Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 257 253. Otaka Town

Mendelstein roughly understood the capabilities of the opposing commander in the small-scale battle in the woods.

To deal with him, in addition to relying on soldiers, you also need to think differently, using the opponent's thinking to judge the opponent's next move.Coming to this small town named Otaka is the result of Mendelstein's empathy.

The dirt on the ground attracted him to the church, but when they opened the door in an extremely vigilant posture, they found that what was hidden inside was not the senior officer of the Austrian Army he had always believed in, but a temporary hospital.

Rather than calling it a hospital, it was actually just an ordinary ambulance station, with several patients lying here and there, both male and female.

When they saw Mendelstein's team rushing into the church, their faces were filled with surprise and fear, and there were women's screams and some frustrated words of resignation in their ears.

"It's over, it's an Austrian!"

"They're still catching up!"

"Are we going to die here?"

"No, I don't want to die yet, help me."

Mendelstein admitted that he was a little dazed when he first entered the door, and the picture in front of him was too different from what he imagined in his mind for a while.But after a short period of doubts, he came back to his senses, and while surrounding the church with his own people, he went forward to find the pastor in the church.

"You are here"

"I am a pastor, but not the pastor here." The visitor wore a simple pastor's attire, a cross necklace on his chest, and a Bible in his hand, looking a little nervous, "I, I am sincerely praying for these patients , hope, hope the Almighty will save them."

"It seems that we have been treated as bad people." Mendelstein walked past the pastor, looked at those who were taking care of the sick, and asked, "Are you also the pastor here?"

"No, we are all doctors from Italy." A man in his 30s stepped forward and pointed to the young people behind him and said, "They are all my students, while those two are journalists from France. .”

The other party was indeed speaking Italian. Seeing that neither Mendelstein nor the people around him could understand, he explained all this in German with a slight accent: "We are members of the Red Cross. I heard that the fighting here is very anxious. , so I made an appointment with two French journalist friends to come and help.”

After the brief introduction, the two reporters stepped forward and smeared Mendelstein's face in German with a French accent: "We are reporters from Le Figaro."

The Red Cross had just been established and was not widely known, but the Geneva Conference was something every troop commander should know about.The meeting clearly stipulated the neutral status of military hospitals and medical personnel, and stipulated that wounded and sick soldiers should receive due reception and care regardless of their nationality, and be repatriated according to the conditions stipulated in the convention.

The binding force of the meeting regulations is actually not very high, but both sides in the war want to stand on the moral high ground, so they will basically abide by the regulations, and at most they can only make small moves.

If it is said that military doctors in hostile countries should be treated kindly, then these Italian doctors in front of them should be regarded as friends.

And those two reporters were even more so.

Just last week, Mendelstein met an observation group of foreign journalists at his division headquarters.There were as many problems as the melted snow in the Alps in spring. Among them, the French journalists were the most difficult to deal with, and they seemed to want to oppose Prussia everywhere.

"Reporter from Le Figaro?" Mendelstein immediately became alert, with a smile on his tense face, "Why are you here?"

"We came here with these Italian doctors who voluntarily came to the front to help, and wanted to make a special report on battlefield medical treatment for the war between Pu and Austria." A reporter wrote a few sentences in his small notebook, and then said , "I didn't expect to meet on the road"

At this point, Mendelstein realized that he was regarded as an Austrian.

Just as he was about to defend his nationality, he suddenly discovered that there was a huge loophole in the whole thing: "Do you think we are the Austrian army?"

"Yeah, the Austrians are very unfriendly to us." The reporter just now seemed to recall some not-so-long past events, and he couldn't get angry, "Yesterday I was still helping in the Austrian military camp, but because of During the war, many Austrian soldiers spoke ill of us, and even wanted to take us down to claim credit."

"Okay, stop talking about it."

The Italian doctor stopped the reporter just now, and said to Mendelstein calmly: "If you are Austrians, please forgive us for the sake of the Geneva Convention. We just want to cure diseases and save lives. We have no other motives. If you You are a Prussian, and I hope you will not disturb the patient's rest."

Several soldiers around Mendelstein looked at a room full of helpless civilians, nodded repeatedly, and were about to turn around and leave the church.

But just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by his chief: "I don't mean to offend you, but I just have a question that needs to be answered by you."

"What question?"

"The carriage you took just now? On the gravel road?"

"Yes, that's right."

"How did you get here?"

"It's not because you are worried that you are those radical Austrian soldiers, so you just"

Two questions got the other side in the pocket, and Mendelstein was about to tighten his pockets and end the conversation with one last question.Unexpectedly, a young doctor in the distance suddenly spoke, with a very strong Lombard accent: "By the way, when you came, you should have seen the escort guards on the hillside of the highland, right?"

That's the question Mendelstein wanted to ask.

Because these people are all wearing Austrian military uniforms, and they say that they have a bad relationship with the Austrian army, which is inconsistent.But by coincidence, this sentence came out of their mouths, and the situation was different again.

"Are you asking about the military uniform?" The young man sighed and said, "It was all stolen from that military camp. I plan to rely on this uniform to ward off disasters when encountering pursuers."

Mendelstein was caught off guard by the words and didn't know how to answer for a while.

According to the other party, the guards were not Austrian soldiers, and his previous order was tantamount to manslaughter.

If this was reported by two French journalists, it would be a big problem.If the development of the matter is really like this, then all problems can only be solved by solving these people. At that time, the Prussian company captain will never be relentless.

"Oh, this is so depressing!" said Mendelstein. "We were talking back and forth for half an hour."

"How are they?" the pastor asked hastily.

"Both of us suffered heavy casualties." Mendelstein glanced at the pastor who asked the question, and then at the two reporters beside him, "Why didn't they notice when they saw our Prussian military uniform?"

This question hits the nail on the head, and many people have a more or less surprised look on their faces.

The Prussian uniform was black and blue with a touch of red.The Austrian military uniform is white, and blue, black, and red are only used for embellishment.

"Hey, they are all mercenaries, and they are all paid for their work." The young doctor just said again, explaining, "I didn't expect that they didn't even know military uniforms, and we didn't understand these things. But there is no way, Austrian officer There are military uniforms of all colors, and the eyes are dazzled."

"Oh, if we knew this was the case, we wouldn't run away."

"It was the Austrian uniform that did the damage."

The explanation is far-fetched, but it makes sense. It is not uncommon for military uniforms to be unclear on the battlefield.

Of course, the most important thing is that Mendelstein did not dare to mess around.

The two French journalists had no opinion on what they said just now, and it was clear that they were protecting themselves.And these so-called doctors and patients are protected by the Geneva Convention, and their recklessness is to discredit the legitimacy of the Prussian war.

However, all of this needs to be based on the correct identity.

Because Mendelstein doesn't understand journalists, the French journalists are even further away.But he knows doctors very well, and he has long been used to the work of doctors in temporary relief centers after so many years in the army.As long as his identity is in doubt, he has a reason to doubt and a reason to act.

To be honest, he really hoped that what these people in front of him said was true.

Because as long as their identities are true, it will be great news for the wounded soldiers and Opper who are about to enter the town.

"I heard that the Italian surgeons are very good." The topic suddenly changed from the guards to the surgeons. Mendelstein looked at the Italian surgeon just now and asked, "You and your students must have very good surgical skills. Great."

"Generally, it's just to the extent that you can get it."

"Oh, by the way, I am the commander of a Prussian scouting cavalry company, Mendelstein." After reporting himself, the captain asked, "I don't know what your name is?"

"Kino."

"Oh, Doctor Chino." Mendelstein asked suddenly, "Since you are a doctor and you are in this benevolent cathedral, you wouldn't reject wounded soldiers, would you?"

"Of course." Kino turned around and looked at his students and the patients lying on the benches, and said, "I came here for the patients who couldn't get treatment. Soldiers have their own enemies on the battlefield, but Neutral civilians after being wounded and out of combat."

Mendelstein couldn't see hesitation in his eyes, and it was impossible to pretend this kind of calmness: "Then there is trouble."

The captain's attitude was very good, but his actions showed that he had no trust in these people in front of him.There are soldiers from the cavalry company guarding both inside and outside the church, not simply standing guard, but watching them as prisoners.

For Kawei and the others, it is a blessing to be able to avoid the first wave of conflicts, and the next step can only be taken one step at a time.

Two hours later, teams of wounded soldiers carrying stretchers in the rear entered the small town of Otaka one after another.More than a dozen wounded soldiers came to the church with the help of stretchers, crutches, and support comrades.

Their injuries were not serious, after all, ordinary rifles were used in the blocking team.The power of the bullet is limited, as long as it misses the vital point, it can still be saved.

"Three people suffered gunshot wounds to their upper limbs. Judging from the angle of the injection, none of them injured bones, and there was not much bleeding."

"Is there a standard for bandaging?"

"It's so-so, I should re-bandage it."

"There were 5 gunshot wounds to the lower extremities, 2 of them were fine, and the amount of bleeding was not much. 2 of them should have injured their bones, and there was no dislocation, so they just needed to rest in bed. The other had a thigh injury, and the amount of bleeding was relatively large. The wounded's face was not very good. It needs surgery."

"Leave this person to me." The Italian doctor named Chino said to his students.

"Okay, teacher."

"Three people suffered from abdominal gunshot wounds, and their condition is fairly stable, with normal blood pressure and heart rate."

"Let's put it aside for now and pay close attention to their vital signs."

"The other one had a gunshot wound to the chest and was having trouble breathing."

"Should have a hemothorax."

The Italian medical team in front of Mendelstein showed a professionalism that impressed him. Whether it was the calm attitude or smooth handling of the wounded soldiers, he hated the second-rate military doctors in his division.

"Captain, we have basically made a judgment here, and now there is only one wounded soldier whose condition is not stable and needs immediate surgery." The doctor speaking with a Lombard accent went forward to report.

Mendelstein sat at the door and kept observing the movement in the church.

From the question just now to the treatment of the wounded, he can be sure that the young man in front of him is definitely the second in command of the entire team: "Thank you so much, by the way, what's your name?"

"Me? My name is Kavi, Kavi Esposito."

"Oh, Dr. Carvey." Mendelstein said, "I don't understand one thing. What does it mean 'now' that there is only one wounded soldier who needs immediate surgery?"

"That's because the judgment of the injury cannot be 100% accurate, and the wounded we judge to be safe now may change after a period of time." Carvey said, "After all, we have limited manpower, and there are not many anesthetics needed for surgery. , I can only temporarily choose the most seriously injured to undergo surgery. As for the others, they will not have surgery if they can.”

"No more anesthesia?"

Carvey also had no choice, explaining: "We brought it all ourselves, and it has bottomed out. Whether he can survive this operation depends on his reaction to the anesthetic."

Mendelstein missed a step because of all his calculations. Who would have thought that the problem would be the anesthetic.Originally, he wanted to try the medical skills of these doctors first, and then consider whether to hand over his adjutant to them.

Now the opponent's identity should be fine, and their strength is also guaranteed. If they miss this medical team, they don't know how long it will take to wait until the headquarters army joins up.

no!Can't wait any longer!

He hastened to have Opper, who had been resting in a nearby dwelling, brought in: "This is the lieutenant and deputy commander of our company. His face was deformed by the stone. See if he needs surgery. If he needs surgery, Let's deal with him first."

(End of this chapter)