Mendelstein had a rough understanding of the opponent's commander's capabilities during the small-scale battle in the woods. He was experienced and well-equipped, and his command was decisive, rational, and rational.
If you want to deal with him, in addition to relying on soldiers, you also need to put yourself in his shoes and judge the opponent's next move based on his thinking. Coming to this small town called Otaka is the result of Mendelstein's empathy.
The dirt on the ground attracted him to the church, but when they pushed the door in with extreme vigilance, they discovered that what was hidden inside was not the senior Austrian officer he had always believed in, but a temporary hospital.
Rather than saying it was a hospital, it was actually just an ordinary first aid station. There were several patients, both men and women, lying scattered around inside.
When they saw Mendelstein's team rushing into the church, their faces were full of surprise and fear, and there were female screams and some words of despair in their ears.
"It's over, it's Austrian!"
"They still caught up!"
"Are we going to die here?"
"No, I don't want to die yet, help..."
Mendelstein admitted that he was a little confused when he first entered the door. The scene in front of him was very different from what he had imagined in his mind. However, after a brief period of confusion, he came to his senses. While letting his people surround the church, he stepped forward to find the pastor in the church.
"You are from here..."
"I am a pastor, but not the pastor here." The visitor was wearing a simple pastor's attire, with a cross necklace on his chest and a Bible in his hand. He looked a little nervous, "I, I am praying sincerely for these patients. , hope, hope that the Almighty Lord can save them.”
"It seems that we are being treated as bad guys." Mendelstein walked past the pastor, looked at those who were taking care of the patients, and asked, "Are you a pastor here too?"
"No, we are all doctors, from Italy." A man in his 30s stepped forward and pointed to a few young people behind him and said, "They are all my students, and those two are journalists from France. .”
The other party was indeed speaking in Italian. Seeing that neither Mendelstein nor the people around him could understand it, he switched to German with a slight accent to explain everything: "We are members of the Red Cross Society. I heard that the fighting here is very anxious. , so I made an appointment with two French journalist friends to come over to help.”
After a brief introduction, the two reporters stepped forward and spoke German with a French accent in Mendelstein's face: "We are reporters from Le Figaro."
The Red Cross had just been established and was not well-known, but the Geneva Conference was something every unit commander should know. The meeting clearly stipulated the neutral status of military hospitals and medical personnel, and stipulated that wounded and sick servicemen, regardless of nationality, should receive due reception and care, and be repatriated in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the convention.
The rules of the meeting are actually not very binding, but both sides in the war want to take the moral high ground, so they will basically abide by the rules, and they can only make small moves at most.
If military doctors from hostile countries should be treated kindly, then the Italian doctors in front of them should be treated as friends.
And this is even more true for the two reporters.
Just last week, Mendelstein met an observation group composed of foreign journalists at his division headquarters. There were as many problems as the melting snow in the Alps in spring. Among them, the French reporters were the most difficult to deal with. They seemed to want to oppose Prussia at every turn.
"Reporters from Le Figaro?" Mendelstein immediately became alert, and a smile immediately appeared on his tense face, "Why are you here?"
"We came here with these Italian doctors who volunteered to help on the front line. We want to do a special battlefield medical report on the war between Prussia and Austria." A reporter wrote a few sentences in his little notebook, and then said , "I didn't expect to meet..."
At this point, Mendelstein realized that he had been mistaken for an Austrian.
He was just about to defend his nationality when he suddenly discovered that there was a huge loophole in the whole thing: "Do you think we are the Austrian army?"
"Yes, the Austrians are very unfriendly to us." The reporter just seemed to recall some not-so-distant past events, and became very angry. "Yesterday, I was helping in the Austrian military camp, but because of some long-past events... During the war, many Austrian soldiers spoke rudely to us, and even wanted to capture us to take credit..."
"Okay, don't talk about this."
The Italian doctor just stopped the reporter and said to Mendelstein calmly: "If you are Austrians, please spare us for the sake of the Geneva Convention. We just want to treat illnesses and save people, and have no other motives. If you They are Prussians, 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 ready to turn around and leave the church.
But just as he was about to leave, he was stayed by his superior: "I don't mean to offend you, but I just have a question that needs you to answer."
"What questions?"
"The carriage you just rode in? Was it walking on a gravel road?"
"Yes, that's right."
"How did you get here?"
"It's not because I'm worried that you are those radical Austrian soldiers, so..."
Two questions introduced the other party into the pocket, and Mendelstein was ready to tighten his pocket and end the entire conversation with the last question. Unexpectedly, a young doctor in the distance suddenly spoke with a very strong Lombard accent: "By the way, when you came here, you should have seen the escort team blocking the attack on the hillside of the highland, right?"
This is exactly the question Mendelstein wanted to ask.
Because these people were wearing Austrian military uniforms, and they said that their relationship with the Austrian army was bad and inconsistent. But as luck would have it, this sentence came out of their mouths, and the situation was different again.
"Are you asking about military uniforms?" The young man sighed and said, "Those were stolen from that military camp. I plan to rely on this costume to ward off disaster when encountering pursuers."
Mendelstein was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond.
According to the other party, the escort was not Austrian soldiers, and his previous order was tantamount to manslaughter.
If this was reported by two French reporters, it would be a big problem. If things really develop like this, then all the problems can only be solved by solving these people, and then the Prussian company captain will never show mercy.
"Oh, this is so depressing!" Mendelstein said. "We fought back and forth for half an hour."
"How are they?" the pastor asked quickly.
"Both of us suffered heavy casualties..." Mendelstein glanced at the priest who asked the question, and then at the two reporters standing aside, "Why didn't they notice us when they saw us wearing Prussian military uniforms? Woolen cloth?"
This question hit home directly, and many people had a hint of surprise on their faces.
Prussian military uniforms were black and blue with a touch of red. Austrian military uniforms have a white base, with blue, black, and red used only for embellishment.
"Well, they are all mercenaries. They are paid to do things." The young doctor just spoke again and explained, "I didn't expect that they don't even recognize the military uniforms, and we don't understand this. But there is nothing we can do, Austrian officer There are military uniforms of all colors, it’s really confusing.”
"Oh, if I had known this was the case, we wouldn't have run away."
"It's the Austrian military uniform that's causing harm..."
The explanation is far-fetched, but it makes sense. It is common to see military uniforms clearly on the battlefield.
Of course, the most important thing is that Mendelstein did not dare to mess around.
The two French reporters had no objections to what they just said, and it was clear that they were protecting themselves. And these so-called doctors and patients are protected by the Geneva Convention, and they are discrediting the legitimacy of the Prussian war.
However, all this needs to be based on correct identity.
Mendelstein didn't understand things about reporters, and French reporters were even further behind. But he knows doctors very well. He has been accustomed to the work of doctors in temporary rescue centers for so many years in the army. As long as his identity is in doubt, he has a reason to doubt and a reason to take action.
To be honest, he really hoped that what these people in front of him said were true.
Because as long as their identities are true, it will be great news for the wounded soldiers and Opal who are about to enter the town.
"I heard that Italian surgeons are very good." The topic suddenly shifted from the escort to the surgeons. Mendelstein looked at the Italian surgeon and asked, "I guess you and your students have very good surgical skills." That’s great.”
"Generally, just to the extent that it can be used."
"Then...oh, by the way, I am the commander of a Prussian reconnaissance cavalry company, Mendelstein." After announcing his home address, the approaching captain asked, "I don't know what your name is. ?”
"Kino."
"Oh, Doctor Kino." Mendelstein suddenly asked, "Since you are a doctor and you are in this benevolent cathedral, you shouldn't refuse injured soldiers, right?"
"Of course." Kino turned back to look at his students and the patients lying on the bench, and said, "I am here just for the patients who cannot be treated. Soldiers are divided into enemies and friends on the battlefield, but After being injured and losing combat effectiveness, they become neutral civilians."
Mendelstein couldn't see any hesitation in his eyes, and it was impossible to pretend to be calm: "Then there will be work."
The captain's attitude was very good, but his actions showed that he had great distrust of the people in front of him. Soldiers from the cavalry company were guarding both inside and outside the church. They were not simply standing guard, but were monitoring them as prisoners.
For Kawei and others, it was lucky to avoid the first wave of conflicts, and they could only take one step at a time.
...
Two hours later, teams of wounded soldiers carrying stretchers from the rear entered the town of Otaka one after another. More than a dozen wounded soldiers arrived at the church with the help of stretchers, crutches and fellow soldiers.
Their injuries were not serious, after all, the blocking team used ordinary rifles. The power of bullets is limited. As long as it misses the vital point, you can still be saved.
"There were three gunshot wounds to the upper limbs. Judging from the angle of entry, no bones were injured, and there was not much bleeding."
"Is bandaging regulated?"
"It's so-so, I should just bandage it again and it should be fine."
"There were 5 gunshot wounds to the lower limbs, 2 of them were fine, and the amount of bleeding was not much. 2 of them probably injured their bones and were not dislocated, so they just need to rest in bed. The other one had an injury to his thigh, and the amount of bleeding was relatively large, and the injured person's face was not very good. Need surgery to see if it’s okay.”
"Leave this person to me." The Italian doctor named Chino said to his student.
"Okay, teacher."
"There were three people with gunshot wounds to the abdomen. Their conditions are relatively stable, and their blood pressure and heart rate are normal."
"Let it go for now and pay close attention to their vital signs."
"Another one had a gunshot wound to the chest and had some breathing problems."
"There should be hemothorax..."
The Italian medical team in front of Mendelstein showed a professionalism that impressed him. Whether it was their calm attitude when treating wounded soldiers or their smooth handling methods, he hated the second-rate military doctors in his division.
"Company Captain, we have basically made a judgment here. Now there is only one wounded soldier who is in unstable condition and needs immediate surgery." The doctor who just spoke with a Lombard accent came forward to report.
Mendelstein sat at the door and kept observing what was going on inside the church.
From the previous questioning to the current treatment of the wounded, he was sure that the young man in front of him was definitely the second in command of the entire team: "Thank you very much. By the way, what is your name?"
"Me? My name is Kavi, Kavi Esposito."
"Oh, Dr. Carvey," Mendelstein said, "I don't quite understand. What does it mean that 'now' there is only one wounded soldier who needs immediate surgery?"
"That's because the judgment of the injury cannot be 100% accurate. The condition of the injured we judge to be safe now is likely to change after a period of time." Kawei said, "After all, our manpower is limited, and the operation does not require much anesthesia. We can only temporarily choose the ones with the most severe injuries for surgery. As for the others, we won’t have surgery if we can.”
"No more anesthetic?"
Kawei had no choice but to explain: "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 despite all the calculations. Who would have thought that the problem would be the anesthetic. Originally, he wanted to test the medical skills of these doctors first, and then consider whether to leave his adjutant in their hands.
There should be no problem with the opponent's identity now, and his strength is guaranteed. If he misses this medical team, he doesn't know how long it will take to wait for the main army to rendezvous.
no! No more delay!
He quickly asked someone to bring in Opo, who had been resting in a nearby residence: "This is the lieutenant and deputy commander of our company. His face was deformed by a stone. See if he needs surgery. If he needs surgery, Let’s deal with him first.”
