Chapter 69: Dignity

Chapter 69: Dignity

"All be careful not to expose the target, repeat, do not expose the target" After thinking that there were Vietnamese artillery observers hiding near us, I immediately gave this order to the DPRK soldiers.

But this order seemed to be too late, and before I could finish speaking, more than a dozen shells came straight to our army's position with a sharp whistle, and then I only heard a loud "boom" sound, and the mortar position that our army had just laid was plunged into a raging fire, and more than a dozen gunners and several 'doors' of mortars were also bombed everywhere 'chaotically' and miserable.

"I'll say it again" Looking at this scene, I couldn't help gritting my teeth and said to the walkie-talkie: "There are artillery observers of the Vietnamese army lurking in our position, and no one is allowed to 'show' the target."

Xu Yongjian's curse voice came from the "damn drop" walkie-talkie: "These dog-day devils have set this trap for us to drill."

"Battalion commander, we're surrounded," the instructor shouted over the intercom, "or let's rush out and fight those dog-day devils."

I couldn't help frowning when I heard this, although the instructor's words were very tough, they seemed to reveal some panic. was so frightened by the Yue devil that he was 'messed up', which is obviously not a quality that a leader should have. And the more at this time, the more it was time to calm down the soldiers, and he, as a cadre, was the first to be impulsive, and at this time he shouted "We are surrounded" I really don't know how he became this instructor.

However, it is said that there are many cadres in the army in this era who have no combat experience, and it is not surprising that there are such instructors.

"Don't worry," I replied calmly: "Now is not a good time to break out, the Vietnamese army must be prepared for our breakthrough, as long as they build fortifications on several surrounding heights and lay mines, coupled with the artillery observers constantly report to them the situation of our army, they can resist our breakthrough without much effort." Doing so will not help us in any way other than increase our casualties."

"I agree with the battalion commander's point of view," the native quickly replied: "Now there is fog everywhere, visibility is only a few meters, and we are not familiar with the terrain, if we break through, it will be easy to be divided and surrounded by Vietnamese troops."

Well, I didn't think of that

Hearing this, I couldn't help nodding secretly, maybe this is what the Vietnamese army wants, the biggest weakness of the Vietnamese army is their lack of troops, and they will definitely put the main force on the defense of Lang Son.

This Lang Son is no ordinary place, it is a 'gate' to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. To the north of Lang Son, where we are now fighting the Vietnamese army, is the mountainous region of northern Vietnam, which is covered with undulating mountains and dense jungles. This terrain is obviously suitable for the Vietnamese army to fight, and not for the deployment of our army's large corps. South of Lang Son to Hanoi is the northern plain with rice paddies and a network of water. On this kind of terrain, it is obvious that it is advantageous for our army, which has an absolute superiority in artillery fire and an absolute superiority in troops.

It is said that when Qin Shi Huang set out to conquer Vietnam, it was also after conquering Lang Son that the king of Vietnam bowed down to him. Therefore, for Lang Son, the Vietnamese army had to send heavy troops to guard it.

Some people may say, did the Vietnamese have enough to eat and have nothing to do, and put the capital Hanoi so close to the Chinese border, is it to facilitate the attack of our army?

In fact, it was not that the Vietnamese wanted to do this, but that they had to place the capital close to the Sino-Vietnamese border. Historically, the Vietnamese army has needed China's vigorous protection in its wars against Japan, France, and more recently against the United States. It can even be said that without China's help, they would not have been able to survive to this day. They can't think of bringing the capital closer to China, because being far away from China means being close to South Vietnam, which is controlled by the United States, and it is not enough to let the US military bomb it clean......

Therefore, this cycle of retribution is not happy, in order to get the protection of China, the capital was close to the Sino-Vietnamese border, and now it has turned against us, and it is immediately facing the dilemma of letting our troops point directly at the city of its capital, so that the Vietnamese army has to defend everywhere in the case of insufficient troops, which is strange if it is not defeated

Just like now, if the Vietnamese army has more troops, I believe that the Vietnamese army, with its rich combat experience, will be able to eat our battalion. It's a pity that they don't have enough troops, and if they really do it with us, maybe we will really bite them to death.

Therefore, they used this method of fighting more with less, first blocking our way out with a small number of troops, and then using mortars and artillery observers to cooperate with our camp*, hoping to make us lose our breath and break out in a hurry. And they can wait for the rabbit to kill and injure our army in large quantities, in order to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost......

Thinking of this, my hanging heart was relaxed, and after knowing the strategy of the Vietnamese army, I became more honest, although I don't have a way to deal with them now, but I at least know that the more the enemy wants us to be, the less good we are, that's right

"Attention units" I ordered the walkie-talkie again: "No one is allowed to break through, calm down and treat it as if this is a big lurking in front of the enemy, and you are not allowed to shoot unless you have to do it, understand?" ”

"Understood"

"Understood"

……

"Call the correspondent up" and then I ordered: "Be careful, don't let the Yue devils find out"

"Yes" It took a while for the correspondent to crawl up to me on the ground with a walkie-talkie on his back. I believe that he was under a lot of psychological pressure, and as a communications soldier, he was discovered by the artillery scouts of the Vietnamese army, and this piece of artillery shell would also hit me, the battalion commander......

But it doesn't seem like I need to think about it right now, because at least the shells haven't hit yet

After the correspondent connected to the regiment headquarters, he handed me the microphone, and I took the microphone and said in a low voice: "Report to the regiment commander, my battalion is surrounded by Vietnamese troops, and the enemy's strength is unknown, ask for reinforcements, ask for reinforcements"

What I said is actually a half-truth, and it can be said that it is all true, but I have already judged that the enemy's forces are not many. And the latter sentence asks for reinforcements...... In fact, I want to know how the battle of the first and third battalions is going, and the situation is actually obvious, if the first and third battalions also break through the defense line of the Vietnamese army, then it seems that we only need to wait for them in the same place. Several battalions of our army hula surrounded us, and it was strange that the Vietnamese troops at the point outside us did not roll up their covers and fled.

But Captain Zhang's answer disappointed me: "How did you do it?" How could it be surrounded by the Vietnamese army? The 1st and 3rd Battalions have not yet broken through the enemy's defenses, where do I have troops to reinforce you? Give me a way to break through."

I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I heard this, but fortunately I didn't put my hope in him. So he asked again: "Commander!" When will the troops of the 1st and 3rd battalions arrive? ”

"The situation is not clear" Commander Zhang's voice on the other end of the microphone was full of frustration: "The Vietnamese army seems to have another batch of reinforcements, and even the high ground you just fought down has been counterattacked by the Vietnamese army, and you are afraid that it is impossible for you to want reinforcements."

"Where are you?" The voice of Political Commissar Huang came from the microphone: "We can provide you with artillery assistance"

"We don't know where we are," I smiled wryly: "There is a big error between the map and the field, and the fog is so bad and the visibility is low, the guide can't tell the direction."

There was silence on the other side of the microphone, and it was clear that there was nothing they could do.

After a long time, Political Commissar Huang encouraged me and said: "Battalion Commander Cui, you are a good comrade, we believe that you will be able to get out of the encirclement of the Vietnamese army, you don't have to advance towards Kuma Mountain according to the original plan, and after breaking through the siege, return to join us by the same way."

"Yes" I said in my mouth, but I didn't think so in my heart.

The Vietnamese army is not a fool, and they will naturally think of what we will think. There's no way they're going to let us go back the way we came, and kill them. And it seemed easy for them to do that, as long as we planted dozens of mines and a few 'strong' machine guns on our way back......

There is no hope for reinforcements, and we don't know the location of long-range artillery assistance, so it seems that we are left alone

"Boom ......" At this time, with a few whistlings, several more shells exploded on our positions. The figures of several warriors were thrust into the air in the firelight, and then fell heavily.

Before the sound of the shells had subsided, the screams followed. Following the scream, I saw a soldier who had been blown off his right hand holding a bleeding wound and screaming loudly, and the mournful shout echoed in this empty and silent valley, only to make the soldier's heart ache for a while.

"No rescue, no return fire," I ordered, gritting my teeth.

"Battalion Commander"

"Battalion Commander"

……

My order was immediately met with opposition from the soldiers.

But I didn't want to, so I ordered again: "Shut up and carry out the order."

Listening to my unquestioning tone, the soldiers did not refute again, only cursed on the other end of the intercom.

The soldiers also knew that my order was correct, which was the same as the sniper's reinforcements, and even more ruthless and vicious.

Because as long as one soldier rises up to rescue, it may 'expose' the position of other fighters, and then after the Vietnamese army shells, there will be more wounded, and then more fighters will 'expose' themselves and jump out of hiding places to rescue them...... In this way, it will not be long before our entire unit will be 'chaotic' under the fire of the Vietnamese army. And the artillery observers of the Vietnamese army, it seems, only need to quietly hide in place and then guide those shells to blow up at us one after another.

So, we could only watch helplessly as the wounded man screamed and screamed in our sight...... Suddenly, under the surprised eyes of the soldiers, the wounded soldier sat up with his only remaining hand, his chest rose and fell sharply, he took a few deep breaths, and then raised his head to the sky and shouted hoarsely: "Battalion commander, avenge me"

At the same time, he suddenly ignited the grenade pinned to his waist, and with a puff of green smoke, he heard only a loud "boom", and the wounded man was carried by the impact 'wave' of the grenade and rolled a few times, and then there was no more sound.

The battlefield was silent, there was no sound, only the dead bodies and craters on the ground proved that everything that had ever happened here was a living fact.

The Vietnamese artillery observers also seemed to be so shocked by the soldier's death that no shells came back for a long time. This soldier told them in another way, and also told us - the blood of the ** people can be shed and the head can be broken, but the dignity can never be insulted

There was the creaking and gnashing of the teeth of the fighters in the intercom, and the correspondent next to him even secretly wiped his tears, and I ...... The words shouted by the soldier before his death kept echoing in his ears: "Battalion commander, avenge me, avenge me......"

What a kind of trust this is

I thought he would hate me, hate me for not letting people save him, hate me for leaving him alone, hate me for not caring about his life and death...... But he didn't, he didn't hate me, but 'gave me the last hope'......

If he really hated me, maybe I would be better. But now, I only feel that the guilt in my heart is like the sea water, one 'wave' is followed by another' 'wave', one 'wave' is more urgent than the other' 'wave', and I can't wait to jump out of the hidden point to find the devil desperately

But I endured it in the end, because I knew that if I did that, not only would I not be able to avenge him, but I would also kill myself and more of my comrades......

With tears in my eyes, I held up my binoculars and searched the jungle around me, but found nothing but a few warriors. I soon realized that there was no way to find the Vietnamese observers, because there were hundreds of our soldiers hidden in the jungle, and the Vietnamese artillery observers were mixed in with them, so even if I found them, I would not be able to accurately distinguish them.

So what now?

It is certainly not possible to break through the encirclement, and at a time when individual weapons are highly developed, it is difficult for a company to attack a position defended by a squad, not to mention that it is very likely that the Vietnamese army will be divided if our army is not familiar with the terrain.

So just stay like that?

Originally, this was indeed feasible, and the Vietnamese army was only trying to 'force' us to 'mess' and 'force' us to break through. Their artillery observers, in such low visibility, were extremely limited in their position to find our soldiers. So we just have to wait like this, waiting for the first or third battalion to break through the defensive line.

But since the sacrifice of that warrior in front of me, I have given up on this negative thought, and at the same time it is not my style. On the battlefield, I have always been a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye, and I will pay back every drop of blood and every life that the enemy has taken from us tenfold

By the way, poor visibility, how I didn't think of this

I held up my binoculars and looked into the distance, and I could only see fifty meters away in the smoky valley.

I believe that my eyesight is no worse than that of the Vietnamese artillery observers, who will only guide the mortar bombardment when they find a target...... That is, the artillery observer is only fifty meters away from the target......

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but chuckle in my heart, and quickly used my binoculars to observe several bombing points that had been bombed by Vietnamese mortars...... There are seven different places, some close and some far away, which shows that Vietnamese observers are not just lurking in one place, but in many places.

This is also reasonable, of course, the Vietnamese army will not want to have their observation blind spots here, so there should be one or two observers arranged on each high ground.

Then I divided the seven different bombing points into three piles according to the distance, and then drew a circle with the explosion point as the center and the radius of 50 meters, and the intersection of several circles...... It was undoubtedly a suspicious hideout for Vietnamese artillery observers.

The circle was not tight, and it startled me at one stroke, and one of the suspicious places turned out to be the rock where I was hiding, but on second thought, yes, my location was not far from the village, not far from the soldier who killed himself by burning a grenade, and the observer could indeed see these targets if he was hiding here......

But they couldn't see me, or I would have died a long time ago

So I quickly judged that the Vietnamese army was hiding in front of the rocks, and I happened to avoid their sight because I went around to hide behind.

Thinking of this, I didn't say a word, pulled out the thorn pinned to my waist and 'touched' it behind the rock. Originally, I thought that the Vietnamese army was hiding in some 'hole' or stone crevice under the rock, but I didn't find any stone 'hole' or stone crevice when I lay in the ground. The communication soldier also looked at me with a cautious look, and he held the AK47 in his hand tightly and pointed it at the side of the rock, and he didn't dare to come out, but when he saw me circling the rock and coming back, his eyes couldn't help but be full of doubt.

In fact, it's not just him who is 'confused', I can't 'touch' my mind, I know that the devil is here but can't find it, is he still in the stone?

Drill into the rock

It dawned on me that the Vietnamese army was not hiding under the stones, but in the middle of them...... I remember running back and seeing a long, flat and narrow crack in the middle of the rock, which must have been the observation hole of the Vietnamese army

I quickly found the entrance of the Vietnamese army, which was a stone 'hole' in the side of the rock that connected to the crack, but it had been carefully blocked by the Vietnamese army with gravel of various sizes.

Move the rubble out of the way? Obviously, no, as soon as the Vietnamese observers noticed any movement, they would just call for artillery fire and drop a few shells at their position, and they would kill me

At the same time, I don't want to alarm the other Vietnamese observers, otherwise they will be troubled if they take the risk of changing positions.

Shove a grenade into a crack?

It doesn't seem to work, the crack is from the top down, and the grenade will roll out, not to mention, and it will also alarm the other Vietnamese troops.

At this time, I hated it, knowing that the Vietnamese army was hiding inside, but there was nothing I could do about him, just like a turtle hiding in a hard shell......