Overlooking the land, the endless green forest is like an endless carpet, and in the center of the green blanket sits a burning city.

Countless columns of black smoke burst into the sky from the city, and from time to time there were clouds of gray gunpowder from the city and the surrounding forests.

It was clear that the city was its destination, the city of Pustoska.

Garland condescended and clearly saw a dozen planes hovering over the city, and the smoke that erupted from the city was the masterpiece of these planes.

Looking at the altitude at which those planes flew, they were only about one or two hundred meters above the ground, exactly as the intelligence collected by the Naval Aviation Command said, and the Russian Air Force was more accustomed to fighting at low altitudes.

Pulling the wrench and throwing away the drop fuel tank, Garand visibly felt a lightness in the fuselage.

"Erhard, follow me." Garland shouted over the radio to the wingman pilot, Major Erhard.

"I'm always there for you." Erhard said.

Garland didn't reply, but just drove the plane into a sharp dive, heading straight for a Russian fighter with grass green paint.

With the help of the earth's gravity, Garand quickly narrowed the distance between him and the Russian fighter.

Until the ranging scale on the sight showed that the distance between the two sides was only two hundred meters, Garand could even faintly see the red five-pointed star on the tail brush of the opponent's aircraft.

A slender stick-like object deep in the rear cabin window of the Russian fighter jet spewed out clouds of white smoke from the top, as if the plane was holding a lit large cigar.

Faced with the stick-like object that appeared to be a cigar, Garland was not careless, and he recognized it at a glance. It was the tailmount machine gunner of the Russian fighter plane who was firing at him.

Pull the joystick. In the blink of an eye, Garand's fighter plane narrowed the distance to a hundred meters. It flew over the plane's head.

The moment the plane turned around, the MG17 machine guns on the two wings of the fighter plane and the 20mm cannon in the nose opened fire together, and the shells hit the enemy plane like a hail.

However, to Garland's astonishment, he saw that the machine gun bullets were ejected by the armor of the opposing aircraft, and the expected honeycomb bullet holes and black smoke did not appear.

Behind him, Major Erhard fired a little better, and the guns and shells he fired started from the red five stars in the enemy plane's stand and extended all the way to the back seat cabin of the plane. The cabin glass was shattered.

Blinding red blood flew out of the heavy's shattered brain, staining the cabin glass, and the smoke from the muzzle of the backseat machine gun dissipated.

"It's done with the Heavy, we can take it out with confidence." Erhard shouted.

"With such hard armor, it must be the legendary Il-2, only the Il-2 has such thick armor." Garland shouted.

"I think it should be too." Erhard shouted.

"Let's go blow up its oil radiator, just like it says in the combat report sent by our brothers in the Air Force." Garland shouted.

Garand's troops did not take part in the war against the Soviet Union, but they did not forget to gather intelligence on the war against the Soviet Union.

According to the combat report forwarded from the Luftwaffe, he was no stranger to the models and performance of the fighters commonly used by the Soviet army, and he quickly linked the Soviet fighters in front of him with the information kept in his mind.

The report forwarded by the Air Force shows. The Soviet Air Force's Il-2 fighter was known for its rough skin and thick flesh, like a flying tank. Only the pilot's cockpit, and the oil radiator under the fuselage are its most fatal heels.

"Wait a minute, we're in trouble." Erhard's voice came over the radio, stopping Garland from diving again.

"There's an Ivan chasing me, it's supposed to be a MiG."

"Is he the only one? Then he's done. Garland shouted.

Garand's voice had not yet completely dissipated over the radio, and his fighter flipped over with a light turn, turning its belly upwards, the cockpit down, and the nose pointing behind him.

The moment Garland flew the plane upside down, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Erhard's plane flying under his head like a meteor, and a fighter jet with an extra-long "nose" following Erhard, and the red star on the tail indicated the identity of the fighter.

The cockpits of German fighters are mostly in the middle of the fuselage or in the middle of the front, but the cockpit of the Soviet fighter he saw is in the middle of the back, this layout looks like a person has an extra-long nose, no matter where he goes, it is extremely eye-catching.

LONG-NOSED, DEFINITELY MIG-3, GARAND QUICKLY RECOGNIZED THE MODEL OF THE ENEMY AIRCRAFT.

After a nice flip, Garland returned to his normal position with his head and feet down, by which point the three planes had changed positions.

Major Erhard's plane was in front, MIG-3 was behind him, and Garland was behind MIG-3.

"You're too slow to run."

Seeing that MIG-3 swaying from left to right, trying to get out of his own pursuit, to no avail.

Garland only steadily narrowed the distance between the two planes to more than a hundred meters, and then fired a dense range of gun shells at each other, until the tail of the MIG-3 spewed black smoke before stopping the chase and turning to look for Erhard.

Erhard had already thrown himself into another battle by this time.

Don't think you can escape by flying low, Erhard gripped the tail of an Il-2 strike plane.

Sensing the murderous Erhard chasing after him, the Il-2 that Erhard had been targeting was once again lowered in altitude, less than a hundred meters from the ground, trying to get rid of Erhard with his excellent low-altitude performance.

Erhard steadily lowered the plane to an altitude of fifty meters, gradually closing the distance between the two sides.

Erhard clearly knew that in the heart of the opposing pilot, at this height of almost only the treetops, if he was a rookie pilot with poor skills, or if he did not have enough mental quality, in order to avoid the Il-2 rear-seat machine gun strafers, he would fall to the ground nine times out of ten, and there was no time to react at all.

Your idea is good, but it's a pity that you've met me.

Erhard ignored the harassment of the plane's backseat machine guns, and simply locked onto the enemy plane steadily, and did not open fire until it was ninety meters away. The oil radiator that hit the enemy aircraft.

Black smoke came out of enemy aircraft. Dragged with a thick flame. Rushing headlong into the depths of the forest on the ground.

Glancing at the black smoke rising from the depths of the forest, Erhard exclaimed excitedly, "A victory point is in hand, well・・・・・・ it's snowing." ”

July is the height of summer, and of course there is no snow.

Scattered in the air, Erhard's mistaken for snowflakes were countless leaflets.

Pieces of white paper drifted to the ground like snow, and soon covered the ground with a layer of white.

The leaflets that fell from the sky brought the "Iron Cross Act" to the 46th Panzer Corps, and also brought a kind of restlessness to the hearts of all the officers and men of the 46th Panzer Corps.

Headquarters of the 46th Armored Corps. A captain and staff officer hurried out of the basement where the military headquarters was located, bent down to pick up the leaflets on the ground, and did not return to the military headquarters until he had a thick pile in his hand.

A moment later, Admiral Schell held the leaflet in his left hand and subconsciously touched his collar with his right hand, rubbing the knight's Iron Cross that he had received for his good command and bravery in battle in the French campaign.

"The Baron's Medal? Twenty percent more allowance. When this battle is over, it will have an extra silver oak leaf on it, that's for sure. Admiral Scheer said confidently into the leaflet.

Around General Scheer, all the staff officers in the military headquarters. Almost everyone has a leaflet, and they are reading it carefully. The command headquarters lost its usual hustle and bustle, and there was an eerie silence.

"It's not fair." Lieutenant Colonel Schinkel, chief of operations, was the first to complain.

"This bill is unfair to our staff officers, as well as logistics, medical personnel, in short, all those who are not fighting on the front line, according to this standard, even if we fight until the end of the war, I am afraid it will be difficult for a staff officer to be able to obtain the Knight's Iron Cross, unless we pick up a gun and rush to the front line to become an infantryman." Lieutenant Colonel Schinkel said.

"There is no unfairness, the honor and power that the medal brings is directly proportional to the risks faced by the medal recipients on the battlefield, you should pay attention to this, and you read the leaflet at the end, it has been explained that the bill is not perfect, and the follow-up award standards for non-front-line combatants are being formulated. What we need to do now is to ensure that all officers and soldiers are aware of the contents of the leaflets and to motivate them. Admiral Scheer said.

Upon receipt of General Scheer's order, the military headquarters immediately resumed its usual busyness, and with a telephone call and telegram after telegram, the commanders of the combat units at all levels in the 46th Panzer Corps Theater received orders to make sure that every soldier saw the leaflets and was familiar with the contents of the "Iron Cross Act."

In the eastern part of Pustoshka City, on the position of the Waffen-SS Imperial Division, a double foxhole stretched out of one right arm, and he casually touched two leaflets that had fallen next to the foxhole and retracted them.

Two soldiers in the foxhole face each other and sit on the ground with their backs to the foxhole.

The private on the left said: "I have only one Iron Cross of the second degree, and three or five more heroic acts to receive the Iron Cross of the first degree, and then the German Cross." The Order of Barons is simply too far away for me. ”

The private on the right said: "You still have at least one Iron Cross of the 2nd degree, I don't have anything." ”

"There are a lot of Ivan out there, it's easy for you to get a medal, the next time they charge, you only need to kill twenty or thirty of them, and then capture an officer alive, and you will definitely be recommended for a medal."

The private folded the leaflets and stuffed them into his pocket, picking up the G42 semi-automatic rifle leaning against his arms.

"When the Ivan will attack, I can't wait."

・・・・・・

North of Pustoshka, on the edge of the forest, an E-40 tank is parked between two pine trees, its body covered with camouflage pine branches.

There was a faint sound from inside the turret.

"Flyers? Everyone wants to see? I understand, I'll do it right away. ”

The sound died down, the turret hatch opened, and a sergeant in a black armored uniform jumped out of the turret, only to glance at the white paper lying on the pine forest floor.

When the sergeant returned to the turret, he had five more leaflets in his hand.

Soon, there was a shouting from inside the tank that was difficult to hide.

"Why is that? Listen to the sound of artillery outside, there are so many Ivan around waiting for us to exterminate, why are we wasting time here. If this continues, when will we be able to obtain military merits and medals? ”

"Our task is to be a reserve, and we will appear wherever the line of defense does not hold, so ・・・・・・ I can't wait for the Russians to break through our line now. Merciful Lord, hear my prayers and fulfill my desires. ”

・・・・・・

In the field hospital of the 46th Panzer Corps on the western outskirts of Pustozka, His Excellency "Chen Dao", the Polish Governor-General who loved the soldiers like a son, after visiting the wounded, took his leave under the loving eyes of the wounded, doctors and nurses, and left with four adjutants.

As soon as they walked out of the main entrance of the hospital, the five of them looked up at the sky in unison.

Captain Nietzsche reached out and grabbed a leaflet floating past him, looked down and walked to the SDKFZ251 armored car next to him.

"The Iron Cross Act, what is it?" Major Bach also had an extra leaflet in his hand.

Ten minutes later, in the center of the city, the temporary residence of "Chen Dao", five people led by "Chen Dao" sat around a rectangular table.

"It's not fair, it's discrimination against our Air Force and Navy, why aren't there standards for awarding honors to our Air Force and Navy?" Major Bach said.

Captain Nietzsche said with a smile: "That's because only the Army and the Waffen-SS are surrounded here." ”

"Isn't there a Luftwaffe fighting over our heads, and even these leaflets were thrown on top of us by the Luftwaffe at the risk of their lives." Major Bach said.

Major Lorenz said: "I correct, it is clear that the fighter flying in the sky is the HE-100, and only naval aviation is equipped with such fighters. I would also like to ask, why is there no Navy and Air Force? Aren't we part of the German army and don't deserve the honor and rights that come with the Iron Cross Act? ”

Captain Nobel looked at Major Bach.

"Mr. Major, I solemnly make a request to you."

Captain Nietzsche followed: "Major Bach, I also have a personal request for your approval. ”

Major Bach glanced at the two of them with a sharp gaze, and said in a fierce voice: "I know what you think, I don't agree. Your duty is to protect our Governor-General, and you are not allowed to go to the front, don't even think about it. ”

Captain Nietzsche raised his chin to "Chen Dao", who was sitting on the side, looking up at the ceiling at a forty-five degree angle, and said to Major Bach: "You know, our Excellency・・・・・・ you should understand what I mean." ”

Captain Nobel said: "If we can stand out in this campaign, maybe we will get a new pair of epaulettes, and our chests will no longer be empty, please give us permission to pursue personal improvement." ”

Major Lorenz spoke.

"During the war years, they wore the rank of captain for too long, and there was no reason to stop them from pursuing progress. And with this bill, their hearts have already flown to the front line, so let them go. ”

Major Bach's gaze swept over the two expectant faces for a long time before he squeezed out a sentence.

"Stay safe."

Captain Nietzsche and Captain Nobel cheered and stood up, rushed up and warmly hugged Major Bach Lorenz, and thanked him repeatedly.

After the two captains calmed down, "Chen Dao", who had been sitting next to him and had not spoken, suddenly spoke: "Major Bach, I have a personal request, I hope you can agree." ”

Almost at the same time, eight glances on the four faces fell on his face.

The four mouths said in unison, "You'd better stay here, and you're not allowed to go anywhere." (To be continued.) )