Chapter 24: The Jungle of Monsterville

  Anna left on the second day, she took a cargo ship back and forth between the United States and Normandy. However, when this woman was about to leave, she kissed me with a very vicious kiss on my face, although this is a common courtesy in the West, but for me, a fake goods, it is extremely stimulating, so that I didn't sleep well for several nights. Fortunately, the new recruits' training was also about to end, which was exactly six days after the Omaha landing battle.

  That day, I gathered the troops and prepared to head to the Monastery area to receive temporary command from Colonel Heber of the 13th Regiment of the Sixth Army. The team was lined up very neatly, and the young men's spirits were also very high. Although they had come here and seen the cruelty of war, the Allies' continuous victories also stimulated their competitive blood! Perhaps it is the nature of men to be good at fighting!

  "Dear comrades! Welcome to this brave regiment." I said, standing in front of the new recruits who had just finished their short-term war training. "No nonsense, now that you're here in my regiment, I guarantee that in the days ahead, you'll be able to fully utilize your skills and thoroughly kick the Germans' asses!"

  "Oh——" A burst of laughter erupted from the team!

  "Report to the officer! When we enter Berlin, can I stick it into Hitler's woman?" A new recruit in the squad shouted.

  "Oh my god! You can even be Hitler's ass, but only if you can live until that time!"

  "Haha..."

  "Now I'm going to lead you all in a very pleasant and easy task, and the code name for this task is 'Chasing Rabbits'."

  "Officer! Who came up with this codename? It's so unprofessional!" a new recruit shouted.

  "It was me who started it! Any objections, Private?"

  "Can we change it to a more domineering tone? That sounds cooler!"

  "Oh, Private, you've got me remembering you now! You're in trouble!" I continued with a smile, "Alright, it's settled then. Next time around, maybe I'll look for you. But for now, let's get moving!"

  This time is not bad, I don't have to walk underground like a big-headed soldier, sitting in a brand new Willys Ford Jeep assigned by the team, looking at the American soldiers lined up in columns, there is only one word to describe my current mood, that is comfortable!

  This time, the Allied command also equipped me with two M8 Greyhound armored scout cars. Although this car is not as good as the German Sdkfz 234 Puma armored car, it's better than nothing and can still deal with infantry on foot. Of course, considering my mission was just to clear out the scattered soldiers in Monastery Burg, my superiors were quite satisfied with me. However, what I didn't know was that his superior officer, Major Rom, had helped a lot.

  "A message from headquarters, combined with the reports of our reconnaissance planes and intelligence personnel, says that an unspecified number of Germans have been spotted moving about in the thicket north of Monastery Hill!" my communications officer Müller relayed to me.

  "Oh, bring the map!"

  The jeep stopped by the roadside, and a military map was spread out on the car cover. On the north side of the Monastery marked on the map, there is a large area of hills, with thickets everywhere, and small paths crisscrossing like a spider web. The road conditions are also very complicated. No wonder the German army's activities in that area are still very frequent. With such terrain, without sufficient troops, it is not dare to enter deeply, let alone the Germans will not die and fight hard with you.

  "We must find and destroy the main force of the German army, otherwise we'll be stuck here playing hide-and-seek with the Germans for years to come, I'm fed up!" I said to several officers under my command.

  "But how can we capture the main force of the Germans?" Joessen also asked with some worry.

  For a time, everyone was stumped by this question.

  I furrowed my brow and stared intently at the map, finding that there were quite a few villages scattered along the main highway lines in Munsterburg. "Which troops are garrisoning Munsterburg?"

  "It was the troops of the 13th Regiment of the Sixth Army, which defended the area around Munsterburg. Since their current strength only controlled key strategic points and also maintained control over law and order in the region, the German army continued to harass them, so the pressure was relatively great, and it was impossible to withdraw more troops to clear out the remaining German forces in the region."

  "Go, deal with the Germans, we're not in a hurry! First go to the 13th Regiment to get an understanding of the situation, then talk about other things!"

  The captain of the 13th squad is named Herb, and he's also considered to be a giant among Americans, probably around two meters tall. I couldn't help but think that if he were to appear within range of the German troops, such a large target would be a great target for them, and it would be a waste not to give him priority in taking fire.

  Just as I was thinking about it, Herb smiled and came up to greet me.

  "Reporting for duty, sir! Lieutenant Colonel Konti of Cavalry Troop D has arrived!"

  "Captain Conte, I've heard of you, you're quite the fighter! You were the first to break through the D1 gap and then fought a beautiful battle in Willerval village, our first since entering Europe. You've done a great job! Now that you're here with me, I'm delighted to welcome you, and I'm sure you'll be able to solve my problems!" Herb was not only tall but also had a thunderous voice, and he immediately listed my military achievements one by one.

  "Report to the superior! It's all due to General Omar Bradley's powerful command and the brave fighting of the soldiers, I don't dare take credit for it!"

  "No, no, no! Your merits are yours alone, don't argue about it anymore! Now that you're here at headquarters, do you have any good battle strategies to offer?"

  "Sir, everything here is under your command!"

  "Alright, very well!" That's all Captain Herbert wanted to hear from me after saying so much.

  The battlefield is like this, every time you arrive at a war zone, it's not just about listening to the tasks assigned by the Allied Command, of course, except for secret missions. First and foremost, you must also listen to the superiors in that war zone. But now I don't know if Colonel Herbert's task is to launch a strong attack on the northern scrub forest area of Monastery Hill. If so, I'm doomed!

  "Your arrival is very timely! The Germans know that my current military strength is barely sufficient, they are now very arrogant and from time to time launch attacks to destroy our Monastery Castle highway! Just yesterday, the eleven supply trucks we transported to Avranches were robbed by those damned Germans!"

  "Is it that bad?"

  "It's not just that, in the four days since we occupied this place, we've lost over sixty vehicles of all kinds at Munster Castle, and nearly a hundred tons of supplies. The Allied Command is furious about it!"

  "Excuse me for being presumptuous, but how many troops does the German army have in this area?"

  "There aren't many Germans, only about a battalion! Otherwise they would have launched a massive attack on me already!" Colonel Herb said with certainty.

  "That's no small amount for me!" I said with a wry smile.

  "Captain Konti, you're wrong! You roughly know the reason for our current situation. Joan, bring me the map!" Colonel Heber said to his deputy officer.

  The deputy unfolded the map on the table, and Colonel Herb circled the northern part of Munsterburg with his hand, introducing me: "I am now controlling the main line of Munsterburg Highway and the important strategic strongholds on both sides. The Germans are active in the scrub forest to the north, I don't have the strength to attack them, and they don't have enough strength to eat away at me, so it's a stalemate, but the situation is still more favorable for the Germans. They are divided into small teams, can fight and run, constantly destroying all my facilities day and night here, making me very headache!

  "Sir, what do you mean?" I asked tentatively.

  "You've arrived just in time. I'll withdraw a company from each regiment and have them cooperate with you to attack the Germans hiding in the thicket to the north!"

  "Sir, we are not very familiar with the terrain of this area. I don't know if you have sent anyone to scout out these areas?"

  "Oh, it's my oversight! I forgot to tell you that here we found quite a few indigenous French people living here, they can show you the way."

  "With these people, it's absolutely wonderful to have a guide!"

  "But don't rely solely on these people, I'll also send you a copy of the intelligence and materials from my previous reconnaissance. You quickly come up with a battle plan and hand it over to me!"

  “YES！sir！”

  Back at the barracks, I gathered the four platoon leaders together and conveyed Colonel Heber's instructions from just now. At the same time, I discussed with these few people our next step in combat operations.

  "The Germans in the castle of Münster have a force of about one battalion without heavy weapons! They are scattered throughout the thicket north of Münster Castle! That's their old home!"

  "There are a lot of Germans!" said my new agent, Lieutenant Jimmy, the original Bruce having been left behind in Coutances with a compound fracture of the leg, and not expected to rejoin us until after the war.

  "I don't think we need to worry about this, the Germans won't dare to gather their troops! They're afraid that we'll bite down on them tightly, and then Colonel Herb's reinforcements will arrive immediately, plus support from the air, by then the Germans won't be able to run away!"

  "Captain's right!" Jones added, "The Germans' troop scale is at most company level, even if it's a company, they can't swallow us in a short time. We can call for air support and bomb the area flat!"

  I don't know why Americans have such a deep emotional attachment to airplanes in their minds, always thinking of using planes to bomb things, which is exactly the same as the US military's mindset. In their consciousness, airplanes are victory, airplanes are omnipotent, and perhaps on the future battlefield of Vietnam, they will make the US military pay a heavy price for their planes! But that's another story, let's not mention it for now!