The Volunteer Army is indeed powerful, but it also needs the US military to set it off.
King of light infantry
In 1950, the American army of the victorious division had never encountered such an enemy as the Volunteer Army.
However, as the war progressed, the shortcomings of the Volunteer Army's lack of supplies and inability to attack for a long time were discovered by Li Qiwei, and the tactics were adjusted accordingly to stabilize the situation.
So the two sides entered the stage of stalemate, at this time, the volunteer army had the blessing of Soviet-style artillery, and the supply line also had air protection, and the two sides began to grind meat in trenches, seesawing back and forth.
In general, with China's national strength at that time, without replacing Soviet-style weapons in the early stage and without air protection, it was able to beat the US army to the 38th parallel by relying on strategy and tactics and the will to fight, which can be regarded as achieving the pinnacle of light infantry and playing military and national prestige.
The firepower gap is huge
If you compare the number of people alone, the 1 division of the US army is not as good as the 1 army of the volunteers, but if you compare the firepower, the gap is too big, and there are 7 aircraft carriers behind the 1 division of the US army.
One corps of the Volunteer Army consists of complete logistics, organs, staff and other units.
However, one division of the US military is a pure combat unit, and the staff team is in Japan and provides combat support across the ocean, and there are special naval, land, and air support units in logistics.
Therefore, comparing the number of front-line combatants, the gap between one corps of the Volunteer Army and one division of the US Army is not large.
At that time, the number of artillery in 1 regiment of the US Army was more than that of 1 army of the Volunteer Army, and this is not counting the caliber.
In the second and third battles, the US military dispatched more than 1,500 combat planes of various types, exceeding the total number of planes invested by the Soviet Union and Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad.
In order to help the retreat of the 1st Marine Division, the US military dispatched more than 300 transport planes alone.
Ridgway has two brushes
In the early days of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there were big problems with the tactical thinking of the US military:
Too much emphasis is placed on the integrity of the front and the coordination of the two wings.
During World War II, only a line of flat push was a major feature of the U.S. military.
The consequence of this is that the offensive and defensive positions are very strong, but the mobile warfare is inefficient and the occupation of strategic points is relatively slow.
In the first three battles, the volunteers were first interspersed in place, occupied key points, locked up the US army, and the follow-up troops slowly cleaned up.
Not long after Li Qiwei arrived, he quickly summed up his experience and used "magnetic tactics", which caused great difficulties for the volunteers.
Li Qiwei became famous in World War II, and the most famous story is that as the commander of the Airborne Forces, he personally led the team to parachute, carrying two grenades as glorious bullets, which can be said to be brave and resourceful.