"Let Li Xiping keep his heart in mind. I have already made arrangements for him to just withstand the enemy's ground troops' attack!"
"Correspondent, notify the Second Air Defense Battalion to prepare, the annoying flies are coming!"
After hearing the correspondent's report, Li Qiufan immediately asked him to respond to the Fourth Army.
As early as when the Fourth Army was building a defensive position, Li Qiufan arranged the Second Air Defense Battalion around it in order to help the Fourth Army block the bombing of enemy aircraft.
Sure enough, as the small black dot became larger and larger, the outline of the aircraft could already be seen with the naked eye.
The enemy planes flew closer and closer, flying straight towards the Fourth Army's position. However, before they could reach the Fourth Army's position, the Second Air Defense Battalion opened fire.
As the self-propelled anti-aircraft machine guns opened fire, the first few aircraft were shot down instantly.
When the enemy pilots in the rear saw this, they immediately pulled the control stick and circled back, and then reconnected with the bombing operation.
After some adjustments, the enemy flight formation flew towards the Fourth Army's position again.
It's just that this time the enemy pilots were mentally prepared and kept avoiding the fire of self-propelled anti-aircraft machine guns.
Although the firepower of the Second Air Defense Battalion was very powerful and the firepower net weaved was very dense, several aircraft still flew over the Fourth Army's positions and bombed the Fourth Army's positions.
Fortunately, the bombing coverage area of these aircraft was not very large and did not cause too many casualties to the soldiers stationed at the position.
The same scene was happening in Anxingli and Changjuli. The enemy sent all its planes to bomb the volunteer positions on the entire front.
Li Qiufan's side is better. Both of his armies are guarded by an air defense battalion.
The 38th Army did not suffer too many casualties. After all, Li Qiufan gave them a lot of anti-aircraft armored vehicles.
The casualties of other volunteer troops were much greater, because they did not have such luxurious air defense equipment as Li Qiufan, and most of them were old items captured by the Japanese and the National Army in the past, and they did not have many self-propelled anti-aircraft machine guns.
After the plane bombing, the enemy launched another attack, and the howitzers in the rear were also shelling non-stop.
"Damn it, how many artillery shells do these stupid foreign devils have? They haven't stopped from the beginning until now!"
Seeing that the frontline troops were constantly being shelled by the enemy, Zhao Gang cursed angrily.
"They are rich and powerful. What can we do? If we had so many heavy weapons and ammunition, we would have reached the mainland of this beautiful country long ago. Why are we still competing in this peninsula!"
After hearing Zhao Gang's words, Li Qiufan shook his head helplessly. The beautiful country was too far ahead of them in terms of ammunition reserves and weapons configuration, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Take large-caliber heavy artillery as an example. Although Li Qiufan has more heavy artillery than any entire division in the beautiful country, the artillery shells are simply incomparable.
Li Qiufan's heavy artillery can only provide artillery support when the enemy charges, or suppress the enemy's artillery fire when our army charges. To put it bluntly, it can only be fired at urgent and important moments.
But the American troops were different. During the war, several howitzer battalions carried out shelling non-stop.
For example, when they retreated to Seoul to block the attack, ten howitzer battalions dropped more than 10,000 artillery shells in one day. This was something the volunteers could not even imagine. Even Li Qiufan did not have such a large reserve of artillery shells.
"It's so fucking frustrating. Our soldiers fight with bullets and other people's cannonballs. Even if we win, we still end up paying for it with our lives!"
After hearing Li Qiufan's words, Zhao Gang sighed helplessly, then patted his thigh heavily and said.
"If you are poor, you need tactics, and if you are rich, you can cover it with firepower. This sentence explains this war very well. Advanced technology is the last word!"
Li Qiufan suddenly remembered this sentence, which was very suitable for the situation they were facing now.
"Report to the commander, the Fourth Army stationed in Dongduchuan-ri reported that the first-line defensive position will no longer be able to be defended. The Fourth Army applied to withdraw to the second-line defensive position to continue blocking."
While Li Qiufan and Zhao Gang were talking, the situation in Dongduchuan further deteriorated, and the front-line defense position was already in danger.
"Immediately reply to the Fourth Army and agree to their request to retreat to the second-line position to block the enemy."
"Also tell Li Xiping to take back the first line of defense for me as soon as he gets the chance!"
After hearing the correspondent's report, Li Qiufan immediately agreed to the Fourth Army's request to retreat.
Because he was very clear about the gap between the enemy and us, now was not the time to risk his life to protect the position. As long as Dongduchuanli was not lost and the troops in Anxingli and Changjuli were not affected, it would not be a big problem.
After receiving Li Qiufan's reply, Li Xiping immediately ordered the frontline troops to retreat and retreat to the second-line defensive position to remain invincible.
At the same time, the situation at the First Army stationed in Anxingli also changed because the First Division of the Southern Dynasty arrived.
After the First Division of the Southern Dynasty arrived, the commander of the Third Infantry Division of the Beautiful Country immediately organized a large-scale charge. After all, there were two Southern Dynasty cannon fodder divisions there, and they were not used in vain.
Under the impact of the two Nanchao divisions, the first-line defensive position of the First Army was almost penetrated, and it was finally driven back.
But the price paid for repelling the two Nanchao divisions was not small. The First Army once again suffered more than 2,000 casualties, leaving only about 10,000 troops in total.
Compared with the situation in Dongduchuan-ri and Anheung-ri, the situation in Changju-ri is much better.
The enemy forces faced by the 38th Army were similar in strength to them. It was only because of the gap in mobile units that the fight was very difficult.
Now with the support of a tank battalion from Li Qiufan's side and the suppression of artillery fire by a heavy artillery brigade, the enemy has not even touched the forward position of the 38th Army.
"Correspondent, order the First Army to immediately shrink its defense line and retreat to the second-line defensive position to block the enemy. Let them not hold on to the first-line defensive position!"
After receiving the casualty report of the First Army, Li Qiufan immediately gave it an order to retreat to the second-line defensive position like the Fourth Army.
The Dongduchuan-ri, Anheung-ri and Changju-ri they retreated to this time are just transitional zones. The bottom line for Li Qiufan and the others is the Yeoncheon area.
As the saying goes, it is to trade space for time, in order to slow down the enemy's advancement and buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive.
At this time, the commander-in-chief who was in the country was also preparing to return to the Volunteer Army Headquarters, and reinforcements had entered the peninsula and were heading towards the 38th Parallel.
