At dawn on February 20, 1979, the front command of our army issued an urgent order, requiring the 1st Battalion of the 361st Regiment of the 121st Division to support the 367th Regiment of the 123rd Division. However, just at noon the previous day, the regiment had just canceled the task of reinforcing Nalong, and now it had received a new order, which Deputy Commander Mao, as the commander of the 121st Division, was somewhat concerned about.
Although it is the duty of a soldier to obey military orders, he also understands that every time he changes his mission, he will make the soldiers do some useless work, wasting time and energy. Therefore, Deputy Commander Mao ordered: 361 Company and 3 Platoons of the 2nd Regiment continued to hold the 809 Heights, and the other troops set off immediately.
In the plan of the 121st Division's interspersed operations, the 809 Heights and Banzhuang were the main destinations. Before the battle, it was learned that the 852nd Regiment of the 346th Division of the Vietnamese Army was stationed here, and the commander of the army ordered that the 121st Division should be inserted into place before 19 o'clock on February 17, completely annihilating the enemy on the high ground, and then joining up with the main force to completely annihilate the enemy at Gao Ping.
Therefore, the main task of the 361 regiment was to capture the 809 heights and the main attack on Ban Traung. However, due to the erroneous instructions of the 41st Army Command, the interspersed tasks were repeated repeatedly, and even the interspersed plan of the 361st Regiment of the 121st Division was disrupted many times, making the soldiers do a lot of useless work.
This situation made Deputy Commander Mao feel very regretful and helpless, and he understood that only on the premise of ensuring the smooth completion of the task could the interests of the soldiers be protected to the greatest extent.
Therefore, he decided that it was necessary to conscientiously carry out military orders and strictly abide by the battle plan in order to ensure the successful completion of the combat mission.
In the course of carrying out the mission, the 361st Regiment received a total of 5 emergency transfers, which led to the dispersion of large forces and the inability to gather effective forces to resist the enemy. When the order to reinforce Kutun was issued, the 35 soldiers of the 2nd Company and 3rd Platoon of the 361st Regiment who remained on the 809 Heights were forced to stand by in place.
The canyon here is about 600 meters long and more than 30 meters wide, and it is a primeval forest, with high mountains and deep ravines, and steep cliffs, which is extremely difficult to move. Although in danger, they stuck to their posts.
On February 21, the military region again ordered that the 121st Division lead the 362nd Regiment to advance to Kutun, and the 363rd Regiment defended Dongsai. When the division troops again arrived at Highway 3 south of the 809 Heights, the division leaders suddenly remembered that there were 35 soldiers from 2 companies and 3 platoons on the top of the mountain.
As a result, Political Commissar Zhou urgently launched a contact signal. But after several days and nights, the soldiers were already hungry, and the trumpeters were exhausted. Political Commissar Zhou could only find water to drink for him, and blew the horn with difficulty.
Although the horn sounded, there was no response from the top of the mountain. The division leader observed for a while and was deeply worried. However, when it was learned that the deputy instructor of the 3rd Battalion who was sent to pick up the incident lied that there was no one on the mountain, everyone was a little relieved.
In fact, the assistant instructor did not arrive at the main peak of the highland to check, but only rushed down to delay time and lied about the news. Since he had to rush to Kutun before dark, the division commander could not send someone to look for him again, so he could only continue to move forward with a heavy heart.
After capturing the 809 heights, 35 fighters of the 2nd Company and 3rd Platoon decided to hold the main peak and cover the division command organs and the transfer of the whole regiment. They hide in the weeds, exposing only half of their heads so as not to be discovered by the enemy.
They climbed a mountain nearly 800 meters high, picking up the weeds with their hands and moving forward step by step. However, on the first day, they faced a crisis of running out of food, and only 5 compressed biscuits were collected.
Instructor Yan Qianyuan decided to divide the compressed biscuits into 35 portions, so that most of the fighters could have a ration to eat. However, some fighters left dry rations for their frail comrades, and some of them burst into tears as a result.
Despite the hardships of life, the fighters sent dry rations with water like pills, but this was not enough to fill their stomachs. Their tenacity and selflessness are touching and a true miracle return.
In the difficult jungle, the warriors faced the threat of starvation. They began to save themselves, digging wild vegetables and bamboo roots, although it was only a temporary solution to their hunger, but it was better than not eating at all.
However, the threat of starvation did not go away, the fighters began to lose their strength, and even 19 fighters fainted. In order to find food, Instructor Yan ordered the squad leader who was in good health to lead a few fighters down the mountain.
They weaved through the dense jungle, enduring the pain of thorn scratches and sweat stinging, and finally found a thatched house halfway up the mountain. They carefully surrounded the thatched hut and managed to open the door, finding that there was no one inside.
Although the search did not find a large amount of food, their determination and perseverance were admirable.
The smoke of war was everywhere, and the Vietnamese people fled for their lives. In the midst of the chaos, the soldiers found seven or eight catties of rice bran in a corner, and everyone was overjoyed and burst into tears.
However, thinking of the discipline of the troops, they tried to come up with something of value in exchange. But on the way, in order to complete the task as soon as possible, they have already thrown away all their daily necessities.
At this time, one of the warriors pulled out a fountain pen, and everyone felt that it could no longer be exchanged, so they placed the pen under the rice bran. When they returned to the top of the mountain, they saw the rice bran they had brought back, and everyone burst into tears.
The instructor looked at everyone and comforted: "The suffering of the Red Army's Long March was even more cruel than this, and we should do the same today, because the motherland needs us." Hearing this, the fighters rekindled their fighting spirit, and they wrapped themselves in rice bran, ate leaves, and boiled grass roots to fill their stomachs.
Afterwards, they rested and thought about how they should spend tomorrow.
In the early morning, the soldiers were awakened by the sound of gunfire at the bottom of the mountain, and everyone was nervous, not knowing what would happen ahead, so they could only wait for the fortifications. However, when the sun rises, they spot a target – a buffalo.
The third platoon commander shouted in surprise: "Wow! This buffalo is here to bring us food. So he took two warriors down the mountain, killed the buffalo, cut it into pieces, and carried it up the mountain.
Now, the fighters have no problem with food for a few days. Although the sound of gunfire may attract the enemy, the warriors can no longer care about so much. Even if you die, you have to be a full ghost.
Perhaps in a state of hunger, being alive is the most important thing. Just as the fighters were preparing to feast, a contingent of our troops suddenly appeared. They were fighters of the 361 battalion of the 3 regiment, about 50 people.
Their eyes lit up at the sight of beef, because they hadn't eaten for three days. After solving the problem of hunger, everyone began to think about the next question.
The results of this interspersed mission were unexpected by many people, and there were many people who were left behind and lost. If you blindly look for large forces, you can easily be ambushed by the enemy. Therefore, they proposed to organize themselves, form squads and platoons, and jointly look for large troops.
Then, they left with these comrades and continued to hold on to the 809 heights. Although it is not a long-term solution here, they can't predict whether the troops are in **, whether they will retreat, and when they will retreat.
On the fourth day, we suddenly received a call from the radio, it was the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment, and he asked us if we were holding on to the main peak of the 809 Heights. The instructor hesitated, and only after confirming the identity of the other party did he report the situation of the fighters with a crying voice.
The battalion commander told us to stay where we were, and they immediately sent troops to pick us up. At that moment, we all felt hope and joy and couldn't help but cry. On the fifth day, the troops of the 3 regiment arrived, and they escorted us to the 1st regiment, 1st battalion, 2nd company.
When Deputy Army Commander Mao learned of our deeds, he couldn't help but cry: "You are our good soldiers, the loveliest people of the new generation. "When we recalled the deputy instructor who was ordered to find us, everyone was furious, because he was greedy for life and afraid of death, he didn't even dare to go up to the main peak, so he retreated halfway, and lied that we didn't know where to go.
Such people who are greedy for life and afraid of death deserve to be severely punished. In general, there were many problems with the command of the command of the 41st Army in this interspersed mission, they did not investigate the truth and blindly gave orders, which led to the dispersal of large forces and brought a threat to the lives of the soldiers.
Although the victory was won in the end, the problems are still worth pondering. An excellent army needs not only brave soldiers, but also excellent commanders.