Chapter 31: The Battle of Tongdeng (I)

Chapter 31: The Battle of Tongdeng (I)

The troops of Battalion Commander Ding and Battalion Commander Wu were temporarily incorporated into the 639th Regiment because they had difficulty returning to the original troops. Considering that our troops had just broken through the enemy's encirclement, Commander Zhang and Political Commissar Huang were also very understanding and did not arrange tasks immediately, but instead let the soldiers of other troops make a few tunnels to let us rest.

The soldiers did not sleep all night. Although they were almost in danger along the way, for them who had just been on the battlefield for a few days, they seemed to have survived a life-and-death disaster. They were already exhausted at this moment, and when they received the order to rest, they all hid in the tunnel and slept soundly.

After I wiped the sniper rifle with a towel, I leaned against the wall of the tunnel like the soldiers to rest. But after lying for a while, I couldn't sleep. I think I was not very comfortable with the stuffy and humid weather here in Vietnam. Not long ago, I was still fighting with the United Nations League of more than a dozen countries on the cold Korean battlefield. More than a month later, I suddenly came to this hot and tide battlefield in Vietnam... It was difficult for my body to adapt to this transformation.

Maybe it's better on the battlefield. At that time, I knew my body needed rest, so I always forced myself to fall asleep when I had to rest. But now I feel that it's too difficult for me to relax.

I don’t know how far the current situation has developed, the Gaoping direction should have been in full swing! The reason why we Tongding is still so calm is that the Vietnamese army mistakenly think that our real goal is Gaoping. When the Vietnamese army sent reinforcements to Gaoping, it was when our army began to attack Tongding with all its strength.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but take out the map from my pocket and looked at the strange place names nearby on the map, such as Tenglong, Teng, and Banna... I really don't understand why the Japanese devils wanted to get such ugly place names. But what's important is not these. I tried hard to search for useful things based on modern information. Unfortunately, I didn't think of any valuable information after thinking about it.

In fact, it is much easier to find information about resisting U.S. aggression and aid Korea in modern times than to counterattack against Vietnam. This is easy to understand. In the fight against U.S. aggression and aid Korea, we defeated the powerful American imperialism with weak equipment; while in the self-defense and aid against Vietnam, the master beats his apprentice, and the fight is not ideal.

Although I don't want to admit it, it is an indisputable fact.

The equipment is backward, the quality is poor, the large number of new recruits, coupled with outdated tactics, insufficient intelligence, and a large number of middle-level commanders who do not understand the actual situation and blindly command... When all these factors are combined, it would be strange to want to win a beautiful battle.

However, I also know that this war is worth it. There is no doubt that after ten years of ***, our army has a large number of troops, but both equipment and combat effectiveness are regressing, and various problems have emerged within the army. To quickly discover these problems and correct them, we can only pull the army to the battlefield to fight a battle...

Just then, Vietnam raised his tail inappropriately, so the counterattack began.

Therefore, the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam is not only a lesson in the Vietnamese Japanese, but also a kind of training.

Isn't this? Ten years of Vietnam War brought earth-shaking changes to our army. In 1985, a finger was slightly extended, and one million was dismissed. Not to mention, the military expenditure saved after the dismissal can greatly promote the replacement of equipment, and also greatly improve the quality of the army.

On the other hand, China is a big country, and fighting such a border war has no impact on our economy at all. On the contrary, this period was the era when our country reformed and opened up and the economy began to take off. Therefore, China naturally became stronger and stronger as it fought.

On the other hand, Vietnam was originally a poor and small country. Decades of war basically supported his country's economy by relying on the free supply of the Soviet Union, and the ten years of war made him even worse.

There is a saying that is right. Now the war is fighting comprehensive national strength. This war has caused Vietnam's economy to stagnate, so... in the end, the Vietnamese army can be said to be no match for our army at all.

Of course, these are not something I need to consider. What I want to think about now seems to be how to fight the battle in front of me and how to get the soldiers out of this battlefield alive.

"Hey, what are you thinking?" The man from my hometown touched my shoulder and handed me a cigarette.

"Well, I didn't think of anything!" I took the cigarette casually, lit each other with the people in my hometown, and asked, "Can't you sleep?"

The hometown smiled bitterly, took a heavy breath of cigarette, then sighed and said, "I sometimes wonder whether our approach is right or wrong..."

"What is right or wrong?" I looked at the people in my hometown with some confusion.

The people in my hometown hesitated for a while and squeezed out a few words from their teeth: "Civilians, prisoners!"

"Oh!" I quickly understood that I couldn't see the cruel look in my hometown, but I still had this kind of hidden heart! But it didn't seem surprising that after being a soldier for a long time, his mind was full of "preferential treatment of prisoners" and "three major disciplines and eight points of attention".

I have also heard of this in modern times. After entering Vietnam, some troops faced the ground of chickens and ducks in Vietnamese villages but were hungry. Some people asked them strangely why they didn’t catch the animals to fill their hunger. Their answer was: “The superiors asked us not to touch the needle and thread of the Vietnamese people…”

So it is not surprising that the people in my hometown will have this entanglement. Instead, the recruits such as Shunzi and Yang Songjian don’t care about that!

"Three row leader!" I spitted a smoke ring and asked, "Do you know the purpose of these policies to treat prisoners preferentially?"

"No prisoners will make the enemy fight to the death..."

"Then do you think..." Before the hometown people finished speaking, I asked back: "If we treat prisoners preferentially, will the Japanese devils not resist to the death?"

The people from my hometown were silent for a while, and then shook their heads.

"And!" I continued, "They should not be called civilians. Can't the guns in their hands be killed? Is it just because they are old people, women, and children, that we have to let them kill? Their lives are lives, and ours is not lives?"

The people in my hometown didn't speak, and smoked on their own.

I know he has agreed with my statement, but he still can't wield the shadow in his heart. War is a game where you die and you die, and its rule is "either you die or I die." If you want to blame, it is blamed for the Vietnamese army for ruthlessly distributing weapons to the hands of the people and pushing them to the battlefield. Since you are on the battlefield, you have to abide by the rules of the game.

After smoking two cigarettes, my nerves relaxed and finally felt tired. I leaned against the wall of the tunnel and fell asleep without realizing it.

"Company Commander, Company Commander..."

"Well!" I opened my eyes and saw that it was the deputy company commander and instructor.

"Company Commander!" The instructor said while pinning the pen on his left chest pocket: "Captain Zhang asked us to go to the meeting immediately!"

"Yeah!" I nodded, packed up my sniper rifle and followed them in a daze.

Speaking of the devil weather in Vietnam, sometimes it is more sleepy than not sleeping. Isn’t it? My head is dizzy and I want to sleep the more I sleep. In the end, I don’t even know how I came to the regiment headquarters.

When I arrived at the regiment headquarters, I saw that it was a good guy! The entire tunnel was filled with cadres, and even Battalion Commander Ding and Battalion Commander Wu were among them. When I saw me coming in, I nodded at me with a smile.

I was a little surprised when I saw this situation and thought to myself that Tong Deng was about to start fighting?

Sure enough, when I sat down, Commander Zhang said: "I just received the order from my superiors that the 327th Division of the Vietnamese Army had reinforced in Gaoping. Our army will launch a comprehensive attack on Tongdeng. The situation of the enemy is as follows: the entire Tongdeng area, the Vietnamese Army has three main defensive positions. Among them are the tent group, the tent position group, the tent position group and the Guitun Fort position group. These three position groups become triangular defenses. Each position group consists of more than ten to twenty small positions. We estimate that the defense power of each position group is probably around the strength of a strengthening company..."

"What? Only one defense group has one reinforcement company?" I was stunned when I heard this. If this is the case, then there are not too few enemies in Tongdeng, and there is only one reinforcement battalion on all the troops? From the map, I can clearly see that the main channel between China and Vietnam is the gate to Lang Son. In such an important place, there is only one regiment of troops?

"Will the enemy have too few troops?" Some cadres also asked the same questions as me.

"This is not wrong! There is indeed only one reinforcement company!" Political Commissar Huang added: "This is the result of repeated reconnaissance by our scouts. This fully demonstrates that the Vietnamese army's troops are seriously insufficient. Either their main force escaped with their tails like a stray dog, leaving these defeated generals waiting for us to clean up!"

With a coaxing sound, all the soldiers in the tunnel laughed, and everyone had an optimistic look on their faces. It seemed that as long as we tried, Tong Deng would be like three fingers pinching a snail.

Yes! Even if we suffered major casualties during the interweaving process, it would not seem difficult to fight the enemy and battalion with the strength of our division...

But I think things will never be that simple. The facts also prove that I am right. A defense group has only one reinforcement company. It is an illusion created by the Vietnamese army. A large number of their regular troops are hidden in the underground tunnel of the Guitun Fort.

"This is the combat policy!" Commander Zhang pointed to the map on the wall and said: "The superiors believed that the fortifications of the Guitun Fortress were strong and had a strong firepower system, which was difficult to attack. So he decided to attack Tan Mou and Tan Long first to isolate the Guitun Fortress. Our regiment's goal is Tan Mou and Tong Dengcheng!"

"In view of the fact that the Fifth Company and Battalion Commander Ding's troops have just emerged from the enemy's encirclement!" Political Commissar Huang nodded to the few of us and said, "These comrades have made great contributions and are still very tired. I will arrange for you to stay at the 339 Highlands and not participate in this attack on Tong Deng. As for Battalion Wu's tank battalion, because our army lacks tanks, you will overcome difficulties as our army's assist firepower. You will not have any objection!"

"No objection!" Battalion Commander Ding and Battalion Commander Wu responded.

I also stood up and replied: "Abide by the arrangement!"

Although I had a vague premonition in my heart that I wanted to go to the battlefield to see it myself, since the order had been issued, I would not be able to make any more trouble. Moreover, the soldiers do need to rest, and it is difficult for Battalion Commander Ding and Battalion Commander Wu's troops to cooperate with the soldiers of the 639th Regiment immediately.

After the meeting, we immediately carried out the position control. Battalion Commander Ding's company was sent to the position, while our fifth company was arranged on the second line as a reserve. The other soldiers sorted out the march and prepared for combat.

It should be said that this time I finally got a free job, just like Shunzi said, "I finally fell into a good job!" But I always felt at a loss in my heart.

The hour hand pointed at twelve o'clock noon, and the attack time came. As several signal flares roared into the air, the deafening sound of cannons quickly rang out. Piles of cannons piled up into the jungle in front of the 339 Highlands, and the unknown trees were dropped one by one to the ground.

This is to open a road for the offensive troops. Doing so can not only destroy the possible ambush of the Vietnamese army in the forest, but also effectively detonate the mines buried there.

A few minutes later, a few more signal flares took off, and the artillery fire contracted from the outside to the inside, and the soldiers set out. It should be said that their confidence was indeed somewhat powerful. Teams of infantry followed the tanks and walked towards the valley along the open area covered with tanks, and then teams disappeared from our sight.

The sound of gunfires quickly rang out. Tan's village was not far from us, but only two or three kilometers away. However, because there were heavy mountains, we could not see the battlefield.

But we can also know from the fierce gunfire that the battle did not seem to be smooth, and then teams of wounded soldiers were transported from the battlefield, which quickly confirmed our ideas.

"Hey! Isn't this saying that there is only one reinforcement company?" Shunzi looked and said, "There are tanks and cannons. The two battalions of people went up and they still got like this?"

"That's because our company didn't go up!" Al Ziri's joke made everyone in the company laugh proudly. Now the fifth company has a sense of superiority in front of other troops.

"Maybe the firepower of the Vietnamese army is too strong!" said the hometown man: "The Vietnamese Japanese are just a few people, and they will be exhausted in no time!"

The soldiers also felt that what the people in their hometown said made sense, so they all waited patiently. But after half an hour, they found that there were still wounded people raising them down in front, and the soldiers felt something was wrong.

"Comrade!" I grabbed a soldier who transported the wounded and asked, "What's going on ahead? I haven't been fighting for so long?"

"I don't know much!" The warrior replied: "The Vietnamese Japanese seem to be unable to finish fighting... It seems that there is another company in ambush..."

"I was ambushed?" I couldn't help but wonder, are we going to attack Tan, right? Why are we still ambushed when we are in an offensive war?

"Company Commander! The situation seems to be a little wrong!" Yang Songjian also said anxiously: "Do you want to send a few people up and have a look?"

"This is not a scout of the enemy situation! Who can I send to see it!" I replied angrily: "Waiting for the order here!"

"Yes!" Yang Songjian responded and disappeared. In fact, all the soldiers were silently watching the wounded one after another. The screams soon filled the entire valley. Not long after, the path in front of us dyed the blood red.

Not long after, the reserve team was pulled up, and the wounded were still lifting down one by one. At this time, I couldn't help it anymore, and stood up and shouted at the communications officer: "Catch Commander Zhang for me!"

"Yes!" The communications soldier responded and immediately raised his step phone to call.

When I connected, I snatched the microphone and shouted: "Report to the leader of the group, I ask us to go up to the fifth company!"

Captain Zhang's angry voice came from the other end of the microphone: "Come up quickly, why don't you report it!"

I couldn't help but sweat for a while when I heard this, I realized that I could go anywhere on this battlefield. I insisted on waiting for the order before but was wishful thinking!

"Don't remove all the extra equipment!" I ordered to the soldiers: "Apart from guns, ammunition and engineer shovels, everything is left in the tunnel!"

"Yes!" The soldiers responded, and took out the marching quilts, kettles, dry food, etc. and threw them into the tunnel.

Because of my previous combat experience, I know that on the battlefield with terrain in Vietnam, the less burden you have, the better. Anyway, there are our troops everywhere around you, so it is not easy to find dry food and water.

After the soldiers were ready, I greeted Battalion Commander Ding, waved my hand and ran up with the soldiers. There were wounded soldiers sent from the front line all the way, so it was not difficult to find the battlefield. More than ten minutes later, we walked out of the mountain road and came to a wide open land. Only then did we find that the so-called Tan Mou was just a small village, where the trenches and bunkers built by the Vietnamese army could be seen vaguely in the village. There were crisscrossing paddy fields everywhere, and the water in the paddy fields had already turned into shocking red and black colors. One round of shells and rows of bullets pushed the dirty water high from time to time.

"Captain Zhang!" I signaled the soldiers to stop moving forward, and I trotted to Captain Zhang with my rifle.

Commander Zhang looked at me and said with some frustration: "This village is evil, and the Yue Japanese can't fight it completely! The third company had obviously rushed over, but suddenly another group of enemies appeared behind..."

"Um!" Hearing this, I couldn't help but raise my rifle and aimed at the enemy through the sniper lens. I found that there were not many people at each defense point of the Vietnamese army, as if there were no casualties.
Chapter completed!