Although the third platoon hid in the open area extending outward and luckily escaped from the center of the storm, the distance was not far enough and they were still affected by the artillery fire. The dispersion of the impact points caused some shells to fall outside the town, and the area around the third platoon's bunker had been visited several times. Not only that, the biggest problem was that the brick and stone fragments lifted up by the explosion in the city were thrown into the sky and kept flying to the periphery, turning into a rain of bricks and stones.
Hu Yi hugged his head with his arms and squatted in the bunker. His back and arms were bruised. Hu Yi kept reminding the three rows in the bunker loudly, "Don't lie down, squat, don't lie down." Because this is a heavy artillery, if you lie down, if the shell falls nearby, you will be injured or killed because the contact area between your body and the ground is too large. Many recruits don't know this, and they often instinctively lie on the ground when they are hit. As a result, many of them have internal organs injured and don't know it afterwards. They will die a few days later and cannot be treated.
The big guy Zhao Yong and the silly boy were basically scared silly by the scene. From time to time, sporadic bricks and rubble fell from the sky into the shelter. They were numb and didn't know how many times they were hit. If it weren't for Hu Yi and Wang Laokou who were shouting and reminding them from time to time, they might have collapsed long ago. They only wanted to rush out of the shelter and run away from this hellish torment.
I don’t know how long it was before the shelling ended. No one knew how long it was, maybe it was very short, but in everyone’s heart it felt like half a lifetime.
More than a dozen soldiers from the third company died in the bombardment, including the company commander, whose body was buried under the collapsed rubble. Almost everyone who survived was injured, and several had broken legs or arms. Although they were alive, they were obviously no longer capable of fighting, so they had to be counted as casualties.
The battalion commander came and said only one sentence: "The casualties of the third company are relatively light. No matter what else, as long as there is still a breath left, you must hold on to that open area. As for the issue of the company commander, you can handle it yourself. I don't have time to take care of it now."
Wang Laokou returned to the bunker of the third platoon. Zhao Yong asked anxiously, "Platoon leader, what's the situation in the company?"
Wang Laokou held a cigarette in his mouth and said, "The company commander is dead, and half of the platoon is gone. Alas, this time the last old brother is gone." He slowly exhaled the cigarette, which seemed to carry a hint of sadness. The atmosphere was silent for a while.
Hu Yi held the gun in his arms, opened the bolt, took out more than 40 bullets from his pocket, and chambered them one by one. When he was a child, he liked playing with knives. After joining the army, he liked playing with guns. Apart from these two things, he couldn't find anything else to do, so they were all hobbies that he had to do. The sound of the shelling and explosion in the afternoon is still echoing in his head, over and over again. Since the moment the machine gun company's position disappeared in the smoke, Hu Yi seemed to have fallen ill and was sensitive to the sound of explosions. Every time such a sound appeared, he would have a severe headache and could not help but want to be irritable, like a tight hoop.
Hu Yi felt that he was sick. Although he knew he was alive, he always felt like a dead person. He had no personality, no temper, no interests or desires, just like a dead grass in this open field.
Hu Yi regretted and felt that he was not cut out to be a soldier. He suddenly began to miss his youth as a bandit. Although he was always scolded by others, at least he knew that he was a living person with a personality and temper. He knew what he was doing and what he should do, and he was as free as a bird.
Wang Laokou broke the silence: "Xiao Hu, can you tell me whether we can hold on for three days?"
Although Hu Yi had only been in the third row for a day, the shocking shelling and escape from danger just now made several people regard Hu Yi as the backbone, without exception. The big guy and Zhao Yong also stared at Hu Yi, waiting for Hu Yi's words to bring hope.
Hu Yi recovered from his numb thoughts and stopped what he was doing: "I don't know how far it is. I only know that our group will not see the sun tomorrow morning."
These words were like a bucket of cold water poured down on their heads, chilling several people on the spot. In the morning, they killed a squadron of Japanese soldiers, and in the afternoon, they were bombarded by heavy artillery, but no other signs appeared. If Hu Yi had said this in the morning, no one would have believed it, but now, no one refuted it.
Hu Yi saw the surprised and depressed expressions of several people, but he continued as if this matter had nothing to do with him: "During this day, the Japanese have crossed over from the east and west. At least several thousand people will cross the river. When it gets dark, they will surround the city from three sides and launch a fierce night attack to break into the city."
The atmosphere fell silent again. What else could be said? Yes, the Japanese couldn't just stay outside Desheng Port and wait for the New Year. The 638th Regiment only had a few hundred people. What could they do to resist
The big guy was the first to speak: "Platoon leader, how about we report what Brother Hu said to the regiment, and maybe our regiment will withdraw."
"Report your ass. Our Xiao Hu can think of it. How can those chiefs of staff not think of it? The key is that the order is there. Do you think our commander dares to retreat privately?"
At this time, Zhao Yong smacked his lips and whispered, "Platoon leader, how about we run!"
One stone can cause a thousand ripples, and Zhao Yong's words caused ripples in everyone's heart.
The big guy glared at Zhao Yong and said, "Run? Isn't that just deserting? You're going to be stabbed in the back by a bunch of people!"
Zhao Yong answered bluntly: "Do we have any backbone in the third row? Even if we don't run, the first row will still poke us every day. What's the difference?"
Wang Laokou didn't say anything at first, but when he saw Zhao Yong was a little excited, he spoke up: "Don't talk nonsense. Three rows of food can't hold your mouth."
"I'm not talking nonsense, I'm telling the truth." At this point, Zhao Yong was helpless under the known hopeless fate, and his emotions exploded, and he simply spoke without restraint. He turned to Hu Yi and said, "Fuck you, I've looked down on you since you came! You're a deposed official, like a ******* dead man, or you don't say a word, let me die in a muddle without any thoughts. You made a fool of yourself, you said everything, and you died on the side like nothing happened. You want to show that you are smart, you want to show that you are fearless, right? Now I'm going to give you a word, Hu Yi, **** your grandma!"
"That's enough!" Wang Laokou shouted, interrupting Zhao Yong's verbal attack. "Zhao Yong, if you do something stupid again, I will beat you up, believe it or not."
Zhao Yong's words were all hammered into Hu Yi's ears. The headache and tinnitus caused by the shelling suddenly disappeared, and the surrounding environment seemed to be repainted with color, alive, no longer black and white. Especially the last sentence, which made Hu Yi very unhappy. In an instant, he seemed to be back in the bandit's den, back to the days when he was full of vigor and vitality...
With a crisp sound, Hu Yi loaded the bullet neatly, kicked Zhao Yong out of the bunker, and then jumped out, stepped on Zhao Yong who was still lying on the ground and almost died, and pressed the cold muzzle of the Zhongzheng rifle against Zhao Yong's forehead. "Remember this, I, Hu Yi, really want you to go see my grandma. Now I will fulfill your wish."…