Chapter Seventy-Four: 417 Heights

Chapter Seventy-Four: 417 Heights

Early the next morning, I led my soldiers to lurk behind two high grounds, about 400 meters in front of Heights 417.

The reason why it is necessary to lurk at such a distance is completely determined by the terrain of the 417 Heights. In order to prevent our troops from charging, the Vietnamese army not only burned all the weeds on the open land several hundred meters wide near the railway and road, but also deliberately placed several sections of abandoned train wagons on the railway to slow down the speed of our army's charge. This made it simply impossible for our troops to lurk near the 417 heights.

And if we want to take 417 Heights, we have to cross this death zone.

Our battalion was arranged to attack this 417 height, and I don't know if I was lucky or unlucky.

We say lucky because we will not risk the flanks of Kuma Mountain like the 1st and 3rd Battalions to attack the flanks of Kuma Mountain at the risk of being exposed to the fire of the 417 Heights.

Luckily, this 417 Heights not only has a death zone in front of it, but also has condescending fire support from both Kuma Mountain and 536 Heights. This also means that if you want to win the 417 heights, it is not just as simple as winning a high ground.

In fact, I haven't slept all night since I came back from the regiment headquarters last night, and I have been going back and forth to the position several times to observe, but no matter how I look for it, I can't find a flaw in this 417 height.

Just as on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the British Army's Gloucester Battalion was able to stop a single army of our Volunteers for several days with only one battalion of troops, and the Vietnamese Army's highlands were also arranged in a triangular pattern.

There is no doubt that this arrangement is the safest, because the highlands can support and cover each other, and even the firepower of each highland can naturally form a 'cross' firepower. The Vietnamese army is also well aware of this, so it uses such a triangular defense in large numbers on the battlefield. For example, the iron triangle formed by Tanmou, Tanlang and Guitun in Tongdeng, and even a small triangle in Guitun Fort......

Now, we are facing another iron triangle.

If this battle had been commanded by me, I would not have attacked the high ground of 417 at all. The reason is very simple, the 417 Heights have the lowest elevation among the three highlands, and even if we take it down with great difficulty, it will not play any obvious role on the battlefield, and the result is very likely that our army will be suppressed by the fire of the other two highlands on the 417 Heights and increase the casualties in vain.

As for the Vietnamese army, it seems that they have the fire support of the other two heights, and it seems that it is easy to launch a counteroffensive against the 417 heights and recapture it.

In other words, this 417 highland is simply a 'meat' machine for our army.

If it were me, I would focus my attack on the attack on Kuma Mountain. The elevation of Kuma Hill reaches 800 meters, which is the highest elevation in the vicinity of Lang Son. It is conceivable that once the mountain falls into the hands of our troops, the situation of the enemy troops on the heights on the outskirts of Lang Son will be seen at a glance. The artillery observer made a stop up to ...... Commanding long-range artillery fire, he can hit wherever he wants

And more importantly, the Vietnamese army obviously thought of this as well, so I think it is very likely that their artillery command post is located in Kuma Mountain. Even the Vietnamese army on Kuma Mountain can command the coordination and cooperation of the various highlands on the periphery of Lang Son. Once the mountain is knocked down, it will undoubtedly gouge out the eyes of the Vietnamese artillery and control the nerve center of their entire defense system.

Later we learned that the artillery command post of the 3rd Vietnamese Division was located at Kuma Mountain, and all the artillery of the Vietnamese army, even the artillery of the Vietnamese army when our army attacked Dong Deng, was commanded by this artillery command post.

But unfortunately, it is not me who is now in charge of this campaign, so I can only accept this kind of unfocused attack.

I raised my binoculars and looked at 417 Heights, and my brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

No, the death zone in front of the 417 Heights is too wide, if I were a Vietnamese army, I would definitely deploy a large number of light and heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft 'shooting' machine guns on the 417 Heights to form a 'cross' crossfire network to control this death zone, and even arrange artillery positions or mortar positions behind the 417 Heights, and adjust the Zhuyuan with this death zone as the goal in advance. If that's the case, we'll take it with us in the open field, no matter how many people rush up.

Of course, I can't hope that the Vietnamese army will not fight like this, that is, I have to prepare for the worst. The Vietnamese army is also a person who has fought for decades, so what I think should be similar to what they think.

If that's the case...... How do we fight? Even if we used skirmishers to cover each other and rush up, it would be useless, it would seem that there was no difference in group charges

I looked at my watch, and it had only been ten minutes since I left the fight, and beads of sweat were falling from my forehead.

To be honest, I haven't had such a tough problem since the first shot. It would be nice to say that if I let me do it, but now I am tied with my hands and a group of recruits, facing an opponent who has been rolling on the battlefield for decades - Vietnam, which inevitably makes me feel that I am poor in donkey skills.

There seems to be only one way

I gritted my teeth and ordered into the walkie-talkie: "All company commanders will come here for a meeting right away"

"Yes"

"Yes"

……

The three company commanders should have responded, but there was obvious suspicion in their tones. It was only ten minutes before the fight, and the whole army was preparing to charge, and it seemed a little inappropriate to hold a meeting at this time. But although they were suspicious, they still firmly carried out my orders and rushed to me as quickly as possible.

"Here's the situation," I said through gritted teeth, "the order from my superiors was that the artillery fire should be prepared for twenty minutes, followed by ten minutes of artillery fire extension, and the attack would be launched only after the flares had passed. But...... I want you to give the order to charge just after the artillery preparation is over, and follow the shells up"

"What?" Several company commanders couldn't help but look at me in surprise when they heard this.

"Battalion commander, I heard you right" Li Zhifu didn't seem to believe that I would give this order: "Follow the shells up, what should the soldiers do if the shells are injured by mistake?" ”

"Yes, battalion commander" Xu Yongjian also nodded and said: "The requirements of our training are that when we charge, we must be two hundred meters away from the impact point prepared by the artillery fire, and the nearest one must not be less than one hundred meters, if we follow the shells like this, ...... it."

"Fifty meters" I interrupted Xu Yongjian, "shorten this distance to fifty meters"

As I spoke, I picked up two branches and inserted them into the ground, saying: "The shrapnel of the shells flew up at a 45-degree angle, and most of the artillery fire of our army was on the slope of 417 degrees, so the distance of 50 meters was relatively safe."

"But......" Li Zhifu wanted to say something, but was quickly interrupted by me.

"Don't do it, but but, just do it" I looked at my watch and ordered: "Time is running out, immediately convey this order and order all the soldiers, this charge neither in formation nor cover, with the fastest speed for me to follow the shells to the top of the hill position The fifth company is responsible for blowing up the Vietnamese army's tunnel on the anti-slope, and the other two companies quickly build fortifications on the hilltop position, and organize all the mortars of the whole battalion to suppress the 536 heights, do you understand?" ”

"Understood" the fighters should respond. Only the people in his hometown asked suspiciously: "All mortars are used to suppress the firepower of the 536 heights, but what about Kuma Mountain?" ”

"The elevation of Kuma Mountain is 800 meters, and it is far away from the 417 Heights," I replied: "And it is foggy now, and our army will prepare for artillery fire for another 20 minutes, and the smoke and dust will fly up, and the Vietnamese troops on Kuma Mountain will not be able to see us for the time being." As long as we're fast enough, it's entirely possible to take 417 Heights before they can react."

"Yes," several company commanders answered, turned around and returned to their own companies to set up.

Looking at their backs, I couldn't help but sigh secretly: theoretically speaking, the distance of fifty meters is indeed safe, but the cannonballs do not have such a high 'precision' accuracy, even if the same 'door' cannon shoots the same cannonball with the same yuan, it is normal for the difference to be more than ten meters. So...... There would have been a mistake in this charge, but I had to do it, because it was worth it compared to the whole battalion falling under the fire of the Vietnamese army.

Whether it's worth it or not, it's actually a very simple addition and subtraction. What the soldiers can't accept is still dying under the shells of their own people, which is not only the pain of the sacrificed, but also the pain of those artillerymen if they knew.

"Tengteng ......" A few red 'colored' signal flares slowly rose into the sky, and the sound of cannons suddenly rang out. The artillery shells of our troops from the direction of Dong Deng crossed us in pieces and headed straight for the Vietnamese defense line in front of us. With a roar, the shells exploded in clouds of gunpowder smoke and dust in our line of sight, and at the same time detonated the mines buried by the Vietnamese army in front of the position, and blew up the layers of barbed wire that stopped at the foot of the mountain.

Especially in the death zone in front of us, a few broken carriages that the Vietnamese army had deliberately parked on the railroad tracks were blown into the sky in an instant, and then divided into several pieces and fell back to the ground like a heavenly 'girl', but before it could stop on the ground, it was again lifted into the air by new shells.

This cannon is a good shot, and it is also a good fight

Every infantryman would want their artillery to hit as hard as possible, and it would be better to kill and stun all the Vietnamese troops in the opposite position, and then we would go up and collect the corpses.

But that's obviously not possible, so that's why I'm going to take the next step.

I shifted my gaze from the bombardment in front of me to the multi-function watch in my hand, watching its hands tremble in the vibrations of the ground, watching it bounce forward little by little......

I don't dare to be careless, because I know very well that the most important thing to follow the cannonball is to time it accurately. The early time of the charge means that more fighters will be accidentally injured by their own shells; The charge was late, and as soon as the Vietnamese troops came out of the tunnel, they would undoubtedly fight more and more troublesome.

Finally, the hour hand jumped to 6:20, and without saying a word, I rushed with my soldiers towards the bombed-up battlefield.

The soldiers did not hesitate to see me rushing forward, and followed in groups from behind. Our 2nd Battalion, a force of 3 or 400 men, rushed into the shell group under the astonished eyes of the soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions.

Smoke, dust, heat......

All of this weighed down like a few mountains, and I couldn't breathe. At first, I could see the warriors following me out of the corner of my eye, but after a while there was no one left. The fog and smoke make the visibility here very low, and you can only faintly see the scenery more than ten meters ahead.

I thought that I might be injured by a shell, and I also thought that I couldn't take the 417 heights, but I just didn't expect to rush into the shell pile and see it...... This may be the so-called wise man's thousand thoughts must be wrong (I shamelessly put myself in the position of a wise man.) ）

But it didn't seem to matter if I couldn't see the scenery ahead, the artillery seemed to have extended at this point, and I led the way with the sound of the explosions of those shells, and I drilled wherever the explosions and steam 'waves' came. It's easy to say, but it's a life-threatening job. If one doesn't move faster, or the artilleryman is slower, then this life is over.

I ran all the way forward, and I don't know how long I ran all the way down, and suddenly my whole body was light, and the whole person fell into a ditch, so I knew that I had reached the top of the hill, and this was falling into the enemy's trench.

Immediately after that, a few more people fell in, and it was the warrior who was following me. I wanted to warn them, but I knew it didn't make sense, the soldiers couldn't hear my orders or see my gestures in the midst of such an explosion.

But having reached the top of the hill, my hanging heart was half relieved, because at least we didn't have to face the enemy's bullets like a rain on the death zone.

After resting in the trenches for a while, I tapped the warrior next to me on the shoulder, jumped up again and rushed towards the anticline on the other side.

At this time, the artillery fire was still extending, and it happened to hit the anticline, and the Vietnamese army would quickly drill out of the tunnel as soon as the artillery fire passed, so this was the critical moment of racing against time.

After running forward with a few fighters with guns in their hands for a while, they came to the anticline. It's just that I was stunned when I saw that scene, the smoke and dust were billowing and the smoke was filled, and I couldn't find where the mouth of the Vietnamese army's tunnel was

Not far ahead, a pile of dirt moved abnormally, and I didn't want to raise my gun, but it was two bullets, and a pool of blood sprayed out of the pile. It was an observer left on the position by the Vietnamese army, but he did not seem to have done his duty. Or it could be said that we came too quickly, and he didn't rush to report to his comrades in the tunnel.

"Stay put," I communicated to a few soldiers beside me in the dark language of the night. The soldiers of the fifth company had learned this, so they quickly passed on the order, and one by one the soldiers held their guns, 'drawn' grenades and explosives packets, and waited like this......