blood of vietnam war

Chapter 180 Four Retreat

We did not begin to retreat until the fourth day, and we were the latest force to receive an order to retreat.

The reason why the order was received so late was that the process was really dangerous...

The soldiers made preparations early and waited for the retreat order from their superiors, but the order did not come down after waiting.Especially when we saw the troops stationed around retreating one after another, and two days later, when we were left behind, the soldiers became even more anxious.

But at this time, we lost contact with our superiors.

"How is it? Still can't get in touch?" I asked Company Commander Luo.

Although I don't have much hope for my life back home, I don't want to stay in Vietnam and wait to die.

Captain Luo shook his head and said, "Maybe it's to keep the radio silent!"

This is a bit troublesome. You have to know that when the regimental headquarters keeps the radio silent, it is either on a mission or on the march.What will be the march at this time?It is very likely that we are retreating. If our regiment has already retreated but we are still waiting...

"Company Commander!" Xiao Shitou said anxiously, "Otherwise, we will withdraw with other troops! You can see that the other troops have almost withdrawn..."

"How can this be done?" The instructor responded: "Without an order from the superior, no one step is allowed to withdraw! If all the troops are like us, disregarding orders and disobeying orders and withdrawing indiscriminately, then it is not a mess!"

Although I think the instructor is a bit obedient to orders, I have to admit that what he said is right. The most taboo thing about retreating is to retreat indiscriminately without obeying the command.

"Let's do this!" After thinking about it, I said, "Let's try to contact the 447 regiment and ask what's going on!"

"En!" Captain Luo nodded, and immediately passed the order down.

I found out later that it was a good thing we "tried" this way, otherwise our company would have been left in Vietnam to die.

"Platoon leader! Look..." At this time, Wang Kechang pointed to a section of road hundreds of meters away and said: "The engineering troops have begun to retreat..."

I raised my binoculars and looked, really... The reason why I can recognize them as engineering troops at a glance is because the engineering troops are non-combat troops, and they are more equipped with engineering shovels, mines, explosives, etc. There are basically no equipment such as bazookas, light and heavy machine guns.

The engineering unit is the last group arranged for the troops to retreat, and their retreat means that the retreat in this area has come to an end, but we are still waiting in this unknown village...

This news made the soldiers even more anxious, and they all walked around like ants on a hot pot. ,

After a while, Company Commander Luo came back worriedly, and said, "We have contacted the 447 regiment. They don't know the reason, but they will help us contact the headquarters!"

Hearing these words, the soldiers calmed down a little. The 447 Regiment would always find it much easier to contact their superiors with one regiment finger than our company.

"Company commander!" Before we could catch our breath, Xiao Liu, the correspondent, came up with a walkie-talkie and said nervously, "We got in touch, it's the division's number!"

Company Commander Luo quickly took the walkie-talkie and reported his number, but he heard a question from the walkie-talkie: "What are you doing? Why haven't you withdrawn?"

"Report to the chief!" Luo Lianchang responded with a face full of injustice: "We have not received an order to retreat!"

There was a silence in the walkie-talkie, and after a while, a voice came from the walkie-talkie: "Retreat ten kilometers immediately and join the Fifth Company of Engineers stationed in Hebian!"

"Yes!" Company Commander Luo replied, and after hanging up the phone, before the troops could gather in time, he waved his hand and gave an order to the soldiers: "Retreat!"

This is what the soldiers were waiting for. They picked up their equipment and ran on the road.

We later found out that the reason for this situation was that our unit was previously assigned to the 447th Regiment, so the 447th Regiment thought our company was under the command of the 118th Regiment, and the 118th Regiment thought we were still under the command of the 447th Regiment. Even our battalion commander thought that we were sent back to China by the militia first...

It seems that they can’t be blamed. After the battle of Yakou, we were carried to the rear by the militia to rest, right?At that time, the 118th regiment had to wipe out the remnants of the Sabah army. Who would have known that our army was sent to other places.

It's just... This can also be seen from a certain aspect that the command of our army is chaotic.

There are small flags planted by engineering troops everywhere along the way, and even the engineers who laid mines in some places have begun to pull out the flags and seal them. When they saw our troops coming up, they hurriedly whistled at us and waved their commands. The flag signaled us to go into the ditch next to it...

At this time, we were crying in our hearts. If we waited ten minutes later for the Yue Guizi to come up, wouldn't we have landmines in front and chasing soldiers in the rear?I'm afraid it's hard not to die.

Driven by this kind of fear, we can be said to be running all the way... The ten kilometers usually take two hours to walk (the roads in Vietnam are difficult), but we arrived in less than an hour Destination, and this is in the case of avoiding minefields along the way.

When we arrived in Hebian, we realized that this is another small village in Vietnam... It is said to be a village, but it is nothing, because there are only three or four thatched huts around here, and all of them were destroyed by artillery fire.

There are many villages like this in Vietnam. If it was in modern times... there would be many problems, such as difficulty in seeing a doctor and inconvenient shopping in such a remote village.But at that time, Vietnam was still in a relatively primitive state of life, so these were not a problem.

Difficult to see a doctor?When they are sick, they either wrap a bag in the bed, or get some herbs to support themselves and pass.

Shopping is inconvenient?Most of them farm and grow vegetables by themselves, and it’s not bad if they can eat enough, and they don’t need to shop at all.

So we have long been familiar with such a village, and we will not pay much attention when passing by. If it is not because we are going to be stationed here, we would never know that it is also called "Hebian".

Before approaching the village, I saw a highway bridge, and from a long distance away, I saw engineering troops busy up and down the highway bridge.Don't think about it, they must be installing explosives to blow up the bridge.

As soon as the soldiers saw this posture, they speeded up unknowingly, and at the same time they shouted at the engineering troops on the bridge: "Comrade, wait, we haven't passed yet!"

"Comrade, don't blow up the bridge!"

……

In fact, I know that this is still far away from the bridge bombing. Let alone the engineering troops behind us doing mop-up work, it is impossible for the Yue Devils to chase here through the minefield so quickly.

However, I can understand the mood of the soldiers. It’s like an arrow coming home... They may all be thinking in their hearts: It’s not honorable to put your head on your trouser belt on the battlefield, so don’t get caught on the way back. What's wrong.It's about to go home now, it would be too wronged if I still lie here.

It’s just that the soldiers of the engineering unit didn’t understand. They all found it funny when they saw us like this, and they joked at us when we ran close:

"Hey! I said infantry brothers... Aren't you charging in the battle? Why are you so timid right now!"

"Is it because you have lost so many battles that you are used to running away?"

There was even a sapper pretending to be waving a flag and shouting at us: "Hey, don't come here, don't come here... The fuse has been lit, it's about to explode!"

Then the other engineers laughed again.

The soldiers and I were already running out of breath at this time, and there was no time to pay attention to them. After running across the bridge, we stopped to rest.

But... In some ways, I think this is also a kind of psychological maturity of the soldiers.

There is a saying that the more inferior you are, the more afraid others will say it, because letting others talk about it hurts.

This mentality is a bit strange, but it does exist.For example, if a poor person wears a fake or something, he is afraid that others will find out, but a rich person can be calm when wearing a fake, and with confidence in his heart, what others say is a joke.

I think the same is true for the soldiers. I remember when I first joined the army, the soldiers said that they were timid and afraid of death. If someone said that...it would be like a grudge You have to scold for a while or even do something before you stop.

But now...it doesn't matter if the engineering troops mock the soldiers so blatantly.Now that we have confidence, we know whether we can fight and whether we will be brave, and it is not something that others can wipe away our credit and record.

"You are the troops of the Second Company!" After a while, a middle-aged soldier greeted us and shook hands with us: "Welcome, comrade! I am Zhang Xuezhong, the commander of the Fifth Company of Engineers, and the superior has already notified you of your situation first. We are over, and you all retreat with our troops!"

The soldiers and I couldn't help but be overjoyed when we heard this, because we all know that the engineering troops are usually equipped with cars because they have to carry a lot of mines and explosives... In other words, we don't have to walk when we go back.

After a while, Company Commander Zhang asked again with some doubts: "Comrade... where are your other troops?"

These words choked the soldiers, and the troops quickly fell into silence. It took a long time before Company Commander Luo answered a few words seriously: "It's all here!"

"What? A company..." Company Commander Zhang quickly understood what was going on, and stopped the words in time.

Those soldiers who were still laughing at us just now also understood, and the mockery on their faces quickly turned into apology.

I couldn't help turning my eyes to the other side of the bridge, and said to myself: "Brothers who stayed on the battlefield, we are already on our way home, your souls...have you come with us?" (To be completed continued.)