The Vietnamese army thought we were equipped with night vision devices...... The reason why this is not considered a good thing is because it makes the Yue Devil no longer use traditional tactics to attack Faka Mountain...... The tactics of using traditional techniques such as touching holes or digging each other's ears to carry out tug-of-war are no longer applicable, and the more devils think that in this kind of battle, the enemy equipped with night vision devices will definitely take advantage of it.

I am well aware of that...... That's not to say that I'm sensitive, in fact, even my staff officers know that the Yue Devil must be brewing a bigger attack...... It's just that we don't know what method the Vietnamese army will use to fight this Faka Mountain, or rather...... Even the Yue devil himself didn't think of what method to use to fight this Faka Mountain.

The battle was silent for five days in this oppressive atmosphere......

During these five days, the Yue Devils did not even come to collect the dead bodies on Faka Mountain...... Anyway, during this period, we also sent out leaflets in Vietnamese several times for the Yue devils to collect the corpses, which is our habit of fighting with the Yue devils...... The Vietnamese army has always attached great importance to the reception of soldiers' corpses for morale reasons, and even sometimes our snipers can use Vietnamese corpses as a lure to trap and kill Vietnamese soldiers...... This is a very strange phenomenon that people in the world of peace may not be able to imagine...... The living will be sacrificed for the sake of the dead, but the battlefield is sometimes so unreasonable, and not only the Vietnamese army, but also our army!

However, this time the Vietnamese army was unusual...... No matter how we call it or shout it, the devil just won't come to collect the corpse......

I thought about it...... It is concluded that the Vietnamese army is likely not to come to collect the body because of the following points:

One is to make these corpses stink and disgust us Chinese soldiers stationed on Mount Faka...... This may be very inhumane to say, or the Vietnamese army is disrespectful to its own soldiers...... However, I think that the Vietnamese army commander should have this aspect in mind, because our soldiers have indeed suffered greatly from it......

You know, this is Vietnam. And it's a scorching hot day in May...... Hundreds of corpses lay on this Faka Mountain, basking in the sun. It didn't take less than a day to start rotting. Then there was a burst of corpses that emitted a foul stench in the air...... Our soldiers can't bury them if they want to, and the devil snipers and artillery observers are hiding in the shadows and staring at us!

For this...... The soldiers of the special agent company are not bad, after all, they all crawled out of this mountain of corpses and sea of blood, and they had never smelled this corpse stench when they were fighting with the Yue devils, so they didn't take it too seriously at all.

It's just that the two battalions are suffering...... Although these two battalions were also a unit that had been fought since '79, many of them were recruits who joined later...... This is a characteristic of ordinary troops, and the main reason is that our army suffered serious attrition in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in 79, coupled with the subsequent downsizing...... The troops inevitably need to be replenished with a new batch of recruits.

This point is also in line with our army's need to improve the cultural quality of the troops...... Lay off some of the poorer soldiers. Replenish some culturally based soldiers...... Of course, this is impossible to change all the brains, the reason is that although the veterans are not highly educated, they have combat experience, which is lacking in recruits, so they have to take their time in this kind of blood exchange...... It is also so that the recruits have the opportunity to temper and learn in the army.

Just like this second battalion...... There are more than 400 people in the battalion, including more than 180 recruits, accounting for almost half of the total number...... In addition, only soldiers who have come out of military schools can be promoted...... So it is conceivable that the troops are in a big change of blood at this time.

And this Vietnamese battlefield ...... In fact, it is a training ground used by our army to refine these recruits with a cultural foundation!

This is also what the second battalion is for, although it is a veteran unit...... But the performance on the battlefield is a bit unsatisfactory, because there are too many recruits. They need time to refine and learn.

That's why it's ...... The smell of corpses made the soldiers of the second battalion stationed in positions 4 and 5 miserable, just because they saw that the soldiers of the agent company of position 3 did not eat and sleep as if they had nothing to do...... So I didn't dare to talk more.

Second, the corpse placed on this position is good for the Vietnamese army's charge...... The positions are littered with stumps, severed arms and corpses, aren't they? These things are mixed with dirt, gravel, etc. It will provide a good protective color for the next charge of the Vietnamese army, and the Yue devil only needs to lie on the ground...... It would be difficult to tell whether he was alive or a corpse.

But these are secondary...... After all, the fact that the corpses are not collected will be somewhat damaging to the morale of the Vietnamese army, if only because of these two points...... The commander of the Vietnamese army also knew that this was likely to outweigh the losses, that is, on the surface, it seemed to have some benefits, but in fact, it made the Vietnamese army unwilling to sacrifice on this Phaka Mountain to become the next corpse to be used!

So the most important ...... Or the Vietnamese army doesn't want us to get a respite and transport supplies and cement prefabrications to Phaka Mountain!

This point is indeed accurate...... Because we do plan to take advantage of the Vietnamese army to come up and collect the corpses, and when the supplies are transported.

You must know that the topography of this Faka Mountain is really a bit of a headache...... The narrow frontage, the steep hillside, and the increasingly dense shelling of our supply lines by the Vietnamese army...... This makes it more and more difficult for our troops to deliver supplies to the positions.

So Zhao Jingping thought of a way...... "Let the more devils transport the corpses, and when the more devils transport the corpses, there will be a truce between our two sides...... Take this time to let the sappers transport the supplies upwards! ”

As a result, this more devil went to live or die and didn't come to collect the corpse...... only made this Zhao Jingping so angry that he blew his beard and stared.

Later, I learned from the intelligence officer...... Indeed, the Vietnamese commander gave up collecting the corpses because he was worried that our army's positions on Phaka Hill would be adequately resupplied as a result.

Don't look at it as just a humble supply...... But the battlefield is often like this, and it is often these seemingly insignificant things that affect the entire battle situation at the very end.

And the Vietnamese commander is smarter than I thought...... His slogan to his subordinates was: "We don't collect the corpses now, so that we can collect them when we recover Mount Faka, if we can't recover Mount Faka...... We'd rather leave our bodies on Mount Faka forever! ”

A simple word...... It turns what would have been a morale boost into a morale-boosting factor.

These are all things that I can guess, but what I can't guess is what method the Vietnamese army intends to use to attack our Phaka Mountain......

Even if our army is now having trouble supplying on Mount Faka...... But the more time goes on, the more our army's fortifications will always be reinforced, that is, the more unfavorable it is to the Vietnamese army, right? So what are the devils waiting for?

On the afternoon of the fifth day, the question was finally answered......

I was resting in bed that day...... This is the hellish place in Vietnam. There were so many mosquitoes at night that it was really unbearable. I didn't have any sleep training, so I had to sleep during the day when there were fewer mosquitoes.

Just as I was falling asleep...... Suddenly, there was a dense burst of artillery fire from the direction of Mount Faka.

The Yue devils often come to an intensive shelling intermittently like this...... So I didn't pay much attention to it. After turning over, he continued to look for Zhou Gong...... But it didn't take long for the shelling to feel that something was wrong, the intensity was different from usual, and it lasted for a long time...... So a clever man sat up from the bed and realized that this was a new offensive of the Vietnamese army!

Sure enough, after a while, I saw Zhao Jingping running in and reported in a panic: "Battalion commander...... The more devils launched an artillery attack? ”

"What's there to be nervous about the shelling?!" I didn't think about it, so I answered.

"Battalion commander ......" Zhao Jingping explained: "The artillery attack of the Yue devils is a little different......

"Hmm! What's the difference? I asked, realizing that it was very likely that the Vietnamese army was waiting for this "different artillery."

Sure enough, I heard Zhao Jingping reply: "Battalion commander...... THE MORE DEVILS USE 160MM MORTARS, WHICH ARE SPECIFICALLY AIMED AT THE ANTICLINE FORTIFICATIONS OF FAKA MOUNTAIN! ”

"160MM MORTAR?!" I couldn't help but be stunned when I heard this.

I've heard of this too...... IN FACT, OUR ARMY ALSO HAS MORTARS OF THIS CALIBER, THAT IS, THE TYPE 56 160MM MORTAR. In the Soviet Union or the Vietnamese devils, it should be called the M43 type.

Just because mortars of this caliber are too heavy...... The total weight of this cannon is almost 1,500 kilograms, and a single shell weighs more than 40 kilograms...... So you have to add two wheels to it so that it can maneuver.

So...... Its mobility is greatly limited, it has to rely on road mobility, and it is quite difficult to transport artillery shells...... More than 40 kilograms, a person with a shell on his back is almost the same, and if he is half dead on his back, he will put it in this cannon that is a "boom".

These characteristics make this mortar not very suitable for use on a battlefield with complex terrain such as Vietnam, which is a bit like our army's Type 58 twin-seat high-altitude aircraft...... If you want to use road maneuvers, it's not very suitable for mountain warfare!

SO WE STILL COMMONLY USE SMALL-CALIBER MORTARS SUCH AS 60 GUNS AND 82 GUNS ON THE BATTLEFIELD IN VIETNAM, AND HEAVY ARTILLERY GUNS WITH A 100MM ARE ABOUT THE SAME...... BUT NOW THE DEVIL HAS GOT A BATCH OF 160MM CALIBER MORTARS!

But it's right to think about it......

Although this long-range gun is powerful, the problem is that the trajectory is relatively straight and it is difficult to hit the anticline; Ordinary mortars can hit the anti-slope although. However, because the power is not strong enough, it is difficult to cause damage to the fortifications of the anticline. BUT THIS 160MM MORTAR ...... But it combines the advantages of the two, not only can it hit the anticline, but the power is also large enough...... It is perfect for anti-slope fortifications!

"Pass the order on!" I immediately said to Zhao Jingping: "Let all units pay attention to anti-artillery, if necessary...... Build a foxhole outside the fortifications! ”

"Yes!" As soon as Zhao Jingping turned around, he hurriedly conveyed my order.

In this case...... The fortifications were not to be trusted, as they were likely to be crushed by the large-caliber mortar shells...... At that time, they would bury people in them or be injured by their own fortifications. At this time, it is safer to hide in a crater or dig a foxhole.

I thought about it...... I walked to the battalion headquarters in three steps and two steps, and said to Zhao Jingping, who was busy: "Contact the artillery unit immediately, and let them suppress the artillery fire of the Yue devils as much as possible!" ”

"Battalion commander!" Zhao Jingping shook his head and said, "I have already contacted ...... However, Regiment Commander Li said that this was the mobile cannon of the Yue devils, and if our army fired the cannon indiscriminately...... Not only could it not kill or wound the enemy, but it was also possible to expose the location of our artillery positions! ”

I couldn't help but nod my head...... This regimental commander of the Le regiment was the commander-in-chief of the artillery unit of our army, and he once participated in the battle to attack Lang Son...... Lang Son is an important place for the Vietnamese army, and the reason why it is called an important place is ...... This is because Lang Son is a very special place, to the north, that is, in the direction of our army, there are undulating mountains and dense jungles, and to the south, that is, in the direction of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is the northern plain......

It is conceivable that this place is the backyard barrier of the Vietnamese capital, if the Vietnamese army can hold Lang Son...... That means that our army will be trapped in the jungle and will struggle with the Vietnamese army to fight jungle warfare that our army is not good at. On the contrary, if the Vietnamese army cannot hold the ...... After that, it will be a flat river, and that is the time for our army's artillery, tanks, etc. to raise their eyebrows.

Therefore, this Lang Son can be said to be a must-defend place for the Vietnamese army...... So the Vietnamese army allocated several artillery regiments here, plus an ace division, that is, the 308th Division, which was called the "Vanguard Army" and "First Army" by Vietnam, was garrisoned......

However, in the end, the Vietnamese army was unable to hold Lang Son, and it was our artillery that played a big role in this...... The artillery was pulled to the front line and fired at close range according to the strong fortifications of the Vietnamese army by the method of "fighting bayonets", and finally gnawed down the place of Lang Son...... Among them, the artillery that carried out the "bayonet fighting" was the artillery regiment led by Commander Li.

I don't know if this kind of "bayonet" tactic is really worth promoting...... Because of artillery, I think it is more important to give full play to its long-range advantages to strike at the enemy.

But I know it...... Those unarmed artillerymen who could even be said to be holding shells...... Let them go to the front line to fight the enemy at close range, it is really not something ordinary people can do!

Artillery is not a tank...... The cannon's high and sheer size would have provided an obvious target for the enemy, and there was a good chance that there would be many shells next to the cannon...... A bazooka or mortar blew it up...... The people around this have to be sacrificed.

However, they were able to hold out in this situation...... It is a miracle that he was able to win the battle in the end!

And the opinion that Commander Li is now putting forward is obviously correct...... You must know that although the 100 mortars on the road are not suitable for maneuvering in the mountains, they are very convenient for maneuvering on the road, and the heavy mortars are not the kind of long-range artillery...... After a few quick shots, he dragged it away with a side three-wheeler...... Our artillery can be said to have no way to take this kind of artillery at all. (To be continued......)