Chapter 28: Evacuating the Front Line
Bombardment, bombardment, bombardment without stopping. The moment the bombardment stops, the attack begins.
"Charge! Charge!!!" the company commander blew the whistle and shouted loudly.
The new recruits howled and rushed forward, their faces still showing childishness, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.
They had received too little training and had been focusing on the sounds of the cannons. The deafening roar frightened them, and every vibration felt like their hearts were being hit by a sledgehammer.
But they did not notice the subtle noises of the small mortar shells. By the time they noticed the small shells, the end was already decided.
Small shells exploded around them, filling the air with smoke. Their bodies were blown away, and some people fell to the ground without even having time to let out a scream. Their blood dyed the soil under their feet red.
They feared everything on the battlefield and rushed forward together like a flock of sheep, and then they fell down in a group like real lambs.
The roar of the machine gun echoed in my ears, and the bullets poured down like raindrops, making the sound of tearing the air chilling. The machine gunner fired indifferently, killing them without even aiming deliberately.
For every veteran who died, five to ten new recruits might die. After a gas attack, most of these new recruits were killed or wounded.
They hid in the dugout wearing gas masks. When they saw the men in the trench outside taking off their gas masks, they also thought they were safe and took off their gas masks. But they didn't know that the gas was heavier than air and stayed at the bottom of the tunnel longer.
When Lu Mingfei and his team found these new recruits, their faces were blue, their lips were black, their faces were hideous and painful, and they were already dead. Lu Mingfei and his team could only dig a hole and bury them. The burial process was silent, with only the sound of soil covering the bodies echoing in the air.
As casualties on the frontline became more and more severe, the rear had no choice but to send new soldiers to the frontline. The training time of these new soldiers became shorter and shorter, and the casualty rate became higher and higher.
Veterans like Lu Mingfei have seen three groups of young people fall in this trench. This land is like a devil, constantly absorbing people's lives.
It's not that Lu Mingfei and other veterans didn't die, it's just that the death rate was slower than that of the new recruits. There weren't many people left from the group that joined the company with him. They used to be friends who laughed and joked together in the trenches, but now there were only a few lonely figures left, as if their lives were also being cut down bit by bit on the battlefield.
During an attack, Lu Mingfei saw Himmelstoss. His arm was scratched by a bullet, and he was hiding in a bullet hole, trembling, pretending to be seriously injured. Lu Mingfei could tell at a glance that he was pretending.
Lu Mingfei was so angry that he was shaking all over. They, the new recruits trained by Himmelstoss, were charging in the front, but this guy was hiding here like a coward.
He jumped into the bomb crater and grabbed Himmelstoss's neck, trying to pull him out of the bomb crater, but he almost broke Himmelstoss's neck but was unable to pull him out.
Himmelstoss's eyes were filled with fear and despair. He grasped Lu Mingfei's wrist weakly with his hands, trying to break free.
Later, when their company commander was leading others to charge, he saw them and whistled to order Himmelstoss to get up and charge.
A miracle happened. What Lu Mingfei had never been able to do before, Himmelstoss actually stood up by himself after hearing those whistles, and started charging forward, even rushing to the front of the team. It was as if he had become the arrogant instructor in the boot camp again.
But after the attack, Himmelstoss lost his arrogance and even began to help others. He became more taciturn and his expression was less expressive.
In order to help these new recruits who have just arrived on the battlefield survive better, Lu Mingfei and his colleagues carefully taught them every detail.
They trained the ears of the new recruits to detect the subtle, vicious buzzing of the smaller shells, which were difficult to distinguish, and they had to distinguish this insect-like sound from the general noise and explosions.
Lu Mingfei explained to them that this type of shell was much more dangerous than those large shells whose sound could be heard long before. Lu Mingfei also demonstrated to them how to hide when encountering enemy planes, how to play dead when being caught up by the enemy during an attack, and how to calculate the time to make the grenade explode half a second before it hits the ground.
Veterans like Lu Mingfei taught them how to dive into a bomb crater like lightning when an instantaneous artillery shell fell, instructed them how to use a bunch of grenades to blow up a trench, explained to them the difference in the length of the enemy's grenade detonators and ours, and made them aware of the sound of poison gas bombs and pointed out various clever ways to save them from death.
These new recruits all listened carefully to Lu Mingfei's teachings. Every time Lu Mingfei asked them if they understood, they nodded to show that they understood.
But when the next attack began, they got everything wrong in the excitement. Their faces were still childish, their hands and feet were still clumsy, and many people fell on the battlefield before they could put what they had learned to use.
Casualties continued, and some of the new soldiers who survived several attacks absorbed the experience taught by Lu Mingfei and others and began to become veterans. Their eyes became firmer and their movements became faster, as if they had found a law of survival in this hell.
After an unknown amount of time, new reinforcements arrived and Lu Mingfei and his men were replaced. They could finally take a break.
All the soldiers who were replaced on the front line gathered together, their faces were pale and haggard, their clothes were stained with dirt and blood, and their eyes were empty, as if their souls had been hollowed out by the battlefield.
Someone started calling out numbers, and those who heard their unit numbers walked forward to the person calling out the number. Every time a number was called out, only a small number of people walked out.
"Second Company! Second Company! Gather here!"
A man with a bandaged arm called out Lu Mingfei and his team's numbers. He was their company commander, Bell.
Lu Mingfei and a few others walked to the side of the company commander Bell. The company commander glanced at them and continued to shout: "Second Company! Gather here!"
He continued shouting for a long time, but no one else responded. The others were either in the cemetery or in the hospital.
"Are these the only ones in the Second Company..." The company commander's voice trembled as he looked at the three or two kittens in front of him.
"Start counting!"
Lu Mingfei and the others looked at each other, and then started counting.
"One, two, three...thirty-two." The counting stopped at thirty-two, and there was no more sound.
Their entire company of 150 people arrived in this land in the winter of 1915. Now, in the beginning of 1916, only people are left in the company in just a few months. This does not include the new recruits who were added in the middle. If those new recruits were included, the casualties would have exceeded the establishment of a company.
"Second Company...March in step!" The company commander's voice was so bitter.
The remaining thirty-two people lined up and, led by the company commander, began to walk towards the camp at the rear. They were young and vigorous when they came, but they were depressed when they returned, as if their energy and spirit had been completely drained.
Even their steps forward were as slow and staggering as those of old people. Their backs were stretched out in the sunset, as if every step was on the edge of life.
Thank you for the 100 points reward from Luohong Fengye
Thanks to reasontruth for the monthly ticket
Thanks for the monthly ticket from Tsukuyomi
(End of this chapter)
