Chapter 392 Breaking the City

When discussing the joint action plan in Port Victory last year, the two sides jointly decided to launch attacks by sea and land respectively, and Hue City was designated as the meeting point. The Hai Han Militia, which launched the attack from the sea, was the main force in the early stage of the attack and was responsible for

To contain and attract the main forces of South Vietnam, the North Vietnamese army, which attacked by land from the north, acted as a auxiliary. They waited until the South Vietnamese forces began to mobilize to Hue before launching the offensive. Judging from the progress of the war so far, it can be said that both sides have completed it satisfactorily.

own combat mission.

If we have to nitpick, it is that the progress of the militia's attack on Hue City was delayed for three or four days due to the unexpected heavy rain. Otherwise, according to the planned front advance speed, the South Vietnamese outside the city should have been pushed back by this time.

The positions are almost cleared. Now that the two sides have met outside Hue City, the next question to consider is how to annihilate South Vietnam's effective forces here.

"General Zheng, please see, the east and south of Hue City are all along the river. Now the river is controlled by our warships. The rebels do not have enough water transportation capacity to maintain contact with the area south of the Xiangjiang River. To the north is our military position.

, the only loophole is to the west." Yan Chujie made operational suggestions to Zheng Bai based on the topographic map that was hung up: "We hope that your army can move south from the current garrison position and cut off the access to Hue City.

Passage to the Western Mountains.”

Ten miles west of Hue City is the northwest-southeast-trending Truong Son Mountains. This main mountain range of Indochina, which is parallel to the coast, is more than 2,000 miles long. It is also the natural boundary of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In this mountain range

There are many passes with dangerous terrain. The famous Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War leads to central and southern Vietnam along the Truong Son Mountains.

The Military Commission's goal here is to wipe out all the South Vietnamese elites in Hue. Naturally, they don't want to leave such a back door for them to escape. The Hai Han Militia has limited troops and is unlikely to divide its troops to the west of Hue City to implement the siege.

.Since the North Vietnamese army has arrived here, and its strength is as many as 30,000, it is only appropriate to leave this low-skilled menial work to them.

Zheng Bai usually has many contacts with Feng Annan and Mu Xiabo who are stationed on the northern front of Haihan. He is not unfamiliar with this kind of Haihan-style military map, and he can understand the terrain shown on the map. After listening to Yan Chujie's

After telling the story, he frowned and replied: "I heard that the rebels built a large area of ​​fortifications outside Hue City, and there are also forts on the city walls. Our army's artillery fire is not as powerful as your army's, so I'm afraid we won't be able to attack one side of it alone."

Yan Chujie shook his head and said: "General Zheng, don't worry about this problem. First of all, the defenders of Hue City did not build fortifications in the west. The enemy positions outside the city are concentrated in the north, which is the main attack direction of our army.

There is no need for your army to worry. In addition, your army does not need to take the initiative to launch an attack. It does not matter if it is stationed a little further away from Hue City, as long as it can intercept the rebels who break out to the west when the city is breached."

"So your army plans to independently undertake the siege?" Zheng Bai asked.

Yan Chujie did not answer his question immediately, but asked instead: "What is General Zheng's opinion?"

Zheng Bai hesitated for a moment before responding: "If I remember correctly, based on the military cooperation agreement signed before, we can send an observation team to your army during wartime. Is this possible?"

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "If General Zheng has this plan, then he can just send people over later. However, considering the reception capacity of our frontline camp, it is best not to exceed twenty people in the observation group."

Zheng Bai brought the topic in this direction not entirely because he wanted to send a military observation group to the Haihan Army. If possible, he hoped to send an army to the Haihan people's positions to participate in the Haihan Militia.

siege operations. In this way, when the city is broken, the North Vietnamese can enter the city as soon as possible and control some key departments to prevent the Haihan people from taking the advantage.

However, there are also great risks in doing so. If the troops sent are not strong, it will be difficult for them to take on their own role in the siege, let alone the tasks they will undertake after the city is broken. But if the elite troops in the formation are sent, Zheng

Bai was worried that when the city's defenders broke through to the west, the remaining tens of thousands of second-class troops and peasant soldiers would not be able to withstand the desperate opponent. Moreover, if he sent elite troops to Haihan, he would inevitably accept the Haihan people.

If the Haihan people send their own elites to serve as cannon fodder for the siege, the losses will be huge. North Vietnam will have no choice but to knock their teeth out and swallow it. There is no reason to even blame the other side - you applied for sending troops to participate.

For siege warfare.

After careful consideration, Zheng Bai still did not dare to propose sending troops to the Haihan position. In the end, he compromised and sent an observation group composed of military officers to act as a liaison envoy and to monitor the Haihan people. Although this

The intensity and scope of such surveillance may be extremely limited, but it is better than doing nothing at all.

As for the North Vietnamese generals' petty thoughts, Yan Chujie actually knew something about it. If North Vietnam did not take the initiative to make similar requests, Yan Chujie would wonder if they were playing some tricks. Although both sides had the same stance in this battle,

This does not mean that the interests and demands represented by the two armies are the same. Each has its own little calculation.

The Haihan militia is naturally eager to dismantle Hue City and move all the people and goods back to Sanya. If possible, it would be better to directly occupy Hue City as a colony. The North Vietnamese have already expected the Hainanese

Some of the actions that the Han side may take after the city is broken, it is probably impossible to completely prevent the Han people from plundering the sea. After all, they send troops across the sea to fight not because of idleness. If there is no benefit to gain, who will work for you?

?But in order to minimize the extent to which the territory will be plundered by the Haihan people in the future, the North Vietnamese military still has to take some necessary measures - at least let the Haihan military understand that I have been watching you, don't make too many moves.

Too much.

Considering that the war has reached a critical moment, the two sides have a tacit understanding that they have not brought these private calculations to the table for bargaining, but have chosen to compromise by giving in. After a day of rest, the North Vietnamese army advanced to

Cut south to the area four miles west of Hue City and start camping.

The setting up of the North Vietnamese camp is related to the tasks it undertakes. From the northwest corner of Hue City to the bank of the Xiong River, the entire camp will stretch for nearly five miles after completion of construction, completely blocking the escape routes to the west of Hue City.

The defenders naturally observed the appearance of the North Vietnamese troops on the city wall, which made the atmosphere in the city even more tense. After all, before this, the defensive pressure was only concentrated on the Haihan position in the north. If it really couldn't be defeated, the court still had

Opportunity to withdraw into the Truong Son Mountains from the west, and then go to the south through the mountain passages to continue organizing resistance forces. However, the appearance of the North Vietnamese Army has completely blocked this retreat. If you want to break out, you can only break through this line of defense of the North Vietnamese Army.

OK.

The main focus of the North Vietnamese Army was obviously on building this line of defense rather than attacking Hue City. From the beginning, they kept digging trenches outside the built camp, and they did it in sections at the same time, with thousands of people in each shift.

Taking turns to fight, it seems that it won't take long for the North Vietnamese Army to open another moat on the plain west of Hue City.

Of course, the defenders in the city quickly understood the intentions of the North Vietnamese Army, and also sent troops out of the city to harass them, but they did not achieve good results. At any rate, there were thousands of new troops in the North Vietnamese Army who used firearms. In terms of military strength alone,

It even exceeds the number of combat troops of the Haihan Militia. There is not much pressure to rely on the position to deal with South Vietnam's cold weapon troops. The South Vietnamese army does have a few remaining musketeers, but the military generals do not dare to use this treasure

They were all pushed out, so the battle outside the city was basically one-sided. The South Vietnamese army using primitive weapons could not even make direct contact with the North Vietnamese army. As soon as they entered the range of the muskets, they were quickly defeated by lead bullets.

On March 18, the Long Snake Formation built by the North Vietnamese Army outside the city finally took shape. Representative Hai Han in the North Vietnamese Army immediately used the radio to notify the militia that they could start a formal attack on Hue City. In the past few days,

During the truce period, the militiamen also took the time to adjust their combat plan. They revised their original plan of sweeping the enemy positions outside the city before starting to attack the city, and prepared to concentrate their firepower to open a breakthrough directly from the northeast corner.

In order to achieve complete fire suppression, Yan Chujie ordered all army artillery to be mobilized to the position near the northeast corner, and navy ships were also concentrated on this section of the river to provide support for the subsequent siege.

The moat outside Hue City is divided into two parts: the inner and outer rivers. The outer river is connected to the Xiangjiang River at the northeast corner, which provides convenient conditions for the attacking troops to cross the 40-meter-wide moat. The military plans to use the artillery fire cover to cover the moat.

The navy was ordered to bring in small boats from the Xiang River to build pontoon bridges so that the siege troops could pass through the first moat smoothly.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, Yan Chujie issued the order to attack. Dozens of artillery fire on the Haihan position suddenly let out a thunderous roar. In an instant, a pile of artillery shells rained down on the city wall in the northeast corner, destroying the original city wall.

The city wall, which was already riddled with holes, had many more scars added to it.

While the army covered this section of the city wall with artillery fire, the navy's boats also seized the opportunity to sail into the first moat and began to build the pontoon bridge. Under the cover of high-intensity artillery fire, the speed of building the pontoon bridge this time was set a new record

According to records, in less than twenty minutes, the leading troops of the militia infantry had already passed quickly across the river and entered the narrow area between the two moats.

The area between the two moats outside Hue City is basically slums. However, after the war started, the residents in these areas were cleared out by the defenders. They either went to the city to work as civilians to help defend the city, or left Hue.

Fleeing. At this time, the defenders on the city didn't even have a chance to probe, let alone fight back. Therefore, the militiamen who arrived in this area could safely clear an area from the abandoned houses and prepare for the follow-up.

A large number of troops were stationed.

There were almost no obstacles when conquering the first moat. The artillery on the city wall had long been cleared away by concentrated fire. The defenders had no better long-range weapons that could cover the area occupied by the militia army. A few sparse ones

The arrows shot down from the top of the city, apart from adding a bit of war tension to the militiamen, the actual killing effect was simply negligible. On the contrary, a few archers who leaned out of the crenellations of the city wall to take aim were sniped by 28-style snipers from outside the city.

The hunters who had been waiting for a long time with their guns were called one by one. After seven or eight archers were killed, no one from the defenders dared to show up near the crenel.

It is much more difficult to pass the second moat, because the connection between this moat and the Xiangjiang River is not in this direction, and the nearest city gate is one thousand meters away, and there are no facilities such as suspension bridges.

To capture it, the only way is still to build a pontoon bridge.

The attacking troops had already been prepared for this. Each squad carried a tied wooden raft to the second moat and prepared to throw it into the river. Although this wooden raft pontoon bridge is not as strong as the one outside.

The small boat serves as a bridge pier, but there is no problem in carrying infantry.

However, before entering the city, the attacking troops must first create a gap in the city wall here. Otherwise, the soldiers would have to climb the two-foot-high city wall from the river, which is really a very difficult task.

At this time, Qian Tiandun, Qiao Zhiya, Wang Tom and others were all on the front line to command, preparing to overcome the last problem before breaking the city. Although the defenders at the top of the city did not dare to take the lead under the suppression of fire, the defenders were still able to use some stone throwing

Such simple means can kill and injure the attacking troops under the city wall, and the range of contact between the attacking troops and the city wall is only the width of the wooden platoon, which is almost unavoidable, so the combat risk in this link is very high.

"The explosives are ready, but how to place them is a big problem." Qiao Zhiya looked at the smooth city wall with a telescope and said distressedly: "If you want to achieve a good blasting effect, you definitely need to cut holes in the city wall.

A hole needs to be filled with explosives, but the question is how to make such a hole now?"

"It seems that you are really stupid in the laboratory, for such a simple question..." Wang Tom shook his head with sympathy, and was very dissatisfied with Qiao Zhiya's statement.

Qiao Zhiya looked at Tom Wang and then at Qian Tiandun. Seeing that they both had calm faces, he couldn't help but ask: "Then you have already figured out a way?"

"To put it bluntly, it's not worth anything anymore. Just wait, it will be over soon." Qian Tiandun smiled and did not answer his question directly.

A moment later, Qiao Zhiya saw several 6-pound cannons being pushed to the river bank and aimed at the wall on the other side of the moat. He suddenly realized: "You are planning to use cannons to blast a hole out!"

Tom Wang nodded and said: "The city wall is too thick. It is impossible to blow it down directly, but it shouldn't be too difficult to make a hole and fill it with explosives."

After several small cannons were aimed at the same place, they opened fire to bombard the city wall. The inner moat was slightly narrower than the outer moat. The impact point error of the shelling at such a short distance was basically negligible, and all the shells hit accurately.

A small piece of the city wall with a diameter of about one meter quickly scattered the bricks of the city wall, and the defenders on the city tower had almost no way to deal with such close range bombardment outside the city.

After multiple rounds of shelling, a large hole about one meter in diameter appeared on the city wall. The wall bricks had been broken into pieces, exposing the adobe inside. Although it seemed that the depth was still not deep enough to fill with explosives, the adobe was dug out.

It's much easier than drilling holes in wall tiles.

Two temporary pontoons built from rafts soon appeared on this section of the river. A dozen engineers carried a wooden raft as cover and rushed forward, ignoring the stones and wooden piles smashed from the city wall.

The pickaxe worked hard to expand and deepen the hole in the city wall. However, this process was not smooth sailing. The defenders on the city wall paid the price of three lives and pushed a huge boulder the size of a tabletop from the top of the crenellation, hitting the engineers below.

.The wooden rafts carried on the heads of the engineers basically did not have much protective effect against this kind of blow. They were immediately smashed over and several engineers fell directly into the river and became unresponsive.

"Go ahead!" Qian Tiandun reacted the fastest and gave the order without hesitation.

The second group of engineers immediately rushed forward. Some carried the survivors off the line of fire, while others continued the unfinished task of digging holes. The defenders at the top of the city continued to desperately throw various heavy objects into the city.

Trying to prevent the attackers from making a fuss on the city wall. After paying the price of more than 20 casualties, the engineers finally buried a barrel of more than 300 kilograms of explosives into the city wall.

"Special operations camp, prepare to attack!" Qian Tiandun issued an order to his subordinates.

The Black Tu Port Special Operations Battalion is the vanguard of this siege mission. This is a mission that Qian Tiandun fought hard for. As long as this battle is won, the Special Operations Battalion will almost be able to claim the title of ace unit.

.

"Sir, please rest assured, we will not let you down!" Gao Qiaonan saluted Qian Tiandun and said firmly.

"You guys are well trained!" Qiao Zhiya looked at this group of soldiers who were full of fighting spirit and praised with envy.

With a loud bang, tens of thousands of kilograms of earth and rocks flew into the sky together with nearly a hundred defenders on the city wall. Although the attacking troops had withdrawn from a distance of nearly a hundred meters in advance, the power of the explosion was still overwhelming.

Many people's faces changed color.

What they didn't know was that the earthquake caused by the explosion caused chaos in the city. The people who had been nervous for many days fell into a state of mental collapse almost instantly. Many people shouted

"The city was broken" and began to flee aimlessly. This panic quickly spread among the unsuspecting people and even directly affected the troops defending the city.
Chapter completed!