Chapter 48: The Bloody Battle in Ping'an Village 3
Afternoon is all class, tonight one more time, tickets and collections support me!!! 1
Under the cover of artillery fire, soldiers from the 119th and 125th divisions quickly charged to within 200-300 meters of the enemy's front-line positions. Then, in a prolonged harassing fire lasting over thirty minutes, they rapidly completed relatively complete trenches and forward outposts, and dug S-shaped earthworks towards the enemy's mountain stronghold. When the long artillery bombardment ended, the enemy was shocked to discover that our army was conducting engineering work close to their front line, with no one in sight, only constantly thrown up dirt. The distance of over 200 meters was less than the minimum range of many American mortars, and the power of rifle grenades was too small, only able to blow up a small piece of dust on the enemy's fortifications. Therefore, the enemy could only use heavy machine guns for some harassing fire. In the trenches, according to Gao Quan's suggestion, our army was rapidly transporting hot stones with modified small carts to melt the frozen soil, and the melted land was quickly dug up like tofu dregs. Our army thus gradually approached the American positions step by step. The 2nd and 3rd battalions also charged under tank cover to within over 1500 meters of the enemy in Bao Ping Li, rapidly digging trenches with the help of flamethrower tanks. The tanks began their task of clearing enemy firepower points, and our superior tanks continuously fired, quickly eliminating the weak armor and small firepower of the M4A3E8. Even mortars hiding in cover would be blown to pieces by the overwhelming fire of the howitzers!
According to the US military's post-war historical records, "the Communist army destroyed most of our fortifications, tanks and artillery under unprecedented intense firepower preparation, and then cunningly used fake charge signals to lure out our soldiers and Allied officers hiding in shelters. Then came another round of intense firepower, with just two rounds of shelling, we lost a third of our total strength. Later, the enemy took advantage of the cover of their firepower to start building excellent fortifications near us, quickly constructing fortifications on the unimaginable frozen soil. Without heavy firepower support, our army was unable to destroy the enemy's fortifications, and the ammunition-starved mortars could not disrupt or stop the enemy's actions. And so the enemy gradually approached our positions, and that's how the disaster began!"
The icy slope made by pouring water was melting away with a gurgling sound, and the sandy soil was becoming clearer. The soldiers were getting anxious and uneasy from this terrifying sound, and could only occasionally fire their guns or throw a few hand grenades to calm themselves down. However, those annoying and detestable moles were still frantically digging tunnels. Following Gaoquan's instructions to give the enemy a "landmine", Shen Feihu was digging several tunnels under the forward fortifications, which could be used not only as shelters for artillery and soldiers but also as roads to send explosives and gasoline bombs to the enemy's rear. In the dim light, basket after basket of mud was being carried out, and block after block of fiery red stones were being carried in (gasoline burns underground will consume oxygen, people will...).
The enemy's several high grounds were first occupied by the 297 Weimei Mountain stronghold located south of Dingtianli. When a company of soldiers advanced at a frantic pace towards the enemy's front-line fortifications, which had already been abandoned and mined with landmines, about 20 meters away, an enemy platoon of over 50 men suddenly emerged under the cover of dense machine gun fire and intensive mortar shells, rushing towards our army. However, they were suddenly illuminated by flares that lit up the sky, exposing their small unit in the open field. A dense hail of bullets then swept over, with 12.7mm heavy machine guns creating a hole as big as a bowl with each shot, followed by blood gushing out like water. The 60mm cannon also fired from behind, pushing the enemy towards our army's direction. As a result, the enemy fell to the ground about 50 meters in front of our military trenches. A dense rain of explosive hand grenades or the sound of bullets piercing bodies then pinned the enemy down in that depression, killing them one by one with sweeping shots or bleeding to death! The commander of the battlefield, an American lieutenant colonel, watched as his soldiers were annihilated, punching the walls of the trench heavily, causing loose soil to scatter and fall.
When the US night flight planes came to support, after dropping flares suspended from parachutes, they were surprised to find that what was originally flat land was now densely covered with trenches and tunnels like a spider web. The closer ones had already approached the enemy's main position, and the sound of gunfire and explosions continued unabated. The farther ones were only about 10-20 meters away from the enemy's abandoned front-line positions. Suddenly, the chubby American pilot opened the wireless radio caller and was shocked to see a dense net of bullets flying towards him, his small eyes tightly closed, his hands desperately trying to change the direction of the B-26 Mitchell plane. However, a series of intense metal impact sounds pierced through the aluminum fuselage, and the armor-piercing incendiary bombs not only melted the low-melting-point aluminum but also ignited the punctured fuel tanks, engulfing the plane in a massive fire that turned it into a "flying fire chicken".
When the large fire turkey flew straight towards the US military position, a deafening explosion was heard. The plane loaded with over three tons of bombs blasted out a crater with a diameter of over 100 meters in the middle of the US military position, and the deepest part reached seven meters. With the fuel from the plane scattered by the shockwave, the US military position erupted into a raging fire. Soldiers who were building tunnels underground almost got stunned.
Freeman stared at the shattered US aircraft parts flying everywhere with flames, looking at the huge crater and the still-burning flames inside it, as well as the over 300 US military body parts scattered in the air from the large bunker below. Gao Quan took advantage of the light from the flames to say to the team leaders beside him, "Fighting should be done cleverly and skillfully, with minimal casualties. We must utilize all available resources. The 'crash plane' incident created by our anti-aircraft artillery unit earlier probably caused significant damage to the enemy and made their follow-up planes lose their way and unable to bomb."
He pointed at the US aircraft flying in from above, which had lost its way and was circling around several times before dropping bombs into an unknown small valley. The enemy then returned without completing their mission. Freeman watched the clumsy performance of the US Air Force, like a "clown", and apart from cursing loudly, he could do nothing else.
After the US military plane flew away, our army intensified its offensive against the enemy's high ground around us. The short distance of the charge, the strong firepower support (has anyone thought of a person, Li De, a German advisor from the Soviet Union during the Red Army era), our officers and soldiers have never been so bold before, discovering that the battle is proceeding so smoothly and pleasantly! As a result, the enemy's gunfire became less frequent, their resistance grew weaker, and only the dense explosion sounds of our hand grenades continued to rise.
While the assault battalion led by Feng Gui broke into the enemy's French camp under the cover of tanks.
