However, before starting the operation, you should still explain some very important things that you have in mind to the platoon commander. Now he thought as he ran through the trench. The most important thing is to let the platoon commander know that his and the 8th squad's actions are feints, and the 7th and 9th squads led by the platoon commander himself are carrying out the main attack task, so before the 8th squad starts, they must not act rashly along the way and expose themselves to the Soviet army prematurely!

It was too late to turn back and tell the platoon commander what he said. He couldn't and didn't want to stop the ongoing attack. "A platoon commander is such a smart person, he would think of this." He comforted himself in this way and stopped thinking about it.

His attention had been drawn to the Soviet firepower points above the heights. He himself approached the fan-shaped fire zone of the light machine gun at the western end of the third trench with the rest of the class of seven. The ballistics of the Soviets were very low, and strings of bullets dragged red bullets and fell on the cliffs on both sides of the second trench, "squeaking" and burrowing into the dirt. Gong Wenxuan slammed down at the bottom of the ditch, feeling his heart clog to his throat.

"Pass backwards, crawl forward!" He gave the order behind him, steadied himself, and led the class to continue moving forward at the bottom of the trench covered by Soviet fire.

A few minutes later, he had already brought 8 squads into the center of the area covered by the Soviet fire network.

For this reason, he was mentally ready to go into battle at any time. To his surprise: until they finally approached the communication trench on the east side of the northern slope of the high ground, which led to the third trench, the Soviets had not yet discovered them!

He raised his head slightly under the edge of the ditch and looked at the Soviet position 50 meters above. He saw the heavy machine gun that was constantly spewing out a dazzling ball of fire, which was located on the machine gun position two meters to the left of the top of the communication trench, and was clearly extinguished; On the right is the light machine gun that he had seen before he set off; On both sides of the light machine guns and heavy machine guns, a dozen submachine guns and automatic rifle firing points were scattered, which, together with the light and heavy machine guns, constituted the most dense section of the third trench fire. He rejoiced: it was the deafening reverberation of the dense Soviet firing in the mountains that drowned out the sound of their movement in the second trench, and the flickering fire of the Soviet guns dazzled the shooters' own eyes and concealed their whereabouts under the noses of the other side!

There's an opportunity here! Looking at the trench leading to the Soviet position, half of which was shrouded in night, and from time to time it was lit up by strings of tracer bullets; Half of it was shone by the fire spewed from the muzzle of the Soviet army. Gong Wenxuan noticed that his heart was beating fast and urgently! should take advantage of the fact that the Soviet army is unaware, touch it in one go, suddenly appear on the position of the Soviet army, hit him in the center and bloom, and be caught off guard! He thought.

Immediately, I felt sorry in my heart: there was only less than a squad of troops behind him, and even if he could rush to the Soviet position, it would not be enough to completely subdue the Soviet army in a melee!

His mind calmed down slightly. Now he thought that the battle plan of "striking the east and attacking the west" that was mostly planned by him was not invulnerable. Knowing that there would be such an opportunity, he should have asked the platoon commander to bring the 7th and 9th squads over and concentrate his forces to carry out a fierce assault on the Soviet positions from the center, ensure that the Soviet positions were boarded in one fell swoop, cut the Soviet troops into two sections, and then divide the troops into two directions to the left and right to open fire, eliminate the remnants of the Soviet troops who could not take care of each other, or at least drive them all out of the third trench - even if the latter two situations occur, the situation on the high ground will change fundamentally!

One person should be sent back and asked the platoon commander to bring all the 7th and 9th squads! As soon as this determination was formed in his mind, what he had feared just now happened!

From the bottom of the traffic trench to the west, a series of gunshots suddenly rang out loudly! "Dada——!" The Soviet troops on the hill were stunned for a moment, but immediately reacted, accompanied by a shout of horror, and almost all the muzzles of their guns turned towards the place where the guns were fired. In an instant, the section of the traffic trench and trench where Class 7 and Class 9 were located was covered by a net of fire that destroyed everything!

Gong Wenxuan's heart sank suddenly!

If the Soviets were allowed to concentrate their firepower, it would not be long before the 7th and 9th squads would lose their combat effectiveness, and they would be the main force in carrying out this offensive!

Platoon commander, they were still exposed before the start of the 8th squad! He was responsible, he should have explained clearly to the platoon commander before the operation began, but he didn't do that!

The platoon commander and the 7 squad and the 9 squad must be rescued from a desperate situation as soon as possible! For this reason, he and the 8th squad must immediately attack and attract the fire of the Soviet army to their side!

All these thoughts came to his mind in a short instant. He did not hesitate any longer, and immediately issued an attack order to the whole squad: "The deputy squad leader with machine gun cover!" The others come with me—"

By the time he uttered his last words, he had jumped to his feet and ran to the traffic trench in front of him. He didn't crawl forward, only bent a little in the run. The first part of the road was still lucky: the Soviets on the hill were only interested in firing at the attackers found at the northwest slope, and did not immediately notice the small group coming up from the east; This enabled him to climb two-thirds of the steep slope in less than 10 minutes, moving to a distance of seven or eight meters from the muzzle of the Soviet light and heavy machine guns.

According to his original plan, he was going to lead the soldiers behind him all the way to the Soviet position.

The reason why he had to stop was that the Soviets had blocked the exit of the communication trench with many empty ammunition boxes when they had shrunk up from the second trench, so that he could not rush into the third Soviet trench in one go. And because there was a light and heavy machine gun of the Soviet army on both sides of the exit of the blocked communication trench, no matter which side he wanted to rush up from, he had to shoot out one of the machine guns first!

Without thinking about it, he chose the Soviet heavy machine gun as the target of his first attack, because it was the most threatening target for the platoon commander and the 7th and 9th squads at the moment. Gong Wenxuan also did not forget the light machine gun in the upper right of the traffic trench. He first calmly leaned his body against the ditch wall on the east side of the communication trench, took out two uncovered grenades from behind, roughly estimated the distance with his eyes, and at the same time pulled the fuse, threw them into the Soviet trench behind the heavy machine guns, and then quickly threw two grenades at the Soviet light machine gun position in the upper right. As soon as the grenade thrown at the Soviet heavy machine gun position exploded, he had already rolled out of the communication trench, jumped up on the slope below the Soviet heavy machine gun position, rushed up quickly, and the submachine gun on his chest also "clicked" towards the Soviet position!

The light and heavy machine guns of the Soviet army were dumb before he could board the Soviet trenches; Seven or eight rifle and submachine gun firing points close to the light and heavy machine guns also stopped firing in panic during his ensuing close firing. When Gong Wenxuan jumped up to the Soviet trench in three steps and two steps, he subconsciously glanced back and found that the only four soldiers behind him also rushed up. The submachine gun on his chest never stopped firing, and he saw with his own eyes that with the light of the fire from the muzzle of his gun, the three or four Soviet soldiers who were lying on the edge of the trench on the east side of the Soviet heavy machine gun dropped their guns and stood up, and then fell backwards! He was about to turn his gun to the western trench - and without turning around, he was struck in the left chest again and again by a burst of bullets!

What hit him was a Soviet soldier who he thought he had been knocked down just now, but was not actually knocked down, but only fell in a panic. As soon as Gong Wenxuan's muzzle turned, he got up and hit Gong Wenxuan in the chest with all the dozen or so bullets left in the submachine gun magazine in a panic!

The great pain was felt in a split second later. Gong Wenxuan convulsed all over his body, and fell on his back on the grassy slope in front of the Soviet army's trench!

Until the last moment of his life, Gong Wenxuan never really believed that he would die.

When the whole platoon began to attack before dark, a thought of death crossed his mind, and he immediately drove him away. Of course, he understood that they were carrying out the last attack of the whole company today, and the chances of success could be said to be slim, but deep down, it was still impossible for him to admit that his young life would perish with this attack. He believed in the truth handed down by the veterans after the last battle: as long as you don't think you will die, death will hide you far away in the war. But he died anyway, and the heroic attack of his squad 8 was unsuccessful: as he fell, the speed of the four soldiers who charged behind him was also affected, and a few Soviet soldiers who ran from the eastern end of the trench shouting indiscriminately filled the defensive position that they had almost broken through. Several submachine guns opened fire together, and in less than a minute, all four fighters also fell on the hillside not far from the Soviet trench. But as far as the battle is concerned, the role they can play has already been served: the sudden attack of the 8th squad knocked out the heavy machine guns and a light machine gun of the Soviet army, deprived the position of the most important supporting force, and greatly relieved the pressure of destruction on the 7th and 9th squads located under the northwest slope; Their attack also confused the Soviet troops in the third trench, and everyone cried and ran around, not noticing that the attackers in the second trench 50 meters down the slope had left behind a light machine gun. Before the Soviets had settled down, the light machine gun was fired with grief and indignation, and the first round of bullets knocked down several Soviet soldiers who tried to re-load the heavy machine gun!

After the failure of the heroic assault carried out by Gong Wenxuan and the 8th squad, mainly due to the fact that this light machine gun was put into battle, the Soviet troops in the third trench were cut off from the middle, and the heavy machine gun, which posed the greatest threat to the attackers, did not ring again; As soon as it started, it became a major problem for the Soviet army, so that it had to concentrate most of the firepower that had been divided into two sections and pour it on!

The machine gunner of the 8th squad died in the sniper battle at the bottom of the mountain, and the first to fire this light machine gun was the deputy shooter Wu Zhishan; Half a minute later, Wu Zhishan died, and he was replaced by Qu Baoxiang, the deputy squad leader of the 8th squad.

Until this morning, when the whole company was ordered to rush from the mountain stream to attack the 632 highland area, Qu Baoxiang was passive in both his spirit and actions: he passively followed the whole company over the No. 1 Ridge mountain beam, reached the 632 highland area, passively threw himself into the sniper battle on the northwest side of the highland, and passively followed the squad leader Gong Wenxuan to launch the last attack on the Soviet troops above the high ground.

It's a process that feels like a tough and lengthy one. When the final assault began, he, like the vast majority of the attacking ranks, no longer thought of life but merely of death, but the attack was delayed when the platoon reached the top of the high ground. After dark, he followed the class into the middle of the second trench, and when Gong Wenxuan led the class to attack, he did not let him go with him, but only ordered him to stay and bring light machine guns to support the battle, which made his highly tense heartstrings relax a little. But Gong Wenxuan and the others were shot and killed in front of the Soviet trench one after another, Qu Baoxiang cried "wow", and shouted a "type" word to Wu Zhishan, the deputy shooter of the machine gun, while being full of grief and indignation!

The reason why he shouted the word "hit" was because Gong Wenxuan's sacrifice finally destroyed his hope of survival, and he originally expected the squad leaders to successfully rush into the Soviet position, hit a beautiful "center flower", and take the third trench. The smoother Gong Wenxuan progressed in the Soviet trenches, the less he and Wu Zhishan had to move places, and only needed to use fire to support the battle of the whole squad and the whole platoon, so that he would not have to charge, and the possibility of death would be greatly reduced. The moment Gong Wenxuan's death brought him a huge sense of horror and defeat, he couldn't help but shout out a "type" word, so he shouted it!

He didn't expect that once he shouted the word "hit", he and Wu Zhishan would be exposed together with the light machine gun, but they were not exposed! After the Soviet army concentrated its firepower to carry out the first round of strikes against them, Wu Zhishan was sacrificed! Qu Baoxiang stopped crying, he stared at his round eyes, gritted his teeth, took the machine gun from Wu Zhishan's arms, and continued to shoot fiercely at the Soviet army! At this moment, his fear of death turned into a very simple and strong idea: the heavy machine guns of the Soviet army and the light machine guns on the right side of the heavy machine guns could no longer be heard! They were right above him, and if they rang, he would die instantly!

Qu Baoxiang used the light machine gun to hold out for a full ten minutes. Ten minutes later, the magazine ran out of bullets, and he was hit in the head by a bullet, and he fell backwards, curled up at the bottom of the trench!

For this 21-year-old young man born in the mountainous area at the junction of Henan and Shaanxi, the last ten minutes of his life are undoubtedly the peak of his life. He had never thought about how he would fulfill his military duties on the battlefield, but during this time he fulfilled it at the cost of his life; He had never thought of playing a leading role in life before, but these 10 minutes made him a hero who left and right the battle situation in the 634 heights. Although he failed to help the main force of the platoon to completely extricate itself from the desperate situation he had just fallen into, he did the following: after Gong Wenxuan, he attracted most of the Soviet firepower to himself and avoided the 7th and 9th squads from suffering a greater blow; The Soviet troops in the third trench were divided into two in the middle, making it difficult for them to take care of each other, and there was a tendency to collapse psychologically; Inadvertently covering another soldier quietly ascending the hill from the northeast side of the heights, taking advantage of the panic of the Soviet troops, he touched the third line of trenches and opened fire from east to west, suddenly turning the tide of the battle on the heights.

Qu Baoxiang didn't see the scene of this drama. He died before the warrior could ascend the third trench. For the next minute, the roar of his light machine gun could not be heard, and the hearts of all the people who were still alive on and off the mountain were finally filled with despair and darkness.

After Gong Wenxuan, the leader of the 8th squad, took the 8th squad to start the action, Shang Yujun was about to take the 7th squad to follow, and a person suddenly rushed over from behind and stopped him. In the dim night air, he heard Li Yue, the 9th squad leader, say excitedly: "Platoon leader, our squad will go first!" ”

After speaking, Li Yue led the 9th squad to jump over the ridge line, followed the second trench, and followed the 8th squad to rush over.

Li Yue ran in the second trench, turning his head from time to time to look at Zhang Zhongming and Zhang Zhongliang behind him. He decided to adjust the two Zhang brothers behind him a split second before the attack began. The platoon commander had been dissatisfied with the two Zhang brothers when he was moving to the upper ground, and now he wanted to control them himself. Let these two people see for themselves that they are still not the ones who drill under the pebbles when they hear the gunshots!

He still quickly forgot about Zhang Zhongming and Zhang Zhongliang. As soon as he approached the fan-shaped fire coverage of the Soviet army, he heard the bullets whistling overhead and ears like a rain of bullets, "squeaking" into the dirt on both sides of the trench, and his heart was once again filled with that simple, indescribable fear!

In the depths of Li Yue's life, there was something tragic that his relatives and comrades-in-arms had not discovered. As a teenager, his self-confidence, his growing reading personality, his firmness, composure, and courage in the face of difficulties were destroyed by his mother's excessive, never-ending expectations, and from then on, he was accustomed to and expected nothing more than success in life. The other side of his personality – face-loving and sensitive – can make him feel a rush of blood in certain situations, and make a determination for a goal that he actually knows he is unable to achieve, but when it is severely tested, his character and psychological doubts will naturally regain the upper hand, drowning out his determination and reason. At such times – in the past in the examination room, today on the battlefield - he had nothing in his heart but gratuitous and great fear!

His pace slowed, but did not stop, and it was the force of his habitual surname that had acted upon him after the beginning of the battle that propelled him forward; He arrived at the entrance of the upward traffic trench at the western end of the second trench, and it was the strength of his habitual surname that made him take the 9th squad in. He had just run a few steps in the traffic trench, turned a corner, and subconsciously looked up, when he suddenly saw a large ball of fire from the Soviet light machine gun at the top of the traffic trench, which was almost straight up. Before he could react, a few bullets "snapped" on the wall of the trench on his right. The fear in Li Yue's heart swelled infinitely, and his body leaned against the left wall of the trench, and he instinctively made a shooting motion!

(To be continued)