Chapter 10: Retreat to the Tunnel
The counterattack operation at position 0 ended just over an hour before dawn, and in order to cope with the counterattack of the US army, the volunteer troops quickly entered the tunnel. At 5 o'clock on October 20, the U.S. military again concentrated 300 large-caliber artillery pieces to bombard the two heights of 597.9 and 537.7 for an hour; after the artillery fire was extended, Zhao Lianfa observed through the telescope that the U.S. troops began to charge towards the 597.9 heights; "Xiao Zhang, call for artillery support to the division headquarters and ask the artillery to shoot at the No. 6 area!" "Zhao Lianfa gave an order to the newly arrived regimental correspondent Zhang Di." Wang Zhuang - Wang Zhuang, I'm Zhao Zhuang, please fire at Area No. 6! Zhang Didi called for artillery support to the division headquarters through the walkie-talkie. Soon the large and medium-caliber artillery of the Volunteer Army spoke, "Boom..... Boom ....." A large number of shells whistled in, and the charging American troops retreated after paying a large number of casualties. "The artillery is too powerful, long live the artillery!" The officers and men of the volunteers praised from the bottom of their hearts.
"Everyone retreat to the tunnel to hide, don't gather at the mouth of the tunnel, the enemy's air raid is coming.....," Li Wenwu ordered. About one minute later, everyone heard the roar of bombers, and more than 20 American-made B-26 bombers quickly flew over the 597.9 height, and dozens of heavy bombs and special special bombs fell one after another; the huge explosion sound of "boom-boom......" once again made the officers and men of the volunteers in the tunnel feel a huge shock, and the air wave generated by the explosion almost overturned the position again; Special special ammunition once again turned the position into a sea of fire...... "Instructor, I heard that our air force has already entered the war, why didn't it support us?" "A soldier asked Li Wenwu;" Our fighters do not have enough combat radius to fly to the front line, and we need to build front-line airfields to fly to the front line to support us; The constant bombing of the US imperialist air force made it impossible to complete the construction of our front-line airfields. Li Wenwu said. However, our air force is covering the follow-up troops of our army to cross the river into Korea, and at the same time concentrating on protecting our logistical supply lines; Now the battle loss rate of our logistical supply has dropped from 70% to 10% at the worst time, which is why we have so many shells transported to the front line to fight the enemy. The comrades of the Air Force made a great contribution to the security of logistics supply lines. Zhao Lianfa added.
As soon as Zhao Lian's voice fell, the enemy, who had just finished the air raid and the second shelling, began to attack again...... This time, the U.S. military used 8 tanks as fire support to cover a company of left and right infantry and began to charge, "Xiao Zhang, call for artillery support!" "Zhao Lianfa ordered;" Wang Zhuang - Wang Zhuang, I am Zhao Zhuang, there are enemy tanks in the No. 5 area, please fire at the No. 6, No. 5, No. 3, No. 2 areas! Zhang Didi once again called for artillery support to the division headquarters through walkie-talkies. Soon a platoon of Katyusha rocket artillery shells roared towards the enemy's tanks, and eight of the enemy's tanks were destroyed in an instant; At the same time, another group of shells exploded at the place where the enemy infantry charged, and the enemy charge repelled another artillery fire, and in three hours the reinforced company repelled five enemy attacks with artillery support.
Soon after another artillery fire was prepared, the enemy's sixth offensive began; "Wang Zhuang - Wang Zhuang, I'm Zhao Zhuang, please fire at the seventh, sixth, fifth, and third areas!" Zhang Didi again called for artillery support to the division headquarters through walkie-talkies, but did not hear the sound of artillery for nearly three minutes; "Don't shout, we've bottomed out on our shell reserves; Tell comrades, assemble! Zhao Lianfa said. Comrades, the enemy is coming up again; We had to hold our positions without artillery support, and we held our positions with almost no artillery support for the first seven days! Enter the position according to the battle plan! Zhao Lianfa gave the order to set off to the assembled troops. Zhang Dongfang and three fighters came to the No. 2 position this time, and in the face of the fierce enemy, they used grenades to throw at the enemy, and the grenades exploded in the enemy crowd; The enemy left a dozen corpses behind and fled, and the four of them quickly repelled an enemy attack (Zhang Dongfang also killed one of the enemy's second lieutenants from a long distance).
Soon, dozens of enemies pounced on the No. 2 position, and at the same time, an F80 aircraft suddenly fired at the No. 2 position, and the two fighters could not dodge and died on the spot; "Bastard, today is either you dead or I die!" As he spoke, Zhang Dongfang picked up his machine gun and fired a shuttle of revenge bullets at the F80 that had just turned back at a low altitude, and the enemy plane that was hit fell headlong into a nearby hill and exploded. Although Zhang Dongfang shot down an enemy plane, several enemies had already rushed to him and another surviving fighter; Zhang Dongfang kicked an enemy in the lower abdomen and caused him to crouch, while Zhang Dongfang turned an enemy holding him in reverse with all his strength and plunged a bayonet into the enemy's heart.
Zhang Dongfang eliminated one enemy and at the same time pounced on another enemy who had just stood up, and quickly inserted a bayonet into the heart of this enemy, just as he was about to reinforce his comrades, he only heard his comrades shouting "Don't come...... A grenade exploded, and his comrades perished along with the three enemies who had held him; Zhang Dongfang suddenly found that an American Pyro had rushed to the No. 2 position, and was shot dead by Zhang Dongfang when he tried to open fire; At this time, an American sergeant who rushed into the No. 2 position had already raised his gun to Zhang Dongfang, and at the moment when Zhang Dongfang was about to pounce on the enemy for the last fight, several gunshots suddenly rang out, and the American sergeant fell headlong; Zhang Lan appeared behind the enemy with an automatic gun in her hand, "It's you, thank you!" Zhang Dongfang raised his head and said. Beware ......" Zhang Dongfang, who had just raised his head, reminded Zhang Lan, and at the same time, a black shadow quickly pounced on Zhang Lan; At the moment when Zhang Lan was knocked down by the black shadow, two bayonets pierced into the black shadow's heart almost at the same time...... Li Wenwu and Zhang Dongfang killed the enemy who had brought down Zhang Lan at the same time. The two fighters who followed Li Wenwu rushed at the same time to strafe and grenade grenades at the other enemies who were about to rush up, and the enemy threw down more than a dozen corpses and retreated again; The enemy attack was again repulsed.
"You shot down the enemy's plane just now?" After pushing the enemy's corpse away, Zhang Lan asked, and after getting Zhang Dongfang's affirmation, he lightly hammered his body, "You really can!" Zhang Lan continued with admiration. All three of them were killed, two of them were killed by strafing by enemy planes; Xiao Linzi and the three enemies perished together; I was forced by the enemy, and I shot at the enemy plane to avenge the sacrifice of my comrades......" Zhang Dongfang replied. "Instructor, why are you here?" Zhang Dongfang asked, "The enemy's attack is crazy this time, and less than 1/3 of our reinforced company is now left; It has not been easy for you to hold on to position 2 until now; Fortunately, our reinforcements were in time, and we are now defending position 2 together. Li Wenwu said, "Comrade Zhang Lan, there are no wounded in the No. 2 position now, you go back, go back to the tunnel, the wounded in the tunnel need you more; That's an order! "Li Wenwu gave Zhang Lan an order to withdraw to the tunnel;" Well...... Yes, resolutely execute! Zhang Lan saluted and ran quickly in the direction of returning to the tunnel......
On 20 October, the US military launched a frenzied attack on the 597.9 Heights and the 537.7 Heights Beishan with more intensive and fierce artillery fire, more intensive and fierce air strikes, and more troops and more batches of group charges...... After losing artillery support, the reinforced company engaged in a desperate battle with the invading American troops at Heights 597.9, and the battle was still in the hands of the Volunteers at 3 p.m. on October 20. On October 20, after careful consideration, the military headquarters of the 15th Army and the headquarters of the 45th Division decided to temporarily abandon the surface positions of Shangganling and retreat to the tunnel; Accumulate strength in the time of retreating to the tunnels and prepare for the final major counterattack. At 4 p.m. on October 20, the headquarters of the 45th Division ordered the troops defending the surface position of Shangganling to abandon the surface position and retreat into the tunnel, so as to preserve and accumulate strength for the future major counteroffensive. At 4 p.m. on October 20, the reinforced company retreated into the tunnel on the orders of the 45th Division.