Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 18: Battle of Jiulong River (Part 2)
At noon, the trenches, explosives, and mines were all ready, waiting for the enemy to arrive. It was terribly quiet all around, with no sound except the sound of the wind and the sound of the Longxing River. Since we drove away the artillery regiment of the puppet 6th Division, we hadn't seen any enemy movement for several hours, not even a reconnaissance plane, and we didn't know what the enemy was planning.
I leaned against the trench, grabbed a few handfuls of fried noodles from the ration bag, and carefully put them into my mouth to chew. I have to say, it tastes really good, but it's a little less. Although it's a three-day supply, I've almost finished it now. If it weren't for the need to replenish my physical strength for the battle, I really wouldn't want to eat it.
After swallowing the dry fried noodles, I grabbed a few handfuls of snow and stuffed them into my mouth. The cold water from the melting snow froze my tongue so much that it lost all feeling. In fact, from the latitude point of view, North Korea is still in the temperate zone, but the temperature is so low only because of the high altitude. The annual average temperature is only 1-2 degrees Celsius. It is so cold at the end of October. How can this thin cotton coat keep you warm in the coldest December and January? No wonder there is a saying: "For every one volunteer soldier who dies on the battlefield, three will freeze to death off the battlefield."
"Something's happening!"
"Plane, plane...hide quickly!"
Following the gaze of my comrades, I looked up at the sky and saw a huge group of planes flying towards this direction in an orderly formation like wild geese. A rough count showed that there were about twenty planes.
I secretly cried out in my heart, "Not good." I know that the waters around North Korea are full of shallows, and the US aircraft carrier can only stop dozens of miles away. These planes flew all the way from the aircraft carrier, and they were so large in scale, which means that the enemy knew our position very well and made a thorough and detailed plan to win in one battle.
"What are you still looking at? Hide quickly!" Seeing that I was still in a daze outside the trench, the old squad leader pulled me into the single air-raid shelter and hid himself.
"Woo..." With a series of strange cries, the fleet of planes that seemed far away just now flew over us in a short while. Bombs fell from the sky with a piercing whistle, and at the same time, the enemy's artillery opened fire. With a series of shock waves, the high ground was immediately engulfed in a sea of fire.
Suddenly, there was a cacophony of strange noises from airplanes, explosions, snapping of trees, and machine gun fire. I hid in the narrow air raid shelter, feeling only the shaking and the sand falling down from above, making me feel that I was in danger of being buried alive at any time.
What was the enemy's plan? Since they knew our location long ago, why did they give us a chance to catch our breath? Why did they give us time to build fortifications? Did they not care about these fortifications and arrangements?
I frowned and thought, according to the American practice, what they like most is the coordinated operations of the sea, land and air. There is only a river but no sea here, so it is the coordination of land and air? Does that mean the enemy's ground forces...
Ah! The enemy waited until this time to attack because the puppet Sixth Division had retreated here. If I am right, the enemy reinforcements must have arrived. While the planes and artillery were bombing, the puppet Sixth Division and reinforcements on the ground were attacking from the south and north respectively. The Volunteer Army was in danger!
Thinking of this, I immediately realized that the key to this battle lies in that inconspicuous stone bridge. If the enemy occupies and defends that stone bridge, then nothing will be able to withstand the simultaneous attack of so many enemies.
At this time, I deeply regretted why I suggested to the company commander to blow up the bridge later. If the bridge had been blown up as soon as the enemy planes appeared, or if it had been blown up before the enemy appeared, there would not have been so many variables in this battle.
At this time, not only did the puppet Sixth Division have a retreat, but the volunteer soldiers would soon face a situation where they would be attacked from the north and south by enemies that were more than ten times their number.
With deep guilt, I leaned my head out and looked at the stone bridge. Several volunteer soldiers who were originally arranged near the stone bridge to blow up the bridge had already fallen in a pool of blood. The blood stung my eyes and also stung my guilty heart.
Four or five Mustang fighter planes were circling over the stone bridge. Once they spotted the volunteers rushing towards the stone bridge, they would immediately dive down to strafe or drop bombs... At this moment, a few tanks turned out from the bend a few miles to the north, followed by groups of infantry...
It was over. I ignored the continuous explosions nearby and collapsed in the trench. Once these tanks and infantry occupied the stone bridge, there would be nothing to stop the puppet army from attacking the volunteers from the north and south. Not to mention stopping the puppet Sixth Division from escaping, I was afraid that the 354th Regiment would be gone.
"Second squad, third squad, attack together!" Amid the bombing, Zhang Shuguo shouted in his hoarse voice, "Blow up that stone bridge at all costs!"
"Yes! I promise to complete the task!"
More than 20 soldiers from two squads, without saying a word, jumped out of the trenches carrying explosives and grenades and ran towards the stone bridge under the hill.
With a loud "bang", the two soldiers were thrown high into the air. They were split into several parts in the sky. When they fell to the ground, no trace of human beings could be seen anymore. Only broken limbs and a pool of bright red blood were left.
The rest of the soldiers charged forward without slowing down. At this moment, they only had the stone bridge in their eyes, not their lives. Because they knew very well that the moment they jumped out of the trench, they would have no chance of survival. All they had to do was to use their lives to exchange for a destroyed stone bridge.
Only in this way can we hope to block the puppet army's reinforcements south of the Longxing River; only in this way can we encircle the puppet Sixth Division north of the Longxing River; only in this way can the 354th Regiment avoid being completely wiped out!
"For the motherland, for the people! Charge..."
“Go ahead…”
The shouts of more than a dozen people were so clear and loud even in the deafening sound of the bombing. The puppet troops who were getting closer and closer on the other side of the stone bridge were also stunned by the momentum of the volunteers. They all looked towards this group of selfless warriors, their eyes full of admiration and fear.
"Da da da..." A Mustang fighter plane dived down with a strange cry. The six machine guns on the wings fired at the same time. The 12.7mm bullets hit the snow, creating a string of snowflakes several meters high. The snowflakes were like a man-eating monster, instantly devouring the five volunteer soldiers.
The remaining dozen or so volunteer soldiers did not retreat at all because of the sacrifice of their comrades. They sometimes lay down, sometimes ran quickly, and nimbly avoided several bombings and strafings by enemy planes and rushed to the foot of the mountain. They only needed to run across an open space one mile away to throw the explosive bags or grenades in their hands to detonate the explosives placed on the stone bridge.
I couldn't help but clench my fists and nervously looked at everything in front of me. If the stone bridge could be successfully blown up, the deaths of more than 20 soldiers would not be in vain.
But suddenly at this moment a Mustang fighter swooped down and dropped two bombs. With a loud bang, the area half a mile in front of the stone bridge became a sea of fire!
Napalm bombs, the killer of unarmored infantry! This information flashed through my mind, and I realized that this bridge bombing operation had failed again.
