Chapter 68 Artillery Observer

Chapter 68 Artillery Observer

When our position was over, the sound of gunfires elsewhere was in large numbers. Sometimes there were long-range cannons bombarded the direction of the Vietnamese army. It was assumed that our army's offense was not going smoothly, so we mobilized long-range artillery aid again. Later, it was said that after this battle, some battalions suffered more than 300 casualties. No wonder Captain Zhang said that the defense line of the Vietnamese army in our direction was particularly weak, and the difference was too big.

Seeing all this, he was strange. Li Zhifu, who was still building fortifications, asked: "I said the company commander, it is not difficult to fight the Japanese invaders! We were still fighting in one charge? More than a dozen people were killed and killed in the front and back. Why did it seem like friendly troops fighting so much for a long time?

"Tsk!" Li Zhifu dug a shovel of black soil hard, and said while piled it in front of the trenches, "What is the melon seed that you guys carry on your shoulders for? Don't use your brain to think about what method we are using to fight, and what method other troops use to fight!"

"That's it!" Yang Songjian, not far away, also answered: "I said Shunzi, your training has been wasted these days? Do you still remember the battalion commander taught us the 'reverse slope tactics' and 'fueling tactics'?"

"Remember!" Shunzi touched his head and said with no confidence: "But... but we didn't use it, right?"

With a coaxing sound, a burst of laughter came out from the trenches.

"You don't know!"

"You should use it with those Japanese devils!"

...

The soldiers shouted at Shunzi in a verbal manner.

"Go and go... Go to live! Don't embarrass me here!" Li Zhifu said with a blushing face and thick neck: "What do you know what you know about your own and your enemy...that?"

Speaking of this, Li Zhifu unconsciously turned his attention to Instructor Xie.

Instructor Xie replied without looking back: "A hundred battles will never be defeated!"

"Yes, yes... it's a battle!" Li Zhifu turned his head and scolded Shunzi, saying, "I said why don't you know the tricks? The battalion commander taught us these tactics, not to let us use these tactics to fight the Yueji, but to let us know what tricks the Yueji used to hit us..."

"Comrade Lin Shun!" Instructor Xie stopped at this time and explained patiently to Shunzi: "Do you know why our other troops have been fighting for so long but have not been able to defeat the Japanese invaders? It is because Japanese invaders use the 'fueling tactic'. If we destroy them a little, they will add a little to the position. In this way, even if the Japanese invaders are insufficient, it will take most of the day to destroy one of them. Japanese invaders are delaying time with us!"

"Oh!" After hearing this, Shunzi finally understood: "The battalion commander knew that the Yue Japanese was using this method, so he shot up with a cannon. Before the Yue Japanese had time to add oil, he took down the high ground with a charge..."

"By the way! I understand you!" Li Zhifu said to Shunzi with a look of regret, "I said Shunzi, if you have time, you really have to read more books and learn more. The battalion commander has won the battle, but you don't know how it fought..."

"The battalion commander is really amazing!" Shunzi said with some admiration: "I really don't know how he knows so much!"

"Shhh... Sigh down, the battalion commander is asleep there! Be careful that he will hear it!"

Actually, I was not asleep. I was lying in the temporary anti-cannon hole and covered my face with a military cap. They could hear clearly, but they just didn't want to interrupt them.

Listening to their discussion, I didn't feel any pride, but I felt a little guilty. This guilt came from the fact that I could have saved more soldiers. Just as the soldiers said, in fact, we only had a few days of training. If the entire army could be like our battalion, I don't know how many fewer soldiers could be sacrificed...

"Battery Commander! Battalion Commander..." At this time, a communication soldier ran outside the anti-aircraft cave and shouted anxiously: "The superior has come to order, hand over the position to the reserve team and advance according to the original route!"

As soon as I hunched, I sat up, and got out of the anti-cannon hole in a dog crawling style. I put on my hat and looked at my watch. It was already past nine o'clock. We rested on the nameless high ground for more than two hours... and from the sound of gunfire coming from nearby, I could tell that the battle of friendly troops was not over yet.

"Did the comrades of the 637th Regiment, have the comrades of the 638th Regiment ended the battle?" I asked.

"Not yet!" the communications soldier replied: "But Captain Zhang said it was soon and ordered us to move forward first, so as not to miss the fighter plane!"

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help frowning. There will never be such a saying on the battlefield. If the neighboring troops cannot keep up in time and our retreat is cut off by the Vietnamese army, the consequences will be unimaginable. Look at the sky again. Although it was already past nine o'clock in the morning, it was still raining in the sky, and the jungle was filled with thick smoke and morning mist, so the visibility was very low, which made us go into the jungle...

"Catch Commander Zhang for me!" Although it was a military order, I think I still have to be responsible for the lives of the soldiers.

"Yes!" The communication soldier responded and immediately called into the microphone, and soon handed the microphone to me.

"Report to Commander Zhang!" I said to the microphone: "The fog is very high now, and the enemy situation in the jungle is unknown. I think it is better to wait until friendly troops clear away the remaining enemies..."

"Execute the orders for me!" Commander Zhang interrupted me in the microphone and said, "The 637th Regiment has broken through the Vietnamese defense line and pushed forward. We cannot fall behind them! Don't worry, the battle of other troops will end soon!"

Upon hearing this, I was stunned. Because the 637th Regiment had already advanced, we could not fall behind. Is it said that the war was rushing to make progress?

But I had to execute the orders from my superiors, so I had to wave to the soldiers and said with a cold face: "Prepare to set off!"

"Yes!" the soldiers responded and began to organize their equipment without saying a word.

After thinking about it, I said to the soldiers again: "Try to bring more ammunition and food! Everything except guns and engineer shovels can be thrown away!"

"Yes!" The soldiers followed my orders meticulously.

Yes, I am ready to be surrounded by the enemy. I came from the battlefield of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and knew very well that when surrounded by the enemy, there were only two things that were the most important, one was ammunition and the other was food. If the food was good, we could still hold on to it when hungry, but if there was no ammunition, it seemed that there was only a portion of death on this battlefield. So when necessary, we could reduce food and bring more ammunition. The soldiers also knew this very well and didn't need to explain it to me.

I took out a few canned vegetables and other things from my backpack, such as cigarettes, and threw them all into the trenches, and even half a pot of water in the kettle was poured out. Because I knew that only half a pot of water on this rainy day would be enough for me to use for two days, and we might encounter replenishments like streams on the road.

Then I kept loading bullets and grenades on my body, carrying more than 400 bullets and eight grenades... In this extremely poor visibility climate, fighting in the jungle, sometimes grenades are easier to use than sniper rifles.

Seeing that the soldiers were almost ready, I waved my hand and ordered to the intercom, "Go!"

The soldiers jumped out of the trench in an orderly manner, lined up the scattered soldiers in a formation, heading towards the unknown in front of them.

In some ways, I feel that I have put the soldiers in passiveness and danger again. The reason is very simple. I think this lonely army will not only have any meaning, but will also put our battalion in danger.

I had to listen to the orders of my superiors and had to do this, while the soldiers did this because they trusted me, so I felt like I had let down the trust of the soldiers.

But now that I have come to this, I can only obey the orders of my superiors.

Because we felt the danger of advancing, our battalion marched very slowly and cautiously. Two platoons were placed in front of us to reconnaissance, one company was walking on the mountain road, and two companies searched along the ridges on both sides. The soldiers used thunder to detect lightning while advancing.

But what surprised me was that we continued to advance for seven or eight kilometers without finding any trace of the Vietnamese army. There was nothing except the few mines I occasionally found, and the enemy seemed to have disappeared in this jungle.

"Report to the battalion commander!" At this time, the voice of the hometown people came from the walkie-talkie: "Discover a village and ask for instructions!"

"Go in and take a look! Be careful!" I replied without thinking.

"Yes!" The hometown people immediately called a queue.

The sharpshooter of the Sixth Company with a sniper rifle was Lin Qi. He didn't seem to be very familiar with guiding infantry attacks, so the report in the intercom was a bit confusing. However, this did not prevent us from occupying the village quickly because it was empty.

When I led my troops to this village, I found that there was nothing but some broken copper and iron. Obviously, the Vietnamese army had planned to withdraw the people here.

"Where are we?" I asked casually.

But after a while, no one answered. I couldn't help but look at the guides beside me in confusion.

"Report to the battalion commander!" a guide stood up and replied, "We don't know where we are?"

"What a name!" I couldn't help but feel a little angry when I heard this: "I just walked seven or eight kilometers and didn't know my location! Don't there be maps?"

"Battery Commander..." The guide spread the map in his hand in front of me and said in embarrassment: "This map is too different from the real estate. Look... the map is marked with a highway here, but there is nothing; there is a highland on the map, and there is no one! There are suddenly two more mountains here. The direction of the road is not right..."

I couldn't help but be speechless when I heard this. This was our army's pre-war reconnaissance work, and even the military map was a thousand miles away!

At this moment, a whistling suddenly came from the sky, and I hurriedly shouted: "Leave the house!"

As I said that, I turned over and jumped out of the window. After jumping out of the window, I didn't dare to pause at all, and I didn't dare to stand up. I just rolled underground in the direction away from the village. Before I could roll away, there was a loud "boom" sound behind me, and at the same time a wave of heat rolled in, accompanied by many burning bamboo pieces and broken wood...

"Boom!" There was another noise, and flames and shrapnel flew over my head, which made me unable to raise my head. After a while, when I raised my head again, I saw that the village, which was still full of bamboo buildings, had nothing but a pile of burning fragments. The people who walked into the house with me just now, except for a guard lying down nearby and unconscious, were unable to get out.

"Battery Commander! Battalion Commander..." Seeing that the bamboo building where I was was blown to pieces, many soldiers surrounded him in panic.

I hurriedly ordered to the walkie-talkie: "I'm fine! Don't come over! Everyone evacuated the village and hid it in the woods!"

"Yes!" The soldiers stopped when they heard my voice, and followed my orders to cover it back.

This is the mortar of the Vietnamese army. I looked at the surrounding terrain and made this judgment quickly. This village is located on the back slope of a highland, and it is difficult for long-range cannons to hit this position. Moreover, the Vietnamese army dare not easily. During the Tongdeng battle, they already knew that our army's artillery fire was much stronger than theirs. Once the position of their artillery positions was exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

This shows that there is a Vietnamese army lurking nearby, and there are also a Vietnamese artillery observer lurking in the dark to observe us. Only in this way can the Vietnamese army transmit my coordinates to the mortars and order them to open fire after I, a "big fish", entered the bamboo building.

Thinking of this, I didn't dare to stay here for too long. If the Vietnamese artillery observer found that I was not dead yet, adjust the coordinates and bombard me with another round of gunfire...

So I didn't think much about it, and turned back to carry the injured guard and turned around and rushed into the jungle. As expected, the Vietnamese army's shells quickly pressed up, and they followed my butt. However, the Vietnamese army used artillery observers to calculate, and then adjusted the elements. Then the launch process seemed to be a little slower than my pace, so it never exploded me!

But it was not a solution to be followed by the Vietnamese mortars. Maybe the Vietnamese observers came to measure them in advance... and then they just happened to blow me up?

Just when I was in a dilemma, a burst of cannons suddenly came from the direction of our army. Then there was a burst of explosions on the other side of the mountain, and the Vietnamese army's shells suddenly disappeared!

I realized that Zhu Jixing calculated their positions in a timely manner through the ballistics of the Vietnamese mortars, and then used the mortars to suppress the enemy's artillery fire.

So I couldn't help but feel relieved that I was out of danger, but for the sake of safety, I stepped up a few steps and rushed into the jungle.

"battalion commander!"

"battalion commander!"

...

Soon a few soldiers rushed out and picked me up. They dared to sit down and gasp until they hid under a rock. I was really careless just now and actually exposed my identity as a "big fish" and entered the village. If Zhu Jixing hadn't calculated the coordinates quickly, I was afraid that my life would be over.

Only then did I understand that sometimes artillery observers on the battlefield are much more terrifying than snipers. Isn't this? If it were just a Vietnamese sniper, he would kill me under such visibility and with several guards around me, the success rate was extremely small. And it seemed that as soon as he fired the gun, his position was exposed, and our army could quickly search and solve it according to the gunfire. This is also the reason why I walked into the bamboo building so reassuringly with a group of soldiers.

But the artillery observer seemed to have no problems. All he needed was a telescope. When he saw me walking into the bamboo building... he just reported the correct coordinates to the artillery. Even at this time, even though I knew that there were artillery observers from the Vietnamese army hidden nearby, I had no choice but to do anything to them... Without any clues, finding several artillery observers in the surrounding jungle would be like finding a needle in the seabed!

The biggest problem this mistake brought to our army was that the guides were almost dead, and if we want to clarify the direction, the road would be even more difficult. Of course, I am even more incapable of being a blind person in this regard...

Suddenly there was gunfire in the thick fog, and then Li Zhifu's report was heard: "The fifth company was attacked by the Vietnamese army, and two soldiers were injured. Please give me instructions!"

"The Sixth Company was attacked by the Vietnamese army! A soldier died!"

"The fourth company was attacked by the Vietnamese army! No casualties!"

The news came from the walkie-talkie and Xu Yongjian. When the people in my hometown reported that the sixth company was attacked by the Vietnamese army, I knew that our retreat had been blocked by the Vietnamese army.

The Japanese devils are not bad! I looked at the surrounding environment and couldn't help but praise them secretly. They let us in all the way, maybe just to trap us here!

This is a basin surrounded by mountains and one side and faces rivers. It seems easy to defend but difficult to attack, but the Vietnamese army can bomb us from time to time through pre-arranged artillery observers on the periphery from time to time. And we seem to have only two choices, either break out of their encirclement or stay here and get bombed. No matter which choice, we will undoubtedly have to pay a heavy price.

Maybe we can rely on several artillery observers of Zhu Jixing to suppress the artillery fire of the Vietnamese army, but I came from the battlefield of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and knew that this would not work, because the mortars of the Vietnamese army could completely change the place with one shot, which was not a difficult task for mortars. As long as the mortars of the Vietnamese army were well-trained, they could completely decompose and transfer the mortars before we calculated the trajectory.
Chapter completed!