When we arrived at Highland 239, it was already three hours later.
This really cannot be blamed on our slow marching speed. In fact, we were already trotting all the way. The problem is that the roads in Vietnam... Although they are roads, they are winding and winding. On the map, they seem to be only a few miles.
The road is small, but if you go around it like this, it will be several times larger out of thin air.
In addition, there was a moderate battle on the way, and I had to worry about whether the Vietnamese army had any other ambushes... So it wasn't until almost dawn that I arrived at the designated destination - Highland 239.
Scar and I climbed up to the high ground with a few soldiers to conduct a reconnaissance, and found that there were no Vietnamese troops on it, so we sat down on the grass like a puddle of mud.
A night of rapid marching and a battle made us extremely tired.
Chen Yiyi's physical strength also surprised me. She didn't sleep all night and walked such a long way. She seemed to be a normal person. She sat down next to me and took out a compressed biscuit and bit it...
…
Being teased like this by her, all the soldiers and I felt hungry, but we were too tired just now and didn't feel it at all. So everyone imitated Chen Yiyi and took out compressed biscuits and cookies.
canned.
The company commander had a harder time. As soon as he arrived at the high ground, he immediately set up a radio station and reported to the regiment headquarters:
"Yes! We have reached Highland 239!"
"Accurate, no enemies!"
"Is there a road to the west?!"
The company commander winked at me, and I had no choice but to jump up and run a few steps to the west. When I looked down, I saw that a road turned around at the foot of Hill 239, and then went all the way north.
I nodded to the company commander.
The company commander immediately replied:
"Yes, there is a highway on the west side!"
"Yes Yes……"
After the company commander hung up the phone, he waved his hand to us and shouted: "Get up, everyone, and build fortifications immediately!"
The soldiers howled, especially the platoon under Scar. Because there were so many recruits, the platoon screamed the loudest:
"Company Commander, we've been traveling all night, and our bones are almost falling apart. You have to let people take a breath even if you hang yourself!"
"Yes, company commander, our stomachs are still empty until now. Only by filling our stomachs can we have the strength to do the fortifications!"
"It won't be a big deal if we finish this fortification later..."
"Everyone get up!" Scar shouted to the complaining soldiers: "Do you still want to die? If you eat dry food later, will you starve to death or something? If you rest later, will you die of exhaustion? If there are no fortifications for the enemy
What should I do if they are coming soon? What can I do to evade the Japanese cannons? Anyone who wants to survive, get up!"
When Scar shouted, the soldiers fell silent. They all stood up with their tired bodies and took out their engineering shovels.
To be honest, I was originally on the side of resting first, but when Scar shouted... it really felt like that. Troops in battle might encounter the enemy at any time. If the enemy comes,
If the fortifications are not done well, that is a fatal thing.
As for being tired and hungry... as soon as the enemy comes, under the threat of death, this little tiredness and this little hunger will be quickly forgotten.
The standard for a trench is one meter deep and one meter wide. This depth is just right for a person to stand up and shoot. After that, dig a small hole about seventy-five centimeters high on the back wall of the trench because of the shape of the hole.
It looks like a cat's ear, so it is also called a cat's ear hole. It is mainly used to avoid artillery shells, but of course it can also be used to store ammunition. The ammunition placed inside will not block the trench passage and will not be detonated by enemy artillery fire. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
After the cat's ear holes were dug, I felt fresh and deliberately hid in them, but after a while I couldn't stand it anymore and crawled out. The reason was that it was stuffy and damp inside, and the height of 75 centimeters and the small space made it uncomfortable.
We had to squeeze in like we were practicing bone-shrinking exercises, and the sand on our heads kept falling into our necks. What was even more unbearable was that after the hole was dug, the first people to move in were swarms of mosquitoes. We humans
As soon as we hide in, we will be besieged by them, but we are often unable to resist because we shrink...
Maybe some people will say that the cat ear holes should be dug bigger!
That’s right! I thought the same thing at first, and did so. I wanted to dig a bigger space and hide myself comfortably, but I was quickly stopped by Scar!
"You're looking for death, right?" Scar said this: "If you dig a little bigger, the top is not thick enough, and a cannonball will bury you alive!"
Listening to this, I also think it makes sense. For a small hole like Maoer Cave that has no log support and no reinforced concrete roof beams, there is no doubt that the larger the space, the easier it is to collapse. For the sake of life, it is better to do less
Put in some effort!
As soon as the fortifications were completed, the soldiers were almost so hungry that they fell down. As soon as they sat down in the trenches, they couldn't wait to stuff biscuits and water. Some soldiers were so tired that they couldn't bear it, and they still had water bottles in their hands.
Biting half a biscuit, he had already fallen asleep leaning against the trench wall...
I was also tired and hungry. Looking at this scene, I felt sour in my heart and almost burst into tears. This is the hard life on the battlefield. Not only do we have to starve and be trapped, but we also have to suffer all the time.
Can ordinary people endure the threat of death?
To be honest, I can't stand all this, but I have to endure it, because this is a battlefield and I have no choice.
What made me angry... I hurriedly took two bites of compressed biscuits and drank some water. Just when I was about to lean on the trench and sleep for a while, the correspondent Xiao Liu ran all the way along the trench and shouted: "Platoon commanders,
Have a meeting at the company headquarters..."
Damn it! I couldn't help but cursed in my heart, are we going to let anyone live?
I was really tired at this time, so I deliberately pretended not to hear, closed my eyes, and fell asleep on my own. It was also night anyway, wasn't it? Who knows if I was really sleeping or pretending to sleep?
Unfortunately, not long after I closed my eyes, Scar came up and kicked me hard: "Hey, didn't you hear the meeting?"
"Hmm!" I stood up reluctantly, holding the gun and following Scar like a wilted cabbage.
In modern life, I have never experienced such hardship. I couldn't even sleep. At this time, I wished that someone would remove the platoon leader on the spot so that I could have a good sleep like other soldiers.
Sleep.
I followed Scar and ran around in the trench for a while, and soon turned to the company headquarters. It was said to be the company headquarters, but in fact it was just an air-raid shelter that could only accommodate three or four people, but the location was slightly better, in the mountain col.
There are very few cannonballs that can blow it up, and I don’t know how they managed to get a few logs to prop up the roof of the cave, so it looks like it can withstand a few cannonballs.
Of course, the radio soldiers were hiding in the air-raid shelter, so the few of us had to have a meeting outside.
"Sit!" Captain Luo enthusiastically invited us to sit on a piece of thatched grass beside the trench. After a few people formed a circle, Captain Luo habitually took out cigarettes and distributed them...
As a result, no one except the instructor dared to take it.
"What are you..." The instructor looked at us strangely.
"Report to the company commander, instructor!" I replied: "We are worried that the Jie Jie will take a cold shot. Although there is no enemy situation now...but there may be Jie Jie snipers lying in the dark. They will shine their cigarette butts.
Then light the fire..."
"Uh!" Captain Luo, who was taking out the lighter, quickly put the lighter back, kicked me angrily and said, "You kid! You didn't tell me earlier... you just want to watch me and the instructor being raped by the Japanese."
A sniper shoots one at a time, right?"
My injustice...if I wanted to see you shot one by one by Japanese snipers, would I still say it?
"The situation is like this!" The company commander spread out a map in front of us, carefully illuminated it with a flashlight covered with black cloth, and then pointed to a location and said: "This is the 239 Highland where we are located.
Next to us is Highway 10. The 345th Division of the Vietnamese Army is here, about 15 kilometers west of Lao Cai. There is intelligence that a Vietnamese army with an unknown number is trying to pass through Highway 10 and the 345th Division of the Vietnamese Army to attack our Lao Cai.
Troops. So the order from our superiors is, let us hold on to Hill 239 and not let a single Vietnamese soldier pass through here!"
"Comrades!" the instructor continued, "Our task is very serious! Comrades, please think of yesterday's battle in which Vietnamese agents attacked our artillery battalion. The superiors analyzed that the Vietnamese army did not attack without purpose. We
I guess the original plan of the Vietnamese army was to use the troops in the Laojie Underground Castle to cooperate with the 345th Division to eat us up, but they didn't expect... we would eat up a regiment in the Underground Castle in just a few days.
.So the 345th Division of the Vietnamese Army was alone and did not dare to launch an attack easily when it rushed to the northwest of our army. This is why we are in the situation we are in today."
"The instructor is right!" Captain Luo nodded and said: "The annihilation of the entire army in the Laojie Underground Castle undoubtedly disrupted the overall plan of the Vietnamese army, so the Vietnamese army formulated a new plan. This plan is very
Maybe they first sent agents to sneak attack on our artillery battalion. While attacking our artillery power, they also damaged the morale of our army. At the same time, they also tried to distract our army's attention and strength... I hope our army can hunt down this Vietnamese army's special agent force.
Then they secretly crossed over to Chencang and sent another force to attack Laojie from both front and back, and pushed back to the important place of Laojie in one fell swoop!"
"The location of Lao Cai is very important!" the instructor said meaningfully: "It can be said to be the supply base and artillery position of our army's front line. Its safety is directly related to whether our soldiers on the front line have food and whether they have bullets.
, is there a question of artillery support? This is related to the outcome of the entire battle, so we must not let the old street fall into the hands of the Vietnamese Japs, we must block the Vietnamese Japs to the south and completely crush their plans!"
When the company commander and instructor said this, I thought it was true... I have always been a soldier fighting in confusion, and I never thought about the connection between these battles. Now after listening to these words, I feel
The battles we fought before are all connected, and they are all over one place - the old street!