American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Firi explained, "There are mines everywhere outside the barbed wire. I can't let the soldiers go out to rescue people and risk stepping on mines."

　So David returned to the front lines and, along with other reporters, threw canned drinks and food to the women trapped on the battlefield and inquired about their origins. He learned that they were all daughters of Hue citizens or wealthy landowners in the countryside, their families captured and executed by North Vietnamese agents or sent to labor camps. He himself, after being raped, was "used" and brought to Hai Van Ling to serve as a "human shield."

　In the end, only seven or eight lucky women managed to crawl across the battlefield littered with corpses and received treatment from American military doctors.

　As for the other women, they either stepped on landmines on the way or were too seriously injured to move, and died after struggling for a while.

　In order to prevent the corpses from rotting and spreading the plague, Firi ordered the battlefield to be bombarded with incendiary bombs, burning the corpses into charcoal, which was a cremation.

　David Halberstam felt extremely heavy-hearted as he watched the corpses and dying seriously injured soldiers gradually become unrecognizable in the firelight.

　Although as a war correspondent, he had seen too much brutality and ugliness, gloom and filth in the vortex of the Vietnam War.

　But it was the first time for him to witness such a visually impactful and cruel scene as today.

　This made David wonder what caused these brutal deaths and whether it was a mistake for the United States to come here to fight.

　Then, after returning to Da Nang, David Halberstam met many "boat people" who had fled by sea from Saigon in the south and Hue in the north, and learned from them that Hue and Saigon, which were currently occupied by the Viet Cong, were in a bloody and violent turmoil.

　——In the occupied South Vietnamese territory, the Viet Cong implemented an extremely radical policy of nationalization of the economy. All private enterprises were confiscated, and the currency previously issued by the South Vietnamese government was directly abolished and cleared, making the life savings of the urban middle class and Chinese merchants disappear.

　In addition, as a complementary measure to the socialization of the economy, the Vietnamese Communist Party continued to implement its old "social reform program" of executing people based on a percentage of the total population, continuously arresting and killing people in various places. It is said that a death list of one million people had been drawn up!

　Such an inhumane "robbery" policy and the bloody style of demanding money and lives scared the people of South Vietnam into fleeing and sailing out to sea.

　Even in the midst of war and chaos, ordinary people could only get some messy broken ships. Not to mention encountering a storm, as long as they left the relatively safe coastal waters and lost their way in the vast ocean, or encountered slightly more intense sea conditions, it was possible that all the people on the ship would be wiped out.

　But even so, they would rather risk dying in shipwreck, disease and hunger and thirst and flee the land under Viet Cong rule without hesitation.

　Of course, the Vietnamese boat people who had the courage to flee to Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines were only a minority. The final destination of most Vietnamese boat people was Da Nang and Phu Quoc Island, which had not yet fallen in South Vietnam. After all, sailing along the coastline should be relatively safer.

　When they talked about the atrocities committed by the Viet Cong after entering the city and the miserable experiences they had during their escape, each of them burst into tears.

　It also made David Halberstam deeply feel the complexity of this world and the eternal suffering of the human world.

　Well, it seems that even if the US military had not set foot in this country, the Vietnamese would still have killed people and left corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowing like rivers!

　At the same time, Firi in the Haiyunguan Command Center was feeling dizzy because of another unbelievable piece of bad news.

　"What? The Vietcong that started from Saigon and headed north along Highway 1 have reached Qui Nhon today, only 200 kilometers away from us? Oh my god, are we really going to be attacked by two Vietcong groups on Hai Van Ridge, one from the south and one from the north?"

　In addition to the "high-flying" B-52 strategic bombers, A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft taking off from Da Nang Airport and US aircraft carriers, and Huey helicopters carrying heavy machine guns, come to visit 24 hours a day, plowing repeatedly along the road from Hue to Hai Van Ling.

　Hundreds of North Vietnamese trucks, artillery tractors, and other vehicles were reduced to charred husks in the airstrikes. Over forty T-34 tanks, having made the long journey south from Hanoi, were destroyed along this "Death Highway" without even a chance to fire a single shot.

　There was no other way. The poorly equipped North Vietnamese army had no means of attacking US aircraft carriers or the Da Nang airport, so the US military didn't need to implement a blackout. Both the aircraft carriers and the airport could operate at night with lights on, allowing for 24-hour continuous attacks.

　The village where Le Duc Anh and his men were stationed, serving as the North Vietnamese frontline headquarters during the Hai Van Ling Campaign, had been repeatedly raided by enemy aircraft dozens of times this week due to frequent radio communications. The bombs dropped were estimated to have exceeded 500 tons.

　After enduring so many firestorms, the village was completely devoid of huts and brick buildings, save for a few shattered concrete structures that stood like charred, dead trees. All that remained were scorched earth and blackened rubble, buried beneath piles of charred corpses, emitting a pungent stench of decay. Amidst the deafening roar of explosions, soldiers retreated in droves to the tunnels, feeling the tremors of the ground in the damp, dim air, like rats.

　Seeing the American planes roaring away, the disheveled surviving soldiers rushed out of the air-raid shelters like ants pouring out of an ant nest.

　Many of them were injured, their faces blackened by fireworks, and their uniforms splattered with blood, but they still struggled to come out for some fresh air.

　Although the air outside was filled with the stench of smoke and burning, it was much better than the "complex smell" that had been suffocating in the air-raid shelter for so long.

　Thanks to his quick reflexes and good luck, Le Duc Anh escaped largely unscathed, but his driver, guard, and orderly were all killed, and the radio, office supplies, and cooking utensils he had brought with him were all destroyed in the explosion, along with all the codes, orders, files, and other documents.

　So, now he had nothing to do but squat on the ruins, which reeked of burning and corpses, staring blankly at the muddy river at the village entrance. This river flowed down from Haiyun Ridge. Due to a heavy rain the previous night, the river had overflowed to a width of more than ten meters, and on it floated a tangled mess of wood, soaked rags, and bloated corpses. Among them were the bodies of dead soldiers and many naked women.

　Le Duc Anh's reaction was calm. Having served in the military for years, he had long been accustomed to seeing all kinds of corpses: those shot to death, those curled up by incendiary bombs, those tortured and disemboweled. He had never felt any pity for these counter-revolutionaries whose deaths were not worth regretting.

　——He knew about and condoned the fact that the front-line troops used "family members of counter-revolutionaries" as human shields to step on landmines and explore the way.

　After all, since the war began, they had easily galloped over a hundred kilometers and captured the ancient capital of Hue in one breath, but then suffered a crushing defeat at Hai Van Ridge. The frustration and pain of the entire army were indescribable. It could be said that there was anger mixed with the pain, and madness mixed with the anger.

　Overhead, there were relentless airstrikes, an impenetrable fortress in front, and behind them, the roaring rage of the capital. While the frontline troops endured daily bombings, struggling to move forward, Hanoi poured in demanding action. First, "Break through Hai Van Ridge within 48 hours." Then, "Break through Hai Van Ridge within 72 hours." Then, "Break through Hai Van Ridge within five days."

　As for the various difficulties encountered by the front-line troops, the top leaders of the Workers' Party in Hanoi turned a blind eye to them and just urged the troops to attack.

　The air defense problem was not solved at all, the logistics were in a mess, the frontline soldiers had to rely on collecting food locally, and there was no replenishment when the ammunition was used up.

　It was obvious that it was impossible to break through the enemy's defense line before the rainy season arrived, but they still had to continue fighting.

　Everyone hated the unpopular high-ranking officials in Hanoi, and also hated the enemy on the opposite side. The greater the casualties of the troops, the more furious the fighting became.

　If we keep this resentment in our hearts, we have to find a way to vent it, otherwise everyone will go crazy.

　If it is impossible to eliminate the enemy troops hiding behind the solid defense line, then it would be a good idea to vent your anger on the "counter-revolutionaries" on the Hue Plain.

　——In recent days, the various "anti-counterrevolutionary workers" sent by Le Duan from Hanoi, along with their spies and soldiers who had just withdrawn from the front line of Hai Van Ridge, have been going crazy with killing on the Hue Plain, shooting at least a thousand "landlord, rich peasant, bourgeois counterrevolutionaries" every day.

　There were so many corpses that there was no time to deal with them. The lazy soldiers simply threw the dead into the bomb craters left by American planes.

　As a result, when the enemy planes bombed again, the bodies that had just been buried were blown out again, and the rotten internal organs and flesh splattered everywhere.

　In this situation, rather than letting these "counter-revolutionaries" die in the rear and waste bullets, it is better to send them to the front to consume the enemy's ammunition and block the enemy's guns. This can be considered as effectively utilizing the surplus value of these class enemies and allowing them to atone for their sins for the people.

　If we can shake the enemy's will and create a

　Chaos, thus breaking through Haiyun Ridge, would naturally be the best outcome.

　Unfortunately, the Americans guarding Haiyun Ridge are obviously too hard-hearted and not as weak-willed as the former South Vietnamese army.

　Right now, we have tried every conceivable tactic here, and the troops have suffered over 10,000 casualties, but we still haven't been able to break through Haiyun Ridge!

　In fact, if the General Staff were allowed to make a plan, it should have been the same as when they fought the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, organizing a large number of engineers and transport troops, taking at least two months to repair the roads in the war zone, letting the engineers clear mines and build bunkers, and quietly transporting heavy artillery to various hilltops.

　Finally, move the participating infantry to the most suitable starting position, and launch a general attack on the enemy position under the cover of heavy artillery fire.

　But the North Vietnamese high-level officials, who were eager for quick results, refused to give the plan even for two weeks, let alone two months, and were determined to sweep the entire south before the rainy season.

　This forced the North Vietnamese troops on the Hai Van Ling front to repeatedly charge their flesh and blood into the enemy's guns and cannons with almost no artillery cover, and then retreat with corpses everywhere - courage and spirit could not defeat steel and gunpowder after all!

　What to do? Mission Impossible just can't be accomplished!

　Just as Le Duc Anh was feeling worried, he saw an officer rush out of his shelter with a beaming face, waving a telegram in his hand: "Victory news! Victory news! Our southern comrades have reached Quang Ngai Province, only a hundred kilometers away from Da Nang! Just a few more days of holding on, and we'll be victorious!"

　"Huh?" Li Deying was stunned for a moment. He felt disbelief at first, and then mixed emotions.

　How should I put it? To use a politically incorrect analogy, it felt like the Nazi German army was still fighting hard at the gates of Moscow, desperately unable to reach the Kremlin and Red Square, but heard that the Japanese army to the east had crossed the Ural Mountains and would soon join them from the opposite side!

　What's the big deal?

　Although it is indeed good news, why does it feel absurd and outrageous?

　-

　On the other hand, Firi, who returned to Da Nang from the front line for a meeting, also heard about this outrageous military news and was shocked.

　"The Viet Cong guerrillas who set out from Saigon have already traveled nearly a thousand kilometers north along the coastline? Are they almost entering Quang Nam Province from the south?"

　Looking at the long, thin red arrow on the map that went from the Mekong Delta northward to Da Nang, Ferry suddenly felt speechless - the Viet Cong had already reached Quang Ngai Province, next to Quang Nam Province, and was only a few dozen kilometers away from Chu Lai, the important military town in Quang Nam Province.

　The newly appointed "President of Guangnan Kingdom," Zun Shiding, is he really planning to be demoted to the position of Governor of Guangnan Province?

　Well, by the way, a Vietnamese province is about the size of a Chinese county on average. If we were to use the same scale as a large county in a place like Sichuan, then Zun Shiding, who actually controls the entire province of Guangnan, would actually have a jurisdiction area roughly the same as the Goose City County Magistrate in "Let the Bullets Fly."

　However, General Sonmuro said that he was also troubled by this. But he had too few troops and was really powerless to change the situation in the south.

　Although Phiri helped him withstand the frenzied attacks of the North Vietnamese regular army at Hai Van Ridge, the already furious Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese special forces continued to infiltrate western Quang Nam Province from across the Truong Son Mountains, particularly from Attapeu on the Bolaven Plateau, wreaking havoc. No matter how many were killed, they continued to advance, refusing to turn back or stop.

　Today, Zun Shiding is gathering the remnants of the old South Vietnamese regime and mobilizing local Catholic militias. He has finally gathered together 20,000 to 30,000 militiamen, 3,000 to 4,000 mobile troops, and more than 2,000 foreign reinforcements to guard the rear. It seems that he still has some combat effectiveness.

　However, in the endless security battles and mopping-up campaigns, this size of force still seems to be stretched to the limit.

　In particular, the Hai Van Ridge defense line itself was not guarded tightly, and some North Vietnamese soldiers slipped in from time to time. General Zun Shiding had to personally command his own troops and rely on the cooperation of the Catholic militia on the outskirts of Da Nang to strangle these stubborn and diehard communists.

　Furthermore, the small "Quang Nam Kingdom" regime established by Tun Shi had only been in operation for a week. With the exception of Quang Nam, where Da Nang was located, no other province in South Vietnam recognized Tun Shi's "Quang Nam Kingdom" and would not obey his orders.

　Under such circumstances, even if Zun Shiding wanted to interfere in the military and political affairs of other provinces, he could not find a suitable handle for a while.

　In short, he could certainly send telegrams and make phone calls to issue orders, but what if the other party only reads the messages and never responds?

　What’s even more terrible is that these provinces not only refused to submit to the Quang Nam government established by Zun Shi Ding, but they were even unable to protect themselves from the Viet Cong.

　Through a group of military academy students who had managed to escape Dadao and rushed all the way north to Da Nang along Highway 700, Zun Shiding finally figured out why the Viet Cong guerrillas heading north along Highway 1 were able to run so fast:

　First, before the Viet Cong army arrived, the cities along the way were flooded with refugees, overwhelming any armed forces that wanted to defend themselves. Second, the Viet Cong seized a large number of cars and fuel from the refugees stuck on the roads, achieving a beggar's version of mechanization...

　What? Refugees blocking the road?

　As long as they dare to open fire and clear the area with bullets, the refugees will be nothing more than a pile of supplies to be looted in front of the army.

　Just a package.

　In short, facing the Viet Cong's rapid advance in the southern provinces, Son Thi Dinh could only sigh in frustration and rage.

　However, after complaining a lot, Zun Shiding still assured with confidence that the Haiyunling defense line would never be attacked from both sides.

　Although he, the president of Guangnan, could not issue orders outside the province, the width of Guangnan Province from north to south was still about 60 to 70 kilometers!

　In Zhu Lai, on the southern border of Quang Nam Province, Zun Shiding had already deployed defensive forces - relying on the group of military academy students who escaped from the Dadao Military Academy as the backbone. He recalled retired veterans in Zhu Lai and conscripted many men at the same time. He finally managed to form a garrison, built fortifications that could block Highway 1, and established refugee camps to accommodate war refugees, claiming that he could "keep the enemy out of the provincial border."

　Fili had heard a lot of empty talk like this, both in the United States and in South Vietnam, and his first impression was that it was unlucky.

　But since General Zunshi Ding was so confident, or at least seemed so confident, Fili couldn't say anything more.

　Well, anyway, as the commander of the US forces in Vietnam, he is only a temporary transition and acting fire chief. He will be considered qualified if he can put out the flames in front of him.

　As for the rest, that is the job of the successor sent by the Pentagon.

　After all, the reinforcements from various US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region have already set off and are on their way to the Vietnam battlefield.

　The next commander of the US forces in Vietnam, General Westmoreland, has boarded a ship in Okinawa and will soon arrive in Da Nang with his troops.

　As long as General Westmoreland arrives in Vietnam and launches the attack, all will be well...

　Author's words: PS: Historically, the crazy policies of Vietnam's Le Duan led to 150 million Vietnamese boat people fleeing by illegal means, and another 150 million people perished.

　In fact, it is not impossible for Vietnam to annex the three countries and establish the Indochina Federation - there is nothing absolutely impossible in this world.

　But this also requires China's approval, right? In order to unify Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia not only sought diplomatic support from Britain but also ceded Garibaldi's homeland to France in exchange for Napoleon III's tacit approval. Even this was often complained about by the French, who thought the price was too cheap.

　But Le Duan attacked from all sides, beating China and Thailand at both ends - the Vietnamese army even crossed Cambodia and attacked the Thai mainland!

　Normally, shouldn't Vietnam use the land on its northern border as a bribe to buy China's permission to annex Cambodia?

　If the Kingdom of Sardinia in the 19th century had also relied on Britain's support and started wars like crazy on all sides, fighting France and Switzerland in the north, Austria in the east, and Sicily in the south, I wonder what the outcome would be?

　Chapter 243: Really Got Kicked in the Ass by the Viet Cong in the South!

　May 11, 1963, Nha Trang, central South Vietnam

　At this moment, looking towards the vast ocean in the east from the seaside holiday villa built by the former Emperor Bao Dai in Nha Trang, one can see a jaw-droppingly large American fleet anchored in the sunny sea.

　Tall masts flying the American flag, the naval flag, the Pacific Fleet flag and various signal flags extend continuously from a few hundred meters away from the coast. The farthest point has exceeded the horizon that is beyond the visual limit. Looking from the shore, it looks like a huge forest on the sea.

　Next, relatively small infantry landing craft, tank landing craft and landing command craft, like a group of quacking ducks, were guided by destroyers and minesweepers, weaving between these giant steel ships and then heading towards the broad beach of Nha Trang in groups.

　Hundreds of officers and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division, with the words "Guadalcanal" written on their armbands (commemorating the most glorious Guadalcanal Battle in the division's history), with tar smeared on their faces, serious expressions and excited moods, were preparing to step onto the first battlefield of their service career.

　——Although Ferry kept saying in Da Nang that "everything will be fine as long as General Westmoreland arrives in Vietnam and launches an attack."

　But in fact, the first US division-level unit to arrive at the Vietnam battlefield was not General Westmoreland and the 25th Infantry Division he transferred from Hawaii, but the 1st Marine Division, which had just been reorganized in the Philippines this year after being destroyed by the Soviet atomic bomb in Cuba last year.

　At the same time, as a Marine Division eager to fight and avenge its defeat with victory, the rebuilt 1st Marine Division did not go ashore in Da Nang, which was still firmly under its control. Instead, it chose to conduct a direct assault landing behind enemy lines in Nha Trang, a seaside resort already occupied by the Viet Cong!

　However, although it was called a surprise landing, the US Marine Division that landed in Nha Trang hardly fired a single shot during the entire process.

　Compared with the bloody and brutal island battles in the Pacific War, the landing of the 1st Marine Division in Nha Trang was as easy as a drill.

　——There were no mines in the bay, no bunkers or obstacles on the beach, and no bullets fired at American soldiers in the city.

　Although local female students did not organize to lay wreaths for the American soldiers, no one planned to greet the invaders with steel and fire.

　After all, it had only been a few days since the Vietcong occupied Nha Trang. The Vietcong troops passing through had left only a few cadres in Nha Trang to collect "special wartime taxes" and distribute some political leaflets and a few of their red, blue, and gold flags. Apart from that, they had virtually no garrison left in Nha Trang.

　then

　When these Viet Cong cadres saw the American fleet covering the entire sea and heading towards Nha Trang, they fled immediately.

　Therefore, the scene of the 1st Marine Division of the United States entering the Vietnam war zone for the first time was like a comedy.

　When the American soldiers carefully landed on the beach, they were greeted not by machine guns and artillery shells, but by curious children and beggars who came up to them to beg for money. Then, they went to capture the hills near Nha Trang to seize the commanding heights, but they found that there were no living people on those hills, only a group of monkeys - faced with the invasion of their cousins ​​who had evolved to walk upright and were fully armed, the monkeys had no choice but to surrender.

　In short, the entire army landed without blood, as if it were a routine exercise, and easily captured the main objectives: was this a bad omen or a good omen?

　Puzzled, the Marines squatted idly by the roadside and on the hilltops, staring blankly, and sent messages back to the rear: "The airfield and dock have been captured, with minimal damage. The enemy offers no resistance. To be more precise, the enemy is nowhere to be found. God knows where they are hiding."

　The Pentagon had no idea what tricks the enemy was playing, so it could only ask the 1st Marine Division to cut off the road, check pedestrians, and switch to defense on the spot.

　The officers kicked the soldiers' butts, urging them to set up tents and dig trenches, while looking around with binoculars from high above, trying to find the legendary Viet Cong guerrillas. But in the end, apart from buffaloes and monkeys, they only saw farmers working the fields and homeless people hiding under the trees.

　Everything seemed so peaceful and tranquil, so peaceful that the soldiers thought they were on a trip while eating canned food.

　Intelligence agents scoured the city for people who spoke English or French, trying to find out what was really going on in the area.