In the early 1980s, I served in a border guard unit in Yunnan. At that time, the large-scale self-defense counterattack had been stopped for three or four years, but the Sino-Vietnamese border conflict was continuous, and our reconnaissance company was stationed at the forefront of the border, often with the task of grabbing the tongue.
Old Hill Camp
Whenever there is a mission, the warriors want to perform and complete the task themselves, and they all want to achieve the goal of meritorious service and award as soon as possible.
One day at noon, I was playing Go with the health worker Xiao Chen, and I was chasing and killing Xiao Chen's black dragon, and the company commander who did not shake came over and shouted: "Xiao Chen, stop playing chess, there is an urgent task, get ready, follow me." Xiao Chen quickly got up, changed into combat clothes, put on his back the ambulance kit he had prepared earlier, and set off with the company commander. Later, I heard that they were on a mission together with the high staff officer and two reconnaissance officers of the company.
After they left, I saw the endgame on the Go board in front of me, hey, this is an unfinished game of chess, I still have the advantage, I didn't clean up, put it on the chess table, I thought that when he came back from the mission, there was time for us to continue in the evening. There are many people in the company who can play chess and military chess, and go is only played by the two of us, so there is no need to worry about others destroying it.
The main peak of the old mountain
At about three or four o'clock in the afternoon, I was doing business training, and suddenly a small soldier in the class rushed in and said with a cry, Squad Leader! In the afternoon we went on a mission to sacrifice two men and carried them back. Two of the wounded were taken to the regimental hospital, and only the high staff officer was not injured. I rushed out quickly and saw that the company was a small playground with two stretchers neatly arranged, on which lay the company commander and Xiao Chen, and the instructor uncovered the white cloth covering them and immediately covered them, because the bodies were incomplete.
Our officers and men stood in a row, took off their military hats and bowed to express their high respect to them. I thought that Xiao Chen and Xiao Chen still had a game of chess that had not been completed, and it was difficult to calm down.
Afterwards, we listened to the story of the battle experience told by the senior staff officer: Because the enemy adjusted the border deployment, our unit urgently needed to understand the specific situation, and decided to grab the enemy's tongue and carry out this operation. We formed a combat detachment and quietly sneaked into a grassy path, and without finding the enemy situation, we carefully explored and advanced with experience. But just under the thorns without any disguise, preparing to cut down the thorns and establish a temporary reconnaissance bunker, a loud noise, tragedy occurred, the enemy put a directional mine exploded, the company commander and Xiao Gao, were killed on the spot. Two other soldiers and I risked bullets coming from the grass to carry back two of their fallen comrades.
Old mountain soul
Listening to the narration of the senior staff officer, it was difficult for me to calm down inside, thinking of Xiao Chen, who usually played chess together, and the company commander who was fierce and soft on the inside, I unconsciously clenched my fists.
Later, the senior staff officer came to our company and organized another battle to catch the tongue, and grabbed two tongues at a time, and successfully completed the task. I was fortunate enough to participate in this mission and was awarded the third class merit.
According to post-war statistics, Yunnan's 1280-kilometer-long border line is scattered with 117 minefields, with a mined area of 277.78 square kilometers, more than 800,000 mines and more than 100,000 shells remaining in the war, and as many as 5 per square meter in the densest places where mines are planted. From my colleague's account, we know the level of danger of carrying out the mission at that time.