Section 1: E Company

July 1942.

Georgia.

Tocoa Camp.

A lot of young people from all over the United States and with different backgrounds came here and began a selection process - during the training period at Camp Tocoa, a total of 500 backup officers and 5,300 soldiers participated in the training, but at the end of the training cycle, only 148 officers passed the training, and only 1,800 soldiers out of 5,300 soldiers passed the training.

In this training camp, there was a colonel named Zinke who formed a group of officers on behalf of the state, at that time, it was called the 506th Regiment, and in the future, it was called the 101st Airborne Division 506th Regiment, and Colonel Zinke created this unit, becoming the first and only commander of this unit.

In the battalion under the 506th Regiment, Major Robert Strayer, formed and trained the 2nd Battalion and the 2nd Battalion of the 506th Regiment.

The 2nd Battalion consisted of three companies, D, E and F, and a battalion headquarters.

Of the three companies of the 2nd Battalion, Company E was not the most dazzling unit at first, and its first company commander, Captain Herbert Sobel, came from the National Guard, and the officers in the company were all awarded the rank of second lieutenant at the Supplementary Military Academy, except for one named S. L. Matheson's officer, who served on the UCLA Reserve Officer Training Corps before joining as an officer in E Company, was the only officer with a modicum of experience.

As for the sergeants in Company E, they were all traditional army sergeants before this, although they all came with silver wing badges, and they were all qualified paratroopers in theory, but in fact, they were not much different from these new recruits, the only thing that was a little stronger than these recruits was that they would stand upright, turn back, and then use this password to train the recruits.

For a long time to come, they were training and progressing with these recruits, and in the end, they became the ones who were left behind - a total of 13 sergeants, and at the end of the training, they were replaced by non-commissioned officers who were promoted by the recruits who grew up later.

Section 2: Sobel

Sobel was the first company commander of Company E.

Before enlisting in the army, Sobel was a businessman who sold clothes, he didn't know anything about field activities, his body was uncoordinated, his movements were always a little clumsy, and no matter how he looked at it, he was not the material for being an athlete - and this training camp called Tocoa, all good soldiers, can become athletes, and Sobel obviously has no such talent.

After becoming Captain Sobel, he was already strict, and he became more and more strict, perhaps because of the reason that he was in power for the first time, he was very domineering, arbitrary and arbitrary within his own authority, and could not tolerate people, in his own acre and three-point land, as long as he saw someone who was not pleasing to the eye, even if he was not at fault, he would find a reason to fire him.

Although this benefit is that the constantly training E Company eliminated all the restless and dragging its feet, but Sobel's actions made his subordinates slowly chill, and his own not very good made him an outlier in this more united and better team - an outlier who was disliked by everyone.

But before that, Sobel vowed to lead Company E into the best company of the 2nd Battalion and the best company of the 506th Regiment.

In fact, Sobel did it, and under his harsh and brutal training, all the people in Company E were faster than other company captains and faster than other companies when they trained, and they were more energetic than others when they trained.

His training is really rigorous.

For example, when he was rushing to the Kolashi hill in front of the camp, he ran at the head of the whole company, and he would constantly look back to check if anyone was left behind, but there was nothing good in his mouth, for example, he kept shouting:

"Hurry! Come on! The Japs are about to catch you! ”

After the sprint, everyone was waiting for the disbandment password and then taking a breath, but Sobel asked everyone to stand in line and stand up straight, and then check everyone's movements in turn before giving the order for everyone to disband.

He was satisfied, but the dissatisfaction of the soldiers gradually accumulated.

Sobel was harsh and even cruel to the soldiers, and even harsher to the officers.

Physical training requires not only officers and soldiers to do it together, but also to practice it - soldiers can go back to their bunks when they hear the command to "disband", but officers can't, they have to study field teachings, and then they have to take exams.

Everything that Sobel has assigned has to be tested.

Soon, the officers privately nicknamed Sobel: Black Swan.

Mavericks always have no friends, and so does Sobel, in the officers' club, all the officers avoid him, and no one likes to come into contact with Sobel, and in E Company, because of his strictness and strictness in order to maintain his authority, no one wants to be friends with Sobel, no one wants to inquire about Sobel's past, and no one wants to inquire.

There was someone who knew Sobel well, but it wasn't the familiarity of a friend—it seemed to the soldiers that it was a familiar acquaintance, and that person was Sergeant Major William Evans.

From time to time, the two of them colluded to create all kinds of friction in E Company, hitting one and the other.

Section 3: Winters

Winters, like most of the officers in Company E, came out of the Junior Officer School, and they had only a pitiful knowledge of military affairs, and although they all had the rank of second lieutenant, they were progressing with the soldiers in this stronger, stronger group with the company commander.

Sobel asked for absolute authority, and absolute authority made him a complete loner in E Company in the end, but Winters was not, no one had ever seen Second Lieutenant Winster pretend to be God, and like Sobel, Winster wanted everyone to be excellent, but he was so good that everyone in E Company didn't want to see Winster disappointed.

Winters gained the respect of the soldiers for his actions, and because of his consistent devotion to duty, he was promoted to lieutenant by Colonel Zinke without Sobel's advice - Sobel felt that his authority in E Company was being challenged, so he found an excuse and dumped all the dirty work such as checking the toilet and the house to the platoon commander.

But Winters did not complain, but won more favor from the soldiers.

Section 4: Stephen Jacob

Stephen Jacob, like the rest of the soldiers, volunteered to join the 506th Regiment as paratroopers, but while the others were still thinking about how to stand well, how to turn left and right, and turn backwards, Jacob had done these maneuvers more standard than the sergeants they trained.

But Jacob's words are few, and he looks very withdrawn.

Someone tried to tease Jacob, but the first time he was only looked at coldly by Jacob, and when he didn't know whether he was alive or dead, he would fall to the ground in a daze, until many times later, everyone found out that Jacob was the most difficult one to mess with.

Under Sobel's perverted to almost harsh demands, the soldiers are holding on to their strength, they want to wear the Silver Wing badge, they want to get an extra $50 a month - but the real idea is:

In the war, they would rather be the commandos of the army with a group of heroes and heroes, rather than be in the company of those conscripts who are lazy in training, negligent in training, afraid of hardship, and lack of fighting spirit, because they know that in war, only with excellent people, the possibility of survival will be greater, and with a group of bears, it is easy to degenerate into bears, and then be killed on the battlefield, become one of the many bones, and become a member of the death list.

So, they took the initiative to accept this withdrawn Jacob, because in the continuous training, they had discovered that Jacob was an excellent person, a person who was as good as them and better than them.

Excellent people are always very attractive to everyone.

Just like Jacob.

Sobel, the black swan, is a pervert in the eyes of everyone, but he has never had a good face for everyone, even Winster, he will use all kinds of loud reprimands and reprimands to strengthen his authority, but for Jacob, not long after the training, he slowly gave a smile, and never even targeted him.

Jacob was so good - the sergeants and officers worked together to make the training, Jacob was always the first to eat it through, and then he would be like a pacesetter, asked by the sergeants and officers to serve as an example for others to follow.

Sobel had looked for Jacob's ballast at the beginning, and Jacob did not have any resistance to the company commander's ballast search, but that kind of irrepressible excellence made Sobel slowly erect this soldier into a typical, many times, when Sobel taught the soldiers, he would say:

"Look at your stupid look, if you look like Jacob, I'll give you the order to disband now! Since you don't, then you make up for your stupidity with sweat! ”

If this is a mediocre collective, and Sobel is like Jacob at the other extreme, he will definitely become another isolated object, but here, Jacob is not only not excluded because of his own loneliness, but is deliberately accepted by everyone, every time he rests, there are always people who are willing to take Jacob to relax, until everyone feels that Jacob has become one with them, and they don't take the initiative to remember to call Jacob-

Because they found that even if they forgot to call Jacob, someone always remembered to call Jacob.

Section 5: Kolahi

There were several fights within E Company.

But the brawl never affected the unity of E Company, which first appeared because of Sobel, and the soldiers, sergeants, and officers came together to survive the harsh, perverted, and harsh training of Sobel.

But the real unity is actually created by Sobel.

Sobel is very strict, he pursues the kind of routine that one person has been punished by the whole company - during training, if someone does not reach the level that he is satisfied with, then Sobel will let the whole company accompany the unqualified people to be punished together, and gradually, the whole E company got used to this atmosphere, used to the atmosphere that someone has difficulty and others stretch out their hands, and slowly, this atmosphere has become a kind of atmosphere called unity.

Kolahi means "do it yourself, no one helps." ”

This was very similar to the situation of paratroopers, so the word became the slogan of the 506th Regiment, and in the subsequent wars, the 506th Regiment often chanted "Kolahi" to carry out orders - but at this time, Kolahi had only one meaning:

It was the high ground not far from the camp.

It is 1,000 feet high, which is more than 300 meters, and it is nearly five kilometers to the top of the mountain, and it is ten kilometers to go back and forth.

The first time I ran that mountain, the ambulance followed behind, and on the way up and down the mountain, I always saw people who had vomited, and some people couldn't stand it anymore, so they stopped the advice of the medics and got into the ambulance—and on the same day, they were sent away and sent out of E Company.

After that, no one dared to go to the ambulance, and this Kolashi Mountain became the first object of conquest by E Company - there have always been people who have been left behind, but the soldiers later learned to support the stragglers, and after a long time, no one was left behind, and this mountain was also conquered by them.

Section 5: E Company in the eyes of Zheng Yingqi

In July 1942, when the E Company of Tocoa Camp was formed, Zheng Yingqi came here as Stephen Jacob and became a member of the E Company when it was formed.

But for a long time after that, his comrades-in-arms around him were changing people in a hurry, and many people were fired from Sobel, who everyone was afraid and scared, and many people came in again.

Slowly, the personnel of E Company were finally temporarily stabilized.

Training is actually very boring, but Zheng Yingqi has long been accustomed to this kind of boring and boring, even if he keeps hiding his clumsiness, but here, he is still the one who stands out from the crowd - Jacob's excellence is known to Quanlian.

Although everyone here regards this place as their home, Zheng Yingqi can't regard this place as his home, and he doesn't even want to reveal and teach them his skills, because his name is Zheng Yingqi, and he is an old A - he is afraid that this line will be added to history, and he does not want to become an accomplice to this bully who later suppressed his "mother".

The military man is the one who values the borders the most, and he ...... Nature is no exception.

During his training in troubled waters, he constantly observed everyone, officers, sergeants, and soldiers.

Sobel, the founder of Company E, and the first company commander were naturally among his observations.

[Sobel is very similar to them in the special selection camp, strict to perverted, harsh to cruel. 】

This is Zheng Yingqi's sense of Sobel, but Sobel has his own serious shortcomings, the biggest shortcoming, but he created E Company, making E Company the most brilliant pearl of the entire 506 Regiment, so that every soldier of E Company is the best person, but he himself has not become the best person.

Sobel trains Company E with perverted demands, and although he leads by example, he never wants to push himself to his limits.

Sobel didn't know the map, he didn't want to go to study, he always relied on his deputy Hurst, during field training, Sobel asked his deputy Hirst the most words were: "Hurst, where are we going?" ”

And the soldiers who often look at the map can always know where they are - Sobel's idiotic questioning exposes his shortcomings under the noses of the soldiers, but he has never grown.

In addition, Sobel also has an extreme lack of military experience, in fact, everyone here is lacking, but in training, all the people are growing, they lack military experience, but in continuous learning, Sobel is always resting on his laurels.

Everyone's physical fitness is improving in training, take push-ups as an example, at the beginning, many people can't do twenty, but as the training continues, everyone is improving - the standard is thirty, but many people can already do forty or more, but what about Sobel?

Zheng Yingqi observed very clearly, his limit is twenty, and every time he does twenty, he will always stop - he is a company commander, and he is a tyrant that no one dares to refute when he trains, but he does not take the initiative to force himself to challenge the limit, and after many days, Sobel's level is still stuck at 20 push-ups and stops.

Another time, during the exercise, E Company entered the forest in the dark, and after arriving at the designated position, waited for the enemy to enter the ambush circle - an easy task, as long as the team evacuated into their respective positions, everyone did not hide quietly, and waited for the enemy to come and fight.

But Sobel made a big oolong!

A gust of wind suddenly blew, and the leaves rattled, but Sobel, who was the company commander, jumped up and shouted: "The enemy is coming!" The enemy is coming! ”

Enemy...... Of course not.

At that time, Zheng Yingqi looked at Sobel in shock, not believing that this was a mistake that an officer could commit - this was what Zheng Yingqi really thought at that time, and he even used a tragic derogatory term to describe the low level of this mistake.

If this were on the battlefield, the entire company would be finished!

From that day on, Zheng Yingqi was worried, as a paratrooper, he met such a company commander, and he had to fight the German army in the future, and fight against the strongest German army in World War II, he ...... The heart is empty.

This is that there are nine lives, and it is estimated that it is not enough for Sobel's disaster.

Sobel, who was so strict that he was perverted and cruel to the point of cruelty, because of his lack of ability, made the soldiers of E Company, who were getting stronger, begin to despise, but after all, because of the authority of the company commander and the majesty of long-term training, the soldiers silently suffered and accumulated resentment. But Zheng Yingqi really underestimated the mentality of the US army, and after shooting the target that day, a soldier named Gordon said to Zheng Yingqi inexplicably:

"I really want to turn my gun on him! If I go to war, I don't know if I'll be able to control my hand and not shoot him. ”

Here he is, Zheng Yingqi knows, can only be Sobel!

These words made Zheng Yingqi shudder.

In the war, there must no longer be a small number of grassroots officers who died under their own hands - accidental injury and accidental killing, a problem that cannot be solved forever in the army, but how many of these accidental injuries and accidental killings are there...... Is it intentional?

Zheng Yingqi observed silently, and he found that many soldiers seemed to have the same thoughts as Gordon, especially when they were holding guns, the kind of eyes that swept over Sobel were really chilling.