Chapter 12: Qing Dao Fu

  After five consecutive dives and strafing, the Soviet aircraft finally pulled up and flew away, leaving a mess around the highway. The surviving German soldiers were left pale and stunned, their eyes filled with endless sorrow. They silently helped the wounded or searched for possible survivors among the debris, while two communication personnel were killed and injured, and the only backpack radio was also destroyed, the situation looked really bad!

  Although Lin was lucky enough to escape unscathed from the air raid, he couldn't shake off the feeling of unease. If the purpose of fighting wasn't to kill but to survive, then what was the value of survival? Knowing that this war was doomed to lose, as an ordinary and humble member of the German army, was it still necessary to continue holding on?

  Just as he was entangled in these problems, Lin En's arm was suddenly tapped, and his heart skipped a beat. When he realized that the familiar face belonged to "Butcher", he didn't think much and made a bitter smile - the bitter taste was self-evident.

  Looking around at the miserable scene, the "Butcher" had a deep expression. When he turned around, Lin En discovered that on his right cheekbone, there was a three-centimeter-long blood stain, and the wound was still bleeding. The bloodstain matched with his cold expression, making him look even more unyielding and resolute.

  The butcher may not have realized he was injured, Lynn pointed to his cheek and touched the right jawbone position. The butcher wiped it with his hand, saw the bloody fingers, but walked towards the highway with his rifle without any emotion.

  Looking at his back, Lin En was silent.

  Before the next batch of Soviet warplanes arrived, the German soldiers set off again. Although the officers did not form a team, the soldiers were not without any formation to speak of, and the simple marching column seemed loose but still maintained order. It was just that there were fewer armored vehicles and a considerable number of soldiers, and more wounded who needed to be carried on stretchers or supported by their companions, this troop was filled with a depressed and oppressive atmosphere.

  Due to the damage of the radio station, the team temporarily lost direct contact with the rear command post. After discussion, the officers did not issue new orders. The team continued to move along the highway, and after about half an hour, they arrived at a dilapidated village. The empty trenches outside the village indicated that the defending army should have withdrawn voluntarily, and the snow-covered area around the village had chaotic tank tracks. Two soldiers with big earflaps ran over to check and drew a five-pointed star in the air from a distance, indicating that Soviet tanks had passed through here before - judging from the extension direction of the tank tracks, the tanks went north from here, while the small road on the west side only had ordinary wheel prints. Therefore, the officers let the team stay in this village for a short time, sending out several soldiers to run and scout in different directions, while gathering together to discuss the next combat action.

  After walking nearly three kilometers, the soldiers heard the command to rest and sat down in a relatively dry place to drink water and eat bread. Lin En voluntarily sat next to "Butcher", at this time the wound on his cheek had stopped bleeding naturally, and the bloodstains that hadn't been wiped away turned black, half of his face looked very ferocious. Perhaps feeling Lin En's gaze or for some other reason, "Butcher" turned his head to speak. Lin En was helpless, could only point to his ears and shake his head, pretending that his ears were still not very sensitive. "Butcher" didn't say anything else, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, which seemed to have only a few left, but he unhesitatingly poured all the cigarettes out and distributed them to his subordinates, leaving only one for himself.

  For health and to save money, Lin En hasn't smoked since graduating from school. He had turned around a few times at the Ghost Gate Pass, and his usual worries had long been thrown away. Lin En took over the cigarette without any burden and lit it with his companion's match. This unfiltered white paper cigarette was only seen in the hands of the older generation in the early years, just like the legendary German army-issued cigarettes that were extremely pungent, with a strong flavor that had a hint of "horse dung", but after taking two puffs, he didn't find it so unpleasant anymore.

  Between swallowing clouds and spitting out fog, Lin En suddenly thought of the phrase "A great man should die on the battlefield, wrapped in horse leather and returned" in his mind. It was originally full of heroic and generous meaning, but thinking about it now is inevitably a bit sad: what does it mean for an ordinary citizen who accidentally crossed over to this foreign land to hang up on the battlefield?

  With a heavy heart, he was smoking, and when he wasn't paying attention, he accidentally burned his lips. Lin En awkwardly wiped his mouth, this action made the people around him laugh, even "Butcher" who always had a cold expression moved the corner of his mouth, which could be considered as a smile.

  Having gone through the trials of war together, Lin En now wanted to make light conversation with his comrades, but the language barrier continued to plague him - in the past, he had seen protagonists in novels either inherit the body's language ability, or coincidentally learn the foreign language, or have a natural talent for it without any training. What made him even more regretful was that during his university days, he had the opportunity to attend an intensive German course, but at that time, he thought studying abroad was too far-fetched for him and didn't even try before giving up.

  Regretting the past or blaming others is useless, Lin En thought that if she had a Chinese-German dictionary it would be great. She made use of every spare moment to study, and although she couldn't speak fluently in a short period of time, at least she could gradually solve some communication problems. Otherwise, no matter how long she stayed here, she could only learn a few words through other people's conversations.

  Linn was thinking about this when he suddenly saw the two soldiers who were sent to scout north rushing back at a speed of 100 meters, frantically waving their hands while running. If they had encountered their own people, they wouldn't be so frantic, and one of the soldiers' gestures seemed to indicate that something was coming this way, and everyone should run quickly. Linn's heart suddenly sank: Could it be that the Soviet armored unit received news and made a comeback?

  What's feared comes, on the hill at the end of one's line of sight, a cannon barrel suddenly "stretched" out, followed by the appearance of the tank turret and body, that distinctive tilt can only be a T-34!

  After the first T-34 appeared, the second and third also climbed up that small hill. They came from there along the highway at most three kilometers away, a distance fully within the range of 76.2 or 85mm tank guns.

  Just as a German army captain pointed west and shouted, the Soviet tanks opened fire. The German soldiers who were temporarily resting around the village immediately fled in panic, but how fast can legs be compared to shells? In just four or five seconds, the Soviet shells whizzed by, and although the shooting was not very accurate while moving, the target area was hit with ease. Three shells landed north and west of the village, and the blast immediately sent two unfortunate steel helmets flying backwards, and the flying shrapnel killed several more people. At this time, the German officers were unable to command, but fortunately, the soldiers still followed their last order to move west - although it was not in the direction away from the Soviet tanks, they had a chance to return to their own controlled area.

  Lin En remembered a story about two people encountering a bear, the one who ran faster than his companion would naturally escape the bear's attack. At first glance, this logic seemed to apply to their current situation as well. Faced with the Soviet tank troops, the remaining three hundred or so German soldiers had no chance of withstanding the enemy's attack in a positional battle or head-on encounter. Desperately running away seemed like the only path to survival, but reality was not that simple. Because they had rested at a relatively rear position earlier, Lin En and his group of soldiers fell behind, with Soviet tank shells constantly whizzing down, explosions erupting one after another, threatening to take the lives of some or all of them at any moment. However, the officers did not turn around and run forward without looking back; instead, they calmly took up the rear guard for the soldiers. The ordinary soldiers who were bringing up the rear were indeed very frightened, but under their encouragement, they slowed down their pace and kept a certain distance, so that the officers could move at any time. This kind of moral character made Lin En feel deeply moved once again - if there were half as many German soldiers with this quality in front of them, would they have lost Jinling City?

  With a sigh, Lin En knew that he and the people around him would be in a precarious situation if they took the initiative to cover the main force. Holding the "PPSh", he ran while looking back, with more than ten Soviet tanks in his line of sight, each carrying combat infantry, and what seemed to be trucks carrying infantry behind them. They quickly left the highway and drove directly across the fields towards this side, bringing the distance between the two sides to less than two kilometers. Although ordinary machine guns were still out of range, the high-explosive shells fired by the T-34 could reap the lives of German soldiers like harvesting wheat.

  As they watched the soldiers around them fall under the Soviet tank fire, they arrived at a small mound slightly higher than the ground level. The tall and thin warrant officer shouted: "Lokah Voditar!"

  Other officers in the rear guard, including those with two stripes on their sleeves, known as "butchers", immediately called out to their subordinates with the same command. Seeing his companions rushing to find a fighting position, Lin En guessed that this was an order for "local combat". A person cannot be arrogant, but he cannot be without pride. As an Easterner born in peacetime and raised in a wealthy society, Lin En was introverted and not good at socializing. If he worked hard and diligently, he would only live a mediocre life. However, these three days of intense fighting had completely changed his perspective. In the face of blood and fire, life and death, human nature's glory and ugliness were fully revealed. Putting aside weakness and fear, Lin En was quietly undergoing a transformation he never thought possible. At this moment, although he did not have the courage to die heroically, he felt honored to be part of this brave and determined army, and his heart had no regrets about dying in battle.