A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

According to the exercise plan formulated by the school, the senior student team will conduct one offensive operation and one defensive operation drill.

The offensive operation involved attacking and capturing the positions defended by the third-year cadets. Then, the roles of offense and defense would switch, with the fourth-year cadets organizing defensive deployments for the captured positions and repelling attacks from the third-year cadets.

Brigadier General Louis, commander of the West Point Cadet Corps, served as the overall director of the exercise. Instructors and staff from both sides served as the exercise directing and judging groups, responsible for evaluating and judging the process and outcome of the battle throughout.

A distinctive feature of West Point is its cadet-led management system. During exercises, everything—from organization and management, marching, deployment, operational planning, command, communications, firepower deployment, and combat formation deployment—is handled by the cadets themselves, who act as officers and non-commissioned officers. Instructors and staff officers only play a supervisory and guidance role, providing safety and protection, and they accompany, record, and evaluate the entire process.

It is clear that the exercise plan was purely for training graduating students, which is a consistent practice at West Point, where the outcome of graduation exercises is predetermined.

It's no wonder that Song Hongfei, Zhang Yi, "Old Cat" and other instructors were indignant. As the hypothetical enemy, their role was to act as real soldiers. No matter what, they would lose. They were simply pre-selected defeated generals. Who could feel comfortable with that?

In April, spring was in full bloom, and the warm spring breeze had already turned the large area of ​​forest west of West Point green, with lush greenery, continuous mountain ranges, and distant mountains as dark as ink.

The senior and junior students were lying in the trenches of their respective "bases." These two "bases" were actually two hilltop positions, about 10 kilometers apart. In the middle, there was a winding stream that came from the continuous mountains and flowed towards the "S"-shaped Hudson River bend in the distance, forming a "boundary" between the two.

After countless exercises at West Point over the years, both bases are now densely covered with trenches, fortifications, and firing positions.

At this moment, both teams were restoring their own positions. However, the third-year student team was tense and busy as if facing a formidable enemy, sweating profusely, with shovels and pickaxes flying non-stop.

On the other hand, the senior students seemed rather relaxed and undisciplined.

The reason is simple: everyone knows that the senior students are the main characters in this exercise, which is designed to test the combat capabilities of graduating students. As long as they "follow the script" and capture the junior students' positions, they just need to organize a defensive operation to repel the junior students' attempt to counterattack and retake their base. The senior students' "base" won't actually see any fighting; they just need to go through the motions according to the requirements for encampments in military regulations.

More than 300 senior cadets and more than 20 elite cadets from Sandhurst Military Academy were organized into the "Red Army Battalion," which included three infantry companies and one artillery company.

The "Red Army Battalion's" attack plan was as follows: Company A, reinforced as a unit, would lead the main attack, while Company B would provide flank support, forming a pincer movement. The fire support companies would be separately assigned and incorporated into the two attack echelons. Company C would serve as a reserve force, remaining to defend its own "base," and some of its troops would be transferred to reinforce Company A.

The two attack formations of the "Red Army Battalion" were fully equipped and ready to go. They crossed the outposts in front of the main position and arrived at the forward assembly area. They quickly formed combat groups and formations of companies, platoons and squads in accordance with the infantry combat regulations.

Just as they were practicing their squad combat formations and moving excitedly toward the starting line, suddenly "Bang! Bang! Bang!" several explosions rang out, and thick, colorful smoke rose from the ground.

"Take cover! Take cover!" the cadet officers and sergeants shouted. The senior cadets immediately scattered and looked at each other, confused about what was going on.

Two directors from the directing department walked up expressionlessly, taking notes as they went, and said, "Landmine, you have two dead and two wounded. Take care of the casualties and continue!"

As they were talking, several sounds came from a small slope in the distance, and colorful smoke rose into the air. Clearly, B Company, which was providing support, had also triggered a landmine.

Colonel Horton, the senior cadets' chief instructor, was furious. They had only just set off and there were already casualties!

He was puzzled: how had the enemy managed to lay a minefield right under his nose? Infiltrating enemy lines and laying minefields was unprecedented. And the fact that mines were laid in front of the departure positions of both attack formations indicated meticulous planning! Colonel Horton vaguely sensed that this exercise was different.

These two minefields were laid last night by Song Hongfei and Zhang Yi, along with several elite third-year students. Song Hongfei also played a prank; imitating the ancient strategist Sun Bin, he laid a booby trap under a large tree in front of them, with a piece of white paper hanging from a branch bearing seven large Chinese characters: "You will all die under this tree!"

Colonel Horton, unable to read Chinese characters, hurriedly called Wang Zhi, a senior student from China, to come forward. Wang Zhi served as the operations staff officer for the "Red Army Battalion." He spotted the note from afar and was immediately dumbfounded, thinking, "Those two lads, Song Hongfei and Zhang Yi, are really full of tricks. There's definitely something fishy going on!"

Wang Zhijian explained the story of the ancient capital of China to Colonel Horton and others, while carefully searching the area, saying, "Watch your step! These guys have definitely laid a trap." He then discovered an "obvious" booby trap, casually buried as if it were just for show.

In fact, apart from the carefully laid minefield, the mines in other places were all "pranks" by the third-year students. After all, the minefield had already taught the fourth-year students a lesson, and they couldn't rely on just one trick to win.

Colonel Horton watched Song Hongfei and his gang's pranks with a hint of anger. Papers were blatantly hanging on the ground, in the branches, and in the bushes, with large characters such as "Watch out for landmines!", "Watch your step!", "Oh my god, it's blown up!", "Ah! My leg!", or scribbled cartoons such as a skeleton stepping on a landmine, a big-headed soldier having his penis blown off, or stepping on a huge pile of stinky poop.

The coordinator came forward again and said, "The enemy has laid minefields. Clear these mines and continue forward."

"This is a subject not included in the exercise plan!" The officers of the senior cadet team cursed inwardly. Herbert Thorpe, the battalion commander of the "Red Army Battalion" and also a cadet brigade commander at West Point, also sensed that this exercise was not like the usual child's play; the other side had long planned to "escalate" it.

Thorpe immediately ordered the deployment of guards and the commencement of mine-clearing operations.

A dazzling array of mines—including hair-pressing mines, hair-loosening mines, tripwire mines, booby traps, and mine-within-a-mines—were on display, both eye-opening and terrifying. The senior students broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that if it weren't a prank, many of them would have actually lost their genitals if they had walked right into the minefield.

The senior students all abandoned their previous carefree attitude and became tense as if facing a formidable enemy.