The soldiers and I pulled the trigger numbly, watching helplessly as the Vietnamese troops fell in rows in front of us. After a while, the road at the foot of the mountain was filled with corpses. On the road, in the mud, in the grass...
There was blood and broken limbs everywhere, and the whole world turned into a bloody red, as if it had just been taken out of a red dye vat.
The Vietnamese army's counterattack can be said to be negligible, but our fight was not easy either.
This does not mean how difficult the war was. In fact, at this time, except for a few irrational soldiers who were still firing wildly and randomly, most of the others were busy running away for their lives... But this was the opposite.
It caused considerable psychological pressure on us.
In some ways, we also hope that the Vietnamese army will have the ability to resist... This at least means that we are forced to kill them, at least we will still feel that this is war, at least we still know that we are fighting for survival.
kill!
But now... when we shoot rows of bullets at the Vietnamese soldiers who are just trying to escape for their lives, and when we watch them cry and scream, we will naturally have an illusion - this is not a war, this is
Massacre, we are all murderers...
There is a saying that "people are not grass and trees, so they can be ruthless." Executioners sometimes become soft-hearted after killing too many people. What's more, we are not executioners yet, and many of us are recruits who have just stepped onto the battlefield... Some soldiers even shoot at the same time.
While shouting loudly, no one knew what they were shouting, but we understood that they were just expressing the fear of killing people through their shouts.
Finally, our shooting stopped when the Vietnamese army raised their hands and knelt on the ground. Although some people were still sneaking into the jungle at this time. Although they were still within our shooting range...but we never
Got the courage to shoot.
Only then did I realize something: It takes courage to go to the battlefield, it takes courage to fight the enemy desperately, and it also takes courage to kill the enemy.
The battle was temporarily over, ending with our glorious victory. Even the few Vietnamese tanks did not slip through the net, and were all blown up in the canyon by rocket launcher shooters. The reason was that a batch of tanks had been destroyed in the canyon before.
Tanks and tank wrecks made the passage very narrow, and the American light tanks were not strong enough to push away the wreckage, so after the rocket launcher concentrated fire on the first tank, they completely lost hope of escaping.
We should have cheered for this victory, but no one did... because no one thought it was something worth bragging about. At this time, the Vietnamese army was already short of ammunition because they had been without supplies for a long time, so we just killed
There is not much difference between a bunch of unarmed people... Although we know that they are enemies and it is understandable for us to do so, there will still be chills in our hearts when facing ourselves.
But the battle did not end with the surrender of the Vietnamese troops in front of them, because these Vietnamese troops were only a small part of the Fifth Infantry Division, and the 581 Highland we were stationed on could be said to be the retreat of the Fifth Infantry Division.
Throat area, so batch after batch of Vietnamese troops withdrew, and batch after batch were beaten back by us...
I don’t know how many groups were defeated, some were beaten away, and some surrendered.
All we knew was that our trigger finger hurt, and we changed rifles one after another. In the end, almost everyone was using M16.
Of course, in addition to me as the company commander, the advantages of using a sniper rifle are that it saves bullets, and bringing more than a hundred rounds is enough for me. The other is that I can shoot when I want to.
, when you don’t want to shoot...for example, just take command now, although it seems that I don’t need to take command at all now.
Finally, we waited for our own troops... The first ones to come up were the 1st and 3rd companies led by Camp Commander Luo. As soon as they came up, they were captured by the masses of corpses in front of them and the black mass squatting on the mountain col.
Shocked.
After the war, I learned from the recovery team that... there were five or six hundred Vietnamese corpses near Highland 581, not counting those who were injured and escaped and those who were blown into pieces.
"Second Company Commander..." Battalion Commander Luo was also very familiar with Highland 581, so it didn't take much effort to find me.
I knew he wanted to praise me for playing well, but I had no intention of listening to him. Instead, I interrupted him very simply and said: "Captain Luo, I ask for a rest!"
I'm not asking for credit, but I really can't hold on any longer. You have to know that we have barely had a few days of rest in the past two months. We have been fighting from the first day of the counterattack until now...even if we are made of iron.
People will also collapse. The new recruits may fare better, but they have also experienced a huge contrast from peace to bloody battlefields, and they also need rest.
Of course, Captain Luo knew this very well, so he nodded and responded without thinking: "No problem, I will arrange it! You can retreat to the county seat and rest for a while!"
I felt relieved after Battalion Commander Luo's words. I grabbed my gun and waved to the soldiers before leaving the position. As for the prisoners and the ammunition depot... I didn't want to worry about it anymore. All I could think about now was
One thing is to get out of this damn place!
Camp Commander Luo is a careful person. He arranged several cars to take us to the county town, and arranged accommodation for us in the county town in advance...and these accommodations were not tents or brick kilns like we lived in before.
It was a few bungalows that Captain Liu borrowed from fellow villagers.
What Captain Liu means is that he feels that we have made great contributions on the front line and have risked our lives to come back with a narrow escape, so we cannot be treated badly.
In addition, the common people in this era were also very simple. When they heard that the soldiers coming down from the front needed a rest, they vacated the house without saying a word. Captain Liu originally wanted to give them some money to rent it, but the fellow villagers said
We didn’t want anything, so we stayed in a private house.
Although the condition of this private house is not very good, it should be said that if you look at it from a modern perspective, it should be considered very poor, but at least there is a sense of home here, at least there are tiles to cover your head, and there is a pot.
The stove... That night, the cooking class cooked a large pot of hot white rice for us in this private house, and then used the raw materials sent by the fellow villagers to fry a pot of green vegetables and a bacon scrambled egg...
This is a fairy-like enjoyment, and what makes us veterans even more happy is that... as soon as the recruits saw the pot of bacon and scrambled eggs, they stayed away and didn't touch it.
As people who have been there, of course we know what is going on. The color of the bacon is black and red, like corpses and blood on the battlefield. Of course, they who have just experienced the battlefield can't stand it. This is an advantage for us. Veteran, I cut up the bacon and scrambled eggs in a snap.
Why can we veterans endure it? Let me tell you...as long as we hide in the tunnels and sleep on them, we can tolerate even the most disgusting things.
We have nothing to criticize about the arrangements made by our superiors. When it got dark, the soldiers spread their marching blankets on the ground and lay down in a mess.
But the strange thing is that we are very tired... I haven't slept a wink all day and night, and we are still as tired as when we are highly nervous on the battlefield, but many of us can't sleep.
"Company commander!" Wang Kechang asked quietly in the darkness: "When can we go home?"
"It's almost time!" I said: "After the rear troops have finished their training... they will come and replace us!"
"Company Commander!" The scholar said with some worry: "Now that other troops have come to replace us, does that mean we will have to replace us with other troops in the future?"
I was speechless for a moment. You must know that the Vietnam War lasted for ten years. Of course, the troops were replaced one after another. Otherwise, who could have remained unwavering for ten years?
"Don't think so much!" Scar responded across the wooden board in another room: "You can go back alive and worry about the future!"
When Scar said this, everyone was silent. This is the most realistic question... Today's battle may not be our last battle. Can we go back alive?
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After resting in a private house for two days, I basically regained some of my strength.
During this period, we took some time to take a bath in the river, and then put on the new military uniforms given to us by Commander Liu, and our military appearance became a little different.
But even so... we still found that something was wrong with us.
Those new recruits were okay, all of them were walking around the streets and playing without any strangers. As for us veterans... although we were hiding in the tunnels, we thought countless times about how we would play when we returned to the rear. How to have fun... But when I actually arrived in the county and faced the world, I found that I couldn't integrate into this society.
For example, when we go out on the street, we will always feel that there is danger. When we see someone wearing national costumes, we will wonder if he is a Vietnamese agent. When we hear the sound of guns and artillery in the distance, we will naturally look for a place. hidden……
In short, our behavior looks weird to outsiders and seems a bit abnormal. This makes us veterans prefer to hide in private houses rather than go out on the streets... We can just hide in this room with our comrades and feel comfortable. , we feel a sense of security, and when we divide into small groups and take to the streets, we feel like we are divided and surrounded by enemies.
I remember the old man once told me about this and what it was called...battlefield syndrome. I didn't believe in this thing before, thinking it was just a psychological illusion? I'll just get over it!
But now that it really falls on me, I feel a little different.
No... I am used to being a cadre, and I always talk to the people in a tone of ordering my subordinates... I have some doubts about whether I can adapt to life in the rear if I fight for a while longer. (To be continued...)