Due to the urgency of time, the first company did not have much time to hold a meeting, and Company Commander Lei just called Xia Yuan, Ma Da and Chen Lie to him, and said simply: "Our company is responsible for the task of the vanguard, this task must be clear to you, we must be ready to meet the enemy's face at any time, and even when necessary, for the comrades behind to break out a safe road." ”

The vanguards, to put it bluntly, are in front to test whether the path they have chosen is safe, and once they encounter an ambush by the enemy, they will become a broken rear force, covering the retreat of the follow-up troops.

Xia Yuan immediately spoke: "Company commander, let me serve as the sharp knife of a company!" ”

Chen Lie interrupted him and said, "Company commander, let's go in three platoons!" The last time we carried out the annihilation mission, we didn't go to the three platoons, and this time it should be our three platoons! ”

Ma Da shouted: "That's not good, it should be our second platoon, the combat effectiveness of our second platoon is no worse than that of the first platoon and the third platoon, or even much stronger, company commander, our second platoon is the most suitable." ”

The role of the vanguard in the company is almost the same as that of the vanguard in the battalion, the role is the same, this is also the most dangerous task, a little careless, encountering an ambush by the enemy, it may be a head-on blow, heavy casualties, and even when the US army retreats, there may be a large number of mines buried on the ground.

In short, the task of being at the vanguard is fraught with danger.

Xia Yuan said in a calm voice: "Don't rob any more, company commander, the task of serving as the vanguard must be our platoon, the platoon has experienced dozens of wars, the War of Resistance against Japan, the War of Liberation, and even the suppression of bandits, your platoon is all serving as sharp knives, and you have rich combat experience, and your ability to distinguish the enemy must be below the seventh and eighth platoons." ”

Company Commander Lei pondered: "What the platoon commander said is wrong, the first platoon is the sharp knife platoon of your company, there is no doubt about it, and the soldiers in the platoon are all experienced veterans, we are more suitable for the task of being the vanguard soldier." ”

Xia Yuan seemed to want to say something, but in the end, his lips squirmed for a while, and there was a sound.

Wei Wuma muttered, "How many recruits are there in the first row." ”

At this time, Li Qiwei accurately judged the strategic retreat intention of the Volunteer Army, and I think that the main offensive direction of the Volunteer Army in the last step was the middle line, which also laid the groundwork for the 140th Division to be surrounded by the US army.

At this time, the first company did not gather at the mouth of the river, the seventh company and the eighth company were on the right and left flanks, the right and left flanks of the first battalion were the seventh battalion and the eighth battalion, which were part of the 784th regiment, the 784th regiment was the left wing of the 784th regiment, the 770th regiment was the right flank of the 784th regiment, and the 140th division was swinging out in the word 'product' and headed towards the rear line.

Wang Cheng nodded heavily, wrapped the grain strip under his neck around his neck, carried the gun and ammunition under his shoulder, and shouted: "A platoon obeys the order, go to the water and cross the river!" ”

Company Commander Lei woke up from his astonishment, turned around and glanced at Instructor Shao, and said, "Since the platoon commander said that, this platoon will be the sharp knife platoon of the first company and take the lead in carrying out the task of crossing the river!" ”

Fortunately, it was the rainy season, and there was no rain in the next few days, and the weather was bad in those days, although there was no rain, but the weather has not been, and the Han River has become flat, but the river water in early July is still icy hot, and the weather has been bright and heavy in recent days, and the temperature has dropped some, and it is still very hot.

The whistle fluttered melodiously, and the troops in front should have finished crossing the river.

Chen Lie turned on his night vision, and it was difficult to see the eight slender wires on the river, and a row of soldiers stood by the river, looking at the tumbling river, and his heart was not shaken.

Before the first stage of the Seventh Campaign, the entire Korean battlefield showed a concave in the west and a convex situation in the east, which was due to the fact that the United Nations Army put its focus on the west and put a net on the Seoul Department, resulting in the defense of the central and eastern fronts being substantial, and the overall defense line was said to be straight from southwest to northeast, exposing the flanks of the eastern front.

Chen Lie led us to climb down the top of the mountain very slowly, observed the two big mountains in the rear, and quickly ordered: "Tan Zhanbiao, he took a platoon to the left mountain to watch, Niu Fengyang, he went to the right mountain, pay attention to vigilance, and the others, stand by in place, wait for the previous troops to follow, and then set off." ”

In the first stage of the Seventh Campaign, the entire line of the US army was advancing forward, and even the enemy, who had not yet withdrawn in time, was surrounded by the volunteers and completely lost contact with the enemy's small units, and the 140th Division took eight days to arrive at the battle site, and the construction division pointed out that the right, center, and left eight-wing infantry regiments had not yet retreated to the designated place.

Chen Lie squinted his eyes and said: "Recruits, you all came from the recruits, and grew step by step to the present, who came from the recruits, Lao Ma, he came from the recruits, the sword edge came from the sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms came from the bitter cold." Only after experiencing the baptism of war can we become veterans of actual combat experience. ”

Everything looks very abnormal at this time, the US military is planning, and the volunteers are also planning.

Before leaving, Division Commander Zheng stopped me again: "Inform the front service, do a bad job of supporting the front line, it is a tough battle, you must completely tear apart the battle line of the US army, cut off the US army on the east and west fronts, once the battle is over, don't you know when it is, food and ammunition, you must ensure that it is sufficient!" ”

Wang Xiaoliang was so cold that his teeth chattered, the temperature in North Korea had dropped a lot before the sky was white, and the cold river water made the temperature of the body slowly drain, we held on to this slender wire, on the one hand, we had to fight against the river, on the other hand, we had to fight against the weather, and on the other hand, we had to always be vigilant against the enemy on the other side of the river.

Crossing the valleys, climbing over the low mountains, rushing under the noses of the US Air Force, retreating with a roar.

In the US military's raids and bombings, we are also determining where the volunteer troops in the front are located, and we can only retreat from the bombing of some places where there may be volunteer troops, and once we encounter resistance from the volunteers, then that area will become a key bombing area for the US Air Force.

Wang Xiaoliang hurriedly got up, Gu is light pants, holding a gun and staring at the rear vigilantly, the platoon commander was observing, and he heard the platoon commander say: "All dangers, go and blow the whistle." ”

The secretary replied: "Division commander, each unit has not retreated to the designated combat position, and is now vaguely investigating the deployment of the enemy's forces on the opposite side. ”

At this time, the eight infantry regiments of the 140th Division had just crossed the North Han River and were rushing to the rear line, and the fighters of the US Air Force in the sky were retreating and harassing various areas where there might be volunteer soldiers, and the roar echoed from the valley far away, as if thunder had come from a far away, and the rumbling sound continued to spread.

Anyway, I took the lead in jumping into the river, and suddenly a spirit, the icy hot river water instantly soaked the cotton pants, the wet and hot cotton pants were tightly attached to the skin, the body became lighter, the body temperature was rapidly lost, and the teeth were more than just chattering, take a deep breath, stabilize the body, reach out and grab a wire, and end up touching backwards.

"Bad! They must be careful, the rear line troops have ended their withdrawal one after another, the enemy has ended the hot pursuit, there are vacancies in very few areas, I am afraid that they will encounter the enemy, they will definitely cross the river, and the number of enemy troops encountered is small, so do not act rashly! ”

Chen Lie said: "You take a platoon and go to the right to look for it." ”

Wang Cheng's words made the people present loud, and even Ma Xiaoyi opened his mouth and looked at Chen Lie in disbelief, as if he had reacquainted himself with me.

The bottom of the river is distributed with rocks, the concave and convex are flat, retreat for a while, and encounter a piece of sand, a foot up, the sand sinks slightly, the water surges, the sand is slowly washed, the water is not waist-deep, the icy river water is soaked through the cotton pants, and the whole person's action has become incomprehensible.

The 80th Army was still responsible for holding the central line and blocking the reinforcements of the United Nations forces on the eastern front.

We crossed the surging Nu River and arrived on the other side of the river, where Wang Xiaoliang lay on the grass without some prostration.

That was not the focus of the seventh phase of the Seventh Campaign of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which had been stagnant for a long time in the first phase of the Seventh Campaign, with the 14th Corps continuing to press Seoul from the front and containing the main force of the US army, while the Eighth Corps and the Fourth Corps quickly moved eastward, planning to open a breakthrough from the eastern front.

Chen Lie spoke again: "You continue to retreat, occupy those lowlands first." ”

I stood at the top of the hill and looked closer, and I could faintly hear the rumbling sound coming from the rear line, like thunder, rippling between the mountains.

Look around and hear a voice coming from the left.

A platoon of eight squads groped towards the top of the hill in an eight-eight battle formation, and we crossed the shore and found a small amount of broken barbed wire and mines, broken trees lying upside down in all directions, and everywhere there were bullet points and burned trees, exposing the bare ground, and a small part of the trunks of the trees were blown to pieces.

Lei Lian Chang said: "Bad idea, Lao Shao, let's look for it again." ”

Wang Cheng said vaguely: "The worst defense is not to retreat!" ”

That's the strategy Shiji has taken.

In order to cover the eastward movement of the main force, on July 4, the 14th Corps ended its feint attack on Seoul.

"Stand up and be vigilant!"

The secretary of the minutes replied: "Yes! ”

There was a fierce battle outside there.

The seventh stage is regressing in an orderly manner.

Liu Tiezhu squatted on the ground, unscrewed off the water stains under his pants, quickly stood up, grabbed the gun and looked at Qi Zhou vigilantly.

Chen Lie observed right and left, made sure that the platoon had not yet arrived, and said: "Company commander, you should set off first, and when you arrive at the river bank, you will take the whistle as the signal." ”

While waiting, Wang Cheng did not think about what happened in the seventh phase of the seventh campaign, the seventh stage was due to the fact that the first stage had not yet been able to destroy the enemy in small quantities to achieve the effect that Zhiji wanted, and the soldiers of the volunteer army on the rear line had not yet run out of ammunition and food, and the enemy might take advantage of the fatigue of the volunteer army to suddenly counterattack.

I calmed my voice: "Blindly hiding in front of the veterans, that will only help us, but will harm us, if the bird wants to learn to fly, it has to come out of the nest, at the risk of being killed and eaten by predators, to learn to fly, just like our recruits, it is to go to the battlefield to fight the enemy, we will learn a skill." ”

Wang Xiaoliang saw our deputy platoon commander standing by the river and blew the whistle in his hand.

A row of soldiers in a battle formation of eight or eight is slowly walking through the forest, Wang Cheng turned on the night vision, concentrating on the observation of seven weeks, Lao Yang next to him just followed, staring in the other direction, there was a rumbling sound in the silence of the forest, the soldiers did not pay attention, still cautiously retreated.

"Yes!"

The first platoon and the seventh platoon went up the mountain in vain, and then climbed to the two big hills in the rear, and shouldered the task of guarding the rear row at the top of the two big hills.

The discoverer was naturally Chen Lie, with his weak night vision and eagle eye, he sloppily searched in the tumbling river, and finally found eight slender wires, swinging right and left as the river rolled around.

"Found it!"

Under the sky, the roar of US planes was heard again, and the bombs made a sharp whistling sound as they fell freely, exploding among the nearby mountains.

Chen Lie observed the mountains on the opposite side and ordered his soldiers to slow down.

Chen Lie stared at the tumbling river and thought: "Sure the enemy is looking for it, the wire is floating on the river, if it will be discovered by the enemy, the wire will definitely be in the river, the company commander, can't take people to see if there is no mark left by the rear line troops on the shore, if you find it, jump into the river to grope." ”

After eight hours of rushing overnight, we were getting closer and closer to the rear line, and the sound of bombs dropped by the US Air Force became even more crisp, and the trees outside the forest were lying on the ground before the baptism of artillery fire, and the bullet points were all over the valleys and ridges, and a small number of mountains were scorched white, and the valley before being bombed by US planes was full of mess.

Lao Yang followed closely, and the first squad leader, the seventh squad leader, and the eighth squad leader led the soldiers to jump into the icy river.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Company Commander Lei led people over from the left and said, "I didn't find the wire on the left side, and it stands to reason that the wire to cross the river should be in that area." ”

Division Commander Zheng reminded: "Inform all troops, hide yourself, keep silent throughout the whole process, you must hide under the nose of the enemy for four days, until the end of the seventh stage of the counteroffensive, during this period, all units must not expose themselves." ”

The order has not yet been issued, and it is useless for us to say anything.

Chen Lie turned his head to look at the stunned Company Commander Lei and said, "Company Commander, the task of the vanguard will be handed over to your platoon." ”

A platoon of soldiers quickly approached the past, it was actually a steep terrain, the bank was steep, you need to jump up, the river bank was overgrown with weeds, the mud was Kan, the river water was icy hot, soaked through the shoes to invade the skin, deep into the bone marrow, the soldiers trembled slightly, staring at the hot river water and touching the riverside, we saw eight wires deep into the river, the river water was deeply rooted in eight thick wooden stakes, which were left by the rear line troops, there was no mark, but the area was relatively steep.

Division Commander Zheng smoked a cigarette, stared at the map spread out by the confidential secretary, and said, "How is the situation of the troops?" ”

"Yes!"

The river is rolling, and the rush is resting.

(End of chapter)