the world is at stake

"These large-scale maps were drawn by Americans." Zhao Glasses was happy about this question, "We obtained them from special channels and copied them, which are really useful."

Large-caliber artillery cannot fire visually, and combat relies heavily on maps.Effective bombardment can only be carried out by knowing the specific positions of the enemy and us, and through the conversion of map contours and latitude and longitude.

Schmidt felt that even if he didn't come, as long as he had these military maps, the volunteer artillery could fight.After all, in his opinion, Chinese soldiers who survived the war learned too quickly.

"We are still ten kilometers away from the front line. The Yankees often use the range advantage of their heavy artillery to bombard our rear assembly areas and transportation lines."

Zhao Glasses grabbed a pencil and lightly marked it on the map, "Our previous fortifications were not complete enough, and we suffered a lot."

To be exact, he suffered a blood loss.

In order to send troops and supplies to the front line, the Volunteers often quickly pass through roads and open fields in one company.But once spotted by an American plane, they can summon artillery to cover them with firepower in the blink of an eye.

If you are unlucky, the infantry company of Bailai will be blasted into broken arms and limbs by dozens of shells, and there will be no living people left.Not a single bullet can reach the front line.

"All we have to do now is..."

Before Zhao Glasses could finish speaking, the mountain headquarters suddenly shook.The electric lamp hanging on the ceiling of the cave swayed back and forth, and rustling stones fell down.It took several minutes for the violent movement to subside.

The head of the engineer regiment who was in charge of the excavation hurriedly came to check the damage. Seeing that the colleagues of the artillery regiment were shaking off the dust on the map, he said cheerfully: "Don't be afraid, this is a rocky mountain, and the Americans want to blow it to pieces." Use the atomic bomb."

Seeing that there was a foreigner with a big nose in the headquarters, and he was wearing a special military uniform, even the armbands were from the volunteer army. The engineering regiment leader was stunned, and whispered with a local accent: "Oh, why do you have a foreign devil here?"

"This is Comrade Schmidt from the Democratic Republic of Germany." Zhao Glasses introduced, "He is here to support us. The self-propelled artillery that came with us are all German."

As soon as he talked about the self-propelled artillery that had just arrived, the head of the engineering corps was excited, "The Americans fired artillery early and late, fired artillery while eating, and fired artillery while sleeping. They fired artillery all day long, and the shells bombarded them like they didn't need money.

The soldiers on the front line were so aggrieved that they had long been looking forward to having their own artillery to confront the enemy.But you really surprised me when you came here. I have never seen a cannon that is similar to a tank and can run around by itself. "

Zhao Glasses asked, "What target did the shelling hit us just now?"

"No target." The engineer captain shook his head and said, "The Americans just have too many shells, and they fire irregularly. He bullies us and has no way to fight back, making us terrified all the time and restless."

Schmidt listened to Zhao Glasses' report, and said in a low voice: "We need to go to the front line."

"Now?" asked the engineer chief. "It's more dangerous now."

"I can't watch it at night." Schmidt said, "It must be during the day."

The head of the engineering corps couldn't agree, so he asked Zhao Glasses to apply to the 27th Division of the 79th Army stationed on the front line.

The 79th Division agreed and sent a mobile platoon to escort the artillery comrades.

This row came riding a BMW R75 three-wheeled motorcycle.This kind of motorcycle has good mobility in the field and was used by the German army for internal commuting and patrolling.

The motorcycle sidecar is mounted with an M34 machine gun, or a [-]mm mortar.Soldiers riding motorcycles also wear goggles and helmets, which are full of German and Tra style.

"You... actually... even have this."

Seeing the familiar equipment, Schmidt couldn't help crying.Because he not only saw three-wheeled motorcycles, but even the VW82 "barrel car" used by the German army.

American officers drive jeeps, while German officers drive 'barrel cars'.The feature of this thing is that it is durable and adaptable to all kinds of harsh road environments. It is too iconic on the battlefield.

The role of the mobile platoon is to check for gaps on the battlefield and make up for gaps. It is an establishment that the Volunteer Army has never had before.Lean personnel, powerful firepower, quick action.

A reinforced platoon has about three NO.40 troops, which can quickly run five or six kilometers of mountain roads in ten minutes to provide necessary support to the front line.

Don't underestimate a mere platoon, this little force can play a big role when necessary.Whether penetrating or defending, a surprise strike can disorient the enemy.

Schmidt boarded the barrel truck and found that there were several trailers attached to the back of the motorcycles in this row. After asking, he found out that they were for the frontline supplies.

In the past, the delivery of supplies had to be carried by manpower, which was slow, small in volume, and extremely dangerous.

Now, if you change to a three-wheeled motorcycle, you can either put dozens of kilograms of ammunition or food in the sidecar, or carry one or two hundred kilograms of supplies on the trailer. You can complete a company-level supply within half an hour, and only need one or two people. Finish.

"This motorcycle is really good, the target is small, and the action is fast. Even if the enemy finds it, it is too late to react." The platoon leader of the mobile platoon is very proud of his new gadget, and he will boast a few words to everyone.

"In the past, [-] kilograms of supplies were sent from the rear, and it would be good to have [-] kilograms in place. Every time the supplies are delivered, people have to die. Now the supply loss is at most [-]%, the logistical pressure is greatly reduced, and the casualties are also small."

The mobile platoon leader raised his hand, and the two leading motorcycles drove out first.The whole row of more than a dozen vehicles opened a large distance and alternated between the mountains.

The artillery position is still ten kilometers away from the front line. At the beginning, we take a bucket cart, and after three kilometers, we take a motorcycle.The three squads of the mobile platoon dispersed as they approached the front line, and sent the materials carried on the trailers to different positions.

The platoon leader personally led a squad and sent Zhao Glasses and Schmidt to the top of the hill at the forefront.

The speed of the car in the wilderness was not fast, and a few hundred meters away from the destination, a red signal flare suddenly shot out from the mountain ahead.The mobile platoon leader immediately became excited, and drove his motorcycle to the side of the mountain road to look for anti-gun holes.

"Quick, go into the hole."

The four three-wheeled motorcycles found the preset roadside blast hole at the fastest speed.As soon as the car stopped, the soldiers set up the two of them and drilled into the artillery hole.

The anti-blasting hole is a large foxhole dug in the roadside mountain, deeper and larger.There is also a bunker in the pit, supported by thick tree trunks, and covered with a three-meter-thick layer of soil.

There is such a bunker every 100 meters, which can probably hide five or six people. After entering, the entrance is closed with thick wooden boards to resist the weakened shock wave.

When the planks are closed, the bunker is completely dark.Schmidt, who could not understand the language, felt the earth shaking and rumbling before he understood what was going on.

After a few minutes, the shelling stopped.

The mobile platoon leader opened the plank and went out to see the situation in person.When he came back, he cursed, "Fuck these American devils, they blew up my precious motorcycle again."

The ashen-faced Schmidt came out of the bomb defense hole, only to find that there were more than a dozen scattered bullet craters on the road he just passed.Looking at the floating soil around the pit and the depth of the bottom of the pit, you can tell that the 155-caliber howitzer did a good job.

The red signal flare just now should be that the artillery observation post on the top of the mountain discovered the movement of the enemy's heavy artillery firing and warned ten seconds in advance.

In just ten seconds or so, the lives of Schmidt and his party were saved.Although the anti-blasting hole they hid in is simple and crude, as long as they are not directly hit by 155 shells, they can survive hiding in it.

As for the three-wheeled motorcycles, no such luck.A motorcycle was thrown within 15 meters of the crater, and was instantly disintegrated by the shock wave, turning into twisted metal fragments all over the ground.

The mobile platoon that lost a motorcycle cursed loudly, but did not dare to stay where it was.He ordered the rest of the team members to put on Schmidt and Zhao glasses and continue on the road, and he breathed a sigh of relief after entering the shadow of the reverse slope of the mountain.

"Fucking Yankee. My motorcycle, it's as good as my heart, three of them have been blown up this month. Next time I do a night attack, I will have revenge."

Author's Note: In the Battle of Changjin Lake, the 9th Corps of the Volunteer Army suffered 19202 casualties, 28954 were frostbitten, and more than 4000 died of freezing.The large number of non-combat casualties is sad.

Chapter 45 Small Scenes

Changjin Lake, northwest of Xiajieyuli, Dead Eagle Ridge.

This mountain with an altitude of 1500 meters guards the main road from Xiajieyuli to Liutanli, and is currently garrisoned by the first part of the 79th Division.On the opposite side of the hill is H Company, Seventh Regiment, First Marine Division.

Captain Cook of Company H squatted under the camouflaged bunker of his own position, observing the outside world with the help of an artillery scope.

The strange rock shaped like an eagle's beak on the top of Dead Eagle Ridge has been blasted to ashes by repeated shelling, and the floating soil can have no feet.But the Chinese soldiers on the hill just kept dying.

In the artillery mirror, a company of the Seventh Division of the South Korean Army is sneaking along the mountainside and attacking the top of the mountain.The leading vanguard pushed the gasoline barrel filled with mud as a mobile cover, and moved upward with difficulty.

There was no movement on the mountain until the Koreans pushed the gasoline barrel up.

"Tell Company F that the Koreans have climbed up to Height 1519, and they can try to withdraw." Lieutenant Cook said to the signal soldier behind him.

The Korean infantry company on Dead Eagle Ridge seemed to have won a great victory, and they were trying their best to push more gasoline barrels towards the top of the mountain in order to quickly obtain reliable bunkers on the floating soil that could no longer build fortifications.

Half an hour later, a U.S. company appeared from the direction of Liutanli, led by two M4'Sherman' tanks, and appeared cautiously.

O'Sullivan, who commanded the [-]st Marine Division, also wanted to equip his men with better 'Pershing' tanks, but the roads in North Korea were really poor, especially in the eastern mountainous areas.

The forty tons of 'Pershing' is difficult to use, and only the thirty tons of 'Sherman' can be used.

Two 'Shermans' emerged from the winding road, and the first thing they saw was not a free world, but a string of wrecked charred vehicles on the side of the road.

Among them were five or six 'General Purpose' trucks, a 'Sherman' with a turret blown off, and two field tankers burned to scrap.

This is the transport convoy that passed by here two days ago, and was ambushed and destroyed.The ambush was on the opposite side of the Dead Eagle Ridge, and the battle was over in a few minutes, and it was easy.

The 79th Division of the Volunteer Army got stuck in Dead Eagle Ridge, causing the aggressive Seventh Regiment of the First Marine Division to be trapped in Liutan.In order to regain control of the road, the U.S. Tenth Army has launched increasingly large-scale battles around Dead Eagle Ridge.

On the ambushed convoy there were several charred corpses of American soldiers, looking like ghosts crawling out of hell, with black flesh sticking to the skeleton, and empty eye sockets watching the latecomers.

The 'Sherman' that opened the way stopped, and the US military commander in the turret poked his head out from the hatch.He glanced at the charred corpse opposite, feeling very uncomfortable.

Holding up the binoculars and looking around for a long time, the U.S. vehicle commander was still worried, so he summoned an M8 'Greyhound' armored vehicle and two M3 half-track personnel carriers by radio.

The wheeled 'Greyhound' flexibly bypassed the 'Sherman', with its 37mm cannon raised high, pointing at the peak on the side of the mountain road. A squad of U.S. troops got on and off the M3 personnel carrier and climbed toward both sides of the mountain road with their Garand rifles in their hands.

Schmidt, who came from East Germany, arrived at Height 1229 near Dead Eagle Ridge at this moment. Before he and Zhao Glasses could understand the situation with the frontline commanders, the atmosphere in the position suddenly became tense.

The 235th regiment at the top of Dead Eagle Ridge did not allow Schmidt to go to the front line and forcibly pulled him down.So this German 'Hans' nestled at the entrance of a tunnel and saw a kind of 'hybrid' equipment equipped by the volunteers.

A simplified version of the self-propelled artillery with the US M3 half-track personnel carrier and the Soviet PM38 mortar.

There are a large number of M3 personnel carriers, and the car body is spacious. A semi-fixed 120mm mortar has become a heavy firepower that the Volunteers like very much.

It is more convenient to install light artillery on light vehicles than American tanks in mountainous areas. There are also imitations of PM38 in Germany. There is no shortage of artillery and ammunition, and a large number of them are supplied to the volunteers.

In the mountains of North Korea, a cannon with a long range and low trajectory is not suitable.

Americans rarely use their M1A1 'Long-legged Tom', but prefer to use the short-range but flexible M1 howitzer-the model is called M1, and the caliber is also 155 mm, but the gun is completely different.

But in terms of flexible ballistics, no one can compare to curved mortars. The PM38 has a range of nearly six kilometers. It can be deployed on the reverse slope of a mountain, coupled with a concealed artillery observer, and is fully capable of fire support tasks.

This cannon originally weighed less than 3 kilograms, which is considered light. Now it is matched with the M[-] personnel carrier of about [-] tons, and it can run fast all over the mountains and plains, which is a perfect match.

Right in front of Schmidt, this three-door self-propelled mortar company squatted in a small open space less than 200 meters away from him.The three artillery vehicles are about 50 meters apart, and they use walkie-talkies to communicate with the company headquarters to receive the enemy's target position.

The volunteers have occupied Dead Eagle Ridge for several days, and the terrain within five kilometers is quite familiar.

"It's about to start." Schmidt whispered.He hadn't smelled gunpowder for years.The scene in front of him seemed to bring him back to the bloody European battlefield.

The artillery squad leader was repeating the orders issued by the company headquarters aloud.The sound came with the wind. Although he couldn't understand it, Schmidt understood what was going to happen.

The Korean soldiers who occupied the 1519 Heights brought up not only gasoline barrels, but also machine guns and mortars.The commanding company commander of the Korean army lay on the gasoline drum filled with sand, and also nervously observed the surroundings with a telescope.

The Americans pulled the Korean army to Japan and Jeju Island for training, but the front line still needs cannon fodder.Its seventh division could only do emergency training on the defense line while the war was not in full swing.

Grind your guns before the battle, and you will be happy if you are not happy.

Stepping on the floating soil on the top of the mountain, Han Jun's mouth was dry and his tongue was dry.They felt that the Chinese army must have been bombarded by American artillery, so they didn't respond for a long time.

Only the company commander of the Korean army who had served in the Japanese army was still a little vigilant, and kept scolding his men to quickly build fortifications and be ready to resist the attack of the evil enemy at any time.

This vigilance really worked. The roaring company commander of the Korean Army found active figures on the 1542 highland behind the Dead Eagle Ridge through the telescope.He carefully identified - cannon, artillery!

A German-made PAK36 anti-aircraft gun emerged from a hill about 800 meters away.It uncovered the camouflage net and aimed its guns at Hill 1519, which was crowded with South Korean soldiers.

The company commander of the Han army was immediately dumbfounded. His men were struggling enough to climb the mountain and push the gasoline barrels. The only weapons they brought up were light machine guns and 60mm mortars.

Now there is a battle anti-aircraft gun with an effective range of 500 meters on the opposite side, and it also has a shield.

In desperation, the company commander of the Korean army could only call in the signal soldiers and call for fire support from the US military.There is only one possibility for the combat anti-aircraft gun to reveal its camouflage-it has been loaded and aimed.

The next step is to...

With a bang, the 37mm 'jingle cannon' on the opposite side fired.

The small-caliber projectile hit the target a second later, blowing up the gasoline barrels that pushed the South Korean soldiers to the high ground.The gasoline tank was filled with some soil, so it was no problem to resist machine gun shooting, but it was not good to resist shells.

The exploding gasoline barrel turned into a bomb, and the Korean soldiers hiding behind were scrambled and panicked.They either lay on their stomachs and remained motionless, but most of them turned around and fled like throwing away their armor.

PAK37 is useless on the battlefield of the European Great Plains, because the opponents are all heavily armored targets.

But on the Korean battlefield, this less than half a ton thing is the only direct firepower that can be driven by a winch and dragged from the mountain to the top of the mountain.

Don’t take beanbags as dry food. Direct firepower means precision. One 37mm round can break through temporary fortifications, attack opponents’ firepower points and observation posts, and complete the task of suppression.

The caliber is small, the rear seat is also small, and the rate of fire is high.

After a cannon blast, he quickly opened the barrel, pulled out the hot shell casing, and stuffed it in again.The two PAK36s were responsible for suppressing the opposite hill, and the Korean army was unable to fight at all.

The cannon bolt opens and closes rhythmically, which sounds like a melodious battlefield symphony.

As soon as the anti-war artillery fired, the 120mm self-propelled mortars in the valley also bombarded. A dozen rounds of 16 kg shells were fired in succession.

Across the 1519 Heights, Lieutenant Cook of Company H was furious.The Koreans directly in front of him are being shelled, and the American troops in front of him are also being shelled.

The two 'Shermans' that stopped were targeted by the '120 Force', and the shells that fell from the top were still very deterrent.The US tank commander quickly retracted into his turret and asked the driver to retreat.

Company F, trying to pass through Dead Eagle Ridge, could not see where its enemy was at all, so it could only shrink back.

"Artillery observers." Lieutenant Cook cursed endlessly, "There must be Chinese artillery observers on the opposite mountain."

But there are more than one hilltops around Dead Eagle Ridge, and at least seven or eight hilltops along the attacked road can serve as observation posts with good sightlines.

Chinese artillery observers only need to bring a walkie-talkie and put on a camouflage net, and they can hide in a certain corner for several days.They can persist in climbing ice, lying in snow and eating frozen potatoes. Now that the conditions are better, the threat is even greater.

Lieutenant Cook himself was an American artillery observer, but except for the 1519 highland that was being bombarded, he could not see any movement on the opposite hill.

The counterattacking U.S. artillery fire could only fire aimlessly, bombarding all the places that Lieutenant Cook thought were suspicious.The sound of the explosion of the shells was menacing, but only God knows whether the bomb hit the target.

The F company that came out of Liutan had to retreat, but only one of the two 'Shermans' they sent survived.Another '120 Force' was blown off its track by a close-range explosion.

Trading more than thirty rounds of shells for the opponent's tank is worthwhile no matter how you look at it.It's even more gratifying when the shells come especially cheap.

The three mortar vehicles slipped away after shooting.They have special anti-bunker holes, which are very convenient when you drive in and hide, and you are not afraid of any artillery bombardment.

The two PAK36s that bombarded the Korean army also retracted into their tunnels.When they come out next time, they must show up in some other hidden position.

If the U.S. military wants to retaliate, it has to let its big-headed soldiers enter the mountains inch by inch to compete with the volunteers.That casualty is definitely not something that can be stopped by a few hundred or a few thousand.