Chapter 809: Escalation of the war
On the battlefield of the Western Front, the armored regiment and the army aviation regiment under the 162nd Division of the People's Liberation Army have almost lost their ability to fight again, but the 127th, 130th, 134th and other three mechanized infantry divisions and the 11th armored division followed the 162nd Division to rise up, and the 2nd mechanized infantry division of the US army was also heavily damaged, forcing it to withdraw from the attack on Pyongyang. At present, together with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 1st Marine Division of the US Army, they have retreated to the Songlin area to organize the first line of defense to confront the PLA, and the US Army has also deployed two support units, the 25th Infantry Division and the 32nd Infantry Division, in the area of Kaesong behind the Songlin defense line.
On the Eastern Front, after the 3rd Armored Division of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) took the lead and annihilated the 2nd Division of the ROK Marine Warfare, the 115th and 116th Mechanized Infantry Divisions of the PLA surrounded the capital mechanized infantry division of the ROK Army in the Anbian area with lightning speed, and then the 117th Mechanized Infantry Division withstood the high mountains and the 3rd Armored Division withstood the five infantry divisions of the ROK Army desperately advancing in the two directions of Tongchuan, creating good conditions for the 115th and 116th Mechanized Infantry Divisions to completely annihilate the so-called Tiger troops of the ROK Army and the capital mechanized infantry division, known as the first elite.
In this way, the so-called 4 elite infantry divisions of the 200,000 South Korean troops on the Eastern Front battlefield were annihilated, so that the 39th Army not only smashed the attack of the South Korean army, but also broke through the defense line of the South Korean army, and advanced to the area of Gaocheng, Huaiyang and Xipu in the south of Korea in three ways, which is close to the eastern section of the 38th parallel, however, due to the fierce battle, the tank losses of the 3rd armored division of the PLA in the blocking task also exceeded one-third, and the 117th mechanized infantry division was wiped out under the fierce attack of the South Korean army. After the first battle of annihilating the mechanized infantry division of the South Korean army in the capital, the PLA also temporarily lost the ability to break through the 38th parallel.
In terms of the air force, the 1st Air Division, the 11th Air Division, the 21st Air Division, and the 30th Air Division, the main force of the Air Force in the Northeast Theater of the People's Liberation Army, attacked in turn, and although they achieved brilliant results in destroying nearly 200 fighters of the enemy, they suffered heavy losses of their own, losing more than 250 fighters in battle, forcing the General Staff Department to move the 7th Air Division eastward to make up for the lack of air force in the Northeast Theater and over the DPRK. More than half of the pilots were successfully rescued by the People's Army by parachuting.
The pilots of the US, Japan, and South Korean fighters are much more miserable; because most of their fighters are hit by more than two missiles at the same time, the probability of being able to parachute out and escape is less than one-third, and even if they succeed in parachuting and escaping, most of the pilots will fall into the hands of the KPA; now up to 200,000 people of the KPA are scattered into battalion and company-level detachments, operating in the narrow strip north of the 38th parallel and south of Wonsan in Pyongyang, carrying out guerrilla missions on the one hand, and conducting reconnaissance and search missions on the other, and becoming the eyes of the PLA.
Although these units are completely unable to resist the frontal attack of the US and ROK ground mechanized units, they are quite good at sneaking up on US and ROK military posts or logistics baggage detachments by virtue of their familiarity with the local terrain and popular support. The PLA was able to besiege the South Korean capital's mechanized infantry division in Anbian, thanks to the intelligence of the People's Army and the fact that the three infantry regiments of the People's Army blocked the rear road of the South Korean Army for 3 hours, so that the PLA had the opportunity to trap the elite of the South Korean army. In that blockade, the three infantry regiments that KPA had temporarily assembled were also almost wiped out.
Therefore, in the first phase of the battle, whether on land or in the air, the PLA and the US-Japan-ROK forces were both defeated and wounded, and were temporarily in a delicate balance, and both sides began a new round of troop deployment.
Due to the lack of troops, the U.S. military began to transfer the National Guard divisions and reserve divisions to active service, and newly formed 5 armored divisions (brigades) and 10 mechanized infantry divisions, in addition to leaving half of them to strengthen the defense of the homeland, the U.S. military sent 3 armored divisions (brigades) and 5 mechanized infantry divisions to the Asian theater, of which the 49th armored division and the 155th armored brigade, as well as the 28th, 29th and 34th mechanized infantry divisions were sent to the Korean Peninsula after reorganization, and the 116th armored brigade and the 84th, The 85th Mechanized Infantry Division reinforced the Pakistani battlefield and prepared to be sent to India in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
On the PLA side, after receiving the internal information on the US military reinforcement, the intelligence department of the General Staff Headquarters also adopted-for-tat measures to mobilize the 1st Group Army and the 12th Group Army of the Central China Military Region, which are now on the inner line, to go north.
In this round of transformation, the 1st Group Army was upgraded in accordance with the standards of the Category A field army, and formed the first amphibious mechanized infantry division and the second and third divisions of the mechanized infantry division, in addition to the 10th armored brigade and the 9th artillery brigade composed of ZTZ-99S, the 5th army aviation brigade and the anti-aircraft missile brigade, with nearly 80,000 troops, and is one of the main forces of the PLA.
The 12th Army is composed of two mechanized infantry divisions and five brigades of the 34th and 36th Divisions, including the ZTZ-99A2 armored 2nd Brigade, the 36th and 179th All-Terrain Mechanized Infantry Brigades, as well as the main combat units such as the army's artillery brigade and anti-aircraft missile brigade, with more than 60,000 troops. With these two group armies, they entered the Korean war.
In this way, on the Korean battlefield, the PLA has invested nearly 400,000 main forces of the five group armies, which is basically the same as the total number of US-ROK coalition forces after the US military has increased its forces on the peninsula, plus the 300,000 KPA still remaining in the DPRK, in terms of army strength, the PLA and the KPA together far exceed the US-ROK coalition forces, but the main force of the KPA is basically composed of light infantry and heavy artillery, and its combat effectiveness is seriously insufficient in the face of modern mechanized armored infantry. Three infantry regiments of the KPA blocked a mechanized infantry regiment of the ROK army, and almost wiped out the troops in just three hours, which still occupied favorable terrain in advance, which fully shows that the tactics of crowds are becoming more and more ineffective in modern warfare.
On the battlefield in Pakistan, in the face of the US military's aggressive new round of troop reinforcement plan and the Indian army's plan to besiege Indian-controlled southern Tibet, the General Staff is preparing to mobilize the main forces of the 13th Group Army, except for the two mountain divisions that entered southern Tibet, to pass through the main artery of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and prepare to move to the Ali area, and enter Pakistani Kashmir together with the two divisions (brigades) of the 21st Group Army, which arrived in advance, and plan to enter Pakistan's southern defense partly and launch an attack on India from the Kashmir region. Relieve the pressure on the two mountain divisions in southern Tibet.
After the latest reorganization, the 13th Group Army is a type A field army organized in accordance with the requirements of mountain operations, and after the latest reorganization, it has under its jurisdiction the four mountain divisions of the 37th, 38th, 39th, and 149th, as well as the 2nd Brigade of the Army Aviation Corps, the Special Operations Brigade, the Armored Brigade, the Artillery Brigade, and the Air Defense Missile Brigade, with more than 70,000 troops, and is the main force of the PLA's mountain operations. Among them, the 37th and 38th Mountain Divisions had already entered the Indian-controlled southern Tibet theater in advance, and achieved a brilliant record of defeating 100,000 defenders of the Indian army.
This increase in troops was mainly two mountain divisions and five brigades of the 39th and 149th divisions under the 12th Army, plus the 61st Mechanized Infantry Division and the 99A3 ZTZ-12 Armored Brigade of the 21st Army to fight in Pakistan. In this way, together with the 52nd and 53rd Mountain Divisions, which had entered Kashmir earlier, the strength of the PLA in Pakistan increased to 5 divisions and 7 brigades. Because the 10th Mountain Division of the US Army was heavily damaged, and the 84th and 85th Mechanized Infantry Divisions were two light mechanized divisions, after the two sides completed the increase of troops, the strength of the PLA in Pakistan was exactly the same as that of the US Army's five divisions and two brigades.
However, in this way, the number of troops sent by the PLA to carry out external operations outside the country has exceeded 500,000, and it can be said that it has basically reached the limit of the PLA's troop application; if it were not for the smooth return of Taiwan Island to bring hundreds of thousands of troops to form a new Southeast Military Region, and the lack of defensive forces needed by the southeast direction for the troubles of Taiwan Island, the PLA side would have been able to tie its hands and let it be occupied by the US military all the way, and it would never have been able to support it left and right as it is now.
It can be said that the No. 1 leader and Vice Chairman Liu were determined to take back Taiwan Island first, and they really had a long-term vision and took an extremely valuable start in the big game of chess with the United States.
However, in this way, the PLA's logistics were immediately tightened, and the Korean battlefield was supported by railways and highways, and it is good to say that the troops entering southern Tibet and Pakistan had only a few mountain roads and air transport for their logistical supply, and with the weak foundation of the PLA's newly established air force strategic transport aircraft group, how could it undertake such a heavy task, so the General Staff Department decided to form a joint battle group with two aircraft carriers and organize a huge transport fleet to set off from the South China Sea and cross the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean to make an expedition to Pakistan.
This is a strategic decision full of huge risks, because at present, in the Philippine waters of the South China Sea, the US military is stuck in a huge battle group composed of two aircraft carriers, and no one is sure whether the PLA Navy's two-aircraft carrier formation will be tracked and pursued by the US aircraft carrier battle group once it goes to sea.
Even if the aircraft carrier formation successfully went out of the South China Sea and crossed the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean, it still had to face the threat of the Indian Navy's aircraft carriers, although it was said that the aircraft carrier of the A-3 Navy was pitted by the free trap of the polar bear, and not only spent a huge amount of money to renovate, but also wasted a lot of precious time, but for the same young PLA aircraft carrier formation, it is not without the slightest threat, plus the US military also has a battle group composed of two aircraft carriers in the Gulf region, the PLA can be said to be very dangerous in this voyage.