The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 24 The strange battalion commander
Following the traffic ditch and passing through the positions of the Fourth Company and the Fifth Company, He Wei finally entered Yanzhuang.

Zhuangzi is not small, but all the people have fled long ago. Now Zhuangzi is filled with soldiers from the Second Battalion. Outside Zhuangzi is the shooting position fortification of the [-]nd Mortar Platoon belonging to the battalion, and the battalion headquarters is stationed inside Zhuangzi.

It was noisy. The place was also shelled during the first round of the Japanese attack. Many houses were directly blown down. Shallow craters can still be seen on the ground. Several houses are still emitting black smoke, such as the Japanese Qiwu Mountain Artillery and As a result of the ravages of the [-]th Field Artillery, broken furniture, tattered quilts and all kinds of debris flew everywhere.

There are sentries at the streets and alleys in Zhuangzi, orderlies moving things, and communication soldiers checking telephone lines. I-frames with wires wrapped around their backs are carried on their backs, and they are checking lines in groups. Their faces were gray and their eyes were red. It seemed that the bombardment had blown them up quite badly.

Hu Zhaowu led He Wei all the way to the [-]nd Battalion headquarters. The battalion headquarters was in the largest courtyard in Zhuangzi. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw dozens of injured soldiers sitting against the wall of the largest room in the courtyard. He Wei also saw two wounded soldiers who had just come down from his platoon.

There were wound wraps, cotton wool and several stretchers scattered on the ground. There was blood and rotten meat everywhere on the ground. There were bursts of wailing and screaming in the room. A unique battalion medical officer with the rank of First Class Military Medical Officer was hung at the battalion headquarters. With blood on his face, he was treating the wounded while commanding others.

Those who listened to the command of the medical officer included the lieutenant adjutant of the battalion headquarters, the lieutenant secretary and the battalion headquarters messenger, as well as the battalion headquarters clerical sergeant, quartermaster sergeant, nursing soldier, ordnance sergeant. Anyway, all of them were people from the battalion headquarters, and they were busy entering. Those who were busy bandaging and washing the wounds of the wounded soldiers inside and outside the house, including buglers and horsemen, could imagine how many casualties there were. The yard was filled with an unpleasant smell of blood and stench.

Anyone who saw this scene couldn't help but frown, and He Wei couldn't bear it either.

Hu Zhaowu said: "The battalion headquarters was badly bombed. Two of the battalion headquarters' messenger squad alone died. Each company also sent wounded soldiers here. These are lightly wounded soldiers sitting outside. Did you see the civilian house next to it? They were all corpses, dead brothers from each company, all killed by artillery during the Japanese attack. The company commanders of the fourth and fifth companies were killed in a Japanese attack in the morning, and now they have been shelled again. How miserable! "

"Let's go to the camp headquarters." Hu Zhaowu said softly to He Wei.

The war situation was urgent and there was no need to send orders. Hu Zhaowu took He Wei directly into the battalion headquarters. There were only two people in the room, the second battalion commander Ding Guangyu and the captain Zhang Zongru of the battalion.

There is a map and a military telephone on the wooden table. Battalion Commander Ding Guangyu graduated from the sixth batch of the military academy and was slightly injured. He was sitting on a wooden stool and worried. His face was pale, his eyes were wandering, and he was not focused. In a trance.

He Wei looked at the battalion commander like this. Could it be that he was panicked by the fierce shelling during the first Japanese attack?Or is it that the shadow of the entire battalion being attacked by Japanese tanks during the march in the morning still hasn't dissipated?
This look, this performance, is probably not suitable for being the chief officer of a battalion. He Wei thought to himself, and couldn't help but be a little disappointed with Battalion Commander Ding. This man doesn't seem to be able to carry the weight of a military commander. What is needed is decisiveness and calmness, not submissiveness.

It stands to reason that Battalion Commander Ding was born in the sixth phase of Huangpu Military Academy, and it has been eight years since he graduated. It is quite normal to become a major battalion commander, a very good speed. He must have experienced the positions of platoon commander, company commander and major regiment attached. Why is it like this on the battlefield?It's so weird. Are you scared?

If you want to say that Laoyouzi is Laoyouzi, Hu Zhaowu walked into the house and took out a few cigarettes from his arms and gave them to the battalion commander. He said hello a few times and expressed his intention to the battalion commander with a smile. , nodded to He Wei.

He Wei stood at attention and saluted, and said loudly: "Report to the battalion commander, He Wei, commander of the first platoon of the Sixth Company, requested to report the enemy situation." "Oh, okay...ok...that platoon commander of the Sixth Company, I heard from Company Commander Fu that the Japanese army's first attack Was it your platoon that fought back?
"Yes, sir!"

Ding Guangyu looked absent-minded and numb. He Wei called him before he came back to his senses. Then he didn't even raise his head to look at He Wei. He stuttered and said: "If...if you have any hostile feelings, just say it, no...you Stop talking, just call the regiment headquarters and you can take care of it yourself."

Battalion Commander Ding Guangyu may still have not recovered from the shock of the shelling, and he was having trouble speaking. Before He Wei said a few words, he agreed to He Wei's request to call the rear regiment headquarters, and went to the opposite side with a cigarette in his mouth. Went to smoke in the house.

Captain Zhang Zongru, who was attached to the battalion, shook the phone and said: "Receive the regiment headquarters!" and then handed the phone to He Wei.

"Just wait, it should be soon."

He Wei gave Zhang Zongru a military salute and took the phone………………

...............

Dabaishui Village belonged to Southwest Township of Nao County in ancient times. Dabaishui Village is located at the junction of Yuanping Town and Xinkou, Shanxi. It has flat terrain, convenient transportation, suitable climate, fertile soil and beautiful water. It is a large village with a prosperous population. It has been a prosperous village since ancient times. An important grain-producing area, there used to be a small river named "Baishui" in the south of Baishui Village during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so it was named after the river, so it was called Dabaishui Village.

There is a small village to the right of Dabaishui Village, that is, to the east. Xiaobaishui Village is smaller in size and scale than Dabaishui Village. It is just that the naming method is the same, and the village is named after the river. However, the river has long since dried up. All that remains is a dry river bed.In peacetime, this place would be a good place to go, but in wartime, this Dabaishui Village is no longer a geomantic treasure.

The Japanese army has already invaded Xinkou and is about to launch a massive attack. In this battle of Xinkou, the participating national army departments took Xinkou as the axis and fully launched their preparations on the Longwangtang-Jiehepu-Dabaishui-Nanyu line on both sides. To meet the Japanese invaders in the south.

Dabaishui is located on the left wing of the central core of Xinkou. It is the only way for the Japanese army to attack and capture Xinkou. If the two central wings of Xinkou are lost, the core position of Xinkou will also be unsafe. What's more terrible is that around Dabaishui The terrain is four miles in front and four to five miles in depth. Except for a few sweet potato fields, it is vast and vast. Except for a few small hills on both sides of Dabaishui Village, there is nothing in the front and rear. There are no available terrain features or hiding places. There is not even a broken house outside the village. Except for the sweet potato fields and a few small hills, it is all open land!

This kind of terrain is suitable for the Japanese army to play to its strengths. The Japanese army has many vehicles, horses, and heavy equipment. If they break through from near Dabaishui, they will directly open a hole on the left wing of the Xinkou defense line and make a roundabout copy of the entire Xinkou defense line. It will fall apart. Once Xinkou is finished, Taiyuan will be opened. It is self-evident what the situation of the entire Shanxi Anti-Japanese War will be.

(End of this chapter)