From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Chapter 430 Commander Chu's Fury!
The Blue Army's 3rd Motorized Infantry Battalion was ordered by its brigade commander to act as the vanguard, clearing away all enemy forces ahead of the artillery regiment and capturing all key points from Tongling Mountain to Xiaomao Mountain.

They also learned that the air force bombers had launched an air raid and destroyed all the fortifications built by the Red Army.

This greatly boosted the morale of the entire Third Motorized Infantry Battalion!

Arriving at the foot of the main peak of Tongling Mountain along the national highway, there are still roadblocks placed by the Red Army in the middle of the road, with two lines of text clearly written on them.

"Blue Army blocking position, vehicles are prohibited from passing."

Without the bombing raids, the Blue Army's 3rd Motorized Infantry Battalion would have been more cautious and would not have dared to attack without thoroughly investigating the situation.

But now it's confirmed that the position has been destroyed, even though the command has not reported the number of casualties.

The three motorized infantry battalions no longer had any fear.

The battalion commander got out of the vehicle and glanced around with his binoculars. He found that there were not many Red Army soldiers on the main peak, so he hastily ended the pre-battle reconnaissance.

He immediately made a judgment and gave the order: "The Red Army's position has been destroyed by bombers, and there are very few people left on the position."

"Inform the 7th Company to send two platoons to attack from both flanks of the position. The rest of you stay put and await my orders."

The battalion commander of the 3rd Motorized Infantry Battalion was far too trusting of intelligence and had an inexplicable confidence in the air force's air raids.

Thinking that the Red Army had suffered heavy losses from the air raid and that its combat effectiveness had been destroyed, they brought an entire battalion but only sent two platoons to try and take Tongling Mountain.

Normally, at least two companies would attack, one on the left and one on the right, flanking the Red Army in Tongling Mountain, while leaving one company as a reserve.

This is the right attitude!

"Yes!"

The battalion commander has given the order, and the companies below have no choice but to carry it out.

Soon, the first and second platoons of the 7th Company disembarked on orders and attacked the position on the hillside from the left and right sides respectively. The attack formation was in perfect order, and the squad tactics were executed skillfully.

When they approached within 150 meters, the Red Army on the hillside launched a defensive operation.

"Da da da da..."

Gunshots echoed through the valley.

"The Red Army on the mountain was indeed bluffing; two platoons would have been more than enough to take them down."

The battalion commander of the third battalion, who was watching the battle from the foot of the mountain, heard the sporadic gunfire from the Red Army's position and concluded that at most a platoon had been killed.

The two attacking Blue Army platoons also used gunfire to determine the Red Army's defensive weaknesses.

This gave them more confidence, and their morale soared.

The two platoons withstood the Red Army's attack, taking turns using their skilled squad and platoon cover tactics to continuously fire and suppress the Red Army's position, and kept getting closer to the hillside, soon coming within a hundred meters.

With victory within reach, the two platoons of the Blue Army were filled with high morale and their attacks became increasingly fierce.

However, the Red Army made a strange move at this time, actively throwing out a large number of smoke grenades at a distance of forty to fifty meters from the center.

Normally, smoke grenades are used for offensive purposes; only attacking troops use smoke grenades to create obstacles.

The defending forces already have fortifications as cover. Placing smoke grenades between the two sides creates a visual obstruction, which is actually more detrimental to the defense.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
The two platoons of the Blue Army realized something was wrong, but they had not received orders from the battalion headquarters, and the Red Army's position was right in front of them, which made them really unwilling to give up.

So they braved the billowing smoke and continued their attack on the Red Army's positions.

However, the only ones holding the position were a group of engineers. Once they threw out the smoke grenades, they had already completed their mission and didn't care how many Blue Army soldiers they had killed.

The special operations company, which was actually lying in ambush in the shadows, was the true protagonist of this war.

Just as the two platoons of the Blue Army were advancing through smoke grenades and were less than fifty meters from the Red Army's position, "straw men" suddenly emerged from the bushes and ground around them.

Clad in "weed ghillie suits," the special forces soldiers were like death gods emerging from the ground, launching a death harvest on the poor Blue Army.

"Da da da da da..."

Intense gunfire suddenly echoed across the mountainside.

The two platoons of the Blue Army never imagined that someone would be hiding in the bushes next to them; they had never seen such strange camouflage uniforms before.

The enemy that appeared was so bizarre that the two platoons of the Blue Army had no ability to resist at all.

It took less than twenty seconds.

The two platoons of the Blue Army were completely wiped out, not a single one was left alive, not because they were riddled with bullets and turned into smoking corpses.

He was disarmed and controlled by a "straw man" who suddenly appeared beside him, who used overwhelming hand-to-hand combat skills to finally tie him up like a meat dumpling and take him away.

"Seventh Company Commander, what's going on? What's happening up there? Why has the gunfire stopped? Has the position been captured?"

The battalion commander watching the battle couldn't see very clearly; the smoke had almost completely enveloped the entire mountainside, making it impossible to see anyone from the foot of the mountain.

But what exactly happened after the gunfire stopped left the Third Battalion Commander scratching his head in frustration, and he could only try to find out by using the vehicle-mounted radio.

The company commander on this side was equally confused. Just a few seconds ago, a platoon leader had reported to him that they were passing through the smoke and were less than fifty meters away from the Red Army's position.

Only a dozen seconds later, the gunfire suddenly stopped.

Breaking through 50 meters in just over ten seconds is easier than eating or drinking on the track and field, but it is absolutely impossible on the battlefield.

Not to mention that after breaking through fifty meters, they also had to take out the Red Army soldiers defending the position.

That is to say...

The Blue Army captured the position and ended the battle, so the possibility that the gunfire has stopped is very low.

But if that's not the reason, the Seventh Company Commander is even less willing to accept the remaining possibility, as it's even more impossible for him.

The defending Red Army position had just been attacked by air, and only one platoon of Red Army soldiers could have survived.

The sound of gunfire during the defense is proof!
The possibility that a defending Red Army platoon could turn the tide and kill two attacking Blue Army platoons in just over ten seconds is something no one would believe.

But this is impossible, and that is impossible.

So what is the reason?
The company commander was in a real bind. When he received a radio call from the battalion commander asking about the situation, he felt like he was about to explode. He wished he could rush up the mountain immediately to find out the reason.

However, there was no time for him to go up now, so he could only report the situation truthfully.

"What? Not one of your people? You can't contact your people anymore?"

When the battalion commander learned the truth, he felt as if the sky was falling. Two entire platoons of soldiers had been wiped out inexplicably.

This is too evil!

Although the battalion commander was unwilling to believe it, the facts were right in front of him, and he had no choice but to believe it. A strong sense of unease began to take hold of his heart.

Before figuring out the situation on the mountain, he dared not launch another attack rashly.

The atmosphere in the command center was eerily tense, with everyone wearing expressions that were both bewildering and exasperated. They had considered every possible combat scenario that might arise once the live-fire exercise began.

But what no one expected was that after the live-fire battle broke out, the first to be deployed were not artillery, infantry, or armored vehicles; instead, it was the engineers who took center stage.

The Red Army on the right flank dispatched an engineering company to construct a fake position on Tongling Mountain, creating a shoddy project, and deliberately making a show of force with their troop deployment.

Then, the first direct confrontation of the exercise began with two platoons of the Blue Army rushing up.

The special operations company, disguised and hiding nearby, launched a brilliant surprise attack, quickly wiping out two platoons of the Blue Army. This was only the "second shot" fired.

The clash that broke out in the middle lane featured two main combatants on both sides.

The Red Army first sent out engineers to lay mines on the road, and the Blue Army also sent out engineers to clear the mines. The two sides were playing a game of engineering.

These seemingly insignificant small-scale activities perfectly illustrate the true meaning of "Where has the time gone?"

because……

It got dark!
For Chu Zhangang, who had to take down the 535 defense line within ten days, wasting time on the road meant that victory was slipping away from him.

The Blues' space is compressed as time gets shorter, and their chances of winning also decrease over time.

Chu Zhangang cannot allow this phenomenon to spread.

So Chu Zhangang personally drove 30 kilometers ahead and finally arrived at the front line just as night fell, where he met up with the chief of staff who was stuck on the road.

It was already dark, and the engineers were still clearing mines ahead, while the convoy remained parked on the side of the road and had not moved forward.

Chu Zhangang's temper flared up!

"Chief of Staff, what's going on?" Chu Zhangang asked, clearly dissatisfied.

"It will take about thirty more minutes to completely check this section of the road," the chief of staff replied earnestly.

"Thirty minutes??" Chu Zhangang exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"It's about 150 meters away. The Red Army is really too cunning. They not only placed tripwire mines by the roadside, but also dug holes in the middle of the road to bury landmines, covered them with sand, and used ash to make them look old and camouflage them. It's really troublesome to find them," the chief of staff said helplessly.

The highway surface was covered with sand, which was much harder than a dirt road. The Red Army was able to come up with the idea of ​​burying mines and even aging them to make them look old, so that there was not much difference on the surface.

They really mastered the art of setting up mines!

Even when it's daylight and visibility is good, it's not easy to find; you can only use a metal detector to probe forward little by little. It's even more difficult to find when it's dark.

The 150-meter stretch of road was explored in 30 minutes, which was already pushing the pace to its maximum.

When Chu Zhangang heard that the Red Army was using such elaborate methods, his dissatisfaction with the chief of staff's slow efficiency lessened somewhat. He didn't have many options in this situation.

So he softened his tone and asked, "How many landmines have you found in total?"

“There are more than twenty of them, some real and some fake. I don’t dare to let the troops take any risks, so I can only scout out this section of the road and clear all the mines,” the chief of staff said.

"What? There are fakes too?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhangang became furious again. The Red Army was actually using fakes to mock him, which was extremely disrespectful and unbearable for him.

So he decided to go all out and ordered, "Have the engineering company bring the engineering vehicles over."

"Yes!"

At Chu Zhangang's command, all the heavy machinery of the engineering company was brought up.

A wheeled bulldozer with a large shovel on top drove to the front of the convoy. Its body, which was more than four meters high, looked particularly imposing.

Chu Zhangang rushed over to the bulldozer in a few quick steps, grabbed the guardrail, and climbed up without saying a word.

"Brigade Commander, this is too dangerous. You can't go. Let me do it." The chief of staff realized what Chu Zhangang was about to do. He was going to use a bulldozer to force the landmines out of the ground.

Although this method is risky, it is actually quite efficient.

After all, some of the landmines planted were real, and some were fake, with the fake ones outnumbering the real ones.

Instead of wasting half an hour here, why not take a chance with this bulldozer and forcefully create a safe passage with its wheels?

If you happen to run over all the fake landmines, you can save half an hour.

If we lose, we'll only lose a bulldozer.

With the bulldozer's thick chassis and tires, an anti-tank mine could indeed destroy it, but it wouldn't be enough to kill the people inside.

Therefore, the directing department will not make a ruling to determine that the person driving the bulldozer died.

Chu Zhangang was well aware of this, which is why he wasn't worried about himself and didn't accept the chief of staff's advice. Instead, he ordered him again: "Go and give the order immediately, take the team and follow behind the engineering vehicle."

After saying that, Chu Zhangang climbed into the driver's seat and skillfully drove the bulldozer forward.

Chief of Staff Ding Kai had no choice but to obey the order and start the stalled convoy to move forward behind the bulldozers.

……

As the brigade commander, Chu Zhangang took the lead and demonstrated such courage and responsibility, which was reported to the director's command center in real time through the on-site referees' broadcast.

Today is the first day of the battle between the red and blue teams, and there are quite a few people in the command center.

Chief of Staff Shen and the deputy political commissar of the theater were both present.

"As the exercise has progressed this far, it seems that the red and blue sides are evenly matched, with neither side gaining a clear advantage," the deputy political commissar said with a smile, looking at Chief of Staff Shen.

"It seems that Chu Zhangang, this South China tiger, has been truly provoked this time. As the brigade commander, he has personally taken up arms and gone into battle. His courage is truly commendable," Chief of Staff Shen nodded in satisfaction.

"With the highway maze broken, the Red Army will likely be unable to stop the Blue Army any longer, and they will probably be able to advance straight into the center," Political Commissar Fu judged.

"It's hard to say."

Chief of Staff Shen looked at the large screen in front of him with a strange expression and said expectantly, "The Red Army's Chief of Staff, Chen Jun, is not a conventional Chief of Staff. He cannot be treated with common sense."

I don't think anyone can guess what his next move will be.

What methods will he use to stop the Blues next, and what tricks and schemes are he plotting? To be honest, I'm really looking forward to it.

Chen Jun never plays by the rules in battle; this has been a tradition since the days of the Steel Seventh Company.

In every exercise that took place, Chen Jun's tactics were unpredictable. But when he used them, they were always astonishing.

This allowed Chen Jun's reputation and talent to spread rapidly from the grassroots company level all the way to the high command of the war zone.

The deputy chief of staff had long heard of Chen Jun, and upon hearing Chief of Staff Shen's words, he couldn't help but say, "Chen Jun is indeed a very outstanding military genius."

However, the difficulties faced by the Red Army this time were unprecedented, and it was extremely difficult for the Red Army to win the confrontation.

"If the Red Army could defeat the Blue Army's 909th Brigade under such extremely passive circumstances, and Chen's army could turn the tide, then I, Old Yang, would truly admire him."

(End of this chapter)