The battle in Xiao County had been going on for a whole day. When night fell, the battle hanging over Xiao County finally stopped.
Li Chenzhe slowly woke up. He moved his body slowly, groping up and down with his fingers in the darkness, and reached into the tattered combat uniform. He found that his body was still intact, and he let out a sigh of relief.
There was deathly silence on the battlefield. There were no moving objects, except for the black gunpowder smoke that lingered around him like a thick liquid. No one knew where they were. Li Chenzhe struggled to get up and crawled to a collapsed trench next to him.
.
He just took a few steps before he slumped to his knees and coughed loudly, and the harsh and pungent sol-like smoke was roughly squeezed into his lungs.
It was as if a hammer was hitting his head. The severe pain was almost unbearable. The intense pain quickly trampled on every nerve in his brain, making it impossible for him to maintain his body balance.
After falling on the ground for a long time, worry turned into panic. Li Chenzhe ignored the soreness in his eyes and climbed up from the ground with difficulty twisting his sore limbs. He staggered and groped through the dark tunnels, panicking and calling out to his comrades repeatedly.
.
"Xiao Liuzi, Wang Xiaoniu, company commander..."
No one answered him, and the hoarse call was instantly swallowed up by the chaotic and intertwined dark tunnels, making no sound.
After walking for a while, Li Chenzhe only found a few mutilated comrade-in-arms bodies piled randomly in a corner. He found no comrades who were even alive in the tunnel.
"What happened to the position?"
A strong panic surged in Li Chenzhe's heart. The battle lasted for a day, and Li Chenzhe's company was almost wiped out by the fierce Japanese attack. By the afternoon, more than 160 people in Li Chenzhe's sixth company were gone.
There were only more than ninety people left.
However, no matter how many Japanese soldiers they killed and injured, the number of Japanese soldiers did not decrease at all. Li Chenzhe, who had been shooting in the trench, raised his eyes and saw that there were still densely packed enemies in yellow clothes in front of him.
Li Chenzhe estimated that if the dozen 80-80 mortars in the regiment had not provided them with artillery support from time to time, the position would have been lost long ago.
After sitting on the ground and resting for a while, Li Chenzhe struggled to climb to the outside of the firing hole of the trench and looked around. It was gloomy outside, it must be night. The low hanging black gunpowder smoke was surrounded by the south wind and slowly flowed from the heights of the position.
Surge through the trench.
After another hard look, the surface of the position within sight was covered with bomb craters. The originally flat and vertical trenches had been blown beyond recognition by Japanese aerial bombs, and the last circular support point that was still there until noon was also bombarded by violent aerial bombs.
It was flat. The ground was full of discarded shell casings and shell fragments. There was no one moving on the position. This world belonged to death.
"No. I'm going to find the brothers!"
After sitting for a while and regaining some strength, Li Chenzhe struggled to stand up. As he struggled to walk backwards, he remembered that behind him was their third and final line of defense, and beyond that was the county seat.
"who is it?"
Suddenly there was a low shout from in front, mixed with the crisp sound of the rifle's safety being pulled. Li Chenzhe recognized that it was the unique crisp sound of the Garand rifle's safety being pulled.
He quickly shouted, "It's me, don't shoot, I'm the third platoon leader Li Chenzhe!"
While walking, he raised his hands high. Li Chenzhe did not dare to be careless at this time. He knew the power of the Garand rifle. He would never be immune to a hit. He did not want to die unjustly in the hands of his own people.
Several shouts of surprise came from the front, and Li Chenzhe recognized it. It was the voice of one of his men. He quickly ran over, rolling and crawling, and soon two big hands stretched out from the front and pulled him.
In the trenches.
As soon as Li Chenzhe entered the trench, he saw more than ten figures surrounding him in the trench. A soldier shouted happily: "Platoon leader, you are still alive. We thought you were honored."
"Haha!" Li Chenzhe raised the corners of his mouth, revealing a pair of snow-white teeth. He patted the other party's shoulder and said with a smile: "Xiao Liuzi, you are so looking forward to my death. It is in vain that I still take care of you like this.
"
The dark and skinny boy became anxious and stammered: "No... no, platoon leader. Today... when the fighting was fierce today, you were stunned by the Japanese shells and couldn't move for a long time. I
I thought you were being honored. Later, when the company commander ordered us to retreat to this position, we were in a hurry and didn't have time to see it. You...you won't blame me."
"Haha!" Li Chenzhe laughed. He patted Xiaoliuzi on the shoulder and stopped talking. Soldiers regard obedience as their bounden duty. How could he blame him?
After looking around, Li Chenzhe asked curiously: "Xiao Liuzi, where is the company commander?"
When Xiao Liuzi heard this, he lowered his head and said nothing. After a while, he whispered: "The company commander died!"
"What, the company commander died!"
After taking a breath, Li Chenzhe then asked, "What about the deputy company commander? Where are the first platoon commander and the second platoon commander?"
"Sacrificed, all sacrificed! Now even the rest of us are here!" Xiao Liuzi burst into tears all of a sudden.
Li Chenzhe swayed and was about to fall. Fortunately, two soldiers on the side held him.
Looking around, I saw that there were only about thirty people around me, less than a platoon.
"how so?"
Li Chenzhe only felt that his mouth was full of bitter taste. He wanted to cry but found that he had no tears anymore.
At this moment, a voice next to him suddenly shouted, "Everyone, stand at attention, the carriage is here!"
As the sound rang out, Su Rui walked over under the escort of more than a dozen guards. He came to the crowd and looked at the ragged crowd in front of him and said in a calm tone: "Brothers, everyone played well today.
, demonstrated the majesty of our Chinese soldiers, here, on behalf of our 300 brigade, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"
After saying that, Su Rui solemnly raised his right hand and gave a solemn military salute to these soldiers whose appearance could barely be seen.
After putting down his hand, Suri asked again: "By the way, who is the top commander of your company?"
"Sir, it's me." Li Chenzhe stood up and saluted Su Rui calmly.
Su Rui took a closer look and felt that the person in front of him looked familiar. He asked without any doubts: "Are you..."
The other party smiled helplessly: "Sir, I am Li Chenzhe. Have you forgotten? I am the student who led my classmates to surround the military camp in Xuzhou."
"Oh...it turns out to be you, you are Yaoshan's cousin"
Looking at the somewhat familiar face, Su Rui finally spoke up and suddenly said, "It turns out to be you!"
Seeing Li Chenzhe, Su Rui remembered the Li Chenzhe who led his classmates to block the military camp and was later deceived by him into becoming a soldier.
He looked at Li Chenzhe's collar badge. Under the weak moonlight, the three-pointed star on his collar badge was still shining brightly. Su Rui couldn't help but nodded in admiration: "I didn't expect that in just over two months, you are now a second lieutenant."
The platoon is long."
Li Chenzhe smiled bitterly and said, "It's just that there are no tigers in the mountains and the monkey is the king. It's nothing."
"No... you are very capable. It seems that I underestimated you before."
Suri looked at his girlfriend's cousin with a look of admiration on his face.
Today, the 114th Division of the Japanese Army carried out indiscriminate bombardments on the north and east positions stationed by the 300 Brigade. The teaching regiment where Li Chenzhe was stationed was stationed on the northern position where the slopes were easiest. And Li Chenzhe's Sixth Division was stationed on the northern position.
The company is stationed in the most forward position, so you can imagine the pressure they are under today. But the fighting continued all day today, and the Japanese army dropped four to five hundred corpses in front of the sixth company's position.
It is enough to show how tenacious the six consecutive fights are.
Su Rui suddenly raised his voice: "Li Chenzhe!"
"arrive!"
"Now I appoint you as the commander of the sixth company of the second battalion of the teaching regiment, and you will temporarily take charge of everything in the sixth company. Do you understand?"
"yes!"
Li Chenzhe did not refuse. The past few months of military career and the battles he had fought had already made him understand what military orders were like.
"Well, it looks good! I'll go to the other companies and have a look."
Suri encouraged them a few words and walked along the trench in the other direction...
After observing until late at night, Su Rui dragged his exhausted body back to the headquarters, only to see Zhang Zizhong had just returned from the position.
After the two met, they asked in unison: "Brother Zhongxin (brother Xing Chen), how many casualties did your unit suffer today?"
After asking, the two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
After laughing, Zhang Zizhong smiled helplessly and said: "Brother Zhongxin, you are the focus of the Japanese attack today. The losses must be considerable. How many casualties were there?"
The corner of Su Rui's mouth twitched slightly, and his face was full of bitterness. "We have suffered heavy casualties. A total of more than two thousand brothers have lost their combat effectiveness, and nearly half of them died. If we continue the fight at this rate, we will be dead in less than two days."
The entire army must be wiped out."
"Well, it's less than I expected." Zhang Zizhong nodded, "I thought that under such a fierce attack, your brigade would definitely be reduced by half."
Suri asked back: "What about you?"
"We are not much better." Zhang Zizhong sighed, "Our losses are almost the same as yours, almost two thousand people, but this is also because our position is not a key target of the Japanese army. Otherwise, I doubt whether we will be able to
Withstood it!"
Su Rui thought for a while and said: "Brother Xin Chen, we can't continue fighting like this, we have to retreat!"
Zhang Zizhong was shocked: "What, you want to withdraw? You must know that Chief Li ordered us to defend for at least three days, but we only defended for one day, which is not enough for the large troops to withdraw to a safe place."
"Yes, we must withdraw. Otherwise, with our small force, let alone holding for three days, it will be difficult for us to survive tomorrow!" Looking at Zhang Zizhong, Su Rui said firmly.
ps: Thank you Kunlun Beggar King for the reward, thank you all!