After Weiss finished dealing with his personal affairs, the centralized transfer of the target personnel was also carried out in an orderly manner, and the special forces found them, and the other party agreed to leave, there were 285 people in the inventory, which was about the same as the initial estimate, but in fact, the composition of the personnel had some unexpected changes: among the originally expected 300 people, the old and weak women and children accounted for sixty percent, and now among the more than 200 people, there are few old people, most of them are women and children, and less than two percent of adult men, that is, This group is more vulnerable than expected, and they have difficulty adapting to long journeys, but on the other hand, the increase in the proportion of children means that more people can be carried with the same capacity.

Under Octavier's direct command, the soldiers of the Special Forces used all the boats they could use on the shores of the lake, carrying more than 150 men to the south shore, expecting to reach the valley in three hours, much earlier than the time limit requested by the commander of the transport. On the other hand, because there are still some vehicles to be found in the town, if the road is smooth, a truck can run two round trips within the time limit, and it will be enough to transport everyone to the valley, but no one dares to say whether this optimistic situation will really last until the end. In fact, shortly after midnight, gunfire rang out in the distance, suggesting that the blocking force had exchanged fire with the nearest Norman unit.

The 1331st Chasseur Battalion of the Norman Army!

In the Norman army, battalions were the most basic combat units in the regular army sequence, and chasseur battalions were often unremarkable, but that didn't mean they were ineffective. In the Norman army, some of the chasseur battalions were very powerful, especially those with a long history, organized in a region with strong folk customs, and led by good commanders. Of course, these units are fundamentally not comparable to the Norman Marine Army, because the composition of the two is fundamentally different. The hunting battalion is a regular unit that specializes in activities in mountains and woodlands, while the marine army is the elite of the elite. Compared with the situation of the Federal Army, the Chasseur Battalion is roughly equivalent to the reorganized National Defense Division Assault Battalion, while the Norman Marine Division, under the same circumstances, has a great advantage over the Federal Army's National Defense Division, and even sometimes it is overwhelming, but they cannot be confused with the Federal Army's special forces, because the special service forces are smaller in size and have more special combat missions, and the Norman Marine Divisions are the sharpest "can openers" in the frontal battlefield.

The girl who was in charge of the internal response was also going to leave the Norman Empire for freedom, so Weiss entrusted her little nephew to take care of her temporarily. After consulting with Octavier, Weiss rode up on his motorbike and took the lead in reconnoitring the enemy, with a Secret Service rifleman sitting in his back seat. They drove towards the place where the gunshots had been heard before, and after walking about twenty or thirty miles out of the town, the sound of the gunfire gradually became clear. Judging by the position, it was indeed the special forces blocking the enemy's attack.

How many centaurs are there in the enemy? The accompanying rifleman squinted his eyes and tried to look in the darkness, but it was clear that his vision could not penetrate the night to find out exactly what was going on with the enemy. Weiss squinted his eyes and looked at it, after this period of rest, his energy had recovered a lot, but he had to use this special skill in moderation, after all, no one could tell what kind of challenges would lie ahead. Even if you get on the transport ship, you may encounter various crises during the retreat.

There were about one hundred and thirty or forty enemies, and Weiss made a rough estimate, and this answer surprised him a little. According to the establishment of the Norman army, even a battalion that was not in the same size could not be less than three or four hundred men in wartime. Could it be that the enemy has only sent a part of his men to test the truth? In this case, it shouldn't be! Weiss thought about it calmly: no, the enemy must be feint with one force to attract the opponent's attention, and the other force, that is, their main force, is likely to have made a detour to the town!

The soldiers of the special forces are very experienced in combat, but they do not have night vision, and even if they can infer the enemy's troop deployment from the victory of the battle, there is no way to make an accurate judgment like Weiss. Thinking of this, Weiss couldn't help frowning. He stood on the mountain and looked around, but for a moment and a half did not notice any enemy in any other direction. He got on his motorcycle and went around the neighborhood, but because of the time constraints and the tense situation, he did not expand the search area because it would be dangerous if he went in the wrong direction. When he returned, the first motorized vehicles from the town to the valley were passing through the area, a makeshift convoy of four trucks, three cars, and seven or eight motorcycles, commanded by Octavier's most senior major officer, carrying more than a hundred people, and although it was crowded and slow, it had finally moved a considerable part of the personnel who needed to be transferred. In this way, the last group of personnel to be transferred is less than 100 fighters of the special service unit, and as long as four trucks and three cars make another trip, there is still hope that the task will be completed before 5 o'clock in the morning......

Weiss was thinking about it, when suddenly, a vague red dot streaked through the air, and at first he thought he was dazzled and hallucinated, but a short, shrill whistling sound, followed by the explosion of a cannonball falling to the ground. At this time, Weiss's first reaction was shock, he never imagined that the enemy would open fire on the convoy driving on the road at this time. Are they so sure that the attackers are trying to move the people of the town away, and in this direction? This deep shock and mental shock made Weiss feel a sense of trepidation: if the enemy had seen all this, then even if they had a fast enough transport ship and a group of elite enough special service soldiers, it would be difficult for them to escape the enemy's hands!

In the blink of an eye, Weiss calmed down, even if the enemy really detected the truth, should he be arrested now? Of course I don't want to do that! In particular, he promised to bring his brother's blood back to Lorraine, a promise he would fulfill anyway—the determination fueled by the regret of this blood tie was sometimes stronger than the mere desire to survive.

After calming down and calculating the time, Weiss realized that there was another possibility: although the operation of the special forces was successful, they did not have enough troops or enough time to take out all the defenders around the town, and the Norman army must have slipped through the net. As long as they were on their motorcycles, but in their cars, they had enough time to get to friendly positions for help, and it was not difficult for a clever commander to make the right judgment, so it made sense why the enemy was so cunning. That force was clearly capable of radio communications, so their judgment should have been reported to their superiors, and whether or not their superiors would have taken the right decision at the right time was another matter, and it was certain that the situation was more urgent than expected. The time limit given by the commander of the transport ship is five o'clock in the morning, and now, the special forces need to get to the valley in the shortest possible time, the sooner the better!

Although the shells exploded far from the road and did not threaten the vehicles on the road, the shelling caused everyone to panic. Weiss tried to guess the location of the enemy's artillery from the direction of the shell's flight, but the information available so far was far from sufficient. This kind of shell feels like it comes from ordinary field guns, and the maximum range can exceed 20 miles, as long as the firing position is hidden in the mountains, woods, etc., Weiss cannot observe. But how did they know that the convoy was in this position? In order to avoid detection by the enemy, the vehicles did not turn on the lights, only the motorcycles were guided with weaker lights. Where exactly is the enemy observing?

In order to figure out this fatal problem, Weiss calmed down and raised the effectiveness of his special skills to a level that was close to the extreme. It's exhausting, but it's also something you can't do. Finally, he saw an enemy in a distant place, and it was strange that he had left the ground, but he was an ordinary soldier, and there were no planes or ships like that......

Damn it! It was the enemy's artillery balloon shooting, and they actually used this vehicle to observe at night, instead of sending all the troops over to fight each other, and the enemy commander was really spicy. Weiss speculated that it would be quite troublesome to deal with such an enemy! Their long-range artillery fire is not highly accurate, and even if it takes only a few dozen rounds to hit one shot, it is enough for the special service forces and target personnel.

A moment later, another shell flew and fell with a scream, exploding. Weiss was even more certain that the shells were flying from the direction in which enemy soldiers were observed floating in the air, and the distance was essentially at the edge of the range of the field guns. The shells were still far from the road and could not threaten the vehicles on the road, but the convoy could no longer move normally due to such an attack. Out of instinctive safety precautions, the convoy stopped, and all personnel got out of the car and evacuated.

In desperation, Weiss rode his motorcycle and rushed towards the convoy. A few minutes later, he caught up with the convoy and shouted at the officers and men of the special service: "Keep walking, don't stop, the enemy is still far from here!" They found us, but they didn't have enough strength to stop us! We don't consume energy here! ”

"So what do you say? Just run through enemy fire? The major asked Weiss urgently.

Weiss replied: "Give me five men, five motorcycles, and we will interfere with the enemy's shelling." ”

"Five people, five motorcycles?" The Major felt a little incredulous, but he looked left and right, and the situation was too critical for him to hesitate, so he quickly made up his mind and shouted: "Saxony, take four men, each on a motorcycle, and follow our second commander, and follow his orders." In order to save the overall situation, regardless of the cost, fight bravely! ”

Such a resolute tone seemed to see off the soldiers, but Weiss had no intention of carrying the enemy hard. Before leaving, he told the major that the enemy was due north-east, and that our convoy must avoid that area and must go around it...... Remember a path on the map? Close to the lakeside. ”

"Remember!" "I know that way, it's our alternative," the major said. We'll go that way, and you'll do everything you can to cover the convoy no matter what! Their safety depends on you now! ”

The Major's men and horses were soon under Weiss's command, and he galloped along the road with them as they were transferred, while the targets were summoned by the Secret Service soldiers to wait for their vehicles again. Weiss saw his little nephew and the girl, although he didn't have time to care about so much, he still waved his hand at his little nephew: "Young man of the Clumber-Haysen family, don't be afraid, we will win!" ”

The boy stood next to the girl, watching his uncle ride away on a motorcycle, not knowing what to say, his eyes were very complicated, perhaps, this back reminded him of his father, who had gone on a long journey, and that was his last memory of the man......

The shells flew one after another, and Weiss's mood couldn't help but become anxious, but he knew that the more this was the case, the more his thoughts could not be messed up. He led his soldiers along the road for a while, then stopped and gathered the group to his side.

"The enemy is in front, and what do we have to risk doing in order to interfere with the enemy's shooting...... It's unrealistic to fight the enemy, and it's too late. All we can do is make the enemy think that we are the convoy, so after a while we will continue to walk, turn on the headlights and go, attract the enemy's artillery fire, and then turn east so that they think we are going east. Weiss explained his plan to the crowd. It was dangerous to do so, because the headlights were the target of shelling in the eyes of enemy observers.

The soldiers were not afraid of danger, they turned on the headlights and followed Weiss to set up a "maze array" for the enemy, and the enemy's shells fell on their track, and thus moved away from the convoy behind. For the rest of the day, this group of valiant motorcyclists experienced what it was like to die in the wind. After directing the enemy's artillery fire away, Weiss's sense of urgency was not relieved, and he asked his soldiers to continue to lure the enemy and charge towards the town on his motorcycle. His anxious mood made him the crazy racer who broke the silence of the night, and the roar of the engine was so loud for a long time. He returned to the town and found Octavier, who was still there, and told her that the plan had a fatal flaw: we had not been able to eliminate all the defenders, and it was likely that they had now passed the news to the surrounding Norman troops—not very likely, but they must have passed the news to the surrounding Norman troops, so the nearest Norman force had deployed artillery to block the road, and their actions may not have a clear direction, but he had now discovered the intent of the infiltrators. If the special forces do not reach the valley in the shortest possible time, the operation is likely to fail.

Octavil seemed to have thought of this, and she didn't show much surprise, just frowned.

Weiss wasn't just the one who asked the question, he had already figured out the only way out on the way here – in fact, he had been asking so strongly: "If there were enough vehicles, we could solve the problem, but now there are none, and there are not enough boats." There was no way, a telegram had to be sent to the Major, telling him that the operation had been exposed, that there was no point in him and his transports hiding in the valley, and that it was necessary to take the risk of flying over to pick us up as fast as possible, so that we still had some life. ”

"Send a report, I have the authorization of the Supreme Military Council P-level, and immediately activate the emergency plan!" Octavir gave instructions to the Signal Soldier in an extremely cold tone.