The herald of the company gave Lieutenant Winter a few more words, and then ran to the second platoon on the right.

Lieutenant Winter's throat trembled, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, gritted his teeth and shouted: "Friedrich, go to the armored car and let them bring the cluster grenades." ”

Friedrich turned around and was about to leave, but was grabbed by Lieutenant Winter by his left arm, "And anti-tank mines, in short, everything that can deal with tanks." ”

Friedrich stared at Lieutenant Winter with his usual melancholy eyes, nodded silently, and then ran to the armored car behind.

There were only two 37-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, but the enemy had more than 30 tanks, and the only way to repel them was to rely on anti-tank mines and cluster grenades, which were almost zero-range weapons.

Lieutenant Winter stubbornly looked east, and by this time there were seventeen or eighteen R35 tanks that had crossed the stone bridge, and they had reorganized themselves into battle formation on the west bank of the ditch, and slowly drove towards the cornfield where they were.

The French infantry, who had fled in the German ambush, regained some composure when they saw the friendly tanks, and at the urging of the officers, they followed the tanks and flinched and charged again.

Lieutenant Winter roughly counted more than 200 French infantry following the tanks, not counting the French machine gunners who supported the infantry charge with machine guns along the ditch.

Lieutenant Winter looked at the approaching French troops, and kept thinking about whether what the company commander said was true or false, and suddenly a strange whistling sound sounded in his ears.

It's a mortar! Lieutenant Winter's face changed, and he shouted, "Lie down." Then he threw Friedrich, who had just returned to him, to the ground.

A series of mortar shells fell one after another on the top of the slope where the Germans were hiding, and countless mud and emerald green branches and leaves flew into the sky, mixed with red blood, both German and French.

The R35 tank in the charge was not far behind. The Germans, who fired hail of machine-gun bullets and 37-millimeter shells at the top of the slope, were suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that they were inferior in both numbers and firepower.

The French infantry had suffered a rash defeat, although they had already found that the German fire was gone. But instead of rushing forward, he honestly followed the tank forward. Let the tanks deal with the armored vehicles that are lying in ambush behind the dirt slopes.

Lieutenant Winter let go of Friedrich, who was crushed under him, and didn't care about shaking off the dirt and branches on his body, grabbed Friedrich's collar and whispered: "You hurry to the armored car behind, and if you can't hold this place, flee immediately." ”

"It's no longer possible to hold here, let's go together." Friedrich replied.

"The company commander hasn't given the order yet, so I can't withdraw." Lieutenant Winter said.

"Do you have to wait until the French tanks run over you before you go?" Friedrich cried.

Lieutenant Winter ignored him, instead carrying the MP38 submachine gun behind his back and picking up an anti-tank mine beside him. Turning to Friedrich, he shouted, "You go quickly, do you want your mother to receive two death notices on the same day?" ”

Hearing Lieutenant Winter's words, Friedrich sat on the ground as if he had been struck by lightning, then jerked up and bent down to run towards the armored car parked behind the slope.

Lieutenant Winter saw his brother obediently leave, a smile of relief appeared in his eyes, and then he turned his head to look at the French tank that was already close at hand.

The position of the second company of the reconnaissance battalion was close to collapse by this time, and most of the company's machine gunners and other personnel had withdrawn to the back of the slope, and those who remained at the top of the slope were daredevils armed with anti-tank mines and cluster grenades.

Lieutenant Winter held an anti-tank mine in his hand, his eyes fixed on an R35 tank climbing on its back in front of him, and his mind was constantly calculating the speed of the tank and the time it would take to reach the top of the slope.

Watch that tank get closer and closer. Lieutenant Winter lay on his stomach on his hands and feet and kept retreating, keeping his body at an angle that the tank's machine gun couldn't hit.

Now is the time! Seeing that the tank was about to climb to the top of the slope, Lieutenant Winter calculated the time and direction. With both hands outstretched, he threw an anti-tank mine the size of a dinner plate in front of the tank's right track, and then rolled down the dirt slope to the west.

Lieutenant Winter had just rolled off the top of the slope when he heard a violent explosion in his ears.

The right side of the unfortunate R35 tank shook violently in the explosion, and the right track broke with a thud and was thrown out of the wheels, leaving only the front guide wheels to spin non-stop.

"Hum" Lieutenant Winter felt as if there was an airplane circling in his head, and his ears were filled with the roar of the plane's engine.

With this roar, Lieutenant Winter rolled all the way more than thirty meters away, overpowering countless corn stalks before stopping, facing the sky on his back and panting.

Lieutenant Winter struggled to sit up on his hands. Turning his head to look at the top of the slope, he happened to see a shocking scene on the slope.

A German soldier holds a cluster grenade in both hands and raises it over his right shoulder. Throw it across the slope. The moment the cluster grenade was raised to his shoulder, the German soldier's body shuddered. The cluster grenade in his hand fell on his shoulder, and his body fell limply.

Before his body could completely fall to the ground, the falling cluster grenade exploded, and in the shock wave from the explosion of seven warheads of 700 grams of TNT, the body of the German soldier was torn apart and flew into the sky.

In a daze, Lieutenant Winter felt that something seemed to hit him in the left shoulder, and Lieutenant Winter looked down, and instantly felt that his roaring mind was much clearer.

Picking up the black severed finger mixed with blood, Lieutenant Winter's eyes were fixed on the wedding ring on the severed finger, this ring looked familiar, but his mind was still a little drowsy, and he couldn't remember who it was.

No sooner had Lieutenant Winter put his severed finger in his left breast pocket than he was embraced by a pair of strong arms.

"Friedrich, why are you still here?" Lieutenant Winter shouted in shock when he saw the man holding him.

"I don't have to go, none of us have to go, reinforcements have arrived." Friedrich said with tears and laughter.

Lieutenant Winter remembered the reinforcements that the company commander, Captain Gauss, had mentioned, and he turned to the west to see forty or fifty German tanks firing at the French tanks occupying the top of the dirt slope.

A smile appeared on Lieutenant Winter's lips, and he immediately retracted it. He, his younger brother, and the surviving soldiers of the 2nd Company of the 37th Reconnaissance Battalion were caught in the middle of the tank battle between the two sides, and the crisis had not yet been completely resolved.

He grabbed Friedrich by the collar and dragged him to the cornfield, grabbing the MP38 on his back and looking at the top of the dirt slope.

At this time, there were seven or eight more R35 tanks on the top of the slope, and the other R35 tanks were slowly retreating.

Lieutenant Winter saw that the German tank group was firing artillery and slowly drove towards the top of the dirt slope, and in one fell swoop, he surrounded and annihilated the French tank troops by the ditch.

He slapped Friedrich and then shouted for attack as he rushed to the top of the slope.

The soldiers in the platoon heard his shouts and boldly followed him to the top of the slope. Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, the soldiers of the second company of the reconnaissance battalion were greatly boosted and rushed to join the charge.

Lieutenant Winter led Friedrich all the way to the top of the slope and crouched in the cornfield to look east.

The French R35 tanks were firing backwards, and behind them, the French infantry was retreating twice as fast as they had charged. After the French infantry followed the tank to the top of the slope, they immediately spotted the German tank group on the other side of the slope, and thought that they had been ambushed by the Germans again, and their morale suddenly collapsed, so they immediately turned around and fled in the direction of the ditch despite the officers' obstruction.

"Hurry up the machine guns, we can't let them run like this." Lieutenant Winter raised his hand to fire a few shots, then shouted loudly.

In less than half a minute, the angry roar of the MG34 machine gun sounded next to Lieutenant Winter

More and more German tanks rushed to the top of the slope and fired condescendingly at the retreating R35 tanks, and 178 Type 38T tanks and No. 2 tanks detoured back to the right flank of the French army from the positions of the 3rd company of the reconnaissance battalion north of the slope.

The French infantry hastily fled east across the ditch, leaving the clumsy R35 tank alone to face the Germans. Lieutenant Winter saw that the distance of the French infantry was beyond the range of his MP38 submachine gun, so he lowered his gun and concentrated on observing the situation on the battlefield.

Seeing that the French R35 tanks were smashed into scrap metal one after another, and the French infantry fled back to the east bank of the ditch in a hurry, the defensive battle of the 37th reconnaissance battalion was completed, Lieutenant Winter sighed and turned his head to look at Friedrich beside him, and was about to speak, but saw a strange scene.

More than 20 meters in front of Friedrich's right, a No. 2 tank suddenly emitted a puff of black smoke, and the hatch on the turret was lifted, and a tankman with blinding flames jumped out, and then rolled to the ground, trying to extinguish the flames on his body.

Before Lieutenant Winter could figure out the situation, a series of explosions suddenly occurred on the top of the dirt slope, and the crews of two more Type 38T tanks opened the hatches and escaped.

"The tanks of the French, their reinforcements have arrived." Friedrich shouted pointing to the east.

Lieutenant Winter hurriedly picked up his binoculars and looked east, and saw a group of tanks about thirty of them coming from the east side of the ditch.

These tanks are really big, bigger than Tank Four, and it seems that there are two guns on them, one on the turret, and one on the right front of the hull, could it be that they broke the tank near them? At that far? Lieutenant Winter guessed in surprise. (To be continued)

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High-speed debut of the latest chapter of the Eagle of the Third Reich, this chapter is the 120th chapter of the tug-of-war (2) address: If you think this chapter is not bad, please don't forget to recommend it to your friends in the QQ group and Weibo!