Chapter 34: The Battle of Tongdeng (4)

Chapter 34: The Battle of Tongdeng (4)

The cadres all looked at the offensive line I had drawn on the map, and they all looked at each other and did not speak.

After a long time, Political Commissar Hoang said: "Use the strength of two battalions to attract the fire of the Vietnamese army in the west and south respectively, and then launch a surprise attack on the relatively weak east to directly capture the Vietnamese artillery position." There is nothing wrong with this style of play, but how can you ensure that this 'elite' army can quickly 'insert' into its core and destroy its artillery positions? You know, this force has to be quite capable of attacking, and it has to move quickly. Otherwise, if you are a little sluggish, you will be completely annihilated."

"I also find it difficult," said one cadre: "Although the terrain in the east is relatively gentle, with the Vietnamese army's defensive capabilities, even if most of their forces are attracted by us to the west and south, we will not be able to make a rapid breakthrough, so this plan will only be on paper."

"What if you use tanks?" I added a sentence after that.

"This ......" Battalion Commander Wu couldn't help but reply: "The terrain in the east is gentle, and there is a road, which is indeed conducive to tank attacks, but first, the enemy is likely to lay a large number of mines, and second, it is ...... All the tanks in my hands are Type 63, and it is difficult to quickly break through the Vietnamese army's defensive line"

"In terms of mines, we can open the way with artillery fire, and the tank armor is thin and we can break through at night," I added.

In fact, I thought of all these questions that came to their minds. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come up with this plan.

"Not at night," Battalion Commander Wu shook his head and said, "Although it is difficult for the Vietnamese army's anti-tank weapons to play a role at night, it is ...... The night vision equipment of our tanks is not up to par, first, they can't see the road, and second, it is difficult to hit the target"

I know very well about the night vision equipment of the Type 63 tank, and I tried it the last time I sat on the Type 63 tank to break through, but it was not clear at all, and it was often distorted. The main reason was the insufficient illumination of the infrared headlights in front of the tank and the poor quality. This made us have to use the butts of our rifles to guide the way with the infantry outside the tank as we marched all the way. If you smash the butt to the left, you will go to the left, and vice versa......

"You can't see the road and you can solve it" After thinking about it, I replied: "The infantry uses the walkie-talkie to communicate with the tanker and guide the tank forward"

Battalion Commander Wu thought for a while, nodded and said, "Although it is dangerous to do this, it can be taken by surprise and unprepared, and it may be possible to achieve strategic goals." But the problem of not being able to hit the target still won't solve the problem......"

"I'm not asking you to hit the target," I replied.

Tanks of this era had no fire control systems and night vision devices were highly distorted, so I certainly wouldn't have pinned my hopes on them to hit their targets.

"Then Company Commander Cui wants to ......" Now even Commander Zhang is a little curious.

"Your tanks just have to go all the way," I replied lightly, "let the infantry do the rest."

"Pressing over" Hearing this, all the people in the tunnel were stunned, this method is actually very simple, the tank can not only be used to fight even if it is a Type 63 light tank, what cannon is pressed by it like this, then if it can still be used, it can also be called a magic cannon

"You can give it a try" was silent for a long time, and Political Commissar Huang was the first to express his attitude.

"I agree"

"I also agree"

……

"Which troops and tanks will be used?" Political Commissar Huang asked again.

The cadres unanimously turned their eyes to me, and I couldn't help but smile bitterly, and unconsciously did another thankless job.

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The battle that night was fought at eight o'clock sharp, and the battle would be fought at night, all in order to allow the tanks to play the role of tearing through the enemy's defenses. Imagine, if this is in the daytime, with the armor of the Type 63 tank, I am afraid that it will be easily killed by a few rockets before rushing to the Vietnamese trenches. Not to mention tearing the Vietnamese defense line and rushing to the center with our infantry.

That's right, in fact, this is the tactic commonly used by the volunteer army on the Korean battlefield, and when the volunteer army fights, it will always send an "elite" soldier to "insert" into the enemy's interior to destroy its command system. For example, the headquarters of the US army was destroyed during the Battle of Yunshan, and the surprise attack on the White Tiger Regiment during the Battle of Jincheng...... The difference is that the volunteers disguised themselves as the enemy and 'blended' into the enemy's troops, but this time, I wanted to break in.

Actually, it's not that I don't want to disguise myself as a Vietnamese soldier to 'blend in', mainly because I don't know Vietnamese, and if I let a guide who can speak Vietnamese lead the team, it is very likely that they will 'expose' their feet because of their low psychological quality, and that will be more than worth the loss.

That's why I had to use this most direct and primitive method to tear through the Vietnamese army's defense line and rush in.

It should be said that we simply would not have been able to do this without tanks. After all, at a time when individual weapons have been highly developed, it is difficult for us to rush through the rain of bullets and bullets of AK47s and grenades of the Vietnamese army. But fortunately we have tanks, which at least can withstand submachine guns and grenades. And anti-tank weapons ...... I don't think they're in a hurry to aim. Because we have secretly hidden four tanks only 500 meters away from the Vietnamese defense line.

In order to conceal the sound of the tank's motor, we had to fire a few shells at the Vietnamese army from time to time, and the tank could only take advantage of the sound of the shells to move forward little by little. Immediately after reaching the hiding point, camouflage it with branches, weeds, etc. Once the battle starts, they will rush to the Vietnamese defense line at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, and it will take almost a minute or more to drive in front of the Vietnamese army in the smoke of artillery shells.

Some people were suspicious and 'confused' that only four tanks were dispatched, and Battalion Commander Wu asked me strangely why they only dispatched four tanks when they had a total of more than 20 tanks. What he didn't know was that the most important thing in this tactic was to be fast, and although the terrain to the east of the Vietnamese army was relatively gentle, it could be said that there was an open area with a road, but it could only allow four tanks to advance side by side. In such a narrow terrain, a large number of tanks not only does not play a role, but will also hinder the speed of the troops' movements. In addition, because of the communication equipment, the coordination of infantry tanks at night is a big problem, so I would rather only have four tanks, and if it is not successful, it will be a beneficiary

Battalion Commander Wu also hid his 'personal interests', and 'drawn' the four best ones from the 20 or so tanks, and assigned the best fighters of the four car groups, led by a tank company commander named Li Degui to participate in the battle.

As soon as he received the order, Li Degui carried out several major repairs to these four tanks, inspected weapons and instruments, and even removed parts from other tanks to replace them. In his words, it is necessary to ensure that these four tanks do not break down in the battle and go to the battlefield in the best condition, otherwise they will live up to the expectations of their superiors and be irresponsible to their infantry comrades.

Battalion Commander Wu will take care of all this, so I naturally don't need to worry. But there is one thing that bothers me a lot, and that is the question of who will guide the tank and guide the target.

The infrared night vision device on the tank does not work, and at the same time it does not dare to turn on the headlights, which will undoubtedly become the best target for the Vietnamese army. In other words, the tank is almost blind in night battles, and it definitely needs infantry to guide it. But how to boot it? It's not just as simple as an infantry player taking a walkie-talkie and a tank driver taking a walkie-talkie, because if the infantry follows behind the tank, it is very likely that they will be blocked by the tank and will not see anything, let alone guide the tank forward.

As a result, this requires infantry to guide on tanks, and because the roads are undulating, there is a high probability that the infantry tasked with guiding the tank will be thrown off the tank. As soon as the infantry is thrown off the tank, then the tank will turn into a blind man again. In other words, to tie the infantry, who is tasked with the task of guidance, to the tank. And in order to ensure that the tank can run normally, it is necessary to tie several guides......

When we were reinforcing Dong Xi before, we saw the tragic situation of infantry tied to tanks and killed by Vietnamese troops. It can be said that they still remember that scene vividly. Now, however, we ourselves are going down that old path.

If I could not do this, I would never let the soldiers do this, but this is a thing that there is no way, who let the equipment we produce is not of good quality? Who told our factories to cut corners? Night vision devices can't be used, so we have to fill it with human lives and make up for it with blood

It is not only the hateful Vietnamese who kill our fighters, but also the countrymen who produce these weapons and equipment

What can the warriors do but hate? Inferior weapons are in our hands, and crude equipment is in front of us, but the battle still has to be fought, so we can only grit our teeth, bite the bullet, and use the most earthy and stupid methods to stand up......

I told the story and the fighters were silent at first, because they all knew what it would be like to be tied to a tank. But after a while, more than thirty fighters took the initiative to raise their hands to sign up. This also included several cadres such as hometown people and Yang Songjian, and even the deputy company commander and instructor raised their hands.

They are all good, and they know that if they as cadres do not take the lead in carrying out the most dangerous tasks, no one will want to do it. But of course I won't let the backbone of the company, such as platoon commanders and instructors, do this kind of thing, they still have to command the war, right? So in the end, sixteen fighters were selected from these thirty dozen fighters and assigned to four tanks as guides. Each of them was given a walkie-talkie and 'communicated' with the tanker on his own how to guide the tank and how to direct the tank to fire. And under the leadership of Li Degui, it went through several hours of exercises......

Because of the special 'nature' of our company's mission, Regiment Commander Zhang specially strengthened our company with three rocket launchers and three recoilless guns, and replaced all the Type 56 rifles in our company's hands with 30 Type 56 submachine guns. In this way, the individual weapons in the hands of the entire company are either submachine guns or machine guns, and the firepower can basically be balanced with the Vietnamese army, plus the cover of tanks, I believe that the Vietnamese army will have to be stripped of skin if they are not beaten down by us when they are caught off guard.

All the fighters were lurking in a jungle east of the defense group, with four tanks in front, and the fighters of one company were divided into four teams to lurk around the tanks, and finally there was an assist team composed of twenty 'mortars' and ten 'strong' heavy machine guns. All of them were saddled and loaded and ready for battle.

Suddenly, three red 'colored' signal flares rose into the night sky, and the earth-shattering cannon sound soon rang out. Shells with a sharp whistling sound whistled from our artillery positions in the north, and then burst into one ball after another of fire on the Vietnamese positions.

Almost at the same time, the mortar crews, who were in the rear of our department, fired rows of shells at the targets that had been aimed at a long time ago. The purpose of this is to use the cover of long-range artillery fire to remove more 'precisely' and meticulously obstacles such as mines and barbed wire on our army's offensive route. Although long-range artillery is powerful, it has many 'shots' that cannot be taken into account.

Fifteen minutes later, the artillery fire ceased and was replaced by bursts of gunfire and shouts of killing from the west and east. But we didn't move, and all the warriors stood quietly waiting for my orders.

At this time, it was not the time to attack, first, the Vietnamese troops in front of us had not yet been dispersed, and second, the Vietnamese army's 'mixed' artillery positions had not yet had time to be pulled out of the tunnels in a hurry......

I don't know if it's because the Yue devil overslept or because it was dark and made him slow down, the Vietnamese army should have pulled out the artillery to provide fire assistance to the Vietnamese army on the periphery, but now it has not heard the sound of the cannon.

Could it be that our plan has leaked through the cracks? There's no reason why for the sake of the mission's secrecy, this plan doesn't know about it except for us, the "parties" who carry out the mission. And these soldiers under my command are all brought out from China, and the possibility of being Vietnamese army agents is not very 'sexual'.

So what is the reason?

After waiting for a while, I didn't see the Vietnamese army fighting*, and I couldn't help but be puzzled. Later, it turned out that the fighters from the east had rushed too fast, and before the Vietnamese army could provide artillery support, they were tangled with the enemy, so that the Vietnamese artillery could not play its normal role.

Finally, I faintly heard a few cannon shots coming from all sides, but I was not sure whether it was our army or the Vietnamese army.

After waiting for a while, I still didn't hear the sound of fighting, and I couldn't help gritting my teeth: no matter if he was preparing for the artillery fire or not, the enemy always thought that it was the safest time, and there was a great chance that the Vietnamese army would pull out the artillery and ammunition at this time. If they don't do it, they won't be able to pull the cannon back into the tunnel

Thinking of this, I said into the walkie-talkie, "Do it."

"Hands-on"

"Hands-on"

……

It was the soldiers who were passing on my orders, and it was easy for the other fighters to hear my orders, but it was difficult for the tankmen, so the guides had to pass on the orders several times

The first to fire at the "boom ......" were the mortarmen.

This time their purpose was not to blow up mines, but to blow up a cloud of smoke and dust in front of the enemy's positions to obscure the view of the Vietnamese troops, and to drown the sound of tank motors with the sound of artillery.

Some experienced Vietnamese soldiers will have anti-tank weapons ready when they hear the sound of tank motors, and I will certainly not give them such a chance.

Then, only to hear the roar of "rumble", the four tanks hidden in the grass and tree branches rushed towards the Vietnamese position with full horsepower. The fighters also rushed forward in rows with submachine guns.

The gunfire ...... soon rang out, and the Vietnamese army was not slow to react, and after a while we came with rows of bullets, but as expected, the firepower was not strong, and they were not in a hurry to prepare anti-tank weapons. It should be said that at this time, they only saw vague black shadows in the smoke, and then they shot at those black shadows indiscriminately.

But these bullets could do nothing except make a few grooves in the armor of the tank.

Tan's speed was so fast that we had to run almost as hard as we could to keep up with it. At such a fast speed, it only took us more than two minutes to smoothly 'press' close to the Vietnamese army's defensive line. But in the darkness and smoke, we still couldn't see the enemy.

But it's better that we can't see the enemy, which means they can't see us. When they could see us, they suddenly realized that the tank was already in front of them......

"Speed up and keep up with the tank," I commanded over the walkie-talkie, raising my rifle and knocking out two Vietnamese soldiers who were 'shooting' at our troops. I still couldn't see anyone, but the flames from their guns 'revealed' their location.

Although the firepower of today's weapons is fierce, it is less concealed than the old rifles of the past. The rifle can also hide in the trenches and only 'show' its eyes to shoot, and it can only be shot at a time, and a little spark 'flower' can't be found if you don't pay attention to it. But now AK47, a dozen is a shuttle, and the fire 'flower' is so big that it is difficult for people not to find out.

"Boom ......" An explosion sounded in the front row. I knew that the Vietnamese army was throwing grenades at us, and when the opponent was 'pressing' to the position, throwing the grenade was the best choice. But what they didn't expect was that this time we were leading the way with tanks. Not only did those grenades not hurt us in the slightest, but the smoke they kicked up also happened to be our best cover......

"Grenades" As I gave the order, the soldiers who were the guides on the tank and the soldiers who were relatively close to the front threw rows of grenades into the darkness ahead.

The grenades of the Vietnamese army will be thrown at us, so of course our grenades will also be thrown at the Vietnamese army. It's just that I don't think the Vietnamese army has a few tanks made of steel in front of it. And the more grenades explode, the thicker the smoke becomes, and the more secretive we become, so why not?

"Boom" sound...... The tank in front of it suddenly jolted sharply, shaking several soldiers lying on it. So I knew that the tanks had crossed the trenches of the Vietnamese army.