In fact, it is true that after Ridgway took office, the situation in Korea changed.
If Walker didn't die and Li Qiwei didn't come, MacArthur would have been defeated, the UN forces would have been driven to sea, and at least the armistice line would have been pushed to the third and seventh lines?
Let's take a look at the way the son of the general, West Point Military Academy Principal MacArthur, played.
MacArthur
MacArthur fought in two world wars and was arguably a veteran general. But his main war experience came from the First and Second World Wars, especially the defeat of the Japanese army in the Second World War, which made him famous.
His best tactic is the "frog jump tactic", which is to use the air force as a cover and make a jumping attack along the central axis to the periphery of the target.
Obviously, his tactics are to give way to small roads, all take big roads, and rely too much on the Air Force. The Air Force can exert its maximum lethality on the plains, so he is invincible.
However, in Korea, most of them are mainly mountainous, narrow from east to west, and narrow from north to south, which is not convenient for the troops to defend in depth. MacArthur's "frog jump tactics" may not be useful, but instead it is a paradise for mountain tactics.
As for the mountain tactics, our army has already used during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Although the US military has the advantage of weapons, its power will be greatly reduced in mountain warfare. For example, in the Tieyuan Blockade Battle and the Battle of Shangganling, the artillery fire of the US army has ploughed the position many times, but there is still room for survival on the position.
Tactically, macArthur seemed to have no chance of victory in The Korean Theater. But on the other hand, the volunteer army also has a weakness, that is, the supply line. Although MacArthur also attached great importance to attacking the supply lines of the volunteers, such air strikes could only play a delay, weakening the supply of the volunteers, and could not fundamentally cut off the supply lines.
In this respect alone, MacArthur was still unable to defeat the Volunteers. In fact, although the supply line is a weak rib, it is not the biggest weakness, and this biggest weakness is discovered by Ridgway.
Ridgway
That is, you can only carry a week of food ammunition per battle, and after a week you will run out of food, which Ridgway called "worship offensive". It was on this basis that Ridgway invented magnetic tactics, specifically picking up a sudden counterattack when the volunteer army ran out of ammunition.
But when the situation in North Korea changed subtly, it was not because of Ridgway's magnetic tactics, but because of the Battle of Tongpyeong-ri.
After the great victory of Hengcheng, Deng Zhi launched the Battle of Pingli, drawing 8 regiments from the 39th Army, 40th Army, and 42nd Army, under the command of Wen Yucheng on the spot, and Deng Hua sat in the seat.
The only U.S. army defender in Tongpingli was the 23rd Regiment of the U.S. 2nd Division, and according to the idea of the volunteer army, it was difficult to win with an 8-to-1 advantage. But the result was unexpected, and the volunteers still failed to take the small Pingli with huge casualties.
After the defeat of Pingli, Deng Hua took the initiative to make a review, but strangely, regarding the defeat of this battle, Peng Zong did not let anyone take responsibility, not even a word of criticism. Even if Deng Hua is the deputy commander to save face, he should not criticize Wen Yucheng. But Mr. Peng has lightly passed.
But this was precisely what touched his heart, and he vaguely felt a little bad and decided to return to Beijing to report to Chairman Mao.
Obviously, this time it was not entirely the commander's fault.
As Battle Ridgway recalled: "
During these three weeks, many hard battles were fought, but none of them were as skillful, brave, and tenacious as Colonel Paul Freeman (now promoted to general).
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What exactly is the cleverness that Ridgway said? In fact, Tongpingli is only a small mountain village, surrounded by only a few small dirt bags, and the US military has no danger to defend. And because of the limited strength, the U.S. army had to compress the position and finally form a circular defensive position with a diameter of 1.6 kilometers, which was held with the help of fortifications and heavy weapons.
And it was precisely because of the American army's circular defensive positions, coupled with heavy weapons in hand, that it resisted the four-sided encirclement of the volunteer army. This is the key to the victory of the US military.
As for the prayer offensive, this time Deng Zhi only fought a major victory in Hengcheng, which took two days, and at this time the volunteer army was not running out of ammunition. This is not a reason.
Coincidentally.
In the Battle of Chosin Lake, the US 1st Marine Division, surrounded by the Song ShiLun Regiment, escaped the disaster by relying on the circular defensive position.
The Art of War Cloud: Five attacks, ten encircle. Encircling and annihilating the enemy with superior forces is the usual tactic of our army.
After the battle of Pingli, whenever Ridgway encountered a U.S. army being encircled, he informed the besieged troops to take a circular defensive position and hold on to it for help.
It can be seen that the ring defensive position has become a key to the victory of the US army.
But in essence, it is not because the US military has adopted a ring defense position, but on the basis of the ring defense position, the US military has a strong firepower configuration and weapons and equipment. Even in the plains, the U.S. military surrounded by tanks, cars, and heavy artillery into circular fortifications, which is equivalent to a great wall of steel.
It was difficult to break through the positions of the volunteers without heavy weapons, and the American troops could airdrop without worrying about no bullets. After all, it was flesh and blood, and even if the volunteers paid huge casualties, it would be difficult.
From this point of view, Ridgway's victory is not his magnetic tactics at all, but the strong weapons and equipment superiority of the US military.
From this point of view, even if Richie did not come, MacArthur had been in command of the battle, and the volunteers could not drive the American troops out of the sea.
Whether it is possible to push the armistice line to the 37th line is also very difficult, which means that Seoul is lost, and politically the United States will not agree, and it is difficult to reach an armistice agreement.