Chapter Thirty-Four Who Lost the Will to Fight

  "Take cover from artillery fire!" The German lieutenant immediately dropped down behind a bunker at the sound of gunfire.

  Boom! The howitzer's shells hit the German defenders once again, sending them flying. A German MG42 machine gunner was blown out of his bunker and fell heavily outside.

  "Quickly, get the shotgun! Don't let the American rush over!"

  "Go on! Go on!" Brent took advantage of the moment when the German machine gun was silenced by the explosion, and immediately jumped up from behind the mound and rushed forward a few more meters. As soon as he fell to the ground, the German machine gun started firing again!

  "Damn the Germans!" Brandt, once again pinned to the ground, furiously and hatefully pounded the earth with his fist, unaware of the beads of blood that instantly appeared on his knuckles.

  "Gunfire obstruction!" Captain Charlotte took a look at Brandt's predicament and immediately ordered the mortar to fire at the front line of the German position, hoping that this artillery support could obstruct the vision of the Germans on the position, making it easier for Brandt's assault team to advance.

  "Damn the Americans! Sir, the artillery fire is too intense, we can't see where the enemy is! Sir, we can't see where the enemy army is!" The substitute machine gunner shouted hoarsely.

  "Give me firepower cover! Gai, Gai, you go to the right wing and guide!" The German lieutenant shouted out the sniper's name, hoping to resolve this passivity.

  Battlefield reconnaissance is a special way of reconnaissance, scouts hide in a certain open field of view, and provide their own friendly forces with this unique real-time battlefield information through various gestures, including the number of enemy troops, military branches, activity orientation and routes, as well as the enemy's marching method. Commanders can judge the enemy's strength and trends from the different changes of these gestures, which is an extremely valuable way of reconnaissance in war.

  The guidance of the German scouts indeed disrupted Captain Charlotte's purpose, no matter how Brandt's troops acted, the Germans' firepower always followed Brandt's footsteps.

  "There must be a German outpost somewhere!" Charlotte observed, judging the effect to be negligible, and immediately began scanning the surrounding terrain.

  The bombardment continued, the smoke and dust raised by the explosions almost completely covering the entire battlefield, making it feel as if the sky had fallen to the ground; while on the battlefield there were craters from shell explosions and corpses of people in various poses, yet despite the gruesome scenes everywhere, bullets and shells from both sides never stopped flying through the air for a moment, and one careless move would get you injured by stray bullets.

  "This place seems not quite normal!" Charlotte discovered a small hill not far from the German army's right wing through binoculars. The location of this small hill is very conspicuous, just protruding on the right side of Charlotte's attack route, and in the past, the small hill was a low-lying valley, 200 meters away from the German army's position. Although it is a small hill, it is far lower than the elevation of the German army's position, and it is within the range of the German machine gun fire. Moreover, there are no shelters at all to attack the German position from here. As a commander, this direction would not be chosen as the main attack direction, because that would increase casualties. Due to the special terrain, neither side has sent anyone to occupy this small hill, nor will they allow the other side to occupy it, so a special place is formed on the battlefield.

  "Is there something wrong with this position?" Charlotte pondered to herself, then ordered: "Artillery, lay down a barrage on the small hill on the right flank!"

  Boom! Boom! Several mortar shells flew towards the small hill, and German sniper Gai, hiding behind a bush on the hill, closed his eyes in despair.

  The death of the German scout post immediately made the German position lose an important eye. The German lieutenant knew that Gei was finished when he was shelled on a small hill, and his own troops had not yet arrived to reinforce him. When he looked back, the besieged American troops had also broken through the blocking line and were rushing up desperately. The lieutenant calmed down, looking at the few wounded young German soldiers under his command. He suddenly remembered the oath he made to his superior when he participated in the ambush: "My unit will fight to the last man, and we must block the American reinforcements' attack, not letting a single American soldier go north!" Now his mission had not been accomplished, but he could still fight because he was not dead yet.

  "Great warriors of Germany, we have now reached the point where our ammunition and food are exhausted. To fulfill our original promise, it is time for us to sacrifice ourselves for the Empire! Long live Germany! Long live Germany!"

  "Long live Germany!"

  "Follow me!"

  Rat-a-tat-tat, with the German lieutenant and his remaining soldiers all killed by Lieutenant Brandt's hands, the German ambush troops were truly annihilated until now, and Charlotte's and my reinforcement troops are finally united.

  "Damn it, why have you come now!" I grabbed Charlotte's collar and roared at her, "Just a few hundred meters, just a few hundred meters, can't you get through?! Poor Josen, my troops wouldn't fight so miserably!"

  Charlotte's guard stood by, seemingly hesitant about whether to pull me away, but was pulled aside by Miller and gently shook his head.

  "Sorry, Captain Conti!" Charlotte's face turned blue from being choked by me.

  "Alas, never mind! This isn't your fault, it's war!" I suddenly felt disheartened and pushed Charlotte away, turning to look at Müller and a dozen or so subordinates standing by. "Follow me, let's go rescue the brothers!"

  "Captain, your wound?" Muller pointed at the bleeding gash on my belly.

  "Not dead yet!" I tore open the blackened undershirt tightly wrapped around my stomach, covering the wound opened by a bayonet, picked up the gun and walked back to the unfinished battlefield.

  "Damn it, Josen, come back to life! We've already won! Look, Lieutenant is leading the men over here! Wake up and take a look!" Linberna, who had rushed to the front defense position, drove the German army off the position with one charge. Josen was dead. Linberna, Josen's best comrade-in-arms when he was alive, held Josen's body and shook it hard, as if this shaking could pull Josen back from hell.

  "Colonel, he's dead!" the soldier shouted in Linberna's ear!

  "I know!" Lin Berna seemed to be suddenly awakened from a dream, although everything was just an instant, but the retreating German troops, under the urging of the German officer, launched another collective counterattack!

  "What's going on?" Jones, who had been stubbornly holding out on the left wing, was bewildered by another fierce and almost costless German assault. But in an instant, Jones immediately understood the intention of the German army. The German assault troops were responding to the participating German troops who were breaking through.

  Jones had wanted to join me immediately after being ambushed by the Germans, but found that the road was cut off in the middle by the Germans. He then made a desperate attempt to break through to me, but after several attempts, due to heavy casualties, Jones had to switch to defense and pinned down a large number of German troops on my left flank, so the threat from the German army on my left flank was not that great, which is not without reason.

  Jones discovered the German ruse and immediately rallied some of the disheartened American troops, shouting: "Brothers, the captain's reinforcements are coming! Now the Germans are receiving their troops, we must drive them back!"

  "Machine guns! Machine guns! Seal off their mouths! Don't let the German devils escape!"

  The sudden news immediately invigorated Jones' soldiers and the speed of their counterattack also increased many times. The pressure on the Germans grew stronger.

  "Full force assault, wipe out these American devils!" The German commander bellowed at his troops as they attacked Jones.

  The German soldiers are now almost recklessly storming Jones' defensive line, seemingly without regard for their own lives. Another hand grenade is thrown to the side of Jones, fizzling with white smoke.

  "Damn it!" Jones, being a little farther away, didn't have time to dodge or throw it back, and instinctively pulled over the corpse of an American soldier that had died earlier, covering himself with it.

  Boom! The grenade exploded! But it didn't hit Jones! However, Jones still got covered in bloodstains and mud!

  "Damn Boche!" Jones cursed the German soldier as he scrambled to his feet and moved on to the next defensive position.

  "Hold on, hold on! This is the last attack of the German devils, hold on!" Lin Berna shouted loudly to boost morale from his position in the trenches.

  Morale, also known as fighting spirit, is something that has been highly valued by troops of all countries from ancient times to modern warfare. A team with high morale can often defeat a well-equipped but low-morale opponent at a relatively small cost. This intangible thing exists in every country's troops, but the length of time it lasts varies due to cultural and political differences. For example, in China's foreign wars, the Chinese army's fighting spirit has always been much stronger than that of its enemies, often fighting to the last man. It's not about how advanced the weapons are, but rather a team that can't be defeated or broken is what makes other countries' troops fearful.

  When Charlotte's troops rushed up, the German soldiers began to withdraw completely, and the entire withdrawal process was absolutely clean and tidy. Neither I nor Charlotte were willing to take risks to pursue them again, and besides, it was already getting dark, although in June and July, the night didn't fall too early, but fighting with Germans at night still carried great risk. After consulting with Captain Heber of Monasterburg, we gathered our remaining troops and withdrew back to base.

  The troops set out early in the morning, and except for the old soldiers, the new recruits were all excited like a gourd that couldn't be pressed down in the water. Now they are all hanging their heads, walking silently back and forth, occasionally making a few sounds from the middle of the team, also murmuring with dissatisfaction.

  My Ford jeep was smashed and abandoned in the jungle, probably to be scrapped after the war, but now nobody has the mind to care about it.

  "How many casualties did the troops suffer?" I asked Jones, who had narrowly escaped.

  Jones smiled wryly and said, "The troops have suffered more than half casualties, I'm afraid it will take a long time to recover when we get back!"

  "Wouldn't that be great!" Suddenly, I recalled the familiar voice of Joanson, if he were here now, he would definitely say: "Oh, Captain, you can't wait to continue fighting, so you can get promoted again, right?"