Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 255 251. Red Cross

Since the Prussian cavalry company chased them, it was destined that the next evacuation operation would not be safe.

The speed of the carriage could not be compared with these cavalry, and the only thing that could go was the woods in the north.As far as the Prussian army is concerned, as long as the Sixth Army is surrounded, the surrounding woods will sooner or later become the target of mopping up, so the escape route of the Kawei guards has already entered the opponent's territory and is locked.

Faced with a dilemma anytime and anywhere on the battlefield, Aleister's decision is doomed to sacrifice, and the unarmed Kawi can only obey orders.

It is impossible to fight with the guards.

The team already lacked weapons, and Kavey hadn't even touched a gun, so it would be a burden to keep it.Besides, the duty of the escort team is to protect his safety. Only the whole team can be rewarded if Kawi is alive. If something happens to Kawi, the entire escort team will be punished.

At this time, Kawei chose to evacuate obediently, not only to save his own life, but also for the sake of the guards.

Of course, Aleister's decision is not considered rational, and whoever goes and who stays is not randomly appointed.

From the point of view of ability alone, it is the best choice to keep the captain with good command and judgment ability by Kavey's side.But in order to make those who stay behind completely give up, and to increase the intensity of blocking to give Kawei time to escape, he needs to stay.

Even Karvey could see his thoughts, and the soldiers who were with him could also see it.

In the 2 minutes after Aleister made his decision, the team members gave him a lot of ideological work, and at the same time forcibly took off his uniform and exchanged it with a soldier.In the end, in order to reassure him, they also swore by their respective troop numbers:

"I am from the Fifth Dragoons, and I will never back down before dying!"

"I am from the 16th Rifle Infantry Regiment of the Second Army, and I will never take half a step back before I die!"

"I am from the 22nd Jaeger Regiment of the Seventh Army, and I will never die before I die."

The woods are full of grass and soft soil, so many people walking quickly will leave footprints.

Time counts against the clock, and the team is in such a hurry that they have no time to deal with these traces. We can only hope that the soldiers who stay behind can stop for a while, and the pursuit of the Prussian soldiers can end here.

Carvey didn't know the final outcome of this temporary position, he only knew that gunshots rang out not long after he left.The deeper they went into the woods, the quieter the gunfire became. Those soldiers were indeed keeping their oath and blocking the enemy's attack.

Until they heard the sound of artillery shells exploding.

"This small company is still equipped with cavalry guns?" Aleister looked behind him in disbelief, and then continued to lead the team forward, "Our cavalry regiment is only equipped with 2 -3 mounted cannons, the equipment of the Prussians is too luxurious."

"With artillery, the position just now wouldn't last long." The soldier beside him muttered.

"Give me the map!"

Last night, Aleister took a few team members to stroll around, and went to a distant place with the Sixth Army's sentry to conduct reconnaissance.The map in his hand was drawn by the team members at that time. Although the icons and lines are very simple, at least some important landmarks have been recorded.

"Walk a little further in this direction and you will see a small village." Aleister pointed forward and said, "If there is no accident, at least the supply in the next few days can keep up."

"There should be a path going out further north from the village."

"There are always roads, but not every road can be taken." Aleister considered a lot of situations, and the guards were halved at once, so he had to be more cautious. "Wait until the village before thinking about the next step thing."

"Is there anyone else in the village?"

"I don't know. When we came here at night, there wasn't even a light. The time was limited, so we just looked outside and didn't go in."

"After fighting for so many days, maybe he escaped early."

"It's hard to say, there are still people left in Gablenz before."

"I remember that there is still a large wheat field between the woods and the village, without any shelter, and the straight-line distance is estimated to exceed 300 meters." Aleister said to the surrounding soldiers and doctors, "I guess we have to stop when we get there. , let’s do a good job in the surrounding investigation before moving forward.”

In addition to preventing other Prussian jaegers in the woods, the reconnaissance also gave the doctors and nurses a chance to rest.

The wheat field is open and surrounded by woods on three sides. If there are enemies, they can be easily spotted, so this area needs to be passed at full speed.

But it took more than an hour to go all the way to the northwest from the highland just now to see the wheat field. The rugged muddy field full of small stones can easily drain the physical strength of an ordinary person.Ordinary medical staff like Carvey and Ignatz, who lacked training, could not pass there as quickly as the escort.

In fact, Aleister still overestimated these doctors, and the situation that his physical fitness was unsustainable soon appeared.

The full-speed sprint quickly turned into a jog, which gradually gave way to a walk in less than half an hour.The one-and-a-half hours originally planned to go through the woods was stretched to two and a half hours, and all the doctors, including Carvey, were exhausted.

But the guards are not without good news, at least there are no traces of enemies behind or around.

When the sun gradually rose and it was close to noon, Aleister asked everyone to take off their military uniforms, and then led a group of more than 30 people quickly through the wheat field under the gentle autumn wind.

After entering the village, they realized that it was more like a small town than a village.The building is a typical central European style, and this kind of house built with brick, stone and wood can be seen on both sides of the street.

The town covers a small area but has all kinds of internal organs. There are not only churches, workshops and workshops, but also schools, hospitals and libraries.Surrounded by farmland, pastures, and orchards like just now, the only fly in the ointment is that everyone in the town has run away.

Aleister divided the remaining guard soldiers into three groups.

He took the lead in one group to protect the safety of Kawei's medical team, one group guarded the intersection just entering the town, and the other group walked in the forefront to explore the way.Their main purpose is still two points, one is to collect food and water for the team, and the other is for transportation.

Beyond the town is an open field, without the sight barrier of the woods.

Without the barrier, the opportunity to walk slowly would be lost. To completely avoid the battle, the guards had to rely on the carriage to speed themselves up.

"Nate, you take a group to the ranch to see if there are any horses."

"it is good."

"Let's go to the church first, and then look for food and water wells separately." Aleister looked up at the sun, "The speed must be fast, I hope to leave this place in half an hour."

"understood!"

The medical team was placed in the only church in the town, and they were moved and evacuated all morning. Their legs were sore and swollen, and they could finally rest here for a while.Aleister still seemed uneasy, leaving himself and a soldier to keep them safe.

"Captain, we're all in town, there's really no need to stay here." Kavi said while lying on the bench, "I'm not a prisoner."

"Your safety comes first."

"Aren't there any Prussians here?"

Kavey's voice echoed in the church, and there seemed to be some dissatisfaction in his tone.Aleister understood what he meant, and said with a smile: "It is my duty to protect your safety, and it is also the order I received. I have followed you all the way from Vienna, and there will be no change until I return to Vienna."

"Are you afraid that I will run away alone?"

".That's not the case."

Carvey sighed: "If it was just to ensure my safety, there was no need to run like this when Gablenz was attacked. The Geneva Conference just ended three years ago, and the Prussians would not openly violate the convention and kill seriously injured soldiers. and the surgeon."

"Doctor Carvey is still too naive, the guns are ruthless."

"The guns are indeed ruthless, but I remember that there is a striking red cross sign above the Gablenz operating theater." Carvey said, "As long as there is a building with the red cross sign, it will not be attacked by the Prussians. The operating room remained intact until it was out of my sight."

"That's just luck, I can't bet on your life."

The relationship between Kawei and the guards is only a piece of window paper, and anyone with a discerning eye can see something strange, but Aleister is still unwilling to pierce it: "And even if you dodge the shells, no one can guarantee The safety of the captives. Once you become a prisoner of the enemy, we may all be court-martialed when we return to Vienna."

At this time, Ignatz, who was sitting next to Kavey, stood up and smoothed things over: "Let's save some energy and have a good rest, and then we have to run a long way to go back to Olmitz."

In fact, Kavi had discussed this matter with Aleister before, and both of them were tacit.

If it hadn't been for the scene on the high ground just now, he might not have mentioned it again until the end of the war.But now at this point, both public and private, Kavi feels that the entire evacuation plan is serving the mission of the escort, and it is not good for him.

The guard had already lost half of its soldiers, and in the end it was only a moment of peace.

The Geneva Conventions are not popular, and Austria is even more conservative, so doctors and nurses are not equipped with military uniforms with the red cross mark.For a long time to come, Kavey lost the protection of the "Red Cross" and was likely to die at the gunpoint of the enemy.

"In fact, even if there is no Red Cross, the other party will not do anything to doctors and wounded soldiers." Ignaz has experienced wars, and he is very clear about the position of hospitals in the minds of both sides. Neither side hurt the doctors and the wounded when they took over the other's makeshift shelters."

"There are still many accidental injuries."

"It is because of accidental injury that the Red Cross emblem was created."

"I'm not a worker who makes the red cross sign, I'm just executing the order, and the soldiers who resisted the enemy's footsteps are also executing the order." Aleister argued, "After all, this is an order from King Franz. People can defy."

Kawei looked at the captain who had been with him day and night for more than half a month, and didn't know what to say.

On the one hand, he is very grateful to these soldiers and has been doing his best to ensure his own safety.But at the same time, he also felt that he had lost the most basic freedom, and his every move was under their "surveillance".

Maybe they didn't intend to monitor themselves, but those lines of sight still exist.They wandered over him all the time, like keeping the dog out of his sight while walking the dog, making him uncomfortable.

But even if the two quarreled to this point, Aleister just asked the accompanying soldiers to wait at the door of the church, and he still did not leave.

Seeing this, Carvey didn't bother arguing with him anymore, and turned to discuss with Ignatz the solution when the military hospital became the target of the attack.These include the Red Cross armbands of doctors and nurses, the Red Cross flags of hospitals, and the mattresses of wounded soldiers should also have the Red Cross mark.

"Once under siege, there is no need for the seriously wounded soldiers in the hospital to be transferred. They may survive as captives, but if they get on that kind of bullock cart, they will basically not be able to survive."

"Directly take the initiative to leave the seriously injured soldiers to the opponent?"

"Correct."

"It seems to make some sense."

"I think it is necessary to write it into the transfer charter. The transfer method like Gablenz is too tortured."

Inside the church, two top surgeons are formulating new rules for the military medical manual, while outside the church, the guard soldiers have become a real mopping team into the city.

They are more united than ordinary soldiers, and they know what they need better than those soldiers who know how to plunder and indulge when they enter the city.

Bread and biltong, which are easy to store, are the most precious things, followed by cheese and root vegetables, followed by green leafy vegetables and cooked food scraps.In terms of water sources, the small amount of wine left in the houses is the best, followed by unsafe well water and stream water.

As for those coins, they are a burden that increases the burden on the body on the battlefield.

Not long after the dispersal operation, the escort soldiers discovered the problem.

There was no wine in the houses, but there was enough well water in the central well, and everyone drank to their heart's content in no time.There was nothing else to be found, and not a single bit of food was left.After a search, they only found two pieces of bread and half a piece of meat, and the other half was moldy, so they couldn't eat it at all.

"It can only be said to be a blessing in misfortune, at least there is still water." Aleister glanced at the "trophy" and asked, "Is there a horse?"

"Only saw two delivery wagons, old ones, but the wheels and axles were still working."

"No horses?"

Knight shook his head: "The pastures are all empty, not to mention horses, not even an old cow."

"Have you found any enemies around?"

"No."

Aleister glanced at the sun again, and simply calculated the time: "It has been more than three hours since we left that position. Although the possibility of being caught up is not high, we still have to stay alert."

Unexpectedly, before this sentence was finished, a series of crisp footsteps were heard in the distance, the sound of the soles of military boots hitting the stone ground.

The person who came was the sentinel who had been guarding the entrance, and Aleister's heart sank when he saw it: "What's wrong?"

"Prussian Prussians are coming!"

(End of this chapter)