Chapter 1553 Silent Oath (First update, please subscribe)
It's time.
Finally, the body supported by the engineer shovel fell down limply.
At this moment, a pair of military boots broke into his somewhat blurred vision, and then someone suddenly hugged him, shouting loudly.
"Sir, sir...medic...medic"
The soldiers shouted and tried their best to drag the battalion commander out of the trench. He hugged his officer who was covered in blood and shouted loudly.
"Medic, this way, battalion commander, the battalion commander is this way..."
The medic ran to him holding the helmet and used a knife to pry open Andekai's clothes. After the uniform was torn open and the medic wiped the blood off his body with a bandage, the wounds no longer bled because all his blood had been lost in the battle.
"The battalion commander is no longer able to do anything..."
Leaving behind a word, the medical soldier ran to another comrade. On the battlefield, the medical soldier's duty is to rescue soldiers who can be saved, and he will never waste time on comrades who have no hope, because that is a waste of other people's lives.
Holding the battalion commander's body and feeling his commander's increasingly weak breathing, the soldier seemed to see something and shouted excitedly.
"Sir, don't die! Look, look over there... it's the regimental flag! It's our regimental flag! Sir, open your eyes and look!"
The soldier shouted loudly in the ear of his commander. Andekai, whose breath was almost extremely weak, suddenly opened his eyes and even moved his body by his own strength.
"It's the regimental flag! Sir, look... look... it's the regimental flag!"
A red Suzaku flag inlaid with golden tassels, the regimental flag bestowed by the emperor, was advancing more than ten steps in front of him. Perhaps Andekai saw it. He lay motionless in the arms of his comrade, opened his mouth, and tried hard to raise his right hand. Perhaps he wanted to salute the flag for the last time, but in the end his hand fell on his chest, on his heart. Perhaps this was also what he was thinking...
“Please! Please…”
What did he ask for?
The soldier holding Andekai didn't know that these were his last words. Perhaps he wanted to tell the regimental flag that he was no longer able to continue and hoped that his comrades could achieve victory under the leadership of the regimental flag!
He lay in the arms of his comrade-in-arms without closing his eyes until his death. His open eyes were always staring at the regimental flag, which was advancing with the troops under the escort of the flag guard.
Not long after, the flag bearer of the regimental flag who accompanied the troops in the attack also died. When the flag bearer was hit by a bullet, his body suddenly paused, but he did not fall backwards. Instead, he used up his last bit of strength to insert the flagpole into the land burned by the shells and soaked in blood.
The Youth League flag was planted there, and it fluttered rhythmically with his shaking. This might be the most beautiful and majestic scene in the world!
Hundreds of meters away, Zuo Xiaokuan, holding a telescope, tightly grasped the lens body, and his heart was touched at this moment.
Through the telescope, he could clearly see the fallen flag guard supporting the flag with his body, and then another flag guard raised the flag again.
The regimental flag has a special meaning in the imperial army. Each regimental flag is personally bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor when the army is formed. The first generation of flag guards will enter the palace, take over the regimental flag from the hands of His Majesty the Emperor, and swear to guard the glory of the military flag with their lives.
From then on, every infantry regiment and every person had to swear an oath to the regimental flag. In the army, the regimental flag was as precious to them as their life.
It is also for this reason that the regimental flag usually does not attack with the troops, but once the order is issued for the regimental flag to follow the attack, everyone knows that there is no room for negotiation in this battle. They can only attack, and attack continuously, no matter how heavy the casualties are, they must complete their mission.
For any imperial army, after the regimental flag appears on the battlefield, there are only two choices: either they complete the campaign goal and win; or everyone from the regimental commander to the soldiers may be killed, and the regimental flag may be captured by the enemy.
When a regimental flag accompanies the army in an attack, it is a death warrant for an infantry regiment!
Everyone understood what failure meant - the flag was captured by the enemy, the entire regiment was disbanded, and from then on, this number no longer existed in the sequence of the imperial army. Not only that, it also meant shame. Every soldier who retired from this infantry regiment was ashamed of it. For the rest of their lives, they were even ashamed to mention their own numbers.
Looking through the telescope, when he saw the flag bearer who used up his last bit of life to plant the regiment flag on the enemy's position being carried onto a stretcher by the paramedics, Zuo Xiaokuan nodded silently.
In any Imperial Army infantry regiment, the standard-bearer is the best and bravest second lieutenant, and one of the soldiers' closest superiors. In an infantry regiment, the soldiers may not know the names of the regimental commander and other regimental commanders, but they will definitely know the name of the standard-bearer.
The flag bearer is the person they are most familiar with.
When the flag bearer was carried down, Zuo Xiaokuan walked forward and soon he reached the wounded retreat trench. The air here was filled with a strong smell of blood and there were wounded everywhere. Most of the wounded being carried down were seriously injured. The lightly injured soldiers would never be withdrawn at this time. Even if they died, they would die under the regimental flag until the mission was completed.
Finally, Zuo Xiaokuan walked to the side of the flag bearer, bent down, looked at the flag bearer who was breathing weakly, then he half-knelt down and grabbed the flag bearer's hand. At this time, he saw that the flag bearer was wearing a sword at his waist, which was the sword of the Army Officers School.
They are alumni.
In fact, this is inevitable. Every flag bearer is a graduate of the Imperial Army Officer School, and they are all very outstanding.
"Sir...Sir...I, we..."
What does he want to ask?
Perhaps what he cares most about is whether the troops have completed their combat missions, as well as the regimental flag, which is also his concern.
But Zuo Xiaokuan couldn't answer these questions now, after all, the battle was still going on there. But for this flag bearer, his battle was over.
"Lieutenant, are you married?"
He wanted to write a letter to his wife personally, because he knew that the young man who was shot in the abdomen would hardly survive. On the battlefield, being shot in the abdomen or chest meant death, especially if he was shot multiple times.
"I... have a girlfriend... she, she is..."
The flag bearer's voice became increasingly weaker, and a smile emerged on his young face. The smile was faint, but it revealed a kind of longing. His eyes were fixed on the sky without blinking, as if he saw the beautiful face of his lover, but the spirit in his eyes was fading away little by little, and his brows were furrowed from time to time. He was experiencing the torture of severe pain from the wound.
At this time, a medical soldier came over and gave him another injection of morphine to relieve the pain. Soon with the help of the medicine, he finally felt better.
"I...really...want to..."
This was the last sentence the flag bearer left in the world. Before he finished speaking, his eyes were still open, as if his wish was not fulfilled.
What were his last words?
Do you want to make it to San Francisco? Or do you miss your girlfriend?
There is no way to know, but he did fulfill his oath. With his own life.
The oath is silent, in fact, because it is made with life. They always use their lives to write their previous oaths silently.
Zuo Xiaokuan, half-kneeling beside the stretcher, looked at the second lieutenant who had stopped breathing, looked at him silently, and then spoke to the commander of the infantry division beside him.
"Give me his information! I will personally write a letter of condolence to his family."
When he said this, Zuo Xiaokuan, who had been half-kneeling there, stood up, then he saluted the second lieutenant's body, and the others followed suit.
They were not just saluting this lieutenant, but saluting all the comrades who had died in this battle...
(End of this chapter)
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