Starting from 1950

San Suo Li is truly a purgatory.

The defensive line built by the soldiers of the 113th Division with their will and flesh and blood has been shattered under the repeated ravages of steel and flames.

The positions on the east side of the main peak had just endured the bombardment of the third wave of bombers. The flames of napalm were still burning fiercely, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt flesh mixed with gasoline.

The surviving soldiers crawled out from the scorching earth and the remains of their comrades, their faces and hands covered with blisters and burns. Many of them had their cotton-padded clothes burned through, revealing their charred skin underneath.

Coughing and spitting bloody saliva, they fumbled for their still-usable weapons and stumbled toward the breach in the collapsed fortifications.

"Fix bayonets! Prepare grenades! The enemy is coming!" a company commander, his face covered in blood, roared, his voice barely audible amidst the echoes of the explosion.

The planes roared southward with a satisfied sound as they ran out of ammunition, leaving behind this scorched earth that had been repeatedly ravaged.

Down the mountain, the steel torrent of the 1st Cavalry Division roared even more fiercely.

Dozens of heavy tanks and hundreds of medium tanks formed a wedge-shaped attack formation, their tracks grinding against the frozen ground with a dull rumble, like a moving steel fortress, slowly pressing down on the hillside.

Behind the tanks, infantry surged forward like a tide, their helmets gleaming coldly in the firelight. Thompson submachine guns and M1 Garand rifles spat fire, and mortar shells rained down on the ravaged positions of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army like hailstones.

"For the free world! Charge! Crush them!" Hobart, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, stood in an armored command vehicle, staring intently through the observation window at the almost leveled hilltop, his face a mixture of ferocity and urgency.

The news that the 2nd Infantry Division of Junyu-ri was surrounded was like a death knell, making them realize that Sansuoli was their last chance to survive, and they had to break through this gap at all costs!

To the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division, the soldiers on that damned hill must have been roasted alive by their own bombs.

Once they get up there and occupy the stronghold, the road south will be wide open.

"Da da da da—!"

Sensing the enemy's attack, the few remaining heavy machine guns on the position roared once more, weaving a web of fire.

Bullets clanged and sparks flew as they struck the tank armor, mowing down swathes of charging infantry.

But the enemy's firepower was equally fierce, with mortar shells constantly exploding on the position, and soldiers falling one after another in pools of blood.

......

At this critical moment!

"boom--!"

"What's that sound?!" Hobart abruptly turned his binoculars around, looking north with surprise and uncertainty.

The next moment, they saw a sight that caused his heart to stop!

A plume of black smoke exploded within the 1st Cavalry Division's formation.

Along the northern mountain ridge, as if by magic, a wave of steel suddenly appeared!

Leading the way were more than a dozen lighthouse tanks painted with white stars, their cannons pointed directly at the rear of the 1st Cavalry Division!

Following closely behind were even more trucks and jeeps roaring in.

The truck bed and the sides of the truck were filled with soldiers in khaki uniforms!

Red flags, stained with the smoke of battle yet still fluttering in the wind, were flying high on the locomotives and in the hands of the soldiers!

"Shit! The 2nd Infantry Division was defeated so quickly! What a waste! Utterly useless!"

Hobart launched into a tirade, then roared at his adjutant, "Pass down the order: the artillery regiment will continue to suppress the enemy's positions at San Suoli, and the tank battalion will turn to the rear! Once the enemy is driven back, the entire division will break out to the west!"

The adjutant replied tremblingly, "Yes! I'll inform them immediately!"

......

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!" On the San Suoli position, a soldier with a blood-stained face froze for a second before bursting into a heart-wrenching roar.

"Kill them—!"

The 113th Division, which had been passively defending, suddenly erupted in a deafening roar! The surviving soldiers seemed to be infused with boundless power, recklessly leaning out and frantically unleashing their last bullets and grenades down the mountain!

"Fire! Target! Enemy artillery positions and infantry groups! Give them a good beating!"

On the temporary artillery position of the 114th Division, Division Commander Zhai was roaring with almost all his might.

He stood on a jeep, his binoculars fixed on the chaotic enemy forces below the mountain, veins bulging on his forehead.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!"

The 49 105mm howitzers and 14 155mm heavy guns that had just been captured from Gunuri, carrying the fury of all the soldiers of the 114th Division, were precisely smashed into the artillery positions of the 1st Cavalry Division, which were frantically pouring fire on the main peak of Samso-ri, as well as those densely charging infantry groups!

Any army unit that is silently sneaked into the rear by the enemy will be thrown into chaos.

The soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division were no exception. They were caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to charge forward or backward, and the entire formation was thrown into chaos!

"Tanks! Fire! Fire! Tear open their flanks!" Commander Zhai drew his pistol and pointed it at the enemy troops who were in chaos below the mountain.

"The rest of you follow behind the tanks and roll forward!"

Eighteen steel beasts roared, their engines at full power, their tracks whipping up a raging torrent of ice, snow, and mud, advancing like tigers descending a mountain from the northern slope with overwhelming force towards the 1st Cavalry Division's square formation.

"Da da da da—!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Tank cannons and coaxial machine guns spewed deadly flames.

The soldiers used vehicles as makeshift cover and unleashed a barrage of fire on the chaotic enemy forces.

The firepower of light and heavy machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles instantly wove together a massive net of death, covering the flanks of the 1st Cavalry Division.

"Southeast... southeast, about 1500 meters away, at the edge of a grove of trees! There's a large number of antenna vehicles and armored vehicles gathered! It looks like a command post!"

"Enemy reserves...are assembling in a ravine about 800 meters northwest of the command post! Approximately...two battalions of infantry, and more than twenty tanks! They are...are attempting to outflank your tank battalion!"

After Su Yang shared his view with Xiao Yu, who was 2000 meters above the ground, it was as if he had a full map cheat code, allowing him to report information to Master Zhai accurately and clearly.

"Good! Well done!" Commander Zhai's spirits soared, and he immediately roared at the communications soldier, "Pass on the order! Deploy ten artillery pieces and cover the enemy command area at the edge of the grove of trees 1500 meters to the southeast! Tell the 340th Regiment to be alert for the enemy reserve flanking maneuver in the mountain pass to the northwest!"

He chose to believe the information provided by Su Yang completely.

He knew Su Yang had a secret, but now was not the time to delve into it; the key was how to win this battle.

Under Commander Zhai's micro-management, the entire battlefield situation changed rapidly.

The shells seemed to have eyes, precisely hitting the area near Hobart's command post. The violent explosions turned the edge of the grove into an inferno, and several communication vehicles and armored vehicles were directly hit and burst into flames.

The command system instantly descended into chaos.

Meanwhile, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 340th Regiment, responsible for covering the flanks of the tanks, fiercely thrust themselves into the mountain pass that Su Yang had pointed out, like two sharp knives.

They seized advantageous terrain and used concentrated firepower to suppress the enemy reserves that were trying to rush out to provide support, pinning them down in the mountain valley.

The tanks of the 114th Division, single-mindedly focused, charged through the chaotic flank formation of the 1st Cavalry Division like red-hot daggers piercing butter, crushing trenches, bombarding trucks, and turning their originally tight attack formation upside down!