The two field hospitals on the right bank of the Haibo River under the command of Sun Juan, vice president of the General Hospital of the Central Military Region, began receiving the wounded at about 3 p.m., and by about 4 p.m., a large number of the wounded were sent down. The Wehrmacht's field ambulance system consists of four levels: company medics, health companies, field hospitals, and rear hospitals, with each infantry company equipped with two medics who are responsible for simple bandaging on the battlefield, and then sent by stretchers to the health company for treatment, and then transferred to field hospitals for surgery, and some seriously wounded will be transferred to rear hospitals.

In order to improve the survival rate of the wounded, Sun Juan merged the field hospital and the medical company, and after integrating medical resources, she set up two field hospitals in the direction of the 16th Brigade, which were responsible for the treatment of the wounded of the two attack regiments of the 46th Regiment and the 47th Regiment. Sun Juan believed that moving the field hospital forward would improve the survival rate of the wounded, and this move was appreciated by Division Commander Qu Hongxiang. Although the two hospitals Sun Juan chose were within range of German artillery, Qu Hongxiang, who was in charge of seizing the Qingdao fortress, approved Sun Juan's request.

Qu Hongxiang believed that under the high-intensity propaganda in the early stage, the German army would not shell the field hospital.

The field hospital is only 300 meters away from the Haibo River, which is huge

On the afternoon of 23 August, the air force began to throw leaflets at the Qingdao Fortress, informing the Wehrmacht that the fortress would be seized by force, and demanding that the German officers and men lay down their arms and wade across the Haibo River to surrender to the Chinese army, and that the Chinese army would absolutely guarantee the safety of the German officers and men. The leaflet clearly informed the German army that the field hospital of the Chinese army was on the right bank of the Haibo River, and there was a clear sign asking the German army not to open fire on the hospital, otherwise the Chinese army would retaliate severely.

Wehrmacht aviation "dominated" the sky of the fortress and did not receive fire from the Germans. There was no air battle, and the Germans did not have a single plane in Qingdao. They had only two seaplanes, which had already been withdrawn with the fleet.

During the two days of the aviation propaganda offensive, the field hospital was not bombarded by a single German shell, although the hospital took careful measures, dug bunkers and communication trenches, and even arranged underground operating rooms. But the silence of the German army relieved the ambulances below Sun Juan, and after the battle began, they even climbed trees to watch the battle.

The battle began at 11 a.m. Sun Juan had never seen such heavy artillery fire: the shells fired from the south of the field hospital opened the pot in the two fortresses of Xiaozhan Mountain and the north of Xiao Zhanshan, and the young nurses who had seen the real battle for the first time went to count the bombing points at first, and immediately gave up. The number of bombing points is too dense to count.

More than 130 artillery pieces of 105~280 caliber artillery were bombarded from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. by four artillery regiments, including the Heavy Artillery Regiment directly under the General Staff Department, the Second Heavy Artillery Regiment directly under the Central Military Region, the 16th Brigade Artillery Regiment, and the 18th Brigade Artillery Regiment. Thousands of shells were fired at the two fortresses, and the German fortifications on the other side of the Haibo River were no longer visible to the naked eye, completely drowning in smoke and fire. It was a fine sunny day in the morning, but it was cloudy at noon. Perhaps it was the heavy shelling that raised smoke that obscured the sun. Let the commander of the Chinese army on the right bank of the Haibo River think that it was going to be dark. Looking at the watch, it's still very early after dark.

The infantry attack began at 2 o'clock, followed by sappers erecting pontoon bridges. The German artillery fire began with the attack of the Chinese infantry, and the Haibo River was blown up. As far as the eye could see, countless soldiers and pontoon bridge components were blown into the sky. The design of the artillery on both sides was extremely accurate, because the terrain rulers in this area were completely familiar, and the artillery could easily fire shells at the desired location.

Qu Zhiyong scolded the artillery for being incompetent, and the three-hour fierce bombardment failed to destroy the German artillery, and the 46th and 47th regiments forcibly crossed the Haibo River and suffered heavy casualties, which made Qu Zhiyong, who was in the command post on the right bank, feel very painful and cursed.

In addition to the four large mortars, even the 150mm cannon could not pose a mortal threat to the German reinforced concrete fortresses, but basically cleared the minefields and several layers of barbed wire laid by the Germans, and destroyed some of the machine-gun fire points.

Chen Hao, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 46th Regiment, followed the 2nd Company and waded into the Haibo River. His ears were deaf and he couldn't even hear his own commands. Just brandished a pistol and commanded the troops to wade through the Haibo River and attack the opposite bank of blood and fire. The Haibo River is not deep, the river only reaches Chen Hao's waist, surrounded by countless soldiers crossing the river with rifles, and some people continue to fall into the river, some people get up, and some people fall into the river forever.

"Hurry, hurry, it's safe to cross the river!" Chen Hao shouted, and the guards dragged him to the riverbank, and the 3rd squad leader of the 2nd company reached over and pulled the battalion commander onto the riverbank.

"The 2nd Battalion failed to cross the trench, they are dying!" Guo Min'an, deputy commander of the 2nd Company, leaned into the battalion commander's ear and shouted.

"We're over, quick! Don't get stuck here! The riverbank is about 150 meters away from the trench, which is the distance that Chen Hao is most worried about.

As soon as he stood up, a stray bullet grazed Chen Hao's steel helmet, he subconsciously lay down, immediately jumped up again, and grabbed a ladder that was thrown on the ground, "Brothers, rush with me!" Chen Hao shouted, dragging the ladder towards the trench. Feet were full of corpses and struggling wounded, most of them were left behind by the 2nd Battalion, Yan Yulong's 2nd Battalion paid heavy casualties in just 150 meters.

The 1st Battalion was not an assault battalion, they were the 2nd Attack Echelon of the 46th Regiment, following the 2nd Battalion of the Forward Battalion to attack. The task of the 2nd Battalion was to force the crossing of the Haibo River and seize the trench 5 meters deep, occupy an assault position opposite the trench, and open a passage for the 1st Battalion to attack. This was a sacrificial errand, and Chen Hao had fought desperately, but the regiment still gave the first commando to Yan Yulong's 2nd Battalion.

The trench was full of dead bodies, screams and moans everywhere, and a soldier whose jaw had been knocked off by a bullet sat on the wall of the trench and looked at Chen Hao blankly, looking indescribably weird. On the left side of the wounded soldier was a soldier whose body had been blown off, his steel helmet was gone, but his face was very clean, without pain, as if he was asleep. A mortar shell exploded in the trench, and the two soldiers in front of Chen Hao fell to the ground, one twitching, and one of the other soldiers' arms flew out of nowhere.

Chen Hao was a veteran who had seen blood, and he was also shocked by the tragic scene in front of him, "Climb up!" Climb up with Lao Tzu! Chen Hao erected the ladder. His guard, Koyanagi, grabbed him, "I'll come," and climbed the ladder first. But as soon as he showed his head, he was shot in the shoulder, and the machine-gun fire from the opposite side formed an insurmountable death trap.

"Koyanagi!"

"I'm fine," Koyanagi sat up, clutching his bleeding shoulder. As he spoke, two soldiers climbed the ladder again.

"Medic!" Chen Hao shouted subconsciously.

"Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander Yan is here......" Xiaoliu groaned.

Yan Yulong, who was holding his left arm, ran over, "I'm sorry, I didn't open the passage for you......"

"You're wounded." Chen Hao saw blood dripping down Yan Yulong's sleeve.

"The trenches are full of mines. My 2 battalion is finished ......"

"Someone!" Chen Hao shouted. "Send the 2 battalion commander down. It's mine now! ”

Two soldiers rushed over and grabbed Yan Yulong, "No, I'll die here today!" "A large-caliber shell exploded above the trench, and a soldier planted the trench. Dirt and rocks were falling like raindrops. A stone hit Chen Hao's nose. Nosebleeds come out immediately. Chen Hao wiped the blood from his face. "Take the 2nd battalion commander down!" Chen Hao waved his hand and climbed the ladder again.

Yan Yulong, who was shot in the left arm, was sent off the front line.

He was the supreme commander of the assault team who was sent down, and Brigade Commander Qu Zhiyong's inquiry came immediately. When the military doctor was treating Yan Yulong's wounds, he asked about the situation at the front line.

"The 1st battalion was also pressed into the trench, I saw the commander of the 1st battalion, he was organizing a breakthrough......" Yan Yulong's face was pale, and his body trembled slightly, "Brigade commander, the enemy's firepower point has not been destroyed at all......"

"I see." Qu Zhiyong turned around and walked out of the first aid station.

The Germans are funny, and until now not a single shell has fallen in the hospital.

The rain was falling. Yan Yulong's left arm was bandaged and carried onto a stretcher, and a female soldier held up an umbrella for him.

"Leave me alone." Yan Yulong's heart was like a knife. The raindrops hit Yan Yulong's cheeks, and it was indescribably comfortable. The heavily armed soldiers who were constantly running around should be the combat engineer regiment directly under the military region, judging from their equipment. It seems that Division Commander Qu is going to transfer this elite regiment to continue to break through.

"Why fight so hard with the Germans?"

Yan Yulong is Zhou Yi's old subordinate, and he has been promoted from Zhou Yi's personal escort all the way to the commander of the guard company. He was at the division headquarters at the time of the Xinning Change, witnessed the dispute between Chief of Staff Lan and Division Commander Zhou, and also witnessed Commander Long seize the power of Division Commander Zhou. He didn't believe that Division Commander Zhou would betray Commander Long, but Division Commander Zhou was imprisoned, and he also suffered. The 2nd Division's Guard Battalion was disbanded and reorganized, the soldiers were broken up and assigned to regiments, and the officers were put under scrutiny. He was imprisoned for half a month, and then assigned to the 12th Regiment of the 4th Brigade as a deputy platoon commander, until the Northern Army occupied Beijing, and when the 2nd Division marched to Kunming, he was transferred out to study at the Whampoa Military Academy, and then stayed in the school as an assistant instructor. He did not return to the army until 1911, and was assigned to the 6th Division of the Central Military District as a company commander, and last year he was promoted to battalion commander.

With his qualifications, if it weren't for the old commander Zhou Yi, he would never be the battalion commander, at least the colonel regiment commander, but fate is so ruthless, what can be done? This time the 46th Regiment fought Xiao Zhanshan, and the regiment commander gave the task of the first round of assault to the 2nd Battalion, and he knew that it was the top that made him die! But he wasn't dead! He didn't resist when Chen Hao ordered him to be sent off the battlefield, and staying alive was the most important thing.

The bullet that took him off the killing field did not seriously hurt him, and the doctor, who did not know his background, comforted him with a penetrating wound, miraculously did not hurt the bones, "A month of recuperation is about the same." "The brigade commander did not care at all about his injuries, but only asked about the situation at the front, and the situation was that the blood of the 2 battalion was running dry.

By the time the Combat Engineer Regiment was put into battle, the 1 Battalion had already broken through the trench. The remnants of the 2nd Battalion were incorporated into the 1st Battalion, and more than a dozen machine guns were firing wildly at the German firing points in the makeshift positions, covering the demolition team to blast desperately, and several mortars set up firing positions in the trenches, pouring shells at the Germans.

The rain was pouring down, the sky was dark, and the vision was extremely poor. Xu Xiaowen, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Combat Engineer Corps, ran at the front and climbed the trench from a gentle slope. He desperately observed the shape through the rain curtain, and to the left and right were two heavy machine gun positions, and three heavy machine guns were rattling.

"Where is your battalion commander?" Xu Xiaowen crawled in front of a machine gun and pulled off the placket of his deputy's clothes.

"What did you say?" The deputy machine gun was opening an iron bullet box and saw the major collar flower on Xu Xiaowen's collar badge, "Sir, I can't hear it." ”

"Well done! It's our turn! Xu Xiaowen gave the soldier a thumbs up, and then gestured to the correspondent next to him.

Two red flares rose into the sky.

This is a signal to the Combat Engineer Regiment - Assault! Open a passage for infantry with continuous blasting.

Countless soldiers rushed past Xu Xiaowen, and their weapons were explosive packs and blasting canisters -- weapons that were successfully developed last year to equip combat engineers.

Chen Hao, whose middle finger had been knocked off in his right hand, was on a machine-gun position, he felt no pain, the gauze that a soldier hastily bandaged him with a first-aid kit had already fallen off, he propped himself up from the puddle, and saw a large number of combat sappers pouring into the breach, and they were thrown in advance - the plan stipulated that it should be their turn when the 46th Regiment arrived at the front line of the main German position on Xiaozhan Mountain, but the division commander threw them in advance.

Chen Hao raised the telescope with his left hand and saw countless scenes that shocked him, those sappers were more brave than his soldiers, almost rushing towards the ground in the face of the rain of bullets and explosions, countless soldiers were knocked down, and even died and their bones were gone, but they rushed up! The enemy's firing points began to mute, and a continuous explosion of bombing points sounded near the dilapidated pillboxes of the German troops.

"Brothers, fly our flag! Follow me. Chen Hao stood up and shouted, habitually touching the gun with his right hand, but the sharp pain came, he changed his left hand and pulled out the pistol tucked on the belt, staggered and rushed forward. (To be continued......)

PS: I went on a business trip for a few days and just came back to catch up with a section.