Chapter 43: The Song of the Brown Squadron

  ument.write(

  "Grenades! Grenades!" Sergeant Barros yelled to his men, but as two grenades were tossed into the ruined building, and two stunning explosions went off, there was no scream of agony.

  "Haven't taken him down yet! Everyone be on high alert!"

  "Conway, Renbo...!" Sergeant Barros called out to his two subordinates, using hand gestures to indicate a tactical maneuver of flanking the building's exit.

  Kang Wei and Lun Bo exchanged a glance, nodded to each other, and swiftly dodged to the two wings of the building exit, without peeking inside to investigate. This was actually the true way of veteran warriors on real battlefields, when engaging in combat in alleys and buildings, if it had been confirmed that civilian casualties were not a concern, then your act of poking your head out would often get you killed by the hail of bullets from the enemy bursting through the door.

  "Corporal Barros, give me a grenade!" Rambos took the "pineapple bomb" hand grenade handed over by Barros, pulled out the safety ring, counted silently for two seconds, and threw it back into the house again!

  "Watch out for the grenade!"

  A hand grenade that had been delayed in its explosion burst in the air of the room, producing a blast wave mixed with countless debris and shrapnel from the grenade, which spewed out from the doorway.

  "Attack!" Conway and Renbo had just thrown hand grenades, and although the room was filled with smoke and nothing could be seen clearly, the two of them still charged in with Thompson submachine guns, taking up tactical positions on either side of the doorway.

  "Safe!"

  "Safe!"

  Barrows walked in with a Thompson submachine gun slung over his shoulder. "Didn't you kill that son of a bitch?"

  "Let him go!"

  "Oh, damn it! He took the life of one of my brothers! I must catch him!" Sergeant Barros cursed loudly, looking up at the ceiling where there was a huge hole that had been blasted through by a bomber's bomb. With just a glance upwards, he could see the sky with its faint war haze; and in the corner, half a staircase still connected the upper and lower structures. After a moment's thought, Sergeant Barros stepped forward!

  "There's no one upstairs, Sergeant Barros!" Renbo reminded Sergeant Barros as he changed magazines.

  "I know, this position is excellent. If we set up a machine gun here, we can control the entire street!" Barros continued to move forward without stopping.

  "Barros, Lieutenant, you'd better be careful, there are Germans on that flank!" Lunbo said.

  "Thanks, pal! I'll return the favor next time!" Barros stopped in his tracks and turned back to grin at Renbo.

  "Oh, Sergeant Barros, please spare me the trouble, you know I'm still single now, it would be great if you could introduce your sister to me sometime!" Renbo said with a smile as he popped a piece of gum into his mouth.

  "Rumbo, you half-breed! Alright, I can introduce my sister to you, but if you want to get her approval, that's not my problem!" Barros said, throwing up his hands in a helpless gesture.

  "Barros, don't worry about this! Your sister will definitely fall in love with me!"

  "Unless you're the lucky bastard!" Sergeant Barros said, glancing at Conway, who was still grinning, and added: "Conway, what are you staring at? Can't you get the others to hurry up?"

  Barros saw Conway walk out and beckon to the others, Rembo walked into another room, shook his head, and finally stepped up the stairs!

  BOOM! A close-range violent explosion sent Sergeant Barros flying, his body was crushed like a road roller, no longer human-like. The outer layer of charred flesh emitted the smell of roasted meat, clothes were torn apart by the blast wave, and more than half of the torso was buried under the collapsed floor slab.

  "Baros, Sergeant!" Rumbold had just stepped into another room and was also shaken by this sudden explosion, but fortunately the main goal of the Germans was to destroy the structural integrity of the floor, so the casualties were greatly reduced. Otherwise, even if Rumbold had entered another room, he would not have escaped unscathed.

  As Lang Bao woke up and shouted to rush out to save Sergeant Barros, Conway and several American soldiers also rushed in! What came into view was a face full of soot, a face covered with fresh blood, Sergeant Barros' body was pressed down by the collapsed floor slab, he was already dead beyond recognition!

  "Barros, you haven't even introduced me to your sister, are you going to die like this? You're a real bastard! You're a real bastard!" Renbo said, closing his eyes and not wanting to look at Barros' corpse anymore. He pulled the bolt of his gun and walked out.

  "He saved my life, and now he's saved it again!" Conway muttered to himself, then suddenly his face twisted in a scowl. "That damned Sergeant Barros, I owe you one now! You know I hate owing people favors, but don't worry, I'll help you take care of that damned punk!"

  "Report to Lieutenant Jones! Sergeant Barros was blown up by a German booby trap!" one of Sergeant Barros' men told Jones.

  "Damn it, not even a single German was encountered and we've already lost two men! Order the troops to not relax their search of every room! Strengthen our defenses!" Jones quickly reissued the order to the search party.

  "What, not even fully engaged with the Germans and Jones' troops have already lost two men, including Sergeant Barros?" I was somewhat annoyed by this news, my troops had just started their attack mission and already suffered casualties, which would definitely affect morale. I paced back and forth a couple of times, then stopped in front of Miller and said, "At this rate, my troops won't be able to withstand such losses, we need tanks to support us! Miller, call for the tank unit, where are they? We need their support!"

  "Report to the lieutenant, the armored unit's people said that due to the discovery of many German anti-tank mines and obstacles, we need to clear them out before they can enter the city!" Time was not long, Miller raised his head and said to me.

  "Damn bastards! Get them to bring over a mine-clearing device!"

  "Sir, they replied that they don't have the equipment to clear anti-tank mines now, saying that the logistics troops haven't delivered them yet and told us it will take until tomorrow for the tanks to be equipped with such devices! So now we need sappers to clear the anti-tank obstacles and mines before entering the city district so they can come in!"

  "Oh, my God! What a terrible efficiency! So, it's mainly up to us now! Forget it, don't expect anything from this bunch of bastards. Jimmy, keep your squad at a distance from Jones, and provide me with all the firepower cover when necessary. And tell that Jones guy not to spare any hand grenades for me, I want at least ten hand grenades thrown into each building, I want to blow them alive in those damn buildings!"

  Although my words are somewhat exaggerated, in this kind of battle where every house is fiercely contested, hand grenades often prove to be much more useful than guns. This was clearly demonstrated during the German siege of Stalingrad, which showcased a unique way of using weapons in urban warfare. In World War II statistics, even the US military, with its well-coordinated armor, artillery, and air support, would normally use at least 500 hand grenades per battalion per day in urban combat, and sometimes several times that number!

  "Ensign Jones! Lieutenant Conti says not to spare the grenades, he wants you to throw ten into each building!" Jones's guard said.

  "Damn it, I know!" Jones said without turning around: "Tell Rumbold, now that he's the class leader, to lead his class and occupy the top floor of that building! Tell him I'm going to set up machine guns up there!"

  "Yes!" The guard ran quickly to the front!

  "Clyde! We're going to take over the top floor of that building, are you coming with us?" Lombo called out to Clyde who was behind him.

  "I'm going, and I'll avenge my brother too!" Clyde glanced at Cook, who was already dead.

  "Alright, then come with us!"

  Berkman quickly retreated from the original sniper point to the sewer pipe under the city, and then to this building. Before he could catch his breath, a loud explosion came from that abandoned building. Berkman smiled and muttered to himself: "I wonder how many were killed this time? God willing, I hope it's more!"

  "Bergman, you're back! You did a great job!" In this building, there were still several German soldiers hiding, who saw Bergman escape from his original sniper point and greeted him with laughter.

  "Be careful, the Yanks are coming!" Burkman said, patting the shoulder of the young German soldier nearest to him.

  "Thanks, as long as I'm here, they'll never set foot in this building!" The young German soldier said with a firm face after glancing at the door.

  Bergman nodded, since the war started every day he saw a lot of dead people, whether they were Germans or enemies, even innocent civilians, had made his heart become extremely ruthless, and any kind of death scene was numb and indifferent. To be honest, Bergman could no longer distinguish who was right or wrong in this war, all he knew was that he had fought in another country before, and now he was fighting for Germany not to repeat the tragic situation of the occupied countries. Bergman said sarcastically: "Well, I'm just a talking corpse who can still shoot! Now I'm alive, just doing my best to defend my country, defend Germany!"

  Berkman thought and thought, and suddenly his wife and a few-year-old son at home appeared in his mind, falling in the Allied bombing, countless people wailed helplessly and moaned miserably in the bombing, and unconsciously several familiar faces of comrades-in-arms floated before him again. Berkman's eyes moistened instantly!

  Someone hummed softly, the German army's battle song "The Brown Squad Song", the low voice suddenly made every German soldier in the house seem like a movie, countless former comrades' voices and smiles, former bloody battles The scene all appeared before their eyes, silent tears wetted their faces.