After entering the peninsula, Li Qiufan's First Corps successively annihilated the 3rd Infantry Division and the 24th Infantry Division of the Beautiful Country, the 3rd, 7th, and 8th Divisions of the First Army of the Southern Dynasties, as well as the 29th Eagle Brigade and A country traveler.
In addition, they severely damaged the Capital Division of the Southern Dynasties, crippled the First and Sixth Divisions of the Southern Dynasties, and cooperated with other troops to annihilate the Second Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division of the Beautiful Country.
Now the First Corps can be said to have entered the death list of the commander of the beautiful country, and has also become a nightmare for all beautiful country troops and joint forces.
On the other side, after the American troops and the coalition forces suffered heavy losses in the Imjin River battle, a major debate began in the beautiful country on the strategic issue of retreat or defense in the Peninsula War.
The final result of the discussion was to insist on not withdrawing from the peninsula. Subsequently, in order to restore the previous defeat, the beautiful country decided to take advantage of the rest of the two armies to send additional troops, tanks and field artillery to the peninsula from the country.
With this increase in troops, the beautiful country rebuilt the annihilated 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Division and 25th Infantry Division, and also transported a large number of tanks and heavy artillery.
After the troops and firepower were replenished, the commander of the beautiful country sent a reinforced regiment to conduct a tentative attack on the volunteer army's defense line on the western front of the Hanjiang River.
The west line of the Hanjiang River was where Li Qiufan's first corps was located. Regarding the enemy's probing attack, Li Qiufan directly ordered the troops to ignore it, and the opponent would not show up unless they charged.
As Li Qiufan's order was issued, no matter how the enemy fired and fired artillery, the First Army and the Fourth Army ignored them, which made the commander of the beautiful country very angry.
At this time, both the Volunteer Army Headquarters and the Northern Dynasty senior officials decided to take a good rest, and planned to launch a spring offensive around March.
However, the American commanders tried several times to no avail. In addition, they also discovered that the volunteers' logistics supplies were seriously insufficient and therefore lacked the ability to carry out long-term operations, so they decided to launch a major counterattack.
Moreover, this time the commander of the attack on the beautiful country no longer adopted the previous combat plan of rushing forward with troops, but changed to a strategy of moving closer to each other and advancing hand in hand.
After Li Qiufan discovered that the enemy troops were coming towards their defense line, he immediately reported to the Volunteer Army Headquarters and then ordered the troops to prepare for battle.
At this time, the Volunteer Army Headquarters was located in Junzili, and a combat experience summary meeting was being held.
After receiving Li Qiufan's report, the Volunteer Army Command immediately ordered the troops to stop resting and recuperating immediately and switch to defense on the spot.
No one expected that the enemy's counterattack would come so quickly. At this time, all the troops were very tired after repeated battles.
At this time, the Military Commission newly assigned two corps to fight in the peninsula. The 19th Corps was still replacing Soviet-style weapons in the northeast, and the other 3rd Corps had not yet left Sichuan, so it could only defend with the existing troops.
Then the Volunteer Army Headquarters held an emergency pre-war meeting, and then sent a telegram to Li Qiufan.
Li Qiufan was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, responsible for commanding the First Army and the Fourth Army of the First Corps, as well as the mountain division and armored division.
In addition, the 38th Army and the First Army of the Northern Dynasty People's Army are heading to the Western Front, also under the command of Li Qiufan.
Li Qiufan's task is to withstand the pressure head-on, contain the enemy's main force and wait for the Eastern Front to open up.
The beautiful country did put its main attack direction on the western front, dispatching the 1st Cavalry Division, the newly built 3rd Infantry Division, the 24th Infantry Division, and the 25th Infantry Division.
In addition, there are the fully replenished First and Sixth Divisions of the Southern Dynasties, as well as the 27th Brigade of the Eagle Army and a brigade from the Tu Kingdom.
Although there are three reconstruction divisions in the beautiful country's army, these three divisions are not all composed of recruits, and nearly half of them are veterans.
This counterattack against the beautiful country was a huge investment, with a total of more than 200,000 troops deployed.
The first attack started in the direction of the First Army. The 25th Division of the Beautiful Country sent dozens of tanks to clear the way, covering the Turkish Brigade's exploratory attack on the front position of Xiuxian Mountain.
The first division responsible for repairing the mountain defense line immediately launched a counterattack, using combat artillery and recoilless rifles to attack enemy tanks, and at the same time called for artillery support.
After receiving the news from the First Division, Li Qiufan immediately ordered the First Heavy Artillery Brigade to open fire and launched an artillery bombardment against the Turkish National Brigade that attacked the Xiuxian position.
Before the battle started, Li Qiufan had already notified all the defensive forces to try to avoid close contact with the enemy. If the opponent charged directly with large-scale attacks, he would directly call for artillery support.
After all, he was facing an enemy that was several times his own, so Li Qiufan also planned to act arrogantly and trade his wealth for casualties.
As the 1st Heavy Artillery Brigade opened fire, the Turkish Brigade was quickly pushed back, and only a dozen of the dozens of tanks of the 25th Infantry Division of the Beautiful Country were pushed back.
After the left-wing Turkish National Brigade launched the attack, enemy forces everywhere also began probing attacks.
After roughly figuring out the location of the Volunteer Army's defensive positions, the American commander immediately contacted the Navy Command and asked it to send carrier-based aircraft to bomb the Volunteer Army's positions.
After receiving the order, the US Navy Command immediately dispatched aircraft to conduct air strikes on the positions of the First Army and the Fourth Army.
It didn't take long for the enemy plane to arrive, and Li Qiufan also saw this scene through the telescope.
"Order the air defense battalions of the First Army and the Fourth Army to prepare and defeat these locusts for me at all costs!"
Li Qiufan immediately issued an order to prepare the air defense battalions on the positions of the two armies to intercept enemy aircraft.
The enemy sent a total of more than a hundred aircraft this time. On average, the positions of the First Army and the Fourth Army were bombarded by about fifty or sixty aircraft.
After seeing so many aircraft, the air defense battalion did not dare to put them too close, and opened fire directly after the opponent entered the shooting range.
But in the face of more than fifty enemy aircraft, the firepower of an air defense battalion was too little. A large number of aerial bombs and incendiary bombs were dropped on the positions of the two armies, and the sound of explosions resounded throughout the battlefield in an instant.
What followed was an infantry charge. After seeing the volunteer positions being bombed, the American commander immediately issued an order for a general attack.
"Order all troops to launch a counterattack immediately. All three heavy artillery brigades should open fire. Let me suppress the charging enemy troops!"
"Also, let all the tanks go out. Don't stay in the position and act as targets. Go outside the position and use it as a mobile turret!"
Seeing the enemy's charge, Li Qiufan immediately ordered a counterattack, firing all heavy firepower.
As the three heavy artillery brigades of the First Corps opened fire, the howitzer battalions belonging to the beautiful country divisions on the opposite side also launched artillery bombardments, and the two sides instantly entered an artillery battle.
