Chapter 30: Homecoming

Chapter 30: Homecoming

The tank unit was soon on the road, and of course, I was able to experience the journey in the tank cabin for myself.

I just don't know if I don't come in, and I'm scared when I come in. The tanks of this era are really far from what I imagined.

According to Battalion Commander Wu, this is entirely because the Type 63 tank has increased buoyancy and reduced weight in order to adapt to land and water operations, which makes its interior space relatively spacious. If this is in a Type 59 tank, it is difficult to turn around, which is why tank crews require a relatively short stature.

As for this disadvantage...... I can't even count them this time

The first feeling is that the communication equipment is too poor, the noise is too loud, the signal is intermittent, and sometimes it takes four or five times to say a word and convey an order before it can be accurately conveyed to other tanks. The parts are also often broken, and all kinds of instruments are either out of order or wrong, so that the crew in the tank is basically repairing while driving.

This is not? At this time, Camp Commander Wu was next to him while turning the wrench and scolding his mother: "These dogs, these things produced are asking for our lives."

These equipment were all produced during the ten years of turmoil, and most of them were unqualified when they were produced, but they were still piled up on the battlefield where human lives were at stake, who can blame them?

Another unbearable drawback is that almost everything in the tank is manual. For example, what machine gun to load, driving '' longitudinal rods, and so on. This machine gun is not badly loaded, and it will be over if you start a battle and overcome it. This driving '' longitudinal rod requires dozens of pounds of tension, and the driver is pulling this thing to '' the longitudinal tank, which is a few hours, not that the tank can't stand it, but that the driver has no strength......

What is even more exaggerated is that the tanks of this era did not have a fire control system, that is, "judging the distance depends on the eyes of the gun commander, and the 'shooting' depends on the experience of the 'shooter'". In this battle, I have a hard time believing that the shells fired by the tanks will be accurate.

But then again, if it weren't for this bunch of three divisions and two regiments jumping out of the encirclement. From this point of view, we cannot blame these "life-savers" under any circumstances.

After the "battalion commander" tank team staggered down the road for more than an hour, the two tanks that were reconnoitring in front reported: "There is a village ahead, armed men"

"Hmm" Camp Commander Wu frowned and asked, "Is there any other way to go?" ”

"No," a loud voice came over the radio: "The road runs through the village...... There is only one way."

"All stop and get ready for battle," Battalion Commander Wu ordered, and then turned his gaze to me.

I know it's time for our infantry to go and reconnoitre. But in reality, I soon discovered that we didn't need to scout at all.

I opened the hatch of the tank, took a few breaths of fresh air outside the tank, and watched as the tanks lined up one by one around the village in front of me, and aimed the muzzles and muzzles of their guns at the houses in the village

I raised my binoculars and looked at the village, and I could only see the bamboo buildings and wooden houses in the moonlight, and occasionally there were a few dog barks and chicken crowings, which looked like a very ordinary village.

"All of them, get ready for battle" I picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered: "Give me three platoons to hide behind the tank, ready to reconnoiter ......"

The reason why I let the third platoon go is because the people in my hometown will be more experienced, and I don't want to have casualties when I have to complete the mission.

"Yes," the hometown responded, jumped out of the tank, and ordered a few people to go up.

But just as they were about to cross the tank and march towards the village, the originally silent village suddenly exploded like a pot, "booming ......" and rows of bullets, and occasionally a few rockets came straight towards our tank group with a whistling sound. Of course, in this dark night and at a distance of at least five hundred meters, those rockets did not have any chance of hitting.

From this point of view, the armed men in the villages will not be the regular troops of the Vietnamese army, but some militia or units that are not even militia. It is said that in order to resist the "aggression" of our army, the Vietnamese army sent a large number of weapons to the people, so that they could take up arms against us. I believe that there is such an "army" in front of us.

But since they have weapons, and they shoot and even 'fire' rockets at me, we can only see them as enemies.

"Fire" Without any hesitation, Battalion Commander Wu ordered the tank troops to open fire. All of a sudden, the tank guns, the side-by-side machine guns, and the high-firing machine guns mounted on the turrets of the tanks all spewed out dazzling flames.

The Type 63 tank is not very good in terms of protection or attack, but it is more than enough to deal with the bamboo houses and the Vietnamese people with weapons in front of them.

None of the several rockets fired by the Vietnamese could hit, but some bullets hit the armor of the tank and made a "clanging" sound, even if the armor of the Type 63 is thin, if it can't even stop the bullets, can it still be called a tank? So the Vietnamese can't hurt us at all.

ON THE CONTRARY, THE GUNS FIRED BY OUR ARMY SWEPT THE WHOLE VILLAGE LIKE AN AUTUMN WIND SWEEPING AWAY LEAVES, AND THE TYPE 63 TANK GUN WAS 85MM CALIBER, AND THE HIGH-ALTITUDE 'FIRING' MACHINE GUN WAS 12.7MM CALIBER. The wooden houses collapsed with a bang from machine gun bullets, and rows of bamboo buildings were blown up into the sky by shells, and then turned into fragments in the air and floated in the air like leaves, and then slowly fell to the ground.

"Forward" saw that the bombing was almost over, and as soon as Battalion Commander Wu gave the order, the tanks slowly drove along the road towards the village in groups of two, and we, the infantrymen, also followed the tanks and walked forward on guard.

I didn't dare to be careless, holding my rifle and keeping an eye out for possible targets ahead. Although I know that this is an asymmetrical war, experience has taught me that there is no reason to underestimate the opponent and be careless on the battlefield, otherwise the price may be the fact that I am right.

In a few moments we had occupied the whole village, and the whole battlefield was lit up by the light of the fire, and there were corpses of civilians everywhere, mostly old people and 'women', but also some children of thirteen or fourteen years old, but they were all carrying guns without exception.

A large part of the reason why the AK47 is so popular is that it is easy to use and basically maintenance-free. Even if you don't know anything about firearms, you can take it to the battlefield with you after a few hours of training. It is precisely for this reason that the Vietnamese army was able to arm these civilians so quickly.

But these civilians seem to be too inexperienced, and they should wait for our reconnaissance forces to get closer before firing anyway. Of course, that's not to say I want them to do that.

A wounded Vietnamese man was crawling on the ground, he had a 'leg' broken by the explosion, and the blood that flowed out dragged a long bloody path behind him, his body was covered with burns and bloodstains, and his whole body was blood-red when he was illuminated by the firelight, and we couldn't even see his face clearly. He crawled in the opposite direction to us, and looked back at us with those terrified eyes.

Contrary to his horror, beside him were a flock of 'chickens' and ducks walking freely between blood and fire, seemingly defiing all that the war had to offer.

"Nokumatsu Page"

"Nokumatsu Page"

……

Several fighters shouted at the wounded Vietnamese for him to surrender, and no one wanted to kill him until he turned over and pulled out the pistol at his waist......

"Bang bang ......bang" A few gunshots rang out, and the Vietnamese who was struggling to survive fell heavily in a pool of blood with his head tilted. The soldiers knew that this was the best ending, because even if he surrendered, we would not be in a position to cure him, and we would honestly not want to

In this battle, we killed and wounded a total of 57 enemy personnel, captured four hail anti-tank rocket launchers, three machine guns, 52 AK47 submachine guns, and more than 40 boxes of various ammunition and ammunition.

Bullets and the like were piled up on the tanks, and as for the AK47...... Anyway, the Type 56 submachine gun looks similar to the AK47, and if we say that the Type 56 submachine gun captured from the Yue devils is the Type 56 submachine gun, who knows?

But just as we were cleaning up the battlefield, there was a sudden loud "boom" in the village, followed by a "da-......" submachine gun, and we hurriedly ran in the direction where the gunfire came.

When I walked to the front, I saw that a tank was hit by an enemy Type 40 rocket, and the rocket entered and came out from the left side of the tank, and only exploded after passing through two layers of armor plates, and the second gunner standing on the turret was hit through the stomach by shrapnel on the spot, and his intestines were dripping with blood, and his intestines flowed outside. The hygienist hurriedly stuffed the intestines back into the stomach and urgently bandaged the wound.

The guy who fired the rocket was a Vietnamese soldier, in his sixties, black and thin like a monkey. He hid in a pyre and fired a 'fire' rocket, just over 20 meters away from the tank. The soldiers fired three or four shuttle bullets into the pyre in one go, and when he was dragged out, his head and face were so broken that he couldn't see clearly, and the yellow military uniform on his body proved that he was a regular soldier of the Vietnamese army, and he also had the rank of captain.

I thought he was a wounded man, and he was too old to fight with the rest of the Vietnamese army, so he was left in the village.

Battalion Commander Wu stood up with blood on his hands, and then kicked the corpse of the Vietnamese soldier fiercely, so the soldiers knew that the wounded second gunner was no longer good.

Fearing that the sound of gunfire and fire would attract the surrounding Vietnamese troops, we did not dare to stay in the village for long, and after ten minutes we embarked on the march again. Although the Type 63 tank is not fast in the water, it can reach 30 to 36 kilometers per hour on the road, barely catching up with the speed of an electric car. So after more than 40 minutes, when the sky was slightly 'dew' the belly of the fish, we faintly saw the 339 heights.

"Five companies and five companies, report your location" At this moment, the voice of Commander Zhang sounded on the walkie-talkie again.

"Report to the head of the group," I grabbed the walkie-talkie and said, "We have reached the 339 heights. Repeat, we have reached the 339 heights"

"Is that tank unit you?" Commander Zhang asked a little nervously: "A total of twenty-three tanks and two armored vehicles"

"Yes" I was a little puzzled by Commander Zhang's nervousness, but I still replied: "This tank unit is the ...... of us and the tank unit that broke through."

"Huh......" Commander Zhang's heavy gasp was heard on the other end of the walkie-talkie, and then he was heard shouting: "Quick, inform the artillery unit, it's our own people"

When I heard this, I realized that Commander Zhang almost took us as reinforcements from the Vietnamese army and bombarded us with artillery fire......

The tanks slowly drove into the defensive circle of the 639th Regiment with the sound of rumbling motors, and the soldiers on the heights along the way slowly turned their heads to look at us suspiciously, not understanding how our own troops could suddenly appear from the rear of the Vietnamese army. When the fighters on the back of the tank recognized a few fellows and said hello a few times, the fighters gathered around.

"Hey, that's you."

"Isn't that right?"

"Didn't I see you fighting in the mountains yesterday? Why did you get on the tank today? ”

"The mission was a big victory"

"Really? What kind of victory did you fight? ”

"Then there is a false story, and more than 1,000 devils will be defeated."

"Blow you"

"Look at these tanks, will this be fake?"

……

The soldiers were excitedly talking and laughing with their comrades, and some even drove the tank too fast, so they simply jumped down and chatted with the fellows while walking.

That's talking about ...... One by one, the eyebrows flew and danced, and the sky was in a chaotic mood, while the other fighters kept making "wow" and "wow" sounds, and from time to time they also cast admiration and envy at us. I can't help but laugh at it. I don't know how many times I've fought on the battlefield in Korea with such victories, and now I'm numb to it. But for the warriors, it can be said to be a legend.

Yes, a company of infantry penetrated deep into the encirclement formed by the 'elite' troops of two regiments of the Vietnamese army, which not only successfully rescued the trapped tank troops, but also caused casualties several times that of the Vietnamese army (although this casualty cannot be counted, it is not small). This is worthy of their praise and pride in any way.

But I believe that as the war progresses, they will soon get used to all this, even to life and death.

At this time, a correspondent separated the crowd and ran to me to report: "Commander Zhang asked you and the deputy company commander to go to the regiment headquarters, as well as the head of the tank unit."

"Hmm" I nodded, and by the way, I called the deputy company commander, Battalion Commander Wu and Battalion Commander Ding, although Commander Zhang didn't let Battalion Commander Ding go, but I believe that it was only because Commander Zhang didn't know about Battalion Commander Ding's existence.

Several people patted each other on the shoulders, and walked towards the regiment headquarters like brothers in life and death

"I said Company Commander Cui" Battalion Commander Ding was the first to speak: "With someone like you as the company commander, I don't have the face to be the battalion commander."

"I think so too," Battalion Commander Wu also agreed: "Originally, I thought I was a character, the commander of the tank battalion...... In the army, they all walked sideways, but now I see you, the company commander...... What a shame."

The deputy company commander laughed vigorously when he heard this, and at the same time said proudly: "You two don't know, right, he was my soldier in the first place, and I was his company commander?" This doesn't taste good, but fortunately, you are not from the same army, otherwise you would have suffered."

"Hmm" Listening to the words of the deputy company commander, Battalion Commander Ding and Battalion Commander Wu couldn't help but look at each other and smile bitterly.

Before you know it, you have arrived at the regimental headquarters. As soon as we walked into the tunnel, we were warmly welcomed by the soldiers in the regiment headquarters, and all the staff inside applauded in unison

Captain Zhang also nodded at me with a smile on his face to express his approval, if he and I have any 'private' grievances or holidays, then in the face of this can be called a major victory, it will become insignificant. What's more, there is no 'private' grudge between me and him.

"These two are ......," Commissar Huang gave me a look.

"Oh," I said, "This is the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 629th Regiment of the 210th Division of the 70th Army, and he is also going to reinforce Dongxi like our fifth company." This is the commander of the 2nd Tank Battalion, and they are the besieged troops of Dongxi."

"Hello, hello," Political Commissar Huang shook hands with the two of them very politely.

After serving each of us a cup of tea, Political Commissar Huang explained: "The superiors already know most of your situation, in fact, there is a battalion of reinforcements of our 72nd Army that has arrived at a position fifteen miles away from Dongxi, but through reconnaissance, it was found that there are a large number of Vietnamese troops lurking in the jungle, and later I learned that there are as many as two regiments, and they are also the two main regiments of the Vietnamese army's ace division, and the superiors keenly feel that this is a trap set by the Vietnamese army, and the purpose is to put our troops into the terrain that is not favorable to our army. Just when the superiors were worried about the besieged troops, the news suddenly came that the reservoir of the Vietnamese army had been bombed and the Vietnamese army had been flooded...... You did it."

"Yes" I nodded: "And that's thanks to a couple of divers from the tank unit......"

Speaking of this, I couldn't help but look at Battalion Commander Wu and a few people, and they all sighed and lowered their heads. This tense breakthrough along the way, everyone didn't have time to think about the few divers who sacrificed themselves to save the troops. At this time, I happened to mention that the soldiers who were alive to drink tea here felt a little uncomfortable.

But that's what the battlefield is, and I'm sure this is just the beginning, and one day, they'll be as numb to it as I am