The following day proved almost as successful as the first. They got 460 more combat craft, thirty five more support craft, and 62 helicopters. Besides this, special operations units made up of assault helicopters, transports, and heavy lift helicopters made dashing raids acrossed the DMZ, and captured 500 enemy field pieces, bringing them back and destroyed 2,500 more. The operation totally stunned the enemy. He immediately deployed more troops around his artillery positions to defend them, weakening his advanced positions EXACTLY what The President had wanted.
The next day's kills were small. They got only eight combat planes and one more suport craft. They couldn't find any more helicopters. "They've gone to ground, Mr. President," Major Smith explained. "They've abandoned their primary air bases, they're working from emergency strips on the roadways, hiding their aircraft anywhere they can, keeping them out of the air, trying to save them for the big push!"
The President nodded. "Are they still getting supplies across the Chinese border?" he asked.
"Yes, Mr. President," the security man answered. "Though we've blown the bridges they're ferrying stuff across the rivers then bringing it down. The ferrys are Chinese. Are we to attack them, sir?"
The President slapped the papers. "Destroy them!" he ordered. "We have told the Chinese NOT to interfere! Supplying The North Koreans is a violation of our instructions. See that they understand we mean what we say."
"Yes, Mr. President," the Major answered.
The following day the ferries serving the rivers along the Korean border were put out of business. A temporary bridge the Chinese were erecting also was knocked down. All fire on the attacking ships came from the Korean side of the border, but everybody knew the fire was coming from Chinesse guns. The second waves of planes silenced that fire.
The supplies carried into North Korea drastically slowed. The Chinese made a profound protest, and threatened that their aircraft might defend their borders, but The President told them that if they were to try there would BE no Chinese Air Force the next day.
The Chinese threat was never carried out. The allied bombers continued to pound the supply routes, along the rivers. They continued to receive anti aircraft fire, but no Chinese planes threatened them. The President ordered that the attacks now shift to the enemy's armor. For a day the bombardment quieted, while the enemy was sought. It was known that with the Russian and Chinese defectors the North Koreans had 4,200 tanks. By the evening of the next day they had only 1,700, and by the evening after that they had less than 400. Those that remained disappeared.
The next morning the armored personnel carriers became the target. There were originally 3,100 of them by the end of the first day, there were only 800, by the end of the second day less than 300. The amount of trucks and cars caught in the bombardment were just uncountable! The roads of North Korea were simply littered with burned out hulks. Nothing that could carry supplies could move, night, or, day.
The North Koreans were fighting back. They had lost 40 aircraft and twenty-six pilots, but the devistation they were causing was well worth the price! It was estimated that of the 105,000 air force personnell on their bases twenty-six thousand had been killed. Of the million men The North Koreans had in the field 300,000 had been killed. The carnage they were inflicting was beyond belief, but the enemy showed no sign of relenting.
After another day of rest they went back after the artillery. The enemy had 12,000 pieces left. By the end of the first day they had only 9,000. By the end of the second day less than 500,000. The President then ordered that the naval ships move in and finish off what was left of the North Korean Navy. It took them less than a day to do so.
Nothing smaller than a rowboat with an outboard motor remained. The Alliance ships moved without resistance along The North Korean coast. The shore batteries dared not open fire because they knew that if they did and expose themselves, the planes would come and destroy their positions.
The President ordered all further air strikes to be on whatever targets came available, but few targets were coming available. The enemy was laying low, moving his reserves around his capitol at night, reinforcing the southern frontier. More and more of his troops were being withdrawn from around the northern border. The President called his weather people in.
"Gentlemen, what's the weather going to be like in the northern part of Korea on target day?"
"Some areas, Mr. President," the weatherman advised, "will have scattered snow showers from a front passing through. After that we will have eight to ten days of clear, cold weather. Ariel visibility will be superb. If the weather patterns go as they normally do, the worst we should have for the next month is scattered snow showers. The weather looks excellent, sir!"
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