The Germans could not have imagined that after the failure of one of their offensives during the day, it would become the end of their offensive - they thought that they still had the initiative, but they did not expect that the American army was already preparing a counteroffensive!

The world before the counteroffensive is always very quiet, like the sea before the storm, always the most tranquil time, and the tranquility always gives the illusion - ah, the sea, you are so gentle.

But......

In this tranquility, a deadly storm is brewing!

It's just that people are accustomed to tranquility, and they don't see the magnificent and devouring storm because of the quiet sea, just like the Germans, they think that this tranquility is the American army licking their wounds, and they didn't expect that at this time, the American army was sharpening their knives and preparing for a counterattack, and they didn't expect that a small force left the Fuwa front in the dark that was almost close to the Shura field during the day.

The small team marched in the darkness of the night, and after going around for nearly three hours, it reached the area around the village of Recowne, and after identifying the direction, Zheng Yingqi led the team in the direction of Kaublu, arriving at a wide area covered with snow for two kilometers.

Zheng Yingqi divided the team into four groups and arranged them on both sides of this wide field - during the day, E Company would occupy the village of Recowne, and then advance along this wide field in the direction of Kaublu Village, attack the German troops there, and arrange positions here in advance, which can effectively prevent the German army from arranging several firing points here at a critical time to delay the offensive of E Company.

Very glorious task, but ......

The paratroopers, shivering from the cold, swore that after taking Noville, they would have to rest in the stove for a few days and nights, and when General Eisenhower would come in person, they would not want to take them away from the warm stove.

……

Soldiers can follow orders and act according to orders, but officers must have sufficient subjective initiative - this is the basic quality of being an officer, if an officer commands the execution of orders, well, this is also the norm for most officers, so there is a difference between mediocrity and talent.

Zheng Yingqi is now a talent, the team has been quietly spread out on both sides of the open field according to his arrangement, dug out the foxhole and made a certain camouflage, after checking these, he began to use his free time to inspect tomorrow's battlefield.

During the inspection, Zheng Yingqi found a situation that was very unfavorable to E Company:

When E Company made a detour to attack the village of Recaogne during the day, it had to pass through a deep mountain shoulder that could extend to the vicinity of Recaogne, and Nowell was in the northeast of this area, which meant that E Company had to brave the fire of the German army in Nowell to pass through here, and during the day, the soldiers walking in the snow were simply live targets for the Germans.

"You have to set up a machine gun here," Zheng Yingqi looked at the terrain and found a very good machine gun position, which was condescending, just enough to jam the German troops in the direction of Novel to block the advancing E Company - this was not in his mission, but when he could think of this step, it showed the gap between talent and mediocrity......

Manpower is limited, and the pressure on the 1st platoon is very high for the 1st platoon, but Zheng Yingqi still stubbornly pulls out four people from the four groups, a two-person machine gun team and two riflemen, who will suppress the German fire that advances in the town of Noville and cover the detour of E Company when it is marching in the daytime.

……

As soon as dawn came, the units of the 506th Regiment assembled and, in accordance with the orders they received, began the first counteroffensive in Bastogne, and the 2nd Battalion began to make a detour along the predetermined route, and soon Winters realized the fatal mistake made by the regimental headquarters in dividing the route!

Rao is always gentle, and at this time he couldn't help but curse: "Damn! These bastards! Why don't you scout a few more times and then plan a route for us? ”

"We despise the regimental headquarters for changing the detour route?" Nixon asked - he was the intelligence staff officer of the battalion headquarters, and he seemed "humble" when Winters was angry, this was his pot, although he could throw it to the regimental headquarters, but as an intelligence staff officer, he did not have a more detailed understanding of the route of movement of the whole battalion, it was really ......

"We're out of time! The first battalion has already begun to detour from that side, and we must cooperate with them to capture Noville, and we must not delay, and the order must be sent down, and the companies will keep their columns, and quickly rush through here to approach the village of Recaogne, and let D Company take the lead! There was only one less platoon of Germans in the village of Recaugne, so let D Company deal with them as soon as possible and then attack Coblou. ”

This is where commanders sometimes have the most helplessness, knowing that there can be a better choice, but for the sake of the overall situation, they have to rack their brains to fight for the worst option.

After the commander of Company D got the order, his head was bigger, aren't all such "beauty differences" from Company E? Why did you change to their D Company today?

But in the face of Winters's unquestionable orders, he could only grit his teeth and line up his troops in columns, and after the preparation was over, quickly pounce - the shorter the exposure to the enemy's guns, the smaller the losses, this is the experience of everyone after a long time of rolling in the flames of battle.

The Germans in the town of Norville soon discovered that the American troops wanted to "borrow the road" from this side, and they naturally needed to pay "tolls", so about a platoon of German troops pounced out of the town, advanced more than 300 meters, and then began to pour ammunition on the American troops who were passing by quickly.

Winters gritted his teeth, and Nixon, who was on the side, "humbledly" retreated to the back, secretly blaming himself, and he prayed vigorously, hoping that the companies would quickly pass this section of the road that was now "tolled" by the Germans, and that the companies would pass through unharmed......

Just when they were ready to bear some losses, suddenly the familiar sound of gunfire rang out.

"There it is!" Filled with guilt, Nixon saw the firing as fast as he could, and then shouted excitedly—how could he not tell the difference between the sound of his own weapon and that of the enemy after all this long fight?

Winters didn't use Nixon's fingers to determine the location of the fire at the first time, and after looking through the binoculars, he couldn't help but be overjoyed!

Some of their troops actually occupied a small high ground, condescendingly suppressed the fire of the German army who "collected tolls", and the Germans wanted to happily collect a wave of tolls, but they didn't want to kill a Cheng biting gold halfway, and they condescendingly fired at them!

The side is high and low, it is simply pressed on the ground and rubbed, this German infantry platoon that collects tolls, four or five people fell in one face, how dare they continue to "charge" at this time, it would be good to be able to take care of themselves!

After seeing the Germans dodging in embarrassment in the binoculars, Winters couldn't help but praise with great joy: "Great! They were so timely! Captain Nixon, you'll find out later, where are the friendly forces that have helped us so much at a critical time! I'm going to ask the regimental commander for credit for them! ”

After Nixon's mind quickly went through the tasks of the friendly forces around him, he wondered, there are only 2 battalions in this direction, where are the friendly troops?

Uh, no......

1 platoon of E Company?

Last night the 1st Platoon had been sent by Spears in the direction of Recogene and Coblou, to see where this friendly force was, not far from the open field between the two villages.

[It can't be Jacob's guy, right?] 】

Nixon had a suspicion that if it was Jacob, he would really have to thank him!

"Most likely Jacob, you say?" After hearing Nixon's doubts, Winters felt that there was no need to doubt them, it must be Jacob!

Not only Winters was so sure, but so was Spears - the friendly forces protruding from the front, only Jacob's platoon, and who would place a machine-gun emplacement there to cover them, except Jacob?

"Well done!" Spears praised in his heart, and then urged the troops to hurry up, Jacob has few soldiers in his hands after all, how long can he hold out there?

……

On the small plateau, Zheng Yingqi looked at the friendly soldiers who quickly crossed the toll road section and did not give a single life to the Germans, and smiled, he thought, the friendly soldiers at this time must love themselves to death, right?

Besides, on the battlefield, the German army in Norville, after seeing that the toll troops sent by them were beaten by the sudden appearance of the enemy, hurriedly sent tanks to respond, and at the same time divided two tanks and a group of infantry to the high ground side, but the transfer of troops took time, and when the tanks began to approach the high ground, the 2nd Battalion had already killed from the "toll" section.

"Bye-bye!" Zheng Yingqi looked at the tanks that were rushing straight forward, chuckled, and evacuated here with his subordinates, leaving only a fleeting shadow for the German troops who rushed - if the German tanks wanted to chase down, they had to kill them from a slope, just two tanks and a group of infantry, dare to come down?

The Germans, of course, did not dare, but could only watch as the enemy who had made them lose their money disappeared from the slope - and then they turned back into the town, because to the north, they still needed to "charge" an American army.

This American army is naturally the first battalion, the first battalion is the same as the second battalion, and when it makes a detour, it has to pass under the noses of the Germans, and what is even more unfortunate is that the toll road they need to pass through is much longer than that of the second battalion, such a long distance, the German 88 guns in the town of Norville, have plenty of time to harvest them!

So Zheng Yingqi saw a scene that made him remember deeply.

The Germans' 88 guns, submachine guns, MG42 and other firepower broke out together to collect tolls, and the battalion that borrowed the road suffered heavy losses - the soldiers who were hit by the 88 guns rolled in the sky like fallen leaves blown by the autumn wind, and the infantry guns weighing hundreds of pounds were thrown up like toys, and there were miserable howls everywhere.

In less than ten minutes, the 1st Battalion set the record for the fastest battle damage since D-Day, and by the time they rushed out of the Germans' fire-covered area, the battalion had as many as 32 wounded!

The commander of the first battalion almost went mad!

……

Compared with the 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion was naturally extremely lucky, the German toll section was due to Zheng Yingqi's intervention, and the 2nd Battalion passed through there with zero battle damage, and the D Company, which was the front arrow, took the village of Recaogne with only more than ten people with a single charge - look, the intelligence on the battlefield is too easy to obsolete, and the short shelf life is shorter than the goods of the Black Heart Factory.

The entire 506 regiment was moving, and after the Germans synthesized intelligence, they immediately realized that the American troops were preparing for an attack on Noville, and the two German infantry battalions in the town, of course, would not stand by and immediately took countermeasures.

The open area between the villages of Recaogne and Coblou was the best blocking ground for the Germans, and if the American forces were stuck here, the Americans' plan to besiege Noville would have to be discounted.

"Sir, there may be a group of U.S. troops there, and it was this U.S. military that sabotaged us in the southwest just now!"

"You can't take a company of the U.S. Army?"

With the roar of the German commander, an infantry company of the Germans, under the cover of two tanks, pounced on the open area guarded by the 1st platoon.

(I guess, there's ...... ）