In a temporary military tent, the four commanders of the 180th Division, Commander Zheng, Deputy Commander Duan, Chief of Staff Wang, and Director of the Political Department Wu, who received reports of casualties from each company, held an impromptu meeting.
Commander Zheng got straight to the point and said: "This air raid was sudden, but it was also within our expectations. It's just that we didn't take any effective precautions this time. We need to stabilize the mood of each regiment first. We have just set off. The 540th Regiment may
The battalion commander Zhengfang died, and there are also injured in each company. We have made a temporary adjustment. Currently, each company is ordered to speed up the march, send scouts to conduct reconnaissance in front, and when encountering enemy aircraft, use the whistle as a signal.
, when you hear the whistle, disperse the team first, and then lie down. Enemy aircraft bombs will be dropped at the densely packed position of the team."
After a pause, he continued: "The main reason for our losses in the air attack this time was our lack of experience with American aircraft. The American aircraft flew as low as possible, and the bombs they dropped were indeed powerful and loud. Many soldiers were still in the air.
They were completely blinded by the explosion."
The main reason for encountering an air raid for the first time was that the volunteer soldiers were in a fixed mindset of dealing with Japanese and Chinese aircraft. The bombs dropped by Japanese and Chinese aircraft were less powerful, and the shrapnel scattering range was not as terrifying as that of US aircraft.
The position where the volunteer soldiers were hiding was relatively safe from bombs dropped by Japanese aircraft, but it was a pity that they were facing U.S. aircraft with advanced weapons and equipment.
Deputy Commander Duan said: "Yes, we can only march at night now. The military department requires us to march 1,500 miles in 15 days to reach the front line, which shows that the war ahead is very tight. We must send the plan to each company as soon as possible and order them to speed up
Marching speed.”
Director Wu also said: "Commander, the 540th Regiment also lost a propaganda team member named Zheng Xiaojun, who was hit by an air raid."
Teacher Zheng waved her hand to show that she understood, and a wrinkle appeared on her forehead.
The time when their 180th Division went to North Korea to fight was at 6pm on March 21st. This time was at the end of the Fourth Battle. The Volunteer Army's front line shrank its defenses and retreated to the north bank of the Han River to move to mobile defense. This was the second phase of the Second Battle.
The troops marched in to buy time. Not only did the frontline troops need to move, but the teams going to fight in North Korea also needed to speed up their time and devote themselves to frontline operations. Marching 700 kilometers in fifteen days was indeed a huge test.
At this time, all the dead people in the tent had the same mood. The comrades who died in the air raid at night were killed by enemy planes before they even reached the position. Many of them had rich practical experience in the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War.
Veterans, they are all the best young men and good soldiers.
The team only had a short rest, and the order to set off was issued from the division headquarters. During the war, the 180th Division would not be given much time to rest. They needed to seize the time and continue on their way.
The air is cold, and the wind blows like a knife. As it approaches April, the temperature in China has begun to gradually warm up, and short-sleeves have even been worn in some areas. But in the Korean battlefield, the wind here cuts like a knife.
His face was sore.
A row of soldiers huddled together to fight the cold wind, stepping on the footprints of the soldiers in front and heading towards the front line step by step.
Xia Yuan had a lot of thoughts in his mind. This time he traveled to the 180th Division and went to the front line to prepare for the fifth battle. The Battle of Changjin Lake was the second battle. Unknowingly, the world-famous Korean Volunteer Army launched five battles.
I have already participated in two battles, and I don’t know if I will participate in the remaining three battles in the future.
With expectations and heavy contradictions in their hearts, after a day and a night, the team arrived at Sinuiju, North Korea at dawn.
The team set off to the top of the mountain. The soldiers in front stopped and stared blankly at Sinuiju in front of them. Under the greetings of the company commanders and instructors, the soldiers began to climb over the mountains and enter Sinuiju. Xia Yuan stepped on
When you go to the top of the mountain, the sun shines on your face, and there is an almost imperceptible temperature. When the cold wind blows, the temperature disappears.
What came into view was a ruin. There was not a single intact house. There were broken walls and charred houses everywhere. The ground was covered with rubble and gravel. There was no farmland visible on the ground.
They are all uneven, with large and small impact points, and some craters are covered with smoke, indicating that the intervals between the bombs dropped were not too long.
The soldiers who saw this scene for the first time felt a little heavy in their hearts.
The further they walked, the worse the situation became. When they came down from the mountain, the soldiers could still see intact trees, but when they got down there, there was no longer a tree in sight. The ground was covered with scorched earth that had been turned over.
The broken tree roots that were damaged by the bombing left no trace of life.
The team entered Sinuiju, and the marching speed dropped significantly. The soldiers held their guns and looked at the ruins in silence. There was a clicking sound of broken rubble under their feet.
A soldier at the front saw a little girl lying on the ground. She was wearing a red flower dress that had been dyed black. He ran over, put the gun behind his back, and carefully picked up the little girl. The little girl had already
She was frozen. When she was picked up, her body was spread out flat, her eyes were closed tightly, a whip was tied to her head, and her dirty little hands were clenched in her arms. The soldier saw that she was holding a dirty
, a rag doll simply sewn from coarse cloth, was smoked black by gunfire.
The soldier cried, and the commander took off his hat, crying and cursing: "I fucked his grandma!"
The further we walked, the more corpses fell on the road. Old people, young people, children, and women were all lying on the ground. Some had their bodies broken by the explosion, and some were thrown onto the house. The soldiers were silent.
I walked with tears in my eyes.
Wang Xiaoliang clenched his fists hard, pressed his teeth tightly, and his eyes were bloodshot and glistening.
Those who fled did not even bother to collect the corpses of their own compatriots, leaving them bloody on the ground, which made the soldiers who saw them feel hatred for the American Japanese.
Commander Zheng looked at the first town they arrived at, Sinuiju, without saying a word.
He said: "This is the enemy we are about to face. We must resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. This is our responsibility to save the working people of North Korea. There is no need to do pre-war political mobilization. You will understand everything when you come to North Korea."
After a pause, he added: "Order each company to collect the remains of the Korean people and bury them on the spot."
"yes!"
The soldiers of the first company stood in front of several slightly raised graves. They did not pile the graves too high. If they were piled too high, they would be easily bombed by US aircraft. Wang Xiaoliang clenched his fists and cursed: "American devils are really not human beings."
!”
Xia Yuan shoveled the engineers behind him and said, "Why else would we call them devils? Pack up the equipment and get ready to go."
After experiencing this incident, all the officers and soldiers of the 180th Division were filled with hatred for the American devils. Some soldiers also understood in their hearts why they wanted to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. If they did not resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, the tragic scene that happened in North Korea would appear in their homes in the future.
inside.
The team was not undergoing repairs in Sinuiju. U.S. military planes might spot the 180th Division undergoing repairs in Sinuiju at any time. They would only be safe if they entered a mountain forest.
Just to bury the bodies on the road, the 180th Division wasted some time. It was already noon when they arrived at the mountain forest where they rested. The soldiers were tired, hungry and thirsty.
"Stop moving forward! Rest where you are for ten minutes!"
The voice of the messenger spread from the division headquarters to the head and tail of the team.
Captain Lei said: "Everyone rest where you are for ten minutes and sort out your belongings."
When the soldiers of the first company heard such an order, they put down their burdens and sat on the ground one after another. Some yawned and stretched, some drank water, some smoked...
Wang Xiaoliang was very sleepy. The team had been setting off for two days and they hadn't had much rest yet. They leaned on the tree trunk and were about to squint for a while. Liu Tiezhu reminded him: "Don't do it at this time. It's too cold. It's easy to fall asleep.
Keep at it, the division headquarters will give everyone some time to rest."
"But I'm so sleepy, I feel like I can fall asleep if I close my eyes."
Wang Xiaoliang yawned repeatedly, and when he opened his eyes, his eyes were filled with scarlet bloodshot eyes and tears. Liu Tiezhu said: "This way, you stand up, stamp your feet, and run."
Wang Xiaoliang said: "Then I will be exhausted."
Lao Yang walked over and said: "Okay Liu Tiezhu, don't give bad ideas to the new comrades. If you see that there is no snow in the ditch, just grab a handful and rub your face. It will be much better."
Wang Xiaoliang took a look and found that their platoon leader was grabbing a handful of snow and rubbing his face. His cheeks were red from the rubbing. He was a little confused: "Isn't the platoon leader cold?"
Lao Yang said: "Rub the snow on your face. It will feel cold at first, but it will heat up again later."
The soldiers in the company heard their conversation and tried it one after another. They rubbed the snow on their faces. It was cold at first, but after a while, they were surprised to find that the areas where they were rubbed became warm.
Ma Shunyao from the Machine Gun Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 538th Regiment spread his rolled-up hat on both sides of his face and tied it with a thin rope so that the cold wind like a knife would hardly blow on their faces.
"Hey kid, are you a new recruit?"
After doing all this, Ma Shunyao asked a rifleman next to him. He should be from the next company. He had never seen it. The rifleman put down the half-eaten compressed biscuit and said, "What? Recruits don't know how to do that?"
Was there a war? I joined the army in 1949 and am a serious veteran."
He misunderstood Ma Shunyao's meaning and thought he was looking down on the new recruits.
Ma Shunyao said: "Haha, kid, I don't mean that. Don't be in such a hurry to eat. When you are hungry, just straighten up first. I am the platoon leader of the second platoon, Ma Shunyao."
"Even if you are the platoon leader, you can't deny me food."
The rifleman looked at Ma Shunyao suspiciously, "After eating, go to the logistics department to get it. Besides, I am indeed a little hungry. These compressed biscuits are not hungry, and the flour in the food bars is dry and chokes my throat."
Ma Shunyao knew that the other party had misunderstood what he meant again, so he explained: "You will know when the war starts. This North Korea is not as good as China. You have to save bullets and food. Trust me, I am right."
After all, Ma Shunyao is a veteran who has been on the battlefield. Based on his own experience, he can fully judge that the Volunteer Army faced unprecedented pressure on logistics during the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. Of course, even if Ma Shunyao did not have such foresight, as a veteran who has been on the battlefield, he often
Veterans fighting on the front line should also attach great importance to conserving food and ammunition.
The rifleman may have understood what Ma Shunyao meant, or maybe because Ma Shunyao was a platoon leader, he took the half-eaten compressed biscuit back into his arms.
A beautiful Yaomei came here. She had a pigtail and was petite. She was a typical Sichuan girl.
"Excuse me, where is this big comrade from the 1st Battalion, 1st Company and 2nd Platoon?"
"How to get to the first battalion and the first company?"
Xia Yuan raised his head and took a look. It was Li Mengqi, a special reporter from "Soldier Life News", who was responsible for collecting news about the 180th Division. He had interviewed him before when he was talking about the Three Kingdoms.
Li Mengqi saw Xia Yuan and said unexpectedly: "Hey, Comrade Xia Yuan, why are you here? Is this the first battalion and company?"
Xia Yuan nodded and said: "This is the first battalion and the first company, Comrade Li Mengqi."
"Comrade Xia Yuan, I'm looking for Mr. Ma."
Ma Da Gao is the nickname of Second Platoon Leader Ma Shunyao. Ma Shunyao is tall and tall. Everyone asks him to call him Ma Da Gao, but only cadres call him that. Ordinary soldiers ask him to call him Platoon Leader Ma.
Xia Yuan pointed to the back and said, "The big guy should be right behind. Go and take a look."
Li Mengqi said "Hey" and said, "Thank you, Comrade Xia Yuan."
Lao Yang smiled: "Why didn't Platoon Leader Ma's slogan reach reporter Li Mengqi?"
Xia Yuan thought for a moment and said, "It's probably because Lao Ma shot at the American bombers when he first entered the DPRK."
Going back, Li Mengqi asked as he walked.
"Excuse me, where is this big comrade from the 1st Battalion, 1st Company and 2nd Platoon?"
"How to get to the first battalion and the first company?"
The sound was getting closer and closer, and the Sichuan rifleman understood that he was looking for the big man resting next to him, so he shouted: "Here is the big man, here!"
He also stretched out his arm and shook it at Li Mengqi.
"Damn, you're the only one who talks a lot."
The big man kicked him.
"Oh, you idiot, why are you kicking me? You are the platoon leader and you can kick me?"
Ma Daguo said: "There will be no good things coming from me, just watch."
"Platoon leader, it's your sister who's looking for you. Come here, she's the one who's looking for you. She's so beautiful."
When Ma Da heard this, he raised his head and glanced, "Hey, this is not Comrade Li."
"Do you know me?" Li Mengqi spotted this big man who stood out in the crowd at a glance.
"The platoon leader you interviewed is my brother who has been through life and death."
Big Ma said.
"So that's it, hello, I'm a special correspondent for "Soldier Life News". My name is Li Mengqi. I work in the field hospital at the division headquarters. Nice to meet you."
Li Mengqi stretched out her right hand.
The big man stood up, about 1.9 meters tall. Li Mengqi stood beside him, like a small person, but he was a little perfunctory and simply shook her hand in return.