Under the dim oil lamp, the sound of cannons in the distance still rumbled.
Xigua's thin and sad back made Liu Xueyuan hesitate. She could only watch and wait silently like all the soldiers' officers.
Waiting for him to recover from the pain is also a soldier's responsibility.
Soldiers must learn to endure sacrifice and the pain of leaving their comrades, otherwise how can they support the country and the nation. In any era, they must have steel and an iron heart as strong as a rock, even if they are weak.
No one comforts me, because no one can comfort me.
The sadness of nearly all the nearly two thousand soldiers dying in battle is a sadness that can only be understood by those who are in it; the pain of being suddenly unfamiliar is a pain that only one's own heart can feel.
Perhaps, only the little-haired Army Lieutenant General is smiling.
Of course he has to laugh. Although his 17th Division is half disabled and nearly half of his ten thousand Shaanxi soldiers have been lost, there is still hope. This soldier is hope.
Being besieged by nearly a thousand Japanese troops and bombarded by thousands of artillery shells, but still able to escape. Isn't this just like China? It seems that the Japanese invaders are powerful and invincible, but they seem to be in danger and the country will be destroyed.
However, the soldiers’ experiences tell everyone that as long as you persist and don’t give up, there will eventually be light.
China, like this most ordinary soldier, will surely usher in the dawn after experiencing a long period of darkness.
As long as there is dawn, what are the more than 10,000 people in the 17th Division? What are the 100,000 troops on the eastern Shanxi front? What are China’s current one million soldiers? For the continuation of the national bloodline and for future generations to live in the light, they
These people, if you can, sacrifice them all.
As long as people in it don't choose to sleep because of the darkness.
This made the Army Lieutenant General casually recite a golden sentence once said by Liu Tuanzuo: Darkness gives us black eyes, but we use them to find the light.
Seeing Liu Xueyuan's pair of beautiful eyes sweeping over him with admiration, Lieutenant General Liu couldn't help but blush slightly, and smiled softly: "Reporter Liu, this was not written by me, Old Zhao, but by your senior officer Liu Tuanzuo.
talent."
Faced with the ridicule of the army lieutenant general who was in a good mood after finally seeing hope, Liu Xueyuan was generous this time: "Mr. Zhao, Commander Liu's poems are indeed wonderful, but your "Mother's Pass, the moon is like frost" is not the same at all.
Those who are not weaker than him will definitely be passed down through the ages."
"It's not my poems that have been passed down through the ages, but him and them." Zhao Shoushan's face was filled with desolation, and he pointed at the back of Xigua, who was still sobbing and shaking, and the position outside the headquarters. "Them."
Everyone’s names will surely be erected on monuments, in this Fulu Ridge, and in the hearts of Chinese people in future generations. My greatest wish, Zhao Shoushan, is that one day, my name will be ranked with theirs.
Together, with Zhang Shijun, Zhang Dengdi, and Liu Xitang. Chief of Staff, if one day I die in battle, please help me, please spread my ashes in Fululing and Snowflake Mountain. I want to be with them.
, stay forever in Fulu Ridge."
Li Zhuting, chief of staff of the 17th Division, whose eyes were a little red, nodded and said: "Master, Zhuting will live up to your trust. If Zhuting dies one day, please handle it in the same way."
"Haha, okay, it's a deal." Zhao Shoushan and his most trusted chief of staff looked at each other, smiled and high-fived each other, and then patted Xigua, who was still sobbing: "I'm so scared, I'm already a company commander, and I'm still crying.
What's wrong? If the 102nd Regiment is gone, I will rebuild it. If the 2nd Battalion is gone, I will rebuild it. If the 5th Company is gone, it's your turn to rebuild it. It's your turn to tell me how you fought that battle.
, how did you come back from there alive?"
When Xigua, who had calmed down a little, talked about what happened on Position 1, there was another silence in the headquarters.
Although they all knew that it must be extremely tragic, they were still shocked.
The wounded were hidden in the pile of corpses and fired grenades and explosives. The remaining soldiers held their rifles and waded through the flesh and blood of their comrades to shoot down the Japanese who rushed into the position. Once, twice, and three times, until the last person was left on the position.
They didn't even have time to count the number of enemies killed. Perhaps, it was also because there was no need, and no one felt that they would go back alive. The so-called military achievements were already insignificant in the face of death.
Until after the war, the Army Lieutenant General did not know how many enemies his fifth company had wiped out at the cost of only one casualty in the entire company. It was not until many years later that the Japanese Army Ministry declassified a battle report of the 20th Division,
This answer was provided.
In the battle at Snowflake Mountain Position 1, the Chinese defenders were completely wiped out, but the 9th Infantry Battalion of the 80th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army suffered 175 deaths and 73 injuries in this battle. The reason why there were fewer casualties than casualties.
, that’s because, whether in hand-to-hand combat or ambushes disguised as corpses, Chinese soldiers always use grenades and explosive packets as the last means of resistance. When they are shattered to pieces, the Japanese soldiers themselves are also bombed with flesh and blood flying everywhere. Very few can survive.
survivor.
At that time, the Army Lieutenant General, who was a high-ranking official in a province of the Republic and rarely drank, drank a pound of Xifeng wine that night and became unconscious. According to his wife and children later, the general's drunken murmurs mostly consisted of repeating: My fifth company,
Shaanxi Haoerlang.
Indeed, under such a difficult situation, they could still achieve a casualty ratio of 1 to 1.5, and they were the side with the fewest Chinese soldiers. This was the worst war in China during the July 7 Incident. The general was extremely proud of his subordinates. They deserved their death.
The fifth company fought extremely bravely. It is even more legendary that Xigua, the last man who fired a signal flare on the position and requested artillery fire cover from the artillery battalion directly under the division headquarters, managed to escape.
Fifty rounds of artillery shells were enough to cover the entire position twice, with almost no blind spots. As evidenced by the death of 26 people and 10 injuries to a small Japanese team that attacked the position.
But Xigua, who was waiting for death with his eyes closed, survived. A shell exploded five meters away from him. The violent explosion directly stunned him, and the collapsed trench covered him from head to toe until late at night one day later.
He wakes up from coma.
Although his whole body was in great pain, he was still alive.
The trench was built on a stone mountain, and the collapsed trench walls were naturally made of stone. Although his face was bruised, it provided him with enough breathing passages. If it had been a pure earth trench, he would have been killed long ago.
He died of suffocation due to lack of oxygen.
The threat of escaping the shells was still one of them. The Japanese army who subsequently attacked the position with red eyes and eager for revenge was the biggest threat to the seriously injured and dying Xigua.
However, there were almost no corpses of the Chinese defenders on the position for them to vent their anger on. Most of the corpses of the officers and soldiers were hidden in the artillery holes by Zhang Dengdi, and then exploded and buried with grenades. The rest were not destroyed with grenades and explosive packs.
The Japanese army died together in a manner of being smashed to pieces, that is, after the battle, they were bombarded by mountain artillery and their positions were blown up to the point where no bones were left.
The Japanese army couldn't find a target to vent their anger even if they wanted to. In addition, with the fall of Position 1, the remaining positions of the 102nd Regiment quickly retreated, making Position 1 useless. The Japanese army simply searched the position to confirm that there was no one left on the position.
One living Chinese also left later.
The two armies spent two days attacking and defending, and the position where more than 300 people from both sides were killed turned out to be useless after 20 minutes.
In fact, not only Position No. 1, but also the entire Snowflake Mountain became a useless place after the 17th Division withdrew to the second blocking position, Fulu Ridge.
The 80th Infantry Regiment quickly abandoned Snowflake Mountain and attacked Fululu Ridge instead. There was not a single Japanese soldier in the entire Snowflake Mountain area.
Otherwise, even in the dark night, would the "living dead" Xigua, who had struggled to climb out of the pile of rocks, have the chance to hold a torch and search for most of the night in the deserted position like a lonely ghost?
The rumbling sound of artillery in the distance reminded the disheartened superior soldier that the 17th Division was still resisting the Japanese attack in Fulu Ridge, so he took a few finger bones still with flesh and blood that he spent most of the night on the battlefield to find.
, spent a day and a night, following the sound of gunfire and artillery, through the high mountains and ridges, and arrived at Fulu Ridge.
"Silly boy, do you know? You have fulfilled your responsibilities as a soldier. In fact, you can go back to Shaanxi, get married to your fiancée, and have a bunch of babies." Zhao Shoushan sat in front of Xigua,
With crystal eyes, he said softly.
"Master, I have thought about it, I really have thought about it." Xigua nodded, then shook his head. "But Erni's brother is also my brother-in-law. I couldn't find him. I searched for him most of the night.
, I couldn’t find it, so I found a few little fingers. I don’t know whose they belong to. Is it the company commander’s? Or Lao Yu’s? Why do you want to go back? I’m afraid that as soon as I close my eyes, I will think of the company commander and the others.
I will never sleep well in my life. I have decided not to leave. Either, um, I will go back to find Erni after beating the Japs, or, um, I will die, lest I be called a coward by the company commander and brother-in-law every night."
"Good boy! I apologize for calling you a coward earlier. I promised your company commander that as long as the 17th Division is here, the 5th Company will be organized, and I will fulfill my promise. From now on, I will give you
You have 24 hours a day to rebuild the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 102nd Regiment. However, there are no new recruits. There are fifty wounded soldiers in the division field hospital. You can choose fifty people." Zhao Shoushan patted Xigua on the shoulder and solemnly ordered.
"Yes!" Xigua stood at attention and saluted, then turned and left.
"Master, you are very protective of this boy! After 24 hours, no, after 16 hours, we can retreat!" Chief of Staff Li Zhuting looked at his pocket watch and smiled slightly.
"Hehe, if you don't do this, what will you do if this stupid kid is clamoring to go to the front line? The fifth company only has this seed. He must live for me. As long as he is here, the combat effectiveness of the newly established fifth company will still be
The former fifth company." Zhao Shoushan said slowly as he looked at Xigua's back disappearing into the darkness.
What he retained were seeds and hope.
A commander who never gives up can lead a group of soldiers who never give up.
The 17th Division needs this kind of hope, and so does China.