Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 14 Big Missile
"Gather, target Longtou Cave..."
Before we could rest for a while, we were on the road again. This time our regiment was marching alone, perhaps to defend Longtou Cave! In fact, no one knew where the target Longtou Cave was, so we just followed the troops in a daze.
"Damn, why is it so cold!" Hu Zi ran up to me and saw the gun on my back and said, "Hey... kid, when did you change to big eight-shot gun? And... there's also a box gun!"
It turns out that the volunteers called the M1 rifle the Big Eight-Grain. I thought to myself that the M1 rifle is large in size and has a capacity of eight bullets, so the name Big Eight-Grain is very appropriate.
"Huzi! Stop messing around." The old squad leader scolded Huzi, "Comrade Cui is now the platoon leader of our platoon, why are you still calling him a brat? You have no sense of organization or discipline at all."
"It's okay!" I smiled sheepishly and said, "I don't know anything. I still have a lot to learn from Brother Huzi!"
"Hey, kid, you're the platoon leader now?" Hu Zi smiled. "You've become a platoon leader so quickly. It's not easy, kid. But I, Hu Zi, admire you for being the platoon leader! I, Hu Zi, have fought for my whole life, but today you've surpassed me just by thinking about it, hehe..."
Seeing Hu Zi being genuinely happy for me, I felt a strange feeling in my heart. When I first came here, I was still a rookie and a coward, but after this day's performance, they have accepted me and regard me as a comrade-in-arms and a part of them.
"Oh, old squad leader." Suddenly thinking of a question, I turned to the old squad leader and patted the M1 rifle on his shoulder and said, "The M1 we captured... Oh, there are quite a few big eight-rounds, right? Why don't you distribute them to the soldiers and only issue a few? Look, I'm the only one in our platoon who has one."
Compared with the Type 38 rifle, this big eight-bullet rifle is far superior. The Type 38 rifle requires one bullet to be pushed out for each shot, and can only hold five bullets. The firing rate is as slow as a snail. When the volunteer soldiers were charging into battle, they often only had the chance to fire one shot before they died.
The big eight is completely different. Once eight bullets are pressed in, as long as you pull the trigger quickly, eight bullets will burst out like a burst. During World War II, the U.S. military used a squad of M1 rifles to fire in turns and successfully suppressed the German machine guns. You can imagine how powerful this rifle is.
Moreover, its accuracy, range and lethality are not comparable to the Type 38 rifle, so I wonder why the Volunteer Army did not equip itself with those captured M1 rifles.
"I'm used to it!" Hu Zi said with a grin, "The Type 38 rifle is light and long, easy to fire, and powerful in bayonet fighting. I've been using it for so many years, I'm really reluctant to change it."
"Go away, stop talking nonsense." The old squad leader replied, "Platoon leader, it's not difficult to change guns. After these two battles, the captured eight-round rifles can equip our entire regiment, but the problem is the bullets. Think about it, the eight-round rifles use up bullets quickly, and eight bullets are used up in less than two shots. If we equip a regiment, there will never be enough bullets. Besides, the bullets transported to us from the rear are all Type 38 rifles. We can't use these eight-round rifles to shoot Type 38 rifles!"
"So that's how it is." I finally understood after hearing this. It turns out that there were too many guns and too few bullets, which led to the fact that the Volunteer Army soldiers did not dare to use a large number of M1 rifles even though they captured a large number of them. Even if they later replaced them with Soviet-style equipment, they would still be equipped with them. But think about it, only an army with sufficient supplies like the US military can afford to use rifles for fire suppression. If the Volunteer Army fought like this with such a supply situation, not only would the country not be able to produce M1 bullets, but even if it could, the bullets shipped in a year would not be enough for the entire army to fight for one day.
The winter in North Korea is very early. It was only about four or five in the morning when the surrounding scenery became hazy and clear. The mountains, tree branches, and roads were all covered in white. If it weren't for the volunteer soldiers like us who were marching with guns and cannons on our backs, this place would really be a pure place.
"Thump, thump, thump..." Suddenly, I heard some strange sounds vaguely in the cold wind blowing towards me, and I stopped involuntarily.
"What's wrong?" The old squad leader walked to my side puzzledly.
"Something's happening!" I said, looking ahead and frowning.
Before he finished speaking, the volunteer soldiers in the front seemed to have sensed something, and without waiting for orders, they all fell to the ground at the same time.
"Thump, thump, thump..." The sound became louder and louder, like the sound of the wind, mixed with a little engine sound.
At this moment, the sound suddenly became louder, and a helicopter emerged from behind the opposite hill like a moth emerging from its cocoon. The whirlwind caused by the propeller stirred up the snow on the ground, hitting the face and causing severe pain.
"What is that?" The old squad leader lying next to him asked in confusion, "It's a long, pointy thing flying in the sky. Could it be a big American missile?"
"Ah?" I was stunned when I heard that. Even a volunteer soldier like the old squad leader, who had rich experience, didn't know that it was a helicopter. Does that mean the volunteers had never seen a helicopter before and didn't know about it? This is bad...
Sure enough, several volunteers stood up in confusion, and some even took out binoculars to look at the helicopters circling in the sky.
"Da da da..." The machine gun on the helicopter opened fire, and several standing volunteers fell into a pool of blood in an instant. The bright red blood on the snow was shocking. The volunteers subconsciously fought back, but the cunning helicopter turned around and quickly hid behind the mountain. The sound became smaller and smaller, and finally only the whistling sound of the wind was left in the ears.
"Hurry, notify the soldiers to move forward at full speed." I said to the old squad leader, and before he could ask why, I hurried find the regiment commander.
I recognized the helicopter as a reconnaissance helicopter. I had read about it in modern times. It seemed to be called "Kiowa" or something. I also remembered that the main task of this helicopter was to provide reconnaissance and calibration for ground artillery. The sighting device on it could accurately calculate the coordinates and measure the distance of the target. In other words...
"Captain!" Fortunately, Captain Chu was not difficult to find. I quickly found Captain Chu in the team who was being dragged away by the guards: "Captain Chu, quickly... quickly order the team to move forward at full speed and leave this place. It will be too late if we are late."
"Full speed ahead!"
Perhaps because of what happened last time, Captain Chu was stunned for just a moment and gave the order without asking any further questions.
"What's wrong?" Captain Chu asked with difficulty while running.
"Captain." I held the captain's arm and said breathlessly, "Just now, that was a reconnaissance helicopter, used for artillery fire calibration. That thing spotted us, and the shells will come over soon."
"Oh!" Captain Chu's face changed, he turned around and waved his hands, shouting, "Hurry up, faster!"
"So the enemy is right in front of us?" I don't know when Chen Ye also ran up. His glasses were about to fall off his nose, but he didn't bother to push them off. He and I ran forward, holding the captain on both sides .
"That should be it!" I gasped for breath and said intermittently, "I think the enemy is not prepared. They even set up artillery, and they should be puppet troops. If they were well-trained Americans, the artillery... the shells would have been fired long ago!"
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Captain Chu and Chen Ye couldn't help but look at each other, and a hint of surprise flashed in their eyes.
"It's not easy, young comrade!" Chen Ye panted and said, "You can make so many judgments based on that helicopter, and analyze them so clearly. You are really quite capable!"
"Ah?" I was stunned when I heard that, and I felt ashamed. What kind of skills do I have? I just read a lot of modern materials and am familiar with some of the US military's combat methods. Captain Chu and Chen Ye and others have much more combat experience than me, but they have never fought against the US military and have never even seen a helicopter, so this is the opportunity for me to show off!
"Boom boom..." With two loud noises, the snow not far behind me exploded, and snow powder mixed with small ice cubes sprinkled all over my head. I was even more certain that the South Korean army was in front of me. The two shots were obviously fired by those who were quick to set up the guns and couldn't wait to fire. If it was the Americans, the shells would be in large areas.
But after a while, we heard bursts of loud noises behind us. We ran forward without looking back. The snow on the trees beside us was shaken down, and the ground was shaking like an earthquake, as if constantly reminding us to speed up!
I don't know how long I ran before I finally got quiet. I looked back and saw that the hillside that was originally covered with snow was now in a mess. Trees that were blown up were toppled over and over, and bomb craters were scattered all over the hillside like big pots. The few comrades who didn't have time to escape the range of the artillery fire had long disappeared, leaving only patches of blood...
"Wow!" Chen Ye exclaimed, "If we hadn't escaped early, without fortifications and cover, our regiment would have suffered heavy losses under this artillery fire."
"Let's go and meet those bastards!" Captain Chu gritted his teeth and turned to leave.
"Captain!" I caught up with him and said, "That helicopter might come back later. If we don't shoot it down, we won't be able to escape its sight no matter where we go. Don't you think so..."
"Captain Zhao!"
"Here!" As soon as Captain Chu finished speaking, a big black man stood in front of him.
"I'll give you a platoon. Bring machine guns and rocket launchers." Commander Chu ordered, "Find a good spot. If the helicopter is coming back, shoot it down for me! If you fail to shoot it down, don't come back to see me!"
"Yes! I promise to complete the task."
Another war is coming. I don't know why, but I am not so afraid of it anymore. Maybe I am too tired to be afraid anymore! Or maybe the training over the past day has made me more mature. No wonder some people say that true warriors can only be trained on the battlefield. What you learn and feel on the battlefield is absolutely incomparable outside the battlefield.
I glanced at the bombed hillside behind me and thought to myself that there must be hundreds of cannons alone, and they were also equipped with such advanced helicopters. It seemed that this battle would not be so easy to win.
I didn't expect that this battle was not as easy as I had imagined. Instead, it was unprecedentedly brutal and beyond anyone's expectations.
