Chapter 22: The Spark of the 34th Red Division

"Boom!!!!"

A violent explosion erupted at that very moment. Little Stone squinted, only to see the location of the mortar shrouded in thick smoke.

"Direct hit! A direct hit!!!!" Little Stone cheered instinctively, dancing with joy.

Just then, a sharp "clang" rang out. Little Stone instinctively ducked his head and scrambled to the ground. Taking off his steel helmet, he discovered a fresh dent on the top; a stray bullet had grazed right over it.

"We've been spotted! Move the artillery!!!" Wen Song’s voice shouted from nearby, and several soldiers immediately scrambled to relocate their firing position.

Below, the Guangxi Army troops were in total chaos. Lei Laogou was shielded by several soldiers as he ducked behind a rock. Even this spot was unsafe, falling well within the enemy's kill zone, though it offered at least some cover.

"Where is the mortar? Return fire immediately! Take out that machine gun nest at three o'clock!!!" Lei Laogou roared. "Fifth Battalion, charge the peak at five o'clock! Machine gunners, suppress the enemy fire for me right now! Where are the provosts? Execute anyone who attempts to desert on the spot!!!!"

His orders came one after another, an attempt to stabilize the situation. But things were not going smoothly. The Guangxi soldiers looked like they had lost their souls; many were fleeing instinctively or flattening themselves against the ground to avoid the hail of bullets. Yet, facing machine gun nests from a higher elevation, this prone position only exposed more of their bodies, and they were soon pinned to the earth by the relentless gunfire.

Lei Laogou knew they had to capture one of the heights, or they would all die beneath these Five-Finger Ridges. These five peaks had truly become the Buddha’s Five-Finger Mountain, trapping them firmly in place. The peak at five o'clock was their primary objective: it was the closest, a protruding salient, and the slope was less steep and more manageable.

Stationed there was a company of over a hundred soldiers led by Peng Hongsen. These men were mostly remnants of the original Red 34th Division, representing almost the last embers of that unit. Thus, Long Wencheng had designated them the "Red 34th Company."

Though Peng Hongsen was only in his early twenties, the bloody battle at the Xiang River and previous anti-encirclement campaigns had tempered him into a battle-hardened veteran. The soldiers around him were also young, many only seventeen or eighteen. Yet, every one of them carried the blood of the five thousand fallen soldiers of the 34th Division and bore the weight of their comrades' longing for revolutionary victory.

"Comrades, the enemy is attacking! Don't let the 34th Division down! Fight these White Army bandits until they’re dead!!!!" Peng Hongsen bellowed, his ZB vz. 26 light machine gun roaring in his hands. The stream of bullets lashed out like a whip of fire, mercilessly scourging the Guangxi soldiers below.

The two hundred-plus soldiers of the Guangxi Army battalion were desperate, knowing that if they failed to take this height, they would all perish. Simultaneously, under Lei Laogou’s command, the other machine gun nests of the 189th Regiment focused their fire on this peak, suppressing the Red Army soldiers above.

"Take this position, or we all die!!!" The Fifth Battalion commander threw his hat aside and led the charge. Seeing their commander at the front, the Guangxi soldiers roared, using the cover of their rear machine guns to rush the summit.

The 189th Regiment’s heavy machine gun fire was ferocious. Even when one was knocked out, many more continued to suppress the Red 34th Company’s position. Many Red Army soldiers were killed the moment they poked their heads out.

"Company Commander, the enemy fire is too heavy! We can't hold them off much longer!!!" a soldier shouted.

Peng Hongsen realized the enemy was concentrating all their firepower on their position. "Heh, these White bandits want to take our high ground, do they? Comrades, let them get closer. Get the grenades ready!"

"Yes!" the soldiers shouted, tapering off their fire while pulling grenades from their crates. Long Wencheng had anticipated that this salient peak would be the first target, so he had provided Peng Hongsen—who had volunteered to hold this height—with twenty crates of grenades. This was nearly half of their total supply, all concentrated here.

Feeling the Red Army's fire weakening, the Guangxi soldiers surged faster, believing the suppression from their rear was working. They knew that if they could just reach the summit, the continuous waves of incoming troops would allow them to retake the height completely. The Guangxi soldiers, weary and with trembling legs, clawed their way up the slope.

When they were within thirty meters of the Red Army line, they suddenly saw dark, round objects whistling toward them. It was a hail of grenades, falling like ice pellets.

"Grenades! Hit the dirt!!!!" an officer screamed, but it was too late. There was no cover, and at such close range, there was nowhere to hide.

"Boom!!!!"

The grenades detonated. The shockwaves and shrapnel tore through the soldiers, leaving them mangled and broken, tumbling down the hillside with dull thuds.

On the ridge, Peng Hongsen held a grenade high, shouting, "Comrades, listen to me! Delay for three seconds before throwing!"

"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"

As the last count fell, every soldier tossed their grenades. This time, the grenades didn't even hit the ground; they exploded mid-air right above the heads of the Guangxi troops. This "air-burst" tactic maximized the lethality of the grenades, though it demanded high quality from the munitions and nerves of steel from the throwers.

"Boom!!!!"

The violent explosions continued in rapid succession. After five waves of grenade barrages, the Guangxi soldiers, unable to withstand the carnage, turned and fled in terror toward the base of the mountain. Even as the provosts behind them opened fire on the retreaters, the soldiers ignored them, desperate to escape the slaughter.

Seeing the Fifth Battalion collapsing, Lei Laogou was consumed by rage. "First Battalion, move up! Do not stop the offensive, or everything is lost!! Where is the mortar? Why aren't they suppressing the enemy fire?!" he screamed, demanding answers.