Chapter 29: Parachuting
I ran out of the barracks with the soldiers in a neat formation, and along the way there were soldiers everywhere saluting us, originally we were also going to salute them, but at this time, the military situation was too urgent to take care of so much, and everyone was thinking that they would soon go to the battlefield, so the whole army was filled with a strict and oppressive atmosphere.
Deputy Battalion Commander Chen also arrived, and he caught up with us at the gate of the barracks with a few soldiers from the first battalion, and I guess he wanted to say something to me, but as soon as he saw us like this, he knew that it was not appropriate to stop us at this time, so he and a few of his subordinates stood up and saluted us, and then waved goodbye to us.
It was two very simple actions, but I could see from them the gratitude and hope pinned on us by Deputy Battalion Commander Chen and several other soldiers. It also made me feel a little heavier on my shoulders...... If they hadn't been able to rescue the six platoons of the first battalion, or if it was too late, they wouldn't know how to explain to Deputy Battalion Commander Chen and them when they came back.
However, I soon realized that this was not the time for me to stress myself, and I immediately threw these questions out of my mind.
The troops made a turn along the path, and soon saw a dozen or so helicopters parked in the temporary airfield in front of them, which were already slowly spinning...... That's one of the benefits of helicopters, which have very low requirements for airports, and almost just need an open area with enough space. Of course, if it is a military and is ready to fight a big battle, it is also necessary to consider the refueling, maintenance and reloading of helicopters, but these are obviously not difficult for the 703rd regiment, and the maintenance personnel and vehicles transporting ammunition are already ready here.
Without saying a word, the soldiers and I split into ten parts and boarded ten helicopters.
That's why we have to fly ten helicopters. It's because the platoon led by Scar was selected from the Secret Service Company. He chose soldiers in the company who were familiar with the use of paragliders. And these soldiers could not be in the same platoon or the same squad, so one person was transferred here and there, which caused us to have three platoons in the establishment of these remaining soldiers, although there were only two platoons.
In order to facilitate command and coordination, or to avoid confusion, we had to carry nine helicopters in the same way that a company was fully manned, and the tenth helicopter was naturally used by me, the battalion commander, the communications personnel, the security personnel, and the necessary staff officers. Together with the three fully loaded aircraft for reconnaissance, the entire fleet is a total of thirteen.
It also made me realize that on the battlefield it is sometimes not appropriate to draw the elite from a full company to fight. This is because it is likely to cause some confusion in command and coordination or a waste of resources.
Of course, this time we were forced to do so, and it didn't seem to have much impact, because under normal circumstances, the Zhiwu would have to take ten fighters and carry a small amount of ammunition in an overloaded state, but now our small number means that the helicopter does not have to work in an overloaded state, that is, it is more flexible and can carry more ammunition at the same time.
So in this respect, it is still beneficial for us in this battle, but it also reminds me that after the war, we must do everything possible to make all members proficient in the use of paragliding.
As I made a take-off gesture towards Zheng Liangqiang, more than a dozen helicopters rose into the sky with the sound of "whirring" breaking through the air.
The speed of the helicopter's ascent is not fast, judging from the number of jΓΉ, the climbing speed is 4.3 meters per second, which means that we have to climb to the height of more than 1,700 meters on the main peak of Kulin Mountain, and it will take six or seven minutes. It's about the same speed as when we run.
Of course. We would not be stupid enough to start the climb before we reached the position on Ku Lam Mountain, which would mean that we would have to face Vietnamese fire for six or seven minutes of climbing. So we climbed all the way from takeoff. It wasn't until the height of two thousand meters that he flew towards the target, which is the main peak of Kuolin Mountain.
Our location was less than two kilometers away from the main peak of Kulin Mountain, so a few minutes later we received a signal from the pilot to prepare for a parachute jump...... The whole journey was only ten minutes, which gave us the feeling that we were about to go to war before our butts were hot.
But we also knew that the battlefield would never give us much time to prepare, so we quickly got up from our seats one by one and lined up in the cabin.
The cabin opened, and cold wind poured in through the hatch, and just then the sky was just spitting out the white of the fish's belly, and I looked down...... I saw that my eyes were full of white mist, as if I had entered a fairyland, and I couldn't see the situation below at all.
To be honest, this kind of weather condition should be said to be unsuitable for parachuting, because in the fog, the paratroopers can't see the ground, so they don't have enough time to adjust the landing position, in other words, they have to jump even if there is a sea of swords and fires below.
However, there is no way to do this, first of all, this is at an altitude of more than 1,700 meters, and if you want to make it fog-free, there are really not many terrains like Kuolin Mountain, unless you choose a sunny and blue sky. But now that the rainy season has just entered Vietnam, I am afraid that I will have to wait a few months for this day to open my eyes.
Secondly, skydiving in these weather is not all bad for us...... The fog did increase the danger of our skydiving, but it was also a good cover for us. The more devils can't see our helicopters, don't they? And if the fog is so big, even if we start to parachute and hang in the air one by one, the devils don't know, which means that the danger of us hanging in the air and being counter-airborne by the enemy will be smaller, and at the same time, there will be more time to assemble.
At this time, three red flares rose into the air below.
This was an agreement we made with Scar, because the fog was too heavy for the helicopter to find the exact suitable location for parachuteing, so we needed manual guidance from the ground forces.
After getting this signal, the helicopter made a series of fine-tunings, and after maintaining a constant speed, Zheng Liangqiang was heard shouting at us: "Jump!" β
I'm not sure what will be waiting for me down there, maybe it's a deadly rock, maybe it's a bamboo stick, maybe it's a mine, or even maybe the more devil with a gun waiting for us. But at this point, I had no choice but to take a deep breath and jump down......
Fortunately, the qiΔ I feared did not happen, and under the dual action of the parachute and gravity, I slowly descended through the fog vapor and descended...... The world under my feet gradually became clear, at first there were fires, accompanied by bursts of gunfire and explosions, and then I slowly saw the outline of the high ground and the lines of fire shot by tracer bullets, and then I found that there was a craggy boulder directly below, so I hurriedly made some adjustments to the parachute, and when I was in a hurry, I suddenly felt that I was being pulled by a strong force and the whole person was suspended in the air.
When I looked up, I realized that I had been hooked by a branch and the parachute was hanging on the tree.
According to post-war statistics, there were quite a few soldiers like me who were caught by tree branches, because there were so many and dense trees on the high ground that there was hardly a place for our paratroopers to stand except for the open space that had been blown up by artillery shells.
Of course, not everyone was as lucky as us, a few soldiers were hit by a branch and then hung in the air, some injured their hands and some of their feet, and one soldier was even knocked unconscious.
Fortunately, the battle during this period was very tense, the Vietnamese army did not have time to search in the forest, and the foliage was dense and the light was not very good, so the soldier was not discovered by the enemy until the end of the battle.
Naturally, this did not bother me, so I skillfully pulled out the thorn from my waist and cut the parachute rope, so that I landed on the ground.
"Attention units!" The first thing I did after I got down to earth was to give an order on the walkie-talkie: "Execute the first plan!" β
The reason why I want to use a sentence like "the first plan" is because I am worried that the Vietnamese devils are very likely to be listening to our communications, after all, the Vietnamese devils are backed by the Soviet Union, so it is not surprising that some high-tech electronic equipment will appear among them.
Of course, the phrase "First Plan" doesn't play a very secretive role, but at least the Vietnamese army will not know that we are going to assemble and make targeted actions when they hear the news.
Then I took out the map and compass...... This is a must-have magic weapon for our paratroopers, you must know that we have parachuted into a completely unfamiliar place, and after parachuting, we basically act alone, and if we want to join our own troops, we must be able to find the assembly point smoothly.
Once I had determined the direction, I put away the map and carefully searched forward with the Ak74 in my hand...... I had to abandon the SVD for the time being, on the grounds that the SVD was too long for parachuting, and because the AK74 was definitely better than the SVD during the search process. The reason is very simple, in this foggy forest, the visual distance is only a few tens of meters or even more than ten meters, and the long range of the SVD will not play a role at all, but the AK74's burst and 30 rounds will have a great advantage.
After sneaking forward cautiously for more than ten minutes, he suddenly heard a slight footstep from the flank, so he hurriedly lowered his body and turned the muzzle of the gun.
The other party obviously discovered my existence as well, and in an instant, the air around me seemed to be frozen and full of murderous aura...... Then I quickly felt that something was wrong, because if the other party was a Vietnamese devil, I should have shouted or notified my comrades to come with gunshots.
Thinking of this, I whispered to the target: "Control it!" β
The other party replied: "Just stay here!" β
Then I knew it was my own! (To be continued......)