Chapter 138: Anti-tank trench

The heavy rain was still crackling, and the soldiers were digging trenches in the rain. The soil was washed by the rain and it was not difficult to dig, but the water in the trenches flooded the soldiers' calves. I waved the shovel mechanically with both hands, and my mind was full of information about the 180th Division that I had read in modern times, hoping to seize every opportunity to help them break through.

Because I personally feel very sympathetic to the 180th Division, I have a relatively comprehensive understanding of the information of the 180th Division.

Speaking of this 180th Division, it is also a unit that has made many military achievements. Since its development in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, it has fought many tough and bad battles. Especially the 538th Regiment of Pang Kechang in this unit once raided 120 Huali for a long distance, burned the Yuncheng Airport, and was commended by the Central Military Commission. The Kuomintang army and the ambush of the Pinglu Miaodi battle were completely wiped out, and the 248th Regiment of its American equipment was awarded a major battle of 1:50. It can be said that they are all arrogant soldiers and generals who can fight.

But the problem is that after this force was promoted to a field force in 1947, it has been in the interior combat, and basically carried out without worries. Now, as soon as they enter North Korea, they are allowed to fight against the US military under insufficient ammunition and supply, and they will inevitably have the shortcomings of experience and insufficient adaptability.

For example, it is no longer a secret that the logistics supply of the Korean War was very difficult, but for the 180th Division, which had been under sufficient supply conditions and was immediately put into battle as soon as they entered North Korea, it seemed that it did not fully realize this, or even if it was realized, it did not have the sense of crisis of insufficient supply. Just like when I mentioned the lack of ammunition and food, Commander Zheng Qigui thought that the rear would be transported soon...

The rotation of troops has its advantages and disadvantages! The advantages are high morale and strong energy, and the disadvantages are unfamiliar with the terrain, insufficient experience, and insufficient grasp of the battlefield situation. Just like the current 180th Division, although they have defeated the Japanese and the Kuomintang, they will still use the past arrangement to deal with the current US troops.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but put the shovel on the ground in the trenches, found a stone exposed to the water in the trenches and sat down, and then habitually touched the cigarettes in my pocket, but what I took out was a pile of tobacco that had been soaked in the rain.

Looking at the soldiers digging trenches with the comrades of the 180th Division in the rain, I felt a little uneasy... The military rules of the Volunteer Army are to firmly obey the orders of superiors. If we just follow the 180th Division in this way, it would not be a part of the 180th Division? At that time, I must firmly obey the orders sent by the superiors. Will it end up like the history in the end? I think at most I will kill a few more Americans! In the end, not only can we not save people, but we will also have to get myself in.

No! It will never happen! I will let this happen! Thinking of this, I stood up and walked towards the regiment headquarters behind the position.

The regiment headquarters was not far from the position, just a few hundred meters away in an air-raid shelter. I shouted a report at the entrance of the cave. After getting permission from the incoming, I opened the black cloth at the entrance and walked in.

"Well! It's Deputy Battalion Commander Cui!" Seeing that it was me, Commander Pang, I was stunned. I quickly got up and walked up to shake my hand: "Deputy Battalion Commander Cui, I have also benefited a lot from hearing what you analyzed before the division commander and political commissar! Come on... have a drink of hot water first!"

As he said that, he handed me a cup of boiling water that was still steaming.

"Captain Pang!" I took the boiling water and took a sip, and couldn't wait to say, "I came here because I wanted to discuss something with the team leader..."

"Just say anything!" Captain Pang nodded and smiled, "Just make any requests, I will definitely find a way if I can do it!"

"Captain Pang!" I couldn't help but be happy when I heard this: "The troops I pulled up were all handed over from the enemy, explosives packs, grenades, etc., all of which were pitifully few. Do you think..."

"No problem!" Captain Pang agreed with a full mouth: "Replenish you fifty explosive packs and three hundred grenades!"

After pausing, he continued, "In addition, I will give you another hundred anti-tank grenades! You have experience in fighting tanks, and anti-tank grenades can play a better role in your hands. However, when Deputy Battalion Commander Cui, when the American tanks come, I hope you can go up as the first echelon and blow up the tanks so that our troops can learn and learn. How about it?"

"No problem!" When I heard that there were still 100 anti-tank grenades, I agreed without thinking. Anti-tank grenades are a good thing in the hands of the volunteers, such as bombing tanks, infantry, bunkers... It is much easier to use than explosive packs.

If you use explosive bags, you have to get close to them and put them on the tank or next to the bunker to detonate. When you rush to the tank, you don’t know how many people will be sacrificed in front of the bunker. If you have no place to put them, you have to push them with your hands like Dong Cunrui. Anti-tank grenades are different. The power is similar to that of the explosive bags, and you can just throw them over a few dozen meters away.

"Deputy Battalion Commander Cui!" Then Commander Pang said with gratitude: "There are many soldiers in our army who have never seen what tanks are like before! Yesterday I was still worried about whether the troops would cause trouble when the enemy tanks came up. Now, with your experienced troops fighting with us, I am confident enough!"

"Pang Tuan is so praiseful!" I felt a little embarrassed when Captain Pang praised me like this. I couldn't even say the most important thing...

"What's wrong?" Captain Pang was a careful person. He noticed that I was in a difficult situation and couldn't help but pat my shoulder generously and said, "If you have any difficulties, don't put them in your heart! We are all comrades on the same formation, and we are about to live and die together on the battlefield. What else can we say?"

"Captain Pang, I hope..." After hesitating, I finally plucked up the courage and said, "I hope Captain Pang can let my army fight independently!"

"Independent combat? What does it mean?" Captain Pang couldn't help but frowned.

"Captain Pang, that's what I think!" I quickly explained: "Things on this battlefield are changing rapidly, especially now we are dealing with Americans. Their tanks are interspersed into our positions or the rear, which is a blink of an eye. The comrades of the 180th Division have no experience in fighting tanks. If our troops have to guard the positions, they will not be able to escape and support..."

"Oh! I understand!" Captain Pang couldn't help but realize this: "What you mean is that you can go wherever you need you the most, right?"

"That's right, that's about it!" I nodded quickly: "I just hope our army can have more freedom. If there are any changes on the battlefield, we can act according to the opportunity, without reporting to our superiors or accepting orders from our superiors..."

"This is not possible!" Hearing the words, Commander Pang couldn't help but shook his head and said, "It's a good thing that you should take the initiative to find fighter jets, but you must obey the unified arrangements of your superiors no matter what, otherwise the battle will be a mess?"

"Well!" After hearing this, I realized how shallow my military knowledge is. It is correct to think about it. If there is a unit that does not need to obey orders running around on the battlefield, it is very likely to disrupt the combat plan of the entire army. For example, if the regiment headquarters sends a company to feint the attack, we suddenly take it...

Thinking of this, I can't help but feel ridiculous for having this idea. The army is a unified whole and needs unified command and coordination. If there is a small army that does not obey command, no matter how strong its combat effectiveness is, it is a part outside of this whole.

But I didn't want to be ordered to tie my hands and feet, and I didn't know what to do for a moment.

"Let's do it!" Captain Pang touched his chin and thought: "Let your battalion be the reserve team. I will send other troops to take over your current position. You will temporarily retreat to the second line. Whenever you need you the most, I will send you to it! This is the whole thing!"

"As long!" I nodded. Although this still cannot be said to give me a lot of freedom, it seems that this is the only way to go.

"Is there still difficulties?" Captain Pang asked.

"Captain! Give a map..."

"Hey, you're not finished yet!" Seeing that I was not satisfied with making provisions one by one, even Captain Pang felt a little funny.

After walking out of the regiment headquarters, I asked the guard at the door for a piece of grease paper and carefully wrapped the map. If I want to rescue the 180th Division, this thing must be missing.

"Zhao Yongxin! Hu Zi! Ren Fengyou!" As soon as I returned to the position, I called three company commanders. Xu Feng didn't know where he followed Captain Chu and the others last night, so now, my deputy battalion commander is actually the battalion commander.

"Come!" The three company commanders quickly stood in front of me.

"This position is handed over to other troops!" I pulled up the shovel inserted on the ground and said, "Let's go to the second-line preparation position."

"What, what's wrong? Deputy Battalion Commander Cui?" Hu Zi couldn't help but wonder: "Let us retreat to the second line? Don't let the fight?"

"Yes! Deputy Battalion Commander Cui!" Zhao Yongxin also looked at me in embarrassment: "Are the comrades of the 180th Division watching? They all said they wanted to learn from us. We just went to the second-tier position in shame, that's embarrassing!"

"What a shame?" I cursed angrily: "You bastards are worried about fighting without a war, don't worry! You guys are fighting! Ren Fengyou, go to the logistics department to get ammunition, Zhao Yongxin and Hu Zi, immediately organize the soldiers to dig tunnels on the position, and they are not allowed to sleep if they are not dug!"

"Yes!" The three of them responded and each led their troops to start busy.

The sky gradually became dark, and although they still couldn't see their fingers, the soldiers had to touch the darkness, cut wood, and dig tunnels in order to have a place to live. Fortunately, the soldiers were very familiar with the tunnel operations. According to the soldiers themselves, they could toss the tunnels even if they closed their eyes. So with the joint efforts of the soldiers, in the second half of the night, more than a dozen tunnels that were enough for the soldiers to live in were completed.

The exhausted soldiers cheered in a low voice, then took off their wet and heavy cotton coats and hid in. Soon, there were waves of snoring in the tunnel, but I couldn't sleep. Although I was also very sleepy, my body was wet, mud and watery, which made me feel uncomfortable all over, so I was thinking about how to rescue the 180th Division.

It would be best if the 180th Division could not be surrounded, but this was almost impossible, because the reason why the 180th Division in history was surrounded was entirely because the superiors gave the 180th Division the order to defend and cover the retreat of the wounded. In addition, the commander Zheng Qigui, who was a political cadre, only knew to firmly obey the orders of his superiors, and did not consider the actual situation of the troops, nor did he consider that he would not accept foreign military orders, which made him missed the opportunity to break through again and again.

If you want to prevent the 180th Division from being surrounded, unless the commander of the 180th Division is me!

This is the difference between a military strategist and a politician! The original commander of the 180th Division was temporarily sent to Nanjing Military Academy to study, so Zheng Qigui, the former political commissar of the 180th Division, was appointed as the commander of the division. Most generals from political cadres have one common characteristic, that is, they are very firm in politics and resolutely implement the orders of superiors, but they are often incompetent in military command. Zheng Qigui is one of these members.

It is said that when Commander Zheng was punished by military punishment, he still couldn't understand why he strictly implemented the orders of his superiors, but in the end he had to hit him.

To be fair, he can't blame him for this fact. He has done his best, and it is not wrong to resolutely execute the orders of superiors. If he is wrong, he is wrong in the command center. If he is wrong, he is wrong in the wrong hiring of the superiors!

The 180th Division, including its commanders, is a unit that has been dealt with unfairly, or even injustice!

I was thinking a lot in my head, and finally fell asleep in the cold...

The next morning I woke up by the cold. Although the weather was not very cold at this time, I couldn't stand it after sleeping with wet sleep. I stood up and rubbed my cold hands, and then did a frog jump in the tunnel for a while before I felt better.

After gnawing a few bites of bread, I took out the map in my arms, uncovered the oil paper with my trembling fingers, carefully spread it open, and looked at it with the light coming from the entrance of the tunnel.

"Deputy Battalion Commander Cui! Was he awake so early?" Zhao Yongxin's voice came from behind. When he noticed that I was looking at the map, he quickly said with apologies: "Well, I don't know you are looking at the map..."

"It's okay, I just want to call you! Call Hu Zi and Ren Fengyou together, let's have a short meeting."

"Yes!" Zhao Yongxin responded and soon called Hu Zi and Ren Fengyou to me.

"Comrades!" Seeing that all three of them were here, I pointed to the map and said, "The enemy we faced was the US First Division and the US 7th Division who came to reinforce from Chunhong Highway. The American soldiers fought a lot and knew that they liked to use tanks to lead the way. The comrades of the 180th Division had no experience in fighting tanks, so the task of fighting tanks this time was handed over to our battalion."

"Okay!" Zhao Yongxin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "I was bragging in front of the comrades of the 180th Division yesterday to fight tanks. I didn't expect to be withdrawn to the second line all at once. I was feeling depressed. Now I have the opportunity to show my face!"

"You'll get all the anti-tank grenades!" I looked towards Ren Fengyou.

"I'll take it!" Ren Fengyou looked at Hu Zi and replied with a little dissatisfaction: "It's all distributed to the soldiers, but Captain Li just snatched a few more!"

"Um!" I couldn't help but look at Hu Zi in confusion.

"This..." Hu Zi blushed and touched his head: "I didn't know anything last time, so I got a few less. I can't make up for it this time?"

The soldiers all laughed, and I couldn't help but shake my head and smile bitterly, and I had no choice but to use the silly tiger general, the tiger.

After pausing for a while, I continued, "Although we have fired tanks and have anti-tank grenades, the effect of hitting tanks last time was really unsatisfactory."

"What Deputy Battalion Commander Cui said," Zhao Yongxin nodded in agreement: "If a young soldier had not accompanied his life to blow up a large tank and blocked the road last time, the tanks would have run away long ago."

I nodded and concluded: "Our main disadvantage is that we are not familiar with the weight of anti-tank grenades, and the bomb drop is not accurate enough, so it is difficult to hit the moving tanks. In addition, the anti-tank grenades are not powerful enough to penetrate the enemy's medium-sized and heavy tanks' front armor, and they can only be used to install other rear armor, which requires even higher accuracy of our grenades."

"This is easy to solve!" Ren Fengyou thought about it and replied: "All our volunteers came to grenades, but the weight of the anti-tank grenade is twice that of ordinary grenades. We are not used to it at once, so we can't hit it accurately. Just give us half a day and practice for a day to ensure that we throw it far and accurate!"

"That's right!" Hu Zi also agreed: "When we were the Eighth Route Army, we had more grenades than bullets. When we fought, we would have grenades hanging all over our body and threw them at the heads of the Japanese. Speaking of which, who can beat us by throwing grenades! Not to mention practicing for a long time, one day, I think it's enough to practice for an hour!"

"There is not much time, and the enemy will arrive at any time!" I reminded: "So organize the soldiers to practice quickly later, otherwise you won't be able to show your face in front of the comrades of the 180th Division. I'm going to be embarrassed!"

"Don't worry! Deputy Battalion Commander Cui!" Zhao Yongxin patted his chest and said confidently: "Even if we lose our lives, we won't be embarrassed!"

"That's it!" The other two also clenched their fists to agree.

"Another disadvantage is!" I nodded with satisfaction and continued: "The throwing distance of anti-tank grenades is too close. Because of its weight, it is difficult to throw more than 30 meters. In this way, when we approach the enemy tank, we will inevitably suffer heavy casualties. Moreover, the killing radius of anti-tank grenades is twenty meters. If the distance is close, it is easy to hurt yourself!"

"This..." The soldiers were stunned when they heard this inadequate. This was the natural flaw of anti-tank grenades, and the soldiers could not think of any way to solve it.

I smiled and stopped talking riddles with them, and then continued, "So we have to dig... anti-tank trenches."

"Defend the tank trench?" The soldiers were stunned.
Chapter completed!