Chapter 39: Germany, for whom do you fight now?

  The moans and gasps continued inside the house, while the two outside sat silently. Perhaps in a different setting, this scene would be tempting, but here, those sounds were more desperate than alluring. I smiled wryly to myself, looked up at the sky, and saw that the stars above still twinkled like indifferent passersby, blinking slowly as if quietly listening to the most primitive melody of human life, as if experiencing something. The more I looked, the worse my mood became, and I smoked even more anxiously, soon covering the ground with cigarette butts. It was really unbearable here, so I silently cursed that bastard John to hurry up and finish.

  After a long time, after a burst of increasingly violent sounds, it finally calmed down. I smiled wryly, patted the dust off my butt, and stood up.

  At this time, Xue Li Fen seemed to have understood something, and sincerely said to me in a childish voice: "Thank you, Uncle!"

  I swept Snowlynn into my arms and gently kissed her soft little face. "Remember, take good care of your sister from now on!"

  "Hmm!" Xue Li Fen softly murmured in agreement, without saying a word!

  Before long, John came out of the house buttoning his coat and looked at me holding Xue Lifen, subconsciously asking: "You guys?"

  "What's wrong?" Sheryl, still with a hint of fatigue on her face, came out to check after hearing John's words. When she saw me holding Xuelifen, Sheryl let out a loud cry: "Xuelifen—" and rushed over like a madwoman, snatching Xuelifen away from me and holding her tightly, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at me in terror.

  "Sister, I'm fine, Uncle is good!" Xueli Fen said weakly from behind Shirley.

  "Nothing's wrong?" Cheryl turned back, carefully examined her sister once more, then apologized to me with a regretful face: "Sorry, I thought you..."

  "It's nothing, I was just chatting with Xue Li Fen." I said calmly.

  Shirley looked at her sister inquiringly, Shirley nodded and said: "Uncle told me that Mom is also thinking of me and my sister in heaven! Uncle also told me to take good care of my sister and love my sister!"

  "Snow pear..." Shirley could no longer hold back, and she hugged her sister tightly, bursting into loud sobs. The sound of her crying seemed to have a kind of magic power, causing the stars in the sky to dare not look at them, hiding behind the clouds. John and I also couldn't bear the true feelings of the Shirley sisters, turning our heads away, afraid to look again, as if looking one more time would make us unable to hold back our own sorrow.

  As John and I drove back to the camp, neither of us said a word, both silent. Suddenly John spoke up, as if asking me, yet also as if talking to himself: "Do you think I should marry her?"

  "Have you fallen in love with her?"

  "I don't know, maybe!" John suddenly stopped the car by the side of the road and pressed his head against the steering wheel in distress.

  "John, we are at war now. Although you and I are officers, on the battlefield, we are no different from soldiers. Who knows when we will be done for!"

  "I know, but I always feel it's wrong to leave her here!"

  "John, didn't you used to come out and do this all the time before? Didn't you think it was wrong back then?"

  "But this time it's different!" John interrupted me painfully, "This is the first time I've been so worried about a woman. I really regret not saving more money for her before! Let her not do such things again!"

  I finally understood why John had sunk to the point of borrowing money from me to find a woman. It wasn't that he was a lecher, but rather he had fallen into an emotional whirlpool, leaving him with no choice but to give all his money to this woman who had captivated him. I fell silent, and handed over the last bit of war compensation I had on me to John. "Here's 300 bucks, go back and give it to her!"

  John looked at me deeply and said: "Thank you!"

  John went back again this time I didn't follow him just sat in the car waiting for him it took a long time before John came back with a reluctant face.

  "Did you give it all to her?"

  "It's all hers!" John nodded!

  When he returned to his post, the sentries all knew John and merely checked his sentinel's challenge before letting him pass.

  Parting with John, lying on the bed, memories of tonight's events involuntarily emerged in my mind. It touched my heart deeply, and I suddenly realized that war made emotions so luxurious. Because I will never forget what John said when he bid me farewell: if the war ends and I'm still alive, I'll come back to find you!

  "God bless!" I silently wished for the loving couple, only to find out much later that when John went back to look for Sheryl after the war, Sheryl had already died. She didn't survive the last winter of 1944, and her sister was nowhere to be found either, unknown whether she was dead or taken in by someone else, and there was never any news from her again.

  Nothing has changed, the giant wheel of history seems to be crushing everything, urging us to hurry up with this terrible war - the assault on Cherbourg, and Death once again raises his terrible scythe!

  "Comrades! This time our cavalry's mission is to assist the infantry of the 9th Division in occupying the city hall of Cherbourg, then break through the German army's heavy defenses, blow up the Germans' coastal artillery, so that our USS Texas battleship can get close and conduct pinpoint bombing of the German military targets, and finally knock out the German command center is OK!"

  "Is there air support?" Jones asked.

  "Of course, first the bombers will carry out large-scale carpet bombing, then the tanks will cover the infantry as they advance, and we can get all-round artillery support at any time!" I said with a knock on the table.

  "Oh, great!" The officers in the house were apparently all somewhat excited.

  "Oh, no, no, no! You guys are getting a little too excited!" I pressed my hand down and continued, "Urban warfare isn't as simple as you think. With large-scale artillery support, it's easy to wipe out the Germans, but urban combat is like a meat grinder - if you're not careful, you'll never come out alive. And even if you die, you won't even know where your enemy is! Because in urban warfare, every enemy can be considered a skilled sniper... BAM!" I made a sniping motion with my hand, and the room fell silent.

  As a commander, you can't just be good at crushing morale, but also need to learn how to properly adjust the morale of your subordinates at all times. And this kind of morale boost is not just about saying a few words like "For victory, charge!" or "Sacrifice for the revolution!" - no one here wants to hear that nonsense. As soon as you arrive in this cruel world, a normal soldier won't be thinking about medals, praise, or some other empty honor; what they're really thinking about is how to survive or how to make it through!

  "Look at you guys, comrades. Are you afraid just because I said something? We have seven divisions of troops surrounding the Germans from all sides. Even if the Germans are gods of war, they won't be able to handle us." I suddenly laughed and said: "Besides, our mission is just to assist, assist, assist - a suicidal mission, we definitely don't need to assist!" After I finished speaking, the officers in the room couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "So I'm asking you now, when the troops enter the attack position, all of you here must cheer me up and make sure to bring our brothers back alive! Let's go!"

  "Hurray!"

  "Alright, let's go!"

  Cherbourg was initially carpet bombed by the Allied Air Force, directly turning it into a ruin, but the German resistance was like a phoenix rising from the ashes, still desperately resisting. Especially the anti-aircraft guns set up by the Germans were tirelessly counterattacking the Allied bomber formations. The Allied bombers occasionally exploded in mid-air, countless debris falling down like rain, and every time this happened, if you listened carefully, the German soldiers inside Cherbourg would let out a low, hoarse "Deutschland Siegt Auf!" of madness.

  "The Germans are now all alone, yet their morale is still so high, they're simply crazy!" My current second lieutenant Jimmy shook his head and sighed.

  "No! My Jimmy, you are wrong. They no longer have conquest in their hearts, but defense of Germany!" I sighed and said.

  Lieutenant Luka, who replaced Josen's position, said inexplicably: "The Germans don't need to fight anymore, they can't hold on for much longer, even a fool can see that. Even if they surrender, we won't treat them badly!"

  I glanced at Luca and explained, "You still don't understand, after the first World War, Germany was defeated, and the Germans suffered all sorts of blows from our current allies. They had already suffered enough, and even Hitler was just a product of that failure." I paused for a moment before continuing, "After the end of the war, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Keynes predicted in 'The Treaty of Paris' that our current allies France and Britain would eventually provoke resistance from the Germans. He said darkness would once again shroud the European continent!"

  Several officers listened quietly as I spoke.

  "After the end of World War I, in 1932 Germany's unemployed population reached over 8 million. These people couldn't even support a family. After Hitler came to power, no matter what measures he took, at least he gave these huge numbers of unemployed people jobs and let them eat their fill. This was the greatest wish of the German common folk. Now that they have seen hope, it's been taken away from them. In fact, now most Germans don't hate their leader Hitler, but rather hate the Allied forces who destroyed this hope."

  I forced a smile and scanned the faces of each officer one by one. "Of course it's us! Because from top to bottom, Germans are unwilling to taste again the kind of oppression and humiliation brought to them by others in World War I! So I don't care about other units, but I have the right to make sure you know that from now on, we will no longer be facing only German soldiers, but all their women, children and old people who can hold a gun! Therefore, as long as there is resistance, we will show no mercy and kill!"

  The thick smell of blood gradually made the young soldiers around him tremble with fear. Limited time free? Exclusive interview with a great god? A new book by a famous author is released for the first time? There are also lottery activities every week, Apple Watch, Q coins, starting points and more waiting for you to take! Don't hesitate, open WeChat, scan the QR code on the left, follow easily, and don't miss out on the excitement~