Chapter Seventy-Two: Stop the Rain

Chapter Seventy-Two: Stop the Rain

"How long will it take for the comrades of the 20th Corps to break through the defense line of the puppet army?" I asked, looking at the map on my desktop.

"I don't know" Liu Shunyi shook his head, thought about it, and added: "According to the telegram sent by the division headquarters, the puppet army realized that it had been surrounded by our army, so it fought to the death. At this time, two lines of defense were being organized in the north, occupying favorable terrain to prevent the advance of our comrades in the 20th Corps, so that the comrades of the 20th Corps were making very slow progress."

"Hmm," I nodded. It is normal for the puppet army to have such a reaction, which is why the ancients said that the siege cannot be suffocated, once the enemy cannot escape from all sides, then they will definitely work together to resist the enemy when there is no way to retreat. Just like the current puppet army, the four divisions were able to withstand the attack of the ten divisions of the Volunteer Army, and it cannot but be said that they exerted extraordinary combat effectiveness.

The fact is that it has long been proven in modern warfare that wars cannot be won with a large number of people. As long as the favorable terrain is occupied, it is not uncommon for a battalion or even a company to be able to hold back the advance of a division. If the volunteers can do this, so can the United Nations forces.

The classic battles of the Volunteer Army are the Tieyuan Blocking Battle and the Shangganling Battle, both of which blocked the advance of the United Nations Army several times or even dozens of times the strength of the United Nations Army with weak troops. The classic battles of the United Nations, such as the Fifth Campaign, the British Army's Gloucester Battalion held our army for three days......

This phenomenon may be difficult to understand in the age of cold weapons, but it is not uncommon in modern warfare. For example, at the Hwacheon junction where our army is now stationed, if the other side does not have the cooperation of aircraft, artillery, and tanks, it only needs two 'strong' machine guns and enough ammunition, even if the enemy has thousands of troops and horses, it will be killed

So if I were to command this battle, maybe I would choose to open a gap for the puppet army to escape. The puppet army's communication equipment is so well developed that once someone escapes, they will quickly notify other puppet troops. As soon as the puppet army fighting against the 20th Corps in the north learned of this, their will to fight would soon be relaxed. Who wouldn't want to run away if they have the opportunity to escape? Who wouldn't want to live if there is a way to live?

So that gap will be like a breathless ball suddenly appearing a 'hole', which will deflated the entire puppet army.

It's just a pity that I am not the commander-in-chief of this campaign. I don't dare to make a hole in this encirclement 'privately', because doing so will take me to court-martial, and because after the opening is made, I am not sure that I will be able to close this hole in time. The equipment of the puppet army is many generations more advanced than ours......

Anyway, it is difficult to fight the soldiers of the 20th Corps, for us, it is just to occupy the hill and shoot, there are so many pillboxes and fortifications on the 585.2 heights, and if the puppet army wants to capture us, we have to exchange our lives

"Regiment Commander" Zhang Mingxue, who was standing guard at the mouth of the tunnel, walked in and reported to me in a bit of a panic: "Regiment Commander, it looks like the rain is about to stop......

"What?" Listening to me, I couldn't help but be stunned, and walked to the mouth of the pit in three or two steps, lifted the black cloth and looked out, didn't it? The rain is getting lighter and lighter, and the sky is getting brighter, and there seem to be some signs of clearing.

"Damn it" Li Weiqiang scolded: "It's going to be dark, and it's still raining"

"Regiment leader" Li Pinghe said helplessly: "Even if it is the rainy season, there will be a time when the rain will stop."

I frowned and didn't speak, turned around and walked back to the map in front of my desk.

The stop from rain means something to the volunteers

We all know that US military planes have two fears, one is afraid of rain and the other is afraid of darkness.

It's pretty good when it's dark, and some of the Yankees' pilots with a high level of flight can still rely on radar to fly in the dark, and they still have many night planes equipped with night vision devices, such as the "Black Widow". But in a thunderstorm, even the most advanced pilots dare not try it easily. THERE ARE MANY REASONS FOR THIS, SUCH AS THE RUNWAY VISUAL RANGE DOES NOT REACH THE MINIMUM VALUE, THE RUNWAY IS MORE THAN 3MM WATERLOGGED, THERE IS STRONG LOW-ALTITUDE WIND SHEAR, AND EVEN LIGHTNING STORMS...... These will become aircraft killers in thunderstorms, and if the US military planes force take-off, they will be able to cope with these bad weather conditions.

But now......

"Prepare the fighters for battle," I ordered in a muffled voice.

"Yes" Liu Shunyi responded, grabbed the phone and conveyed the order.

"What does the regiment commander mean......" Li Pinghe asked hesitantly: "Will the puppet army use us as the main direction of attack?" ”

"That's for sure," I replied, "and as long as we were a person who understood, we would have given up the idea of erecting a pontoon bridge."

"I agree with this," Li Pinghe nodded and said: "Even if the puppet army still can't figure out what method we used to blow up the pontoon bridge, they will know that if we can blow it up the first time, we will definitely be able to blow it up the second time." But...... Why is the regiment commander so sure that the puppet army will attack the 585.2 heights we are stationing? And the 539 Regiment is stationed at the Kaneshiro River Bridge, isn't it? ”

"The Jinchengchuan Bridge is too risky" I responded: "The puppet army is not a fool, and we also know that we will not 'hand' the Jinchengchuan Bridge intact into their hands, even if they take down the 551.6 heights garrisoned by the 539th Regiment, as long as there is one person in the 539th Regiment to pull the fuse, the puppet army will get a bridge that has been blown to shreds."

This is obvious, unless the puppet army can use special forces to raid the troops of the 539th Regiment to control the bridge first, otherwise this will be the result. Because of this, the task of defending the Kaneshiro River Bridge may seem important, but it is actually a safe and easy job.

"That being said...... Li Pinghe continued, "but the 585.2 heights we are stationed on are also dangerous, if it weren't for ......."

"Soon it won't," I replied calmly: "If nothing else, the US planes will soon bomb the Hwacheon Highway where our troops are stationed with the target of the pillbox fortifications on the positive slope of the 585.2 heights, and now it can be said that the only way for the puppet army to escape"

"Hmm" After listening to my analysis, Li Pinghe couldn't help but nod in agreement. After being silent for a while, as if thinking of something, he asked, "The soldiers are still in the bunker, do you want to ......?"

I know what Li Pinghe meant, since we already know that US planes will bomb pillboxes, can we still let the soldiers be bombed in the pillboxes? The bunker is not a tunnel, the tunnel does not look at anything from the surface, and it is even more difficult to find it on a high-speed flying aircraft, and the tunnel is still deep, and often the mouth of the tunnel is bombed, and the people inside can still survive. But this bunker ...... The power of aerial bombs is not comparable to that of artillery shells, and as long as they are hit, there is basically no possibility of survival

I also understand these truths, but I still gritted my teeth and shook my head, if they are all withdrawn, who will defend the position? And we don't have any more room for the withdrawn fighters

"Assign a few walkie-talkies to the comrades in the bunkers" This was my final decision, because the bombing of American planes was very likely that I would blow up all the telephone lines of the companies to the front-line troops.

"Yes" Li Pinghe responded, and also understood that this was a helpless move, and after saluting, he ordered the correspondent to send the walkie-talkie.

Just as I expected, ten minutes later, the whistling of US military planes sounded in the air. Immediately after that, the puppet artillery also 'fired' a large number of shells at our high ground, and suddenly the whole high ground was trembling, and everywhere there was the sound of shell explosions, the smoke and fire produced by the explosions, and the screams of bullets and bullets like a storm, and the terrifying rumbling of tanks......

The entire puppet army seems to be moving, from the north to the south...... Even to the east and west, I felt that the 585.2 heights I was on were like a hard shell, and the puppet army around me was like a rat trying to take this shell to its mouth, constantly biting and gnawing on us with its teeth, looking around for a place to enter.

I was shaken in the tunnel, and I wanted to hold on to the wooden table, but soon the wooden table was shattered in half in front of me, and I wanted to lean against the tunnel wall, but the logs on the tunnel wall also fell down one by one. The kerosene lamps on the wall soon fell down, and the kerosene spilled everywhere and burned, but it was soon extinguished by the earth and rocks falling from the top of the tunnel, and the surroundings were suddenly plunged into total darkness.

In the darkness, I don't know who threw me to the ground, he pressed me so hard that I had some difficulty breathing, let alone rolling over, so I had to wait quietly on the ground. I only thought in my heart, anyway, it's the same everywhere now, the whole mountain is full of shells and planes, and the entire highland is caught in the indiscriminate bombing of the puppet army and the US army, so it is better to lie on the spot and resign yourself to fate......

I don't know how long it took for the bombardment to subside, replaced by bursts of gunfire and the rumble of tank motors.

I shook my head to sober myself up, then nudged the warrior who was pressing on top of me, only to realize that something was wrong. He didn't move, and he shouldn't have such a ......

So I tried all my strength to break free from him, only to find that he still had two or three logs pressed on his back

"Comrade Comrade...... "I tried to move the log and drag him out, but it soon became clear that it was all tulao.

The "regiment commander" didn't know who was shining a flashlight on me, and then turned the light to the soldier I was dragging behind, and I was stunned at this look: it was Xu Yongwei...... I reached out and 'touched' his nose with a trembling hand, and he had long since stopped breathing

"Let's go, regiment commander......" Li Pinghe didn't know where to 'touch' it out, and comforted: "He is a good soldier and has fulfilled his duty"

Zhang Mingxue walked up with a flashlight and saw this scene, he couldn't help but have a sour nose and two lines of tears that fell immediately, but he still gritted his teeth and said with a crying voice: "Regiment leader, go out quickly, the tunnel may collapse, I will cover you......"

But I still looked at Xu Yongwei who was pressed down in a daze, and I didn't want to move.

"The enemy is coming," I don't know who shouted outside the tunnel, so I woke up from my dream and looked out of the tunnel.

This is the battlefield, I am still fighting, and there is a regiment of soldiers waiting for me to command outside......

I gritted my teeth and stood up from the mud, picked up the hat on the ground and put it on for Xu Yongwei, and saluted before getting out of the tunnel.

The entire 585.2 Heights had changed, with layers of overlapping craters, collapsed tunnels everywhere, and soldiers desperately digging into the mouth of the tunnels and digging in the mud. Occasionally, a few fighters could be seen digging out from under the mud and the buried warriors were racing against time to give first aid.

I looked around, and there was a lot of dirt everywhere, and almost none of the fighters were still clean and tidy, either muddy or dirty. Even a unit like the 538th Regiment looked like a rabble at this time.

But

Whether it is a rabble or not can not look at the appearance, I know that all this did not bring down the fighters. Otherwise, they would not have been working hard to rescue their comrades from the position, otherwise they would not have tried to dig the mouth of the blown tunnel......

"The casualties are very heavy," I said in a muffled voice, and seeing that Li Pinghe beside me did not answer, I couldn't help but look at him suspiciously, only to find that his face was pale and the six gods were ownerless, and I quickly thought that he was worried about Lin Xue's safety.

This made me secretly cry out of shame. After coming out of the tunnel, all I thought about was my soldiers. Of course, Lin Xue is also a soldier under me, but I really didn't think of her just now, nor did I think of Jin Qiulian......

The dense sound of machine guns on the hilltop position made us react, and we ran to the hilltop position with our guns in hand. The soldiers of the 538th Regiment were also very conscious, and they didn't need my orders at all, and after leaving some people to continue to rescue their comrades, they all followed us with weapons and ammunition on their backs.

After passing through the craters, I climbed up to the top of the hill and looked down, and was suddenly shocked by the scene in front of me.

The bunkers on the slope have long since disappeared, some have become a large pit, some are buried under a pile of mud, and some are even burning with raging flames......

At the foot of the mountain, groups of puppet troops were pouring up like a 'tide' under the cover of tanks, occasionally shooting a few shots at the top of the hill tentatively.

Did all the warriors in the bunker die? I felt a pain in my heart, and maybe I should have withdrawn them just now. But what if you withdraw it? There is also no safe place for anticlines.

Seeing that no one was fighting back, the puppet army that was attacking on the slope saw that no one was fighting back, and the more they walked, the more assured they were, the faster they went, and the soldiers on the hilltop position were also ready for battle. However, just as the enemy let go of his pace and accelerated his attack on our troops, several pillboxes suddenly remembered the sound of dense machine guns, and rows of bullets were divided into three-dimensional positions of upper, middle, and lower and columnar fire that "crossed" left and right and rushed towards the enemy.

The unsuspecting puppet army fell down in pieces like harvested wheat in an instant, and a black mud was immediately sprinkled with bright red blood, and the rest of the puppet army fell to the ground one after another, unable to raise their heads.

"Good"

"Well played"

……

The soldiers let out bursts of cheers in unison, and it was obvious that the fighters in the pillbox were stunned by the shells, and as soon as they came to their senses, they began to fight the enemy.

There was only a wry smile in my heart, because I found that there were only four pillboxes that could still launch a counterattack, which meant that all the other pillboxes had been destroyed by enemy planes or shells. And these bunkers are also incomplete, and they can no longer hold up a few cannons of the puppet army.

In fact, at this time, if the puppet army is not in a hurry to attack, they only need to retreat and bombard it with artillery for a while, and those few pillboxes will soon be lost. But apparently the puppet army did not have so much time and 'fine' strength, and with a shout, those puppet troops lying on the ground launched a strong attack on our army's position.

"Da da da ......" The machine guns in the bunker rang out again, and since the puppet army wanted to hit the muzzle with their lives, of course the soldiers would not be polite. For those bunkers, because of their very favorable position, the entire slope was exposed under their firepower, and there was no "shooting" at all. They can also coordinate their firepower, and if any puppet army attacks one of the bunkers, the others will threaten their flanks.

Even if the puppet army in front of them launched several charges without interruption, they were all beaten down by the soldiers without exception. In addition to dozens of bloody corpses on the battlefield, the puppet army still found nothing.

Some puppet troops set up recoilless and aimed at the pillboxes, but the positions of the pillboxes on the 585.2 heights are very tricky, which may be that the puppet troops who built these pillboxes have long thought of this layer, and all the pillboxes are half deep into the soil, only 'exposed' out of the machine gun holes and the top out. In addition, the puppet army was lying below, and it could be seen that the area of the bunker was very small, so none of the more than a dozen shots could hit the bunker.

There are also puppet troops who set up mortars in the position, but it is obvious that it is difficult to do this in this position full of mud, even if Zhuyuan is adjusted to shoot a cannon, the recoil and soft mud quickly make the mortar lose its accuracy, and several shells are hit to the point where it goes.

And these puppet troops who set up recoilless guns and mortars, after firing a few shells, will soon become the target of the soldiers, often they only come to hit two in a hurry, only to see a piece of machine gun bullets pass, and the puppet army even people and cannons roll down from the inclined plane.

We, the soldiers on the hilltop position, because we are still far away from the enemy, can only cheer and cheer for them

At this time, a telegraph soldier came to me with a telegram and reported: "The division headquarters has called, the comrades of the 54th Army have broken through the defense line of the puppet army and built an artillery position at the front, which can provide us with artillery assistance."

"Just in time," I exclaimed excitedly when I heard the good news.

I don't think we would have lasted much longer without artillery assistance.