Author: Li Yaoqing.
The first episode mainly talks about the 52nd Artillery Regiment marching from the Guangdong garrison to the theater of operations, and making pre-war preparations after arriving at the theater, and this episode mainly talks about building fortifications and pre-war reconnaissance.
3. Strengthen combat training and build strong fortifications The regimental headquarters of the 52nd Regiment is stationed at the brigade headquarters of the Huaili Brigade, the battalion headquarters of the second battalion and the command company are stationed in Naer Village, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th companies are stationed in Putu Village. The village is a Han village, there are more than 40 households, about 300 people, the village is built in a half-moon shape, the middle low-lying place is a big fish pond, there is a water stream passing through the southwest of the village, the water flow is not big, but the flow is continuous, it is the production and domestic water of the village. There are three big banyan trees on the side of the road, and under the banyan trees is a good place for the villagers to cook their homes. Our reconnaissance platoon and company headquarters lived in the warehouse of the production team in the village, and the personnel of the other platoons lived in the homes of fellow villagers. After the troops have settled down, they will start combat training, and the training of our reconnaissance platoon will focus on reconnoitring targets and observing bombing points, the calculation troops will mainly prepare to shoot at Zhuyuan, and the regiments and battalions will focus on joint battalion and group training. During combat training, the company organized the digging of vehicle bunkers and cat's ear holes near the station. Vehicles are driven into bunkers and camouflaged. The troops have strengthened ideological and political education and invited returned overseas Chinese to make reports to arouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the commanders and fighters. 
In the days when our reconnaissance platoon lived in the warehouse of the village production team there, life was hard, washing our faces in the morning and bathing in the evening were all using the water of the big fish pond in the village, and it was very cold to bathe in the fish pond water in winter, and we slept on the floor. We lived in the warehouse for about half a month, and then moved out of the warehouse to live in a family surnamed Shi. The landlord has a family of 6 people, 3 people live in Ningming County, usually rarely go home, the landlord is very enthusiastic, we also treat the landlord as a relative, clean the house every day, help the landlord carry water, chop wood. I was the platoon commander at the time, and at the platoon meeting, I asked the whole platoon to abide by the discipline of the masses, and we and the landlord were like a family.
In early January 1979, the higher authorities asked us to hurry up and build field fortifications such as observation posts and artillery emplacements, starting posts, and ammunition stations in wartime areas along the national border. On January 11, our company followed Battalion Commander Yu Fuyou from Naer Village to the 647 Heights about 2,000 meters northeast of the Friendship Pass, and the location of the observation post was selected to be on the ridge of the 647 Heights extending in the direction of the Friendship Pass, about 200 meters away from the main peak. The whole company began to build observation (command) posts and communication trenches. The observation post faces the Friendship Pass, Dong Than, Vietnam, Lang Son direction. The front of the observation post is about 6 meters wide, and the interior is about 2 meters in front and back5 meters, leaving a width of 2 meters and a height of 0 in the direction of facing the enemyThe 3-meter observation hole can also be used as a shooting hole. The traffic trench connecting the observation post is about 30 meters. The 647 highland is a soil mountain, the soil is relatively soft, the construction progress is very fast, everyone is full of enthusiasm, it only takes one day, the 30-meter traffic trench leading from the observation post to the back slope is basically dug up, and the depth of the traffic trench is about 23 meters. On January 12, continue to the 647 highland to construct fortifications, mainly digging cat's ear hole, digging on the slope of the main peak of the hillside traffic trench behind the observation post, the entrance of the cat's ear hole is about 1 meter wide, digging about 2 meters inward, and then digging a hole to the left and right, the hole is about 1 meter wide and about 1 meter high2 meters, about 2 meters deep5 meters. Generally, two people live in a cat's ear piercing, and some live in one person. 
From 13 to 15 January, the construction of fortifications continued, and for these three days it was mainly to cover the observation post and the traffic trenches, and to reinforce the dug cat's ear holes. 647 Heights grow a lot of pine trees, the diameter of the trunk of the pine tree is about 30 centimeters, is the best material for repairing fortifications, we cut down the pine trees on the mountain, according to the length and width of the observation post, the depth of the traffic trench, the height of the cat's ear hole, sawed the pine into sections, and then first put the pine trees vertically like a stake on the inner side of the observation post, and then placed a layer of pine at the bottom of the observation post, and then fixed the horizontal wood and vertical wood at the bottom with yard nails, and the practice of the traffic trench is the same as that of the observation post.
Four layers of longitudinal and horizontal pine wood and four layers of sacks filled with earth were added to the top of the observation post, so that the thickness of the covering layer of the observation post exceeded 15 meters, the top of the traffic trench was also covered with 3 layers of pine, 3 layers of sacks filled with dirt, and then a layer of camouflaged turf was added on the top, and drainage ditches 30 cm deep were dug on both sides of the fortifications to prevent water from flowing into the fortifications when it rained. The internal structure of the observation post and the communication trench is basically the same as the pattern of the tunnel built by the volunteers in North Korea, and it is very solid. The commander of the 55th Army led a special tour of our observation post and the construction of communication trenches, and fully affirmed our practice of building fortifications. In late January 1979, the regiment organized several drills, especially a live-fire exercise in the direction of Aidian before the Spring Festival. Do a good job of pre-war border reconnaissance duty. On February 4 (the eighth day of the first lunar month), I was ordered to lead a platoon of 11 people to follow the deputy battalion commander Zhuang Maoxiong to Ma'anshan, a village of seven villages in the northeast of Youyi Pass, to take over the reconnaissance platoon of the regimental command company and serve as a reconnaissance shift. Everyone was fully armed, the cadres carried a pistol, the fighters each had a submachine gun, and all the personnel had 4 grenades each. With a steering wheel and an artillery mirror, we took the car to the highway at the foot of the west mountain of the 647 Heights, got off the car, walked to Ma'anshan behind Miqi Village, and quickly carried out work with the reconnaissance platoon of the regimental command company, handed over the equipment, and immediately carried out reconnaissance duty. The fortifications of Ma'anshan are a cantonment cave built during the Qing Dynasty, which is made of stone and blue bricks, about 15 meters wide and about 2 meters deep5 meters, which looked like a large pillbox from the outside, we lived in it with a heavy machine-gun squad of the 55th Army, an infantry squad, whose task was to protect the artillery reconnaissance duty. Living in a bunker-style cantonment cave with a damp floor, I slept one night and woke up the next morning with water under the plastic sheeting. In order to have a better rest, I organized the soldiers to cut down the trees on the mountain and set up simple beds, and put firewood and grass on them, about 40 centimeters above the ground, so that they no longer had to sleep on the wet ground. Every day, we have to go to a creek in the middle of the mountain to get water. Our reconnaissance duty is half a day during the day and two hours at night, and we conduct reconnaissance and make detailed records of the Vietnamese road vehicles, the activities of village personnel, the pillboxes, fire points, artillery positions, and activities of the Vietnamese troops. We used a 40-fold high-powered telescope fixed on a tripod for observation, and an imported laser rangefinder to measure the distance between the eyes and calculate the coordinates of the Vietnamese pillboxes and artillery positions. At that time, the activities of the Vietnamese army ** team were very frequent, especially at night, everyone was very vigilant, and the submachine guns carried by the officers on duty were loaded with bullets and the safety was closed. The sentries of the heavy machine gun squad and the infantry squad were also very vigilant, and all means were to survive. 
At that time, the regiment was led by the deputy chief of staff of the regiment, the commander of the reconnaissance unit, and the deputy battalion commander Zhuang Maoxiong of our battalion. During the reconnaissance duty, I had to take a soldier down the mountain to Pingxiang City every other day to report to the reconnaissance section of the 163 rd Division, mainly to send the reconnaissance record documents to the division's reconnaissance section, and our reconnaissance tasks included the activities of the Vietnamese troops in the area of 15 kilometers wide and about 20 kilometers deep on the opposite side, the fortifications on the mountain, the distribution of pillboxes, and the number of vehicles on the Tongdeng road. In order to facilitate their movements, the regiment arranged a three-wheeled motorcycle in a small house next to the highway at the foot of the mountain to deliver reconnaissance records to Pingxiang City.
On February 13, 1979, we carried out normal reconnaissance duty on the Ma'anshan Observation Post, at 18 o'clock I took a bucket down the mountain to carry water, everywhere was still very calm, after a night, at 6 o'clock in the morning of the 14th, when I went down the mountain again to fetch water and wash my face, on the hillside, on the mountain path, there were already a lot of infantry units of the 55th Army, I felt that the war was about to start, I washed my face, and immediately notified the personnel to count the equipment, gather the materials and prepare for transfer. At 9 o'clock on the 14th, the regiment informed us that we were ready to return to the base camp observation post, and we began to carry materials to the 647 highland battalion observation post, and it was about a 30-minute walk from Ma'anshan to the 647 highland observation post, and when we transported the second batch of materials back to the 647 highland camp observation post, the personnel at the front of the battalion observation post had already come to the battalion basic observation post, and we also returned to the battalion observation post after handing over the materials and equipment to the reconnaissance platoon of the regiment command company. (To be continued).