Chapter 15 Chapter 4 Volunteers Conquer Seoul

On December 23, Walker drove in a jeep on the road from Seoul to Uijeongbu, preparing to inspect the troops. A military truck trying to overtake hit the back of Walker's jeep, flipping the jeep upside down.Walker died instantly.Assistant Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Matthew Ridgway took over as commander of the U.S. Eighth Army. On December 26, he arrived in North Korea. As soon as Li Qiwei took office, MacArthur handed over all the ground forces of the "United Nations Army" to him.Li Qiwei originally wanted to resume the offensive soon after taking over, but he spent two days inspecting the US 1st Army, the British 29th Brigade, the US 25th Division, and the South Korean 1st Division, met with the commanders on the front line, and got to know them Views on launching an offense.However, the 8th Army has been deeply damaged physically and psychologically in the past few weeks. The morale of the troops is extremely low and they are in a state of lethargy without offensive spirit.Commanders, staff officers and even soldiers at all levels of the Eighth Army have lost confidence.The commanders believed that no matter what kind of attack was launched at this time, it would fail, and a heavy price might be paid.

In view of the general sentiment of failure and low morale in the U.S. military, Li Qiwei had no choice but to give up his plan to immediately turn to the offensive.After he ordered the "United Nations Army" to build a line of defense along the 38th Parallel, starting from the Linjin River in the west and reaching the east coast in the east, he was actively building fortifications, establishing a deep line of defense and reorganizing troops, preparing to resist the attack of the Volunteers. Li Qiwei is going to adopt the method of "shrinking the troops at night, so that the troops are closely connected with each other, and in the daytime, launch a powerful counterattack with the coordinated units of infantry and tanks" to deal with the attacks of the Chinese and North Korean troops.Once some positions are forced to be abandoned, "after careful reconnaissance and careful construction of the rear positions, the retreat will be carried out in an orderly manner according to the adjustment line."

At the end of December, Li Qiwei deployed "a general front from the Linjin River to the 38th Parallel".Two basic lines of defense were set up on this 250-kilometer-long, 60-kilometer-depth front across the Korean peninsula.The first line of defense (Line A) starts from the mouth of the Imjin River in the west, passes through Munsan in the east and goes along the 38th Parallel to Xiangyang on the east coast; the second line of defense (Line B) starts from Goyang in the west, passes through Uijeongbu, Gapyeong, and Jaeunri in the east to the east The coast of Dongli.In order to increase the depth of defense, three mobile defense lines C, D, and E were prepared from the south of the second defense line to the 37th parallel north latitude, and South Korea dispatched a large number of migrant workers to build them; Line D runs from Suwon to Samcheok via Icheon, Wonju, and Pyeongchang; Line E follows the 37th parallel from Pyeongtaek to Samcheok via Chungju.

In order to prevent being forced to return to Busan, Ridgway also appointed Brigadier General Garrison Davidson, who was an engineer, to set up a defense line near Busan, the original Nakdong River defense line, to defend the Busan Port area.Davidson employed tens of thousands of South Korean laborers to construct most of the trench system, artillery positions, and extensive barbed wire. At this time, the total ground force of the "United Nations Army" in North Korea was 365,000, of which 250,000 were combat troops, and the US 10th Army was also under the command of the US 8th Army.Except for the 10th U.S. Army (commanding the 1st U.S. Land Division, the 7th U.S. Division, and the 3rd U.S. Army Division), which was severely hit, is located in Daegu and Busan, and the main force of the U.S. 2nd Division is located in Jecheon, north of the 37th Parallel. Eight South Korean divisions were deployed on the front line, and the rest of the main force of the US and British forces were placed in mobile positions from Uijeongbu to the south of Seoul.