Chapter 144: The Battle for Morale

The barefoot soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion hit the mortars at the foot of the hill with a "to......m-tom" sound, and the shells fell on our positions in rows with a whistling sound, kicking up patches of scorched earth.

The soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion were very skilled in the use of mortars, which can be seen from the fact that dozens of their men 'operated' and controlled the dozen or so mortars in an orderly manner, allowing the mortars to 'fire' shells at our positions almost without interruption.

I think that the reason why they are so proficient in the use of weapons is also for the same reasons as the volunteer soldiers. That is, the country is relatively poor and backward. Poverty means less, and backwardness means obsolete weapons. The combination of outdated weapons and insufficient *** makes them have to practice their killing skills hard to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. Only in this way can we maximize the maximum power of the few weapons in the battlefield.

However, the current Ethiopian battalion will no longer have *** shortage and obsolete weapons, the reason is simple, that is, their big boss? - The United States, will provide everything they need.

But even then, their mortars could not pose a threat to us. After all, this was the first time they had attacked Shangganling. They were not familiar enough with the terrain of Shangganling and the smoke around Shangganling made it impossible for them to observe at all, and they could only fight at our position.

At the same time, I don't need to worry that the U.S. military will carry out a large-scale artillery bombardment on the 597.9 height, which only has five positions around the main peak, and most of the positions are still stationed with puppet army troops. No matter how bold the Yankees are, they will not dare to attack our positions regardless of the lives of friendly troops*. The consequence of this will not only divide the United States, but also expose the US military to the reproach of domestic anti-war activists.

As a result, we can now rest on our backs on our positions without going into the tunnels to avoid enemy fire as usual.

"Is there any movement in the puppet army on both wings?" I asked casually.

"There hasn't been any movement yet!" Li Feng replied: "I have sent people to closely monitor the positions of the puppet army on the left and right, and arranged a few 'strong' machine guns and mortars to prepare for blocking the attack. If they make any moves, the fighters will react immediately! ”

"Hmm!" I nodded.

Now we are actually surrounded on three sides by the enemy. In front was the Ethiopian battalion, which numbered more than 1,000 people. On the left and on the right are the pseudo-second teachers we have already learned.

Our situation seemed dire, but I wasn't too worried.

First of all, our back is safe. It is true that the enemy can sneak up behind us, and it is not difficult for the puppet army stationed on the two sides of the triangle to do so. But the soldiers of our army stationed in the tunnels could not ignore this, there are dozens of tunnel openings on the anticline, and as long as one soldier discovers the enemy who is sneaking up, he can quickly call in artillery support. At that time, the enemy's sneak attack force was only afraid that it would end in total annihilation.

Our right flank is also safe, and on the right flank there are only two insignificant positions - positions 5 and 6. The puppet army stationed in these two positions was, at best, only one platoon. Relying on such a small number of troops, it is already good that they can hold their positions, where can they dare to launch a counterattack against us. What's more, if they really do this, they will have to pass through the natural danger of the No. 0 position, which is the ridge that Huang Jiguang blocked the gun hole is only ten meters wide. We only need to arrange four or five men with two 'strong' machine guns in that direction, and we can keep the right wing from losing.

Our main pressure comes from the front and the left.

The Ethiopian battalion on the front was selected by the guerrillas who had been fighting against the Italian army for a long time, and although there were some deficiencies in weapons and equipment, such as no heavy equipment, their combat effectiveness was presumably not bad. The combat effectiveness of the puppet army on the left flank should not be underestimated, and they have been fighting against the volunteer army for a long time and are well aware of the combat habits and characteristics of our army. More importantly, the 537.7 Heights are still in their hands, and they can completely increase their troops through the 537.7 Heights to achieve the effect of uninterrupted attacks on us.

Attacking from the left flank is also geographically disadvantaged, but in any case it is much easier than climbing from the front.

But that's exactly what I want to see, because of the benefits, they won't just give up the seven positions on the left. Moreover, because they have the opportunity to attack us on three sides, and have the opportunity to recapture the main peak position again, they will definitely launch a strong offensive against us. That's when we kill and wound a lot of the enemy......

I was thinking about it when I suddenly heard the roar of a motor at the foot of the mountain.

"It's a tank!" I quickly made such a judgment.

Having been on the Korean battlefield for some time, I am certainly no stranger to this kind of sound.

Sure enough, after a while, more than a dozen tanks turned out of the opposite foot of the mountain one after another, lined up in a line and slowly drove into the position of the Ethiopian battalion. To my surprise, however, I could clearly see through the telescope that the Heavy was an American soldier.

Thinking about it, it quickly became clear that Ethiopia was relatively backward, so naturally there would be no tanks, and this was a tank battalion transferred by the Yankees to help.

The Ethiopian battalion may have rarely seen such a lineup, or they have rarely fought side by side with such a modernly equipped unit, so as soon as the tank unit drove in, the Ethiopian battalion soldiers immediately burst into cheers. Some of them held up their guns and shouted, some excitedly shot into the sky, and some even climbed into the US tanks to shake hands with the US GIs......

At the foot of the mountain, there was jubilation, and the morale of the Ethiopian battalion soldiers was also greatly shaken.

Those Yankees didn't feel anything at first, but when they saw the Ethiopian battalion soldiers so enthusiastic and admired them so much, they couldn't help but feel a little complacent, and they all stood on the tanks and waved at the Ethiopian battalion soldiers like warriors returning from triumph, and some even raised their machine guns to "da-da......" at our army's position, which immediately provoked a burst of cheers from the Ethiopian battalion. I only saw that the volunteer soldiers were secretly scolding.

drip! Seeing this, I was a little reluctant, these Yankees were filming or something, and they were showing off their strength in front of their allies. If you don't extinguish your prestige, where will the face of our volunteers go!

Thinking that I wouldn't say much, I immediately put away the binoculars and lifted the rifle up.

Li Baocheng and Li Feng, who were beside him, both knew that I was going to make a move, and they both raised their binoculars to observe the direction where my gun was pointing.

In the scope, I silently observed the swaggering machine gunners and cheering Ethiopian battalion soldiers on the American tanks, my index finger lightly resting on the trigger and waiting for an opportunity.

Although the visibility is not very good, I believe that with the help of a sniper scope, it is not a big problem to kill an American machine gunner. But that's not what I want to do, if I want to fight, I have to shake the soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion with one shot, so that they understand that equipment on the battlefield is not everything!

I didn't do this all for the sake of the volunteers' face, let alone to show off my marksmanship, but to suppress the high morale of the Ethiopian battalion and the arrogance of the American army. By the way, I would like to encourage the volunteer soldiers beside me, most of them are new recruits, and they need this very much!

Morale is a hard thing to say, sometimes just an important person in command on the battlefield, or a piece of good news, can make the soldiers 'spirited' high. And once the morale of the soldiers is high, they will all fight with their lives and deaths, regardless of their lives. On the contrary, the more you fight, the more you are afraid, the more uncomfortable you become, and you will feel uncomfortable no matter what.

This may be the reason why when fighting with cold weapons, the weaker side will often stand up with a military general and call for a heads-up! The ancients were so smart, the winning side was relatively small, let the generals come out and scold alone, and the other party should not fight, and it should not be! Fight for it, losing it will greatly demoralize your soldiers. Don't fight, that's clearly showing weakness and being a coward......

Now I am fighting this morale battle with the enemy.

My crosshair was at the foot of the hill and I watched as tank after tank passed me in scope, and Yankee's head bobbing under my gun. But they never fired a shot, and they were lucky because they all wore helmets!

As the minutes passed, Li Baocheng and Li Feng beside me turned their heads to look at me in some confusion, as if wondering why I didn't shoot. But I didn't pay attention to them, still waiting with my gun in my hand......

Suddenly, I was greeted by a U.S. soldier, perhaps overexcited by the compliments of the Ethiopian battalion soldiers, who took off his helmet and waved vigorously at the cheering soldiers under the tank.

Thereupon...... I flicked my index finger and the gunshot rang out!

The American soldier was hit by a bullet and hung next to the tank, and the blood on his neck 'shot' high like a fountain.

On the other side of the Yankee, an Ethiopian battalion soldier who was still cheering just now had a big hole in his head, and he even had a weird smile on his face before he fell.

A single bullet 'fires' at the enemy of both armies at the same time, I think this should be rare on the battlefield!

At this moment, the foot of the mountain suddenly fell silent, the cheers were gone, the shouts were gone, and the soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion immediately fell to the ground.

“Ｓniper！ (Sniper) "Soon, some U.S. troops realized the power of this gun, and they all shrank back into the tank with a shout, and in the hurry, some people didn't even have time to close the hatch.

"Well played!" Li Baocheng shouted: "Look at these turtle sons are still arrogant!" ”

"All of them are shrunken turtles!" Li Feng shouted at the enemy at the foot of the mountain: "Shrink into your turtle shell!" If you dare to come out, you can eat your grandfather's 'flower' raw rice! ”

There was a loud cry, and the soldiers stationed on the position all burst out laughing.

Before I could laugh for a while, I noticed that the American tanks turned their turrets one by one, and then cocked their barrels high, so I hurriedly ordered: "Cover!" Shelter! ”

As soon as the words fell, I only heard a "chaotic" sound of "boom ......", and the cannonballs hit the sky overwhelmingly. It was like a tornado blowing on the battlefield. The whole mountain was shaken, and black smoke, air waves, broken earth and gunpowder smoke came to the sky, choking people out of breath.

But I knew very well that the tank guns were direct 'fire' guns, and they couldn't do anything about us on the hilltop position, and at best they were just to strengthen and cheer them on.

The U.S. tanks fired a burst of artillery fire, and the machine gunners came out of the tank compartment again and fired at our positions in a "booming ......." After a while, there was only a shout, and the Ethiopian battalion soldiers from Africa swept towards our position like a dark cloud.

I poked my head out and realized the benefits of the Ethiopian battalion soldiers not wearing shoes.

In the past, whether it was the U.S. army or the puppet army, when attacking, they had to hold their guns and run forward, and they could not maintain their balance more or less, and even some people simply carried their guns on their backs and climbed up with their hands and feet, so the speed of the charge was very slow. Especially after Shangganling was "combed" several times by countless shells, there was loose soil everywhere, and the enemy often had to take a step back after climbing two steps......

But this Ethiopian battalion ...... These soldiers without shoes can easily maintain their balance on such an incline, and they can even raise their guns and aim while running fast on this incline!

Isn't that why Van Vliet hasn't sent this army into battle for more than a year, only now to let them come up!

I don't deny that Van Vliet was right on this point.

"Chief of Staff! The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming! "Not far away, several fighters shouted in my direction.

"What's the hurry?" Because he was Li Feng's soldier, he couldn't hold his face, and yelled at the soldier with a red face: "Everyone is in place, all calm down, listen to the chief of staff's orders!" ”

"Yes!" Being shouted by Li Feng like this, the soldiers picked up their guns again and pointed them at the enemy.

Recruits are like this, and they will inevitably get nervous when they see the enemy coming up.

The Ethiopian battalion's soldiers climbed higher and higher, and they seemed to be very experienced in mountain warfare, and when they were about to reach the top of the mountain, they slowed down, carefully using the craters and stone cover in their positions, and 'groped' their way up.

But no matter how careful they were, as they climbed from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, the area became smaller and smaller, and the originally scattered team became compact. By the time they reached a place only 30 or 40 meters away from our position, they were already crowded with people.

"Hit!"

Originally, fighting on such a steep slope, I could have put them closer to move, but after all, it was my first time against the Ethiopian battalion, and I didn't know their strength and fighting style. Considering that most of the soldiers were new recruits, and the enemy would be too nervous if they were too close, they immediately gave the battle order!

Suddenly, the battlefield was lively, with machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, ...... The bullets of all kinds of guns were fired down in rows, the loose soil in front of the position boiled like an oil pan, and everywhere there were piles of soil 'flowers' that were hit by bullets, everywhere there was blood 'shooting' from the enemy's body, and everywhere there were layers of soil 'waves' 'stirred' up by grenades and blasting canisters......

The soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion were stunned by the sudden rain of bullets and bullets of our army, and they never imagined that under the stormy bombing and strafing of the US tanks just now, the volunteers would have such fierce firepower.

As a matter of fact, the puppet army and the US troops who fought in Shangganling know that the direct-firing guns and high-firing machine guns on the tanks do not play much role against our troops on the hilltop position at all. The soldiers of the Ethiopian battalion did not know, and I suspect that the US military and the puppet army were deliberately covering it up in order to make them come and die willingly.

Since this is the case, then I guess the main direction of the enemy's offensive will not be frontal...... It quickly occurred to me that their main direction of attack was our left flank, and that the Ethiopian battalion soldiers in front of them were nothing more than 'decoy' bait they used to attract our attention and contain our troops.

As soon as my mind came to mind, the sound of gunfire was heard simultaneously on the left and right flanks of our army.

I didn't want to run towards Position 8 on the left flank with my gun in hand, because I knew very well that the sound of guns on the right flank was also a feint by the enemy in order to contain our forces.

The No. 8 position was not far away, just more than 20 meters behind the side of the No. 9 position, and the cat ran over to take a look, and couldn't help but be taken aback. In just a few moments, more than half of the dozen or so volunteer soldiers stationed here were killed or wounded, blood was everywhere on the position, and the trenches built up of sacks were also beaten everywhere. The puppet army wearing steel helmets and holding rifles on their heads was divided into three piles, each in a triangular formation, and climbed up with the bullet point. The puppet soldiers in front of them reached out one by one to pull the grenades in their waists, and they saw that they were about to reach the distance of throwing grenades.

"Bang bang bang......" I didn't say a word, I raised the rifle in my hand was a few bullets, and the puppet soldiers who were about to throw grenades at the head of the line were immediately knocked to the ground by me.

At this time, I only heard a loud bang, and a pile of sacks beside me flew up, and I caught a glimpse of a red light out of the corner of my eye, and hurried to the ground, only to hear the sound of a whirl, and my whole body was in a hot and dry heat, and my hair was also roasted.

Lying on the ground and crawling forward a few steps, I looked up and understood, and then I understood why the eighth position would be so difficult to defend. To the left of position No. 8 are the No. 1 and No. 7 positions where the puppet army is stationed. Although both positions are below, the difference is not large. The puppet army arranged three or four 'recoilless' guns on each position, and there was a 'chaotic' bombardment of the sacks we had erected......

Where can a trench built up with sacks withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of recoilless guns! Therefore, although we were condescending and had the fire support of the No. 3 main peak position, the fortifications that had been built so hard were all over the place in an instant! V