Breakfast was also interrupted three times 15 minutes earlier, when the division commander, on behalf of the division command, congratulated the 3rd Regiment on its victory in the No. 1 Ridge area. Now that the military commander is calling again, Peng Tao feels that it means about the same thing. The gunfire on Heights 001 grew more and more intense, and it became more and more indisputable that his victory was indisputable. — Today he deserves the glory of such a victor!

He walked into the "hall", picked up the handset that had been placed on the table, and said "hey". He spoke to the commander with the cheerfulness of accepting the commendation, but as soon as the commander spoke, his cheerful mood was greatly reduced.

"Is it Peng Tao?"

"It's me, Commander!"

"What are you doing now?"

Peng Tao was stunned for a moment, but did not react immediately. He was now happily having breakfast for the victory at Ridge No. 1, and of course he could not tell the commander about this. Suddenly, he came to his senses and replied loudly: "Report to the army commander, all detachments of our regiment are building positions on the No. 1 ridge, preparing to deal with the counterattack of the Soviet army!" ”

The commander "met". Peng Tao heard that Hu Lian was basically satisfied with his answer. But at the same time, he also felt that Hu Lian's tone was stern, and he didn't call this call to commend himself. This alerted Peng Tao's heart.

"On behalf of the army command, I would like to congratulate your regiment on its victory on the No. 1 ridge!" The commander said, "I have officially reported your victory to the front command and the Supreme High Command of the military district, and they also want me to convey my congratulations to you. But do not be carried away by the victory, for the occupation of Ridge 1 is only the beginning of the whole operation of your regiment. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief has instructions: since we can take it, we must firmly hold it, and we must not let the Soviets take it again! This means that from now on, not an inch of land will be allowed to be discarded in the No. 1 Ridge area. No matter who loses a mountain or a mountain leg, each level commander must bear the corresponding responsibility! Including you, the head of the regiment! ”

"Yes!"

"Peng Tao, I want to remind you that what you wiped out on the No. 1 ridge was only a platoon of the Soviet army, and you didn't encounter any more troops. The No. 1 Ridge area is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and it seems that the Soviet army is also clear, so they only put a platoon of guard posts there. You have to warn the Soviets on Hill of Xilian, as if they counterattack towards Ridge No. 1, you will be under a lot of pressure. …… Do you understand what I mean? ”

"Report to the commander, understood!"

"Well, goodbye! I wish you and the 3rd regiment even greater victory! ”

Putting down the phone, Peng Tao's heart became panicked. First of all, he sensed from the commander's words that Hu Lian knew everything about the No. 1 ridge that happened at dawn, and the commander could even guess that he was only hitting the guard post of a platoon of the Soviet army, which was tantamount to pouring a bucket of cold water on his head because of the victory of the dawn. Since the commander viewed his victory at No. 1 Ridge in this way, the true weight of this victory in the commander's mind can be imagined, and his excitement and complacency seem ridiculous.

"You're still tender in front of this man, and it's impossible for you to hide from his eyes," he said to himself.

Second, the commander's phone call also completely changed his view of the completed offensive battle of the No. 1 Ridge: before the commander called, he thought that the combat mission of the 3rd Regiment had been completed due to the successful conclusion of the offensive battle at the No. 1 Ridge, but the commander's words turned the battle that had made him flutter all morning into a prelude to another defensive battle of the No. 1 Ridge that could or was certain to take place. The warning in the commander's words is unmistakable: it is nothing that you take down the No. 1 Ridge, and more importantly, you must hold it and not abandon any hill or leg! Yan Jing now knows that the 3rd Regiment has regained No. 1 Ridge, and once you lose it again, even if it is only partial, you will be held accountable for the defeat, and this kind of responsibility cannot be borne by any soldier!

Peng Tao did not return to the table. The commander's phone call brought him a heavy and gloomy consciousness that was diametrically opposed to the joyful mood of the morning, and his appetite was completely gone. The war was turning in a direction he hadn't thought about before, and something he hadn't had time to think about was once again making his spirit as tense as it had been late last night. Before the war, what he thought about the most and planned most carefully was how to take the No. 1 Ridge, rather than fighting a defensive battle against the No. 1 Ridge. Any tactical tutorial has the statement that defensive battles after offensive battles are an important part of every offensive battle. Peng Tao secretly admitted that he had neglected this point because of the influence of previous wars. At that time, the experience given to him by the war was that the Soviet army always put the main force on the front line to resist stubbornly, and once the front line was broken, they could no longer organize a threatening counterattack, and the Chinese army could take advantage of the situation to drive straight people. Today's situation is very different from that war. What he knocked out on Ridge No. 1 was only a platoon of the Soviet Army, and what Zhu Yongde encountered in the direction of Heights 001 was only a reinforced company of the Soviet Army. A few months ago, the Chinese army was in this area with a large number of troops, and it was impossible for the Soviet army to organize the defense of the Kibiv Mountains area with only such a meager force. The commander's estimate may not be unfounded. The Soviets should have the forces to fight back this time (although he didn't know where they were yet), and as soon as they began to counterattack on the No. 1 Ridge, the 3rd Regiment's 6-kilometer-long defensive line on the No. 1 Ridge could be breached, and he could not guarantee that Ling Tian's own troops would not lose a hill or a mountain leg!

There's also the issue of defense time. Before the war, he thought about this matter lightly: as soon as the offensive battle was over, the troops spread out on the ridge, build a position, make a defensive posture, and the Soviet army would no longer counterattack - that was a rare occurrence - as usual, a second-line army should come up to take over and formally organize the next stage of defensive operations. But if there really is a Soviet counterattack on Ridge No. 1 from the direction of Mount Xilian today, or simply because the 4th Regiment has been unable to take Heights 001 for a long time, which is possible, and so far the troops of the 4th Regiment have not all reached the starting position of the attack, it is unlikely that they will be replaced in a short time. Peng Tao thought that the army commander had set the last time for their regiment and the 4th regiment to complete their combat mission at 24 o'clock at midnight yesterday morning. Even if the commander intends to send troops to replace him, it will only be after that time, most likely tomorrow dawn. Peng Tao made one more thing clear: even out of the most optimistic estimates, the 3rd Regiment must hold on to the No. 1 Ridge for a day and a night!

At this point, his mind is basically calm and clear, and his thinking and handling of problems are also agile and correct, and Peng Tao knows what he should do. Without a moment's delay, he called the battalions, first learned about their deployment on the No. 1 Ridge - the first battalion and the second battalion had been deployed, and the third battalion continued to be deployed - and then concisely and forcefully conveyed to Zhang Yongquan and the commander of the 2nd battalion and the commander of the 3rd battalion the instructions of the army commander to guard against the enemy's counterattack and "not to abandon an inch of land", ordering them to immediately implement it layer by layer, and at the same time the whole regiment immediately switched to defensive operations; After that, he specifically stressed that the commanders of each battalion must now have a complete understanding of the situation of every high ground, every mountain leg, and every mountain protrusion that their battalion guards, and concretely carry out the defense tasks to companies, platoons, squads, and combat groups. Peng Tao asked all units to make military orders to their superiors step by step: people are in the position, and whoever has a problem in their place will be held responsible!

It's not even eight o'clock when all this is done. Peng Tao breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if his reaction to the commander's call was a bit excessive. His good intentions were completely ruined, and he was very reluctant to believe that the commander's prediction would come true. However, as soon as he left the "hall" and returned to the bedroom, he couldn't help but believe it in the face of the battle map on the cave wall! The first time he looked beyond the Kibiv Mountains to Mount Hilian at the bottom of the map, he immediately made a major discovery. Looking up from the bottom of the map, rather than from the top as he had always done in the past, he suddenly understood why the Soviets had placed only one platoon of guard posts on Ridge No. 1: there was no danger on Ridge No. 1, too many troops were vulnerable to artillery fire, and too few troops were not enough. If you put the Hill Hilian and Kibiv Hills together, it's the Hill of Silen that really deserves to be guarded, not the No. 1 Ridge. The contour line in the Xilian Mountain area is dense, the peaks and ridges are numerous, the elevation not only exceeds the No. 1 Ridge by a large section, but also holds a condescending trend to the No. 001 Highland, its main mountain peak is only 500 to 1000 meters away from the nearest point of the space straight line of the No. 1 Ridge Mountain Liang and the No. 001 Highland, and many mountain legs are close to each other, and the dog's teeth are staggered. Peng Tao was sober at this time: if he was the commander of the Soviet army, the most likely defense plan would be to use the main force to hold on to Xilian Mountain and Heights 001, and at the same time implement a fire blockade of Ridge No. 1 from above. If the attacking side goes to the No. 1 Ridge, it will not be a pity for him, because it will lose it anyway, and only need to mount the heavy machine guns and the Gaoping dual-purpose machine guns that were widely used in the last border war on the peaks of Xilian Mountain, which will cause the Chinese troops on the beam line of the No. 1 Ridge and the surface positions on the front slope to suffer heavy casualties, so that they will not be able to gain a foothold; If he has enough troops, he can also launch a counterattack from the direction of Mount Xilian at any time with strong artillery support. Since it was a local operation, the Soviet army was more familiar with the terrain, and it was easier to recapture No. 1 Ridge. Peng Tao once again paid attention to the defensive line that stretched in the great mountain gorge between the Kibiv Mountains and the Xilian Mountains, but he used a new vision.

Peng Tao suddenly had a sudden realization: before the war, he had always had a vague doubt about his battle plan, and today he finally saw why! If before the war, he and the commanders at the two levels of the army and division had loopholes when considering the combat plan, the loophole was in this line of defense! The defensive line on the operational map of the Soviet army must be another way to draw it, and they will not think about separating the Kibiv Mountains from the Xilian Mountains!

At this time, a cannonball exploded with a "boom" on the ridge of Snow Ridge, shaking a wine glass on the table of the "bedroom" and jumping "jingle"; Then, the sound of another cannonball bombing came muffily from the direction of Heights 164, and Peng Tao felt that the ground under his feet shook violently. Before he could return to reality from his nervous mental activity, the telephone in the "hall" outside rang rapidly!

Peng Tao ran out of the "bedroom" in three steps and two steps, and Xu Yanglin had already answered the phone. The explosion of shells became dense throughout Mount Kibiv. When Peng Tao realized what had happened, his face suddenly turned pale.

"The phone number of the deputy commander of the first battalion!" Xu Yanglin handed him the phone receiver, and his expression changed. Peng Tao picked up the telephone receiver, and before he could put it to his ear, there was a loud bang, and a heavy shell fell outside the No. 2 cave and exploded! Everything in the "hall" shook violently, and clouds of ash and rubble fell from the dome, forming a choking dust mist that spread through the cavern. Xu Yanglin and a few staff officers naturally rushed towards the entrance of the cave, and were choked back by the thick smoke!

It turned out that the shell set the command tent on fire!

Peng Tao's head was shaken and "buzzed", he tried his best to calm himself, and shouted loudly: "What are you panicking about!" …… Isn't it just that the Soviet army began to counterattack? What's so strange about this! …… Get me back to my place! "The chaos in the cave was stopped. Peng Tao put the earpiece to his ear and said "hey". Immediately, he heard Zhang Yongquan's nervous and excited voice: "Commander! The head of the regiment? I'm Zhang Yongquan! Report to the regiment commander, our battalion suddenly encountered heavy shelling by the Soviet army! ”

"I've been shelled by the Soviets here!" Peng Tao replied loudly, his lips trembling. Xu Yanglin, who was in shock, noticed that a greasy and smooth liquid began to ooze from the tip of his fat nose, "What else did you find there?" ”

"Captain!" Zhang Yongquan's voice was raised, and he must have discovered a new situation, "From the valley between the No. 1 and No. 2 peaks of Xilian Mountain directly in front of me, a large number of Soviet troops have appeared!" They're coming for us! ”

Peng Tao "chuckled" in his heart, "Zhang Yongquan!" Listen to me, you have to prepare now to crush the Soviet counterattack! He shouted into the microphone, his voice fierce and fierce, "How are you ready?" Report it to me! ”

"Report to the regimental commander, all the companies of our battalion have been deployed on the heights, mountain legs, and salients around the 164th Heights, and the fortifications have been largely completed! …… Regiment commander, don't worry, the Soviet army is coming, I want him to suffer a little! Zhang Yongquan shouted, and suddenly shouted again: "Commander! The Soviet vanguard of the Xilian Mountains went down to the bottom of the valley in front of us, and they did not come to us, but went diagonally to the west to the heights of No. 001! ”

Peng Tao breathed a sigh of relief. "How many troops?" He asked.

"Two companies or a battalion!"

"What's going on over there on Heights 001?"

"Report to the regiment commander, the 4 regiment is not going well, and now they are still moving under the mountain legs. They're getting fired, too! ”

The sense of crisis that had just been lowered a little in Peng Tao's heart came to his throat again. The precariousness of the situation of the 4th Regiment made him think of Ridge 1 again, especially Heights 001, which was close to Heights 164. "Zhang Yongquan, listen! You, you must be vigilant against the Soviet army's counterattack on the 164 heights! …… You have to defend your position for me! You have to remember what the commander just said! ”

"Don't worry! Head! Zhang Yongquan replied, "I am with the 164 Heights!" ”

Xu Yanglin was answering a call from the commander of the 2nd Battalion next to him. The 342 heights were also being shelled by the Soviet troops, and the Soviets had not yet been spotted in the direction of Xilian Mountain, but the two Gaoping dual-purpose machine guns erected on the two peaks opposite - the No. 3 peak of Xilian Mountain and the main peak Dabi Peak - fired fiercely at their positions. The 2nd Battalion also completed its defensive deployment ahead of the Soviet shelling. Peng Tao ended the call with Zhang Yongquan and walked over to talk to the commander of the 2nd Battalion. He once again ordered the other side to closely watch the actions of the Soviet troops in the direction of Xilian Mountain, resolutely repel the counterattack of the Soviet army, and ensure that not an inch of land is lost! The commander of the 2nd Battalion, Peng Xian, became nervous, and said several times solemnly, "Don't worry, regiment commander!" ”。

The 3rd battalion was in trouble. Five minutes later, the commander of the 3rd Battalion reported to him that the battalion's defense system had not yet been completed, mainly because the 9th Company, which was supposed to be responsible for occupying the 630 and 629 heights in the middle of the mountain on the east side of the 631 Heights, had not been able to quickly control them; Since the beginning of the Soviet shelling, the three heights in the Vulture Ridge area on the east side of No. 1 Ridge that are close to the 629 and 630 heights -- because they are not officially numbered and are temporarily called East 1, East 2, and East 3 Heights 1 from north to south, have also attacked the 629 and 630 heights with intensive firepower. In particular, the Gaoping dual-purpose machine gun on the East 1st Height, as soon as it was fired, it blocked the large hillside from the 631 Heights to the east and down the 630 Heights, making it impossible for the 9th Company to advance. This situation also made them insufficient, and did not have the strength to occupy the southeast line of 631 Heights and 632; 633, 634 Heights. The commander of the 3rd Battalion reminded Peng Tao that the above three small heights were far away from the main position of the No. 1 Ridge, and were deeply embedded in the junction of the Soviet defense depth of Xilian Mountain and Vulture Ridge, and the position was prominent and isolated; In particular, the 633 and 634 heights are bordered to the east by the enemy's east two and three east highlands, and to the southwest and west are a large leg of the mountain extending from the main peak of the Xilian Mountain, Dabi Peak, to the northern gorge (the latter is separated from the 633 and 634 highlands only by a gentle bottom less than 100 meters away), and it is extremely vulnerable to the enemy's flanking attacks from both sides. If the Chinese army's operational intentions are limited to recovering the No. 1 Ridge, it is actually irrelevant to the overall situation whether to occupy or not occupy the above-mentioned main small heights. However, the commander of the 3rd Battalion also said: From dawn when they ascended the 631 heights to the present, they have been searching these three small heights with binoculars, and have not found a single soldier of the Soviet army.

Peng Tao held the telephone receiver in his hand and walked to a map spread out on the table. Now there is another crisis point in his heart: Vulture Ridge! He saw it clearly: not only the Soviet troops in the direction of Mount Xilian posed a threat to Ridge No. 1 from the south, but also the Soviet troops in the direction of Vulture Ridge from the east and southeast!

(To be continued)