At the 60th Army headquarters, Commander Wei was standing guard next to the radio, waiting for Commander Zheng of the 180th Division to report on the battle situation.
But at this moment, the radio signal of the 180th Division is still silent. It is not that there is no response to the situation, and if there is, it must be a request for ammunition supply. However, the 180th Division has not urged this matter again, and the task assigned by the superiors is still firm.
Regarding the implementation, the radio station did not reply, indicating that their actions are still within the plans of the leaders and there have been no changes.
Commander Wei also knew that the current situation between the enemy and ourselves was becoming clearer and clearer. Not to mention that the 180th Division was holding on alone, but it was also appropriate to add two more divisions to their positions. He was becoming more and more anxious about the war.
Seriously, I still don’t know what difficulties the 180th Division is currently overcoming.
I'm so anxious.
Finally, after waiting patiently for an hour, Commander Wei couldn't help it anymore and loudly said to the communications soldier: "Get me the 180th Division, quickly!"
Currently, at the headquarters of the 180th Division, Commander Zheng has also received the current battle status of each unit. The 539th Regiment, in accordance with the orders assigned by its superiors, plans to cross the Shaoyang River and launch an attack on the Wangyueli position of the US 7th Division.
The 38th Regiment attacked the front from the height of 336.8 and continued to advance.
So far, the offensive situation of each department is still under control, and he is also making careful arrangements.
He was discussing with Deputy Division Commander Duan the message sent back by the 539th Regiment and analyzing the enemy's situation. Deputy Division Commander Duan used a pencil to circle the current position of the 539th Regiment and draw two dividing lines between the enemy and ourselves.
At this time, the phone rang. After answering the phone, the correspondent said to Commander Zheng: "Commander, this is the Corps Commander's phone number!"
Deputy Commander Duan also put down his pencil and listened.
Commander Zheng picked up the phone, and the commander's voice came from the other side of the phone: "Old Zheng, how is the situation at the front now?"
Commander Zheng immediately replied: "Everything is progressing according to the planned plan. Commander, please rest assured. I will report any situation immediately!"
This time, Commander Zheng did not ask the Army Commander for supplies again. He knew deeply that the enemy had blocked the enemy in such a way that the logistics department would not be able to deliver even one centimeter to the 180th Division.
After Commander Zheng put down the phone, Deputy Commander Duan looked at the map, showing the prominent situation of the 539th Regiment, and said: "The 539th Regiment is in a very dangerous situation now. They have been without food for these days, and they still have to face such a powerful enemy.
They are holding on to their firepower now."
There was something in these words. Teacher Zheng heard it and asked, "Old Duan, what do you mean? Just tell me."
Deputy Division Commander Duan simply stopped beating around the bush and said, "My suggestion is to move the mountain artillery battalion up and reinforce them with firepower."
Commander Zheng frowned and said: "Even if the mountain artillery battalion is really mobilized, our firepower is just a small raindrop for the enemy, not even a small raindrop."
Commander Zheng’s answer is not an exaggeration at all. The mountain artillery battalion is equipped with only twenty-four mountain cannons. The American-made M1 75mm mountain cannon is very troublesome to transport. Everyone has to remove the wheels and use horses to drag the gun body.
Those war horses are all American-bred, tall, big, and very powerful. If they were to be pulled by human beings, it would require too many people and would be too troublesome.
Transporting these twenty-four mountain cannons across the Han River is not an easy task.
Of course, Commander Zheng also considered saving ammunition. He knew that the twenty mountain cannons were used to reinforce the 539th Regiment and had little effect. It would be better to save ammunition so that he could use mountain cannons to fight back the enemy at the critical moment. If he had advanced
If all the shells are used up, these mountain cannons will be just a pile of scrap metal in future battles.
In addition, enemy aircraft appeared frequently, flying overhead one after another, and reconnaissance planes were also dispatched to detect the activities of the volunteers. Once the direction was determined, they would immediately bomb.
Mountain artillery battalions, including anti-aircraft machine guns, do not dare to fire frequently at a fixed point. If they are accidentally discovered by a US reconnaissance plane, they will be hit by intensive artillery fire, because they do not have Army aviation like the US military, nor do they have any form of
Aerial strikes were carried out, so the US troops in front of the 539th Regiment were unscrupulous. They lined up their artillery and fired their shells wildly.
The battle of the 539th Regiment can be described as difficult.
The 538th Regiment did not fare much better.
At the most critical moment when the battle was fierce, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the radio station of the 60th Army received a top-secret telegram from Shisi.
Commander Wei took a look and saw that it read: After the Commander of the Volunteer Army and his party committee studied and decided on the current war, they announced the end of the fifth battle and decided to move the entire army to the 38th line to assemble, and prepare to fight again after the troops are replenished!
This message was sent to each military headquarters of the Volunteer Army, allowing each army to prepare in advance. Then a message from the headquarters of the Third Corps was also sent, ordering: The three divisions of the 60th Army returned to their formation and were responsible for covering the entire army.
The task of moving the corps backward.
This order was issued from the Third Corps.
After reading it, Commander Wei felt that it would be too difficult to complete this order immediately. He looked again at the positions of the three divisions outlined on the map. The three divisions were scattered in different places.
Deployed on a front of 100 kilometers, especially the 180th Division at the front, this is particularly unfavorable for completing the blocking mission.
The actual situation on the battlefield is that the United Nations' large-scale counterattack has begun for two days, but the 180th Division is completely unaware that it is still launching a determined attack on the US military. The 180th Division launched its offensive from May 16th to the 21st
By the end of the day, we had advanced more than 100 kilometers. As we were far away from the rear, enemy planes bombed and blockaded us. Logistics supplies were interrupted. Hunger began to threaten the troops. The number of wounded increased sharply, but there was a lack of medicine.
However, the troops of the 180th Division still fought tenaciously and no one backed down.
In order to prevent falling into passivity, Commander Wei drafted a telegram ordering the 179th Division, the 180th Division and the 181st Division to stop attacking and prepare to move north.
The units of the 180th Division continued to follow the orders of the General Corps during the day, began to attack southward, and occupied the enemy's main positions. The 538th Regiment moved the front forward with the 336.8 Highland as the center. However, due to the 2nd Battalion of the 538th Regiment passing through,
There are only the Third Battalion and the First Battalion in the valley, and the First Battalion, which has experienced continuous mobile warfare, suffered a lot of casualties. There are only more than thirty people in the First Battalion and the Company, and there are only more than seventy people in the Second Company and the Third Company, plus the battalion agencies.
As well as the machine gun battery, there are only more than 300 people, and there are not many soldiers who can continue to fight.
The 539th Regiment occupied the Wangyueli area and occupied the main position. Under the crisis of hunger and lack of ammunition, they withstood the enemy's intensive artillery fire and continuous attacks, completely smashing the enemy troops that rushed up one after another, and persisted.
Until the evening of the 21st.
Night falls.
There is a small highland one kilometer south of 336.8 Highland. This is where the first company is stationed. After a day of fighting, they only occupied one highland. About ten kilometers further south, the enemy deployed a large number of bunkers and heavy firepower. They only relied on one
There was absolutely no way they could attack the company. They could only withdraw.
The second company and the third company also occupied the east and west heights, so that the first battalion protruded forward, forming the vanguard battalion of 336.8 Highlands.
"It's twenty-one days."
Xia Yuan lived life almost on his fingers.
The big man's injury was not healed, and his arm was wrapped with a bandage. He was leaning in the trench, looking at the starry sky, and asked: "What's the 21st?"
Chen Lie also came over and listened curiously. Xia Yuan smiled: "Do you know the meaning of May 21st?"
"What does it mean?"
Chen Liehao asked.
"I love you."
The two of them were confused, "What the hell, I love you."
"521, I love you, homophone." Xia Yuan leaned against the cold wall of the trench and said.
"521, I love you." Big Ma smiled and said, "That's what I mean."
Before Chen Lie could figure it out, he muttered a few words and then he understood, "You guys are so boring."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Xia Yuan smiled and thought about the future world. In fact, both worlds are quite good, so there is no need to compare them.
After all, the future world is a world created by our ancestors, and they will definitely not allow others to darken the world they created themselves.
Playing a homophonic joke, the big man laughed and ran away, ran up to Company Commander Lei and Director Shao, and asked mischievously: "Company Commander, instructor, do you know what day it is today?"
"Isn't today May 21st? What day is it?"
Company Commander Lei and Instructor Shao asked doubtfully.
"I love you."
The horse thief ran away with a smile, leaving behind the confused company commander.
Instructor Shao smiled: "This guy..."
Captain Lei laughed heartily.
The atmosphere on the battlefield became a lot happier after what Ma Daguo did.
The food-seeking team led by Lao Yang returned, each holding a handful of wild vegetables in their hands. The soldiers had happy smiles on their faces. It looked like they had gained a lot.
Old Yang raised the wild vegetables in his hand and said, "I found a lot of wild vegetables. You will be in good luck tonight."
The soldiers grinned: "What good fortune do you have? Do you have white noodles?"
Lao Yang curled his lips: "What's so good about white flour? Boil the wild vegetables and sprinkle some salt on it, then it will taste better."
He immediately called on the soldiers in the cooking class to start cooking wild vegetables. Since they could not live at night, even if the tunnel could block the fire, the smoke could not be blocked. However, Xia Yuan demonstrated a smokeless stove to them some time ago, which allowed the cooking class to
The warriors have mastered a new skill.
The smokeless stove was quickly dug, the fire was lit, and the mouth of the stove was blocked so that the firelight would not easily leak out, and the smoke would also become very light using a special method.
After the water boiled, the wild vegetables were thrown into the pot. Lao Yang took out a paper bag from his arms and opened it carefully, revealing a white stuff inside.
"Lao Yang, what is this?"
A soldier asked curiously.
"Salt." Lao Yang said: "I brought this from China and kept it with me all the time, just to wait for this day. Add salt to make this pot of wild vegetable soup delicious."
The few boxes of canned food that were seized had been sent back long ago. The soldiers were hungry, and when the salt was thrown into the pot, they seemed to smell the aroma of the food. No matter how tight the belt around their waists was, their stomachs felt anxious.
When asked for food, many soldiers swallowed their saliva, stopped chatting, and squatted aside holding their guns.
Even Xia Yuan felt a sense of hunger and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
He had already thought about the difficulty of the second stage of the fifth battle, but he never thought it would be so difficult. Boiled wild vegetables turned out to be their best food at the moment.
Xia Yuan leaned against the wall with a wry smile on his face, thought for a moment, raised his head and looked at the US military position in the distance, thinking in his heart.
"Today is May 21st. The second phase of the Fifth Battle seems to end either today or tomorrow. The 180th Division will be completely surrounded."
"Perhaps today may be the last chance, otherwise we will take advantage of the enemy!"
Thinking about it, dinner was already served over there. The soldiers used empty cans hung by Americans on the wire to fill up some wild vegetable soup. It had a salty and sticky taste. They drank it with gusto, and a warmth flowed into their stomachs. The soldiers just felt
My whole body felt warm and seemed to be full of strength.
Soon they finished the bowl of hot wild vegetable soup and ate all the wild vegetables.
Lao Yang brought over a bowl and handed it to Xia Yuan: "Drink some, I'll serve it for you."
His thoughts were interrupted, Xia Yuan shook his head: "Lao Yang, I'm not hungry. Give it to the soldiers who need it. I'll go find the company commander."
Xia Yuan, who was determined, felt that he could no longer sit still tonight, otherwise he would have no chance in the future.
"Go and find the company commander..." Lao Yang raised his head and glanced at Xia Yuan's retreating figure: "Drink the soup first."
"No."
Xia Yuan walked quickly.
Company Commander Lei and Instructor Shao were observing the enemy's defense situation from the front, looking at it with binoculars, and said, "It's strange, the US military camp is so lively over there, what are they preparing for?"
"The enemy's position is brightly lit and vehicles are coming and going. Will they be transporting any more artillery shells?"
Instructor Shao used a telescope to observe, and the expression on his face became a little ugly. The enemy position was more than ten kilometers away from them. From a distance, he could see that the sky over there was brightly illuminated by lights. Trucks were coming in and out.
It was very unreasonable. In the past, our enemies would get into their sleeping bags early and go to sleep. But tonight, uncharacteristically, they stayed up all night.
This situation is very abnormal.
"Company commander, instructor."
Xia Yuan came over from behind and ran to the two of them.
"Xia Yuan came just in time. You have unique vision. Come and see what the enemy is up to without sleeping this late at night." Instructor Shao handed the binoculars to Xia Yuan and said.
Xia Yuan picked up the telescope and observed it symbolically. He had an idea in his mind. This coincided with his plan, so he said: "Company commander, instructor, do you still remember what I said when I was at the regiment headquarters?
The enemy is preparing for a major counterattack, and they are probably hoarding artillery shells. Tomorrow morning will be the time for their major counterattack, and these artillery shells and heavy firepower may be used on high ground 336.8."
"What!"
The two were slightly startled.
"The U.S. military has money. When they launch a major counterattack, they will definitely not charge with infantry like we do. Like the Japs, they usually use artillery shells to clear the way. They are richer than the Japs. They can flatten the mountains with just artillery fire.
Two meters.”
Xia Yuansha said matter-of-factly.
The two people looked shocked and couldn't help but clicked their tongues: "It's really such an exaggeration. I used cannonballs to flatten the top of the mountain by two meters."