Chapter 68: The Old Soldier "Bullies" the New Recruit

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  Lieutenant Walker arrived with his troops just in time.

  "Walker Lieutenant, sorry about that, we're running late!"

  "Haha, you've come just in time, Lieutenant Walker! I was about to launch an attack on the Germans, but I was worried that our forces might be insufficient, which would be a grave mistake. Now that you're here, I don't have to worry about it anymore!"

  "Walker said: "Colonel Conte, your troops have been fighting for so long, they must be exhausted! Why don't I take the lead instead of you?"

  I knew he was trying to make up for his tardiness and gain some credit, after all the Germans had just been repelled and were unable to organize effective forces to block us. In my opinion, I didn't want to give it to him, but later on, I thought about it and let it go. Anyway, there's plenty of fighting to be done, and my goal is to survive.

  I said: "In that case, let's tell the command! My troops need to replenish their ammunition! The consumption of ammunition in the last battle was too great!"

  "Walker said: "Conti, you're a man worth knowing!"

  I smiled, but in my heart I was secretly scolding: "If I didn't let you have it, wouldn't that mean I'm not worth befriending?"

  Headquarters quickly issued an order, letting me make some adjustments, and the infantry battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Walker took turns attacking, keeping the intensity of the troops' attack to the maximum! With uninterrupted attacks, let the Germans not breathe a sigh of relief. I smiled and put this order aside, as the commanders of the 9th Infantry Division did not want to see the cavalry unit take all the credit, so they snatched away half of the obvious merit.

  Of course, the other half of the reason is indeed as said in the command center, my troops need to rest for a while. From 4 am when we launched the attack until now, it has been nearly four hours of continuous combat, and I'm really exhausted. People are not born to be iron-made, people can fight desperately under one breath, but when that energy is gone, no matter what, they don't want to move anymore. Moreover, I'm already starving, the pre-war meal I hastily ate earlier has been digested clean!

  "Alright guys, our mission has changed! Now we're going to extract our brother!" Although I was no longer in charge of leading the assault forward, it was time for Jones and Jimmy on my flanks to take over. I glanced at John who had plopped himself down on the ground: "John, this isn't a break time, go support Jimmy! Linberna, you take two squads to find Jones! Then get them all extracted as soon as possible and we'll regroup here!"

  "Got it!" said John.

  There are only a few days left before entering July, but the battle that started from early morning has made me feel a bit suffocated. The meteorological department of the Allied Command said that there will be another extremely heavy storm in the next few days. I looked up at the sky, it's already around 8 o'clock in the morning, and there is still not a single ray of sunshine, the whole sky is gloomy, it seems that this rain will sweep across this dirty land again soon!

  All troops attacking the city of Cherbourg are meeting desperate resistance from the Germans. From 6:22 yesterday morning until now, not only my troops but also other units have suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, we have plenty of manpower and ammunition to expend, so after a day's effort, we took one-quarter of the city of Cherbourg.

  The casualties of the Germans were also extremely heavy, they almost defended this city that didn't need to be defended at all with their lives. This makes me very puzzled as to why Mr. Hitler always attaches such importance to territory, or if he simply doesn't understand military affairs!

  Hitler's orders at the end of World War II still puzzle people to this day. In April 1945, Germany's capital Berlin was already facing a four-sided siege by Allied troops, yet Hitler ordered one of his elite units of 200,000 men to remain stationed on Latvia's barren Courland Peninsula. This meant that these 200,000 elite German soldiers spent the final days of the war doing nothing but eating and drinking while watching their capital fall into enemy hands.

  As for Cherbourg, Hitler still insisted on holding onto it for the same reason, even if it had no military value at all. He was willing to lose his way and be surrounded by the enemy in order to hold onto one inch of land! Yes, the remaining German troops defending Cherbourg strictly followed Hitler's orders, and even after General Schlieben announced surrender, many German soldiers still chose to stay in their strongholds and fight to the death against the Americans. At this moment, I couldn't help but think of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers who surrendered en masse in Nanjing and were slaughtered, and I felt ashamed!

  Lieutenant Walker's attack was still not going well, and as I watched the wounded being carried back from the front line, I was glad that I hadn't rushed forward with him to grab the glory. In war you find that time passes very slowly, and after what felt like an eternity, my men were finally reassembled.

  Walker lieutenant saw me again, his face was iron green, he scolded fiercely: "Damn German! As disgusting as a cockroach that can't be killed! I've almost lost a whole row!"

  Lieutenant Walker said that, but Lin Bona retorted: "Lieutenant Walker, our losses are not small either. As of now, my squad alone has over a dozen casualties!"

  I nodded and said, "When fighting against the Germans, you can't look at casualties! Otherwise, you'll vomit blood! Yesterday, Lieutenant Roberts' first day was even more than half of the casualties!"

  Walker's face looked a bit better after hearing me say that, and he said, "Thanks! It seems we'll still need even more powerful artillery support!"

  "Well said, but unfortunately almost all artillery units are now continuously supporting us!" I sighed.

  "Walker suddenly said: 'Isn't it just a matter of having the warship's firepower support us?!'"

  I smiled and said: "Lieutenant Walker, that's exactly why our superiors have given us the task of taking out the shore defense guns stationed at the dock!"

  Walker's eyes lit up, then dimmed again, and he said with a worried expression: "Although the German defense is not tight, there are no gaps to drill! Moreover, we are not fighting against a group of normal people now, but against a group of desperate men!"

  I laughed and patted Lieutenant Walker on the shoulder, saying: "Lieutenant Walker, your words have really hit my heart! Don't worry, take it easy! We'll definitely have our chance!"

  After seeing off Lieutenant Walker, I fell into deep thought. If we continued to fight like this, we could defeat the Germans, but that would mean another batch of my soldiers would die! Rather than continuing to push forward step by step, it's better to take a risk and launch a surprise attack on the German coastal defense artillery positions near the dock, letting the warships get close and bombard them. The large-caliber cannons on the warships are absolutely more powerful than the 105mm howitzers that the US military is currently equipped with! Moreover, as an elite special forces unit from the past, coming here to fight in this conventional way seems a bit of a waste of talent.

  But now it's not that you can have a special battle just because you want to, at least in the last life, even the simplest and most commonly used helicopter landing couldn't get close to the opponent's core. How could you infiltrate into the enemy's defense with just infantry and vehicle-mounted? This isn't a movie, just different passwords and codes can expose you completely!

  I don't know if the Germans do it this way now, but in my US Army frontline unit, the password was always changing. Even when different units met, they wouldn't ask for numbers first, but would ask each other's passwords to avoid being ambushed by someone disguised as one of their own! However, during combat, such defense is normal and makes it difficult for anyone to deceive them, let alone launch a surprise attack in disguise! That only exists in idealistic TV dramas!

  "Captain, look at this sky! It's going to rain or not? It's suffocating!" said Lin Berna, wiping the sweat from his face.

  "Don't worry, Lin Bona! This rain will grant your wish!" I said.

  "That's no good! I don't like fighting in the rain!" Jimmy fiddled with his rifle.

  "Oh dear! There's nothing we can do about it, unless our superiors order us to take shelter in the tent. Otherwise, we'll just have to get soaked in the rain again!" I said with a smile.

  "Captain, this isn't the time to talk about the weather. The Germans' small counterattack has been repelled by us! However, our mission is still to take down the shore defense artillery positions near the dock, it looks a bit tough!" Jones said at this time.

  "Jones is right! Since we've temporarily withdrawn from the main assault position to regroup, let's take this opportunity for everyone to get a good rest! As for you few, don't have such good fortune, carefully study our next action plan!"

  "Captain, what's there to study? Let's just play it by ear like before!" Lin Berna and I are familiar with each other, so he dares to make this kind of joke.

  "Lin Bona, stop wasting words! I tell you what to do, and you'd better do it obediently!" I said bluntly.

  Lin Bona was scolded, but he didn't get angry, holding his gun and standing there as if nothing had happened. As a soldier, being scolded or beaten by a superior is absolutely normal.

  I still remember when I first joined the army after graduating from college, the rebelliousness in me was even more resistant to the "discipline" of those old soldiers. There was an old soldier who, following the usual practice of taking care of new recruits, threw a pair of his smelly socks at me and asked me to wash them for him during my first month in the army. Because of this, I got into a fight with him and ended up getting beaten until my nose was blue and my face was swollen. The company commander of our new recruit battalion didn't scold anyone, but instead looked at me with raised eyebrows and walked around me several times before finally saying just one sentence to me.

  "Not bad, not bad! It's been many years since I've seen new recruits like you dare to fight with old veterans as soon as they arrive at the troops!"

  The price of fighting a battle is very serious! All the old soldiers look at me with strange eyes! And those platoon leaders and squad leaders are especially 'enthusiastic' in taking care of me. Even during training, if I make a slight mistake, I get kicked in the butt! Some people even loudly say: "New recruit! You must never think about rebelling in the army!"

  It wasn't until I worked hard and was luckily admitted to the special forces that I truly understood what this tradition passed down from the troops was all about.

  This convention is actually not the so-called intentional bullying of new recruits, but rather a deliberate tempering of the bad habits that have been accumulated on the body of new recruits since childhood. Only when you are tempered to be obedient, tempered to be sensible, and tempered to no longer resist orders from those higher than your rank, can you be considered a truly qualified soldier! This is what ordinary people call tempering, the true meaning of the words!