Hearing the sound, Akira Aono turned his head and saw a figure rolling and crawling up to him.
It wasn't until the visitor came closer that he recognized that the person was Adachi Haruhiko, a fellow countryman who enlisted with him in the army.
"Aono-kun!"
Adachi Haruhiko is about 1.68 meters tall, which is already outstanding among the Japanese soldiers whose average height is only about 1.55 meters.
"Adachi-kun, you are still alive!"
Perhaps it was because he had seen too many people die in front of him in the past few days, but Aono Kouda was still very happy when he saw an acquaintance.
He patted Adachi Haruhiko on the shoulder, "Aren't you on the right wing position? Why did you come to me?"
Adachi Haruhiko lowered his head, "Forget it, the right wing position has been lost, and my squadron leader has also been killed."
"Nani...then how did you come back?"
Aono Kodai was slightly shocked. Those who abandoned their positions without permission or deserted during the war would be shot.
"It doesn't matter, we were ordered to retreat." Seeing Aono Koda's surprised expression, Adachi Haruhiko quickly explained.
"There are only six people left in our squadron. We have lost the meaning of defense. The captain ordered the retreat, and then we were assigned to you."
After finishing speaking, he asked again: "By the way, how is the situation here?"
Aono Kodai smiled bitterly, "Our squadron is slightly better than yours, but it is still only as strong as it is. There should be about one squad left now."
In the Japanese army, a standard squadron had between 190 and 250 men, with three subordinate squadrons.
From Aono Kodai's words, we can know that two-thirds of his squadron has been killed.
Adachi Haruhiko was silent for a long time before he asked quietly: "Aono-kun, can we still return to our homeland alive?"
"Who knows." Aono Kodai shook his head tiredly, "But after this battle is over, I will ask the squadron leader to retire.
I have served for five years and I think I am worthy of the emperor and the empire, so whoever dares to stop me is my enemy."
When he mentioned the word "enemy", Adachi Haruhiko clearly saw a fierce glint in his fellow countryman's eyes.
Logically speaking, soldiers like them who have served for five years would have been able to retire long ago, but in this damn war, they have already overstayed their service for three years.
The soldiers have long been tired of war. The ideals that once made their blood boil, such as those for the Emperor and the Holy War for Greater East Asia, have now become disgusting and disgusting slogans.
Now their biggest wish is to board the ship back to their homeland and return to their hometown.
But even such a simple wish is an unattainable luxury for them.
Among the first batch of Japanese troops to come to China, except for a small group of lucky ones who had the connections and connections to retire on time, less than 300 of them were still alive, and after this fierce battle, there would probably be even fewer.
1942 was the year when Japan had the largest sphere of influence in its history and was also the most arrogant.
Its range starts from Attu Island and Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands in the north, to northern New Guinea and the northern Solomon Islands in the south, to Wake Island and the Gilbert Islands in the east, and to the Andaman Islands and Myanmar in the west.
It can be said that Japan's sphere of influence reached its peak during this year.
But as the saying goes, prosperity comes with decline.
As of 1942, Japan's total military strength had reached 2.4 million, including about 300,000 navy and 2.1 million army.
However, most of the Japanese Navy's forces were restrained in the Pacific by the US military. In addition to 400,000 Army troops who stayed on the mainland, 1.3 million were exhausted on the Chinese battlefield. Only 400,000 Army troops could be deployed on the Pacific battlefield.
At that time, Japan's total population was about 71.9 million, of which about 40 million were adults.
In other words, at this time, every 29 Japanese people in Japan have to support one active-duty soldier. This is already a very dangerous signal.
Take North Korea in later generations as an example. Since it has to maintain an army of 1.1 million people all year round, it means that every 20 North Koreas have to support one soldier.
Such huge pressure has also caused their national economy to be in extremely bad shape, making it difficult for ordinary people to live their lives.
Not only that, according to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, as of 1942, Japan's military expenditure accounted for 45% of the country's fiscal expenditure.
Judging from the lessons of World War I, once military expenditure exceeds fiscal expenditure by 50%, the national economy will be in danger of collapse at any time.
However, these crises were overshadowed by the superficial glory of the Japanese army. Some radical young officers in the General Staff Headquarters even shouted the slogan of killing the Soviet Union, destroying the United States, and dominating the world.
In this fanatical atmosphere, the soldiers' overdue service can only be regarded as a trivial matter not worth mentioning.
After all, in the eyes of those fanatical officers, those red deer worth only five-cent stamps cannot be considered human beings at all, and they can only be recruited after they are dead.
In such an atmosphere, more and more veterans who have overstayed their service have become resentful. When this resentment accumulates, various conflicts will erupt.
Just when Aono Kodai and Adachi Haruhiko were complaining to each other, a sharp and piercing siren suddenly sounded in the sky.
As soon as the siren sounded, the two of them almost ran into the shell-proof hole nearest to them in unison.
Almost at the same time, above their heads, a Stuka dive bomber painted in black made a sharp and strange roar while diving down towards the ground at a nearly vertical angle.
Then a long and thick bomb fell off from its belly, and then hit the ground heavily.
"boom……"
This is a heavy aerial bomb weighing one thousand kilograms.
Accompanied by an earth-shattering explosion, everything within a few hundred meters of the explosion point of the heavy aerial bomb was lifted into the sky.
Black cumulus clouds swirled high into the sky, forming a funnel shape, with flashes of fire and clouds of smoke.
The blown soil and various rocks fell from the sky.
There was even a horse falling from the sky on all fours, as well as various bunkers. Light and heavy weapons also fell from the sky like raindrops, fell to the ground again, and were lifted up again, turning into fragments and powder.
An entire squadron of Japanese troops was enveloped in the explosion range of this bomb.
After an unknown amount of time, two figures suddenly appeared from the shell-proof hole that had been burnt to a crisp.
They were like dead leaves blown by the wind passing over this area, falling and stacking on top of each other, lying on the ground or standing up again, continuing to drag their heavy footsteps forward, and falling again.
A tall soldier ran staggeringly out of the smoke, stumbled like a drunkard, and suddenly let out a harsh laugh. At this time, he was no longer a veteran who had served for five years, but became a madman.