Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 335 Hunger without food, cold without clothes

With the withdrawal of the Xingnan Port fleet, the second campaign came to an end.

Wang Gensheng looked at the reconnaissance planes circling overhead and did not order his soldiers to move the supplies scattered on the beach.

Instead, they chose to hide, because transporting supplies during the day would be tantamount to walking into the line of fire of the US army.

However, Wang Gensheng did not shirk his duties. Instead, he arranged for engineers to clear mines at the Shuimen Bridge and clear the road.

Because of the three-kilometer stretch behind the Watergate Bridge, Smith chose to abandon his vehicles and walk, leaving Smith's Marine Corps with over two thousand cars and hundreds of tanks behind.

However, this has now become a problem for Wang Gensheng himself. He has no choice but to transport the 100,000 tons of supplies back, and trucks are naturally indispensable.

Naturally, all the landmines that were originally buried had to be dug up. Fortunately, I still remembered the approximate locations where they were buried, and since there was no rush, clearing them out, though dangerous, was not impossible.

In fact, these supplies were not only sent back to replenish the Ninth Army Corps on the eastern front, but also to the western front.

Although the western front was fought more brilliantly than the eastern front, like the eastern front, the western front also faced a major problem due to the light infantry involved, making resupply a significant issue.

Especially food and warm cotton clothing, because this time it was a war outside the country, unlike the war of relieving the defense or the War of Resistance against Japan, which had the strong support of the local people.

For example, during the Huaihai Campaign, one of the three major battles of the Liberation War, in order to pursue the fleeing Du Yuming, the soldiers of the Third Field Army simply threw away all unnecessary things.

In particular, all the grain was lost, but the soldiers of the Third Field Army still had enough to eat and drink, thanks to the support of the local people.

But things were different in Chaozhou. Not only was the language different, but Chaozhou was also sparsely populated, with a population of only tens of millions. In addition, the US military had occupied it before, so there was even less hope of receiving any food aid.

Therefore, it was naturally impossible for them to procure food locally like the rest of the country.

So, after the American troops on the Qian line withdrew, the general commander asked the front-line commander whether they could pursue the enemy while they were ahead.

The frontline commander replied with only six words: "Hungry and without food, cold and without clothes." These six words also reflected that the aid-to-Chaozhou army was already at its last gasp after defeating the American army.

There's no other way; war is all about logistics. Willpower is important, but without food, even the strongest willpower can't withstand the onslaught of hunger.

Willpower might sustain you for two or three days, but after two or three days without food, you'll still feel weak from hunger.

After clearing the minefield road at Shuimen Bridge, Wang Gensheng led the Marines that night, escorting thousands of trucks carrying tens of thousands of tons of supplies to the western front.

With tanks leading the way and no fear of attack, Wang Gensheng pushed the convoy to its maximum speed.

Even on roads covered in thick snow, it still traveled at a speed of twenty or thirty kilometers per hour.

Of course, in order to prevent detection by US reconnaissance aircraft, fluorescent indicators were only placed at sharp bends in the road.

Then, before dawn, the convoy was stretched out, turning the previously compact convoy into a long line of vehicles spaced tens of meters apart. This not only made it easier to hide the vehicles, but also prevented them from being affected by bombing.

It took Wang Gensheng two nights to transport more than 10,000 tons of supplies to the western front.

The frontline commanders were naturally delighted with the supplies sent by Wang Gensheng, even feeling that exchanging so many supplies for a US Marine Corps Lion was a worthwhile deal. Of course, while the reinforcements to Chaozhou were resting and replenishing their food, ammunition, and warm clothing, the command headquarters of the reinforcements to Chaozhou were not idle, but began to plan how to fight the Third Campaign.

Unlike the previous two battles, this time it was the Chaozhou reinforcements' turn to pursue.

However, since the eastern front is mostly mountainous, and the 1st Marine Corps on the eastern front has already sailed directly to Busan, the 9th Army Corps has nowhere to pursue them, even if they wanted to.

After all, Busan is located at the southernmost point of the peninsula, more than 400 kilometers away from Heungnam Port!

Without logistical support, it's simply unrealistic to expect to travel over 400 kilometers on foot.

Most importantly, the peninsula is long and narrow, stretching over 800 kilometers from north to south, and approximately 360 kilometers at its widest point and 170 kilometers at its narrowest point from east to west.

Although 70 percent of the peninsula is mountainous.

However, the western part of the peninsula is at a lower elevation, with more plains or low mountains. Therefore, many cities naturally arose there, such as Khan City and Pingrang City, which are located on the western side.

Therefore, this area naturally became the main point of contention.

Pyongyang was originally captured by the US Army during the Inchon Landing, but during the Second Phase Offensive, the Western Front not only defeated the US Army but also recaptured Pyongyang.

Therefore, the focus of the third campaign was still on the western front, which was also an important reason why Wang Gensheng transported supplies and ammunition to this area.

However, this third campaign was not so easy to fight, because the second campaign was halted because the American troops on the eastern front escaped by ship, and the soldiers on the east and west could not pursue them.

The reason we stopped on the western front was because we encountered a natural barrier there. It was called a natural barrier because, in addition to the steep cliffs and high mountains, there were also rivers.

That's right, on the western side we encountered the Imjin River. Although the Imjin River is not very wide, with a maximum width of only 170 meters and a minimum width of 60 meters, it is nowhere near as wide as the Yangtze River, which has an average width of over one kilometer.

So even though it is more than 200 kilometers long, calling it a river is a bit of an exaggeration, and even calling it a stream is a stretch.

To prevent a counterattack by the Chaozhou army, the US military built many defensive artillery fortifications on the south bank of the Imjin River.

Therefore, this also conveniently stopped the pursuit of the reinforcements from Chaozhou during the second campaign.

However, defending the Imjin River is not so easy. First, the Imjin River freezes in winter. In addition, the average width of the Imjin River is only about 100 meters, which can be crossed in a sprint of ten seconds. Therefore, it is obviously not easy to use the Imjin River as a natural barrier for defense.

The reason why the second campaign failed to break through was that the aid-to-Korea army was indeed exhausted after the great battle, so they did not pursue.

Just as Wang Gensheng was pondering how to fight the third campaign to eliminate more American troops, the frontline commander frowned as he looked at the supply list Wang Gensheng handed him and said:
"Didn't you say your minefield made Smith abandon all his heavy equipment? Even his heavy artillery! Why didn't you send any heavy artillery with you? All you sent were food and clothing."

Wang Gensheng smiled and said:
"It's not that we're worried the soldiers here won't have enough to eat, so what we're sending is food and clothing. As for weapons and ammunition, we can send them later!"

He addressed the commander at the front:
"Weapons and ammunition must be delivered as soon as possible. We need to take advantage of the fact that the US military has not yet gained a foothold and recovered its strength to give them another heavy blow!"

(End of this chapter)