CHAPTER XVIII. 339 Heights

Today, I drank a few more glasses of wine with a friend who fought on the old mountain, and the writing may be a bit 'messy', so please bear with me

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CHAPTER XVIII. 339 Heights

With the unanimous consent of many cadres, the acting regimental commander also had to change the route of the march according to our wishes. But I could tell that there was a clear displeasure on his face. I can easily see this that Zhang Jianzhong, the commander of the third battalion (I really don't want to call him the regiment commander in my heart) is originally a person who is happy or unhappy and quickly puts on his face, just like others say that he is a tendon cow.

The reason why I don't want to be called the head of the regiment is that I feel that he is not qualified for the position of head of the regiment. If this was during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, I would have taken out this issue for the soldiers to discuss, which should be a normal thing, and even in most cases, it would have been recognized and praised by the superiors. But now...... The commander of the third battalion had obviously treated me as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh. I can't tell...... He would also see me as a threat to the position of regimental commander.

However, I also know that in the army of this era, there are very few people who are qualified for their duties. Many experienced commanders who fought during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, as well as a large number of high-ranking talents, criticized and dismissed their posts during the 10-year turmoil, and even General Xu Shiyou, the commander-in-chief of this counterattack, was imprisoned and put on trial, and even almost lost his 'life'.

General Xu Shiyou has such an experience, and there is no need for others to say it, which has directly led to the criticism and dismissal of many capable and talented generals in our army. So...... Most of the current commanders and regiment commanders at the command level were originally battalion commanders and company commanders. It's not that they can't be the division commander or regiment commander, but their own abilities are quite different from these positions. This is also one of the reasons why in the course of the counterattack war, the commanders of various armies generally appeared to be "chaotic" and "chaotic" and suffered heavy casualties.

For example, our current acting regimental commander is very unsuitable for serving as the commander of a regiment because of his military qualities and tactical thinking.

The troops soon embarked on the march again, and the route was set by several border residents, including Hu Shaowen, who was not yet seventeen years old. From this point of view, it is fortunate that the army has recruited a few border people who are familiar with the terrain to be interpreters, otherwise we really have no other way.

However, I soon learned that the route set by the border people was not easy to follow, and in fact, it could not be considered a route at all, because there was no road at all. There are dense forests everywhere, and it is simply an old forest in the deep mountains that no one has ever walked on. The few warriors who walked in front had to open the way with their knives.

According to Hu Shaowen, they also occasionally went up the mountain to chop firewood before they came to this Babian Mountain, and they were not very familiar with the terrain here. But no matter what, I think that instead of taking the route that has been known to the Vietnamese army to send them to death, it is better to go into the deep mountains and old forests to fight.

After more than two hours of arduous marching, we finally walked out of the forest and turned into another trail under the leadership of Hu Shaowen and others, and then turned around along this path, and after more than half an hour, we arrived at the destination 339 Heights.

Merely...... Is this 339 Heights? We all expressed our suspicions, one reason was that no one had ever seen the 339 Heights, and the other reason was that the mountains in Vietnam seemed to be about the same height, and we really had no way to confirm from this elevation that the 339 Heights in front of us were the 339 Heights that our superiors had asked us to occupy.

"The enemy's strength is not large, and there are only two companies," and after observing the high ground in front of me through a telescope for a while, I greatly estimated the number of Vietnamese troops on this high ground based on experience.

It can be said that we were very successful in changing our route this time, because we directly penetrated and 'inserted' into the rear of the high ground in front of us, so that the tunnels and fortifications on the anticline of the Vietnamese army were all exposed to our sight, and the Vietnamese army knew nothing about our troops.

"But the superiors said that there was at least one battalion of Vietnamese troops on this high ground," Company Commander Li hesitated: "Could it be that we made a mistake, and the high ground we want to capture is not this high ground?"

"I can't be wrong," I replied after thinking about it: "The reason why the number of Vietnamese troops stationed here has become less is probably that they know about our 'interspersed' route, so they have transferred some of them to our interpolation route to set up an ambush."

"Oh, that makes sense," as soon as I said this, Company Commander Li nodded in agreement.

In this respect, it is still a good thing for the Vietnamese army to know our route of penetration, at least now it will be much easier for us to capture the high ground in front of us.

After reaching this consensus, Company Commander Li and I cautiously crawled back from the thatch and reported the reconnaissance situation to the acting regiment commander.

"So what are you waiting for?" As soon as Regiment Commander Zhang heard our report, he raised the machine gun in his hand and said, "Let's kill the comrades, ...... with me."

"Regiment commander" I hurriedly stopped: "Should we ask for artillery support from our superiors and bombard them with artillery first?"

In fact, my real purpose is not this, because I know that artillery support cannot cause much damage to the Vietnamese troops hidden in the anti-slope tunnel fortifications, and my purpose is actually to let the Vietnamese army focus all their attention on the positive slope. A bombardment of artillery was enough to make them think that our army was going to attack them. Just when they are preparing for battle on the anticline, we suddenly rush up from the anticline, and the battle will be easy.

"Okay" Commander Zhang didn't like my suggestion, and waved behind him a little unhappily and called the signal soldier.

"Hey, I'm the 639 regiment, we have successfully penetrated the 'interspersed' to the 339 heights"

"Yes, yes, yes we ask for artillery support"

"What? Coordinates? I know a ball coordinates, you can't let the artillery shoot in the direction of the sun......"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but open my mouth wide and couldn't close it for a long time. This Regiment Commander Zhang doesn't even know basic military knowledge

But the bitterness is that I can't calculate the coordinates, so I hurriedly asked, "Which of you can calculate the coordinates?" ”

The warriors were stunned for a moment, and then one after the other shook their heads, all of them.

It's no wonder they, many of them have only been soldiers for a few months, which one can play with long-range artillery coordinates

In fact, this is also a very common problem of our troops in counterattack warfare, although our army's artillery has far exceeded the artillery of the Vietnamese army, but because very few people in the front-line combat units can 'precisely' calculate the coordinates, so that artillery is useless in counterattack warfare.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov once said: "It is a big joke to fight a war without artillery." Unexpectedly, decades after he said this, there was really such a scene on the battlefield of the counterattack war.

In desperation, I had to suggest to Regiment Commander Zhang again: "Regiment Commander, why don't we concentrate the mortars and bazookas in the regiment to bombard the enemy's high ground for a while, and then launch a charge......

"You are the one who said that you used the cannon, and you were the one who said that you didn't need the cannon," Regiment Commander Zhang replied angrily: "If you have it, you will do what you say."

I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I heard this, and sometimes I really wanted to give this regiment commander a hard shot.

"Combat-ready"

"Combat-ready"

……

The order went on one after another, and I don't know if Commander Zhang didn't want me to continue to behave or what, our company was actually arranged as a reserve. The first echelon attacked the third battalion of Commander Zhang's original army, and I think Commander Zhang has more or less the psychology of comparing me to me.

Actually, I don't want to be in the limelight, I just don't want the soldiers to suffer unnecessary casualties, but now it seems that this is unavoidable.

The mountains of Vietnam are full of thatch, which is more than half a person high, which gives us good cover. Regiment Commander Zhang led the soldiers of the third battalion and the 40 rocket launcher 'shooters' to crawl forward in front, and our reserve team followed closely behind.

It can be seen that the Vietnamese troops on the 339 heights did not expect that there would be an enemy situation in the rear at all, and they were very relaxed on this side. On the anti-slope plane, some of them were holding guns and 'smoking' cigarettes, while others were chatting in groups of three or five. So much so that our team of several hundred people 'pressed' closer to the distance of more than 300 meters on the 339 heights, and they had not yet found anything abnormal.

Originally, according to my meaning, you can lurk as close as you can, and it is not too late to launch a strong attack when the enemy discovers it. But the head of the regiment in front of him obviously did not have this patience. Because by this time I had already heard the sound of him giving the order to fire on the intercom.

More than 20 'door' mortars roared at the same time, and the 40 bazookas were all walking in front with Regiment Commander Zhang because of their short range and effective 'firing' range of only 300 meters.

Although the "booming ......" only heard a "chaotic" sound, although it did not have the same momentum as long-range artillery fire, not to mention, the "precision" accuracy was still "quite high"; one shell after another accurately hit the Vietnamese army's machine-gun positions and fortifications, lifting one Vietnamese army after another into the air, and even some shells directly hit the Vietnamese army's tunnel mouth.

The Vietnamese army suffered this sudden blow unprepared, and immediately 'disordered' to look for hiding places everywhere, but because most of their fortifications were facing the positive slope, there was not much defense against our firepower from the rear, so it didn't take long for them to fall under our artillery shells one by one, and the rest also rushed into the tunnel in a panic.

Seeing this scene of the enemy, Regiment Commander Zhang roared, grabbed the machine gun and rushed forward with the soldiers of the third battalion. It's just that their stormtroop formation is still a dense formation that makes me shake my head.

"All of them have" Looking at the head of the regiment Zhang who rushed up, I immediately ordered into the walkie-talkie: "Continue to advance covertly, go around to the flank of the 339 heights, and listen to my orders"

"Yes"

"Yes"

……

"Platoon Commander Cui" came from the walkie-talkie, and Company Commander Li's nervous voice came: "We are Regiment Commander Zhang's reserve team, what if Regiment Commander Zhang fails to attack and orders us to go up?" ”

"I can't wait for him to call us up," I replied, "ready to attack the flanks right away"

I admit that I did not follow the orders of my superiors and did my own thing, but I also knew in my heart that I was not self-righteous, but to minimize the casualties of the soldiers.

When I was observing the positions of the Vietnamese troops just now, I knew from the fortifications they had built that the Vietnamese troops in front of us were a well-trained unit. Because their fortifications are the anticline fortifications that we used on the Korean battlefield. The tunnel is divided into three layers, upper, middle and lower, and their positions are distributed according to the range of the weapons, for example, the upper ridge is the grenadier, the middle layer is the AK47, and the lower layer is the heavy machine gun and mortar. If the tunnels and anti-artillery 'holes' are pearls, then those 'crossing' trenches are ropes strung with pearls, and they are strung together with the mountaintop position.

It is too similar to the tactics we used to deal with the United Nations during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, and it is simply a mold. It is no wonder that some veterans who have returned from the counterattack war say that fighting with the Vietnamese army is actually fighting against their own shadow, and fighting against their own shadow is painful.

And because these shadows are all veterans of a hundred battles, they are more like volunteers during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. And now we are similar to the puppet army that did not have much combat experience in the early days of the Korean War.

Of course, I will not let the situation of the volunteer army fighting the puppet army in the past appear. So I took the soldiers of the fifth company and cautiously 'touched' the 339 flank.

I believe that this attack of Regiment Commander Zhang will fail, because I know too well this anti-slope tactic of the Vietnamese army. I even knew what the Vietnamese army would do next, the Vietnamese troops on the hilltop position turned their guns and condescendingly suppressed the fire on Regiment Commander Zhang and them; The Vietnamese troops in the tunnels only need to pile up a few sandbags and set up a few 'Ting' machine guns at the mouth of the tunnels to turn those tunnels into pillboxes. As a result, the entire anticline will soon be transformed into a point-and-surface defense system.

Perhaps Commander Zhang would have gained the upper hand in the initial attack because of his unpreparedness, but once the Vietnamese army reacted, their offensive would soon be thwarted.

Yes, I thought about this early on, but I didn't tell Captain Zhang. First, I knew that Regiment Commander Zhang would definitely not accept my opinion and fight my way. Second, I think long pain is better than short pain. Now that the Vietnamese army is under-strengthened, it is just a matter of making Regiment Commander Zhang suffer a little, and if I do it in time, the casualties of the soldiers will not be very large. If it's in another place, I'm afraid it's not as simple as suffering a little.

The purpose of my doing this is, first, to make Regiment Commander Zhang realize his mistakes, and if he fails to realize his mistakes, then I can continue to consolidate my prestige in the army. Although this is a bit selfish and comes at the cost of the lives of the soldiers, if you want the soldiers not to suffer more casualties, there is only one way.

The battle situation was as I imagined, the Vietnamese army quickly organized a defense, and the three battalions led by Commander Zhang were quickly suppressed at the foot of the mountain by the Vietnamese army's firepower. Although the soldiers on cover duty used mortars, rocket launchers, and heavy machine guns to bomb and strafe the Vietnamese troops, they had little effect because of the angle and the Vietnamese troops hiding in the tunnels.

Commander Zhang is worthy of being a tenacious cow, and in this case, he still stubbornly organized the soldiers to launch charges again and again. 47Although it was not accurate, its 'fire' rate, bomb capacity, and penetrating power were excellent weapons for dealing with crowd tactics, and coupled with the cooperation of hand grenades and such high visibility during the day, it was strange that Commander Zhang's troops could rush forward.

When Regiment Commander Zhang and the Vietnamese army were inseparable, the Fifth Company unknowingly climbed to the flank of the 339 Heights. The Vietnamese army focused all their attention on Commander Zhang's troops, and the fifth company learned how to disguise itself with me when I was in the new barracks. At this time, they were all dressed in a camouflage made of weeds, and at this time, they were 'mixed' in the thatch, and they really couldn't see anything if they didn't look carefully. Therefore, all of us in the company have sneaked to the designated place without danger.

"Report the situation," I asked, grabbing the walkie-talkie.

I know that every minute now means that many fighters are dying under the enemy's guns, and the first second means that the lives of the fighters are dying, so I dare not delay for a minute.

"Second row in place"

"Three rows in place"

"One row in place"

"Hmm" I nodded secretly, and immediately ordered: "The second platoon will attack along the left side of the ridge, the third platoon will attack along the right side of the ridge, and the first platoon will be the reserve target hilltop position, set off."

With a sound of "Teng", "straw men" suddenly jumped up in the grass, covering each other and advancing towards the 339 heights.

I also carried my rifle and led a group of soldiers along the left side of the ridge. The reason why the first platoon is used as a reserve is because its platoon commander is recruit Yang Songjian, and if possible, I will give him more time to study than to go to the battlefield.

I am too familiar with this anti-slope tactic of the Vietnamese army, so I am also well aware of the weaknesses of this tactic. Its weakness is the ridge that connects to the summit position.

The ridge not only has a gentle slope that is conducive to climbing, but more importantly, the ridge is the dividing line between the positive slope and the anti-slope plane, and the Vietnamese troops on the positive slope of the summit position cannot see the troops on the right side of the ridge, and the Vietnamese troops who are also located on the anti-slope plane cannot see the troops on the left side of the ridge. In this way, it is possible to successfully divide the enemy on the hilltop position in two, and at the same time, because of the angle, it is difficult for the enemy on the hilltop position to form a 'cross' fire on the opponent on the ridge. These are undoubtedly the necessary conditions for us to successfully attack the position on the top of the mountain. And once we capture the hilltop position, we can condescendingly deal with the Vietnamese troops in those tunnels.

At this time, a hurried voice suddenly came from the walkie-talkie: "Commander Zhang is injured, come up for reinforcements immediately, come up for reinforcements immediately"