I soon learned that the unit responsible for the lurking was a company of soldiers from the 7th Company of the 15th Border Guard Regiment.
In fact, their lurking this time was not just to prepare for the capture of Balihe Dongshan as Commander Jiang said. The superiors were also worried about...when our army's large forces attacked Laoshan, would there be reinforcements from the Vietnamese army?
Take advantage of the gap on the left wing to penetrate behind our defense line and surround our army.
This worry is of course justified. You must know that our army's battle to regain Laoshan lasted nearly a whole day. If the Vietnamese Japs mobilized their troops in time during this period, they would be fully capable of inserting them from the left wing or even the back of our attacking troops.
One knife.
The purpose of the Seventh Border Defense Company lurking in the east mountain of Bali River is to ensure the safety of the flanks of the troops attacking Laoshan.
But what surprised us was that the Vietnamese army did not penetrate into our defense line from the east mountain of Bali River.
As for why the Vietnamese army did not penetrate into our defense line from the east mountain direction of Bali River, Commander Jiang’s judgment is: “
1: The Vietnamese army is short of troops. The Vietnamese army on the border now is demolishing the east wall to repair the west wall. This is proved by the fact that the 316a Division is easily transferred back and forth by us, so the Vietnamese army does not have many troops to carry out this task.
Two: Our army attacked quickly and the Vietnamese army did not have sufficient preparation time.
Although our army fought for nearly a day, they marched in secret before. The Vietnamese army only discovered our army's offensive intention when our army was preparing artillery fire. Moreover, at this time, the Vietnamese army had to scramble to organize defenses in the direction of Laoshan and Songmaoling.
and reinforcements, so there was no time or thought to organize troops to infiltrate from Balihe Dongshan. By the time we thought about it, the battle to recapture Laoshan was over."
I am skeptical about this, because I know very well that although the Vietnamese army is small in number, its command is not so ineffective.
Later it turned out that what I thought was correct. It was not that the Vietnamese army did not pass through Balihe Dongshan, it was just that our army did not discover it.
This cannot be blamed on the 7th Border Defense Company. You must know that there are 7 positions lined up from south to north in Balihe Dongshan, with a frontal width of 1,300 meters. The 7th Border Defense Company of our army is lurking in one of the highlands, 1019 Highlands. In this
Although the line of sight on the high ground is relatively good, it is a jungle area with a width of 1,300 meters, and the lurking point of the Seventh Border Defense Company is only 130 meters away from the nearest place of the Vietnamese army, making it impossible to conduct large-scale observation operations. Therefore, it is impossible to detect the enemy passing through.
normal.
In addition, I believe that the reason why Commander Jiang is so sure that the Vietnamese army did not penetrate into our defense line is that he has a kind of "hindsight" mentality... When our army attacked Laoshan, there was no harassment from the Vietnamese army in the rear, so naturally
It can be concluded that no Vietnamese troops have penetrated in.
In fact, most cadres have this mentality, including me: if the Vietnamese invaders penetrate our army's defense line, then when our army's large forces attack Laoshan and fight with the front-line Vietnamese troops,
,Why would the Yue Jap give up such a good opportunity and do nothing?
For example, they can attack our army's supply lines, and for example, they can sneak attack our army's arsenal...
What none of us thought was that the Vietnamese infiltration force had a more important goal. That's why we could watch Laoshan being captured by our army without revealing it.
Of course, this is all a story for later.
I quickly got the information on the 7th Border Defense Company and the history of their actions... We are going to provide artillery cover for the 7th Border Defense Company when necessary. So of course the information we have must be as comprehensive as possible.
The Seventh Border Defense Company sneaked to Highland 1019 in the east mountain of Bali River two days ago. In order to hold on to their position for a long time, the soldiers of the Seventh Company left backpacks, raincoats, etc. and carried as much ammunition and dry food as possible.
This is for sure. You must know that their plan is to lurk for ten days. If they don't bring more dry food, what will they eat?
They marched non-stop on the mountain road in the dark for 12 hours, and finally arrived at their destination 5 minutes early the next morning.
Of course, on the first day, they lurked far away from the enemy's defense line. That night, they found themselves in the grass separated by a mountain beam from the enemy-occupied high ground, and the closest distance to the enemy was only more than 130 meters.
In order not to expose the target, they repaired and renovated the fortifications at night.
In fact, they used the sound of gunfire and artillery in the direction of Laoshan to cover up the sound of building fortifications. In order not to alert the enemy, they gently scraped the ground with shovels, or simply dug it out bit by bit with their hands.
After several nights of continuous efforts, more than 20 shelters, more than 30 single-man bunkers and cat-ear holes were repaired without the Vietnamese army noticing.
So I can understand why they were able to lurk for so long.
The reason is very simple. With these shelters, single bunkers and cat-ear holes, at least they can move their muscles and bones in a limited space... Otherwise, if they lie motionless in the grass for ten days, I'm afraid that by then
I can't even stand up.
In terms of supplies, in the first three days when the fortifications were not constructed, they relied entirely on the dry food they carried to satisfy their hunger... This was of course due to concealment considerations. When the fortifications were well constructed, it would be possible to move slightly larger
If you were discovered by the Vietnamese Japanese, it would certainly not be suitable to deliver food to them.
But even after the fortifications were built, the supplies did not improve much: one cold meal and one pot of water for two days... The reason why it must be cold meal is because I was worried that the aroma of the hot meal would drift to the direction of the Japanese and attract them.
Be vigilant. You must know that it is rare for Yue Japanese to eat a hot meal, so they are also quite sensitive to the smell of rice.
I can completely imagine how difficult the environment is for them to persist in lurking like this. I am also someone who has fought in lurking warfare, and of course I know that under such circumstances, I am highly nervous at every moment.
During the day, although there is no need to build fortifications, the enemy is active and cannot sleep. At night, mosquito bites also make it difficult to sleep soundly. Even the biggest problem when sleeping is... What should I do if I snore? What should I do if I talk in my sleep? What if I am bitten by a mosquito?
What should I do if I reach out to swat mosquitoes?!
So after lurking in the past few days, all the soldiers of the Seventh Border Defense Company have become shabby. They have been bitten by mosquitoes and insects, soaked by dew and rain, and their crotches are rotten...
Later I realized that these were all trivial. There was a huge temperature difference between day and night on the mountain, and it rained several times during this period. This made most of the soldiers of the Seventh Border Defense Company fall ill while they were hiding.
experience.
The deputy company commander had diarrhea on the second day after entering the battlefield. At that time, the fortifications were not yet completed, so he could only sit still and defecate in his pants.
The second squad leader was suffering from bronchitis. In order to prevent him from coughing, he covered his mouth with a hat or towel, buried his face in the soil and coughed softly, until the veins on his face twitched.
There were also many soldiers who had a fever. They were fine with being exposed to the sun during the day, but they were so cold that they shivered at night, especially when it rained. So they had to hide in the cat's ear holes and shiver and grind their teeth to endure it.
When I saw these situations, I couldn't help but sigh and didn't know what to say.
At this time, I was thinking, if I were asked to take command, there is no way I would give this order.
The reason is very simple, because I don’t believe that there will be anyone, not even a company of people, who can persist under these conditions for ten days. Since no one can persist, it means that this plan will definitely not work. In other words, it will be
The risk of the enemy discovering it is too great, so I won't consider it at all and will instead think about other methods.
but……
The superiors issued this order and formulated this plan.
I don’t know if this is because the superiors are not aware of the hidden suffering and are giving blind orders, or if they are very confident in the fighting will of their subordinates.
And the good news is that there actually is such a unit...the Seventh Border Defense Company.
I don't know how many days they can hold on in the end, but at least up to now, they have held on for three days and three nights.
On the other hand, when the Seventh Border Defense Company was lurking in Balihe Dongshan, Commander Jiang was actively organizing an attack on Balihe Dongshan.
But this preparation work is not going smoothly, because the challenges and pressure from the Vietnamese army in the direction of Laoshan are increasing... You must know that what we are facing on this side is the 316a Division and 313th Division of the Vietnamese Army. Although during this period,
There was no large-scale battle, but it could be seen that the Vietnamese army was constantly testing, hoping to find loopholes in our defense line and launch a fatal blow.
Because of this, the top priority right now is to reserve enough ammunition on Laoshan to deal with possible attacks by the Vietnamese army.
However, it is quite difficult to transport ammunition and supplies to the old mountain... The supplies completely rely on manpower. It takes more than ten hours to go up the mountain and more than ten hours to go down the mountain. And people need time to rest, so it takes two days.
A round trip.
This unexpected situation delayed the attack on Balihe Dongshan again and again. It was not until the seventh day that the deadlock was broken.
This is the eighth day of the lurking of the 7th Border Guard Company. They have been lurking here for seven days and seven nights.
During these seven days and seven nights, all the soldiers in their company had never washed their faces, changed their clothes, had a good meal, or had a good night's sleep. Everyone was covered in mud and their eyes were filled with tears.
Their faces were covered with blood, and their faces and bodies were covered with mosquito bites. As comrades, they could not even recognize each other without calling each other's names.
At this moment, deputy company commander He Zhengchang discovered that the Vietnamese army had set up several 60-mm and 82-mm guns on the position.
He Zhengchang judged that the Vietnamese army must have discovered an important target of our army, otherwise they would not have risked their lives by using mortars... Later, He Zhengchang's judgment was proved to be correct. At this time, the Vietnamese army discovered a group of our army's military vehicles transporting ammunition.
.
So He Zhengchang immediately reported the situation to his superiors through the walkie-talkie.
****
I would like to use the above chapter to pay tribute to the 7th Company of the Border Defense Regiment. During the battle at Dongshan on the Bali River, the comrades of the 7th Company of the 15th Border Defense Regiment lurked in front of the 1019 Highland for seven days and seven nights. After the war, their superiors awarded the 7th Company first-class collective merit, and the Central Military Commission awarded them
The company is nicknamed the "7th Frontier Defense Steel Company". The article describes the true deeds of the 7th Company. (To be continued...)