Chapter 33: The Battle of Tongdeng (III)

Chapter 33: The Battle of Tongdeng (III)

That night, the regiment headquarters convened a combat meeting between the cadres at the company level and above in our regiment. The location was the regiment headquarters at the 339th Highland. Although the small mountain village in Tan was captured by our army, it was too close to other positions of the Vietnamese army and there was no danger to defend. If we had a meeting in such a place, we were afraid that the cadres at the company level and above would let the Vietnamese army get fire and even get the pot.

The atmosphere in the venue was very overwhelming. After the cadres were all here for a while, Captain Zhang still didn't say anything, but just kept squatting on the ground and smoking. One by one, Political Commissar Huang gave him several winks and pretended not to see it.

Finally, Political Commissar Huang spoke: "Comrades! After today's battle, we must clearly realize that the defending enemy of a certain person is a strong enemy, not a residual enemy; the position of the Vietnamese army is a solid position, not a field position; the Vietnamese army has heavy weapons such as anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft artillery, not only light weapons. We failed to fight this battle, mainly because we did not carefully and accurately judge the enemy situation. When we found that the enemy's troops were greater than one company, we did not pay enough attention to it, so we conducted serious analysis and judgment and adopted corresponding countermeasures. Instead, we fought the strong attack as planned, causing losses to the troops. Commander Zhang and I are responsible for this matter!"

After pausing for a while, Political Commissar Huang continued: "Here, I want to stand by Comrade Cui Wei, the company commander of the 5th Company of the Second Battalion of our regiment. He keenly felt the hidden squat transport tunnels on the enemy's positions on the battlefield, flexibly cut off the Vietnamese army's troops transport routes, and then led all the soldiers of the company to fight a beautiful battle, which greatly prevented our army's casualties. So we decided to report the merits to Commander Cui!"

With a "wow...", the cadres all applauded me at the same time.

The most exciting thing about the applause was the deputy company commander sitting next to me. While clapping his palms, he touched my shoulders, raised his head to a cadre sitting in front of the left and whispered: "It's him who feels uncomfortable this time!"

Looking at the deputy company commander's eyes, I found that the cadre's face was quite unnatural and he was weak in applause. Later I realized that he was my immediate superior, the battalion commander of the Second Battalion, and he suffered considerable losses in this offensive battle.

By the way, I was sent here to fight after just a few days after becoming a company commander. I really don’t know the battalion commander who is above…

"That's it!" Political Commissar Huang and others stopped applause and said, "We should still adopt a critical attitude towards the performance of a small number of soldiers! The 'Three major disciplines and eight points of attention' are the basic codes of conduct and norms that each of us must follow! It is also an important content and fine tradition of our army's work, and it is also an important symbol that distinguishes our army from all old army! If our army also burns, kills and loots the people like other army, what's the difference between it and bandits?"

When I heard this, I couldn't help but feel a little shocked. Isn't this what I'm talking about? By the way, I have done a lot of things that violated the "three major disciplines, pay attention to all sides" these days. It's enough for me to hit that village with a tank!

After a pause, Political Commissar Huang continued: "Pre-war discipline requires us to care for every grass and tree of Vietnamese people, and we should take care of our own private areas more than we should protect our own private areas! However, some soldiers openly shot prisoners on the battlefield and accidentally injured Vietnamese people!"

At this time, I had basically confirmed that what Political Commissar Huang was talking about...

However, the next sentence from Political Commissar Huang made me realize that I was wrong: "I want to criticize the Ninth Company here. It would be fine if I killed a few prisoners, but I also injured the common people!"

Ah? After hearing this, I realized that the person who criticized it was Jiulian. It is said that they were red-eyed and rushed forward and fired a few more shots. One of them was wearing ordinary people's clothes...

On the other hand, my soldiers were very nervous and did not leak out my "doing evil" at all. Later I realized that this was not the case. When the soldiers showed off their "war history" to other troops, they had already told others about those things. Political Commissar Huang actually knew these things, but because I was too good at fighting on the battlefield, he did not deal with me. Now he is killing chickens and terrifying monkeys to "educate" me in another way!

"This will have a very bad impact on our army!" Political Commissar Huang glanced at me and continued: "At the same time, it will also greatly destroy the image of our army in the hearts of the people! Even though they are ordinary people in Vietnam, that's the same! We will deal with such illegal and disorderly behavior seriously! Comrades who have ever acted like this should also recognize their mistakes and change this..."

I won’t listen to the following words, that is, you should be careful not to make mistakes in future battles. I disdain what Political Commissar Huang said. If it were based on my previous temper, I would have stood up to argue with him, but I knew that such a debate would not have any result. Because this is not the opinion of Political Commissar Huang alone, but the discipline required by the whole army!

It is not wrong to emphasize these disciplines in the War of Liberation, and it is not wrong to emphasize these disciplines in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. It all belongs to civil wars. Whoever is more benevolent, more righteous, more loving the people, and more just will naturally support the people. But is it useful to emphasize these disciplines in the Vietnam War? In the war between countries, can we still hope that the Vietnamese people will welcome us?

Another reason I didn't argue was because I knew that my superiors would soon change these pedantic policies, but this change was exchanged for the bloody lessons of the soldiers.

After the meeting ended, the deputy company commander and instructor came to me.

"Company Commander!" The deputy company commander said with some fear: "Why do I think... Political Commissar Huang is talking about us!"

"I feel so too!" Instructor Xie nodded without any worries and said, "Look... should we hold a meeting to do ideological work for the soldiers and let them pay attention?"

"No!" I refused without thinking, "However I fight before, now, I will fight now, whoever dares to do ideological work, and I will be in a hurry to do any problem!"

The instructor and the deputy company commander couldn't help but look at each other helplessly.

What they didn't know was that for me, compared with the lives of the soldiers, those disciplines and punishments were just a big deal!

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The next morning, a company of our regiment crossed the front line of our defense and entered a village for search. There were two reasons for the search. One was that our position was attacked by the Vietnamese army twice last night. Fortunately, we had laid mines and light and dark posts around, and the Vietnamese army did not succeed. At dawn, we found several "villagers" wearing people's clothes with guns in front of the position.

Another thing is that our army's logistics supply line was attacked by a group of Vietnamese "old ladies". It is said that several vehicles of ammunition were blown off, which is also the reason why our army was unable to launch a large-scale attack today.

The one who entered the village was searching for the Ninth Company. It is said that the company commander of the Ninth Company was criticized and educated by Political Commissar Huang for the "mistake" he made yesterday, and he still remembered a serious punishment. Today, they were asked to "reform themselves".

For this matter, I asked the political commissar several times to ask us to go into the village to search, but they were rejected. Political Commissar Huang patted my shoulder meaningfully and said, "Comrade Xiao Cui, it is not enough to just know how to fight and fight! As the saying goes, we cannot always think about fighting and killing, but more importantly, to win people's hearts! There is a saying that wins people's hearts will win the world..."

Seeing that there was no hope for the application, I had to drag the company commander of the Ninth Company aside before going up and whispered to him: "That...Company Commander Xu..."

But I don't know what to say at this moment.

The commander of the Ninth Company was named Xu, from Jiangxi. He was very impressed by me because he saw me taking down the defense line that he could not defeat for a long time. Seeing that I was in a dilemma, he patted my shoulder and said generously: "Brother, just say anything, I'll listen!"

"Let the soldiers be careful!" I pointed to a village and said, "Don't let those old people, children and women deceive..."

Commander Xu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I can't help it. We learned discipline for a night last night!"

As he said that, he led the soldiers across the trenches to the village. When I saw his steps, he felt a bit of a generous feeling of being executed.

Before he could go up, gunshots rang out in the village, and then a bloody soldier was lifted down.

Shunzi rushed over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The fucking old woman!" A soldier shouted hatefully: "Our deputy company commander gave her the canned biscuits, but she didn't expect that when she turned around, she fired..."

A few minutes later, another submachine gun fired, and then four more soldiers were carried down. Asked, this time, the kid who was playing in the mud, took out the ak47 from the haystack without paying attention...

After a while, there was another bang, and this time it was even more amazing. A villager buried a landmine in his home!

I couldn't help hearing this, and I was about to go up with a rifle, but I asked the deputy company commander and instructor to hold it.

"The political commissar said at the conference just last night that you are looking for death when you go up?" The deputy company commander persuaded: "Besides, how about you treat those Vietnamese? Go and get them together and shoot them?"

"That's the company commander!" the instructor said in embarrassment: "All of those guys are as cunning as loaches. Their guns are hidden in the grass and in the pile of firewood. If you search their bodies, you can't find the guns. What reason can you use to shoot them..."

"Are we bullied by them like this?" Some soldiers were also dissatisfied.

"What else can it do?" The deputy company commander responded angrily: "If you have the guts, go! Go and gather all the old people, children, and women in a bunch and kill them?"

After the deputy company commander said this, all the soldiers were speechless. Not to mention that, this matter really cannot be done, so it is no different from slaughtering the village.

The search mission of the Ninth Company could not continue at all, and it was withdrawn from the village in a short while. Because it was obvious that if you wanted to continue the search, you would inevitably have conflicts with the Vietnamese who were armed with guns, and some coercive measures would be required, but these were contrary to the policies of the superiors. It is very likely that things that cannot be done in the village to save their lives will be punished after they come back...

It is precisely because of this that our superiors' pedantic policies have caused our army to fight against the enemy in fear throughout the Tongdeng battle. Sometimes a Vietnamese agent suddenly appears behind it, and sometimes the transportation line is suddenly attacked by unknown militants, and our transportation line and even the troops are often subjected to very precise shelling. The infiltration of Vietnamese agents into us by night has almost never been interrupted.

Obviously, these Vietnamese agents were lurking among the common people, or pretending to be ordinary people, waiting for the opportunity to launch an attack on our army. Our company was pretty good. Under my training, the soldiers meticulously arranged mines and light and dark posts on the periphery of the position every night, and it was difficult for Vietnamese agents to penetrate. However, other companies suffered a lot, and were uneasy day and night, and even some of them were at a loss.

I have also played infiltration warfare on the Korean battlefield, so I know that this tactic is difficult to deal with. And coincidentally, all the wars fought in modern my country seem to be suitable for infiltration warfare. For example, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, the Korean War and our current self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.

The Japanese army, the puppet army, and the current Vietnamese army are all yellow-skinned, black-haired and dark-eyed. It seems that as long as you learn the other party's language, you can't tell it.

I really want to tell the entire army everything I know and what I know, but unfortunately, I am just a company commander now...

"Captain Cui!" Just as I was indignant about the casualties of the Ninth Company, a correspondent came to me and reported: "The leader asked you to go to the regiment headquarters!"

"Well! Just call me alone?" I couldn't help but ask in confusion. During this period, any meetings, at least some people were called to the deputy company commander and instructor.

"I'll call you one!" the correspondent nodded.

I stood up with doubts and walked with the correspondent. When I came to the regiment headquarters, I saw that the situation was a little wrong. The battalion commanders of each battalion were there, including Battalion Commander Wu of the Tank Battalion. At this time, Battalion Commander Wu saw me coming in and nodded to me with a smile.

"Corporate Commander Cui!" Political Commissar Huang stepped forward and handed me a cigarette and said, "We are discussing how to inquire about someone tomorrow. It was originally a battalion-level and above cadres, but Battalion Commander Wu said you have a brain and a way to recommend you to attend this meeting. In addition, your performance in the battle yesterday was indeed outstanding, so we unanimously agreed to let you participate in the discussion. I hope you can speak freely and give us more opinions!"

So that's the case. Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but glance at Captain Wu.

The guy smiled badly and said jokingly: "You kid owe me a favor!"

With a coaxing sound, the soldiers in the tunnel laughed out loud.

By the way, for others, it is indeed a proud thing for a company commander to be appreciated by his superiors and participate in battalion-level combat meetings, and the road ahead will definitely be much easier. So Battalion Commander Wu said that I owe him a love. But I was thinking in my heart that I don’t know who owes whom! If you call me, don’t say anything else, the chance of winning the battle is greater! You owe me almost the same love... But for the sake of sacrificing a few few soldiers, I certainly would not refuse.

"This is the situation!" When I stood beside me, Commander Zhang pointed to the sand table with a bamboo stick and said, "The village is surrounded by more than 20 highlands of all sizes. Each of these twenty highlands is guarded by the Vietnamese army. They are built with short holes, A-shaped fortifications, civil and wooden fire launch points, trenches and traffic trenches connected to them, so that they can be used to catch and hide. The firepower between the highlands supports each other, forming a complete defense system. According to reconnaissance, we initially judged that in the Taming defense group, there are two battalions of the Vietnamese army, and between the Highlands No. 16 and 17, there are also unknown Vietnamese mixed artillery positions!"

"Oh! Not bad!" Listening to Captain Zhang's introduction, I couldn't help but look at him with admiration. Our army did not make any big moves for most of the day, and we didn't expect to get so much information. This was the first time I heard such detailed information before the war. Later I realized that in fact, it was not all of this done by Captain Zhang, but the credit of Political Commissar Huang.

"Regiment Commander!" A cadre pointed to an open area between the heights No. 16 and 17 and said: "The Vietnamese army placed artillery here. When our army started the war, it used artillery fire to blow up all the places. Why would the enemy still have artillery?"

I replied: "Actually it's very simple. Dig a few rows of large anti-aircraft holes on the high grounds No. 16 and 17. As soon as our army's artillery fire passed, they pulled the cannons out of the tunnel! After the shooting, they would pull them back immediately!"

This is actually the method our army often used when resisting U.S. aggressing Korea. It should be said that this trick was taught to the Vietnamese army. However... During the ten years, our army's troops spent most of their time strengthening their ideological learning, and even such ordinary tactics were not known.

"And I think!" I pointed to the location between the heights of 16 and 17 and continued: "This should be the core position of a certain defense group. The so-called "capture the king first" is to capture the thief. If you want to quickly capture a certain defense group, you must knock out this mixed cannon position!"

"Captain Cui's words make sense!" Political Commissar Huang nodded and agreed: "The Vietnamese mixed artillery position is located in the center of a defense group. It can not only provide firepower support for the surrounding highlands, but also likely to be the location where the ammunition and command center is stored. But... it is not easy to hit this seven-inch!"

I didn't say much, and picked up a pen next to me and drew it on the map while saying: "A battalion is responsible for capturing positions No. 5 to No. 8, one battalion is responsible for attacking the 13, 14, 15, 16 highlands, and one battalion is used as a reserve team. Then send a team of elite soldiers..."
Chapter completed!