"Hey, 'Listen!'" He said sharply to the commander of the 3rd Battalion: "632, 633, 634, you don't care about the affairs of the 634 heights!" Your current task is to recover the heights of 629 and 630, and you must not allow the Soviets to occupy them and turn them into a foothold for a counterattack on the No. 1 Ridge Mountain! Let me give you a clear task again, from now until tomorrow morning, you must not let the Soviet troops in the direction of Xilian Mountain and Vulture Ridge rush from you to the No. 1 Ridge! ”

"Understood!" The commander of the 3 battalion replied. For some reason, Peng Tao heard a certain relief from his words.

From this moment on, Peng Tao devoted himself to the battle against the Soviet counterattack, not realizing that he did not want to believe the commander's prediction ten minutes ago. The defensive battle of No. 1 Ridge has begun, and after asking Xu Yanglin to call for artillery fire to suppress the Soviet artillery from the divisional artillery group, he also gained a new composure because his defensive deployment at No. 1 Ridge has basically been completed. Now there were only two excitements left in his heart, one was the possible counterattack against the No. 1 Ridge in the direction of Hill Helian and Vulture Ridge at any time, and the other was the 632, 633, and 634, high ground that the commander of the 3rd Battalion had just pointed out to him that they did not have the strength to occupy. The Soviet counterattack on the No. 1 Ridge had not begun for a long time, and his attention naturally turned to these three small heights. In order to allow himself to concentrate on his thoughts, he returned to his "bedroom" and stood in front of the huge military map again.

Now he understands why the commander of the 3rd Battalion is reluctant to occupy these three small heights!

It is these three seemingly inconspicuous small highlands that may become the trouble in today's offensive and defensive battle of No. 1 Ridge!

He reverted to the same view of Mount Kibiv and Mount Silen, and not only because the heights 632, 633, and 634 were between Vulture Ridge and Hill Silen's defensive depths. It is also because the defensive structure of the Soviet army, which has gradually become fully apparent, lacks a tactical symmetry and completeness: the Soviet army did not abandon the No. 1 Ridge and did not defend it, but knew that it could not hold it, so it retreated and deployed the main force on the line of Xilian Mountain, and at the same time made a key defense on the No. 001 height. If he was the commander of the Soviet army, he would use Hill Xilian as the pincer axis, and No. 001 Heights and another high ground at the east end of No. 1 Ridge as the left and right pincers, forming a pincer attack on No. 1 Ridge. Without this piece of "pincer" on the east side, the construction of this defense system is obviously flawed. And if there is such a piece of "pincer" that has not yet been exposed, it is likely to be one of the three small highlands in the 632 highland area!

He was not entirely sure of his judgment, because there was another possibility: that other piece of "pincer" was the East 1, East 2, and East 3 Highlands in the Vulture Ridge area of the Soviet Army, which had been exposed. However, such a scenario would also have to expand one's horizons of observation of the actual defensive posture of the Soviet army, not only to include Mount Kibiv and Mount Xilian, but also to combine Vulture Ridge.

The latter defensive concept is obviously academically big and undeserved, and the former is a tactical masterpiece!

If his judgment is true, no matter which unit is sent to recover the 632, 633, and 634 heights today, it is possible to poke a hornet's nest!

As soon as a unit appeared in the area of the 632 heights, it immediately became a big problem for the Soviet army! No matter which of the two defensive concepts he guessed the Soviets deployed, this force would be like a sharp knife into the depths of the entire Soviet defense system, which was also its weakest part! Just to get rid of this serious problem, the Soviets will also have to invest a lot of troops in the area, and if this is the case, the pressure on the front of the No. 1 ridge will be greatly reduced. This is tactically called "offense and defense"!

It was impossible to transfer troops from the No. 1 Ridge to fight this battle: the 2nd Battalion was located in front of the No. 1 Ridge, with many points and long lines, and it was easiest for the Soviets to break through, and the strength there could not be weakened; The 3rd Battalion added the pressure of the enemy situation in the direction of Vulture Ridge in addition to the frontal pressure of the Soviet army, and it was still too busy to take care of itself, and there was no surplus troops; It was the 1st Battalion that was able to draw a little force, but Zhang Yongquan was under no small pressure on the 164th Height, and he had to be always vigilant against a possible sudden attack on him by the Soviet troops in the direction of the front and the 001 Height. If the 4th Regiment were to be defeated, and it was not impossible for the main force of the regiment to be annihilated on the back of the enemy at Heights 001, the Soviet forces would naturally turn to Heights 164. Peng Tao had another concern: even if the above situation did not happen, he would have to keep some troops with Zhang Yongquan just in case. Today he could no longer guarantee that the worst would not happen in the defensive battle of the First Ridge. From the perspective of the overall situation, holding the No. 1 Ridge is of course much more important than occupying the 632, 633, and 634 heights, and he can't help but grasp a little bit of the troops that can be used to save the danger when he has to do so! In this way, only the battalion led by Liu Zongsheng remains!

After seeing Liu Zongsheng yesterday, he never forgot this person. Until the Soviet artillery bombardment of Ridge No. 1, he still did not intend to use this unit, but now he could not do without it!

The division gave him this reserve unit in order to deal with all kinds of sudden and complicated situations!

Before putting this determination into action, Peng Tao stayed in the "bedroom" for another two minutes, asking himself if he had a motive that he did not want to admit: after the Battle of No. 1 Ridge began, he might no longer be able to muster his forces to deal with the 632, 633, and 634 heights; The above three small heights are likely to have a bloody battle today and the outcome is unpredictable, the 3rd battalion of the 5th regiment fought well, as the commander he also has a share of glory, and if he can't fight well, he also has something to explain to the commander ("After all, it's not my 3rd regiment's troops!"). "Wait).

"No!"

He immediately sternly denied such an idea, "In any case, the heights of 632, 633, and 634 will be recovered before 24 o'clock at midnight today, otherwise I would not have completed all the combat missions." …… The reason why I decided to send Liu Zongsheng to take his battalion to carry out this mission was not only because I had no other troops at my disposal. The real reason is: as much as I don't like this man, when it comes to the critical moment, I firmly believe that only he can get the job done! As far as leading troops to fight tough battles and evil battles, there may be no one under my command who can match him! ……”

He didn't personally give this order to Liu Zongsheng. In front of that huge combat map, he specifically studied the time required for the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment to travel from the mountain stream to the 632 highland area, Peng Tao called Xu Yanglin into the "bedroom", did not look at him, and said: "Chief of Staff, you call Deputy Commander Liu of the 5th Regiment to convey my order, and ask him to take the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment to set off immediately, and rush to the 632, 633, and 634 highlands at the east end of the No. 1 Ridge before 12 noon, and must take these three small highlands before 14 o'clock!" ”

Xu Yanglin quickly jotted down his orders in a small notebook. He was about to leave when Peng Tao suddenly turned around. At this moment, the chief of staff of the 3rd regiment found that the regiment commander's expression was particularly impulsive. Peng Tao looked him directly in the eyes and said, "Yang Lin, from now on, you are personally responsible for maintaining the closest contact with the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment!" …… Except for the troops, all other requirements must be met in a timely and adequate manner! Do you understand?! ”

"Understood, Commander!" Xu Yang Lin replied straightly, and walked out of Peng Tao's "bedroom" quickly. In fact, he didn't understand anything, and what he didn't understand the most was why the head of the regiment was so impulsive. Xu Yanglin carefully studied the map before conveying Peng Tao's order to the 5th Regiment and the 3rd Battalion, and suddenly, he understood everything.

"The 7th Company set off immediately! …… Each company follows up in the original marching sequence! ”

Less than five minutes after Xiao Qiang conveyed the combat order issued by the command post of the 3rd Regiment, Liu Zongsheng closed the map and said to the commanders of the companies who came to the battalion headquarters to participate in the emergency meeting.

The company commanders shouted "yes" unevenly, quickly packed up their battle bags, drilled out of the shelter, and ran towards their company's camp.

"The battalion headquarters is also ready to go!" Liu Zongsheng said a word to Xiao Qiang, followed the commanders of each company out of the concealment, walked through the forest, and climbed the earthen hill where he had stood when he looked at the 342 heights at dawn. Here, he could condescendingly see the troops on both sides of the valley that had moved.

The shelling of Soviet troops has not completely stopped. In the vast area from the No. 1 Ridge to the mountain stream, shells still flew down from time to time. At the bottom of the stream and in the forest in front of him and behind him, fireworks were rising into the air. But he didn't bother to pay attention to them anymore, and at the moment he only had one thing left in his mind: the whole battalion had to move to the 632 Heights area as fast as possible!

When Xiao Qiang accepted the combat mission from Xu Yanglin, chief of staff of the 3rd Regiment, the first expression to change in the mask department was the instructor Cui Shi'an. Liu Zongsheng understood why: during the march last night, the white-faced scholar had reminded him to pay attention to the three small plateaus located in the southeast corner of the war zone, but he did not pay due attention to them. Now Cui Shi'an's speculation has been proven to be justified: Liu Zongsheng didn't put much effort into the map, but he understood the hidden dangers in the mission given to them by Peng Tao, and the gloomy thought before the war immediately hit his heart - once a complicated situation arose on the battlefield, Peng Tao would not hesitate to use their small army!

The 632 Highlands area is an area where neither of us nor the enemy has touched each other. But if the Chinese army wants to occupy it, it will immediately become the most sensitive and fiercely contested place on the entire battlefield! What Peng Tao asked them to step on was a minefield that he probably didn't want to step on himself!

Bastard!

He cursed secretly in his heart. At the same time, it is also very clear that Peng Tao is currently his direct superior, and the combat order is a combat order after all, and it will not work if it is not implemented!

"Chief of Staff Xu," he asked for the telephone receiver from Xiao Qiang's hand and spoke directly to the chief of staff of the 3rd Regiment, "I'm Liu Zongsheng!" Could you please tell us more about the current situation on the 632, 633, and 634 heights?! ”

"Deputy Regiment Commander Liu," Xu Yanglin said, "According to the observation of the 3rd Battalion of our regiment on the 631 Heights in the morning, there are no Soviet troops on the 632, 633, and 634 Heights at the moment!" ”

"Reliable?!"

"Absolutely reliable!"

"That's good!" He didn't say anything more to Xu Yanglin, and put down the phone. A thought clearly came to mind: the troops must set off immediately, as soon as possible!

Peng Tao didn't give him much time. It was now 8:30, and it was only three and a half hours away from the time that Peng Tao had set for them to arrive at the 632 Heights area, and only five and a half hours before the time he had set for them to end the offensive battle. The most important thing is that just because there are no Soviet troops on the three small heights mentioned above, they should also act quickly and complete control of them as soon as possible. The absence of Soviet troops on the heights of 632, 633, and 634 does not mean that there will still be no Soviet troops for a period of time, and once they are controlled by the Soviet army before them - which is very easy to do on the other side - if their small army wants to complete its task, it is bound to attack the high ground one by one under the condition of being attacked by enemies on three sides, and the situation is unimaginably dangerous! But if they can occupy them before the Soviets, the situation there will change from the enemy defending and attacking us to defending the enemy. Today, a fierce battle with the Soviet army in the area of the 632 heights is inevitable, and what we can fight for is this to defend the enemy's attack. According to the general law of offensive and defensive operations, it is very difficult for the Soviet army to win without four times the strength of the Chinese army, that is, a reinforced infantry regiment. Today, the Soviet army is in a tight position on all fronts, and it is difficult to set aside a regiment to compete with them for those three small heights!

This is the fighter! This fighter must be caught! Only in this way can he more or less realize his original intention when he led the troops to the battlefield: not only to complete the combat mission given by Peng Tao, but also to minimize the loss of life of officers and soldiers! When the company commanders came to the battalion headquarters, they had carefully studied the route to the 632 heights on the map. There are only two routes from the current location to the 632 Highland area: one is to go north out of the mountain stream, move eastward along the canyon between the No. 1 Ridge and the Snow Ridge to the mountain pass between the east end of the No. 1 Ridge and the highland east of Vulture Ridge, and then cut diagonally southwest to the northern foot of the 632 Highlands. You can avoid No. 1 Ridge and don't need to climb the mountain by taking this road, but one of the situations that Xu Yanglin, the chief of staff of the 3rd Regiment, reported to Xiao Qiang just now is that the east end of No. 1 Ridge and the pass of Vulture Ridge are currently under cross-fire blockade between the enemy and us, and it is difficult to try to pass through here; The second road is to the south from the mountain stream, follow the safe passage opened up by the 3rd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion at night to climb the No. 1 Ridge Dashan Liang, and then follow the south slope of the mountain beam to the southeast to the 631-high ground directly in front of the big mountain leg, and its east side is the 632 high ground. The danger of this route lies in the fact that the Soviet army has not stopped firing artillery on the northern slope of the 342 Heights, and the troops must first climb the mountain under enemy artillery fire, and then they must also do long-distance exposure movements under the frontal fire of the Soviet troops in Xilian Mountain.

As a field commander, his second only concern now is how to complete the combat mission!

There is another estimate: the No. 1 Ridge is steep, and when the troops climb up from the north slope, the Soviet troops on Hill Xilian will not find it, as long as they reach the mountain beam line, there will only be a large downward slope left on the southern leg of the 631 heights, and the troops can reach it in half an hour faster by moving forward. If the information provided by Xu Yanglin is true, it will not take much time to occupy the three mountains that are not too high in total in half an hour to one hour. Even if the Soviet army in Xilian Mountain discovered them when they crossed the No. 1 Ridge and headed south, there would always be a time to think and judge the intentions of the Chinese army, and he could just use this time to lead the troops to complete the movement to the 632 high ground area and the occupation of the three small high grounds, and when the Soviet army understood, it was too late to react. But if they take another route and are blocked in the mountain pass between No. 1 Ridge and Vulture Ridge, it is difficult to say when they will be able to occupy the heights 632, 633, and 634!

Now he stood on the mound, compared to when he had just received the order to fight; In addition to the heaviness and sense of crisis brought about by the combat mission that cannot be eliminated, the heart has calmed down a lot. He and his troops were going into the deep waters, or rather into the deep waters of war, but he could no longer think about it, all he had to pay attention to was what was happening in front of him; In the forest on the west side of the Jianpo, Chu Maolin, the deputy battalion commander, and Hong Dazhi, the commander of the 7th Company, were running out of the forest with the 7th Company in a column, running towards the path under the earthen hill where he was standing that stretched gracefully to the big mountain beam of the No. 1 Ridge; In other places, he saw that the 8th and 9th companies and the stretcher teams of migrant workers under the charge of the deputy training officer were also lined up at the edge of the forest in their respective camps, waiting for the order to follow; And behind him, Xiao Qiang and Cui Shi'an also led a group of people from the battalion headquarters to come up, ready to set off with him. Another cannonball landed at the bottom of the stream, and he did not hear the explosion, but only caught a glimpse of a silver-white fish glittering with scales in the thick column of water raised high. All these scenes also made his heart feel some of the excitement of the imminent battle again. There was a "boom" in the forest on the right back, and a black and red firework was raised, Xiao Qiang and Wei Changgui, who were standing behind him, instinctively fell down, he was taken aback, but he still straightened up, maintaining a resolute, stern, and calm expression on his face, and suddenly knew what he should do at this time and in the future.

Two or three more shells exploded in the woods in front of and on the left and right. Before the smoke cleared, Chu Maolin had already taken the 7th company of sharp knife platoons from the earthen hill under his feet and stepped on the path to the mountain beam of the No. 1 Ridge.

Liu Zongsheng felt from the excited gaze projected at him from the ranks that his image had a good effect on the psychology of the fighters. The talkative soldiers had already greeted him: "Deputy Commander." Let's go, Sensei is here to be shot! ”

"Deputy Commander, don't be too calm, be careful to let someone put a piece of cannonball skin on you!"

(To be continued)