Chapter 51: Hard life

The gunshots were still ringing, and the cannons were still ringing! But at this time, the 7th Company and I were no longer on the front-line battlefield.

After the puppet army used smoke bombs to repel the offensive, we no longer dared to charge against the 902.8 highland we defended, but just bombed the top position with one shell to vent their fear and anger!

So we successfully waited for Li Weiqiang's reinforcements. They arrived ten minutes earlier than the scheduled time. Only those who had actually climbed over 902.8 knew that it was not easy to get ten minutes earlier. The ice and snow had just melted, and the high ground was filled with water and mud, as well as mines laid by the puppet troops, and Li Weiqiang and his group were carrying a large amount of ammunition to replenish them, which made the march quite difficult. So I also knew that being able to get ten minutes earlier in this situation was the result of Li Weiqiang and his group doing their best.

When Li Weiqiang brought the Third Battalion to us, there was no sound between them. There was no cheer or shouting. Everyone was stunned at the battlefield.

The reason why we have no sound is that everyone is busy rescuing the only five remaining soldiers who have just been snatched back. They are all bloody, just like they have just been taken out of a red dye vat. There is almost no piece of clothing on them. It takes time for the hygienist to find their wounds.

Li Weiqiang and others did not have any voice because they could not believe that the mountainous bodies on the battlefield were real, that they could not believe that all the enemies were killed by us, and that they could not believe that the people of our company could have almost all reverse defense fortifications on the mountaintop positions on the 902.8 highland. And it seemed that the casualties were not large...

But only our 7th Company knows that the reason why we have suffered little casualties is that some people resolutely gave up their hope of survival and the power to continue fighting on the battlefield. Otherwise, the current position on the top of the mountain would be no longer in our hands!

"Comrade, wake up, wake up..." Amid the call of the health officer, another volunteer soldier closed his eyes.

The soldiers took off their hats and looked at him silently, watching him leave with their eyes. Many knife wounds on their bodies were injured, and Chen Guozhong, who was lying on the stretcher, slowly lifted his only moveable right hand towards the direction of the soldier, as if he wanted to pull him back...

I slowly held Chen Guozhong's hand and put it back on the stretcher, wanting to say something to comfort him, but I couldn't say it. Because I felt that any gorgeous language was a kind of insult to these respectable and lovely warriors.

"Captain!" Li Weiqiang stood beside me and said, "Leave the 902.8 highland to us! Don't worry, we will definitely not let it fall into the hands of the enemy!"

"Yeah!" I nodded.

I am not worried about the casualties of the 7th Company, but because there are no tunnels on the backscene surface of the mountain top position, and too many troops cannot hide it. And I believe that the puppet army team was severely taught by our 7th Company, and the remaining troops were not enough to capture the 902.8 highland defended by Li Weiqiang by a battalion. What's more, if a special force like the 7th Company was allowed to take on the task of an ordinary combat force, it would not be a good deal.

"Everyone has it! Return to the 649.8 Highland!" I issued an order to retreat to the 7th Company.

"Yes!" the soldiers responded, immediately sorted out the equipment as quickly as possible, and then walked towards the foot of the mountain one after another.

"Captain!" As I was walking down the mountain, the cry of a soldier suddenly came from behind me.

When he turned around, he found that it was a soldier carrying Chen Guozhong's stretcher. He couldn't help but hurried forward and asked nervously: "What's the matter? How is Platoon Commander Chen? The health officer!"

"Captain, Platoon Commander Chen is fine!" The soldier carrying the stretcher pressed a corner of the stretcher with his mouth and said, "Plane Commander Chen will not leave..."

Looking at the soldiers' eyes, I found that Platoon Commander Chen's only moving right hand had firmly grasped a branch beside him at some point. No matter how the soldiers broke him, he refused to let go. His chin was cut off half of his shrapnel, and he was tied up by bandages and could not speak. Only the "gulu" sound in his throat made a sound, as if he was sobbing, and seemed to be trying to say something. His eyes were filled with tears, staring at me, his eyes full of begging...

I know what he wants to do. In the blink of an eye, only five of his exclusive soldiers came back alive, two of whom had just died, and the others were all on stretchers. As the platoon leader, he didn't want to go back and stay with his comrades. Such things are not uncommon on the Korean battlefield. Many cadres rushed and fought fiercely on the battlefield with a fierce force after the war. When they found that their soldiers were no longer there, they cried and said they were unwilling to go down to the battlefield.

At this time, for them, they would rather die with their brothers and become a martyr than live in pain.

But how could I agree to his request?

I slowly supported Platoon Commander Chen, who was lying on the stretcher, leaned up and said to him: "Look at it again! This is where the soldiers died. Platoon Commander Chen, your soldiers are watching! They all hope you can live well, and they all hope that you can recover from your injuries. After recuperation, you will go to the battlefield to fight the Japanese to avenge them!"

I obviously felt Chen Guozhong's body tremble, and then my hand holding the branches slowly loosened and lie back on the stretcher calmly.

Looking at Platoon Leader Chen who was carried away by the soldiers, I couldn't help but sigh: What he didn't notice was that his left leg had been blown off, and he would never be able to return to the battlefield to fight the Japanese again!

If I were him, I would also be willing to sacrifice myself on the battlefield and stay with my comrades!

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When I returned to the 649.8 highland, the east had already emitted a faint dawn. In this haze, the peaks of the surrounding highlands were undulating, just like enchanting beauties showing their beautiful curves. What a beautiful scenery! But the cold wind that was rushing towards me was filled with a strong smell of smoke and blood, which made me come back from my intoxication and realize that this was a battlefield of life and death!

"It's Captain Cui!"

"Captain Cui is back!"

...

As soon as the soldiers saw us, they snatched it from three to five. They had already received news of our victory in the telegram. When they saw us coming, they were happy to greet us like a hero who had returned from triumphant return. As soon as they arrived, they were all busy, and everyone had excited smiles on their faces. However, only the soldiers of our 7th Company were covered in blood, and no one could smile.

The casualties of the 7th Company have been counted on the road, with 27 injured, 85 killed, and 23 missing.

In modern times, I have never understood what is missing. How can a living person disappear on the battlefield? Even if he is lost, he can quickly find troops. Isn't it? Only when he really comes to the battlefield, he knows that this disappearance is normal on the battlefield.

Some were mixed in the enemy's corpses and could not be identified, some were killed and could not find the corpse. The worst thing was that the shells were blown into pieces and no one saw them... So, they appeared one by one on the missing list. Just like our battle last night, many soldiers were mixed in the corpses of the puppet army, and then they were bombarded by the shells, and no one could tell.

From a emotional perspective, I hope they can be on the missing list, although I know they have sacrificed. Because in this way, at least they can give their families a hope. Maybe one day they will appear at home and reunite with their families.

From the perspective of soldiers, I hope they are sacrificed. In modern times, I always thought that the saying "the ideal of soldiers is to die in battle and wear corpses on the battlefield" is a joke. Who would want to die? Who would have the ideal of death? But now when I really become a soldier, I have no choice but to find that sometimes it is a very proud and happy thing to be able to die on the battlefield in a grand manner...

One hundred and thirty-five people, such casualties are indeed not a big deal for such a battle. Especially on the Korean battlefield, one to five battles, and then the summer and autumn defense battle to the Shangganling battle, there are not a battle that will be sacrificed at any time. Moreover, we defeated the two enemy battalions with the strength of a company, and then repelled the attack of a group of puppet troops. At least thousands of people were killed or injured!

This was undoubtedly a huge victory, and it also achieved the strategic goal and completed the mission successfully. So the soldiers had their excitement. However, for our 7th Company, it was the first time since its establishment that more than half of the casualties were on the battlefield, and a row of troops was even wiped out...

This also contains the guilt of the warriors towards the first row. Because everyone knows that being able to walk back alive and stand here is because of the sacrifice of the first row!

"Captain Cui!" Li Pinghe came up with a nervous expression. Seeing that Lin Xue was safe and sound behind me, he breathed a sigh of relief as if he was relieved and said, "Teacher Pang sent a telegram to praise us for fighting beautifully. Li Xianqian, the commander of the Fifth Division of the Pseudo-5th Division, was furious about this. Commander Pang told us that the puppet army might rob the 902.8 high back at all costs, so that we can deal with it with it carefully!"

"Yeah!" I nodded.

I also know that the puppet army will take action. The geographical location of the 902.8 Highland is very important in this area. It can not only control the surrounding highlands with condescending firepower, but also pose a threat to the flanks of the 973 Highland nearby.

The 973 Heights is the highest highland in this area, but the puppet army has always used the 902.8 Heights to protect its flanks, so most of the fortifications were built into frontal defenses, while the flanks had basically no fortifications. Now that the 902.8 Heights fell in our hands, it undoubtedly exposed the landing point of the 973 Heights to us.

Once the 973 highland falls into our hands again, the 883.7 highland, which is much shorter than it, naturally has no possibility of defending it. Therefore, the so-called "model base" consists of the three highlands, the 902.8 highland, the 973 highland, and the 883.7 highland, and the "Gyeonggi Baoluo" will no longer exist.

Going further south, all the highlands are under the view of these three highlands. At that time, our volunteer army seems to only need to spend some effort to transport the cannons up the mountain, and then we can control the area within a few miles of fire.

"Order the Second Battalion to be ready to send the reserve team at any time!" I gave the order while walking.

"Yes!" Li Pinghe responded and took off the marching back from my back.

As soon as I returned to the regiment headquarters, I leaned against the wall and collapsed on the chair like an air balloon that had been drained.

I feel that I am getting tired more and more easily. It’s okay when I’m fighting, but my whole body is tight and I don’t know how tired I feel. Once I feel relaxed, my whole body feels like I’ve fallen apart and I don’t want to move.

I remember that in the past, my state of fighting was not so bad. During the five battles, which time hadn't I been running back and forth around the 38th parallel for seven or eight days. At that time, I never had a rest or sleep. I even ran away hungry, and I wouldn't be tired as I am now!

Thinking about it now, I think the main difference is that I used to be a soldier, but now I am a regiment commander.

From this aspect, it is still very happy to be a soldier, because I don’t have to think about anything except killing enemies on the battlefield. But now, I find that I have to consider more and more things and worry more and more, and it seems that I will destroy me!

So I realized that as a commander, I am not only physically tired, but also psychologically and mentally tired!

"Captain!" Before I could have time to rest for a while, Liu Shunyi handed over a telegram in his heart and said: "At this time, the telegram just sent by the division headquarters was scheduled to attack the 973 Highland at 9:00 tonight. We need to stick to the 902.8 Highland and provide fire assistance!"

"Yeah!" I nodded, and left aside several telegrams and documents on the desktop, revealing the curved lines on the map.

It’s funny to think about it. What I hate most in modern times is the geography class. The various things marked on the map always make me dazzled, and sometimes I can’t tell the difference between the highland topography map and the airflow and pressure map, because at first glance they all look like they are circles and circles! For a natural road blind like me, the requirements cannot be so high. Even the geography teacher couldn’t help but say in surprise: I finally found an infinitesimal in my educational career!

But now, as soon as your eyes see the map, the mountains and rivers will naturally flash in your mind. Sometimes, you can even calculate the distance between the two places and the time of marching with your palms. Sometimes you will also think about the range of shells and whether it will be difficult to transport and supply...

If this were seen by the geography teacher back then, I think he would not believe that this was the student he called "infinite small" back then!

"Occurrence direction, troops, artillery preparation!" I asked casually.

"Fifteen minutes of artillery preparation!" Liu Shunyi flipped through the telegram and replied: "This attack was mainly night attack. One battalion of the 539th Regiment was ambushed in the mid-mountain on the west side of 973. One battalion of the 540th Regiment was feinted in front to cover the sneak attack of the troops on the west side!"

"Yeah!" I nodded.

This plan is indeed feasible, and it has to be fought!

The 902.8 Highland was just taken into our hands, and this was the time when the 973 flank was the weakest. Once time went by, the puppet army would likely slowly build fortifications on the flanks and fill this gap. At that time, it would take another time to attack the 973 Highland.

Moreover, the reason why Commander Pang wanted to launch a battle to attack the 973 Highlands was so anxious. I think another thing was to consider the 902.8 Highlands that Qugu had just recaptured.

The current situation is that all the US troops retreat to the second line, and the front line of the puppet troops are all puppet troops, so the puppet troops are also short of strength. There are only one division's troops in front of us, and there are also heavy casualties in the confrontation with the 7th Company last night. So they do not have enough troops to not only seize the 902.8 highland, but also strengthen the defense of the 973 highland. At this time, our army launched a surprise attack on the 973 highland, which will make it difficult for the puppet troops with insufficient troops to take care of both sides!

But... this kind of attack seems to be a little too obvious.

Once the 902.8 highland was lost, the flanks of the 973 highland were exposed to our firepower, which seemed to be a result that anyone could see. We would think about it, and of course the puppet army would also want it. So can it be successful to launch a sneak attack from this direction? Especially when this weakness was just exposed, the puppet army panicked, and might even place heavy troops in this direction, and it might even be possible to specifically arrange artillery cover for this area...

This is human nature. When weaknesses are just exposed, you will subconsciously strengthen the defense of weaknesses. On the contrary, when weaknesses are strengthened, you will slowly relax your vigilance.

This kind of fight seems not to work! Thinking of this, I couldn't help frowning. If I was right, then in this battle, the 539th Regiment and the 540th Regiment will undoubtedly suffer heavy casualties, and in the end, they may not be able to achieve the strategic goal.

"Call the division headquarters..." As soon as I said it, I felt something was wrong, so I shook my hand to stop Liu Shunyi who was about to get the phone.

The phone is too easy to be monitored. It is safer to have a password for the telegram, but it is difficult to explain such a complicated situation clearly. It seems that I still have to go to the division headquarters in person!
Chapter completed!