December 24th, Christmas Eve. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The northeastern Indian border town of Morey, home to Company A, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st U.S. Infantry Division.

Just after noon, the division commander, Major General Allen, set out from the division headquarters in Imphal, and halfway through the meeting with the commander of the 16th Regiment, Colonel Crawford, and went to the town of Morey, which was closest to the front line in the division.

Captain Ford, the commander of Company A, extended a warm welcome to the arrival of the two superiors.

Major General Allen looked around at the surrounding residents, pulled Captain Ford to the side of the road, and said with a wicked smile: "Captain Ford, you have to thank the competent quartermasters of our division, who have consumed countless brain cells and finally managed to get us some steaks that the soldiers desperately need before Christmas." ”

Captain Ford saw the evil smile of the two superiors and immediately understood.

India's national religion is Hinduism, and in the concept of Hindu believers, Lord Shiva walked on a cow in the world, so on the body of each sacred cow, there is an invisible and untouched Lord Shiva.

These sacred cows can roam the streets of the city or trample on crops that have not yet grown without being expelled by their owners.

In order to avoid some trouble, the American, German, and Italian GIs were notified as soon as they arrived in India.

In Indian philosophy, you can encroach on Indian territory, but you can't be disrespectful to the sacrosanct sacred cow.

It took some time for the GIs to figure out from the British allies that not every type of cow was a sacred cow, such as a buffalo.

After figuring out the chain of contempt of the Indians among the various cattle, the quartermasters of the three countries reached for the poor buffalo in an effort to get some fresh meat for their comrades before Christmas.

Company A's cooking squad unloaded boxes of canned fruit, chocolates, chewing gum, various liquors, and a buffalo that had been split in two pieces from the two Dodge trucks that had arrived with Major General Allen.

Captain Ford accompanied Major General Allen and Colonel Crawford on a tour of Company A's position in the town of Morey.

Standing at the easternmost entrance of the town of Morey, Major General Morey pointed to the east and asked, "Where is the border?" ”

"Yes," said Captain Ford, "less than 500 meters east of here is the border between India and Burma, and beyond the border there is a small Burmese town called Demu. I had entered that town when I was leading my troops on patrol, and there were no Japanese there. ”

Colonel Crawford said: "We have information that the Japanese are stopping on the east bank of the Chinton River, ten kilometers from the border. You have to watch out for their patrols. ”

"General, when will we be able to launch an attack on the Japanese?" Captain Ford asked.

Major General Allen sneered and said with disdain: "The specific time depends on the attitude of the British, but it can be determined that it will be after this Christmas and before next Christmas." ”

Colonel Crawford smiled wryly and patted Captain Ford on the shoulder.

"You will be notified when the specific time of the attack is determined, and what you have to do is to wait patiently."

"Well, patience is a virtue." Captain Ford said.

Major General Allen and Colonel Crawford greeted the soldiers of Company A and sent Christmas greetings before returning to the divisional headquarters.

After seeing off the two superiors, Captain Ford turned around and appeared in the cooking class.

Seeing the bones of the buffalo that had been dismantled, Captain Ford smiled and said, "Come on, brothers, tonight's steak dinner depends on you." ”

In the evening, three squad patrols returned to the town of Morey.

After dark, Captain Ford had the cooking squad light a campfire, set up a barbecue grill, and pile up crates of alcoholic beverages and cans in a clearing in the middle of town.

In addition to the soldiers standing guard, most of the soldiers of Company A gathered in the open field.

Captain Ford held up the bottle and said to his men, "Good evening, brothers. ”

"Good evening, sir." The infantrymen shouted in unison.

"By tomorrow, it will be a full year since the outbreak of war. During the year, we heard not much news of victories, but more news of defeats. Why? Because there is no us on the battlefield. ”

Captain Ford said this, and the scene of the bonfire was suddenly filled with whistles and strange screams.

When the scene was calm again, Captain Ford continued: "Now, we have come thousands of miles to the front line of the war against Japan. In the new year, we will be at the forefront and lead the United States to victory, and this is the honor we deserve. Now, tell me, who are we? ”

"Big Red First Division." The soldiers of Company A chanted the nickname of the 1st Infantry Division in unison.

Captain Ford held the bottle high and shouted, "Cheers to the New Year, to victory." ”

"Cheers ・・・・・・"

The clashing of wine bottles and the cheers of the soldiers rose one after another in the clearing, kicking off the bonfire.

The soldiers of Company A toasted each other, blessed each other, got drunk, and then hugged each other to the open space and vomited together.

The Christmas Eve revelry lasted until nearly 12 o'clock in the middle of the night.

The soldiers staggered out of the square on their feet, holding each other on, leaving empty wine bottles, canned food bottles, and cow bones all over the floor.

The town of Morey returned to calm, and in the dense forest in the south outside the town, groups of black shadows used the dense jungle as a cover, cautiously approaching the town of Morey.

The moonlight fell into the trees through the gaps in the foliage, and the cold light from the blade of the bayonet could be faintly seen.

The 1st Brigade of the 138th Wing of the 31st Division of the 15th Army of the Japanese Army in Burma, with two squadrons in the south and one squadron in the east, was ready to present a Christmas gift to Company A stationed in the town of Morey.

After learning that the US troops were stationed in India, the Japanese 15 th Army stationed in Burma resolutely decided to take advantage of the fact that the US troops had just arrived at the front line, were unfamiliar with the geographical environment, and were characterized by the fact that they were mostly new recruits, to carry out a destructive attack and hit the morale of the US troops.

After some careful planning, the 138th Wing of the 31st Division was selected for this mission, and the time was viciously set for Christmas Eve on December 24.

The 1st Brigade of the 138th Wing did not set out from the Chindun River, which was directly opposite the town of Morey, but made a detour to the south to avoid the patrol of Company A, and then went all the way north along the border line, taking advantage of the night to quietly approach the town of Morey.

When the sentry post outside the town of Morey appeared in the sight of the Japanese troops, the Japanese stopped.

The machine-gun squadron set up the Type 92 heavy machine guns at the edge of the dense forest, and two infantry guns were also pushed to the front of the position.

After the offensive formation was set, each squadron sent a small squad to crawl forward towards the town of Morey.

It was not until the barbed wire fence area outside the town that the Japanese soldiers who were creeping forward stopped, used sapper pliers to quietly cut the barbed wire, and continued to approach the town of Morey.

To the east of the town of Morey, soldiers of two A companies with Garand rifles roamed the entrance of the town, their eyes sweeping in the darkness from time to time.

The peace and quiet of the past few days has completely paralyzed the nerves of this group of recruits, making them completely forget the cruel fact that the Japanese in this era are no more than Christmas.

One of the sentries had just staggered with another when he suddenly stopped and turned to look at the pitch-black east of the town.

"Who? Come out. ”

The sentry suddenly shouted loudly, breaking the silence of the town's night.

As they shouted, the sentries raised their guns and fired into the night outside the town.

Just after two shots were fired, a bright light flashed through the darkness, and a bullet spun and flew through the sentry's chest, and the sentry fell headlong to the ground.

Another sentry quickly jumped to a low-lying spot on the side of the road to hide while his companion opened fire, and then opened fire outside the town.

The crisp sound of gunfire kicked off the battle, and in the endless darkness, countless black shadows suddenly appeared, holding bayonets high and rushing towards the town of Morey.

The sound of gunfire woke up the American troops on the machine gun position on the edge of Morey Town, and the 30-caliber machine gun quickly opened fire, sweeping towards the swarming figures, but was suppressed by the heavy machine gun behind the Japanese army, and then the flesh and blood were blown up by the grenadiers falling from the sky.

Swarms of black shadow locusts rushed into the town of Morey, along the narrow streets and alleys, and the water flowed into the depths of the town.

The American soldier woke up from his sleep, jumped up from bed and floor with a hangover, staggered through his clothes, picked up his weapon and rushed out of the room, only to be knocked to the ground by an oncoming black shadow with a bayonet, or shot to death.

More U.S. soldiers wittily armed their weapons, hid in their accommodation houses, and used the houses as bunkers to resist, as did Captain Ford, who lived west of the town of Morey.

Less than half a minute after the gunshots rang out, Captain Ford jumped out of bed, shaking his head and listening to the gunshots and shouts outside.

A few seconds later, Captain Ford woke up drunk, hurriedly put on his military uniform, then grabbed a Thompson submachine gun and rushed out of the house with several company members.

Standing at the doorway, Captain Ford saw the night sky lit up by the fires on the east side of the town, and the streets were full of black shadows running all over the ground, and in his panic he could not tell whether it was the enemy or his own men.

It wasn't until seven or eight dwarf figures passed through the cracks of the houses and the dense bushes of the town that Captain Ford reacted.

Quickly flashing behind the trunk of a large tree, Captain Ford raised his hand and fired wildly into the distance, instantly hitting three or four black shadows rushing to the front.

The other shadows ducked around the corner of the house and fired at Captain Ford.

Captain Ford, along with nearby company members, resisted for a while, and was horrified to find that bullets were flying from three directions: north, south, and east, and there were short but agile black shadows everywhere.

The position he was in was surrounded by a huge fan of the Japanese army.

"Retreat, retreat." Captain Ford sensed that the situation was unfavorable and decisively gave the order to retreat, and then followed several company members around him to turn around and run to the west of the town.

During the flight, one of the soldiers in front of Captain Ford's right screamed and fell to the ground, then got up again and limped for his life.

Captain Ford rushed to the soldier, grabbed his left arm and put it on his shoulder and fled with him.

When approaching Zhenxi, several soldiers running in front suddenly saw a flash of fire in the darkness of Zhenxi, machine gun bullets were flying, and the three soldiers running in front screamed and fell to the ground.

Captain Ford and the wounded soldiers around him escaped because they ran slowly.

Seeing a group of black figures rushing from the west brandishing bayonets, Captain Ford shouted, "The Japanese have detoured back to the west, let's change directions." ”

The two turned around and went into the alley between two houses on the side of the street.

The two of them had just turned around, and a blinding light shone above their heads, and flares flew over the town, pulling the town out of the darkness.

Under the effect of flares, Captain Ford and the two were exposed to the ubiquitous view of the Japanese army.

A Japanese soldier gets down on one knee and pulls the trigger on Captain Ford's back.

Captain Ford felt a sharp pain in his right lower back, and his feet went limp, and he fell to the ground along with the wounded soldiers around him.

Enduring the severe pain, Captain Ford sat up with difficulty, turned to look behind him, and saw four or five Japanese soldiers charging with bayonets and teeth and claws.

Raising the submachine gun, Captain Ford fired the remaining bullets in the magazine, and the wounded soldiers around him also fired wildly with Garand rifles, taking advantage of the advantage in firepower to kill several crazy Japanese soldiers in an instant.

Supporting each other, the two turned their heads and began to flee again, step by step, leaving the war-covered town of Morey behind・・・・・・

Shortly after 11 o'clock the next morning, on the side of the road leading to Imphal west of the town of Morey, an American soldier suddenly emerged from the forest and waved to the American convoy speeding down the road.

The American soldier was quickly brought to the commander of the convoy, Colonel Crawford.

While the medic was bandaging the wounded soldier's left leg, Colonel Crawford asked, "You were the only one who escaped?" Is there anyone else? ”

The wounded soldier pointed to the forest behind him and said, "And Captain Ford, he was injured in the waist and couldn't make it." ”

Colonel Crawford stormed into the forest and soon found Captain Ford with his back to a large tree under a large tree.

The captain, whom he had just exchanged Merry Christmas to each other yesterday afternoon, was now out of all his life.

Colonel Crawford put his hand on Captain Ford's shoulder and said bitterly: "Take the body of the captain, let's set off to the town of Morey." ”

Half an hour later, Colonel Crawford led reinforcements to recapture the ruined town of Morey.

The town of Morey was now devoid of the Japanese army, leaving only dilapidated houses, bloodstained streets, and panicked residents.

"Colonel, come with me, you must take a look at this."

A sergeant approached Colonel Crawford and led him to a clearing in the town.

"The Japanese ransacked this place and left us with only this one." The sergeant said, pointing to the clearing.

The clearing was littered with empty wine bottles and cans, as well as beef bones, but that's not the point.

What attracted Colonel Crawford was the hundreds of corpses of American soldiers piled up on a hill in the middle of the clearing.

Blood gushed from the pile of corpses, staining large swaths of the ground red.

"Damn, are these Japanese still alive in the age of ignorance? He even demonstrated to us in such a barbaric way as a Jingguan. Colonel Crawford scolded through gritted teeth.

"Go, get someone to sort out these corpses and count their names." When Colonel Crawford finished speaking, he walked to the east with a straight face.

As soon as he walked less than twenty meters, Colonel Crawford suddenly remembered something, turned to look behind him, and shouted: "When sorting out the body, be careful・・・・・・"

Before Colonel Crawford could finish shouting, a violent explosion suddenly erupted from under a corpse that a soldier had just lifted, and the soldier flew out screaming, lying on the ground covered in blood, covering his face and howling and rolling.

"Beware of the Thunder." Colonel Crawford finished shouting the last word, but it was too late.

Trembling and clenching his fists, Colonel Crawford said in a deep voice, "I want them to pay with blood." ”