"Hurry, move faster! Paul, take two people to stare at the woods, fire your guns whenever there is any situation. Don't be careless! Dima, Etienne, Froman, come with me to find a weapon pack!"

In a dry rice field, Lieutenant Leglis, who belonged to the 2nd French Light Paratrooper Battalion, hurriedly greeted the paratroopers who had landed. The rice field is located between the woods and the river. It is about three or four hundred meters north of the Song River, which flows into the Beibu Gulf from west to east. There is a winding dirt road on the bank, and lush bushes on the west and south sides. The wind blows the leaves, making people very worried that countless thin and fierce enemies are hidden deep in the woods where the vision is blocked.

The landed paratroopers quickly threw down their equipment and held rifles and submachine guns to consolidate the landing area. Strictly speaking, this was not the first time that French paratroopers fought in Vietnam. In 1947, more than 300 officers and soldiers affiliated with the French 1st Light Paratrooper Battalion participated in the suppression of Vietnam's rebellious armed forces. At that time, the North Vietnamese rebels had not yet reached the current climate. These French paratroopers only acted as emergency forces to fight on the ground, and did not truly "fall from the sky" as they are today. Over the past three years, the North Vietnamese rebel forces have continued to grow and grow in battle. Their soldiers have almost crazy bravery and cruel ambush methods, so the French called them "leeches", meaning

It refers to an opponent that is difficult to get rid of once it meets. Lieutenant Leglis has heard a lot of stories about the North Vietnamese guerrillas before coming here. What he is most worried about is that his troops were crazy attacked by a large number of North Vietnamese rebels before he could gain a foothold. Although the airborne troops are the best equipped troops in France at present, the light paratrooper battalion finally has the word "light". In addition to ordinary individual weapons, they only use light machine guns and light mortars as tactical support. The French troops equipped with artillery, armored vehicles and even tanks are still trembling in the face of the siege of the North Vietnamese army, not to mention the paratroopers with very limited firepower and ammunition!

The landing was successfully completed, the subordinates were successfully gathered, the landing packages equipped with machine guns and ammunition were successfully deployed, and the defensive positions were successfully deployed. The battalion was successfully contacted. As one plan after another was completed without any obstacle, seeing the colleagues' expressions of confidence and relaxation, the uneasiness in Lieutenant Leglis's heart gradually disappeared. Even though the soldiers of the North Vietnamese rebel army were fierce by nature and obtained some weapons that should have been eliminated from the hateful Soviets, this was a group of "barbarous natives" far away from modern civilization. Most of them were illiterate and had no understanding of military tactics at all. In the dense forest battlefield where heavy weapons were difficult to use, they could gain an advantage with their courage, and moved to the open area, and the defense was fully prepared. Their attack would inevitably evolve into a bloody massacre.

As the transport fleet returned, the French paratroopers quickly became quiet, which was a bit uncomfortable, but soon, sparse gunfire sounds came from the downstream of the river. According to the combat deployment, the first staircase of the airborne troops should occupy four bridges and seven ferries on the Song River to separate the retreat of the Vietnamese rebels from the north. About two kilometers down the river was the largest bridge on the Song River, but from the aerial photos, it was a cement bridge that barely accommodated two cars in parallel, and it was built by the French colonists. Lieutenant Leglis patiently waited for the order, and more than 300 paratroopers landed here obeyed Lieutenant Colonel Gerome. An old qualified officer who followed Charles de Gaulle to fight for free France was rich in battlefield experience and respected by soldiers.

Since the ground combat situation could not be accurately predicted before airborne, the combat deployment was largely in the hands of front-line commanders. After studying the map, the lieutenant colonel made combat deployment: "From the vertical point here to the river bank as the center, build a defensive position every 500 meters, and deploy two squads per defensive position to act!"

Second Lieutenant Leglis had three squads and one platoon headquarters. After receiving the combat order, he and another officer led half of the soldiers to build defense points. The supplementary orders quickly deployed the defending positions of each platoon. Second Lieutenant Leglis and his soldiers needed to march up the river for 2.5 kilometers. The distance was not long. The officers and soldiers embarked on the journey with confidence. However, after walking a distance along the dirt road on the river bank, Second Lieutenant Leglis found that the open area on the river bank was getting narrower and narrower, and some areas had a grove edge less than 100 meters away from the river bank, which was quite unfavorable for defenders who did not have the advantage.

Although the uneasiness in his heart reappeared. Second Lieutenant Leglis did not show this emotion. When the soldiers found that their planned defensive position was more than one kilometer upstream, it was a stone bridge, which had been occupied by another French airborne assault force, their morale was suddenly greatly encouraged. Second Lieutenant Leglis's mood changed again, especially when he sent liaison officers to communicate with friendly forces, the situation became more optimistic: the paratrooper commando belonged to the glorious 1st French Paratrooper Battalion, they had enough officers and soldiers, and were equipped with airborne jeeps equipped with recoilless cannons. The overall combat effectiveness was good. According to their introduction, there was no interference in the process of occupying the bridge. Later, sent sentry reconnaissance, and no soldiers were seen in the North Vietnamese troops within a few kilometers.

The optimistic situation made the French paratroopers feel more relaxed. In the bright spring light, they took off their heavy helmets, took off their thick coats, lazily held cigarettes, slowly waved engineer shovels, and dug an arc-shaped defensive position with their backs towards the river on the mound more than one meter above the river beach. On the other side of the stone bridge, the soldiers of the 1st Paratrooper Battalion were also building fortifications, probably thinking that two machine guns were enough to block the entire bridge deck. Their movements looked more lazy and slow, and the French reconnaissance planes flying over their heads from time to time were even more indulging in their slackness.

"I have a bad premonition." Lieutenant Leglis said to his friend Sergeant Laurent in private. "Everyone is too relaxed. Once the North Vietnamese rebels find that the retreat has been cut off, they are likely to launch a fierce attack beyond our imagination, driven by survival."

Sergeant Laurent said disapprovingly: "Their main force should be dozens of kilometers away from here, and there is no straight road along the way. Even if it is forcibly marching, it will take until the afternoon to arrive at the earliest. At that time, we all set up machine guns and wait for them."

Leglis turned to look at the two light machine guns lying on the mound, one Browning Bar1918 and the other m1919a6 were both front-line equipment of the US Army. The cruel battlefield has verified the reliability of these weapons, and the large amount of semi-automatic and automatic rifles have also exponentially increased the firepower output of the combat squad. Despite this, Leglis still felt a little regretful. If his troops could be as scattered as German goods like the 4th Light Paratrooper Battalion. With the powerful suppression of mg42, the preset fortifications is enough to withstand the attacks of hundreds of Vietnamese without formal training. The m1919a6 has good performance, but the barrel of the barrel is easy to heat up and is troublesome to replace, and the bar with a 20-round magazine is still acceptable to deal with scattered soldiers. It would be quite weak to curb the group charge of the opponent.

Three hours later, a curved trench that meets the basic standards was announced. Although Leglis hoped that the soldiers could further strengthen their positions, they could see that they were not very motivated to repair fortifications, and they swallowed it back. At noon, the paratroopers in the second echelon carried out parachutes at the consolidated landing ground, and the superior commander added troops to each defense point. Leglis was strengthened by a Bren machine gun and a 60mm light mortar. Although the ammunition reserves did not reach the ideal level, the French lieutenant felt much more at ease when he saw the soldiers set up the machine guns and mortars. No matter how bad they were, they could still seek support from friendly forces guarding the bridges. The bombers taken off from Hue could also provide more timely fire support to the paratroopers airborne behind enemy lines.

After lunch, I took a nap in the warm sun, and it was almost dusk. In front of me, the vegetation all over the mountains and fields waving green waves under the breeze. Behind me, the clear river water was filled with dazzling waves, and it seemed like a paradise forgotten by war and killing. The French soldiers from afar were intoxicated and did not notice the danger of approaching step by step.

Bang...bang...bang...

The drifting gunshots broke the illusion, and Leglis shouted as if they were awakened from a nightmare, yelling to warn the soldiers. The gunshots in the distance were still floating silently, and the woods ahead could not see any signs of attack. After more than ten minutes, Leglis gradually realized something was wrong. When he looked back, he saw wolf smoke rising on the other side of the river!

In just a blink of an eye, the sound of falling guns became denser. Listening carefully, you can recognize that the American machine guns were roaring persistently among the clamor of many rifles, and occasionally adding grenades and mortar shells. The smoke on the other side of the river was getting closer and closer. The gunshots were getting closer and closer. In the fields shining with the sunset, French paratroopers carrying outposts were retreating from the village on the north bank of the bridge. The soldiers defending the bridge were already ready.

"Vietnamese!"

The screams were accompanied by Bar's unique roar, and Leglis's heart was shaken. He quickly turned his attention from the stone bridge back to his position. The smell of gunpowder made the last refreshing feeling disappear. The woods ahead did not rush out in groups of Vietnamese. The shaking dwarf plants seemed to be just the wind. The French paratroopers who opened fire only stopped until they shot out the 20 rounds of bullets in the magazine, and everyone around seemed surprised.

Seeing his companions standing there, the excited paratrooper yelled while loading, "There are Vietnamese in the woods. I'm sure I've seen Vietnamese. I've seen that damn yellow rainforest helmet!"

No one said he didn't believe it, but everything was true. Just when Leglis was at a loss, a cold gun shot out of the forest and instantly knocked down a scattered soldier who only stumbled on the trench. This was just the beginning. Accurate bullets followed one after another, and three or four more people were shot in the trench in a blink of an eye, one of whom was a machine gunner. The paratroopers bowed their heads and bent down to no avail. Seeing the casualties continued to rise, someone finally realized the idea: "Hell, the Vietnamese are on the treetops opposite! Open fire! Open fire!"

Leglis was shocked. He subconsciously shouted twice and opened fire. He guessed that the Vietnamese in the woods had taken advantage of the situation and rushed forward. He took out the grenade and pulled out the pull ring, and threw it forward with all his might. Even if he could not directly kill the opponent, he could temporarily affect the "treetop shooter". The moment the grenade exploded, Leglis had already started his r5 submachine gun (the French version of Sden submachine gun), turned around and kicked his legs, and his eyes looked towards the edge of the trench.

The treetops ahead fired, and the continuous bullets suddenly made the branches and leaves fly around him. Several paratroopers around him followed suit when they saw this. Although their shooting was a little aimless, they shot more bullets and the spread range expanded. It was vaguely felt that someone fell from the high treetops. The deadly cold gun was finally curbed. The paratroopers who were defending this defense point were able to help their injured companions, or pick up their weapons and join the shooting.

After shooting the magazine, Leglis leaned forward, clicked his right knee, leaned forward with his long and straight neck. It didn't matter, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat. The scene in the nightmare turned into reality here: hundreds of thin and fierce North Vietnamese soldiers rushed out of the woods and swept through the woods. Some of them wore yellow rainforest helmets, some of them wore round hats with oriental characteristics. The weapons in their hands were mostly bolt-type rifles, but they did not have the legendary big sword, spear, or harpoon. At the edge of the woods, two guys who shot in a squat position were actually mp40. Their light and easy-to-operate characteristics were indeed very suitable for orientals with limited physical strength, and the distance of 150 meters was also suitable for this automatic weapon to exert its power.

"Mortar! Shoot 150 meters straight ahead!" Leglis directly set the mortar shooting parameters to the edge of the woods. Looking at the North Vietnamese soldiers coming, he was so glad that there was such an open area between his defensive position and the woods.

If it was a full-speed sprint without any scruples, it would only take half a minute for an adult to cross the distance of 200 meters. On the battlefield where bullets were flying, the Vietnamese charge was still "unscrupulous". When Leglis changed the magazine, the North Vietnamese soldiers at the forefront had already rushed to less than twenty meters. Both sides could recognize each other's appearance and expression with their eyes. Leglis picked up the submachine gun, pulled the trigger with his finger, and the left hand that grasped the direction pressed the muzzle horizontally. The shells thrown by the bolt were pieced together in the air to form an arc full of war-like beauty. The bullets poured forward, and the agile and rapid figures fell one by one, and the rest were still continuing, as if they never knew what pain and death were...!~!
Chapter completed!