Yongshao-eup, where the 5th Division is stationed.

Since the beginning of April last year, Wang Jingui has been stationed here to organize the defense of 18 Chinese resettlement villages in the Parrot Cape area and Tay Ninh Province, commanding the security forces of various industrial villages participating in the round battles, and coordinating the relations between the militia self-defense forces, the industrial village security forces, and the special forces and the Fifth Division.

There are regular troops, security forces, special forces, local militia, Catholic militia, intelligence officers of the "Vietnamese Chinese Literature and Art Research Association," intelligence officers of the intelligence department of the border guard command on the Jinou Peninsula, and nearly 10,000 armed personnel from six or seven units that are not subordinate to each other.

It's better to be passive than to be proactive.

In order to ensure the security of the control area, the command changed the previous passive defense strategy, divided the entire defense zone into six sections, set up a special operations command center in each small area, and organized the reconnaissance team of the Fifth Infantry Division, the special forces that came to fight in turn, and the garrison reconnaissance units and militia self-defense units that were familiar with the environment to take the initiative to attack.

Establish standard operational procedures, calculate the staffing of squads to operate in various situations, penetrate deep into the nearby areas controlled by the Southern National Liberation Front, and carry out raids or raids to harass the enemy, hit and run, reconnaisance patrols, gather intelligence, and sabotage guerrilla forces with ambush or counter-ambush tactics.

No one knows whether the Southern Liberation Front (SNLF) will organize troops to retaliate against the resettlement villages after each operation begins, and that the actions of the small detachments will require the cooperation of the nearest garrison and the militia self-defense units.

As usual, as soon as the detachment set out from its forward position, Wang Jingui, Zhong Lianbohe, and Chen Runwei, chief of staff of the Jinou Peninsula Frontier Garrison Command, who had come to "exchange," rushed to the war room to listen to a report by Lu Yudong, commander-in-chief of operations and deputy chief of staff of the Fifth Infantry Division.

"The operation relied on very limited information, and we only knew that the G-32 area was a well-known SLOP rest and assembly site. It is surrounded by a swamp and is elevated compared to other places. Most of the place is dry. The entire area is heavily forested and surrounded by three small rivers and a canal, one of which is deeper, and a newly equipped river speedboat can reach a triangular bay about 3 kilometers from the target. ”

Lu Yudong pointed to the map and introduced it succinctly: "According to the battle plan, the team set off from the No. 6 resettlement village. Sneak into the G-32 area on foot along the dense forest to reconnoiter and check whether there are any local troops of the North Vietnamese People's Army or the Southern Liberation Army stationed in the area. As soon as the intelligence is confirmed, an artillery strike is immediately called, and the nearest guidance and correction is made.

If the above operations were successful, the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment and the 3rd Squadron of the Security Corps of Ha Tien Industrial Village, which were on standby in Resettlement Village No. 3 and No. 7, immediately made a detour to the G-32 area from the north and south, and the 1st and 2nd Squadrons of the Reconnaissance Squadron, the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Regiment and the Militia Self-Defense Force, which were on standby in Resettlement Village No. 5, attacked from the front in an effort to resolve the threat in the area in one fell swoop......

The commander of the 5th Infantry Division, Major General Zhong Lianbo, added in a low voice: "The 105th Howitzer Battalion was secretly deployed to the front last night. The G-32 area is within the fire coverage. ”

In terms of combat effectiveness, the North Vietnamese People's Army and the local units of the South Liberation Army are really not very good.

The key is that they don't do it face to face with you, shoot a shot to change places, and run faster than rabbits. And many people don't wear military uniforms, put down their guns and pick up hoes are peasants, making it difficult for you to tell the difference.

The reason why other units of the Nationalist Army were passively beaten was because they were elusive, and the US military advisers did not care about them. The small units organized by the French were all organized into regular divisions, which were simply unable to cope with the guerrilla warfare launched by the North Vietnamese.

The whole plan vividly reflects the "surprise".

Find them through the squad. After finding it, there will be a wild bombardment first, and the roundabout and frontal attack troops can have as many results as they can be, after all, the terrain is too complicated, and some enemies will flee early when the encirclement is completed.

Chen Runwei snuffed out his cigarette and nodded: "It doesn't matter whether you can annihilate them or not, what matters is whether you can cause them a lot of damage." Can you beat them up and be afraid? Only by beating them up and being scared will they not be as endless harassment and sneak attacks as they are now. ”

He has fought a lot of battles in Nong, and he can be said to have experienced a hundred battles, and he knows that his old boss must have an emergency plan without asking.

An operational staff officer who came with him to "communicate" had never been on the battlefield, looked at the map and cautiously asked, "Chief of Staff Lu." What if the squad's whereabouts are revealed during the infiltration or when they arrive at their destination? ”

"We have a backup plan, once the whereabouts of the squad are exposed, it will be withdrawn from this direction to the area of Triangle Bay, and the river speedboat of the divisional reconnaissance team will pick up its evacuation, and the 105th howitzer battalion will provide fire cover for it at that time."

The young staff officer sighed lightly: "If only there were helicopters." ”

"Needless to say, if you can equip more than a dozen helicopters, not only can you better carry out rescue, but also can throw troops behind the enemy's back, block the retreat, and catch them off guard."

Zhong Lianbo smiled, Wang Jingui took over the conversation, and said meaningfully: "Don't worry, there will be helicopters, at least we have dozens of helicopter pilots now." ”

The operation had just begun, and the team had to wade through mountains and rivers, and it would take three and a half hours at the earliest to reach the G-32 area.

Lu Yudong, chief of staff of the Fifth Division, couldn't help but ask: "Supervisor Wang, Chief of Staff Chen, our logistics supply was deducted by the General Staff last month, and the division commander personally went to Saigon to find out that the materials were misappropriated by them. In addition to conventional ammunition, does the industrial investment company think of a way to produce some weapons and equipment? ”

There are priorities.

For a long time in the past, the industrial investment company devoted most of its energy and financial resources to infrastructure construction and the development of steel, electric power, petrochemical, electronics, shipping, telecommunications, and other industries, but the military industry did not make much progress, and so far only a few production lines of bullets, artillery shells, and grenades have been introduced. And those few military factories that are really unsatisfactory in scale have never used up their production capacity.

The Nationalist army still uses French and American weapons, including leftover equipment from the French and aided by the Americans. Almost all of the weapons of the security team of the industrial investment company came from the United States, and the weapons of the militia self-defense forces in the villages where they were resettled were even more varied, including French, American, Japanese, British, German, and even "Zhongzheng" rifles made during the period when the Chinese Kuomintang ruled the mainland.

Chen Runwei knew these situations best, and patiently explained: "Brother Yu Dong, the industrial investment company and the industrial villages are developing very well, but the expenditure in all aspects is also very large. Not to mention the need to concentrate human and financial resources to build the lower six provinces into a solid rear, in order to win the defense rights of the lower six provinces, the company has to provide the government with an additional 30 million US dollars worth of various materials every year. ”

"Paid for it?"

"Do you think that in addition to an additional $30 million in various materials, even the Bank of East Asia's stock and bond trading business has been handed over to the government, which is equivalent to spending money to buy peace. The reason why the military industry is not developed in such a big way is that first, funds are really tight, and second, the US Government will not sit idly by and watch South Vietnam be occupied by North Vietnam, and even if it cuts aid from other quarters, it will not cut off the supply of weapons and ammunition. ”

Wang Jingui smiled and added: "More importantly, once the company is able to produce weapons and equipment on a large scale, the Ng Dinh Yen brothers will definitely be very nervous and uneasy, and will definitely take a series of countermeasures, and what we need now is to maintain the status quo, not to fight a civil war, and not to give the 'Southern Liberation Party' a chance to take advantage of the fire to rob." ”

Lu Yudong reacted and asked suspiciously: "Director Wang, Chief of Staff Chen, are you saying that the company is not unable to produce, but does not want to produce for the time being?" ”

"There are no outsiders here, I can tell you a little news, the company set up a 'National Defense Industry Committee' a few years ago, and Mr. Li personally served as the chairman of the committee, specifically formulating the national defense industry development plan and organizing its implementation, I don't know anything else, but we can be sure that we have at least the ability to produce light and heavy machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, mortars, grenade launchers, armored vehicles, radio stations and other conventional weapons and equipment."

"Has the factory been built, is it in Phu Quoc or in Vung Tau?"

"There is no need to build a special factory, only need to issue drawings and orders to the relevant enterprises in the industrial villages, and only need to send logistics officers to the relevant enterprises to supervise the production and acceptance of equipment. In order to ensure that the planning requirements can be met after the general mobilization order is issued, the 'National Defense Industry Commission' and our reserve officer training team conducted a joint exercise in September last year.

In just one month, 321 enterprises in 11 industrial villages that received drawings and orders produced a total of 560 light and heavy machine guns, more than 13,500 rifles and submachine guns, more than 400 mortars of various calibers, and more than 4,000 tons of ammunition of various types. For the sake of secrecy, only some samples of these weapons and equipment were given to a few technical teams of Phu Quoc University of Technology for testing, and all the others were mothballed, and none of them were equipped with troops. ”

Chen Runwei paused and continued: "As for the supplies you have been misappropriated, they have all been sent to the first tactical area, where the situation is even more tense, from the Spring Festival to the first, the North Vietnamese People's Army, with the cooperation of the Pathet Lao troops, has captured all of Phongsali, Sam Nu, Sichuan Khouang provinces in Laos and most of Luang Prabang province, and launched a general offensive on the Nam Lao Highway No. 9 area before the agreement of the Geneva Conference on the ceasefire of the Lao civil war was reached.

They broke through the defense line of the Lao rightist army along Highway No. 9 and took the strategically important No. 7, No. 8, No. 9, No. 12 and No. 20 highways into their pockets, completely opening up the Chang Son Highway, which directly led to the almost undefended western border of the First and Second Tactical Zones. ”

This means that North Vietnam can bypass the Demilitarized Zone from now on and continuously send troops and equipment from the western border to South Vietnam, which is terrible, Lu Yudong glanced at the map and muttered: "This is so serious! ”

In order to ensure that the First Army can hold on, Mr. Li went to Hue before going abroad, talked with Du Gaozhi for a night, and passed through Da Nang when he returned, asking Da Nang Industrial Village to provide the First Army with various materials worth more than 3 million US dollars. (To be continued.) )