"They say the Red Army is the army of the poor, helping the poor."
"I just returned home in a daze, still sighing that I was really lucky."
After speaking, the old squad leader was silent for a moment:
"The next day I found out that not long after I left, those young soldiers were surrounded and killed by those white dogs in the mountains."
"They say the bodies were hung on the city walls for public display."
"After hearing this, I went to the county town overnight... all of them had their bellies cut open and were hung on the city walls; they were all just seventeen or eighteen-year-old kids."
"The bark and straw from their stomachs hung through the gaps in their bellies like that."
The old squad leader suddenly slapped himself, his voice trembling:
"They died without having a single full meal!"
"In their stomachs, it was either bark or straw."
"That piece of cornbread, which they didn't bear to eat themselves, was given to me without hesitation."
