“…… Loyal and brave French warrior, fight for God with an open heart, and God will forgive you for all the sins you have committed, and your soul will rest in peace...... Amen! ”

In front of the mound with a wooden cross, the chaplain prayed for the deceased in a benevolent and forgiving tone, and the companions took off their hats and stood silently to mourn the deceased comrades. The breeze blew, and Second Lieutenant Leglis turned his head to look, and the scenery around him was still the same, but it really did not have the serenity and tranquility of yesterday, and he was full of sorrow and had nowhere to talk. After this battle, nearly half of the combat personnel of his paratrooper platoon were reduced, and the soldiers who lost were not just a few from the new barracks to be able to top them. To become a qualified paratrooper, one must undergo a series of technical, tactical and psychological training, during which the elimination rate is the highest among all arms, and it takes six parachute jumps to become a true paratrooper - this is only the most basic threshold. In today's French Airborne Forces, about two-fifths of the people have participated in the war against the Soviet Union, these people have sharpened their courage and will in the cruel European battlefield, and their psychological quality and combat skills are superior to ordinary soldiers, they are France's precious wealth, but in the past ten hours, many such officers and soldiers have been killed in the "chaotic war" in which the North Vietnamese armed forces do not follow the routine, and have been killed by some opponents who do not even know the basic maintenance of firearms, what a sad thing......

In a trance, Legris stood in place for a long time, not even paying attention to Sergeant Laurent when he walked to his side.

"Sir, Lieutenant Colonel, they're almost there!" The subordinate and old friend reminded.

Legliss turned in despair and saw a long procession coming down the river, most of them with their heads drooping, completely devoid of the vigor of the military parade on the soil before the expedition, and the wounded wrapped in gauze, crutches, supported by their companions, and lying on stretchers cast a frustrated color over the troops. Legris sighed heavily, waved his hand, and beckoned his surviving soldiers to assemble. Just then, a plane flew overhead with a deafening roar, and its altitude was so low. Those on the ground could even see the nearly smoothed patterns on the wheels. It continued to descend, the air currents of the propellers stirring up the ripples on the river, and then the apprehensive gaze of the onlookers descended to the open area on the opposite bank, where the 1st Parachute Battalion had found the temporary airfield yesterday.

The landing of transport planes will inevitably bring combat supplies. Carrying out the wounded and the rest of the personnel who had arranged for evacuation, Legliss speculated that the paratrooper battalion, which had lost most of its combat effectiveness, should gradually withdraw to the rear to rest and recuperate, waiting for an opportunity more suitable for airborne operations to regain its name in the next battle. After a while, the paratrooper team that had evacuated its positions along the river came to the front, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jérôme, commander of the 2nd Light Paratrooper Battalion. His steps were still steady, but he had lost his former bright gaze. Instead, there was a bleak look in the eyes. Seeing Legliss and the remnants of his 17 men, the lieutenant colonel broke away from the group and stopped on the side. After exchanging salutes with Leglis, he spoke: "Thank you, young and valiant soldiers, for saving some face for the French paratroopers for your performance. On behalf of General Lorins, I salute you! ”

Turning to the newly filled graves and the steel helmeted crosses, Lieutenant Colonel Jérôme drew a cross with his right hand: "May their souls rest in peace!" ”

In the process, Leglis barely said a word. After the lieutenant colonel gave the order, he silently led the soldiers to the end of the team. With the North Vietnamese army already crossing the river at night, it seemed pointless to continue to hold on to the south bank of the river with paratroopers. Their positions were transferred to the Foreign Legion, and the long procession continued up the river until it crossed the stone bridge and reached the north bank of the river, stopping at a meadow not far from the makeshift airfield. …,

In the face of everyone's doubts, Lieutenant Colonel Jérôme's staff officer explained to the companies and platoons: "We have been ordered to assemble here, the wounded will be transferred first, and the rest will be evacuated in turn, so everyone be patient!" ”

The army units advancing from Quang Binh took over the defense of Ishiqiao, and the headquarters of the 1st Parachute Battalion, which had been stationed in Seokbashi, also waited for evacuation by the airfield in frustration. Soon after, the 4th Light Parachute Battalion also arrived on foot. Judging from their personnel, they were also attacked by North Vietnamese forces last night, and their personnel, equipment and confidence were dealt a heavy blow. In this way, it seems that after only one day of the five elite paratrooper battalions having been engaged in the battle with great ambition, three battalions have already lost their normal combat effectiveness, and the dismal results are probably beyond most people's expectations.

The American-made C47, which landed first, after unloading supplies and loading the wounded. Fu took off again with a deafening roar. The rest of the French paratroopers were looking forward to their planes getting them out of the place full of sad memories as soon as possible, but the conditions of this temporary airfield were not as good as people thought, and the first planes had already left a deep mark on the grass when they took off and landed, which meant that the larger the plane, the more difficult it was to take off and land. For the next hour or so, only two C-47s flew in from the south, and their combined capacity was equivalent to the previous C46. As a result, only a few wounded were able to leave, and most of the paratroopers were still waiting.

In another roar of machinery, tanks of the French ground forces appeared on the south bank of the stone bridge, and the lightweight "Stuart" drove across the stone bridge without any scruples, but the "Sherman", which weighed more than 30 tons in battle, had to make a detour to the cement bridge five kilometers away. Seeing the mechanized column equipped with tanks, the French paratroopers assembled near the airport were in a completely down-to-earth mood, and in their concept, no matter how crazy the attack of the North Vietnamese soldiers was, could not match the hard steel and blazing artillery fire, and they suffered losses last night and suffered losses in lightly armed battles, not to mention tanks, not even armored vehicles.

As the French ground forces continued to arrive at the Song River, the early arrival of the vanguard continued to advance northward, and the paratroopers sitting by the temporary airfield waiting for the evacuation soon heard the rumbling of artillery in the distance, and most of them thought that their ground troops were making good progress with the support of tank fire, but in the afternoon, some bad news came through the ground troops: due to the heavy use of mines and explosives by the North Vietnamese forces, the French vanguard could not advance or retreat in the hilly area north of the Song River, and worse, Although their main force had withdrawn across the Song River, they still ambushed strong guerrilla units between Quang Binh and the Song River, and they used the jungle cover to frequently attack the baggage vehicles of the French ground troops, and even ambushed the French support troops on the spot, which led to the threat to the normal combat supply of the French troops advancing to the Song River by land, and the replenishment of supplies from the water route was both time-consuming and could not guarantee the continuation of the troops to the north. The French command, which had been divided at every turn, felt that its forces were stretched thin, and by dusk they had broken the paratroopers' hopes of getting out of the sea of misery - the 2nd and 4th Light Paratrooper Battalions were temporarily combined into the 17th Mobile Combat Column to protect the northern section of the Song River on Highway C3.

At the beginning, the French forward forces were blocked in the hilly terrain and the paratroopers needed to protect less than 10 kilometers of roads. Having learned the lessons of the previous night, the commanders decided to divide the more than 700 paratroopers into five combat groups, each with more than 100 people, equipped with a number of additional combat vehicles, and to build fortifications on high ground or open flat land near the road. The bloody lesson made the French paratroopers completely abandon their luck, and when night fell when they arrived at the fortified area, they threw themselves into the work of digging trenches without having to eat dinner, and everyone did their best, and they themselves were able to dig fortifications according to strict standards without the demands of the officers. By 10 p.m., the five battle groups had set up ring fortifications in the designated area, machine guns, mortars, and ammunition were all in place, and more than a dozen armored vehicles to coordinate the deployment of friendly forces had also arrived at the combat positions. …,

After nightfall, the fighting on the front line did not subside, but came one after another, and the sound of gunfire was sometimes dense, sometimes scattered, sometimes from the north-east, sometimes from the north-west, and the senses gave the impression that the North Vietnamese armed forces were elusive and ubiquitous. The news from the French ground forces was also good and bad: the French tank troops broke through the North Vietnamese army defense line, the troops of both sides fought fiercely somewhere, the North Vietnamese army was defeated, the French tank unit was ambushed on the way to pursue and suffered heavy losses, the North Vietnamese army was engaged in Soviet-made tank operations, the news of the North Vietnamese army's use of tanks was confirmed to be misinformation, and the French tank troops broke through the enemy's deep defense line...... The news sometimes made the French paratroopers rejoice, and sometimes they were so frightened that they were so restless that they could not sleep peacefully.

Sitting in the hard-to-dig trenches with his companions, Leglis filled each magazine with bullets, placed grenades in every handy spot, and got up every once in a while to observe, but these actions did not really make him feel at ease. The battle scene of the previous day was still vivid, and he felt more terrified than ever before by the cunning offensive tactics of the North Vietnamese armed forces - the depth of the trenches here was sufficient, but without the reinforcement of wooden bars, a few shells or grenades could collapse; The gunfire here was dense enough, and there were two armoured combat vehicles in ambush nearby, but the North Vietnamese could counteract the defenders with attacks from all sides. What's worse is that the North Vietnamese army is rumored to have equipped the most elite regiments with Soviet weapons, how terrifying is the North Vietnamese army with ordinary equipment, and how will the resistance who has learned to control the new weapons behave amazingly? The reason why the elite French paratroopers were sent here was because the French command believed that the Song River area would be the key to the current battlefield, and if the North Vietnamese understood the center of gravity of the battlefield in line with it, they would probably send their best troops here, and if the poorly supplied French ground forces were defeated, the lightly armed paratroopers would probably be pushed to the front line of the battle! (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )