Volume 2 The Second Battle Chapter 27: Battle of Hill 299 (I)
When the vanguard of the US tanks and infantry passed by, the fragile convoy's flank was completely exposed to us. Company Commander Zhang only shouted "fight", and the entire company's light and heavy weapons fired at the enemy together.
Suddenly, gunfire broke out. The two cars in the front were shot to pieces in the blink of an eye. The American soldiers inside were killed or injured before they could jump out of the car. With screams, the whole car was stained red with the blood of the American soldiers.
However, some smart people lay down under the car at the first moment and avoided the first round of bullets. But before they could react, the car exploded with a loud bang.
The car's fuel tank was on fire, and the burning car spewed out black and red smoke that rose into the air. Soon the entire high ground was shrouded in the choking smell of gasoline and smoke.
Several American soldiers, covered in fire, rolled out of the car screaming, wailing hysterically and rolling around wildly. Soon they could no longer move.
"Incoming!"
“Go, Go, Go!”
The U.S. military also acted quickly. As soon as the convoy stopped, the soldiers jumped off the vehicles one after another under the command of the officers, each finding cover and firing back with their guns.
The sound of the gunfire was completely different when the U.S. troops opened fire. Rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, mortars, recoilless guns... Instantly, bullets shells poured down on the hilltop like raindrops. If the Volunteer Army's gunfire was in pieces, then the bullets and shells of the U.S. troops in front of them could be described as piles.
Damn it, I cursed in my heart. I only had time to fire one shot before I was pinned down in the trench by their bullets and couldn’t raise my head.
Bullets whizzed past my ears and artillery shells kept exploding in front of and behind me, sending rocks and shrapnel flying at the enemy... No wonder some people said that the firepower of a US battalion exceeded that of a Volunteer Army division. Now it seems to be true.
At this time, the enemy's vanguard also retreated, and the infantry retreated in a somewhat awkward manner, with some carrying wounded soldiers. Only four of the six tanks drove past returned, probably because two of them were blown up by other volunteers in just a short while.
This also made me realize that our company was at the forefront of blocking American deserters.
The tanks pushed aside the burning cars, then lined up on the road and bombarded our position. The machine guns on the tanks also joined in the fierce shooting, causing the gravel and ice in front of the trench to bounce everywhere.
Damn! How can this be called a war? It's just a competition of bullets! I'm afraid that after this battle, this small hill can be directly turned into a mine for mining iron ore.
This was the first time our company had fought the Yankees . We were hit by this sudden and violent attack without any psychological preparation. We were overwhelmed and were trapped in the trenches. Several comrades who were unwilling to accept the defeat wanted to throw grenades, but as soon as they stood up, they were hit by several bullets and fell in a pool of blood.
The company's trenches were divided into three lines, each about 20 meters apart. The purpose of doing so was, firstly, to have more lines of defense so that the enemy would not easily break through. Secondly, the hilltop was too small. If there was only one line of defense, the soldiers of the company would be crowded together and easily killed by enemy artillery fire.
But even though the line of defense I was on was the front one, more than sixty meters away from the road, I still had to stand up if I wanted to throw a grenade.
Fortunately, the volunteers had built relatively solid trenches and were in a commanding position, so as long as we didn't stick our heads out, the enemy's bullets and shells would have no effect on us.
"I'll just wait here and see how long you can fight!" I made up my mind not to stick my head out. No matter how many bullets you have, they will all run out eventually.
In fact, I think other volunteers also thought so, because few people would stick their heads out to fight the Americans. The volunteers were brave and fearless, but that didn't mean they would make unnecessary sacrifices. Fighting is about trying to save yourself and destroy the enemy as much as possible.
I felt that this sentence made so much sense, and I secretly made up my mind that if I could survive this battle, I would engrave "Only by saving myself" on one side of the buttstock and "Only by saving myself can I destroy the enemy" on the other side. Of course, the side that saves myself must be more obvious... So, in order to fully implement the spirit of this sentence, I'd better go to the air-raid shelter first!
I didn't care what my comrades thought, I turned around and crawled into the air raid shelter. It turned out that I was very foresighted. After a while, the roar of enemy planes came from the sky, and then the enemy's heavy artillery sounded. All of a sudden, all kinds of explosions resounded on this small hilltop, and the whole earth was shaking and trembling...
Remembering the last time when I was nearly deafened by the U.S. military’s heavy artillery, I quickly pulled some cotton wool out of the lining of my cotton coat and stuffed it into my ears.
Phew! The whole world is quiet…Except for the occasional falling of dirt and rocks from the roof of the air-raid shelter, which still scares me, everything else seems to be gradually moving away from me.
I hadn't had a good sleep for several days and nights. When I calmed down, I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I just wanted to close my eyes and rest for a while, but I fell asleep unconsciously. I felt my breathing tighten in a daze, and suddenly something hit me. When I woke up, I saw a big stone in front of me. I thought it was the stone that woke me up.
When I looked towards the cave entrance again, I was shocked to see the body of a fully armed American soldier blocking the entrance of my air-raid shelter. No wonder I felt short of breath just now. It turned out that this reactionary was planning to take someone with him after his death and suffocate me to death!
Oh no, I...how long have I slept? It took me a long time to react. How come the American troops have come to our position?
Thinking of this, I hurriedly took out the cotton wool from my ears, grabbed the M1 rifle, kicked away the American corpses blocking the entrance of the cave and walked out.
The sound of gunfire continued, but as soon as I walked out of the cave, the light outside was so bright that I couldn't open my eyes. I quickly lay down on the ground, thinking to myself that this was a bad decision. If there were enemies outside, I would be dead.
I opened my eyes despite the pain, and was shocked by the scene I saw. The trenches were full of corpses, not a single living person. Some were American soldiers, some were volunteers, and some were so charred that it was impossible to tell which side they were from. The bodies of both sides were stacked together, and it must have been a brutal hand-to-hand fight.
I slowly stuck my head out to take a look and saw that the American tanks, soldiers, and cannons were still there at the foot of the mountain...but where were our comrades?
At this moment, I suddenly heard a burst of gunfire behind me. I turned around and was shocked. More than 200 American soldiers were attacking the last line of defense of the Volunteer Army behind me!
