Chapter 12: 386 Heights

Chapter 12: 386 Heights

Nonghuai is a border town only four kilometers away from the Vietnamese military important place Tongdeng. The villagers here moved to the rear more than half a month ago because the Vietnamese army frequently caused trouble nearby.

Of course, it is not ruled out that our army had planned a force to leave the country to fight from here and transfer the villagers in advance. This was to prevent the Vietnamese agents from knowing the starting point of our army and even inferring our army's offensive route from this. This was why we did this.

From Hu Shaowen, I know that just like his mother is Vietnamese, there are quite a few villagers on the border who intermarry with Vietnamese. Some of them marry women, and some of them marry women over there. Of course, men will marry into marriage. Therefore, on the Sino-Vietnam border, the complex relationship between relatives blurs the national boundaries and thoughts of the people.

Many of them had dinner in China in the morning and were at their Vietnamese relatives' homes at noon. For them, it was normal to walk around between the two countries through several paths that we didn't even know.

Therefore, if we are garrisoning troops in this place and let the border residents know, it is difficult to ensure that the news will not reach the Vietnamese army. After all, a considerable number of these border residents are Vietnamese. Once the situation of our army garrison on the border is controlled by the Vietnamese army, the consequences can be imagined. The Vietnamese army, who are familiar with the terrain, can completely infer the offensive route of our army from the garrison of our army.

So before the war, it was undoubtedly the best choice to transfer border residents to other places, and it was also a matter of consideration for the personal safety of border residents. After all, once the battle started, there was no way to know who the civilians were.

At this time, we were lurking on the border line not far southwest of Nonghuai.

After drinking wine with the division commander on the battlefield, we received the order to go back to the barracks to rest. Usually at this time, it should be the time when the poet did ideological work to us to show our determination, but today we did not arrange anything so early to let us go back to the camp to rest... So even Hu Shaowen knew that the war was about to win, and let us rest was to regain our energy.

Sure enough, at about twelve o'clock that night, we were woken up by the company commander's low roar. I think all the soldiers except me didn't fall asleep. One was because the rest time was wrong and he couldn't fall asleep. The other was because of the nervousness before going to the battlefield.

So although the company commander's scream was not loud, the soldiers all heard it, and they all got up from the bed to sort out their equipment as soon as they huddled.

The march was carried out in the dark, and there was no car or flashlight. All of this was undoubtedly for the sake of keeping it secret. It was not until more than an hour after we arrived at Lanhuo that I knew from the company commander that our first goal was the 386th Highland one kilometer away.

The 386 Height is a highland that leans against Vietnam on the border. This highland controls a highway and our Nonghuai Pass. If our regiment wants to attack from Nonghuai, we must pass through the foot of the mountain of this highland. This is undoubtedly a big obstacle to our regiment's attack, so our regiment ordered the three companies of the 2nd Battalion to attack from the north, west and southwest sides when the battle started. First, pull out this nail to ensure the smooth advance of the large army.

The lurking place is full of thatched half a person tall, and the moon is dark and the wind is high, so there is no need to worry about being discovered by the enemy at all. What's more, we are still lurking on the border near China at this time. Strictly speaking, we have no "fouls" yet, but we all know that it will be different in a few hours.

I raised my telescope and looked at our target - Highland 386, and it was pitch black and could not see anything. Occasionally, there were a few spots of Mars that looked like fireflies. I knew that it was the Vietnamese sentries smoking. If I had a modern sniper rifle in my hand, I might try to target these sentries...

Of course, this is just a saying. Even if I really have such a sniper rifle in my hand, I dare not expose our troops' attack intentions in advance, unless I am impatient.

There are many mosquitoes and ants, which makes me regret that I didn’t listen to the words of my hometown people when I came up and applied some mosquito repellent. The reason why I don’t apply is that I am more afraid of the smell than mosquitoes, such as mosquito coils. I always feel dizzy the next day when I use this thing. So many times I would rather let the mosquitoes have a full meal, at least this is also promoting the Buddha’s dedication to cutting flesh and feeding eagles.

But what I didn't expect was... the mosquitoes here are not comparable to those I used to be in college. The big ones are as big as spiders, and the small ones cannot be seen by the naked eye, especially those with black and white patterns all over their body, and the mouth is so powerful that it can be broken through the thick military uniform. When I was bitten, a big bag immediately appeared. It hurts and itchy, so people want to cut off the piece of meat.

Fortunately, I have been lurking a lot in the Korean War in the past few years, so this kind of suffering can still be withstood, making mosquitoes numb as they bite.

More than two hours later, under the command of the company commander, we slowly crawled towards the 386 high ground in front of us. I have to admit that some of the soldiers made loud noises. Their movements were too urgent, so that the kettle and weapons on their bodies collided with the stones on the ground, making a "knock and clang" sound. Although the sound was still not loud, if the Vietnamese army listened carefully, they would definitely hear something.

I think these soldiers are definitely not soldiers I brought out from the recruits battalion, because they had already been very clear about how to sneak in under my training. For example, the kettle must be tied firmly behind, the gun must be tightly carried on the back, the red collar and the five-pointed star on the military cap must be blackened with mud in advance, etc. So I can be sure that the veterans must be the ones who make these sounds and make these noises.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but shake my head secretly. Since I competed with He Pingbiao that day, Commander Li has arranged the veterans into our three platoons, but I think it might be better without them.

When I was climbing through the border, I noticed a stone tablet. Because it was at an angle with it, I didn't see it very clearly. Through the thatch and night, I could only vaguely see two big red characters "China". So I understood that this is the boundary marker, used to mark the boundary between China and Vietnam.

This made me realize that one step further was Vietnam, and it was war, but I still climbed over without hesitation. At this time, the war was no longer something I could decide, and it was destined to start in the early morning of this year!

When we were more than 400 meters away from the 386 high ground, we stopped again. The lurking distance should not be too close, otherwise our artillery preparation would be very likely to hurt our own people by mistake. I was used to trying to take out my pocket watch to see the time, but soon realized that the pocket watch that Commander Pang gave me was no longer in which time and space.

I was bored, so I searched my mind for information about the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam that I knew in modern times. After all, I had experience on the Korean battlefield and knew that my greatest role at this time was not the combat power I played as a platoon leader, but the ability of a modern person as a "prophet".

In fact, my understanding of this battle is just a big sigh. As a reporter, I can more or less access to information on this aspect, but the information is not coherent. After seeing the map given by the people in my hometown, I vaguely remembered it.

This operation against Vietnam distinguished the two fronts of the north and south. The North Front Army was commanded by Li Desheng to prevent Soviet raids; the South Front Army was commanded by General Xu Shiyou.

Since China has two provinces, Guangxi and Yunnan, and Vietnam, the Southern Front can be divided into two war zones. The Guangxi direction is the Eastern War Zone, commanded by Xu Shiyou; the Yunnan direction is the Western War Zone, commanded by Yang Dezhi.

It is obvious that the division I am in belongs to the Eastern War Zone, that is, the troops that attacked from Guangxi to cross the border. In this direction, the main battles were Tongdeng, Gaoping and the subsequent Battle of Lang Son.

There was also a very interesting thing happening when fighting Tongdeng and Gao Ping. Our army first surrounded Tongdeng with superior forces, but did not attack, which made the Vietnamese army think that our army's main attack direction was Tongdeng, so Lang Son had reinforcements but did not dare to support Gao Ping. At this time, our army launched a full-scale attack on Gao Ping. In this way, the Vietnamese army mistakenly thought that it was trapped and immediately sent reinforcements to support Gao Ping. When the battlefield was focused on Gao Ping, our army launched a fierce attack on Tongdeng. Although it paid a certain price, it still successfully captured Tongdeng.

From the map given to me by the people from my hometown, we can see that our division is actually an army that surrounded Tongdeng behind the enemy.

"Pay the orders and prepare for battle!"

"Pay the orders and prepare for battle!"

...

At this time, a few commands were heard from the front, making me realize that it was about to start the fight. I looked at the sky and had a slight white pale breeze. I don’t know where the cry of a rooster came, as if telling us that a brand new day was about to begin soon.

In terms of choosing the time to attack, there is still a big difference between the counterattack against Vietnam and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

When we resisted the United States and aided Korea, we basically fought night battles. Most of the time we chose to start the battle was in the evening or when it was dark, which was determined by the equipment that was huge between China and the United States at that time.

However, we would rather fight in the daytime. This does not mean that our weapons and equipment are better than the Vietnamese army. On the contrary, Vietnam received a lot of Sino-Soviet assistance in the confrontation with the United States. Coupled with the large amount of equipment left by the United States when the withdrawal of troops, the Vietnamese army's firepower is obviously stronger than our army. Most of our infantry still use Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, but the Vietnamese army has already popularized the Soviet-style AK47...

The more important reason why I chose to fight during the day is that the terrain of Vietnam is complicated and our army is not familiar with the terrain. In this case, if I still choose to fight night wars, it would be like jumping into a trap with my soldiers.

"Tututu..." Three red signal flares rose into the sky. I hurriedly covered my ears as soon as possible, and then the "Boom..." sounded.

Pieces of shells flew from all directions like locusts with fire to the enemy's positions, and burst into pieces of earth waves on the enemy's high ground. The shock waves brought by the shells made the thatch around us move everywhere. The sky collapsed and the earth was shaking, and the sky, which was slightly white just now, suddenly darkened again. Only the flames emitted by the shells were like a long whip waving by the god of death. Barbed wire, fortifications and mines... In an instant, it turned out to be wiped out in the flames.

The Vietnamese artillery also began to fight back, which can be seen from the fireworks-like lights that exploded from the sky. It was the artillery shells fired by China and Vietnam collided in the air. But it was obvious that the Vietnamese artillery fire was much weaker than ours.

In fact, this was not expected by the Vietnamese army, which was known as the third military power. At this time, our artillery firepower had exceeded that of the Soviet Union, which always valued artillery. Since it had surpassed the Soviet Union, it was naturally many times stronger than the Vietnamese army. This made them exclaim after the war that China's artillery fire was actually more powerful than the US bombers. At the same time, it also made them see clearly that they were still far from the third military power in the world!

Thirty minutes later, three red incendiary bombs rose again in the sky, artillery fire began to extend, and infantry began to attack. The soldiers shouted "kill" and jumped out of the grass and rushed towards the enemy's 386 highland.

The company commander and veterans rushed forward, and the new recruits who had just joined the company were lying on the ground. The veterans still lined up in dense formations to charge towards the enemy's positions in their own way, while the new recruits who had never seen this scene were so scared that they could not get up at all, including the little ghost Hu Shaowen who had always wanted to come to fight.

Only the three rows I brought out from the recruits were behind and covered each other and walked forward. The soldiers warned each other in groups and approached the enemy's positions alternately. Commander Li seemed to be very annoyed by our "timid" style of play. He turned around and waved his pistol and shouted at us, but no one paid any attention to him!

After walking a few steps forward, I held up my rifle and alerted me to the front, while taking the time to push Hu Shaowen who was lying on the ground and dared not get up. At this time, he was shaking his whole body like a frightened little rabbit.

"Plane, platoon leader..." Hu Shaowen turned his head and looked at me, and said with his teeth fighting: "I don't want to die! Could you please let me go home..."

"It's okay!" I pulled Hu Shaowen up and said, "You just need to remember a little and follow me to do it! Can you do it?"

"Yeah!" Hu Shaowen hesitated for a while before he mustered up the courage to nod.

"Catch your gun! Keep up!" As I said that, I raised my rifle and took the soldiers to the high ground. A little ghost like Hu Shaowen should not be a soldier at all, but since he has come and has become my soldier, I will not give up on him.

"kill!"

There was a louder shout from the left and right wings. They were attacking the fourth and sixth companies in the Highlands with us. Our movements slowed down and they rushed to the front naturally.

I felt a little reluctant and wanted to make them stop, but I knew that this would not work at all. All I could do now is to lead my own company and let them exert their due combat effectiveness on the battlefield as soon as possible. Only in this way can I save as many lives as possible from the soldiers.

At this time, a scene that shocked me happened: among those charging teams, some timid soldiers deliberately ran behind the team, which was nothing, at least he still had the courage to follow. But the mistake was that they raised their guns to the front to raise their courage, and many soldiers rushing in front fell under their guns.

They were not falling under the gun of the enemy, but under the gun of their comrades...

"What are you doing!" Perhaps seeing us behind, Captain Li waved his pistol in anger and shouted at us: "Didn't you see the comrades charging? How could anyone fight like you? Everyone is coward! Cui Wei, order your troops to charge immediately, otherwise I will kill you..."

Before he finished speaking, the machine guns on the 386th high ground sounded, and the soldiers rushing in front fell in front of us in batches. Then there was another explosion of grenades. We watched the soldiers thrown down from the top of the mountain by the shock wave. The two companies that were still charging just now were suppressed by the enemy's firepower without any suspense, and the air was instantly filled with the smell of blood and death!

The Vietnamese army was indeed insidious. Seeing this, I couldn't help but curse. They waited until our army was only twenty or thirty meters away from the top of the mountain position before taking action. It was undoubtedly trying to put our army in a dilemma.

Anyone can see that the fourth and sixth companies are very dangerous at this time.

Continue to charge? The machine gun and AK47 in the Vietnamese army are enough to withstand any flow of people. The penetration of the Su-style AK47 is no joke. It can easily shoot through 6mm thick steel plates, 15cm thick brick walls, 30cm thick soil layers or 40cm thick wooden boards at a distance of 100 meters. If you just rush hard under this weapon, you will not get any results except death.

Are you just lying down like this? The soldiers are now in the range of throwing grenades by the Vietnamese army. It is only a matter of time before the entire army is wiped out.

Now, the only one who can move and combat power is actually our fifth company!

"Mortar!" I shouted without looking back.

"Yes!" the soldiers responded, and immediately set up mortars and rushed towards the Vietnamese position.

"Boom..." More than a dozen artillery shells successively launched a fire wall at the top of the mountain position on the 386th Highland, which gave the soldiers some chance to breathe.

I held up my gun and continued to walk forward a few steps. When I passed by Captain Li, I threw him a sentence: "War is not about playing every family, but about just relying on high awareness!"
Chapter completed!