Chapter Ninety-Six: 279 Heights

Perhaps, some people will think that Liu Shunyi and I have already discussed and planned at the military headquarters all night, so we should have planned in an orderly manner and notified all the troops to be ready before starting to fight this battle. But the truth is the opposite, what we want is that the troops are not prepared.

The reason is very simple: the purpose of our campaign is not Lang Son, but to attract a Vietnamese army that has stopped more than a dozen kilometers away. Imagine, if we make all the troops ready and deliberately let the Vietnamese army successfully sneak attack and release the mountain according to the plan, then it is very likely that there will be a result that we don't want to see - the mountain is lost, but the Vietnamese reinforcements are not fooled and enter the battlefield.

The Vietnamese army is not a fool, and their commanders can easily see the clues from a series of questions such as whether our army will be 'confused' and whether it will be nervous.

Do we want to hide from the Vietnamese army in these aspects? It seems unlikely!

The reason is that the Vietnamese are almost no different from us in appearance, and before the war, China and Vietnam had a long relationship of "comrades and brothers", and there were even many Vietnamese who studied and studied directly in China, which made many Vietnamese speak fluent Chinese. In addition, at this time, most of our troops were fighting and replenishing troops at the same time, which created excellent conditions for Vietnamese agents to enter our army. It can almost be said that every unit of our army at this time has more or less a few Vietnamese agents who can speak Chinese, even our fifth company is no exception.

I know this very well, don't you? Most of those soldiers have just been transferred from China, some are new recruits, some are veterans, all of them have never seen each other, and they don't even know their names, let alone any identity certificates, reporting cards, etc., all of them are pulled up and "you, you, you...... a company; You, you, you...... And you...... The second ...... was distributed in this way.

After being assigned, as long as you go to the instructors of each company and register your name, you can make a register. Some of the supplementary soldiers who had a bad life did not have time to report their names, so they directly participated in the battle and died, and as a result, no one knew what the name of the martyr was and where he was from......

This is not only unfair to those martyrs who sacrificed their lives, but it is also difficult to ensure that there are no Vietnamese spies to "replenish" our troops!

When I was in modern times, I heard veterans say that those Vietnamese spies can be said to be exactly the same as us Chinese, and no one can tell the difference. Later, someone came up with a solution, which was to take off the 'pants' and check the 'pants'...... These devils can speak Chinese and can wear the same military uniform as us, but they don't have the long, wide homespun 'trousers' that we Chinese...... Not to mention, this trick really worked, and it really allowed them to find out a lot of Vietnamese agents from the army.

I wrote it all down, and I waited for the battle to ease down later, and then I started using this trick to purge the spies from within. Of course, I think Liu Yun and Yichen, the two little girls, still let me check it out myself...... When I think about this, I can't wait to see what the two girls look like when they know that they want to take off their pants in front of me......

It is precisely because of these circumstances that Liu Shunyi and I both think that ...... If you really want to lure the Yue devil's army to Langshan, you have to do a fake show! Otherwise, it is very likely that the sheep will be lost, and the wolf will not be able to catch it.

As a result, there was the current situation, and the soldiers even let the Vietnamese army rob the mountain without any preparation at the regimental headquarters......

Then, after a while, the correspondent hurriedly handed the microphone to me and said, "Regimental telephone!"

"Camp Commander Cui!" As soon as I took the microphone, I heard the chief of staff say anxiously inside: "The mountain has been lost, the Vietnamese reinforcements are very likely to enter Lang Son, the situation is developing towards an unfavorable situation for our army, you should immediately prepare for the march, and in half an hour the troops of the 217th Division will take over the defense of the mountain in Ku Ma, and you are ready to attack the northern district of Lang Son!" ”

"What is our mission?" I asked.

Actually, I was acting, and I knew for a long time that the mission of our regiment was to attack along the north bank of the Qiqiao River along the 279 Heights, Dashi and Xiaoshishan, and then control the Qiqiao River Bridge to cut off the connection between the northern and southern districts of Lang Son.

The reason why I asked this question was that I didn't want the chief of staff to suspect it, and second, I didn't want the Vietnamese army to know that I had received information. After all, when the Yankees withdrew from Vietnam a few years ago, the Vietnamese army received a large amount of American-style equipment from them, and now with the support of the Soviet Union, I think they should not have any difficulty in listening to our army's telephone calls or telegrams!

"I don't know yet!" The chief of staff replied: "You are ready to go down the mountain and attack Lang Mountain, and I will inform you when the time comes!" ”

This is also what I discussed with Liu Shunyi before, and each department only knows its combat mission before the battle starts. In this way, it can avoid the Vietnamese army's deployment of our army from preparing in advance, and secondly, it can also give the Vietnamese army the illusion that the squadron is in a hurry, and they have not had time to formulate a feasible plan in a hurry.

"Yes!" I answered and hung up the phone, turned around and passed the order over the intercom.

Suddenly, the whole army was busy, sorting out their outfits, wiping their guns and testing their guns, and checking the ammunition and 'medicine'...... Although they have been rolling on the battlefield for a short time, only a dozen days before and after, their progress on the real battlefield is unmatched by any other place. In fact, it is easy to understand that everyone's life is threatened on the battlefield, and the better the military quality, the greater the chance of saving 'life'.

No one wants to die, so everyone is desperate to learn, improve, learn again, and improve again......

This is the fulfillment of the saying: "Natural selection of the fittest survives!" ”。

The battlefield, in fact, is the most cruel furnace, the winner in the competition survives, and the loser can only be ruthlessly eliminated.

So just after so many days, the soldiers have made a qualitative leap in both the quality of individual soldiers and the overall coordination, and now they are a bit of veterans.

The first to come up was a group of militiamen, who brought in the ammunition we needed to replenish. In addition to some of them having to send the wounded and sick back to the bottom of the mountain, the other part was responsible for carrying ammunition and 'medicine' for us. To the delight of the fighters of the 'shooting' group, the militia also brought with them the VD sniper rifles that the chief of staff specially sent for us......

I counted them, there were eight of them, and even the matching bayonets and Tokarev's pistols were delivered. Counting the eight of the previous 'shooting' group, our battalion already has sixteen sniper rifles. Each of the 'shooting' teams was equipped with one, and there were two left......

Now the other fighters were happy, and they wouldn't have fought if the sniper rifle wasn't enough, but now there were two left...... Then the warriors began to stir up when they heard the news, and surrounded me one by one, shouting:

"Battalion commander! Give me that rifle! I will definitely use it to kill the devils on the battlefield! ”

"Battalion commander! Give me a hand, I'll give it back to you if I didn't fight ten enemies on the battlefield! ”

……

Soldiers, you and I are all rushing to ask for this treasure. It is also true that in this era, the 'firing' range of individual weapons is generally within 400 meters, and suddenly there is a weapon with a 'firing' range of 1,000 meters and the power is still very great.

But there are more monks and less porridge, where can just two rifles meet the requirements of all fighters?

After thinking about it, I raised my rifle and shouted at the fighters: "Comrades...... For these two rifles, I think it's better not to assign them now, after all, you are now used to the weapons in your hands, and if you suddenly change to this rifle and bring it to the battlefield before you are familiar with it, it will be difficult to play its role! In this way, let's set a rule, in the next task, whoever has made great achievements and who has fought more devils, let's assign this gun to whom, what do you say? ”

"Good!" As soon as the soldiers heard my plan, they all felt that it was fair and reasonable, so they did not have any objections.

After we had eaten something and prepared for a while, the troops of the 217th Division came up, it was a reinforced battalion, a total of more than 600 people, and they also brought a lot of ammunition and ammunition. In addition, we have already built fortifications and two machine gun batteries, so it is not a big problem to hold on to Kuma Mountain.

Immediately after the 'handover' of defense, I pretended to call the chief of staff to ask for instructions, and the reply I received was: "Order the troops to march hastily, and arrive at Heights 279 in twenty minutes to wait for instructions!" ”

The secrecy work of the regiment headquarters is still in place, and tasks are not assigned at this time. Later, I learned that this was not because the regiment headquarters did a good job of secrecy, but because Liu Shunyi did not tell the regiment about the task at all, and the chief of staff was also confused at this time and did not know what his superiors were going to do......

Heights 279 is the first high ground facing Lang Son at the foot of Kuma Mountain, which is located right between the Shan Shan and the Qiqi River, and is the first tiger to stop our offensive route.

But I don't think this tiger will have any temper, Kuma Mountain is already in our hands, this 279 heights are actually under the cover of our mortars and heavy machine gun trains, so it will be much easier to fight. We don't care whether the Vietnamese military uses anti-slope tactics or not, and if we go down at an elevation of more than 800 meters on Kuma Mountain, not to mention mortars, even machine guns can hit the anti-slope position on the 279 heights. That's why I haven't taken the 279 Heights into account.

But then I realized I was wrong......

The troops marched all the way in the jungle, since the main peak of Kuoma Mountain was occupied by our army, our army has been back and forth to clear and suppress Kuoma Mountain several times, so this way down is also smooth, only 16 minutes to complete the task ahead of schedule to reach the 279 heights, and the troops in front of the thatch and jungle hidden.

Raising the binoculars and looking at the 279 heights, the 279 heights are full of bomb craters and barrenness, that is, there is no shadow of the Vietnamese army, there are no trenches and pillboxes, and the only few barbed wire fences are also blown up here and there. If it weren't for the fact that our scouts were sure that the Vietnamese troops were stationed here, I would have doubted that this was a place that was not 'hairy'.

However, all this can also be understood, just as our army was unable to build fortifications on the positive slope in the face of the superior equipment of the US army on the battlefield of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the current Vietnamese army also realizes that all the fortifications on the positive slope are ineffective because the artillery is not at the same level as our army, and all the troops and fortifications they have invested in the positive slope are just 'wasted' some artillery shells and a little time for our army......

"Battalion commander!" After I looked at the terrain for a while, the disguised communicator climbed up and handed the microphone to me, and whispered: "It's the phone number of the regiment headquarters!" ”

"I'm Cui Wei!" I put away my binoculars and carefully ducked into a col, lowering my voice and speaking into the microphone.

Although I didn't find any enemy in the vicinity, I didn't dare to pay too much attention to it, in case an enemy artillery observer was hiding somewhere, and saw me talking with a walkie-talkie...... When those shells came, I became a martyr in a daze.

"Camp Commander Cui!" The order of the chief of staff came from the microphone: "The superiors mean that your battalion has successively laid down the 279 heights, large and small stone mountains along the north bank of the Qiqiao River, and then occupied the bridgehead of the Qiqiao River Bridge with lightning speed and no urgency, and cut off the connection between the north and south areas of Langshan!" Is there a problem? ”

"No problem!" I replied.

"That's good!" The chief of staff said: "The first battalion will cooperate with your troops to attack the left flank of the 279th height, and the third battalion will be behind you as a reserve. Artillery fire was prepared at half past nine, and sortie was made half an hour later. The instructions from the higher authorities were...... We must defend the bridge of the Qiqiao River, and if we find that the enemy is trying to blow up the bridge, we must resolutely call for artillery fire to annihilate it! ”

"Yes!" I answered and hung up the microphone.

It was actually my idea to defend the bridge over the Ki Poor River, and there are two bridges in Lang Son, one is the Lang Son Bridge and the other is the Ki Poor River Bridge that we want to capture. For the Vietnamese, these two bridges are not only the only way for the remnants of the North Bank to retreat south, but also the South Bank for reinforcements, ammunition, and being given to the North Yuan.

Therefore, Liu Shunyi and I believe that the Vietnamese army will not blow up the bridge in the early stage of the campaign, because blowing up the bridge will undoubtedly cut off the reinforcements and back roads of the Vietnamese army in the northern area of Lang Son. However, in the later stages of the campaign, once the Vietnamese army found that the loss of North Vietnam was a foregone conclusion, it was very likely that the bridge would be blown up in order to prevent our army from moving south and posing a threat to their capital. Therefore, this order was given, first to occupy and control the bridge and cut off the connection between the north and south districts of Lang Son, and then to cooperate with artillery to stop the Vietnamese army from attempting to blow up the bridge

After looking at his watch, the hands were already pointing to 9:20, so he ran back into the jungle with the guards and signal soldiers, and asked the soldiers to prepare for battle and artillery bombardment through the walkie-talkie.

"Woo ......" After a while, the sharp whistling of artillery shells sounded in the sky, and the artillery groups arranged by our troops in the Dong Dang area began to open their mouths to the Vietnamese troops, pouring shells one after another on various military targets in Lang Son.

Because our army was wary of foreign journalists in Lang Son City and the public opinion of the international community, the artillery preparations were all aimed at military installations in Lang Son, such as railway stations, power plants, post office buildings, halls, barracks, outposts, oil depots, ammunition and ammunition depots, etc., while the civilian houses of ordinary people were outside the scope of our army's bombing......

But it wasn't long before we soon found out that the decision was wrong! In war, if you pay too much attention to public opinion, you will often be used by the enemy. It was precisely by taking advantage of this that the Vietnamese army hid most of its troops in civilian houses, and when our artillery fire had passed, they came out in droves and entered the position.

There is no place for mercy in war, and mercy to the enemy means ruthlessness to oneself.

The sound of the cannon rang out for half an hour, and then it stopped abruptly without any extension of the fire. Later I learned that the reason for the sudden cessation of the shelling was that there was a residential area behind Heights 279. Such artillery bombardment was simply not enough to hit the Vietnamese troops in depth, so when we launched an attack on the forward positions of the Vietnamese army as originally planned, we felt that something was wrong......

"Kill!" The fighters shouted '' and raised their weapons and launched an 'alternate' charge towards the 279 heights. The ready-to-prepare artillery battery fired shells and bullets at the top of the 279 Heights, accompanied by mortars and heavy machine guns from the Kuma Hill. Although they couldn't see anything because of the fog and smoke, the shells and bullets still hit the anticline of Heights 279 in patches thanks to the guidance of a few flares.

I led the 'shooting' team to run forward for some distance, and when we were still six or seven hundred meters away from Heights 279, I signaled the soldiers to stop, and then they scattered to look for favorable terrain and aimed their guns at Heights 278.

Seeing that the forward units of our army were approaching the hilltop position of the 279 heights, the mortars and heavy machine guns that were responsible for the cover task stopped for fear of accidental injury. At this time, the guns of the Vietnamese army suddenly rang out, and at first the mortar shells hit the slope of the 279 heights in pieces. Then there was the 'crossing' fire of a few 'strong' machine guns on the hilltop position, and 47 bullets that rained down......

"Bang bang......" The sniper rifle in my hand rang out, and although it accurately hit the two Vietnamese soldiers who threw bombs at our troops, they quickly lost their target due to the heavy smoke.

Seeing this, I couldn't help frowning, the fire of the Vietnamese army was very fierce, and there was no sign of being hit by our artillery fire at all. So it quickly became clear to me that a limited shelling like the one just now would not do anything to the Vietnamese army, which was clearly hiding the mortar positions in the residential areas behind them!

"How did the artillery do it?" I heard my hometown people scolding angrily on the walkie-talkie: "This cannon is the same whether it hits or not!" Why not extend? ”

In fact, it is no wonder that the artillery, which was determined by the politics of the time, and I discussed this issue yesterday when I was discussing it with Liu Shunyi. He is also helpless, we cannot directly bombard residential areas with artillery fire under the eyes of the world......

However, just because others can't do it doesn't mean I can't, I won't watch my comrades die under enemy fire! So he turned around and ordered into the walkie-talkie: "Zhu Jixing, immediately organize artillery fire to blow up the mortar positions of the Vietnamese army......