Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 22: Battle of Jiulong River (VI)
"Boom..." As I expected, not long after, a roar like thunder came from the sky. More than a dozen Mustang fighters, protecting several big guys, broke through the clouds and appeared in the sight of the volunteers.
"Bombers, B-29!" I was surprised to see the huge figures of nearly ten B-29s in the sky.
The B-29 bomber was recognized as the best bomber in World War II, and the Americans called it the Super Fortress. It was with this bomber that the United States launched the famous Tokyo air raid, which resulted in millions of Japanese casualties at a very low cost, not including the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
It seems that the enemy is determined to win this time. The previous bombing was only to occupy the stone bridge to prevent it from being blown up by us. But now, their goal is obviously to occupy the high ground we are defending.
"Hide, hide..."
As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. The volunteers did not know how powerful the B-29 was. They saw that there were only about twenty planes like last time, so they did not take it seriously and returned to their own single air-raid shelters in a leisurely manner.
But I know that for a B-29 with a bomb load of nine tons, this simple single air-raid shelter is far from enough. They went in now, but I don't know how many people can come out. But what can I do? I also ran back and got into my own air-raid shelter helplessly. There is no better place to hide than here.
Listening to the "rumbling" sound in the sky that was getting louder and louder, the scene of the burning napalm bomb suddenly flashed through my mind, so I untied my marching blanket as quickly as possible, hurried out of the cave, shoveled some snow and wrapped it in the quilt, and when I hid in, I used the quilt to block the entrance of the cave.
Just as I hid, I heard a terrible whistling sound from the sky. In modern war movies, I have seen many scenes of bomber groups carrying out carpet bombing on the ground. I didn't expect to experience it myself this time, and I was the one who was bombed.
"boom……"
There was a tremor of the ground, the dirt above kept falling down, and the wooden sticks supporting the air-raid shelter kept creaking. The last bombing could be felt intermittently, but this time, the shaking was continuous like an earthquake, one wave after another.
Then another heat wave came, and a few flames came through the gaps between the quilts. I realized that they were the enemy's gasoline bombs.
At this moment, I suddenly felt difficulty breathing, and then I remembered another powerful feature of napalm bombs, which is that it consumes all the oxygen in the air in an instant, suffocating the enemy to death. So I quickly blocked all the gaps at the entrance of the cave with mud and quilts to preserve as much air as possible in the cave.
After a long time, I couldn't hold it any longer in the cave, and I pushed away the quilt without waiting for the bombing and artillery sounds to stop. A pungent smell of burning came to my face, mixed with a disgusting smell of barbecue. But I didn't care about it at all, and rushed out of the cave gasping for air. Only at this time did I realize how important air is, which I usually don't care about.
When I caught my breath and looked around, I realized that the whole world had changed.
The fire was blazing, and all the nearby trees were on fire. When the north wind blew, the flames on the branches jumped and rustled, and the whole plateau looked like a huge torch.
The snow on the hillside had long disappeared, and everything was wet. What was supposed to be a high hill had now turned into a depression, and where there was originally a big pit, a small hill appeared out of nowhere.
The fortifications built by the volunteers were completely unrecognizable, and only a faintly visible ditch could vaguely indicate that there was once a trench.
"Captain..."
"Old squad leader..."
"Tiger..."
Amid the sound of artillery fire, I called out my comrades' names one by one, but no one answered me. There was deathly silence all around me.
I quickly ran to an air-raid shelter nearby and frantically dug the dirt in front of the shelter with my hands.
The soil was very wet and loose, and it was dug through in a short while. I was delighted and reached out to pull the person inside out, but what appeared in front of me was a charred corpse. I was so scared that I sat down on the ground, stunned for a long time and couldn't say a word.
I was terrified. The suffering and exhaustion I had endured over the past two days, as well as the threat of death, reappeared before my eyes one after another, and I couldn't help but tremble all over.
I want to leave here, no matter what method I use, whether it's escaping, deliberately getting injured, or pretending to be dead, as long as I can leave this damn place, it will be fine. Even if the enemy comes and kills me, it will be a relief. I want to go home, to the peaceful era without smoke, blood, or killing...
"What's wrong, Platoon Leader Cui? Are you injured?" At some point, Company Commander Zhang was standing beside him.
"Company...Company Commander!" It took me a while to come back to my senses: "You...you are not dead yet?"
"Bullshit! Can I still stand here and talk to you after I die?" Company Commander Zhang said unhappily.
"Hu Zi, Platoon Leader Zhao, Old Squad Leader, Xiao Shandong... You, are you all still alive?"
"Comrade Cui, I'm telling you," Zhao Yongxin joked, "You were not stupid when you blew up the bridge, but why are you so confused now? Did you get your head blown up by that American plane?"
"Zhao Yongxin!" Company Commander Zhang said with a displeased face, "What a mess of an enemy, don't talk nonsense!"
"yes!"
"Company commander!" Xiao Shandong shouted, "The enemy is coming!"
"Prepare for battle!" Without saying a word, Captain Zhang took out his pistol and went into the front line. The other soldiers followed with their guns. I was the only one still sitting there alone, not knowing what to do.
There were only about forty people left. Only about forty people entered the battle line. Although it was only two days, I knew them. As long as they had a breath left, they would never give up fighting. Therefore, the more than one hundred people who did not enter the battle line were either sacrificed or injured and unable to move.
That’s more than a hundred lives, more than a hundred comrades, gone in the blink of an eye. How can they act as if nothing happened?
"beat!"
The sound of gunfire and artillery fire rang out again, but I had no reaction to any of it. I was neither afraid nor did I know how to hide. I just walked towards the position in a trance.
"Get down!" A figure threw me to the ground. Almost at the same time, a grenade exploded not far away. The huge explosion made my ears buzz.
After a long time, the soldier who had knocked me down still didn't move. I seemed to realize something, turned around and sat up, only to find that the soldier's back had been blown into a bloody mess.
"Why?" Looking at my comrade lying in a pool of blood, looking at my hands stained with blood, I felt like crying but had no tears.
"Captain, we're out of bullets!"
"Grenade."
"There are no more grenades!"
"Fix the bayonet..."
The Volunteer Army did not have much ammunition to begin with, and they had fought a battle before. They were now out of ammunition and food, but the enemy continued to pour in. About two companies of puppet troops, with a total of several hundred soldiers, surrounded the high ground with only about forty Volunteer Army soldiers.
"Comrades, for the new China, for Chairman Mao!" A soldier holding a blasting tube suddenly jumped out of the trench and rushed towards the enemy. With a loud bang, more than 20 puppet soldiers were blown into the sky, and the blasting tube's blasting wave shook the entire puppet army to the ground.
"Comrades." Captain Zhang raised the box-gun in his hand and shouted loudly: "Avenge Comrade Shi Baoshan! Kill!"
"Kill..." More than 40 volunteer soldiers rushed towards more than 200 puppet soldiers with sharp bayonets. Their eyes were filled with hatred for the invaders, their roars showed their unyielding spirit, and their bayonets ruthlessly pierced the enemy's chest...
The puppet troops were frightened by this scene, and they all retreated involuntarily. At this time, an unbelievable scene appeared on Hill 121. More than 40 volunteers were chasing two companies of puppet troops with only bayonets. Behind those puppet troops, there was nearly a regiment of troops to support them.
A few years later, an American adviser who personally experienced this battle wrote in his memoirs: "We thought it was just a stubborn Korean People's Army, but when they launched a counterattack with only a few dozen remaining people, I knew we were wrong. I have never encountered such a team. What shocked us was not the simple rifles in their hands, nor the wooden-handled grenades, but the roars from their mouths and the courage flashing in their eyes. At that time, I saluted them properly! They are a group of enemies that are truly worthy of respect."
…
(I would like to pay tribute to Shi Baoshan, the first hero who died together with the enemy . During the battle at Nanshan in Jiandong, Comrade Shi Baoshan rushed towards the enemy holding a blasting tube and died together with more than 20 enemies. Although the martyr died, his heroic name will live forever!)
