Chapter 64: A Blood-Stained Cigarette

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  Life has passed away, reincarnation has begun! Whether I go or come back, let me be with you, my love, my brother! —— German sniper Mo Ni

  Mani coldly smiled as the Sherman tank's cannon pointed at him, then rolled back and dodged into a house ruins destroyed by shells, and pressed another clip.

  The place where Mo Ni was just now was bombed by the tank cannon again, and if Mo Ni was one second late, he would have been blown to pieces by that cannon!

  "Mortar! Give 'em a covering burst, kill that son of a bitch!" Lieutenant Linburn yelled to the mortar sergeant as he ordered one of his men to take over the machine gunner's position.

  "Fire ten rapid shots in position G!"

  Mani's gunfire drew covering fire from the mortars, and he was suddenly caught in a hail of explosions. "Damn it!" Mani cursed under his breath.

  Mani dodged through the ruins, hiding behind a broken wall, and took a deep breath. His leg had been gashed open by shrapnel from the rocket-propelled grenade, leaving a one-foot-long wound. Mani gritted his teeth and ripped off a piece of his tattered pants, tightly wrapping it around the injured area. The intense pain made Mani's heart feel like it was going to stop beating. He knew that the shrapnel had broken his bone. In this moment, Mani suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of despair and a desire to give up.

  Lairon was hit by the intense artillery fire of the US military, and he curled up in a small corner with his head covered, but as soon as the artillery fire paused slightly, he shook off the dirt on his head and rushed out to find Mani hiding in a blind spot of the artillery fire.

  "Are you okay?"

  "I'm injured in the leg! I can't move!"

  "Brothers just died a few more! I don't want you to die here too! I'll send you down!" Hearing such words from the fierce Lailen made Mo Ni feel like crying.

  "You don't have to worry about me, Rops Middle School is about to launch a formal counterattack, and he needs people now!" Mo Ni said gritting his teeth.

  "Alright, brother!" Lai Lun suddenly said as he was about to leave, "If it really doesn't work out, just surrender! No one here will bother you!"

  Mo Ni shook his head and said: "I know, I don't want to wrong my brothers, because my squad is now short of one person who hasn't found them yet!"

  "Alright! Take care! Brother!"

  Mani called out to Liren: "Brother, what's your name?"

  "Lauren!"

  "Thank you, I'm Mo Ni!" Mo Ni said, taking off the watch from his wrist that represented 50 American lives and handing it to Lai Ren: "Although we haven't known each other for long, I want to give it to you!"

  "No! This is your honor, I cannot accept it!"

  Mani looked up at the sky filled with smoke and flames, sighed and said: "I don't want it to be buried with me, I'll give it to you, maybe it can make it till the end of the war!"

  Laren's eyes were slightly sour, holding back tears, but his voice was shaking as he said: "Mo Ni, give it to me, maybe you sent the wrong one! But I believe that even if I die, I will pass it on to someone else and let him continue to pass on this honor that belongs to the Germans!"

  "Thank you!" This is the only way to express a thousand words.

  Mani watched as Laren turned and left, dragging his crippled leg to the other side of a broken wall. He tilted his head slightly and saw several American soldiers darting back and forth across the street from one side to the other! Mani lovingly stroked the Mauser rifle equipped with a telescope in his hand, murmuring: "Life has passed away, reincarnation has begun! Whether I go or come back, it makes me and you together, my love, my brother!"

  "Bang!" The rumble of the cannon fire couldn't drown out the crisp gunshot, Mo Ni's shot hit a US soldier who was running quickly, the instantaneous pressure from the bullet squeezing his chest cavity caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood, the massive inertia from charging forward made the running US soldier run a few more steps before heavily falling over.

  "Fifty-five!" Mo Ni muttered to himself as he retreated back into his body after firing the shot.

  The death of the American soldier immediately caused other charging US soldiers to drop to the ground, cautiously firing their guns in all directions and constantly reminding their companions.

  "Luca is dead! Who found the sniper's position?"

  "I see him! He's hiding over there! Fire at the broken wall on that side! I'll go take care of him!" Although an American soldier didn't notice Mani firing, a corner of his clothing slightly exposed from behind the broken wall allowed him to discover Mani's hiding place. He pulled out a hand grenade hanging from his chest and threw it with all his might towards where Mani was hiding!

  "Throw hand grenade!"

  "Damn it!" Moni hugged the gun and rolled to one side, the close-range explosion of the grenade made a loud noise, still making his ears buzz temporarily, and the whole person's reaction seemed to slow down for a few seconds! Moni shook his head hard and pulled out a grenade from his waist, throwing it towards the path where the US military might rush in. Although no US soldier was hit, it scared the US soldiers who were about to charge, making them much more cautious in their actions.

  "Be careful, he's a veteran!"

  Several US soldiers immediately divided into two groups, one from the left and one from the right, to encircle the hiding German troops. The leading US soldier nodded and threw several hand grenades, while the second US soldier behind him rushed forward, firing a burst of shots.

  Mani lay on the ground, his body covered in blood to the point where he was almost unrecognizable. His eyes were dull and lifeless as he panted heavily, feeling like there were several American soldiers standing in front of him. He wanted to ask them to shoot him a few more times, but when he tried to speak, his voice was weak and barely audible, even to himself. With all the strength he had left, Mani tried to reach into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes that Lieutenant Roman had given him. Despite being 19 years old, he had never smoked a single cigarette because he remembered what his sniper instructor, Major, had told him: if you want to be one of the world's top snipers, you absolutely cannot smoke or drink! Otherwise, these two things will eventually take your life!

  Mony no longer cared, he really wanted to try what it's like to smoke! Because when he didn't want to see Captain Roman, he said I've never smoked a single cigarette! Mony used almost all his strength in life to put his hand into the pocket! Mony heard someone speaking English! Mony smiled, he didn't know how ugly this smile was on his face, he opened his mouth and wanted to say: "Help me get the cigarette out and light it!"

  Bang, bang, bang, another burst of gunfire, and Moni's body had several more bullet holes. The world in front of him suddenly changed from red to gray, and Moni remained in the pose of taking out a cigarette, his mouth slightly open, dead.

  " Todd, take a look at what he's trying to pull out," an American sergeant called over to a private.

  "Yes, sir!" shouted the soldier named Dodor, rummaging through Moni's pockets and pulling out a blood-soaked cigarette. "Look at this, guys! He was thinking of smoking even when he was on his deathbed!" He threw it to the ground and trampled on it with his foot.

  " Todd, watch out, he'll get you at midnight!" an American soldier joked with Todd.

  " Bah! I'm still a man who crawled out of the pile of dead bodies, what's there to be afraid of from something that's already dead?"

  "Great job, Todd!" The upper officer patted Todd on the shoulder and then quickly led people away, leaving only Mo Ni's body lying quietly there, staring at the sky full of smoke with his eyes open.

  "What's this? The Germans have detached a part of their forces and are attacking us from the right?" I said to Johann after firing off a clip of bullets, taking advantage of the moment while changing magazines.

  "Yes!"

  "How many of them are there?"

  "A tank and about one platoon of men!"

  "John, get your men over here to support the right flank immediately! I'm holding out here! How much longer until Captain Walker's troops arrive?"

  "Sir, they say it'll be another ten minutes! They're gathering their troops and heading our way right now!" Müller yelled to me over the radio.

  "Alright, just ten more minutes! Tell the brothers to hold on for another ten minutes, and the reinforcement troops will arrive after ten minutes!"

  "Yes! Sir!"

  Von Vietinghoff's staff officer used tanks to open a gap on the right, allowing infantry to attack from this side. Although my Sherman tank had already been dispatched to reinforce the defense of the right flank and incidentally destroyed a German Panzer IV that posed an important threat to me, since the infantry could not get close, it was necessary to decide the outcome of this small counterattack through a tank-to-tank duel!

  "Tank, 200 meters, fire!" A Sherman tank fired at a German Panzer IV!

  Boom! After a loud explosion, the German tank was still intact. The shell had narrowly missed the front of the tank!

  "Damn it, no hit, reverse gear, reverse! 25 degrees angle!" the tank commander yelled loudly to the crew.

  Wittmann commanded his tank to take cover behind a building and return fire at the American M4 Sherman tanks that had fired earlier. Due to the angle of incidence, the shot was deflected by the Sherman's angled position and did not penetrate!

  "Rejected!" Fuerd's angry voice came through the observation port, "Get me another one in sight!"

  "Sir, we can't hit him with that one!"

  "Alright! We've taken up position, turned the tank's frontal armor to face the enemy, and are covering the infantry's advance!" This lieutenant colonel of the 17th Armored Division under Field Marshal Rommel, due to receiving Rommel's order to retreat from the Serrebourg area despite Hitler's orders to hold out at all costs being too late, was forced to relocate to Serrebourg. He was reassigned by General Schleier to be a frontline operations staff officer for Colonel Rops' defense troops in the city hall to dock line. Colonel Rops had absolute trust in this excellent armored division officer and handed over his prized Panzer IV tank to Lieutenant Colonel Fuerd to command!

  Feld did not disappoint Lieutenant Colonel Ropps' expectations, and at the start of the battle he knocked out an American Sherman tank. By this time in the fighting, Feld had used his tank's powerful armor and firepower to force the Americans to retreat and refuse to counterattack. Although Feld knew that this was just a temporary retreat by the Americans, who were trying to destroy him without paying any cost, if Feld fell into the trap set for him by the Americans, he and his Panzer IV would be destroyed in an instant, withdrawing from the battle, and all of his men would be annihilated.

  But Fuerd also thought that since it's come to this, he might as well go all out and take down one more vehicle if he could; after all, ever since arriving at Serburg, he hadn't planned on getting out alive anyway!