Volume 1 Sudden Battlefield Chapter 20

  The battle ended quickly, and I led a squad to raid the mountain stronghold on the left highland. The Vietnamese army's defense on two highlands collapsed rapidly under our pincer attack from inside and outside with the main force. In this battle, our army did not capture any prisoners of war. The Vietnamese soldiers hiding in the two highlands were either killed on the battlefield or secretly shot dead by soldiers when they surrendered.

  Regarding the matter of soldiers shooting prisoners, the cadres in the regiment and company also saw it with their own eyes, but they didn't say anything, tacitly approving the soldiers' behavior that violated policy and discipline.

  The warriors' casualties were too great and the sacrifices were too tragic, so that everyone was blinded by that hatred and lost their rationality.

  Looking back, I'm also a bit scared of my actions at the time. Because to this day, I still clearly remember that at that time, I had a pent-up anger in my heart, a killing intent, and as soon as I saw the enemy, I wanted to kill him, to beat him to death, no matter whether it was with a gun or a knife, or even if it meant biting off chunks of flesh from those devils' bodies!

  I think the other warriors at that time had the same idea as me, it was like a drunk person who didn't care about anything, like a madman who didn't care about anything... Although we were not drunk or crazy at that time, but we were more brutal and ruthless than those who were drunk and crazy.

  At that time, we were like a group of murderous maniacs, a group of killing demons... wasn't it? Several soldiers calmly pushed several Vietnamese prisoners of war to the ground and made them kneel in a row, then pulled out their pistols "bang bang..." and shot them one by one; The soldiers who were cleaning up the battlefield ruthlessly used bayonets to check the bodies of the Vietnamese soldiers one by one, occasionally stabbing several times if they encountered any wounded or fake dead ones; Some soldiers even cried loudly while shooting bullets from their guns into the bodies of the Vietnamese soldiers on the ground...

  Although this scene is a bit cruel, if we are given another chance to choose again, we will still do it without hesitation.

  Because - if we don't do this, we will owe it to those comrades who have made sacrifices!

  I led the soldiers down from the high ground and into the paddy fields, only to discover that the paddy fields were already filled with the bodies of our fallen comrades. The murky water in the paddy fields had been dyed a piercing red by the blood of the soldiers. The sacrificed Liberation Army soldiers were covered in mud, their faces frozen in different expressions.

  Some of them still held guns in their hands, some grasped hand grenades, and others had mortar shells placed beside them with the barrel gripped tightly, each one looking like they were ready for battle.

  A warrior with a bullet wound, the bullets were shot from his back, four bullet holes behind the belt are less than five centimeters apart, the abdomen in front has been completely blown open, intestines and internal organs were shot into pieces by enemy bullets flying tens of meters away...

  An officer holding a mortar, the center of his eyebrow was hit by a bullet, and the entire back half of his skull was blown off, leaving only a little red and white stuff inside his head.

  There was another warrior who sacrificed himself on the highway, both legs were blown off, but he still insisted on crawling towards the enemy's high ground for tens of meters, leaving behind two long trails of blood, with an empty submachine gun placed beside him, his right hand holding a pen, and his left palm scribbling out a will - "I want to join the party".

  Before long, our follow-up troops also came up, and when they saw this tragic scene, they were all stunned. The medical personnel rushed to the front at the first time, searching for people who could be rescued in the mud and piles of bodies, and as they searched, they couldn't help but shed tears...

  "Comrade! You fought well!" I didn't know when the battalion commander, covered in blood, stood beside me, patted my shoulder, and looked at several soldiers beside me, saying: "And you guys, this battle was fought beautifully! If it weren't for you, our troops' losses..."

  Heaving a long sigh, he couldn't say anything else and just nodded at us, saying: "Thanks to you..."

  "Company Commander!" The scholar walked up and chimed in, "They're also our comrades-in-arms, no need to worry about that! Fortunately, we avenged the soldiers; otherwise, they would have died with a grievance!"

  "Hmm!" The company commander nodded and asked me, "Which platoon are you from?"

  "Report to the company commander!" I stood up straight and replied: "We are from 2nd Company, 2nd Platoon!"

  "Monitor... where's our squad leader?" As soon as I reported my number, Xiaoshi was startled and exclaimed: "Where's our squad leader? Could it be that..."

  "Stop your crowing!" I was startled by these words, and after saluting the battalion commander, I hastily ordered: "Find a unit immediately!"

  "Yes!" The warriors responded in unison and immediately dispersed in pairs to search, some turning over the corpses on the ground, some asking people, and others shouting at the crowd to find the platoon leader.

  But it's really not easy to find someone on such a chaotic battlefield, let's just search among the corpses! Everywhere are bodies that have been beaten beyond recognition, and no one knows anything when asked. Our troops are mostly new recruits who have just arrived, some of whom haven't even had time to get familiar with each other before they've already made sacrifices...

  Just as we were all on tenterhooks, a shout suddenly came from the mountain valley: "Over here! Everyone come over..."

  We followed the sound and looked, who else was it if not Knife Scar? Unconsciously, I let out a sigh of relief. Xiaoshi and others saw that he had bandages wrapped around his head and hands, and they ran up to him in three strides, shouting: "Squad Leader, you're injured? How badly are you hurt?"

  Rushing forward to take a look, it turned out that this mountain pass had been temporarily converted into a field hospital. The wounded were lying all over the place, with dark bloodstains and busy medical workers everywhere. The sounds of wailing and crying rose and fell...

  "Come and help?" Scarface yelled at us while using his uninjured right hand to assist the medic in bandaging a wounded soldier with a broken leg.

  "Yes!" The warriors responded in unison and joined the medical team with all their might.

  "Where have you all run off to?" Scarface asked loudly, "Do you know that our troops are almost being wiped out? You're doing well, during the battle you're nowhere to be seen, but after the battle is over, one by one you come back alive!"

  As soon as the scar-faced man said that, many warriors looked over at us, and some of the wounded even spat a mouthful of saliva... making all of us feel quite embarrassed!

  "Hey! I'm telling you, comrade..." Before we knew it, the battalion commander had followed behind and walked in. He obviously also heard Knife Scar's lesson to us, and somewhat discontentedly said to Knife Scar: "You're the second squad leader, right? Not understanding the situation and randomly putting labels on people, this isn't the style a cadre should have!"

  "Attention!" Knife Scar hastily stood at attention in front of the Regimental Commander.

  "Second Lieutenant!" The regimental commander shouted at the scar-faced officer: "These soldiers performed very well on the battlefield! When most comrades were in a state of panic and hastily resisting, they cleverly and bravely used the waterway to sneak into the flank of the Vietnamese army. Then with the strength of one company, they charged up to the top of the high ground occupied by the Vietnamese army, coordinating with the main force to break through the enemy's defense line! Their heroic actions are worthy of our praise. As their platoon leader, how can you not understand the situation and arbitrarily criticize them? If all officers were like you, which soldier would be willing to fight on the battlefield?"

  "Yes!" Scar's knife scar twitched again as he responded in a loud voice.

  "Reflect on yourself!" The camp commander said meaningfully to Knife Scar: "Next time you speak, remember to get the facts straight first!"

  "Yes!" Scar had realized by now that he was wrong about us and didn't dare to make any more excuses, only nodding vigorously in agreement.

  After the battalion commander left, Dāo Bā (knife scar) relaxed and asked with a bitter smile: "The ones who climbed to the top of the devils' mountain are you guys?"

  "Then there's this..." Xiaoshi excitedly chimed in, "Paichang... you don't know what it was like. We snuck into the Vietnamese artillery camp, and they were so focused on firing their cannons that they didn't notice us. Ha! That was a great battle..."

  "Right! In one go, we took out dozens of Japanese artillerymen. They didn't even have a chance to fight back!"

  "It's... after finishing off the artillery, they continued to attack the devils on the slope, and it was really exhilarating!"

  ……

  As soon as the scar asked, the warriors began to talk about it one after another. Several wounded soldiers nearby also came up with great interest and asked questions, and the warriors were even more enthusiastic about telling us how they followed the waterway upwards, using the grass to ambush the mountain top position and defeat the Vietnamese army, only to be met with envy and admiration from the surrounding wounded soldiers and medical workers.

  "Good kid!" Knife Scar sat down beside me and handed me a cigarette, chuckling: "I knew someone was sneaking up behind the Viet Cong to cause trouble, but I didn't expect it to be you guys! This time we've really made a name for ourselves... no, we're even radiant with glory..."

  He lit a cigarette for Zhen and himself, took a deep drag, and only then did his tense nerves relax. "How's your injury? Is it serious?" he asked.

  "It's nothing serious!" Dao Ba raised his left hand, which was hanging from his neck, and looked at it with a frown. "It's just some superficial wounds, I'll be fine after resting for two days! But our troops..."

  Frowning deeply, he slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke and said: "How many people have returned from ancient wars?"

  This chapter is dedicated to the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 484th Regiment, 162nd Division. The battalion was ambushed by the Vietnamese army when it advanced to the unnamed high ground south of Bam according to orders, with 58 killed and 43 wounded, accounting for forty-seven percent of the casualties at that time.