Chapter 49 Chapter 49: Life is Better than Death

There are only two main streets in Hengyang City, an east-west Zhongzheng Road with a total length of more than 500 meters from the Xiangjiang River on the west bank to the West Bus Station;These two main roads cross each other, and other streets and alleys are connected with them either parallel or perpendicular.Therefore, you will not get lost in Hengyang, and you will come to these two roads no matter how you go. After the city was established in 1942, there were two governments in Hengyang City.One is Hengyang Municipal Government, located at the intersection of Zhongzheng Road (now Jiefang Road) and Zhongshan Road, opposite the Central Bank; the other is Hengyang County Government (now the original seat of Hengnan County Government), at Zhongshan South Road and Qingquan Road interchange.

The field hospital of the 10th Army was located near the county government.At that time, it was considered that the focus of the enemy's attack was in the southwest of the city, while the northwest of the city had less fighting and was relatively safer and more peaceful.This side is close to the confluence of Zhengshui and Xiangjiang River, and it is located in the lower reaches of the river, so it is more convenient to get water.Unexpectedly, the 2nd Company of Field Artillery of the 48th Division, which is hidden in this vicinity and is attached to the 10th Army, last time fought to support the two positions of Zhangjiashan and Tiger Nest. Target.After that, the Japanese army repeatedly sent planes to bomb the fish pond, not wanting to harm Yuchi.

The pilots of the Japanese devils all saw the red cross flag and knew clearly that this was a hospital for wounded soldiers.Still flew several times to bomb.Truly insane and inhumane. Fang Xianjue originally planned to build an underground hospital.But I didn't expect the situation on the battlefield to develop so fast, there was no time at all, even the fortifications used to prevent the enemy from fighting were rushed, and there was no time to build a rear hospital!Therefore, the former Hengyang County Hospital, which had already retreated, was temporarily borrowed as a field hospital for the army.

Woo, woo, woo!When the air raid sirens sounded.The hospital was in a hurry, because there were too many wounded and sick, and the medical staff couldn't take care of them at all.The sick and wounded who were able to walk had to scatter for their lives and find places to hide; the seriously wounded who couldn't walk had to be transferred with difficulty with the help of medical staff.But the vast majority can only resign themselves to fate in place. "Brother, give me a knife! Give me a good time!" A wounded soldier rolled down from the simple camp bed and crawled with difficulty.

"Brother, give me a shot! Please! Give..." Another seriously wounded man couldn't roll, so he had to hit his head against the wall.There was a bang.The scene was too sad to bear to watch. "Come on! Little devil, I hate your grandma! Give me a break. If I blink, I will be your grandson!" "Fry it, Japanese bastard. Even if I die, I will turn into a ghost and bite your mother to death!" "Damn it, little devil, blow it up, blow it up, let's see how long you can go crazy. When I get well, I have to kill you bastard!" At this time, 16 Japanese bombers flew over Hengyang like blowflies, and then dropped bombs like flies shitting.Boom, boom, boom, explosions everywhere.

The logistics and security forces of the 10th Army glared angrily, gritted their teeth, mounted machine guns and even rifles and fired into the air. The Japanese plane flew away, and just after the air defense alarm was lifted, Fang Xianjue they were about to rush to the hospital.At this time, there was another wailing siren, and the people were shocked. When they were about to pull Commander Fang and the others into the air-raid shelter, they found that it was a false alarm.It turned out that our army's plane had arrived and was bombing the Japanese army near the airport on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River.The alarm just now was sounded by the Japanese army.

Qingquan Road, Hengyang City, the compound of the 10th Army Field Hospital was in a mess. According to the investigation, more than 700 wounded and sick were killed in the air strike.The scene was horrible, with blood and flesh flying everywhere, stumps and broken legs everywhere; all the buildings in the hospital were blown down, and there were huge craters one after another.Many medical staff and former migrant workers sacrificed heroically to protect the wounded and sick.Touching scenes are one after another.Many female compatriots cried sadly!The officers and soldiers present all gritted their teeth, clenched their fists or the weapons in their hands, filled with righteous indignation, and demanded to go to the front line to kill the enemy.

Seeing this tragic situation, Fang Xianjue felt great pity in his heart: Brothers, Fang Xianjue is sorry for you!But as the main general in the formation, this is not the time to vent his grief.So, Fang Xianjue cursed loudly, and called several directors of the field hospital to reprimand him severely.Several principals could only bow their heads to be trained in aggrieved manner, not daring to make a sound. Fang Xianjue also knew that it wasn't the deans' fault, they were also innocent.Then, he said to Dong Rusong in a gentle tone: "The bombing of the hospital caused heavy casualties. Apart from the ferocity of the devils, a big reason is that the wounded and sick lived too concentratedly. In the future, we need to set up a few more rescue stations and spread them out." , to reduce losses! Seeing that the enemy's second general offensive is about to start again, you must hurry up."

"Yes! We will act immediately!" Dong Rusong replied, while winking at the directors of several field hospitals, telling them to quit immediately. Fang Xianjue glanced at a few of them, and added: "I want the supply regiment to send someone to help you!" But at this time, Hengyang City is in ruins, where is the shelter for the wounded and sick?Where is the shelter for the wounded and sick? ! no way.Under the ruined walls, in the huge bomb craters, in most of the damaged air-raid shelters, and in the temporary shelters, there are shelters for the wounded and sick everywhere.

The medical staff of the 10th Army and the former migrant workers had no choice but to go back and forth between these scattered medical points.There was no sanitary material, so the wound had to be covered with rags and waste paper; there was no emergency disinfection medicine, so the wound had to be washed with salt water.In the midsummer season, with high temperature and intense heat, there are many flies and mosquitoes, so the wounds are polluted, and there are countless people with inflammation, suppuration, festering, and maggots.Slight injuries become serious injuries, and serious injuries can only wait for death.

Seeing the comrades who were still alive and well before, now they are in a situation where life is worse than death after being injured.Many medical staff are afraid to go to visit. There is no doctor or medicine, and there is nothing they can do if they go. It just adds to the grief.But the responsibility lies, how can I bear it, and I have to go, watching the wounded and sick waiting to die one by one, the psychological torture is even worse than the wounded and sick! It's all war, the damned war.And when will this protracted and tens of thousands of casualties come to an end! Hearing such tragic news, Generalissimo Chiang specially sent a telegram to instruct: "We should use the boards that have been blown up to build a shed, use the broken door boards as the top cover, and use broken bricks as the wall. The fragments of anti-bombs must not be allowed to sleep in the open!" The Supreme Commander is so concerned, it is really touching. The officers and soldiers were moved and acted quickly to carry out the reconstruction work.However, there were so many wounded and sick that the containment and medical treatment had to be carried out in the ruined walls.Food shrinkage is also a lot of trouble, not to mention nutrition, which greatly reduces the medical effect. Where the 10th Army was ordered to stand firm, it had prepared food and ammunition for 10 days, at most two days.We have been fighting fiercely for nearly 3 weeks, and 60% of the infantry ammunition has been consumed, so there is still no shortage; because the effective weapons to destroy the enemy are still grenades and mortar shells, and the field artillery and mountain artillery are also used to suppress enemy artillery. Necessary to block enemy infantry attacks.At this time, two-thirds of the grenades have been consumed, four-fifths of the mortar shells have been consumed, and the most painful thing is that only one-tenth of the field artillery shells are left. In terms of supplies, Hengyang is a rice market, so the supply of staple food is not a problem; however, Japanese planes bombed continuously every day, and the urban area has been turned into scorched earth, the rice warehouses have been destroyed, and the officers and soldiers have nothing to eat.The cooks had no choice but to grab the burnt brown rice grains and cook them into a paste under the ruined walls, and serve them with salt water for the officers and soldiers to satisfy their hunger.When eating, swarms of flies come and compete for food, lingering.After eating, most of the officers and soldiers had a dull pain in the abdomen, and often caused vomiting and diarrhea.Coupled with the lack of medicine, many people died one after another.It's too horrible to look at; why is it so sad! There were too many wounded officers and soldiers.Due to lack of medical treatment, many officers and soldiers who were slightly injured automatically returned to the line of fire. Even some officers and soldiers who were not lightly injured and could still crawl would rather stay in the position, be with their comrades, live and die with the position, and would not go to the line of fire . That's it, the officers and soldiers are still fighting bloody battles, which is really touching.