The further the troops went, the more houses on both sides of the road grew, and gradually, civilians began to appear on both sides of the road, holding various welcome banners and shouting "Long live the Führer!" Long live Germany! Long live the People's Will Party! "Long live the Wehrmacht! Long live the SS! ”。

"God, I didn't think that I would have to be blocked and shouting long live one day!" Fogel stared blankly at the people in front of him who looked crazy.

"We abandoned them once, and they didn't expect to come back without the slightest resentment." The squad leader sat in the co-pilot seat of the infantry fighting vehicle and said with a wry smile, "At first, it was just a joke to tell the company commander to be ready for cheers, but I didn't expect it to be really ......."

Everyone listened to the bitter tone of the squad leader, and they were all silent, most of them had less than five years of military experience, and the "march into the Rhine" was more than ten years ago, and they did not understand the helplessness of the veterans who participated in that operation.

The squad leader, a veteran of more than ten years of military experience, was one of the first soldiers to return to the Rhine that year, and he experienced the feeling of being a soldier and having to abandon the people he was protecting.

"Squad leader, I have always wondered why our forward troops had already arrived at the German-French border when we were 'marching into the Rhine'?" Hans asked, confused.

"Well, the question is complicated, and I have to start from the beginning, I was not a member of the SS at that time, I was a recruit in the First Army, and I was part of Army Group Center." The squad leader fell into recollection, "I remember that morning we were training normally as usual, and suddenly, the siren sounded on behalf of the first-level combat readiness, and we all thought that the French had done something to us, and everyone panicked, so we hurriedly stopped what we were still doing, ran back to the room to tidy up the equipment, and rushed to the playground to assemble." ”

"As soon as everyone was assembled, the voice of the Führer, who was still a general at the time, came over the radio, and he told us that the French had indeed done something to us, but at sea, and one of the destroyers of the Navy Brothers had been sunk in our territorial waters."

"We were all stunned, half out of anger and half out of fear. Don't laugh, it's half because of fear. You 'recruits' don't understand how bad the situation in our motherland was at that time, it can be described as internal and external troubles, if there was a war with France at that time, I can't think of a month, Berlin would have become the front line. So we were all scared, and who wouldn't be afraid of death? ”

"But the speech of the Führer later made all of us understand that rather than being bullied to the door and not daring to speak up, death in battle may be our best choice."

So, after listening to the speech, we got into troop trucks, and the entire 100,000-strong Army Group Center was heading towards the Rhine demilitarized zone. And our regiment was the spearhead of the entire army group, the first German soldiers to re-enter Stuttgart. ”

"At that time, the people of Stuttgart were cheering as they are today, holding banners and holding food to welcome us on both sides of the road, not to mention how proud we were."

"We did not stop at Stuttgart, but continued with two other infantry regiments until we went out to Strasbourg and came face to face with the French army on the opposite side, when the situation was very bad, we only had three infantry regiments of more than 10,000 men on our side, but the French army on the opposite side had two divisions of more than 36,000 men. It's exciting to think about it now, our number is less than a third of the opposite, and we dare to spit trash talk with the French army across the river! ”

"After two days of trash talk, we received an order from the War Department to evacuate from the Rhine Demilitarized Zone. Many people were stunned when they heard this order, we dug more than ten kilometers of trenches along the German-French border in order to resist the attack of the French, but we ran away without firing a shot, what is this matter? ”

"But complaining is complaining, and orders still have to be carried out. In this way, more than 10,000 of us ran so far that we came and talked trash with the French for two days, and then we walked away. God, I still can't forget the way the people looked at us when we left, disappointed and resentful, as if we had betrayed them. ”

"Well, we did betray them."

"Many of us did not understand the intentions of the War Department and blamed them for this 'defeat', and it was not until a longer period of time that we realized how superb the Führer's retreat was and how much strategic space it gave us in the first place. To tell the truth, if we had fought with the French that time, maybe Germany would not have been called Germany. But even though we understood the reason for the retreat, most of us still thought it was a 'failed' operation because ......"

"Because although you understand, you are afraid that the people will not understand and see you as traitors, right?" Hans was very smart, and he combined the previous words of the squad leader and quickly analyzed what they were afraid of.

The squad leader glanced at Hans and said with a wry smile: "You are very smart, yes, we are afraid that we will be accused of being a traitor from now on." It is not in the glory of the Germanic people to abandon what they have protected! ”

"You can rest assured now." Hans pointed to the crowd outside the car, "They are obviously very smart, and they can understand the Führer's good intentions. ”

The squad leader smiled and nodded, and just as he wanted to say something, he was interrupted by a voice from the car radio:

"Attention everyone, the boys of the Air Force have detected signs of a large-scale build-up of French troops on the line from Tillonville to Colmar in France, and they have ordered us to speed up to Strasbourg and prepare for battle!"

Hans pulled the bolt of the G41 and after making sure that everything was working with the gun, he patted the squad leader on the shoulder and said, "Squad leader, I think you can make up for the regret of the last time this time." ”

The squad leader also quickly adjusted from his memories, he checked the equipment, restored the tough style he had in the offensive and defensive battles in Barcelona, and said coldly: "I hope the French can be more courageous." I swear that I will let the people of the Rhine see the awesomeness of the soldiers of the motherland! ”

He is indeed qualified to say such things, because this time there are no longer only three infantry regiments entering the Rhine Demilitarized Zone like last time, but there are 5 divisions and nearly 80,000 men entering the Rhine Demilitarized Zone this time!

The five divisions included the SS SS 17 "Burlissingen" Panzergrenadier Division and an Armed Grenadier Division (in fact, a Light Infantry Division), the Wehrmacht's 6th Panzer Division, the 7th Panzer Division, and the newly formed 71st "Shamrock" Infantry Division.

The combination of these five divisions does not dare to say that it gathers the strongest fighting force of Germany, but it is definitely elite, if France really dares to violate the German border, then these five divisions are definitely enough for France to drink a pot.