Chapter 217

The rise of the flare made the two sides face each other, with nowhere to hide.

Abruptly erupting, the battlefield instantly turned into a meat grinder.

At close range, facing the U. S. Federation's machine gun fire, the Volunteer Army soldiers threw grenades one after another, wanting to break through the U. S. Federation's circular fortifications.

But just after throwing the grenades, they were swept down by gunfire.

And the outermost circle of the U. S. Federation side was composed entirely of tanks and armored defensive fortifications; under the explosion of grenades landing nearby, they couldn't even destroy the exterior of the armor.

Countless Volunteer Army soldiers fell on the road of charging, desperately throwing grenades.

The Volunteer Army in the rear provided firepower cover.

But without the blessing of artillery, even if machine gun bullets swept over, hitting the U. S. Federation's armor and tanks, it only sparked a burst of sparks.

The Volunteer Army soldiers charging at the very front wanted to use their lives to open a path.

Grenade after grenade flew toward the U. S. Federation's positions.

The sound of explosions was successive, but what was desperate was that they could never break through the U. S. Federation's armored tanks; the power of the grenades was too small, and only a few grenades were slightly further away.

Flew into the gaps between the U. S. Federation's tanks and armor, but did not detonate the tanks.

Only a few screams from U. S. Federation soldiers, with no effect.

The effect of the flare only lasted for 30 seconds.

But it was these 30 seconds that caused most of the casualties to the charging Volunteer Army soldiers.

Following the extinguishing of the flare.

The Volunteer Army soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, taking advantage of the pitch-black night to quickly approach and close in on the U. S. Federation's defensive fortifications.

But just a moment later.

Whoosh— A flare rose again.

The battlefield was once again as bright as day.

The fighting in Chipyeong-ri was difficult, beyond the imagination of Blue Star netizens.

Including the soldiers of the Daxia Federation's 7th Special Operations Brigade, although they had previously heard Chief of Staff Qu Guang talk about the importance of Chipyeong-ri, this variable of the U. S. Federation not retreating might become the key point of the "Fourth Campaign."

But no one expected the fighting to be so intense to this extent.

Because the artillery battalion was bombed by the U. S. Federation, the Volunteer Army soldiers could only launch a desperate charge toward that basin of only 2.3 kilometers.

But the U. S. Federation compressed all armor and tanks into a steel base; was it so easy to break through?

It was completely filling it with lives.

And when the Volunteer Army desperately charged to the front.

Boom—!

One landmine after another was triggered.

Raising the difficulty of the breakthrough by several levels.

After a night of fierce fighting.

The Volunteer Army suffered heavy casualties, but only broke through one of the U. S. Federation's positions.

And with the arrival of dawn.

Hundreds of bomber sorties arrived, starting to bomb the big mountains surrounding Chipyeong-ri.

The Volunteer Army was forced to switch to hidden defense.

And that broken-through position was also taken advantage of by the U. S. Federation to recover.

Not only that.

The U. S. Federation troops in the center of Chipyeong-ri, the howitzer group at the core, also began to exert force, batch after batch of shells, starting from the morning to bomb the surrounding big mountains.

Bombing until dark.

Some Blue Star players counted that just the number of shells fired by the howitzer group during the day was no less than 15,000.

This was only from a partial perspective.

If they had the full perspective, the counted number might be even more.

However.

The fighting in Chipyeong-ri had just begun.

On the first night, due to the hasty offensive, only two regiments arrived at the scheduled positions to attack; with the arrival of the second night, the Volunteer Army already had the strength of six regiments concentrated around Chipyeong-ri.

A more tragic position battle began.

The U. S. Federation's flare after flare rose into the sky, turning the Volunteer Army's night raid into a daylight charge.

The offensive of six regiments.

Could never break through that position in the center of Chipyeong-ri, which was only 1.6 kilometers.

At this moment.

Blue Star players truly perceived the gap brought by firepower equipment.

No way.

It was just that realistic.

The factor affecting the battle was just one artillery battalion.

If the Volunteer Army had a complete artillery battalion here, bombing the center of the basin.

The battle would never be as difficult as this.

But it just so happened that the Volunteer Army's artillery battalion was bombed by the U. S. Federation, which led to only being able to use infantry to attack.

And this was also the first time the U. S. Federation regained confidence in firepower.

The U. S. Federation's flares went off every five minutes, never stopping.

Another night of tragic fighting.

And when day came.

It was the U. S. Federation's home field again.

Bombers flew over round after round to bomb, and it wasn't just the planes on the peninsula; the U. S. Federation also mobilized all the planes from the U. S. Federation bases in Japan.

Even the Blue Star players who had experienced the 【Battle of Britain】 had never seen such a scene.

Hundreds of plane sorties.

Concentrated on bombing the big mountains surrounding Chipyeong-ri, the density far exceeding imagination.

Not only that.

The fighting in Chipyeong-ri also let other U. S. Federation units know the information.

And it was just as Qu Guang had analyzed before.

Once the Volunteer Army was stopped in Chipyeong-ri, or did not break through Chipyeong-ri, then the surrounding U. S. Federation troops would get the news and have time to adjust.

Just like it was now.

After two days of fierce attacks without taking Chipyeong-ri, the U. S. Federation troops, who had already reacted, sent 30 tanks to support Chipyeong-ri.

And the reinforcements of the Southern puppet army's 6th Division and the British Commonwealth's 27th Brigade from the direction of Yeoju also approached Chipyeong-ri.

The Volunteer Army was caught in a pincer attack.

Not only that.

Blue Star netizens, after watching the streamer perspective of the Volunteer Army identity, found that the situation was even more severe.

After the fierce fighting of the Hengcheng counterattack, the 8 regiments of the Volunteer Army that rushed to Chipyeong-ri without stopping, after two days and two nights of fighting, were completely exhausted of ammunition and food.

Yes.

It was literally exhausted of ammunition and food.

The grenades were thrown out, the bullets were fired, and the dry rations were only enough for one meal.

Now facing the U. S. Federation troops in the center of Chipyeong-ri.

Even if they wanted to attack, there was no way.

Rifles without bullets could only be used as sticks, while most of the tanks of the U. S. Federation troops in the center of the Chipyeong-ri basin were still intact.

In two days, even the flares hadn't been used up.

Dare not think about how much ammunition reserve the U. S. Federation in the center of Chipyeong-ri had.

Coupled with the U. S. Federation's support about to arrive.

Facing the situation of being caught in a pincer attack.

The Volunteer Army besieging Chipyeong-ri finally chose to retreat at dusk on the third day.

Daxia Federation, 7th Special Operations Brigade.

In the lounge.

Watching the gradually retreating Volunteer Army troops, the soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade in the lounge all sighed; there was really no way to fight.

The bullets were all fired; they couldn't just charge with rifles.

It was better to preserve their effective strength.

It was just that after retreating like this, the situation of the "Fourth Campaign" was not very certain.

Qu Guang was also in the lounge, frowning and sighing:

"It won't be easy to fight next."

The soldiers below all looked expectantly, and Qu Guang also brought up the "real-time map" and explained:

"The Chipyeong-ri battle didn't take out the U. S. forces there, so the Volunteer Army troops on the Eastern Front can no longer head to the Western Front to cut off the retreat of the U. S. Federation troops on the Western Front."

"The entire Eastern Front battlefield will shift from an offensive to a defensive state."

"Similarly."

"The reason the Volunteer Army on the Western Front held on for so long was to cooperate with the surprise attack on the Eastern Front."

"But now the Eastern Front cannot break through, so the defense on the Western Front doesn't need to continue."

"The 50th Corps and 38th Corps on the Western Front are almost wiped out."

"The Volunteer Army on the Eastern Front will retreat to the north, and the Volunteer Army on the Western Front will also retreat to the north, crossing the Hanjiang."

"But these are not the most important."

"The most important thing is that the battle of Chipyeong-ri exposed the Volunteer Army's shortcomings in attacking fortified positions."

"The U. S. Federation's next moves should be targeted adjustments and strikes against the Volunteer Army's shortcomings in attacking fortified positions."

Qu Guang said with a frown, looking at the map and sighing.

Ridgway, who was newly transferred by the U. S. Federation, was indeed different from MacArthur.

From the "magnetic tactic" at the beginning of the campaign to test the Volunteer Army's night march limit, letting the U. S. Federation troops maintain a distance of 20-30 kilometers to hang onto the Volunteer Army.

To the situation where the Eastern Front battlefield was completely defeated by the Volunteer Army's infiltration tactics, the U. S. Federation troops in Chipyeong-ri, from the division commander to the corps commander, all thought they should retreat.

But the retreat order was beaten back by Ridgway, this U. S. Federation commander.

And he also gave the order to hold Chipyeong-ri to the death.

He didn't hesitate to mobilize planes from the U. S. military base in Japan across the Pacific to support Chipyeong-ri.

His keenness to the battlefield was evident.

Especially since he held Chipyeong-ri, exposing the Volunteer Army's insufficient ability to attack fortified positions, which had been covered up by victory in the first three campaigns.

One can imagine.

After Chipyeong-ri was held this time.

Subsequent U. S. Federation troops, even if only one soldier remained, would hold their positions.

Instead of retreating like in the first three campaigns once they found it impossible.

Because there was a successful case.

Then subsequent U. S. Federation troops would inevitably think, maybe they could hold on too?

The battle of Chipyeong-ri caused the Volunteer Army on the Eastern Front and Western Front to retreat north.

Perhaps there is a saying about destiny.

At the beginning of the "Fourth Campaign," the night before the Volunteer Army crossed the Hanjiang, the Hanjiang froze.

And when they retreated, the day after the 38th Corps collectively crossed the Hanjiang, the frozen Hanjiang thawed.

Giving the Volunteer Army a short rest period.

Similarly, because of this retreat, after the Volunteer Army retreated north of the Hanjiang, they began mobile defense and elastic defense.

That is, facing the U. S. Federation troops' fierce attacks and bombing during the day, they actively retreated.

Counterattacking at night, regaining positions, and repeatedly pulling with the U. S. Federation at one location.

The U. S. Federation's firepower was indeed powerful.

But facing this kind of small-scale counterattack across the entire front line by the Volunteer Army, they were also tortured with no way out.

And the U. S. Federation, under Ridgway's order, launched "Operation Killer," the purpose of which was to quickly level the uneven front lines on the east and west sides.

And continue to advance north.

After half a month of firepower strikes, advancing only a few hundred meters a day.

The U. S. Federation finally leveled the uneven front line on the Eastern Front battlefield.

And launched "Operation Ripper" without stopping.

This tactic, designated by Ridgway, was a full-scale offensive, with tank clusters as the core to break through the central front line.

And a counter-encirclement tactic toward Hancheng on the Western Front battlefield.

But in front of the Volunteer Army, which had adjusted for half a month, the effect didn't seem as great as imagined.

Although the tank clusters concentrated on breaking through, they could only advance 3 kilometers per day.

Because the Volunteer Army during the day, after counterattacking, would retreat before the U. S. Federation arrived.

The positions were covered with landmines, leaving anti-tank teams to intercept the armored troops.

Facing the anti-tank teams, the U. S. Federation's armored troops needed half a day every time they stopped and restarted, not to mention that after occupying the position, there were landmines everywhere.

And at night.

The Volunteer Army that retreated during the day would return to harass the positions occupied during the day, repeatedly competing with the U. S. Federation troops.

The Volunteer Army's "night raid, day hiding" + "segmented interception."

Made the core tank and armored clusters of this "Operation Ripper," which sounded very powerful, advance no more than 2 kilometers per day on average.

At this moment.

The U. S. Federation troops had approached the 38th parallel, and regarding the sensitive issue of whether to cross the 38th parallel, neither the military nor the U. S. Federation officials dared to make a decision easily.

Because this was not a simple war.

But a war with strong political implications.

Crossing the 38th parallel required considering the reactions of all parties; with the current advantage of counterattacking, one had to consider whether crossing the 38th parallel would anger the Volunteer Army side.

Causing them to fight to the death.

One also had to consider whether, once crossing the 38th parallel, with the U. S. Federation now having a slight advantage, it would provoke the Soviet Union behind them to take action.

Because the peninsula here was originally bounded by the 38th parallel.

Pushed by the Soviet Union and the U. S. Federation from behind respectively.

So after crossing the Hanjiang and occupying Hancheng.

Whether to fight across the 38th parallel or stop and adjust, the U. S. Federation side discussed endlessly.

No one dared to make a decision easily.

However...

There was one person who really dared.

That was the Commander-in-Chief of the UN forces, MacArthur.

When both the military and officials had headaches.

MacArthur mentioned more than once that they should fight across the 38th parallel and set up a radioactive zone between the Yalu River and the peninsula to cut off the 【Republic】's supplies.

How to set up the 【radioactive zone】, there was no doubt.

But no one would listen to this crazy proposal.

If he really dared to throw that thing.

It would give the Soviet Union an excuse.

And in terms of the Volunteer Army's fighting will, if he really threw that thing, they would also dare to charge over and fight the U. S. Federation troops.

In this situation, it wouldn't just be the Volunteer Army that suffered.

They would also be implicated.

MacArthur's remarks were too extreme, leading to the U. S. Federation not even discussing whether to fight across the 38th parallel yet.

Before MacArthur was stripped of everything.

MacArthur's position as Commander-in-Chief was directly removed, and Ridgway, who led the U. S. Federation to victory in the "Fourth Campaign," took over as Commander-in-Chief.

And the 8th Army, where Ridgway was originally, also welcomed a new field army commander.

Van Fleet.

Many Blue Star players were not familiar with this name, but some Blue Star players who often experienced the 【Normandy Landing】 battlefield knew it.

During World War II, Van Fleet, who was still a colonel, commanded troops to land in Normandy.

The troops he commanded became the fastest landing and lowest loss troops among several beaches.

And subsequently participated in the Rhineland offensive, deep into the Empire's mainland, and was promoted from colonel to corps commander in just 100 days through combat merits.

And now it had only been 6 years since the end of World War II.

Such a general in his prime, plus a shrewd new Commander-in-Chief of the UN forces, was not good news for the Volunteer Army.