achieve good results.

According to the leaders' analysis, with the combat effectiveness of the Volunteer Army, it is entirely possible to defeat the Third Corps of the puppet army, take the opportunity to annihilate a large number of enemies, and open a breakthrough from the east. This will also threaten the safety of the US military from the flank and force the US military to retreat.

After reaching a consensus, the report was immediately submitted and approved by the superiors.

So Zhisi immediately began to adjust the deployment.

The Ninth Corps was ordered to move quietly eastward and cooperate with the friendly Northern Korean Third Corps and Fifth Corps to encircle and annihilate the Third, Fifth, and Ninth Divisions of the puppet army in the county and nearby areas, and then wait for an opportunity to annihilate the Capital Division and the 11th Division of the puppet army.

The remaining troops were responsible for containing the U.S. troops and their adopted troops on the Western Front, cooperating with the main forces on the Eastern Front, annihilating the main forces of the puppet army, and opening up a breakthrough.

According to the order of the Zhisi, all troops must arrive at the designated location and assemble on standby before May 5.

The time for the second phase of the fifth battle is tentatively scheduled for dusk on May 5 or 15.

(End of this chapter)