As a bright orange fireball exploded on the side of the M4 tank, the barrel that had been slowly turning immediately stopped. Then Cabel, who had been following the tank and was now lying on the ground, saw the escape door under the M4 tank open, and a tank crew member with a bloody face got out of it and crawled towards the back of the tank. There was still a fire on his trouser leg - apparently, the M4 tank once again showed the innocence of a lighter, and once again hit it. Another man came out behind him, but he didn't crawl right away, he lay on the ground, turned around with great effort, and pulled a wounded man out desperately.

At this time, the hatch on the turret was also opened, and apparently, due to the fire, the people inside had no time to escape through the escape door in turn, and they were going to take a chance from the hatch above.

The Germans also noticed this, so the bullets of the MG-42 crackled right near the turret of the tank. Desperately blocked the exit.

"Ziegler! Grenade! Cabell shouted to Ziegler beside him. At the same time, he jerked out a grenade.

The grenade exploded between the pillbox and the tank, and the smoke and dust of the explosion temporarily obscured the German machine gunners' view. Ziegler followed suit with a grenade. Taking advantage of the gap between the grenade explosion, one of the tank crew members jumped out of the hatch, and one rolled over and jumped behind the tank. Then he fell to the ground and rolled twice, extinguishing the flames on his body.

"Is there anyone else in there?" Cabell asked.

"There's no one left, and Billy was killed on the spot. And the fire inside the tank is not small, and the source of fire is very close to the ammunition. The tanker said, "We're going to lean back a bit, the ammunition in the tank could be destroyed." ”

Cabell immediately changed her face. The M4 tank did not have a high rate of destruction, and compared to the T-34 and IS-2 tanks of the Soviets, the M4 tank was more concerned about the protection of ammunition. At the same time, the ammunition used by the Americans itself was somewhat safer than that of the Soviets. Therefore, even if it is to be killed, the M4 tank will leave everyone with much longer time to escape than the Soviet tank. Of course, the ammunition of the Soviets was not useless, for example, in terms of grenade power, the grenades of the T-34/85 tanks of the Soviets were even more powerful than the grenades of the Germans, a slightly larger caliber 88-mm tank guns. Of course, one consequence of using more powerful and unstable explosives is that once the tank is hit, the chance of a fire in the vicinity of the ammunition is very high. And it often doesn't leave much time for members to escape.

"Stand back! Fast! Back off! Cabell gave orders to his soldiers as he threw two more grenades at the bunker. The soldiers also retreated as they fired at the pillbox with their M1 semi-automatic rifles and Browning automatic rifles.

At this time, from the other side, another point of German fire suddenly appeared. It was a bunker, and it opened fire with the bunker just now, forming a crossfire, crushing the Americans who were about to retreat to the point where they could barely lift their heads.

At this time, the flames on the M4 tank were burning bigger and bigger, and from the hatch you could already see not only the smoke coming out, but even the flames rising. At this time, Cabell was only about ten meters away from the tank. If a tank is killed, it is definitely not safe at this distance.

Fortunately, the tank did not explode as expected, and even until the flames gradually subsided, the tank did not explode. Only now, Cabel's two bunkers still have no way at all. In the meantime since then, two more soldiers have been wounded.

To add insult to injury, a German mortar that did not know where to hide also began to fire at them. This makes them unsafe even if they lie honestly in the crater.

Fortunately, at this time, a savior appeared, and two P/A-47 attack aircraft appeared in the sky. Now that Caen Airport is in service, even the short-legged P/A-47 can get a considerable amount of airtime.

German mortars became the first targets to be attacked. A P/A-47 swooped in and hit a long shè with a 20-mm gun, and the mortar was immediately dumb.

However, the two pillboxes of the Germans were well concealed, and it was difficult for the pilots to find the target when they looked down from the air.

"Carter! Hair shè indicates the gun grenade! Cabel shouted.

Carter lay down in a crater, loaded a grenade with a green ring onto the barrel, then carefully poked out half of his head, looked at the position of the bunker, and then he first fired a grenade at the bunker.

The grenade landed near the shè hole in the bunker, but it did not explode, but only burned violently, emitting a puff of orange smoke.

"Red Spider One, look there! At 2 o'clock! Wingman Doy reminded,

"I saw it, we climbed a little higher and prepared to dive to attack." Long Machine Grant replied. He pulled up the P/A-47 and climbed all the way to an altitude of 1,500 meters, then began to dive, at a wide angle of 80 degrees, towards the pillbox.

As early as the moment when the grenade landed next to the pillbox and began to emit orange smoke, the Germans in the pillbox knew that the situation was not good. The German machine gunner tried to hit the thing a little farther away with a bullet at first, but the thing was just in the dead corner of the shè and couldn't hit it at all. And by this time, the Germans noticed that the sound of the plane seemed to be starting to get quieter. They knew that this was not a good sign, that the enemy plane had turned into a dive, and the bombs were about to fall.

A German guy ran out of the bunker and towards the remaining section of the trench on the right. He suddenly stopped, his hands stretched out to the sky as if trying to grasp something, and fell headlong to the ground.

Squatting in a large crater, Ziegler retracted his M1903 sniper rifle, and with a faint smoke still rising from the muzzle, he took out a small notebook and made another note on it: forty-one.

By this time, Grant's P/A-47 had swooped down, and a 500-pound hammer — the Army pilot's nickname for the 500-pound bomb — was dropped at an altitude of 800 meters. Grant flattened the plane, and then he heard an explosion from below, and the wingman shouting, "Red Spider One, a nice home run!" ”

The bomb hit the bunker directly, blowing it to pieces. The broken cement blocks flew hundreds of meters and almost hit Cabel's head.

Perhaps frightened by the bomb, several Germans in the bunker on the other side ran out of the bunker and ran towards the back before Carter could pass the cigarette grenade.

"Red Spider 2, do you see those Germans? Interested? ”

", it's just a few infantrymen, not interested!"

The pilots of the Army Air Corps have a taste and do not look down on a few infantrymen. But the guys in the Army Ground Forces can be so picky. The M1 semi-automatic rifle, the M1903 sniper rifle, and the Browning automatic rifle all opened fire, quickly killing the Germans on the ground.

"Send a green sè flare to the sky to show your gratitude." "Then we went on the offensive!" ”

……

Compared with the first day in history, which only advanced about a mile, in this time and space, with the support of attack aircraft, using ground-air cooperation, the US military continued to pull out those remaining strong support points of the German army. It took a day to advance a full 5 miles and successfully complete the planned goal.

……

Night fell in the French wilderness, and after a long day, the large-scale fighting ceased for a moment. However, the wilderness has not fully returned to its tranquility. From time to time, you can still hear the low roar of the engines of the bombers flying at night. Sometimes, a sharp whoosh will reach your ears, and it is T34Calleope attacking the enemy's position.

This T34Calliope has nothing to do with the Russian T-34 tank, and it has nothing to do with the T34 heavy tank with a 120-high gun of the Americans. It is just a modified self-propelled rocket launcher on the M4 Sherman tank using 114mm rockets.

In order to prevent the Germans from launching a counterattack at night, the American troops appropriately retreated a little and leveled the battle line. At eight o'clock in the evening, the commander of the US Army Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Leslie James McNner, quietly came to the front, intending to learn from the soldiers about the daytime battles, especially the camouflage of the fortifications by the Germans.

At this time, a large group of B-24 Liberator bombers also set off to launch an air attack. Their goal was a possible staging point for the Germans. While such a bombing might not have really hit many Germans, it would at least disrupt the Germans' rhythm and prevent them from launching too powerful counterattacks at night.

The bombers reached the vicinity of the target, and since the German fighters, even the night fighters, had already been beaten down by the Allies, the American P-61 Black Widow and the British Mosquito night fighters were now the masters of the night sky. Therefore, these bombers also boldly turned on the searchlights used when landing, and sent a signal to the ground: "Our aircraft group is ready to launch a bombing, in order to avoid accidental hits, please indicate your position." ”

Strings of flares rose from the ground.

Then, from the B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, the signal was sent again: "Please indicate the target for us." So, an M7 priest fired a flare into the distance.

"Damn! I just counted the wrong squares! No sooner had the flare been fired than a junior officer shouted, "I'm in a few rows, and the flare will fall on ...... will fall on the head of General Leslie! ”

At the same time, Leslie was surprised to find that a flare was lit right above their heads, illuminating his surroundings as if it were daylight.