Chapter 106: Battle of Bridgehead (III)

I wish all book friends a happy National Day!

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Chapter 106: Battle of Bridgehead (III)

"This is the situation!" After contacting the regiment headquarters, I quickly convened a short meeting for the cadres of each battalion to convey the spirit of my superiors. But this spirit seems not easy to say, because the Chief of Staff can ignore the casualties and morale of our army, but I cannot ignore it.

So hesitated for a while before continuing: "What the superior means is... the Vietnamese army's defense line in Lang Sang North District cannot be broken for the time being. Other troops are afraid it will be difficult for us to meet. We may have to guard the Qiqiong River Bridgehead for one night tonight. What do you think of comrades?"

"What?" He Liqiang was not a fool either. He immediately understood what I said. He looked at me in surprise: "Holding the bridgehead all night? There is no reinforcement? That's not... Didn't that mean we were surrounded?"

"There are reinforcements!" I said: "The superior has allocated us the forty-five cannons of the division's artillery regiment. In addition... our troops, five kilometers away from us, will also make some noise, so that the Vietnamese Japanese dare not transfer too much troops to attack the bridgehead..."

"What kind of reinforcement is this!" Battalion Commander Wu said with some dissatisfaction: "Even if we don't have this mission, we can still ask for artillery support, right? Besides, there are not many wars at night, and the artillery is resting at this time... To put it nicely, it's just for us to arrange it. To put it nicely, it's just that no one uses it because it's our turn..."

"Captain Wu!" Before Captain Wu finished speaking, I winked at him. Captain Wu was a little angry and swallowed all the rest of the slap.

The situation is now like this. We have to fight, and we have to fight if we don’t want to. Those who complain about this and that on the battlefield will not play any role except to spread these rumors to the ears of the soldiers to affect morale.

So I cleared my throat and continued, "What the superiors mean is... the reinforcements of the Vietnamese army must not be allowed to join the Vietnamese army in the North District, so we must be prepared to bomb the bridge. Once the bridgehead cannot be defended, the Qiqiong River Bridge will be blown up at the last moment!"

"Yes!" The cadres responded dullly, and then they looked at me and I looked at you, and no one said a word.

I understand their psychology very well, because when I heard this task, I also thought of the same question in my mind - if I can't defend the bridgehead and blow up the bridge to complete the task, what should we do next? Do we need to carry forward the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice or difficulties and fight against the Vietnamese? Or will we surrender righteously after completing the task like the Americans?

Americans can surrender after completing the mission, because according to the national conditions of the United States, their soldiers surrender after completing the mission or under the conditions that they had no choice but to surrender, and then they will still be treated as heroes after returning home. But that is the United States, our country does not care about so many prisoners of war, and if they do not die with the enemy on the battlefield, they are cowards, and there is no reason to say!

So, surrender obviously doesn't work, I don't care... But these soldiers who follow me will be infamous for thousands of years, and even their families will be cursed.

"Battery Commander, Battalion Commander..."

"Well!" The instructor beside me called a few times before I woke up from my thoughts. After thinking about it, I pointed to the three nameless high grounds garrisoned by our army on the map and said: "We temporarily organized these high grounds into No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 high grounds! These three high grounds are garrisoned by the 7th, 8th and 9th companies of the 3rd Battalion, 4th and 6th companies of the 2nd Battalion as reserve forces! Tanks are used as mobile troops to guard the bridgehead and the highway. The 5th Company is responsible for garrisoning the bridgehead. Is there any problem?"

"No problem!" When it comes to the topic, the soldiers' sluts are gone. After all, everyone knows that this is a life-long life, and it is useless to be sluts. If you want to survive, you have to unite and fight this battle well!

"These three high grounds are our backs!" I said to He Liqiang: "So whether you can defend these three high grounds is the key to this battle, especially the No. 2 Highland. Although the No. 2 Highland is the lowest high ground among these three high grounds, it directly faces the bridgehead defense line of our army, and the Tongliang Highway is directly connected to the bridge. Once the No. 2 Highland falls into the hands of the enemy, the Vietnamese army's machine guns can directly hit our fifth company position. If the bridge is blown up, there may be no rush to explode. Therefore, you must not let any of the three high grounds fall into the hands of the Vietnamese army. Are the tasks clear?"

"It's clear!" He Liqiang replied: "Don't worry, even if we hit the last person, we will not let the enemy occupy the position!"

"Yeah!" I nodded, and then said to Battalion Commander Wu: "When the enemy launches an attack at night, it is very likely that the tanks will be dispatched. Our army has poor vision at night, and the bazooka shooting accuracy is insufficient, so it is difficult to stop the enemy tanks with night vision instruments. The enemy is very likely to use tanks to break through our defense line from the bridgehead, the road next to Highlands 1 and the road between Highlands 2 and 3. Your mission is to block the enemy's tanks at all costs. Is there any difficulty?"

"No difficulty!" Battalion Commander Wu answered without thinking, and then hesitated for a while and said: "But... the infrared imager on our tank is too blurry. It is difficult to distinguish the enemy's tanks at night. Can a platoon of infantry be assigned to us and tracer bullets are used to indicate the target!"

"Yeah!" I nodded. I had experienced the fact that the infrared imager was too blurry. When I rescued Captain Wu and the others, I saw that thing. I couldn't see the way clearly when the marching was going on, let alone the chaos of fighting.

"Company Commander Xu!" I ordered Xu Yongjian: "You can draw a platoon in the company to cooperate with the tank troops to fight."

"yes!"

"As for the allocation of artillery units... I will leave it to you!" I turned to Zhu Jixing again and said, "Squad Leader Zhu must reasonably allocate the forty-five artillery assigned to us by our superiors, and cooperate with our infantry to fight the Vietnamese charge together when our troops fight against the enemy! At the same time, all combat units should also pay attention to that those who can call artillery to attack the enemy should try to use artillery as much as possible. This is not the time to show off their strength or show off their heroes, do you understand?"

"I understand!" All the soldiers responded with a loud bang, and in a blink of an eye, they were eager to try again.

This is the warrior. Their slut does not mean that they are not patriotic nor that they are not brave. They just want to express their dissatisfaction, they just want to tell their pain, they just want their superiors to care more about them...

The soldiers quickly followed my instructions to start preparing.

He Liqiang commanded the Third Battalion to strengthen fortifications on various high grounds. Not only did they use traffic trenches to connect the high grounds, but they also dug several anti-tank trenches on various key roads. Of course, these anti-tank trenches were the Golan trenches I used during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

Battalion Commander Wu first organized tank troops to dig out several tunnels on various high grounds that can be used by tanks to hide in order to prevent tanks from becoming targets of Vietnamese artillery fire outside. Then he instructed the infantry units assigned to them to use tracer bullets to guide the targets of tanks.

Zhu Jixing and a few artillery soldiers were busy looking at each other with the cannon in front of the mirror, and then recorded something on the notebook, and they were also very busy.

He and Wu are both battalion commanders, so they naturally have their own tricks when fighting. I don’t understand Zhu Jixing’s artillery, so I naturally don’t interfere in their preparations.

I led the troops of the Fifth Company to guard the bridgehead. After the lesson that almost caused the enemy tank to burst last time, I didn't dare to be careless and organized the soldiers to dig a few deep Golan trenches on the bridgehead. At the same time, I also sent people to the bridge to shoot and install explosives. If I really couldn't defend it, I would have to blow up the bridge.

Time passed by little by little, the sunset gradually sank into the distant mountains, and the sky gradually turned from red to gray and white, and finally turned into darkness. The increasingly cold mountain wind blowing towards us also told us that another night is coming.

There are stars in the sky, and the river water is gurgling under the bridge. If it weren't for the strong smell of gunpowder and blood in the air, I wouldn't have believed that this was a battlefield. But reality tells me that this is indeed a battlefield, and there is a bloody battle tonight...

"Battery Commander!" Li Zhifu sat next to me with a submachine gun in his arms: "Is it so bad for us this time?"

"What are you talking nonsense? You just stick to it all night!" I was just talking nonsense.

This is the pain of being a commander. Those who serve in the army can talk nonsense, but those who serve in the officials must consider many factors such as morale and influence.

"Battery Commander, don't say it all nicely!" Li Zhifu smiled bitterly and said, "Although we haven't been fighting for a long time, we can still distinguish the situation!"

"Did the soldiers say something?" Seeing that they could not hide it from Li Zhifu, I had to ask helplessly: "They have no idea!"

"Yes!" Li Zhifu replied.

"Tell me..." I was a little depressed. After all, I also knew that the chance of survival in this battle was very small, and I still haven't thought of a way to win this battle.

"The soldiers all said..." Li Zhifu smiled and replied, "The soldiers all said that no matter how his superiors arranged it, the battalion commander lived and died with us. What are we afraid of?"

"Um!" I was stunned when I heard this. This was so different from what I thought.

"That's right!" Li Zhifu smiled and said, "It's no secret that the soldiers say so, and... I think so too!"

I couldn't help but nodded, patted Li Zhifu's shoulder gratefully, and then looked at the soldiers who were busy around me.

Suddenly I remembered two people, the two female soldiers who had been following me. I thought I should go and see them at this time, so I stood up and walked towards the Sixth Company's garrison with a rifle.

Before they could walk far, they saw their figures outside the cave on Highland No. 1. At this time, they were busy organizing soldiers to carry the wounded into the cave!

"Battery Commander, you're here just in time!" Liu Yun screamed from afar as soon as he saw me, then ran to me with two braids and said anxiously: "Battery Commander, there are too many wounded people, and there is no place to cover them... The cave is too small. There are still many wounded people who have no place to settle! If a war starts..."

"Company Commander Chen!" I shouted at my hometown, where I was busy commanding the troops not far away.

"Yes!" The hometown man responded and turned to me. Of course, he did not salute me, and it was common sense that he did not salute me on the battlefield...

"Immediately organize people to dig a few larger air-raid shelters to accommodate the wounded!" I ordered.

"Yes!" The hometown people took a casual move and took a few people to execute it themselves.

This is Ariel Yichen who also came up to report: "Battery Commander, there are too many wounded people. The bandages we used for bandaging wounds and the medicines for first aid will be used up soon. If this continues..."

I couldn't help frowning. This is not a problem I can solve. After hesitating for a while, I had to answer helplessly: "Save it out. There will be many wounded people tonight. I'll be sure to save those who are safe to rescue them first. Can I save one or the other, do you understand?"

"I understand!" Yichen and Liu Yun looked at each other, as if they did not understand the seriousness of the problem until then.

But it is no wonder that they are just sanitation workers. They always only care about the wounded and not the military when they go to the battlefield. In addition, they are female soldiers, so it is normal for the soldiers to not tell them the danger.

So I suddenly felt...it seemed to be wrong to see them this time.

"You... take good care of yourself!" I didn't know what to say, so I said something and turned around and left.

"Captain Captain Cui!" Liu Yun's voice behind me made me pause. Liu Yun ran to me a few steps and said with a blushing face: "You must be careful too, you must come back alive. I... my father, he has something to say to you!"

"Yeah!" I nodded, and left with a gun as if I was running away, thinking in my heart that I really shouldn't look back at them.

Back on his defense, he tore a light compressed biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth and took a few bites. Then he raised his telescope and looked at the south bank of Qiqiong River.

Perhaps it was because the Vietnamese army's power station had been blown up by our army, or the Vietnamese army implemented light control, and there was no light in the entire Lang Son. Only a thin layer of moonlight shining in the air allowed me to vaguely see the overlapping houses across the river.

Without tanks and enemies, the Vietnamese army disappeared as if it had disappeared. But I knew they would not give up. The quieter they were now, perhaps it would mean that the offensive they were about to launch would be thunderous and would win in one battle...

But whether they can win depends on whether our opponent is willing to cooperate.

"Report to the battalion commander!" At this time, He Liqiang's voice came from the intercom: "We found a large number of Vietnamese troops in the north and more than 1,000 meters east, and there were several tanks... There were also some on the west, and the enemy surrounded them!"

At this time, a rumbling sound suddenly came from the other side of the river. After a while, more than a dozen tanks appeared in the dark. So I knew what they were waiting for. They were waiting for the Vietnamese troops in other directions to arrive and then launched a siege on our army...

This time, the Vietnamese army became smarter. Looking at the dozens of tanks on the other side of the river, I couldn't help but smile. They also knew that if they wanted to flow through the Qiqiu River Bridge, it would be useless to rely solely on more tanks. The fact is... more than one tank will often cause blockage on the bridge and are not conducive to the Vietnamese army's charge. More than a dozen tanks are just right. Once a few of them can successfully break through our defense and occupy the bridgehead, then other tanks and infantry will drive over continuously...

"Woo..." The whistling sound of the air shells made me realize that the Vietnamese army had started shelling again. So I hurriedly took the soldiers to put away their weapons and drilled into the air raid shelter.

"Boom..." The shells exploded in rows of fire on our army's positions, and soon our army's artillery fire started to fire soon. Suppressing the artillery of the Vietnamese army or bombing the enemy's artillery positions is the favorite thing our army's artillery has done.

But what surprised me was that... this time the Vietnamese army's artillery fire was not suppressed by our army as usual. They fired artillery at our position for ten minutes.

Later I learned from the artillery that the reason why the Vietnamese army was not suppressed by our artillery fire this time was because the Vietnamese Japanese thought of a solution - they divided the artillery into three parts and arranged them on three artillery positions. One artillery position was attacked for a few minutes and then retreated immediately, and then the other artillery position continued to attack... The three artillery positions poured thousands of artillery shells into our army's position, which was only a few square miles apart, just like a relay race.

This move was indeed beyond my expectations, and this extraordinary shelling also caused certain losses to our army.

The biggest loss was the fifth company stationed at the bridgehead. The fifth company stationed at the location of the high ground, which determined that we could only dig anti-aircraft holes at the bottom of the trench. The thickness of the anti-aircraft holes was not enough and the trench was on the side, which caused more than 20 soldiers to be either bombed to death or buried alive...

Judging from this arrangement alone, I can also imagine that the Vietnamese army is determined to win the bridgehead garrisoned by our army.

What surprised me even more was that when I finally dug up the soil from the anti-aircraft hole, I found that the enemy's tanks were close at hand. These tanks of the Vietnamese army obviously had already begun to cross the bridge while they were still shooting. At this moment, the sound of artillery stopped and accelerated, leading teams of infantry to rush towards our position.

The t62 is the first to go. Its car is equipped with an advanced night vision device, which can obviously play a big role. It doesn't care whether there are people or not, tank guns, parallel machine guns, etc., and it is a "wavering" attacking our army's positions. There is even a tank hand that is so arrogant that it grabs anti-aircraft machine guns outside the hatch and fires bullets in the direction of us...

I would not be polite to such a person, and I would kill him with just one shot.

"Battery Commander!" At this time, I heard Li Zhifu shouting: "The tank trench is almost blown away, let's blow up the bridge!"

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but look back. It's not... those Golan trenches have turned into several small pits under the fire of the Vietnamese army.
Chapter completed!