Start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 112 No one can sleep tonight
And this time.

Xiajieyuli Airport is brightly lit.

American soldiers walked back and forth in the ice and snow, carrying all kinds of artillery supplies, shouting, and trucks shuttled around.

The headquarters at the back of the base was also busy, and the battle tables and workbenches were filled with figures of duty personnel and a large amount of radio equipment.

An operator held the headset and quickly shouted: "Sir—emergency message from the front line!"

"Say."

An officer with an eagle nose came over.

"Drysdale telegram, the task force encountered the enemy and asked for support from the base. They reported that they were surrounded by tens of thousands of Chinese troops!"

"How come? Verify it for me!"

The officer was surprised when he heard the news: "The plane has been scouted a long time ago, and there should be no Chinese main force in their direction!"

"It's been verified. They sent seven or eight telegrams in a row..."

"These Chinese are so ridiculous!"

The officer thought for a while, then frowned and asked, "Is there a pilot in the direction of the task force?"

"There are thirteen planes, but they are already on their way back, and the firepower is insufficient..."

"Shit, where did they drop the ammunition? We're fighting the enemy, not the wilderness! Contact the Japanese Marine Division!"

The operator dialed the telephone and turned around: "Sir, the call has been made!"

"Let them send thirty... no, forty fighter jets to support our task force. Make sure they break out and get in touch with the polar bear group through Houpu!"

The officer turned his head and was about to leave.

But immediately the operator yelled again: "Wait! Sir, here's another urgent call..."

"You're new here? Remember to say it together next time."

The officer turned his head, and a pair of blue eyes on his eagle-like nose were staring closely at him.

"Understood! Sir..."

The operator wiped the cold sweat off his face, quickly translated the telegram, and then his eyes widened again: "Sir, I think you need to read this..."

"Read!"

The operator quickly read the content of the telegram: "The 31st Regiment has been attacked...has been wiped out by the enemy?!"

"Can you say that again?"

The operator carefully reported:

"The 31st regiment was wiped out..."

The officer quickly snatched the report from the radio station, read it quickly, and threw it on the table with a "slap", he was furious:

"Impossible! That's the polar bear regiment. Even if it is a remnant, it is absolutely impossible to be wiped out so quickly. Didn't we just airdrop a lot of weapons and supplies to them in the morning? The equipment is enough for them to fight for another week, no matter how powerful the Chinese are." , shouldn’t have been destroyed in such a short time!”

"Sir, the telegram also specifically mentioned that the mysterious sniper suspected to have spotted the Chinese, the British Major McLaughlin called it a 'ghost' that was widely rumored some time ago..."

The officer was furious:
"Fucking ghost, don't talk to me about this, and find out why the polar bear is gone!"

"I don't believe that these Chinese people are everywhere. Are they waves? But waves also have an end, where is their end!"

The busy headquarters and the originally noisy hall were suddenly quieted down by the officer's roar.

Everyone heard his words, and fell silent for a while.

Yes.

All the Americans were unexpected. A few days ago, their planes hardly found any Chinese troops in the entire North Korean land.

And overnight, the world changed its appearance.

They are full of doubts in their busyness:

How did these Chinese people do it?
.........

The same question also lingered on Smith, the commander of the First Marine Division.

Smith had just finished dinner when he received a report from his subordinate officers that the Polar Bear Corps had disappeared in the middle of their battle order.

"Are you sure you're sober—this is your Christmas joke?"

Oliver Smith, the elegant American general lost his composure for the first time.

He never showed his emotions and anger on the surface, and at this moment he couldn't help holding the coffee cup in his hand, and the corners of his mouth were tightly pursed, showing his inner unrest.

The two officers standing in front of him also looked nervous, afraid that the cup would fly over his head in the next moment, but luckily it didn't.

The two breathed a sigh of relief, but Smith was in a bad mood.

In the regiment-level combat team of more than 3000 members of the Polar Bear Regiment, almost no one escaped, only a few scattered soldiers rushed out of the encirclement.

The formed team was completely annihilated, and no one survived!

To Smith, this sounds like a fantasy!

He put down the telegram, and the officer next to him was still waiting for his instructions.

"I think we're in big trouble. These Chinese have no end to their desire to attack. How are the other armies faring?"

The officer who had just received the telegram at the headquarters wiped his cold sweat like an operator.

He hurriedly brought up the documents: "Except for the battle in the Xinxingli area, there was no news from the 31st Regiment. Our battles in Liutanli and Gutuli continued to be stalemate. The tanks had sufficient firepower, but it was difficult to break through the enemy's blockade. According to statistics from the front-line reports, for every mile that the troops retreated on average, they were blocked by the Chinese more than a dozen times..."

The more he spoke, the lower his voice became.

Smith rubbed his aching head and stood up.

He paced to the window, looking at the darkened night sky outside the window.

This is the ground console of Xiajieyuli Airport. It is built in the middle of the airport and can observe the runway and surrounding conditions at any time.

It was here last night that continuous shouts and trumpets began to come from the other side of the mountain.

The Chinese attack is still lingering in front of his eyes, and it is a scene that he will never forget in half his life.

He listened to many reports from his subordinates, and personally went to the scene of the tank position to look at it from a distance.

Thousands of Chinese soldiers, holding simple rifles and grenades, rushed towards his soldiers as if they were not afraid of pain or death.

Many marine soldiers were grinning at first, watching these Chinese people in coarse cotton padded clothes pounce on them, waiting for them to come to them, and then tearing them apart with machine guns!

At first, they did.

Heavy weapons were fortified around the high ground, and the fragile bodies of the Chinese were ruthlessly destroyed under their guns, leaving only mutilated corpses.

They take pleasure in this and laugh at the overreach of Chinese farmers.

But then, things went beyond everyone's expectations...

There are veterans in the Marine Corps who have fought against Germany, the Philippines, and Japan. They have fought countless battlefields and know what the enemy is afraid of.

Under such invincible artillery fire, they all thought that the Chinese would fear, retreat, and surrender like the enemies they had encountered before, but in fact it was not as they imagined.

Those Chinese soldiers seemed not afraid of death, moving like machines, rushing up like logs, tireless, life and death.

One group fell down, and another group rushed up. Their artillery fire was obviously violent, but they couldn't stop the Chinese from advancing at all!
The expressions of many Americans range from joking, to serious, to nervous, and even many of them are already confused and numb in the end.

where am I?
what am i doing?
Can anyone tell me why the Chinese are not afraid of death?

The artillery shells of the Marine Corps seem to be hitting not individual bodies, but soldiers without the slightest fear. They are always rushing forward without fear of death...

The Americans who came across the Pacific Ocean felt for the first time on the land of North Korea what it means to be a classless fighter and what it means to be a Chinese!

All this happened at night.

During the day, the Chinese finally retreated.

As the temporarily victorious side, they breathed a sigh of relief. Many soldiers immediately dropped their guns and sat down exhausted.

Even at this moment, Smith could see that many soldiers below were still looking slumped after resting all day.

Without looking back, Smith asked, "Have these reports been sent to Tokyo?"

"Posted."

The officer replied, "The general is furious at us for disturbing his sleep."

"What about the reply to the offer to withdraw?"

The officer hesitated: "The general's words are not very friendly."

"Go on."

Smith was expressionless.

"The general said that the first marine division must not retreat. He wants to take the entire land of North Korea. He will apply to Mr. President again for the use of atomic bombs. Let us continue to attack with confidence. We must beat the Chinese back to the Yalu River before Christmas this year..."

The air fell silent, and Smith didn't ask any more questions, but just looked into the distance gently and muttered:
"You gotta be kidding me (he's sure he's not kidding me)?"

The officers who were reporting stopped talking.

They were equally shocked that General MacArthur's ideas were always so amazing, it sounded so crazy that no one would agree.

Smith took a deep breath and said slowly:

"Notice! Be prepared tonight. The other ministries will provide aircraft and logistical supplies to the troops surrounded by the northward team, and try our best to break through the siege in the direction of Xiajieyu-ri. We must evacuate the wounded to Xingnan Port as soon as possible—we are going home."

"Sir? But General MacArthur said..."

"After discussing with Commander Almond, I will reply to the general. We cannot ignore the lives of the soldiers."

"Yes, sir!"

The two officers looked at each other, then saluted, and left in a hurry.

Smith looked out the window, it was pitch black outside.

It will be night again soon, will these Chinese people give up?Will they still come to attack?
This is his question.

It is also the question of countless American soldiers who are now in Xiajieyu.

Snowflakes began to fall slowly over the airstrip, and the sky was getting darker and darker. Not long after his order was issued, the soldiers in the base rushed out to push the artillery tanks out of the barbed wire fence, making a second line of defense.

Here, Smith can see the mountains in the distance like wild beasts lying on the land of North Korea in the dark night, looking down and staring at them silently in a deep sleep.

But he knew that those tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers emerged from these mountains last night. The number and the sound of the charge were really astonishing.

The sun has set, night is coming, and Americans are shivering.

They were going to repeat the nightmare of last night again.

"It's really hard to sleep tonight..."

Smith whispered to himself.

Tonight is destined to be a restless night.

(End of this chapter)