After entering the defense area of the town of Agno, E Company was assigned to the rear flank of the 506th Regiment Line, which straddled the Moder River, a tributary of the Rhine, and the position of E Company was surrounded by Moder and Ring, like a nail embedded in the German position.

The malicious distribution method, of course, on the other hand, is another recognition of E-Company.

The intuitive way to put it is: I approve of you, I am optimistic about you, so the most dangerous work will be handed over to you.

……

The position of the 1st platoon was left of the Spears line and consisted of several houses and trenches - when the first squad took over one of the houses, it replaced 18 of the men inside with six people!

Of the eighteen people they replaced, they were armed with three machine guns, and looking at them, there were only M1 carbines and Browning automatic rifles, and the gap between them made the newcomers realize how sad the paratroopers were.

After noticing the sourness of the newcomers, Webster, who led the team, said calmly: "The excellent tradition of our paratroopers is to rely on hard work, not on weapons. ”

Another veteran also said: "Don't compare us with the ordinary army - we have three companies against them!" You see, in the room where they squatted eighteen people, we only needed six people, and this is the gap. The veteran actually had one more sentence that he couldn't help but say:

Do you know why their casualties often outweigh ours? Eighteen people huddled in one house, and if the railway cannon hits with one shot, it will directly lose eighteen battles!

The reason why he couldn't help but say it was because there was a second half of this sentence: If we are hit, we will die at most six......

In view of the fact that there are too many newcomers, it is easy to ruin the morale of the army, and the veteran held back his broken mouth.

On the other side, the officers of the 79th Division were briefing Zheng Yingqi on the situation in the position: "It is very calm here now, and we and the Germans have not attacked each other in the past few days. ”

After an almost perfunctory briefing, the captain pulled his legs out and walked in a hurry, as if there was a cannonball behind him.

"Their courage has been lost." Hubler couldn't help but comment.

Zheng Yingqi looked at it, the front composed of houses and trenches had undergone the baptism of shells and bullets, and even the roof of the house occupied by Webster and his people had been lifted off - obviously the calm in the mouth of the captain of the 79th Division just now was only a matter of the past few days, and before, life here would definitely not be very easy.

"Let's go ahead and see what is going on, and after we get this place to the letter, we'll have to greet the Germans on the other side, and we'll have to tell them, hey Germans, the American paratroopers are coming!" Zheng Yingqi is very skillful in using American humor, and the others can't help laughing after hearing this.

This is the habit of E Company, in the words of Zheng Yingqi: "We are not the parents of the Germans, why should we get used to them?" ”

The surface of the river in front of the position of E Company, due to the melting of the snow and ice, had overflowed the river in a turbulent manner, resulting in widths ranging from 30 to 100 meters, and although grenades could be easily thrown at a distance of 30 meters, both sides left as close as possible to rifles, machine guns, and artillery runs, but to avoid grenades.

The soldiers on both sides of the position looked like office workers who took their salaries and shot for a while - the only problem was that, according to intelligence, the Germans had a railway cannon behind the position, and although it was an antique left over from the First World War, it was up to 205mm in caliber, which was enough to make this antique a nightmare for paratroopers.

After learning all the information, Zheng Yingqi decided to take a break for the time being, and first get used to the Germans on behalf of the Germans.

[As a qualified officer, there must always be all kinds of abundant reasons and various reasons for various explanations. 】

Zheng Yingqi thought.

……

On the first day of entering the position, all the members of E Company, as Zheng Yingqi said, first represented the Germans, and their parents were used to the Germans on the other side, but there were still shelling in some places, and at the position of the observation post, you could see the pictures of various positions being ravaged by railway artillery, in the words of Corporal McCleary:

Every time a railroad cannon shell flies by, it's like a train running over your head.

Such an atmosphere was not liked by E Company or even the entire 2nd Battalion, after all, the buildings on the position would definitely not withstand a single shell from the railway guns, and no one wanted to hang a shell from their heads that would fall at any time.

At the meeting of the 2nd Battalion, Winters made a decision: "We must take out that railroad gun!" ”

Nixon, a staff officer who is now in charge of intelligence at the regimental headquarters, also said leisurely: "I also need some tongues to interrogate." ”

"So, not only are we going to cross the river to scout, but we also need to catch some tongues?" Spears' face was a little unsightly.

"Yes, I plan to send two squads across the river, one of them is responsible for the task of reconnaissance and capture of tongues, and the other squad will take the opportunity to go deep behind the German positions and deal with the railway cannon that makes us tremble, I have already reported to the regimental headquarters, when we move, we will be supported by an artillery battalion, as long as we find the exact location of the railway gun, we can deal with it!" Winters said.

The most desperate thing about the railroad artillery thing is that it can run - the U.S. military organized three air raids, but failed to find the location of the railroad gun, but instead allowed the Germans to take the opportunity to use anti-aircraft fire to shoot down four planes, and the air force (the old American air force was formed independently in 47 years, and before that, they were poor subordinate arms) were no longer willing to take any more risks, claiming that only by mastering the exact location of the railway artillery would we be willing to pay sacrifices.

Winters's words made the faces of the company commanders of D Company and F Company not look good, before this, they thought that the role of the squad was none other than E Company, but how could they think that the battalion commander needed two squads?

Spears's face improved, and he glanced at the two colleagues silently, regardless of whether the commander of Company D was his old superior before, and hurriedly said, "Sir, our Company E is willing to take it down to investigate and scratch the tongue." ”

!

The two company commanders who hesitated just now couldn't help but scold, their reaction was slow, their reaction was slow, they just thought about how to shirk it, and they didn't think about grabbing a slightly easier task, and they were snatched away by E Company!

For the commanders of companies D and F, byes are the most important thing, so that a fatal and difficult task can be avoided, but what about Company E? All kinds of "beauty differences" have never been broken, since you can't hide from it, it's easier to grab one!

Winters acquiesced to Spears' choice, looked at the other two company commanders, and after a fatal silence, Winters simply pointed at the commander of D Company and said, "Your people are responsible for killing the railway artillery tonight!" ”

The commander of Company F endured his joy, but he didn't expect Winters's next sentence to hit his head: "Unified action at two o'clock in the evening!" After D Company E crossed the river, F Company launched a feint attack on the German position, be aware that once the action of D Company and E Company is blocked, the feint F Company will turn into a strong attack at any time! ”

A group of divine beasts rushed through the heart of the commander of F Company, I'm Nima......

"Got it?"

"Yes!"

After the three company commanders received the order, they left with bitter faces, and after the three of them parted ways, Spears showed a strange smile, hum, every time I want to make E Company suffer, I didn't expect it this time, right?

……

There is no doubt that this time the leader of the E Company squad is Zheng Yingqi - because he infiltrated the enemy position, Spears did not let a platoon be in charge of this squad alone, but transferred a total of twenty people from the three platoons, and the commander of Zheng Yingqi's tenacious squad.

Spears took the infiltration team outside Agno to familiarize himself with the means of crossing the river, and he said, "You're going to cross the river in rubber boats, it's four o'clock in the afternoon, and you're still ten hours before the operation, and you only have ten hours to get acquainted with these rubber boats." ”

Time is a little tight!

Zheng Yingqi muttered silently in his heart, and then together with the 19 team members, under the guidance of the instructors of the regiment headquarters, he began to familiarize himself with the use of rubber boats - although there were similar subjects in the paratrooper school, it was only simple training, because the non-commissioned officers who were responsible for formulating the training program did not think that paratroopers would use rubber boats like the Marine Corps.

Although the members of the squad came from three platoons, Spears fully respected Zheng Yingqi's opinion when selecting them, and the result was that 13 veterans accounted for them, and the remaining seven were all young people who performed well in the short contact - in the words of Hubuler's complaint:

"The officials in the rear will only send young people to the front!"

He completely forgot that the average age of all the non-commissioned officers of Company E, including him, is not more than 23 years old now, but the war makes them age very quickly, even Zheng Yingqi himself, sometimes he feels like an old man who is old and old, and he has to get by every day.

Young people are always receptive to new things, and by about eight o'clock in the evening, the squad was already proficient in the use of four rubber boats, and even had a competition with the rubber boat unit of D Company training next door, although in the end two unlucky ghosts got lost and fell into the water because they won, but in general, they were able to use this thing "skillfully".

Although the members of the team thought they had mastered the skill, Zheng Yingqi still muttered, "It's better to have a reliable rope." Eventually, he found the rope, tied it to the dinghy, and tried it a few more times to make sure that the rope tied to the shore at one end was more safe in the event of an accident.

After supper, the squad entered the mode of recuperation and recuperation, quietly waiting for the arrival of the time for action, and at this time, the situation on the entire front was like this:

From time to time, the two sides will raise the flares, the tracer bullets with the tail flame will turn into flames in the roar of the machine guns and turn into flames from time to time on the opponent's position, and the searchlights attached to the anti-aircraft artillery units are still working hard to search the clouds, like God's saber playing in the boring cutting sky, occasionally high-caliber shells explode, causing combustion to light up an area, and the machine gunners and mortars on both sides are ready to fire at this time, as long as they find something wrong, they will fire.

In short, the conditions before diving in were so bad that people couldn't help but feel chills.

The infiltration detachment was resting, but the others could not, and the rest of the platoons, organized by officers and non-commissioned officers, began to build various cover positions, and once the infiltration detachment was exposed at the time of infiltration, they would do everything in their power to cover them - at night, in the face of the enemy, the fixed cover positions, once fired, would become a live target in the eyes of enemy machine guns and mortars.

Everyone is aware of this fact, but no one doubts it, in the words of "Bubble Eye" Wen:

Dangerous? Speaking of danger, is there a squad in danger? None of them are afraid, what are you afraid of hiding in the position to cover?

Webster may be closer to the truth, he said: "You see, the flame of war can not only satisfy visual desires, but also cultivate the comradeship, the comradeship that has been tested by the fire, it is this kind of friendship that I believe in you, you believe in me, I am willing to block bullets for you, and you are willing to die for me!" ”

Zheng Yingqi, who was pretending to sleep, didn't seem to hear Webster's words, but in his mind, there were many, many things hidden in the depths of his memory.

He thought: Shouldn't I be able to see them after this time......

At two o'clock in the night, the seemingly quiet 506th Regiment position, the brewing storm had already formed, and on the E Company position, the squad had already boarded four rubber boats tied to ropes, and under the signal of Spears, began to row the rapids and the river, and rowed towards the broken water on the opposite bank.

The soldiers on the rubber boat, except for the paddling soldiers, everyone else looked nervously at the opposite shore, ready to fire at any time, people always feel the most helpless on the water.

"That's why I don't want to be in the navy, I don't feel safe on board!" Hubler muttered quietly.

"Then why are you a paratrooper? We don't feel safe on the plane either! ”

"Because the rest of the Army is so unreliable, if the rest of the Army were more reliable, I don't want to feel helpless for hours before every battle." Hubul returned the favor, and the other people in the rubber boat laughed heartily when they heard this, and Ali patted a newcomer on the shoulder and said:

"Young man, look at the back, our brother is holding a weapon and preparing desperately to cover, so there is no need to be too nervous."

Zheng Yingqi laughed, saying the same as if you weren't nervous before.

It was expected that such a smooth situation would continue until they landed, but the Germans wanted to oppose them, and when they were still more than ten meters away from the other side of the river, the Germans raised a flare, and the whole river suddenly turned into daylight - the four rubber boats on the river instantly became the focus of the whole world.

"Fire !!"

Spears was in a hurry, and the voice of the order became sharp, and the moment his voice fell, the gunfire on the position of E Company erupted, and countless weapons began to roar, trying to attract the attention of the opposite side with their best efforts.

The Germans were also anxious, and while carrying the paratroopers in a torrential rain of bullets, several guard posts began to shoot at the rubber boats, and the paddling skirmishers began to accelerate desperately, but when they were still ten meters from the shore, the sound of MG42's tearing cloth sounded.

The paratroopers on the rubber boat were also firing back close to the rubber boat, but they did not contain the fire of the Germans, and a rubber boat less than eight meters away from Zheng Yingqi was swept by a string of bullets, and the two paratroopers fell into the turbulent river without even making a sound.

"Accelerate! Cover! Cover! ”

Zheng Yingqi could only shout in vain, and the remaining short distance was as terrifying as the bloody mouth of the desolate monster.