The suspicion that there might be enemy paratroopers in his rear made the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division move more cautiously at night. Visit and download txt novel // You know, if there really is such a paratrooper unit equipped with highly mobile airborne self-propelled high shè guns, then it is entirely possible that they will launch a new ambush at some position. And at night, the likelihood of being ambushed is also higher. In order to avoid falling into the enemy's ambush circle, the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division had to send troops to investigate and seize the high ground when the main force passed through those areas where there might be enemy ambushes.

This is certainly safer, but it also slows down the march. In addition, the Allied bombers suddenly intensified their sāo harassment along the way, and in addition to dropping flares constantly, they also dropped a large number of time bombs, a kind of trouble that the 17th Panzergrenadier Division had not encountered before. At first, the 17th Panzergrenadier Division was not familiar with this thing, and only ignored it as a dud bomb that did not explode. As a result, a bomb suddenly exploded when a convoy was passing by, overturning three trucks at once, killing and injuring nearly 200 people. Plagued by these factors, the entire division moved almost half as slowly as a few days ago.

Now, in order to gain time, the troops can't even follow the usual process to clear those damn time bombs. Now, for example, just five or six meters from the road, a 250-pound time bomb is planted in the dirt on the side of the road, and no one knows when it will explode. Maybe an hour later, maybe half an hour later, maybe the next second. Under normal circumstances, the fuse of this bomb should be removed by a specialized EOD personnel, and then the bomb should be moved to a safe position before the whole army passes. But now the Germans did not have time to deal with it in this way, because if they could not reach a safe hiding point at night, by daytime they would be exposed to the absolute superiority of the enemy's air power.

So now the procedure for dealing with these time bombs is much simpler, and the first step that wastes the most time is omitted. Directly on the second step, several people risk being blown to pieces, dig up the bomb, and then, load it onto a half-track trailer, drag it to a safe enough distance to throw it away. Of course, it was very dangerous to do so, and just half an hour earlier, Koepke had seen with his own eyes that the same 250-pound aerial bomb suddenly exploded without warning as the three soldiers and the trailer driver lifted the time bomb and prepared to put it on the trailer. The four soldiers, who didn't even have time to scream, were torn to shreds by the bomb along with the half-track.

Now, as a company commander, Koepke is watching the three young men in his company who volunteered to carry out this dangerous mission, step by step, towards the time bomb that could swallow their lives at any time.

"Have you figured it out? It is very dangerous to carry out this kind of mission, and you can die at any time. "These are the words that Koepke said to the three soldiers who came forward automatically when he was selecting the volunteers for the platoon in his company.

"Didn't I order that one of you must attend, you can not go at all, no one will accuse you for this, do you still insist on going?"

"Yes sir!" Rams, the youngest of the four, who was only 18 years old, replied firmly, "I am willing to give my life for the Führer and for Germany!" This is my glory! Koepke could clearly see the frenzied sparkle shining in his big eyes.

This answer left Koepke speechless for a long time, and he finally had to reach out and gently pat Rams on the shoulder. Then he turned to the second volunteer, Ziggy......

Now that the three of them had walked to the bomb, Ziggy held on to the bomb and lit it up with a flashlight between his head and shoulder. Rams and Gauss, each with a pickaxe, began to dig up the soil next to the bomb. Nearly half of the bomb was planted in the dirt on the side of the road, and it took the three men several minutes to dig it out. At this time, a half-track trailer also drove quickly, and the driver jumped out of the driver's seat and pulled a rope and a thick wooden stick out of the body. Several people hurriedly tied up the bomb, and let the latter work together to lift it up. In the distance, Kopke, who was watching this scene, felt as if his heart had been lifted together.

Four boys carried the bomb into the car, and then three people jumped into the car, and as Ziggy jumped on it, his foot tripped and one guy fell on the bomb. This almost scared everyone to faint. Fortunately, the bomb was still silent, and it seemed that there was no intention of exploding.

The driver of the half-track shouted, "Hold it up!" At the same time, he slammed on the accelerator and drove the half-track into the distance, disappearing into the night. About ten minutes later, maybe not that long, maybe only two or three minutes, the trailer appeared again, and there were quite a few people on it!

The crowd couldn't help but erupt in a suppressed, low cheer. Koepke rushed forward and hugged them one by one. He found them drenched in sweat.

"Well done! Attaboy! It's good to be back, it's good to be back! Koepke whispered as he hugged them.

But time is of the essence, and it is too much luxury to spend time on celebration. So everyone immediately climbed into the Opel truck to which they were assigned. The convoy moved again and headed off into the distance. At this moment, about 300 meters away, there was a loud bang - the time bomb had just exploded.

"It's really dangerous, if it was a little slower just now, we would ......" Hearing the explosion, Ziggy broke out in a cold sweat again.

However, the convoy had not been gone long before it stopped again - there were jǐng notices in front of it, and there were Allied planes. So all kinds of vehicles drove off the road and hung up camouflage nets.

I don't know how long it took for the roar of the enemy plane's engine to gradually fade away. So all the cars started moving forward again. It's just that this time I didn't get far either, and there was another jǐng report in front of me - the discovery of a time bomb.

……

At 4 a.m., it was still dark. On the "forward airfield" of the 21st Wing of attack aircraft, a busy day has begun. The apron was brightly lit, and ground crews were reloading attack aircraft. Today, the U.S. military is about to launch an attack on Saint-Sauvo, and the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing will provide direct fire support to the attack force.

According to information received by the Allies, the Germans not only did not evacuate the inhabitants of Saint-Sauvo, but even forbade them to leave on their own. So, in the city of Saint-Sauvo today, there are still thousands of peaceful residents. The presence of these inhabitants meant that the Allies would never be able to drop fuel-air bombs on the city. It was this kind of bomb that could not be used against the Germans, and if this thing was to be used to kill thousands, and possibly tens of thousands, of the French at once, de Gaulle would have to fight the Americans immediately. Therefore, the fuel air bombs that upset the balance of the game are useless, and now, the P/A-38 attack aircraft is being equipped with ordinary weapons.

In order to ensure the degree of attack and reduce accidental damage, the P/A-38s now have two 37mm guns hanging on the wings, for which the number of rockets mounted on the P/A-38 has dropped by four. The 37mm cannon is better than the rocket, but its range and power are also inferior to the rocket. This configuration actually increases the degree of its own attack at the cost of an increase in the threat to the attack aircraft.

However, the target of this sortie was not Saint-Sauveur, and although the attack on Saint-Sauveur was launched today, the general attack was scheduled for tomorrow. Today's launch is nothing more than an attack with fire reconnaissance. And the attack will not begin until the afternoon. So this time they went out, still trying to find trouble with the 17th Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier Division again.

In order to be more effective against the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, Ron played a small trick by not letting the night bombers use time bombs or the maximum intensity of the night attack during the previous night sāo. Ron felt that in this way, after a few days of night attacks, the Germans would get used to how far they could travel in one night, and arrange the hiding points for the next day, according to the previous results. But the night raid, which had skyrocketed in intensity last night, would certainly have delayed the Germans' trip. If you set off now, you may be able to see a lot of Germans on the road who don't have time to hide.

Half an hour later, just as the eastern sky began to whiten, 12 P/A-38 attack planes, six P-81 fighters, and two AC-47 attack planes flew into the sky one after another.

……

It's about to dawn, the commander of the 17th Panzergrenadier Division, Franz ?? Klingberg, realizing that at least half of his troops had too late to reach the hiding point. So he gave an order: "Units that are now more than 10 kilometers away from the intended target should immediately hide on the spot." "The order was first conveyed by telegram. However, considering that most of the troops below were on the march and most of them could not receive this order, he sent a signal corpsman on a motorcycle to convey this order.

"I don't know how many troops will be able to do a good job of concealment, and I don't know how much loss there will be today." Franz?? Klingberg thought, "In the face of such an enemy air superiority, even if we can arrive on time, we will definitely be exposed to the enemy's air power in a future ground encounter." How should this battle be fought?