The Third Empire Volume 2 Before the War Chapter 2 Armed Party Guards

  "Hurry up! Each class enters the formation in sequence, without my order, you are not allowed to expose your position!"

  The mortar team quickly found an abandoned farmhouse with the help of the residents, a large house with a collapsed west-facing wall. From this direction, the mortar team had good visibility and set up their mortar base plate, bringing in 15.8 kg shells which they stacked in sequence next to the mortar. If ordered, the loader would load the shell into the mortar according to the instructions of the gunner.

  Caliber: 81.4 mm, barrel length: 1.144 m, combat weight: 64 kg, muzzle velocity: 172 m/s. Maximum range: 2400 m, maximum dispersion radius: 22.5 m. A mortar requires four people to operate, two of whom are responsible for selecting the type of shell it can fire; 34 HE shells, 38 hollow charge shells, 39 hollow charge shells, and 40 concrete piercing shells. The range of each shell is different, the correction hand will tell the gunner what shell to choose, and then the gunner will command the loader to load which shell.

  A squad will be configured outside the farmhouse as a protector, and the artillery members will not be equipped with too many weapons. The main gunner of each mortar will be equipped with a modified Sturmgewehr 1928 automatic rifle as the primary defensive weapon for the four people, while other personnel are equipped with a pistol each.

  The other three squads disperse into the civilian houses, where they will monitor every move outside from the attic windows. In case of war or alert, this unit at the platoon level will be temporarily cancelled, and the platoon leader must enter the position to issue orders for correction according to the development of the situation. The non-commissioned officers in the platoon will be assigned to each squad, but they cannot interfere with the command of the squad leader. Only when the squad leader is killed or unable to command due to certain circumstances can the dispatched officer take over the command.

  At that time, the national defense army did not have the ability to equip communication equipment at the company level. Many times, the connection between the battalion and the company required communication soldiers to shuttle through the battlefield under gunfire to deliver orders. The mortality rate of communication soldiers was no lower than that of frontline soldiers. Many times, communication soldiers were the main target of enemy hunting.

  Signal corps soldiers were equipped with a Mauser 98 rifle and two wooden-handled grenades. It must be noted that one of the grenades was for use against the enemy, while the other was prepared to ensure military secrecy; if they felt that military secrets could not be kept safe, they had the right to choose to pull the fuse... letting military secrets and their bodies be destroyed in iron and fire!

  In general, self-mutilation by soldiers is not allowed and will be sent to a military tribunal depending on the situation if serious (on the premise that the soldier has not died). Signal corps are not within this provision, so they are generally respected by soldiers!

  The sudden arrival of the soldiers did not cause panic among the townspeople, who cooperated by vacating their rooms. The elderly in each household would lead their families to the basement to take cover from possible gunfire.

  For a while, the town of Cob was quiet. At noon, this silence seemed eerie, and on the main street, there were only ownerless wild dogs running around, looking for something to eat.

  Xu Yang's position was in the bell tower of a church, which is generally the tallest building in a small town. With Xu Yang in the bell tower were two communication soldiers on standby and a sniper team, which did not belong to the platoon's establishment but was an affiliated special unit of the division.

  Seeing the empty streets, Xu Yang slightly furrowed his brow. This was extremely abnormal, and he couldn't help but bitterly smile; the obedience of the German people was too high. It seemed that at this time, the excellent national quality had become a burden to his mission.

  "Hmm...Hmm...Hmm..."

  The wooden ladder of the bell tower creaked as the soldiers sent to scout came up, "Junior Lieutenant, they have stopped in an open area three kilometers ahead and are forming a line!"

  Xu Yang looked as far as he could, but his view was blocked by a forest and he didn't see anything. "Puru, do you see any cannons or other heavy artillery?"

  Pru is the name of this forty-year-old soldier who participated in World War I and used to do reconnaissance work. "Lieutenant, they don't have heavy artillery. However, there are a lot of them, about 35,000 people, all equipped with Mauser 98 rifles, no large-scale killing weapons (cannons, hand grenades) were seen."

  "Alright, thank you! You can rest here for a while." After that, Xu Yang turned to the communication soldier, "Galan, record..."

  The communications soldier Gulan hastily pulled out a notebook and pen.

  "Front line position; first row has spotted the target, no heavy artillery, 35,000 men, all equipped with Mauser 98 rifles. First row platoon leader Lieutenant Kahn-von-Staak."

  The temple record is complete, waiting for Xu Yang's signature, and rushing down the stairs immediately.

  Xu Yang took out the signal gun from his waist and pointed it outside the window, wanting to press the trigger at that moment, but then put the signal gun away. "Puru, work a bit harder! Order: the whole row enters combat alert!"

  Pu Ru was originally leaning against the wall resting, he heard the order and hastily saluted, then also ran down from the loft. His expression did not show any dissatisfaction.

  Xu Yang looked down through the window, Pu Lu was running back and forth on the street, every time he finished informing a class, he would gesture towards the clock tower, finally he entered a residential building at the intersection, and didn't come out again.

  Xu Yang focused on looking ahead at the road, the big trees on both sides of the road blocked out the sunlight, and the view there was not very good.

  About an hour later, the sound of engines roaring came from the other side of the road, and a truck full of SS soldiers appeared at the intersection. They jumped out quickly and dispersed into the forest.

  That was a vanguard squad led by the SS third-class squad leader, their mission was to explore the road and ensure its safety. Soon, all the SS troops who entered the forest came out again, starting to move in the direction of the town. Perhaps it was the empty town that made the third-class squad leader suspicious, he began to order the SS troops to be on guard and explore.

  Half an hour later, the SS squad reassembled and under the command of the squad leader they climbed back onto the trucks and drove away amidst roaring engines.

  The hiding place was carefully selected by Xu Yang's department after careful research and planning, although it was secret, but it could not guarantee that it would not be discovered. It can only be said that the SS did not conduct a detailed inspection, here is the small town of Koberwitz in Cottbus, which is German territory, not an enemy country, besides, they are not here to fight.

  About half an hour later, the bell tower began to sway and dust fell all over Xu Yang. The sound of footsteps came from the west, that kind of rhythmic footsteps sounded very neat. First appearing at the intersection was a Volkswagen convertible, Hitler standing on the back seat looked spirited, Hal sat beside him. This car's speed was very slow.

  Behind the car was a phalanx carrying the swastika party flag, this phalanx had about 1,500 people, their team stretched very long. Every few teams, the flags carried by the SS would be different, with one similar to the ancient Roman war flag style swastika frame battle flag.

  Xu Yang was on the bell tower looking down, this visual stimulation made his breathing rapid. The flag-bearing phalanx later only had a simple red background '卐' theme, the flag-bearing SS were all robust men, this kind of flag was very large and required enough strength to hold it up.

  The flag-bearing squad followed Hitler's car from the center of the small town, and another musical squad appeared. This squad had about three hundred people, each holding not weapons but instruments in their hands. They stopped for a moment at the intersection, and under the command of the conductor, they played the melody of the Nazi Party song.

  The band struck up and the troops moved off, continuing to march. The infantry battalion in grey SA uniform finally appeared, shouldering their rifles and goose-stepping along with mouths open wide in song as they sang the stirring Nazi Party anthem, making their formation look even more formidable.

  Xu Yang's hand was trembling, his emotions were too excited. He found that the sniper's finger on the trigger was also trembling, and he quickly said: "Put away your guns, I don't want to exchange fire with them due to some accident."

  Sniper Jerry only realized that he was drenched in sweat when he heard the sound, "Lieutenant. Did you see that? They're really something!"

  Xu Yang knew that Jeryl had been stunned by the armed SS troops. In fact, it was not only Jeryl who felt stunned, but also the soldiers arranged by Xu Yang in various civilian residences at this time had already abandoned their vigilance and were intently watching the armed SS troops' parade.

  Such a march is really shocking!

  ———————————————————————————————