It was early in the morning, but there was still continuous sound of gunfire on the battlefield. In the past few days, attacks, continuous attacks, for every Chinese Expeditionary Force unit on the Somme River, the attack was

Their only mission is also a task that must be completed. As long as there is even one living German in front of them, they need to continue attacking.

After reaching the attack time, Liu Chunming chose to go out first, and he would also be the first to face a real death threat. Zhao Peiren would only set off after Liu Chunming came back.

Zhao Peiren's body was experiencing double tension. On the one hand, it was for himself and the danger he was about to face, and on the other hand, it was for Liu Chunming and the danger he was facing.

Liu Chunming's duty is to find the gaps in the barbed wire fence.

But will there be gaps in the barbed wire?

Zhao Peiren expressed doubts. Liu Chunming had received strict instructions not to spend time cutting the barbed wire, but Zhao Peiren knew Liu Chunming. His schoolmate would not let a group of soldiers encounter an impenetrable obstacle. He couldn't help but guess that at this moment,

Liu Chunming may be lying on the ground, holding wire cutters and cutting the barbed wire bit by bit. A small sound or a trace of reflection may reveal his position and endanger his life.

Hiding in the trench, Zhao Peiren smoked cigarettes one after another, extinguishing each cigarette on the sandbag in the parapet. The burning tobacco passed through the sack, and a small amount of soil leaked from the bag.

"Make sure you take care of yourself, brother."

The sound from behind made him jump.

"What are you doing? Huh?"

It was their commander Li Shiqing.

"Nothing, sir. I was wondering where Liu Chunming is now."

Nodding, Li Shiqing snorted,

"Are your people ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"We'll leave in fifteen minutes. Go tell them."

"What about Liu Chunming, sir?"

Li Shiqing shrugged, his whole person looked very evil under the moonlight,

"Warrant Officer Zhao, I think Warrant Officer Liu can only rely on his own luck."

In one sentence, there is no colder answer. On the battlefield, no one can take care of anyone. Slowly, time passed.

Still haven’t seen Liu Chunming come back.

Fifteen minutes were up. Li Shiqing made a gesture to indicate that it was time to set off.

As soon as the order was given, the lightly-armed infantrymen walked into the no man's land one by one along the short and thick ladders. Leaving the claustrophobic tunnels and the parapets of the trenches, the world seemed suddenly so vast that there was no place to hide. In his eyes,

In the front, Zhao Peiren could see Li Shiqing's strong figure and the black figures of his soldiers. Zhao Peiren was in charge of the second team. After counting for thirty seconds, he began to follow slowly. Except for the boots that silently stepped on the ground, Zhao Peiren

The sound and the sound of the gun butt scraping against the ground. The surroundings were silent. Minutes passed, and each minute seemed as long as a century.

Suddenly an exception occurred.

The soil under Zhao Peiren suddenly glowed white, and he paused for a second in shock. It was lime, shining brightly in the moonlight. But if it was lime, then...

And then Liu Chunming jumped out of the darkness, grinning. Zhao Peiren suddenly realized how worried he had been before. As friends from the same school - they have a friendship that can never be compared - but it also has its disadvantages.

On the one hand, this is very simple: if an accident occurs, Zhao Peiren, who has gained more than others, is bound to lose more.

As soon as he saw that his friend was safe and sound, he immediately hugged Liu Chunming.

"Take care of yourself, brother. No matter what happens, you must take care of yourself."

Liu Chunming also hugged him and then left silently.

"I've done it. Now it's your turn."….

Zhao Peiren raised his head. He had been delayed for too long. He led his men to crawl forward along the lime line, while Liu Chunming had safely returned to the front line. The commando team moved forward slowly. For a minute or two, things progressed very quickly.

It went smoothly. The commandos were quiet, hidden, and undetected.

Then something happened.

Just in front of Zhao Peiren, a soldier from Li Shiqing's squad slipped on the edge of a bomb crater, and then slid all the way to the muddy bottom of the crater. Perhaps at the moment he slipped, his equipment rolled out of his backpack with a clang.

It rolled down the slope locally.

In this silent moment, the sound was almost as piercing as an alarm.

For a moment, Zhao Peiren held his breath. He could feel that the people in front and behind him also held their breath. The entire night sky was silent.

Then a rifle opened fire, and it sounded like continuous shooting. It was never clear whether it was the Germans or their own people who fired the shots. But a few seconds later, bursts of gunfire rang out from the German front line.

The sound. The rain of bullets passing over his scalp immediately made Zhao Peiren realize that he was being attacked, and a sense of uneasy fear suddenly surged in his heart. For a moment, his whole body became dull and dazed, unable to take any action.

action.

He looked around. There was a crater to his right, which was very deep. And - for now, it was very safe there.

"Go to the crater immediately."

He shouted, using all his strength to make his men hear his orders.

After he gave the order, everyone climbed into the crater. Zhao Peiren counted the number of people and then followed.

At this moment, the German artillery bombardment began. The German army's firepower was extremely fierce. In an instant, the artillery shells ignited the night sky. Now knowing that the expeditionary force was good at launching night attacks, the Germans became extremely cautious at night. During the artillery bombardment, Zhao Peiren

He carefully poked his head out. At first he saw nothing. Then, when he poked his head out a little further, he caught a glimpse of Li Shiqing's group who were far away from them and were staying in a bomb crater very close to the German front line.

, there was almost no cover. The artillery fire gradually disappeared. Zhao Peiren retracted his head, and bullets fell on his head and the surrounding soil.

He looked at the soldiers in the platoon. They were sitting at the bottom of the crater. Although they were safe, there was more or less fear on their faces. He started to speak, but they were still distracted. One of them was shaking his head from time to time.

Singing rhythmically,

"Idiot, damn, Kraut, damn—"

Zhao Peiren hit him hard on the arm. He shut up.

"Everyone, listen to me, we must attack immediately..."

Another blast of artillery interrupted his words, and Zhao Peiren was covered in dust from the shells.

"You are in groups of three. When I give the order, you will charge immediately. Don't rush ahead of me. Run as fast as you need to. If you see someone injured, don't stop. Just charge.

In short, the only thing we have is to penetrate and attack the German trenches!"

One of them was hurriedly packing a backpack full of grenades.

"Okay, don't worry about it, remember, just charge!"

Afterwards, Zhao Peiren divided his subordinates into groups and asked them all to run out. In an instant, the crater was empty, and Zhao Peiren himself rushed out with the troops.

Compared with the past, the German positions that had shrunk their defense lines now had almost no defensive gaps for them to penetrate, and the German firepower was also extremely fierce. With the help of the light of the flares, the Germans concentrated on attacking the small team in front and nailed them to death.

The ground cannot move.

However, in just over half an hour, the platoon commanded by Zhao Peiren was all killed in the attack and defense of the German position. Zhao Peiren moved his body in the bomb crater. There was a corpse at his feet. There were still stains on the corpse.

Carrying a grenade pack….

Looking at the corpses around him and thinking of the deaths of his brothers, the anger in Zhao Peiren's heart grew stronger and stronger. He immediately picked up his backpack and began to continue attacking the German positions.

The anger in his heart carried Zhao Peiren all the way to a place only a few steps away from the German front line. There he lay down on the ground, and then started throwing weighted attack grenades like a pitcher participating in some kind of bomb-throwing competition. With the anger in his heart

, he kept aiming and throwing, extremely fast, it could be said that he would throw out a weighted grenade every one or two seconds. What exactly he hit, he didn't even know. But one thing is certain:

The firepower originally concentrated on attacking Li Shiqing became scattered and chaotic as he dropped bombs. Li Shiqing seized this opportunity and led his troops to attack the German trenches and fight with the Germans. However, due to limited troop strength

, but failed to capture the German stronghold and fortress.

As soon as Zhao Peiren threw away the grenades in his backpack, he collected grenades from the corpses of his brothers, and continued to move forward without any sense. It was not until he threw away the dozen or so grenades he collected that the anger in his heart disappeared, and his reason

He also came back.

To his east, the dawn was about to show its first light, and in the reflection of the sunlight, he saw the German fortress. At this time, he was so close to the German forward fortress that he could hear the conversation of the German guards.

When he was crawling, he must have been shot, because he felt his left arm suddenly sink, and a few seconds later blood began to flow out. He found a crater and rolled into it. He wrapped the wound

A piece of cloth, closed my eyes for a while - and then woke up at noon. The sun hung high in the bright sky, and the skylarks were singing gracefully, and their songs echoed in the sky.

In order to speed up the soldiers, he even made everyone throw away their dry food, including himself. Now he had neither food nor water, and his kettle was pierced by a bullet.

And the crater he was in was hopelessly shallow.

But for him, the only thing he could do now was to lie there. The whole day, from the golden evening to late at night. When night fell, he began to crawl back. By this time, he was extremely weak.

It wasn't until around 3 a.m. the next day that Liu Chunming discovered him during the attack on the fortress. At that time, his body was stretched out, unconscious, and his head was facing the direction of their front. As soon as he saw his friend, Liu Chunming grabbed him with one hand.

belt and dragged him home.

Liu Chunming opened the wooden door and rushed up the rough wooden ladder to the attic. Zhao Peiren was lying on the bed, half-dressed, with his left arm in a white sling. He put down the book and smiled slightly. Except for his injured left arm, he looked

Both strong and healthy. Life in the military camp has added another characteristic to Zhao Peiren's physique: he is stronger and more confident.

This is the first time they have met since the raid. After this seemingly simple attack, they have both changed. They have both experienced danger and close death, and now they have begun to fully understand the meaning of war and life.

significance.

"OMG,"

Looking at his injured friend, Liu Chunming said with some exaggeration,
To be continued...