The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 172 Difficult Tunnel Combat

The situation in Tunnel No. [-] is slightly better. The interior space is large and there is a continuous supply of wet mud. The soldiers wipe the wet mud on their faces, wrap the mud with cloth to block their mouths and noses, and make wet mud masks one by one. , to fight against the enemies outside the tunnel.

After two days of attacking and failing to capture it, the enemy concentrated artillery fire to bomb the tunnel entrance, trying to blow up the tunnel, trying to suffocate the volunteer soldiers in the tunnel due to lack of oxygen. As soon as the display appeared, they dug the second tunnel opening to let the air in. At the same time, they waited until the enemy's artillery fire ended, and quickly dug the tunnel opening.

The No. [-] tunnel entrance is so difficult, and the other tunnel entrances are even more difficult. Since there is no spare tunnel entrance, the enemy's shells will blow up the tunnel, and the volunteer soldiers bravely braved the fire to dig the tunnel entrance. When they wanted to destroy the tunnel again, the soldiers rushed out to fight it one after another until they repelled the enemy.

The U.S. military with strong ships and guns could not deal with the volunteers in the tunnel with all their strength. This made the enemy furious. They adopted another method, which was to dig a hole from the top of the tunnel. The top threw grenades, explosives, gas bombs, and incendiary bombs to the soldiers in the tunnel.

From top to bottom, it is difficult for the volunteer soldiers in the tunnel to hit the enemy above from below. The grenade cannot be thrown up. It is impossible to shoot the enemy above the head with machine guns and other direct fire. After brainstorming, the volunteer soldiers came up with a way. That is to use the curved fire of the mortar to shoot the enemy. The gunner climbed to the mouth of the tunnel, supported the gun body with one hand, and loaded the bomb with the other hand. The shell exploded on the top of the cave, causing huge damage to the enemy. , After finding the trick, as long as the enemy above him is digging, the gunner will use this method, and the enemy will no longer use this method.

The United Nations army spent a lot of effort and resorted to various vicious methods, not only failed to wipe out the volunteers in the tunnels, but instead enhanced the volunteers' tunnel combat experience.

Beginning on the 23th, the enemy occupied the surface positions. Until the [-]rd, they continued to deal with the volunteers in the tunnel. Every night, Xia Yuan would lead the volunteer soldiers to attack the enemies on the fortified positions. It can always destroy a large number of enemies, blow up many enemy bunkers, and cause huge casualties to the enemy.

At night, the enemy strengthened the defense of the surface positions, making it more difficult for the soldiers in the tunnel to attack. Even Xia Yuan could feel the enemy's firepower becoming extremely fierce.

The number of enemies on the No. [-] surface position has increased to a reinforced battalion, because since the US military occupied Shangganling, every night, the No. [-] surface position will encounter ferocious attacks from the Volunteers, and the usual three to five bunkers cannot stop it. With the enemy's attack, the enemy often blows up the bunker within two hours, and no matter how many soldiers are sent over, the casualty statistics after the war are shocking.

The United Nations Army strengthened the defense of the No. [-] position, which is what they themselves call the devil's position.

The reinforcements from the rear also arrived at the tunnels, and the soldiers in each tunnel were replenished. The fighting enthusiasm of the soldiers was like a raging flame.Tunnel No. [-] was supplemented by troops from two squads, and the wounded soldiers were finally able to rest. However, the enemy's troops on the surface positions have been expanded, and any counterattack must be carefully considered.

In North Korea in late October, the air is getting colder. The tunnel is okay, but there are gusts of cold wind blowing at the entrance of the tunnel.In addition, the enemy's surface positions were strengthened, and bunkers were built one after another. The tunnel fighters without artillery reinforcements had no choice but to retreat to the tunnels and continue to stand firm.

At night, the enemy strengthened the defense on the ground, but the soldiers in the tunnel figured out a new method. If the small troops did not go out for activities at night, they had to arrange the guard post outside the entrance of the cave.The number of soldiers in the tunnel is not large, and they often need to work in shifts, but in this way, the weather is very cold, and the soldiers have no time to rest, which consumes a lot of money for the soldiers. In order to solve the problem of going out to harass the enemy at night, the soldiers All sorts of ingenious ways have been devised.

For example, use a machine gun to suddenly shoot a few bullets outside, or throw cans outside to make noise, etc., so that the UN army thinks that the volunteers are going to fight back. The enemy shoots, and the soldiers in the tunnel fire a few more shots, throw something, and the enemy will fight for another hour or two.In this way, the enemy is held back, the time of sentry is greatly shortened, and at the same time, it causes troubles to the enemy.

Later, when Xia Yuan threw something again and made a noise, he found that the enemy had not moved. It turned out that the United Nations army had been fighting for a long time, and found that they were fighting against the air. The volunteers in the tunnel did not fight back, so they were not impressed by the movement. ignore.

Seeing that the opportunity came, Xia Yuan immediately led a class of first-class fighters to attack with lightning speed. He touched the grenades and exploded randomly, blowing up the enemy's blockhouse and killing many enemies.This kind of back-and-forth battle made the United Nations Army on the surface feel restless for a moment.

In the continuous battle of Shangganling, the volunteer soldiers who held their positions tenaciously and witty formed a complete set of defensive tactics based on tunnels.Volunteer soldiers relied on the tunnels to resist tenaciously. After the enemy occupied the surface positions, the volunteers relied on the tunnels to contain the enemy and cooperated with the rear artillery to attack the U.S. troops on the ground.

Sometimes when the enemy launches a counterattack, the first echelon will secretly move into the tunnel the night before, and use the tunnel as the starting point for the impact, so as to shorten the movement distance and reduce the casualties caused by the enemy's shelling, so as to achieve the suddenness of the counterattack , and can flank the enemy with the cooperation of the troops defending the tunnel.

Therefore, even if the ground fortifications are lost, it cannot be regarded as the loss of the entire position. Shangganling has always been in the hands of the volunteers.

The Volunteer Army relied on the tunnels to compete repeatedly with the enemy, forcing the United Nations Army to invest more troops and weapons and equipment, so as to achieve the purpose of killing and consuming the enemy in large numbers.In the process of repeated struggles, some fighters lost their surface positions at the beginning, which was very uncomfortable.

Until the 24th, news came from the rear that the US Seventh Division had withdrawn. The soldiers in the tunnel sat around excitedly and read the documents sent from the rear. The instructor shouted proudly: "We defeated the US Seventh Division. !!"

The faces of the soldiers in the tunnel were filled with happy smiles.

Only at this time did the soldiers understand that sometimes the purpose of giving up their superficial positions is to hold back the enemy and wipe out more enemies.

Xia Yuan also used this to put forward the slogans of "protracted combat, active defense" and "destroy the enemy, save yourself", so that the soldiers can use all available things around them to expand the tunnels, make the tunnels more solid and reliable, and make the underground tunnels more stable. Weave into an underground Great Wall, dragging the enemy immobile.

Under the leadership of Xia Yuan, instead of being defeated by the harsh environment and terrifying enemies, the soldiers in the tunnel became more and more courageous. From the No. 14 battle to the 24th enemy, Xia Yuan led the No. 100 tunnel The soldiers participated in more than 50 large and small counterattacks, seized more than [-] machine guns, [-] automatic rifles and carbines, and several bullets. The enemy's individual equipment was as high as a company.

After several days of continuous tunnel operations, the condition of No. [-] tunnel became harsh, especially the continuous reinforcements increased the consumption of the tunnel, the crowd was crowded, the wounded were in great pain, and the vibration of the shelling made the tunnel sometimes unable to light up, and there was a deep darkness. In the middle of the day, the smell of gunpowder smoke, sulfur, blood, excrement and sweat made the air dirty and suffocating.The soldiers huddled in the tunnel. Although the weather outside the cave was seven or eight degrees below zero, the tunnel was as sweltering as summer, and the temperature rose to the point where it was uncomfortable to wear unlined clothes.

Many tunnels lack ammunition, food and water. In the most difficult time, each person can only eat half a steamed bun per day.The most serious problem is the lack of water. Tunnel No. [-] is okay because there is a well that Xia Yuan dug earlier. Although there is no water coming out, there is humidity. Putting the cloth in it will soon be soaked and water can be squeezed out. Drinking sparingly can solve the basic drinking water problem of the soldiers in the tunnel.

The conditions in other tunnels are not so good, especially the conditions of the soldiers in the tunnels in the 537.7 Heights are particularly difficult. The soldiers are so thirsty that they urinate and bleed, their lips are broken, and sometimes they can only drink urine to quench their thirst.Moreover, the time continued to prolong, the battle continued for a long time, and the difficulties increased. Many troops stuck to the tunnels and fought against the enemy for more than a dozen days and nights.

In this unimaginably difficult and difficult situation, the steadfast troops have always been tenacious and unyielding, closely united, full of confidence in victory, brimming with revolutionary optimism, and fought against the enemy with fearless heroism.

The soldiers who stood firm on the No. 597.9 tunnel at the [-] highland in Shangganling once managed to write to the superior chief in the extremely difficult and dangerous situation: "Dear chief, now we are attacked from all directions, only the side under our feet has no enemies, but we promise Fight to the end, fight to victory, please rest assured, chiefs!"

A tunnel on the 597.9 Heights was blasted by the enemy for a long time. The situation was very dangerous. The volunteer soldiers who stood firm in the tunnel vowed to hit the enemy hard, knock down the arrogance of the enemy, and the enemies who beat them did not dare to approach the tunnel.During the day, they killed and wounded a large number of enemies who destroyed the tunnels, and at night they sent combat teams one by one to touch the hills to destroy the enemies. In 32 night raids, they killed and injured 72 enemies at the cost of only three casualties, thus making the battle more difficult. The focus is pushed from the mouth of the tunnel to the surface positions held by the enemy.

As the enemy changed defenses, the Second Han Division took over the defense of the US Seventh Division on Shangganling and was responsible for attacking the 597.9 highland.

Under such difficult and difficult conditions, the troops sticking to the tunnel fully developed the spirit of unity and friendship, encouraged each other, cared for each other, and were full of brotherly intimacy.When everyone was dizzy due to extreme thirst and hunger, they learned from the old Red Army's spirit of climbing snow-capped mountains and crossing grasslands, enduring untold hardships, and sang songs such as "Volunteer Army Battle Hymn" to inspire their fighting spirit.When the soldiers went out to grab a little water, or when the superiors sent people to risk their lives to bring some supplies, they would push and let each other try their best to let other comrades drink more and eat more.

Despite the enemy's strong ships and guns, the volunteer soldiers in the tunnel still successfully resisted the enemy's continuous and fierce attacks with their tenacious and unyielding fighting spirit.

The 24th was destined to be the most difficult day. Their opponent changed from the Seventh Division of the United States to the Second Division of Han, but changing opponents could not stop the excitement of the soldiers in the tunnel.

"We defeated the Seventh Division of the United States!"

The soldiers rushed to tell each other in the tunnel, and the black soil could not hide the smiles on their faces.

Xia Yuan also had a smile on his face. What is the most meaningful thing to travel through? There is no doubt that he led the soldiers to stick to the tunnel. Feeling the bond between the soldiers, he can rest assured that The soldiers in front of them.

No conspiracy, just pure red spirit.

"Commander Xia, we defeated the enemy!" Wang Lan was also very happy. Although she did not fight on the surface, she also felt the cruelty of the enemy and the hardships of the volunteer soldiers in the tunnel.

Group after group of people went to the battlefield and never returned, and group after group of people came in from outside.

Now that the foreign devils have finally been beaten away, this is definitely a good thing for the soldiers in the tunnel.

Comparable to Chinese New Year.

A smile appeared on the thin face of the instructor, and he said: "Comrades, we have finally defeated the Seventh Division of the foreign devils, but we must not take it lightly! The Seventh Division of the United States has been defeated, and there are also the Eighth and Ninth Divisions of the United States! We We must work harder to stay in the tunnel and fight the enemy to the end!"

Today, the fighting enthusiasm of the soldiers is particularly high, and everyone has a happy smile on their faces.

They said:

"The Eighth Division of the United States? The Eighth Division of the United States is here, and we should still defeat him!"

"Yes! No matter who they are, if they dare to come, let them taste the power of our weapons!"

The instructor found Xia Yuan and Dai Wannian, and they discussed, "Tonight, reward the soldiers, take out some canned meat, let the soldiers taste the meat, and find a way to send some supplies to the comrades in other tunnels."

Xia Yuan agreed with the instructor's suggestion. These days, the hardships in the tunnels are obvious to all. Most of the materials seized earlier were supported by soldiers in other tunnels. After the enemy stationed on the top of the mountain, the defense at night was more stringent. Its night combat capability is also greatly restricted.

The enemy at position [-] put a large searchlight on the reverse slope of the No. [-] tunnel, and the machine gun bunker was also facing the No. [-] tunnel. It was very difficult to go out or come in, and there was no What order, it is estimated that they are preparing for a big counterattack. The soldiers in the tunnel still bear the heavy firepower of the enemy's machine guns at night, and under the leadership of Xia Yuan, they launch a night attack on the enemy on the mountain.

(End of this chapter)