A sneak attack could be a small tactical victory, but it was far from a solution – Company E took advantage of the fog to achieve a stunning victory, resulting in a crushing defeat for a battalion of the opposing German position, but only a few hours later, the Germans filled the gap after the fog cleared and began to threaten Company E's position again.

The only difference is that because of the exaggerated victory of the sneak attack, the mentality of E Company has changed radically, even if it is surrounded by the German army, E Company at this time treats the enemy like a mustard.

Winters inspected the whole camp on behalf of Strayer, and the performance of the three companies reassured Winters a lot, and when he was in E Company, he deliberately called Zheng Yingqi aside and said: "My biggest concern is low morale, but our morale is obviously good - all of this, thanks to your decisive attack that day." ”

"Sir, if you can turn verbal thanks into physical rewards, I think it would be even better." Zheng Yingqi said nonchalantly.

Winters smiled bitterly, a physical reward?

"Wait, when the snow stops and the weather is good, I will apply for a special batch of supplies for E Company."

Zheng Yingqi looked up at the sky, with a helpless face - at this time, the U.S. army still had a strong logistics capability that made the Germans envious and jealous, but God's instrength was something that could not be reversed by manpower, and since entering Bastogne, clouds have been shrouding the sky here, and it has even continued to snow several times, and there are no conditions for airdrop supplies at all.

However, when the American soldiers were fighting, they had always been "lavish", and they had no habit of saving bullets or shells at all, and the position on the side of E Company in the past few days was not the direction of the main attack of the German army, and a fierce battle did not break out, but even so, now the entire E Company is embarrassed:

There was a severe shortage of K-class rations, only six shells per mortar in the company, only one bag of ammunition per rifleman, and only one box of ammunition for the machine guns that had been suppressed by fire.

Such ammunition reserves, if changed to the Eighth Route Army, would definitely jump with joy, but for the US military......

This Nima is dying of poverty!

The worst thing is the artillery, at first the artillery and the German artillery you back and forth to bombard to the end, in Zheng Yingqi's words, the two sides were just at that time, 105 and 155 caliber howitzers, just one call can attract several rounds of strikes, but two days later, they began to live a careful life, such days only lasted a few days, and the days of the artillery could not be lived-

A 155-caliber cannon that was responsible for blocking the road between the village of Fova and Bastogne, only three shells remained, and the artillerymen did not dare to open fire.

If it weren't for the previous record, the entire 2nd Battalion would now have to shrink the defensive line.

Winters finally took Zheng Yingqi to's headquarters, ", we have to change the current situation. ”

, whose hairline was significantly receding because of ammunition and late problems, said weakly after hearing Winters' words: "How to change?" What to change? Sir, give me three cardinal amounts of ammunition, E will find a way even if he tries his best, but now ......"

He said with a dejected face: "I think it's good to be able to maintain the current front with a strong external force." ”

There was no one in the command headquarters, so spoke so dejectedly - generally speaking, the soldiers always see, who always looks like he is in control of everything, which refers to the basic operation of the fighters, but the commanders and fighters are also people, and they know the form better than the soldiers at the bottom, so they are often more pessimistic than the soldiers at the bottom.

"I think it's time to organize a combat patrol, to keep patrolling the front, to tell the Germans on the other side that we're still fighting and that we're still fighting." Winters explained his intentions.

"Led by Jacob?"

Winters nodded.

Zheng Yingqi on the side was expressionless, as expected, otherwise how could Winters pull himself into the command in a good manner?

"Patrolling on the needle and thread is very dangerous – there will be unnecessary casualties." was still a little hesitant, he naturally didn't have any doubts about Jacob's ability, and even believed it abnormally, even if someone said that Jacob killed a company by himself, he believed it.

But what about the others?

The whole E-Company is one Jacob!

"If the Germans notice the reality here, I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for the weather to improve." Winters put the hard truth before him, and sighed, yes, it would have been worse if the Germans had noticed their embarrassment.

"Okay."

……

So, E Company transferred manpower from each platoon to form a 15-man combat patrol team, and began to patrol the front line continuously - after the Germans noticed the dynamics of the American troops on the opposite side, they also formed a combat patrol without showing weakness, and the original confrontation instantly turned into an exchange of fire between the two patrols, and fierce battles were staged four or five times a day, although each time the Germans suffered losses, but in just two days, the combat patrol led by Zheng Yingqi had four killed and three wounded.

The combat effectiveness of the patrol of E Company was much stronger than that of the Germans, but E Company could not get artillery support, while the German artillery could run to this side unscrupulously, which was the biggest reason why the patrol was seriously damaged, but even so, E Company still gritted its teeth to supplement the patrol, and did not stop because of the fierce battle with the Germans.

From time to time, they even responded with mortar shells, posing the illusion that there were still a large amount of ammunition and munitions on our side.

Fake is fake after all - the Germans may have been fooled by E Company, but E Company's own people can't deceive themselves after all, and the American soldiers who have always been full of disgust even K-level dry food actually envy the Germans on the other side on the 22nd!

In between the rest of the combat patrols, Gordon said in a broken sentence: "They have cotton clothes, they have enough military rations, and they have plenty of ammunition......

Goo-dong

In the sound of broken thoughts, Zheng Yingqi heard the sound of several people around him swallowing saliva.

Da Niu looked at the field rations prepared for them by logistics, and said gloomily: "I used to secretly throw away a lot of K-level dry food, and now when I think about it, I regret it, if those K-level dry food were there, how good it would be......"

Zheng Yingqi shook his head lightly, and continued to swallow the military rations that the US military had never looked at before, as if it was an incredible delicacy, but it made others have an appetite.

Fortunately, such hard days are finally over.

At noon on the 23rd, God finally saw that the American army was in the position of the liberators, and took away the dark clouds that were hidden over Bastogne, and the C-47 transport planes of the American army hurriedly moved and dropped countless equipment, medicines, ammunition and food under the fire of German anti-aircraft artillery.

However, compared with the large amount of land transportation, the airdrop of materials can only quench the hunger and thirst for a while, and the food airdropped this time cannot completely alleviate the dilemma of lack of food for the entire 101st Airborne Division, and the blankets dropped by the airdrop are not enough for each person, and many people can only make do with one blanket for two people.

Fortunately, Winters fulfilled his promise, and after the supplies were distributed, he gave priority to the supply of E Company, at least the blanket allowed E Company to achieve a share for everyone.

……

When the ammunition was replenished, the workload of the combat patrol dropped sharply, and on Christmas Day, simply ordered the patrol to stop, but he also asked the non-commissioned officers of the platoon to take the lead in guarding against possible sneak attacks by the Germans.

As a corporal, Gordon naturally can't huddle in the paratrooper pit or cat ear hole like a soldier, so he can only follow Zheng Yingqi to patrol the position of the whole platoon to ensure that once the German movement is discovered, he can resist at the first time, but the weather is too cold, and the helmet is frozen as soon as it touches the flesh, there is a fatal illusion, this thing came up with an idea after the first round of patrol:

He wrapped a towel around his head, then put on a steel helmet, and after feeling that it worked, under Zheng Yingqi's "proposal", he simply wrapped a piece of underwear full of odors around his neck, and by the way, half of his face was also protected.

It's a very killing Matt's styling.

"Guys, don't talk about it, it's useful, it feels good, does anyone want to try it?" Feeling that it had worked, Gordon began to sell his outfit, and when he waited for Velsh to make his rounds around the position, he was greeted by a group of strange creatures dressed unusually touching.

Welsh almost went crazy laughing, but he didn't stop his subordinates from dressing up in such a mess, as long as they could fight the cold, it didn't matter if they were ugly or weird!

As long as it's practical.

Zheng Yingqi was the only weirdo who didn't dress up like this, and Wersh asked curiously: "Why don't you dress up like this?" ”

Do you think I'm trying to be handsome?

Zheng Yingqi said helplessly: "It affects the line of sight." ”

"Well, you're right." Velsh laughed without conscience, but casually threw Zheng Yingqi a set of sweaters: "The few good things in the airdrop, I think you need more than the officers." ”

"Thank you."

"Take it as my revenge for your work?"

"It's too cheap, isn't it, at least you'll charge me a few hundred dollars?"

Velsh laughed, heartily.

Gordon, who was holding the small gas stove, said, "Sir, don't laugh, beware of the Germans—think about it, wait until I've made this cup of coffee." ”

Velsh watched Gordon use the method of melting snow to obtain the water for making coffee, and said with a smile: "This is the rootless water brewing coffee in Jacob's mouth, right?" Don't forget to give me a small glass too. ”

"You're like a greedy capitalist." Gordon despised Welsh, but carefully took out another cup, apparently planning to share a cup of Welsh - but his desire to drink coffee was not fulfilled after all, and just as Welsh and he were huddled together waiting for the coffee to be brewed, Zheng Yingqi screamed a warning:

"The Germans are coming!"

In Zheng Yingqi's sight, the Germans pulling the straggler line were cautiously pressing towards the position in the forest, and at the same time as the warning, he shot down the German soldiers in the front, the gunfire was more useful than the warning sound, and the paratroopers who were hiding from the cold rushed out from all positions and entered the cold position, and then the roar of various guns was staged at the same time.

Gordon scrambling to pack up his treasures, but finally kicked them all aside as if he was in the way, and began to shoot with a machine gun.

During the reload, Gordon cursed, "Aren't these damn Germans just Christmas?" ”

"After we kill them, we can have a more meaningful Christmas." Welsh said a word to Gordon, and then pounced out of the foxhole, he couldn't be blocked here, he had to command the troops against the Germans.

Looking at the Germans in the woods, Gordon whispered, "I hope so......"

Zheng Yingqi shared most of the pressure on this side of the defensive line, after all, his marksmanship was too accurate, and the accurate point fire made the attacking Germans have to concentrate their firepower to suppress, and Zheng Yingqi is also familiar with the danger of combat, never staying in a bunker for too long, always being able to transfer out before the mortar retaliation, and then continue to put pressure on the attacking Germans to attract more firepower.

This is also the reason why many paratroopers are happy to fight alongside Zheng Yingqi, and the enemy is always willing to concentrate fire against more threatening units.

On the front with Zheng Yingqi in the field, he is even more attractive to bullets than the machine gunner - but the machine gunner is always the enemy's key target, Gordon, who is annoyed that his Christmas coffee is not drunk, uses the machine gun to vent his anger, although he repeatedly admonishes his assistant Groz to watch around for him, but when Groz runs out to get ammunition for him, he is shot by a German soldier because of his negligence.

The bullet went in his left shoulder and came out of his right shoulder, and in the process it swept through his spine - he was paralyzed directly from the neck down.

As soon as the machine gun stopped, the soldiers fighting were most likely to feel it, because the pressure would explode and multiply, after Zheng Yingqi was beaten by the Germans and couldn't raise his head, he realized that there was something wrong with Gordon's side, he shouted, and only after a while did he get Gordon's answer:

"I've been shot! I can't move! ”

"Grass!" Zheng Yingqi scolded in a low voice, found the gap and turned out of the foxhole, and rolled directly into Gordon's foxhole not far away, at this time Gordon was lying in a very strange position, and his clothes were stained red with blood.

"I'm dying...... Jacob, am I almost finished...... I...... I don't want to die......" Gordon said with difficulty, Zheng Yingqi comforted and checked, and after checking the injury, he said: "It's not a big problem, you can't die, be prepared." ”

As soon as Gordon wanted to ask what to prepare, he was dragged out of the foxhole by Zheng Yingqi, and quickly retreated under the welcome of German bullets.

[I just think of a defeated gladiator who was dragged out of the arena ......]

Gordon, who had a memorable Christmas, has been saying this about his state since returning to the team.

After Zheng Yingqi dragged Gordon into Rogers' position, he re-entered Gordon's machine gun position, and then roared Groz, who ran out to get bullets but found that Gordon was not there when he came back, from the paratrooper pit more than 20 meters behind, and then he operated the machine gun and began to roar.

This is the most fierce positional battle of E Company since entering Bastogne, the Germans took advantage of Christmas to take this position marked as "hard bones" in one fell swoop, dispatched two companies of troops, and had artillery cover, but they miscalculated, even Christmas, the paratroopers stationed here did not relax their vigilance, even if the Germans increased their offensive efforts later, but E Company was also supported by artillery, and after four hours of fierce fighting, the Germans finally failed to capture the position of E Company.

The Germans took with them a lot of corpses when the attack was fruitless and retreated, but even so, when the post-war inventory was made, there were still 38 corpses of Germans left in front of the position of E Company.

It's just that E's losses on this side are not small.

Even the platoon commander Wersh, who was wounded in the fierce battle, reunited with Wersh in the hospital in Bastogne, and said "humorously": "We really want to have a very meaningful Christmas." ”

"It's quite meaningful......" Wersh smiled bitterly, fortunately, he didn't have to worry about the 1st platoon, although his platoon commander entered the hospital, but Zheng Yingqi went up, he believed that with Zheng Yingqi's temporary platoon leader, all difficulties were not a problem.