The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 904 The Enemy Counterattacks
The enemy's infantry and tanks worked together and penetrated deep into the flanks of the Volunteer Army's positions, obviously planning a counterattack. They had no time to dig tunnels.

Tunnels are caves similar to mines built inside solid mountains. Such excavation projects are relatively large and would not be possible in enough time.

On January 1, the enemies on the east and west fronts launched a counterattack against the Volunteer Army's defense line.

In front of the 26th Division's position, on the 27th and th, the U.S. military used magnetic tactics to launch tentative attacks on the Volunteer Army or conduct tank reconnaissance. The enemy was obviously much more cautious and cunning than before.

They also increased the number of tanks, artillery, and air force, and adopted a destructive tactic in an attempt to wipe out the Volunteer Army on every hill on the south bank of the river.

The volunteer army is now facing a situation of shortage of food, ammunition and manpower. Facing the fierce artillery fire of the US military is undoubtedly a severe test.

After several battles with the Volunteer Army, the enemy no longer dared to underestimate the Volunteer Army. In addition to a small number of troops maintaining contact with the Volunteer Army, they also strengthened their reconnaissance activities. Enemy reconnaissance planes appeared over the Volunteer Army's defense zone every day, hovering at low altitude for reconnaissance. They also increased plainclothes reconnaissance and sent out several groups of puppet troops, disguised as residents or disguised as soldiers of the People's Army, or used airplanes to drop plainclothes spies, or drove local poor elderly, women, and children deep into the rear of the Volunteer Army's positions to spy on the Volunteer Army's strength and vitality in order to judge the Volunteer Army's combat effectiveness.

Or they could send small groups of armed plainclothes soldiers into the frontier areas to capture scattered members of the Volunteer Army.

A liaison officer of the 336th Regiment went to Taoxiongli to buy supplies for the festival and was captured by an enemy armed plainclothes officer. He thus learned the troop strength numbers of the Volunteer Army.

The enemy began to counterattack the Volunteer Army, but the Volunteer Army did not know the situation of the enemy in front of them. In order to find out the enemy situation in front of them, the Volunteer Army also strengthened its reconnaissance and catching activities, and continuously sent reconnaissance troops to Lichuan area to find ways to capture enemy officers.

At 20 p.m. on January 8, the army ordered the th Division to capture a tongue.

At this time, there were only five days left before the enemy launched a full-scale attack. The superiors sensed an impending crisis and had to understand the enemy situation in front of them.

The division assigned the task to the 335th Regiment, which had made many outstanding achievements in the field of tongue warfare. Fan Tianen immediately ordered the 3rd Company, which was on rest, to carry out the task. The regiment's reconnaissance officer led the 4th and 5th reconnaissance squads.

Xia Yuan had made many contributions in catching slanderers before, and the investigators in the regiment basically all knew him. They were very happy to learn that they would cooperate with Xia Yuan's operations.

Xia Yuan is not only brave in combat, but also a top-notch expert at catching evil spirits. The investigators all respect him very much.

Xia Yuan walked with the gait of a tiger, thinking as he walked, I must capture an officer this time!
They climbed up the 580-meter Dinggai Mountain and saw a bright white light in the direction of Lichuan through the pine forest. He looked closely and found that the enemy's large and small lights were arranged in a circle on a hilltop, and he was certain.

This must be the enemy's command center.

There is a road leading to Lichuan at the foot of the mountain. There is a large village to the south along the road, which is also brightly lit. So the reconnaissance team walked along the road towards the village.

When they got close to the village, they found several telephone lines. Xia Yuan and the reconnaissance staff basically judged that this was the enemy's command post.

"What do you think? Are we going to do it?" the reconnaissance staff officer asked Xia Yuan in a low voice.

"Of course I will. I have a plan."

Xia Yuan's eyes fell on the telephone line. He asked the soldiers to cut off the enemy's telephone line, and the other comrades ambushed all around, ready to capture a telephone soldier.

They captured the telephone operator and asked him to take them directly to find the enemy commander.

Unexpectedly, the comrade who cut the phone line had been back for two hours. Seeing that the three stars were setting in the west and it was already two o'clock in the middle of the night, the enemy had not yet checked the line. The fourth squad leader Han Qifa could not help but asked quietly: "I think the enemy must be timid and dare not come out. We must find a way quickly, otherwise it will be troublesome if we wait until dawn."

Xia Yuan scratched his head.

It's no wonder that the enemy is so ignorant.

After a brief discussion with the reconnaissance staff, they decided to move along the highway towards Lichuan and look for opportunities to capture prisoners. As for why they did not move this command post, the reason was very simple.

The enemy was heavily guarding the command post, so although they could get in, they might not be able to get out intact. If they failed to capture the enemy commander and their efforts were in vain, the enemy would move the command post away at daybreak.

But if they don't take action, nothing will happen. Moreover, they also know the location of the enemy's command post. If they attack in the future, they can destroy this command post first!

It was dark at night and the road was quiet. There were faint sounds of artillery fire in the distance. They walked carefully along the road in the enemy area and reached the east side of Xingdong, only one kilometer away from Lichuan. They found a village with a few lonely houses on the edge of the village.

The chief of staff felt that there must be enemies inside. Xia Yuan used night vision to discover the enemy, and this group of enemies had not yet fallen asleep.

But because it was too dark, the others couldn't see, so Xia Yuan decisively led his men to attack.

They quietly approached a house, and suddenly two armed American soldiers came out from inside. They were frightened when they saw a group of people. Xia Yuan was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and reacted quickly. He stepped forward, put the knife away and put it on the shoulder of an American soldier. With a click, the American soldier fell to the ground.

Another American soldier was frightened. Looking at the black muzzle of the gun, he quickly raised his hands in surrender.

In this way, two tongues were caught easily. The soldiers pounced on them, quickly dealt with the caught tongues, and retreated to the rear carrying the tongues.

Xia Yuan looked at the commotion just now and was afraid that it would alarm the American troops in the village, so he did not fight with them and quickly retreated with his men.

The interrogation of these prisoners enabled our army to further understand that after the US military suffered a disastrous defeat, it took advantage of its good transportation conditions to quickly draw a large number of veterans from the United States and the troops stationed in Europe and Japan to supplement the troops in North Korea, strengthen the tank and field artillery units, and improve the rear supply.

The US Tenth Army was also transferred to the area near the 37th parallel and joined the front-line combat sequence.

The enemy's forces have been concentrated, with ground forces reaching more than 25 people. The enemies in front of our army are all American, British and Greek battalions.

After reinforcement, the enemy was strong in both men and horses, but the volunteers had no reinforcements, were short of food and ammunition, and were forced to fight under the circumstances of poor clothing and cold climate. They used field fortifications to resist the powerful offensive of the US 1st Cavalry Division, the US 24th Division, the US 25th Division, the puppet 6th Division, the British 27th Brigade, the 29th Brigade, the Greek Battalion and other enemy forces!

On the morning of July 1.

There was thick fog on the south bank of the Han River and the soldiers were still sleeping soundly. The enemy suddenly launched a fierce attack on the Volunteer Army's positions and threatened that the United Nations forces would recapture Seoul within three days!

However, the enemy ignored the fighting will of the Volunteer Army and the People's Army!
Despite the fact that the Volunteer Army was at an all-round disadvantage and was far inferior to the enemy in terms of manpower, equipment, food and ammunition, they still fought against the enemy's powerful offensive with one against ten!
Taihua Mountain is the forward position at the western end of the 50th Army's defensive position, and further west is the position of the th Army.

The southern mountain of Caoxiali is covered with bushes and is a barrier to the main position of Taihua Mountain, tightly controlling the highway.

This road leads to Icheon in the east, Suwon in the west, and Jinyangchang in the south. Following this road northwest, you can reach Jing'anli and Seoul, so this is the only way for the enemy to invade the north.

After a week of rest, Xia Yuan was ordered to lead his troops to hold the place.

This is the front line of the 335th Regiment's position, the front line of the 112th Division's position, and the front line of the 38th Army's position. The importance of holding this place can be seen from this.

The Third Company's combat capability is obvious to all. Fan Tianen asked Xia Yuan to take the lead, and he also wanted to give the rampant U.S. military a head-on blow!
The 8th Company of the 335th Regiment was stationed here. The company commander was named Xu, a native of Ju County, Dongshan. He joined the army before the Japanese surrender and won many honors in the motherland's war of liberation. Although he was only 27 years old, there were a few wrinkles around his eyes, which showed his maturity and experience. He behaved peacefully and always gave people a sincere and simple smile.

When handing over, he specifically reminded: "The enemy has been conducting frequent reconnaissance these days and often bombards our positions with artillery. You must be careful of the enemy."

Xia Yuan nodded.

After the handover was completed, Xia Yuan led his men to check the situation of the position. There were bomb craters and scorched earth burned by gasoline bombs everywhere. The bunkers had been blown up and rebuilt countless times.

In the early morning, he stood on the main peak and looked ahead. The morning mist was thick and the earth was quiet, but his heart was very uneasy.

The more frequent the enemy's reconnaissance, the closer the day of the enemy's attack is. As this place is the front line of defense, it will inevitably suffer the first round of fierce attacks from the enemy. We must do the pre-war work carefully. Any carelessness will bring immeasurable losses to the battle.

Xia Yuan walked along the ridge towards the frontier position, Hill 331.

The soldiers from squad six were guarding Hill 331. Three of them were serving as observation posts. There was thick fog in front of them and they couldn't see anything, so they couldn't help chatting.

Because the weather was too cold, they stamped their feet from time to time, or covered their mouths with their hands, hissing and laughing to keep warm. Suddenly, a soldier broke the silence and said, "Today is January 1th. In a few days, it will be the Spring Festival."

Spring Festival! What a longed-for day.

Just when everyone was immersed in the joy of welcoming the Spring Festival, the enemy launched an attack on the friendly neighbor Suwon position. The 38th Army was ordered to enter the position. After several days of intense construction of fortifications and fighting wits and courage with the enemy's artillery fire, they almost forgot about the Spring Festival.

Now when they mention it, they can't help but miss their relatives in the motherland, the family gathering around the stove to keep warm, eating reunion dinner, wishing each other a happy new year, and the crackling sound of firecrackers. These complicated thoughts flooded into the soldiers' minds, but they will spend the Spring Festival in the war.

A tall and thin soldier from Sichuan No. 4 said with emotion: "The Spring Festival in our hometown this year will definitely be more lively than last year. We in Sichuan No. 4 have not only achieved rent and interest reduction, but also implemented land reform this year. The good days that our ancestors have been looking forward to for generations are coming."

The soldiers talked more and more excitedly, and every time they thought of the peace in their homeland, the happiness on their faces became more intense.

Xia Yuan walked over and was dazed for a moment when he heard the three people chattering.

Spring Festival, he remembered this day, when he first came here, it was New Year’s Eve, and later he met the 335th Regiment.

"For the sake of our motherland and people to have a good Spring Festival, it is worthwhile for us to suffer a little here. How are your preparations?"

"Company commander!"

The three men stood at attention immediately and said happily: "Captain, don't worry. The enemy is coming, we must 'entertain' them well."

"Big talk is useless, you have to show your real ability when the time comes!"

Xia Yuan took the soldier's gun, pulled the bolt, and looked at the chamber. The rifling was shining. He returned the gun to the soldier and said, "Take off the grenade."

The soldier didn't know what was going on and looked at Xia Yuan in confusion, then slowly untied four grenades and handed them to him.

Xia Yuan twisted the grenades one by one, handed one to the soldier, and said in a commanding tone: "Unscrew it."

The soldier took the grenade and tried his best to open it, but he still couldn't open it even though his face turned red and his neck became thick.

Xia Yuan said seriously: "If we are so careless, how can we properly entertain the enemy when they come?"

"Company commander." The soldier lowered his head in shame.

"Put it in your arms to warm it up and loosen the lid." Xia Yuan said.

These are all experiences. When they were in Changjin Lake, the weather was freezing cold. The food was frozen hard, the bolts of the guns were frozen and could not be pulled open, and their grenades were never covered with lids, because once the lids were screwed on and not used for a night, the grenade lids could not be opened.

"You should divide the work among yourself. Who will observe the south side of the road, who will observe the west side of the road, and who will observe the foot of the mountain? If everyone looks around, it will be difficult to neglect it."

"The Spring Festival in my hometown is because of the peaceful days. Now the Americans want to bring the war to my hometown, but we can't do that. Otherwise, we won't be able to celebrate the Spring Festival in peace in the future."

"We must protect our motherland!"

Xia Yuan gave some instructions and left.

The sun came out, and as the thick fog gradually disappeared, a burst of fierce artillery fire was heard in the distance.

Xia Yuan sat on a large bluestone, holding a weed in his mouth, looking around. Suddenly, his face tensed, "Xiao Miao, go and inform everyone to get ready for battle immediately. The enemy is coming!"

Xiao Miao was the company's communicator. He was looking at the road with a telescope, but he saw tree sleds moving on the road.

"It's a tree shovel. Why didn't I see the company commander yesterday? Is that an enemy?"

"Don't expose your target!"

He pulled Xiao Miao, trotted along, and jumped into the trench.

A battalion of enemy troops, under the cover of more than a dozen tanks, divided into three routes and headed east of Nanshan, Xiacaoli, which was controlled by the Third Company. Unexpectedly, the arrogant enemy even learned how to disguise during the attack. It seems that they will become smarter after being beaten.

Xia Yuan felt that a fierce battle was about to begin. In order to guard against casualties from enemy artillery fire, even his assistant was hiding behind the mountain. He asked Xiao Miao to go and notify everyone to prepare for battle.

He believed that the enemy had not yet discovered them and would definitely not advance rashly, so a search must be conducted.

Xia Yuan decided to use the bushes all over the mountain and the positions of the four squads in front to attack the enemy. He would try to wait for the enemy to get close, and then suddenly open fire to give the enemy a warning.

Try not to expose the main position as much as possible.

The two platoon leaders arrived upon being ordered. Xia Yuan explained the situation to them and said to the second platoon leader in a decisive tone, "You guys go first. The machine guns quickly move into the bushes in the left front. Everyone else stay hidden behind the mountain!"

"Yes!"

Second platoon leader Li Zhenbao left excitedly.