Chapter Sixty

  When I turned my gaze towards the enemy, I furrowed my brow in some surprise.

  The Vietnamese army's attack seems to be going too slow as well, it's been so long and they're still around 700-800 meters away. I was worried that my speed would be too slow and I'd miss the best sniping opportunity, but unexpectedly those Vietnamese devils are still a big distance away from us...

  This seems completely different from the previous fierce and swift charge of the Vietnamese ghosts!

  The Vietnamese army should know that most of our weapons have a range of only three to four hundred meters, and in the area of four hundred meters before and after, there are half-body-high grasslands everywhere, which can be used for hiding and shell craters, as well as corpses that can serve as cover... So outside of four hundred meters, the Vietnamese army can boldly charge with open footsteps.

  However, now in front of me, these Vietnamese are all sluggish and slow...

  This is a trap, I quickly made the judgment. But as for what kind of trap it was, I couldn't figure it out... All I could do was frown and observe those slowly advancing North Vietnamese soldiers through my sniper scope.

  What trap is it?

  Encirclement? Ambush? These don't seem to be working out, the devils want to get around our rear but they must go through that road at the foot of the mountain, however that road has already been blocked by our firepower.

  What was even more unbelievable was that some of the Vietnamese soldiers in my sniper scope had already started digging foxholes with their entrenching tools.

  What's the point of digging scattered soldier pits at such a far distance? Don't our military weapons have a range that can't reach them?

  Unless... unless their foxholes weren't for dodging bullets but for dodging cannons!

  Dodge the cannonball!!!!!!

  The old man's words flashed into my mind, and I still clearly remember his gnashing teeth: "Those Japanese devils are so cunning! After a round of artillery fire, they pretend to charge, waiting for us to set up our guns in the trenches... then they fire another round of artillery... catching us off guard, while their troops take advantage of the moment to launch a charge..."

  "It's going to be a disaster!" Thinking of this, I rushed forward and shouted loudly: "Get down! Everyone get down... the devils are going to fire their cannons!"

  But it was too late, my words had barely fallen when I heard a whistling sound in the air, followed by a burst of flames rising near our army's position. Our position was instantly shrouded in a thick black smoke.

  This bombardment didn't last long, probably only a minute or so, but the damage to our troops was considerable. The reason is that our soldiers were completely unprepared, most of them had their upper bodies exposed outside the trenches ready for battle, and all sorts of weapons were also placed on top of the trenches... So with just one blast, it was a disaster, various shrapnel and rocks flew everywhere with a sharp whistling sound, hitting soldiers and knocking over weapons countless times, and with just this one blow, our carefully constructed defense line was thrown into complete disarray.

  What's more terrible is... before the smoke of artillery fire has dissipated, the Vietnamese army, who had been waiting in front of our military position, shouted loudly and charged towards our position with bayonets.

  "Fire!" Commander Lian finally gave the order to open fire.

  It can be imagined that at this time, the firepower of our military's defensive line was undoubtedly much smaller.

  This is not good! I took a glance at our defensive line, the two machine guns were either damaged by shrapnel or jammed with mud, no matter how the gunners manipulated them, it was useless; several rocket artillerymen who stood high earlier were knocked down in the trenches by shrapnel; other soldiers were fine but their vision was blocked by smoke and they couldn't aim at the enemy accurately.

  At this time, our army seemed to have no choice but to wait for the Vietnamese army to rush up and kill us one by one...

  But I am not willing to wait for death like this, because I still have this sniper rifle in my hand!

  "Bang!" A bullet shot out of my rifle.

  Wang Kechang beside me stared at me blankly, I think he was puzzled, even with binoculars, he couldn't see the enemy behind the smoke, so of course, he couldn't report their position to me, and he couldn't figure out how I found the enemy.

  "Bang!" Another bullet was fired.

  I'm not firing blindly, because every time I shoot a bullet, it brings a scream in the smoke.

  What Wang Kechang didn't know was that the reason I could accurately find the enemy was that by then, the sun had already risen... The Japanese devils' bayonets reflected sunlight through the smoke and emitted a faint light like fish scales. Of course, this light flashed for only an instant, and if one wasn't careful, it would be hard to notice its existence, but for me, it was enough.

  "Bang!" This shot hit not an enemy but a hand grenade tossed into the air.

  Although the smoke was thick and visibility was poor, a gust of mountain wind blew by and the smoke in mid-air thinned out considerably, allowing me to see a hand grenade with a trail of smoke flying towards our military trench... I instinctively fired a shot at it.

  Sometimes it's much easier to hit a grenade like this than to hit a Vietcong soldier, because the grenade is following a predictable parabolic path, while the VC are old pros who know when to speed up or slow down and change direction at any time.

  But the result of hitting a hand grenade is much greater than hitting a North Vietnamese soldier. Isn't it? If this hand grenade had fallen into our military trenches, who knows how many people would have been killed or injured, but now it has changed direction and exploded among the Vietcong...

  The warriors soon also rang out with various weapons, and the smoke also gradually dispersed, but it seemed to have been too late... The Japanese devils took advantage of the moment when our army's position was bombed, or it can be said that they took advantage of the time when the smoke enveloped our army's position, and rushed to the front line of our army.

  Then the cruel hand-to-hand combat began, with both sides first throwing a grenade at each other... It's hard to describe what it felt like, as if both sides were throwing stones at each other, row after row of grenades. Following a loud explosion, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and cries of agony filled the air. But before the cries had even stopped, another wave of battle cries erupted... A team of Vietnamese soldiers, under the cover of grenade smoke, charged towards our military trenches with bayonets drawn.

  This tactic is ours. I've heard the old man say that when our Liberation Army fought against the Americans, we relied on hand grenade smoke bombs to cover up and rush forward to entangle with the Americans. Now this trick has also been learned by those Vietnamese devils.

  "Comrades! Charge!" Our soldiers also followed the company commander's order and charged towards the enemy...

  Some people might say, why don't we just hide in the trenches? Why should we charge at the enemy?

  Trenches only provide cover when the enemy is shelling from a distance, but if the enemy gets too close... they become ready-made graves.

  This is not? The enemy's hand grenades and explosive packs can be easily thrown into the trenches, and because the trenches are relatively closed, they can multiply the power of the shockwave after the explosion, causing heavy casualties to the soldiers inside. On the other hand, if the Vietnamese army stands in front of the trench while our soldiers are inside... that's undoubtedly a disadvantage, whether it's close combat or short-range shooting, the enemy will have the upper hand.

  But if we launch a charge, it's different. At least we can take advantage of the terrain to gain the upper hand against the Viet Minh.

  So, General Long's command was undoubtedly correct. However, this has got me stuck... The uniforms of both the enemy and our troops are very similar, plus the smoke is everywhere, so in front of me it's a mess of soldiers fighting each other, I couldn't tell who's who! Even if I could distinguish between them, they're all tangled up and can't be attacked.

  I furrowed my brow and charged forward like the warriors?

  This is clearly not a good idea, with a sniper rifle in my hand I should play the role of a sniper rather than a soldier holding a bayonet, although this sniper rifle does come with a bayonet.

  But didn't rush up... If I just open fire like this, I'm worried that I'll accidentally injure one of our own people.

  Calm down! Calm down...

  I remind myself over and over again.

  I have to admit, when I saw the Vietnamese army charging forward and entangling with our troops, I panicked. It was clear in my mind that the quality of the Vietnamese army was far superior to ours. If it were a firefight where we pinned down the Vietnamese with our firepower... then the difference in quality wouldn't be so obvious. But hand-to-hand combat? That's when you see the real difference in quality, the real difference in fighting experience! How could our new recruits, some of whom had only just turned 18 and had only fought a few battles, possibly go up against battle-hardened Vietnamese soldiers in close quarters? I didn't dare to even think about it.

  So now it's almost a matter of life and death, in the next second the enemy may completely occupy our army's position.

  At this time, I couldn't help but think of a sentence that the old man had said: "To be an excellent fighter, one must not only know how to fight, but also know how to take a beating... When taking a beating, don't panic or be afraid, that's what it means to be a truly good soldier!"

  I used to think that was nonsense, isn't fighting about guns? Everyone uses them, getting hit is just getting shot, how can you not be panicked or afraid? Even if you're not panicked or afraid, it's glorious to become a corpse, right? Would that still make for a good soldier?

  It wasn't until now that I realized...the beating referred to here isn't oneself, nor is it an individual, but rather the entire unit.

  The old man's words are rough but his reasoning is sound.

  I took a deep breath and calmed down, even closing my eyes for a few seconds at this critical moment...

  It's really amazing, when I opened my eyes again, I found a way to distinguish between friend and foe: the enemies were mostly facing me head-on, while our troops had their backs to me.

  This principle is simple to say, but in a tense moment like the battlefield, it's often overlooked or not thought of for a while, just like me.

  Since we can distinguish between friend and foe, it's naturally time for the rifle in my hand to come into play.

  Especially now, the Vietnamese army, like wolves and tigers, has come wave after wave, our soldiers have fallen one by one, and the defense line is already shaking...