American Strategic Deception Bureau

　For example, today, even though the North Vietnamese soldiers had tried their best to disperse and hide as quickly as possible, the A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft still dived down with the sharp wind and dropped napalm bombs in their direction.

　——The wealthy American pilots will destroy the entire forest without hesitation if they notice any movement in the forest!

　"Boom!!!"

　In an instant, the flames and shock waves from the explosion of the aerial bombs turned a large area of ​​jungle into a sea of ​​fire, and also burned the soldiers hiding in it into torches.

　These conspicuous "fire men" running around on the ground attracted more A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft, which dropped more napalm bombs, sending flames more than ten meters high into the sky, emitting hellish screams, and leaving large areas of horrific charred marks in the jungle.

　In just over ten minutes, most of the soldiers in a battalion were burned to death in the jungle. Only a very small number of people who rolled into the stream managed to escape temporarily. They were able to linger on while looking at the enemy planes in the sky with desperate eyes, as if even their souls were shattered.

　Even if these Skyraider attack planes swooped down again and fired at them with machine guns, they no longer had the strength to dodge.

　After finally waiting for the American planes to run out of ammunition and gain altitude before flying away, the North Vietnamese stretcher bearers and medics, hiding in a shack in the distant jungle, cautiously approached, attempting to search and rescue the wounded from the scorched earth. However, before they could reach the airstrike site, which was filled with the stench of burning, they heard a loud boom, and a medic was blown away in a bloody mess—he had stepped on an enemy mine.

　Since the US military deployed its defenses in Haiyunling, it has been using the method of air-dropping mines.

　They used planes to drop mines randomly on the northern slope of Hai Van Ridge, scattering them everywhere... Although the method of laying mines was crude, it was not difficult for North Vietnamese engineers to clear the mines, but it took time!

　But what the North Vietnamese Army lacks most right now is time. They must break through the defense line before the rainy season arrives!

　As a result, North Vietnamese soldiers had to step on the mines with their bodies, and every time they walked through the grass, they risked their lives.

　Many North Vietnamese generals were even cursing: "Just look at how densely the Americans laid the mines." Were the Americans and the reactionaries planning to stay in their shells in the south forever, never coming down the mountain to counterattack Hue?

　——Well, they have decided to engage in static defense and build Haiyunling into Ferry on the 38th parallel. They really have no intention of taking the initiative to attack.

　Because in his impression, don't American soldiers always just squat and fire when fighting?

　For ordinary US soldiers other than special forces, large-scale mobile warfare and infiltration are the incorrect and evil ways, okay?

　In a hidden observation post two kilometers away from the bombing site, Le Duc Anh, director of the Operations Bureau of the General Staff of the North Vietnamese People's Army, looked through a periscope at the tragic scene that was so tragic that it made him speechless and cry, and he sighed softly after a long time.

　Sure enough, just as the old soldiers said, when the bombs fall, only stones can remain unscathed.

　Although the jungles of Vietnam are naturally a good place for guerrillas to hide, only when American soldiers enter them can the Viet Cong fighters launch a full-scale fire attack on the invaders in every corner of the jungle.

　Unfortunately, the North Vietnamese army was the attacking force and had to leave the jungle and charge towards the enemy's defense line under the bombardment...

　In fact, the staff of the General Staff of the North Vietnamese People's Army strongly disapproved of the reckless decision to mobilize the entire country's troops right now, seize the tail end of the dry season to launch a head-on attack on Hai Van Ridge and directly attack Da Nang. They believed that this was a military adventure that was brave but foolish.

　After all, Hai Van Ridge has been famous in Vietnam since ancient times as an insurmountable natural barrier.

　The news that the United States is about to send a large number of troops and mobilize them across the Pacific into the Vietnam battlefield has been confirmed from various channels.

　After the US military launched a counterattack, it was already very good that the Hanoi authorities were able to hold on to the ancient Vietnamese capital of Hue.

　If you're still not satisfied and want to continue to break through Hai Van Ridge and rush to Da Nang, Chu Lai, or even Nha Trang and Cam Ranh Bay...

　This is reminiscent of the early stages of the Korean War in 1950. Despite receiving warnings that MacArthur was about to land in Incheon, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung still ordered his entire army to storm the Nakdong River defense line in an attempt to capture Busan, which ultimately nearly led to the demise of his country.

　Marx be my friend! It's only been ten years since the end of the Korean War! Shouldn't we learn from the lessons of our North Korean brothers?

　However, inspired by the southern comrades' easy capture of Saigon, the annihilation of over 10,000 American troops, and the establishment of the Republic of South Vietnam, radical leaders like Le Duan and Van Tien Dung in Hanoi were eager to win: "Those guerrillas in the south could easily take Saigon, annihilate over 10,000 American troops, and even capture the American ambassador and the commander of the US forces in Vietnam! Could we, the regular troops of the north, be unable to defeat even the few remnants of the reactionary regime in the south?"

　What? There are American troops on Hai Van Ridge? Aren't there any American troops in Saigon? Weren't they wiped out by the southern comrades like melons and vegetables?

　In short, the purpose of life is to fight for our dignity! If the regular army is not as good as the guerrillas, where can we put our dignity?

　To put it more seriously, if the North, as the "center", is not as powerful as the South, as the "local", how should the relationship between the central government and the local governments be handled?

　In ancient times, the one with the strongest army and the most powerful soldiers would be the emperor. Even modern central governments have to have a "strong trunk and weak branches"!

　Faced with the surging sentiment of the radicals and witnessing the relentless success of the Southern Liberation Front, conservative figures like Vo Nguyen Giap, Truong Chinh, and Ho Chi Minh eventually wavered, thinking they could take advantage of the gap before the main US forces arrived and attack Danang first.

　Therefore, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party quickly made a decision to start the war, and publicly mobilized the entire army, shouting the loud slogan - "Keep up the efforts, fight decisive battles and win! Launch a new Dien Bien Phu battle in Da Nang, and strive to liberate the whole country this year."

　Slogans such as "Turn Da Nang into the Dien Bien Phu of the 1960s" were soon hung in military camps across North Vietnam.

　I have to say, this slogan really makes people want to complain.

　Please, is the situation in Da Nang the same as that in Dien Bien Phu?

　Dien Bien Phu was an enclave deep inland, surrounded on all sides by Vietnamese troops. The French army there relied entirely on airlifted supplies to survive.

　Unfortunately, the French obviously overestimated their air transport capabilities. After the war broke out, they found that they simply could not provide enough transport planes to maintain the supply lines of more than 10,000 troops. By the time the Vietnamese army launched the general offensive, the more than 10,000 French troops in the Dien Bien Phu encirclement had only nine days of food!

　This made it impossible for the French army, which "depended on the weather for its livelihood", to conduct any mobile operations. They could only huddle in Dien Bien Phu and passively take the beating, otherwise they would run out of food.

　In other words, even if the Vietnamese army just surrounded Dien Bien Phu without firing a shot, as long as there was heavy rain for more than ten days, preventing planes from taking off and landing on the simple field airport, the 10,000 French troops who were camping out in Dien Bien Phu would be starved to death!

　(If Vo Nguyen Giap knew at the time that the French air transport capacity was so poor

　, maybe we'll just sit back and wait patiently for the rainy season to arrive.)

　Well, by the way, although the French troops in Dien Bien Phu only had nine days of rations, they did bring in prostitutes and even opened battlefield comfort stations...

　In short, it was mainly because the French army sought its own death and put itself in a desperate situation that the Vietnamese army was able to capture it in one fell swoop: as the runway of Dien Bien Phu Airport was blocked by Vietnamese field artillery and one transport plane after another turned into burning wreckage, the French army in Dien Bien Phu was doomed to be destroyed.

　But what about Da Nang? As its name suggests, it's not an inland basin like Dien Bien Phu. Da Nang not only boasts a far superior airport but also a fantastic deep-water port on the coast. Every day, ships arrive and depart, bringing reinforcements and supplies to the city.

　The Viet Cong guerrillas and underground party led by the South Liberation Front had tried their best, but they were unable to cut off Da Nang's supply lines, and even destroying the airport was difficult to achieve. Their best achievements were the assassination of some priests, nuns and officials, and the bombing of several church hospitals and schools.

　But this was of no use. Instead, it greatly aroused the hatred and hostility of the people of Da Nang, who were mainly Catholics, towards the Viet Cong.

　According to a report from the secretary of the Da Nang underground party committee, the residents of Da Nang were "generally ideologically poisoned," "deeply bewitched by foreign religions," and "beyond redemption." After the liberation of Da Nang, at least 30% of the population would be executed, and another 50% would be stuffed into the Gulag labor camps.

　——After listening to the underground party’s report, you will know how bad the Viet Cong’s “mass base” in Da Nang is at the moment.

　What’s even worse is that this secretary was subsequently arrested, and his report was not destroyed in time, but was published by the enemy.

　Now, the entire Catholic villages in Da Nang and its surrounding areas knew that the North Vietnamese army would massacre the city if they entered Da Nang...

　Therefore, the defenders on Haiyun Ridge will not be gradually weakened over time. Instead, they will become stronger with the arrival of reinforcements.

　Moreover, the North Vietnamese People's Army, which crossed the 17th parallel and marched south, had never stopped fighting since it easily captured Hue at the end of April.

　- The 20,000 South Vietnamese troops who collapsed and turned into mobs without fighting, as well as tens of thousands of police, spies, landlord militias and temple monks, and ordinary civilians who got guns and ammunition from the arsenal... They all posed a huge threat to the newly arrived North Vietnamese army.

　Although these rabble-rousers failed to prevent the North Vietnamese army from occupying Hue, it was a different story once the North Vietnamese army settled down.

　What's more, North Vietnam's ruling strategy for Hue was extremely iron-blooded and cruel, which immediately triggered an extremely strong backlash.

　——Since Hue was the old capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, and the process of Ngo Dinh Diem ending the Nguyen Dynasty, exiling Bao Dai and establishing the Republic in the 1950s was quite similar to Yuan Shikai's destruction of the Qing Dynasty and dethroning Emperor Xuantong in China, it was basically a peaceful transition without too much bloodshed and killing.

　As a result, many old people and young people from the Nguyen Dynasty, reactionary literati who liked to complain, various old forces with complex connections and a decadent atmosphere, such as monks in temples, shamans in temples, and some running dogs of French colonists were able to be preserved in the Hue area.

　These old forces, which were even more reactionary than Diem, certainly opposed Diem’s rule, but they were also the natural enemies of the North Vietnamese Workers’ Party!

　The solution proposed by Le Duan was just one word: kill!

　According to the instructions of the Hanoi authorities, the filth of Hue must be cleansed with blood and fire, and all kinds of counter-revolutionaries must be shot!

　It is roughly similar to the revolutionary army during the Xinhai period in China, which planned to kill all the Manchus after occupying Beijing.

　So, on the first day of entering Hue, the North Vietnamese army arrested and shot more than 3,000 "counter-revolutionaries" in the city, including a large number of foreign expatriates. In the following days, they arrested and executed nearly 10,000 people - the entire city of Hue had a population of only 140,000!

　Obviously, the Hue mob, armed with guns, would not surrender. The North Vietnamese army responded with violence—tanks blasted temples, crushed monks with their tracks, executed entire families of counter-revolutionaries, and left corpses hanging in the streets. They dug several mass graves.

　Compared with the North Vietnamese's brutal policy of "wiping out the whole family," the persecution of Buddhists by the Ngo Dinh Diem government can truly be described as gentle and mellow.

　Due to the radical and violent social reform policies and the exaggerated security policy of shooting one-tenth of the population, the Hue area under North Vietnamese occupation is now in a bloody storm. North Vietnamese soldiers are fighting enthusiastically with the local people.

　Moreover, American planes would often join in the fun, dropping bombs on the heads of North Vietnamese tanks or airdropping weapons to the desperate landlord militias.

　As a result, the counter-revolutionaries in Hue fought more fiercely with the North Vietnamese army. From Bien Hai River to Hai Van Ridge, there was no peace.

　Therefore, in this situation where there are dangerous passes in front and the rear is unstable, it is not the right time to launch the decisive battle of Da Nang!

　However, he couldn't change his mind; the higher-ups had already made the decision. As Director of the General Staff's Operations Bureau, Li Deying had no choice but to lead the team in developing a Haiyunling attack plan, a plan he himself wasn't entirely confident in.

　Then, in order to avoid mistakes in theoretical discussions, Li Deying personally went to the front line to observe and supervise the battle.

　As expected, just mobilizing the troops to catch up

　On their way to the front line and into the attack position, the North Vietnamese army had already suffered heavy losses from bombings by U.S. Air Force and Naval Aviation aircraft, and was also suffering terribly from the mines that were everywhere.

　Tanks had no way of traveling in the Haiyunling area where the roads were destroyed, and heavy artillery could not be pulled to the attack positions along the rugged mountain roads - unless it took two months to build the roads. Even the infantry was restricted by the terrain and found it difficult to launch attacks.

　As for bypassing Haiyun Ridge, making a big circle from the west inland, and attacking Da Nang behind Haiyun Ridge in a roundabout way?

　Well, if Hai Van Ridge could be easily bypassed, would the ancient Vietnamese emperors have to fight to the death with the Champa people for this place?

　Of course, it is possible to force the soldiers to abandon all their heavy equipment and, like an expedition, cross mountains and ridges in a completely roadless wilderness. However, it is hard to say how many will starve to death or fall to death along the way, and how much combat effectiveness will be left when they reach the outskirts of Da Nang.

　What’s more important is that there is no time at all!

　The rainy season is coming soon in Vietnam! There is no time to dilly-dally with the attacking team.

　So, no matter how many people die, just consider it as paying tuition!

　Le Duc Anh sighed as he forwarded the general attack order from Hanoi to all participating troops...

　Author's words: PS: After careful consideration, it is better not to recapture Saigon. It would be quite interesting to let Red South Vietnam be isolated like East Pakistan.

　If North Vietnam wanted to connect the north and south, it would either have to repeatedly attack Hai Van Ridge, which was as strong as the 38th parallel, or it would have to annex large tracts of Laos and Cambodia. If it could then directly turn itself into an aggressor, such as destroying Cambodia, then the subsequent developments would surely be very interesting.

　Would North Vietnam's annexation of Laos and Cambodia, without completely destroying South Vietnam, trigger a hostile response from China?

　Then, the area of ​​South Vietnam was reduced to a quarter or even a tenth of its original size. The number of troops the US military needed to deploy was naturally greatly reduced, and the security war became a positional war like the 38th parallel. The US military did not need to go to the villages to act as executioners... Wouldn't the Vietnam War be able to continue?

　Chapter 239: Brave and Fighting Miao Soldiers

　At dusk on May 5, 1963, the North Vietnamese regular army's first general offensive against the Hai Van Ridge defense line officially began in the twilight.

　Because the entire section of Highway 1 at Hai Van Ling had been destroyed by US bombing, the North Vietnamese army would soon find it difficult to move tanks and heavy artillery through the mountainous area. The 107mm rocket launcher, later hailed as a "guerrilla warfare artifact," was only recently finalized in China this year and, of course, could not be equipped to the Vietnamese.

　Therefore, when the North Vietnamese launched their first attack on the Hai Van Ridge defense line on the evening of May 5, their covering firepower consisted of only a few mortars and RPGs—and even these were hard-won. After all, North Vietnam couldn't even produce its own artillery shells, and China and the Soviet Union hadn't yet begun to provide significant aid to Vietnam. Even the ace divisions couldn't get enough artillery and RPG ammunition, and the shortage was severe.

　After hastily firing their few remaining artillery shells, the North Vietnamese soldiers blew their bugles and launched a "pig charge" across the mountains.

　But the problem was that they were climbing up the mountain, and the slope of Haiyun Ridge was very steep, so they couldn't climb faster even if they wanted to.

　Not to mention that there were mines under their feet and at least three barbed wire fences in front of them. They suffered heavy casualties before they even came into contact with the enemy.

　The Miao soldiers in the fortifications on the mountain took the opportunity to fire machine guns and submachine guns, causing the North Vietnamese soldiers to fall in large numbers. Then they called in artillery bombardment. For a moment, under the pale light of flares, shells of various calibers fell like hail on the enemy soldiers who were struggling to climb the mountain, blasting out a flashing corridor.

　Blood and flesh were flying everywhere, intestines were ruptured and spilling out everywhere, and the screams of the dying were louder than the sound of gunfire at one point.

　However, relying on their large numbers, a group of North Vietnamese infantrymen braved the hail of bullets from the mountain and stepped on the corpses of their comrades. They finally rushed through the minefields and barbed wire, howling and raising their bayoneted rifles, they engaged in close combat with the Laotian Miao soldiers guarding the trenches and strongholds.

　Because Vang Bao's Miao soldiers had all learned American tactics, they were accustomed to using numerous small defensive circles with coordinated firepower during defensive operations, rather than a single, clumsy, and rigid front. Therefore, a few lucky North Vietnamese soldiers managed to break through the defenses and even infiltrate the vicinity of Hai Van Pass's headquarters. Although the casualties among the defenders were actually not heavy, the sound of bullets whizzing around him still made Fili feel a little nervous.

　So General Wang Bao personally led his guards and rushed to the front line to plug the leak, and Firi also sent out his American reserve troops.

　It has to be said that although Wang Bao, the "Miao Lion", does not look good, with a round face and a flat nose like a kettle, he is indeed a legendary figure.

　Historically, he not only worked for the French colonial government, the Laotian government after independence, and the CIA, making him a true "three-surname slave", but he even took advantage of the Sino-Vietnamese conflict to obtain a large amount of military aid from China, as well as training services as a PLA instructor!

　——As a hero who could obtain generous military aid from both China and the United States at the same time, the warlord Wang Bao was considered unique in Southeast Asia at that time.

　Even Wang Bao's infiltration and luring of Chinese Miao cadres to defect to Laos, attempting to pull the Miao people from China to establish an independent kingdom in Laos, was ignored by Beijing because punishing Vietnam and giving the Vietcong a beating were more important at the time.

　past.

　Of course, being flexible and good at dancing is one thing, but being able to fight and dare to fight is the hard capital that allows Wang Bao to dance on a few eggs.

　——Just like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, if Lu Bu did not have his superb martial arts, he would not even be qualified to be a slave of three surnames!

　Therefore, as the front-line commander on Haiyun Ridge, Wang Bao performed at a top-notch level after calming down. He was able to find the main breakthrough point of the North Vietnamese army by relying on his intuition, and then dispatched troops to plug the leak, while calling on US artillery fire to suppress the enemy's subsequent attack forces.

　Meanwhile, the remnants of the American troops who had escaped from Saigon and other southern regions and were now serving as mobile reserves were now emboldened by their shame and were clamoring to regain their position on Hai Van Ridge. Even in the face of the overwhelming attack from the North Vietnamese army, they showed no fear and fought to the death.

　—Sniping, shooting, hand-to-hand combat… Roars in various languages ​​rang out across the night sky, occasionally accompanied by the explosion of grenades.

　Due to the tenacious resistance of the US and Laotian Miao soldiers, the North Vietnamese soldiers who had already reached the mountain were quickly consumed. However, their follow-up troops were blocked by the fierce artillery fire and could not rush forward at all. Both the South Vietnamese and US artillery were firing desperately and rapidly, and the shells were fired as densely as machine guns. The bombardment shook the Haiyun Ridge ground and mountains, and the ground was covered with flames and the sky was red.

　The entire northern slope of Hai Van Ridge trembled in the raging waves. Many North Vietnamese soldiers, caught off guard, were instantly blasted to pieces. Others had their eardrums ruptured, their internal organs tangled, and then they passed out, buried in the loose soil stirred up by the explosion.

　At the same time, accompanied by the rumbling sound of artillery on Hai Van Ridge, more than 20 motor fishing boats set out from Si Xian Port, southeast of Hue, under the cover of night, carrying a battalion of North Vietnamese suicide squads, attempting to use the cover of night to bypass Hai Van Ridge by sea and launch a surprise landing attack behind the defenders.

　But the problem is that the US military has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups in this sea area, monitoring the coastline with radar at all times.

　As a result, as soon as this North Vietnamese "Marine Corps" passed through Lang Co Bay, it was spotted by a surveillance US destroyer, which then opened fire and sank all the fishing boats. The few North Vietnamese soldiers who struggled to swim ashore were also killed on the beach by patrolling US Marines.

　In this way, the two sides fought from five in the afternoon to midnight. The North Vietnamese army was finally exhausted, and the gunfire on the battlefield gradually became sparse.

　At daybreak, Fili, wearing his helmet, patrolled the front lines, supervising the Black Marines' crematorium company, which had just arrived the day before, to dispose of the bodies. He discovered that almost nothing remained in front of the hilltop position: the foot of the mountain was littered with fallen enemy bodies, the shrubbery and vegetation on the slopes had vanished, and the once lush green mountainside was now bare. Corpses lay crisscrossed upon rows of blown-off tree stumps. Smoke rose from the charred craters, like wounds in the earth. Around the edges of the craters, where the earth and vegetation had been swept up, were scattered rags, gun parts, and human remains.

　There were also several seriously wounded North Vietnamese soldiers with missing limbs, lying or sitting blankly on the "isolated islands" between the craters, wailing.

　This scene, coupled with the pungent smoke and stench of corpses, really makes people feel like they are in purgatory.

　This is war!

　Although he has been a soldier for a long time, Fili, who has been working in logistics and marketing for a long time, has only now gained some real feeling of the battlefield.

　How should I put it? I wouldn’t say I’m that scared, but I do feel a little emotional.