Chapter 5 The Sky

  The food supply in the rear has not been transported, and Lin En can only close his eyes and not look at those who have had the good fortune to drink hot soup - perhaps there are only a few leaves of vegetables or a little bread crumbs inside, but on this harsh battlefield it is already precious! Not long after, the sound of people's panicked shouts suddenly came from my ears. By the time Lin En crawled out of the trench, the hand-cranked air raid siren had also started wailing.

  A squadron of dark green fighter jets appeared in view, Lin En squinted his eyes to identify whether they were fighters or attack aircraft. Just then, someone in the trench suddenly cheered loudly, and when he turned around, two gray-green camouflage-painted fighter jets flew over from the opposite direction. They were agile and swift, their speed seemed very fast, and in an instant they swept across the sky above the position, the iron cross emblem under their wings shining like stars in the dark night!

  For the first time in two days, the silhouette of our fighter plane appeared, and many soldiers in the trenches joined the cheering crowd, some even excitedly waving their arms. The two German fighters charged towards the Soviet air fleet with a pleasant humming sound, firing the first "da-da-da" machine gun burst. Due to the daytime, standing on the ground looking up, only the trajectory of the tracer bullets could be vaguely identified, and they rushed towards the Soviet air fleet in front. In just an instant, six Soviet fighters had already dodged and weaved, avoiding the attack, but the first shot from the German planes did not bring down a single enemy plane. This made the German soldiers watching on the ground, including Linen in the trenches, involuntarily hold their breath. The two German planes, which were at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, quickly pulled up, and their climbing speed and posture seemed to be more impressive than their opponents. After forming a double-machine tactical formation with one plane leading and the other following, they locked onto one of the dark green Soviet fighters and followed it. The Soviet fighter was also trying to climb, but when it discovered that it was being targeted, it immediately leveled off and turned sharply. This move was very effective, and the remaining dark green Soviet fighters quickly adjusted their direction and flew towards the German plane with a "tail". At the critical moment, the leading German fighter opened fire first, and the long burst of four or five seconds caused the Soviet plane to lose its wings in mid-air, tumbling down like a bird with broken wings, eventually crashing into an empty field and exploding into a massive fireball.

  The German soldiers who were watching the battle on the ground suddenly burst into applause, and Lynn's heart also fluttered slightly. From the scene, it can be seen that from the moment the German fighter planes took off to when they scored their first victory, their movements were as smooth as flowing clouds. The Soviet warplanes, which outnumbered them three to one, did not have bombs or auxiliary fuel tanks hanging under their bellies, which would affect their speed and maneuverability. However, in terms of reaction time, they seemed to be half a beat slower. If the tactics were right, it was possible for the German fighter planes to win two against six?

  The idea that had been hidden in the depths of his mind had just surfaced when Lin En was immediately hit: the Soviet military planes that had sneaked up from behind opened fire one after another. The sound of the machine guns was like stir-frying beans, clear and continuous, and the leading German fighter plane quickly made a sideways rolling motion, but the one behind it seemed to have reacted half a beat late, and immediately fell into the enemy's fierce hail of bullets.

  With great reluctance, German officers and soldiers watched as their own fighter planes also crashed to the ground in smoke.

  The era of the German Air Force dominating Europe is gone forever!

  Before the plane crashed, the German pilot managed to parachute in time. The white parachute bloomed in the air, but with an indelible sense of sadness. The Soviet fighter did not shoot down the parachuting pilot, but instead chased after another German fighter, which had a five-to-one disadvantage and was not embarrassed to escape. The agile fighter performed acrobatic rolls in the air, as if it were a knight dodging swords and guns while trapped in an enemy formation. Thanks to the pilot's calm operation and the plane's superior performance, it even found another chance to attack and opened fire. However, this strike not only failed to take down the opponent but was also seized by other Soviet planes, ultimately ending with the same dismal fate as its companion.

  This intense and varied dogfight lasted less than 5 minutes, but its brilliance and depth far surpassed the air show performances decades later. Watching the second German fighter crash to the ground, Lynn's mood was as gloomy as it could get - what's the point of being a hero when you can't even save yourself? With this situation, even if he were to replace the Führer and lead Germany now, there would be no way to turn the tide.

  The only glimmer of hope also vanished under the rising sun, and Lin En had to carefully consider the current situation and future prospects of this terrible transmigration.

  The air battle was over, but the fight had not ended. In the midst of the German soldiers' urgent shouts, those dark green war eagles dived down. Even without carrying bombs, they could slaughter the defenders on the ground with their machine guns and cannons. A string of bullets whizzed through the air, instantly stirring up large clouds of dust and debris in the trenches and surrounding areas. In a hurry, Lin En, like most soldiers, shrank directly to the bottom of the trench. However, before effective anti-aircraft fire was formed, Soviet fighter jets were almost all conducting low-altitude sweeps along the trenches - to avoid linear casualties caused by artillery fire, the trenches were intentionally dug in a winding "bow" shape, otherwise, a single accurate horizontal sweep by the Soviet warplanes could even wipe out an entire trench of soldiers!

  Crouching, eyes closed, letting the bullets whizz by his ears, at this moment Lin En had no choice but to entrust his fate to the ruler of this world. At a certain moment, he suddenly felt that what was most terrifying was not death, but standing on the edge of life and death without knowing what to do; at a certain moment, the mud splashed by the bullets fell on his face and hands, and he thought he was about to game over, yet somehow put down his worries; at a certain moment, he suddenly felt that he missed his family and friends so much, missing every single person who had been good or bad to him, and sincerely prayed to heaven to let him return to his own era, even if it meant shortening his lifespan by thirty years.

  Time flowed slowly in the midst of torture, the machine gun fire still howled, but it sounded like it was coming from nearby. The rumbling cannon fire also "arrived late", accompanied by explosive sounds that covered up the mechanical hum that had once enveloped his head. Gradually, the trenches were filled with people shouting and talking again, although not a single sentence was intelligible to Lin En, but he knew in his heart that he had survived another disaster. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was a scene like purgatory: the trenches were littered with the remains of the fallen and the wounded of varying degrees, and the ground became even more muddy under the soaking of blood!

  "Are you okay?" Seeing the yellow hair covering his arm in pain and leaning against the trench wall, Lin En was anxious for a moment and said a sentence in Chinese, which also sounded very awkward to himself. The yellow hair just stared at him with a numb expression that seemed to be dying.

  In his early years, Lin En had taken a first aid course in school and knew some basic wound dressing and hemostasis. Thinking that there would be many casualties after the air raid and that the medical personnel following the army might not arrive immediately, he hesitated for a moment before taking another step forward. From what he could see directly, Huang Mao's injury should have been on his right arm, with fresh blood already soaking through half of his sleeve. Lin En tried to move Huang Mao's left hand covering the wound away, but both of his arms remained stiff in their original position. He had no choice but to use more force, and only then was he able to move his hand away. Then, Lin En immediately discovered with shock that Huang Mao's right arm, along with the armpit area, was a bloody mess, with even parts of the limb clearly missing skin...

  Before, seeing a bloody scene would make him nauseous, but with his full attention focused, Lin En had already thrown away these instinctive reactions. He learned from others to tear open the first-aid kit he was carrying, stuffing the entire hemostatic bandage into Huang Mao's armpit, and propping up his neck with his own arm. Throughout this process, Huang Mao maintained a numb expression, his eyes somewhat dull, only his pale lips trembling slightly, several large drops of sweat sliding down from his temples.

  "Midizna! Midizna!"

  Linn loudly called out to the medic, one of the few German phrases he had picked up from eavesdropping and self-study over the past two days. He had originally intended to use it when he himself was injured, but never thought he would be using it for a comrade.

  He had been shouting for a long time, but the medical soldier did not appear. Suddenly, Huang Mao grasped Lin En tightly with his left hand, his empty eyes seemed to penetrate everything and saw another world, his lips opened and closed, barely uttering a few unclear words, the force on his hand suddenly increased greatly. Lin En's hand was very painful, but he endured it and didn't pull back, actually just for a moment, the hand holding him lost its strength, while the weight borne by his arm increased instead.

  Lynn closed her eyes in agony, silently experiencing the terrifying death that was near at hand, experiencing the infinite sorrow of life's downfall, experiencing the bloodiness and cruelty of this world...