Volume 2 The Second Battle Chapter 24 Fortifications
I was woken up by the company commander not long after I fell asleep. In a daze, I found that I was covered with a thin military blanket. I guess it was my comrades who helped cover me with it while we were asleep.
I struggled to open my eyes, feeling as if my eyelids were filled with sand. But the bright light from the flare quickly pierced my eyes and forced them to close again.
The sound of gunfire and artillery gradually became clearer. In fact, the sound of gunfire and artillery had never stopped, but I seemed to have gotten used to not taking it seriously at all. Wasn't it? I had slept well amid the sound of gunfire and artillery just now.
"Get ready for battle!" Captain Zhang said, "The battle is intense, it's time for us to go."
"Company commander, it's not even dawn yet! I haven't slept for two hours!" I opened my mouth and yawned.
It was already past three in the morning when we found the team . The sun rises around five in the winter nights in North Korea. Thinking about how we had not slept for several days and nights and finally found the team, but they didn't even give us two hours of sleep, I couldn't help but feel a little resentful.
"What's the big deal about sleeping less?" Company Commander Zhang glared at me and said, "The comrades at the front are bleeding and sacrificing their lives. We are still sleeping here. How can you sleep?"
"Well..." After hearing what Captain Zhang said, I felt embarrassed. Then I looked at my comrades around me, none of them complained, and they were all packing their luggage silently.
I originally thought that I had integrated into this team, but after these few days of suffering, the modern me once again exposed my vulnerable side.
Although I have not been in this world for a long time, the suffering I have endured is unimaginable compared to modern people. But compared to the volunteers around me, what is that? They seem to be used to it.
"Let's go!" Captain Chu shouted and ran towards the destination. His voice was still so firm and his movements were still so powerful, as if just these two hours of sleep had fully restored his strength.
I rubbed my sore eyes and yawned a few times. I felt powerless and helpless in my heart. I really didn't know what they were thinking, and I didn't understand what supported them and made them have such superhuman endurance and hard-working spirit.
The destination was not far away, only about twenty minutes away. Compared with the march we had made in the past few days, this distance was insignificant, so the troops stopped before I was mentally prepared.
Soon a regiment of troops was dispersed to various heights, and our company was assigned to a mountain called 288.7 Heights. The Taedong River was flowing not far behind us, and the road was extending more than a hundred meters to the east in front!
You know what, I was scared when I saw the road. When we were marching, we felt comfortable when we saw the road, but when we were fighting... I knew it wouldn't be long before groups of enemies would appear on this road that looked comfortable. And I knew very well that the enemy we were facing was no longer those weak puppet troops, but the American army with a large number of modern weapons.
"Build fortifications!"
At the command of the company commander, we were all dumbfounded. Because we had been marching for two days and three nights without sleep, we had lost our shovels. The soldiers looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"Captain..." I couldn't help but yell in embarrassment, "There's no shovel here!"
"If you don't have a shovel, dig with your hands or pry with a bayonet!" Without saying a word, Company Captain Zhang took the lead and started digging with his hands.
Digging by hand? I felt so miserable! But at the same time, I also knew that this fortification was essential, and not only had to be dug, but also had to be dug deeper than before. Because the American troops were coming, and the artillery shells and gasoline bombs were no joke.
Thinking of this, I could only look at my hands affectionately, and then, painfully, stretched them towards the snowdrift as if I was pushing two comrades who had always been loyal to me into a fire pit.
It was fine at the beginning, as there was a thick layer of snow on top, and apart from feeling cold hands, I didn't feel much pain.
But going further down, this damn... this mountain with more gravel than soil, after just a while of digging, I felt pain in my fingertips. I had no choice but to pull out the bayonet to loosen the soil first, and then scoop out the soil handful handful.
I kept thinking in my mind that if I could master the Eagle Claw Kung Fu or Iron Sand Palm like those in martial arts novels, I would be rich!
"Platoon leader! You can't dig like this!" The old squad leader saw that I had dug such a small hole for a long time, and reminded me: "If you dig like this, you won't be able to hide a leg when the enemy comes!"
"What else can we do?" I said with a bitter face, "If my hand is dug out, how can I fight the enemy later? I can't even hold the gun steadily!"
"Look at me!" The old squad leader laughed and started to move his hands skillfully: "First, dig a deep pit, and then use the bayonet to dig down large chunks of soil and rocks, and see..."
"Oh, there is such a thing as this!" I understood it as soon as I saw it. This is much more efficient than loosening the soil and then scooping it out. I quickly thanked him and started to work.
But soon another problem arose. The ground with a lot of gravel was not solid. Once the pit was dug deep, the gravel beside the trenches fell down. It was difficult to even build a solid trench, let alone dig a single air-raid shelter.
"Alas!" The old squad leader couldn't help but sigh and said, "This land is a land where people are eaten without leaving any bones!"
"What? Can't we dig an air-raid shelter?" I asked in surprise.
"It's hard to build an air-raid shelter!" the old squad leader replied, "But we can get some more wood to support it. It's just..."
The old squad leader scooped up a handful, shook his hands gently, and sifted out the angular stones inside, saying, "These stones, when the shells explode during a war, will become shrapnel!"
"So that's how it is..."
I couldn't help but feel a chill in my heart, and a scene flashed through my mind. The fortifications that the volunteer soldiers had dug out with their hands were easily destroyed by the heavy artillery of the US military. The debris flew everywhere where the shells landed, and the soldiers had nowhere to hide. The high-speed flying stones easily took away the lives of the volunteer soldiers one by one like shrapnel...
So... then why are we digging trenches with our hands so hard? Is it our turn to dig our own graves now?
