3 COMPANIES WITH A TOTAL OF 180 MEN, 1 COMPANY COMMANDER, 1 ORDER OFFICER, 1 SIGNAL CORPS, 2 HERALDS AND A MEDICAL TEAM CONSISTING OF 2 MEDICS, THREE INFANTRY PLATOONS AND 2 80MM MORTAR CREWS, AND A NEW MACHINE GUN THAT MARK VIDA HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE.

For this new machine gun, the battalion headquarters specially equipped their company with 2 jeeps, and before that, the 3rd company had not been specially equipped with jeeps.

"Where is the commander of the 3rd Company!?" A herald was shouting hysterically at the march of the 3rd Company.

"Sir, it looks like someone is looking for you." The driver, who was driving, said to Vida, the company commander who was sitting in the back.

"Stop, call him over." When the jeep came to a stop, the herald quickly ran over and shouted.

"Are you the commander of the 3rd Company?"

"That's right, Mark Vida, which unit are you from?" Vader had never seen this man, and he was familiar with the heralds at the battalion headquarters.

"Report sir, I'm Private Wright Jeffel of the 9th Company." Jeffel hurriedly replied and continued, "Sir, the third battalion has been ambushed and is retreating, and I encountered your company's reconnaissance unit while retreating, so I came to inform you." ”

"Ambush?" Vader lost his voice.

"How can there be an ambush on the right side, that side is our occupation zone, and the left side of the first battalion is the place that is vulnerable to ambushes." The adjutant on the side, Second Lieutenant Carl Gruen, was puzzled why the 3rd Battalion had been ambushed in the German-occupied area.

"Oops! We may be in an ambush! "Vida had some bad premonitions.

"No, maybe it's the remnant?" Gruen was reluctant to believe that the Italian ambush was intentional.

"Idiot, are you drunk from too much beer? The third battalion is the only unit in our division that is equipped with tank No. II, and the third battalion will be repulsed, do you think the remnants of the Italian army can do it? Vader then gave the troops an order to stop.

Just then, the communications corps shouted loudly from another jeep. "Sir, Major Baum ordered a battalion to defend in place, and Captain Braun put our company in charge of the perimeter."

"Gather all the non-commissioned officers, and three platoons on the left side to find defensive terrain and dig foxholes." Vader gave the order to defend first.

Gruen originally thought that Vader was making a bit of a fuss, but it wasn't until the news from the Signal Corps that he thought that things might be really big.

Gruen was Vader's deputy, and he needed to call in non-commissioned officers when Vader set up defensive tasks, and he personally began to direct his soldiers to find terrain and build defensive positions.

The 3rd Company, which was originally on the march, suddenly entered a state of combat readiness and did not make much movement, it was wartime, and it was an enemy-occupied area, if it was not for the reconnaissance squad in front to open the way, the weapons would have to be opened and safed.

GRUEN PLACED THE 60MM MORTAR VERSION IN A DITCH, AND THEN HAD SOME SCATTERED BRANCHES AND LEAVES TO COVER THE SURROUNDINGS, AND THE TEMPORARY DEFENSIVE TERRAIN WAS NOT AS ELABORATE AS THE LONG-TERM FORTIFICATION.

Since the battalion headquarters did not have a precise combat order, but only asked the 3rd company to defend on the spot, Vida had no choice but to let the whole company prepare on the spot.

After conveying the information he already knew, Vinda contacted the battalion headquarters several times, and the response was that the situation was unclear.

Leedler's infantry squad consisted of 3 companies and 1 platoon, and they had left two recruits to look after the wounded prisoners while waiting for the follow-up troops, and then continued on their way with the other 7 men.

Eric's communications equipment for the 231st Division was only distributed to the company level, and it could not be done further down, because the machine was too expensive for all troops to be worthy, except for the 231st Division, the three mountain armies reorganized by the Austrian Army were all at the regiment level, and the internal configuration of the Wehrmacht was only at the battalion level.

"Get down!" Ledler suddenly felt a voice in front of him, and quickly asked all the team members to lie down.

"It's footsteps." Schreiner, who was sticking to the ground, said.

After listening for a few minutes, Schreiner added. "There are quite a few people, the footsteps are a little chaotic, it should be a march, probably an Italian army."

Shapiro, who had just finished speaking, made a few gestures to Leedler, signaling that there were troops and vehicles ahead.

A few minutes passed, and as more and more troops passed by the line of sight, and the distance became closer, Shapiro had no choice but to retreat. "I saw more than 20 trucks passing by, and some artillery pieces were being towed, but those guns were not big, about the same as the mortars in our platoon."

"It should be a battalion of the Italian army, let's withdraw first and report the situation first." Ledler thought about it for a few seconds. "Are you sure you're coming in our direction?"

"That's right, it's a small road, and there's no big road to walk, so it's going to pass us by." Shapiro was a little anxious, because the distance between the two sides was not far away.

"That's it, Kramer goes back to report the situation, we retreat to the house, our battalion is not far from here, support for ten minutes and wait for the support of the large army, so as to give time for the large army to prepare." Ledler then retreated to the small house with the rest of the men.

Webb clamped the MG20 machine gun to the roof, Shapiro as his deputy, and everyone else stayed inside the house to keep an eye out the window.

Three kilometers away from here, the 3rd Company, which had been defending on the spot, was intensively coordinating the forces of each platoon, striving to quickly adjust and concentrate its firepower when attacked by the enemy.

"Sir, the first squad hasn't come back yet, will it be that the enemy has already encountered it?" A corporal communicates with his platoon commander.

"Probably not, otherwise someone should come back at this time..." At this moment, a soldier wearing a German military uniform ran quickly in everyone's sight, and because the German and Italian uniforms were very recognizable, everyone did not fire.

Kramer didn't bring a rifle with him in order to speed up, and the ammunition was left, and the only weapon on his body was an A1920H pistol. "Where's the platoon commander?"

"I'm here, what's the situation?" The platoon commander, Sergeant Eugen Koehler, beckoned.

"There is a situation ahead, it should be a battalion of the Italian army, at least."

"Damn, go tell the company commander." Kohler was stunned directly, what are you kidding, there are only 180 people in one company here, and a battalion of the Italian army must have at least more than 1,000 people, where can the 3rd company withstand.

Kramer found Vader and told him about the investigation again.

"You go back first." Vader didn't want Lederer to buy time for the big force to give himself an account.

Kramer had no choice but to run back again, only to hear gunfire faintly as soon as he set off.

"Damn, a platoon, follow me and get our people back." Thinking that his men were fighting with a few men and a battalion of enemy troops to buy time for the reaction of the large army, Keller's blood boiled and he vowed to save his own people.

"Crazy? Go to so many people? Koehler, you take a class, go and pick it up, the others stay put! Gruen stopped Köhler.

Da Da Da –

Where a long line of fiery snakes licked, a row of Italian soldiers immediately fell to the ground, and Weber, whether he was hit or the opponent fell down, as long as he was still moving and standing, it was all his target.

The MG20 is supplied with ammunition in two ways, one is a steel chain that provides continuity of continuous fire, and the other is a bullet strand that is easy to carry, a long triangle that can provide 50 rounds of guts, and the whole class carries 1 per person except for the squad leader and machine gunner, 7 for the deputy gunner, and 6 for the machine gunner. It is equivalent to providing 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and with the rate of fire of 1,000 rounds per minute designed by the MG20, 1,000 rounds will be lost in 1 minute if the trigger is pulled and does not move, regardless of the time to change the magazine.

Weber is a veteran, naturally knows how to use machine guns, every short burst can suppress or kill the Italian army, the Italian army that was still approaching was already in chaos when attacked, and was hit by Weber's machine gun to run around to find cover.

"Stan! Watch your left, there's movement! Stan and Lange were in charge of the sides of the kitchen, holding back the Italian forces behind the house who wanted to get closer.

Syllable!

Stan hears a distant gunshot, and almost at the same moment, the glass in front of him is shattered and he falls to the ground in fright. Then, a barrage of bullets struck the walls through the windows, sending up a cloud of dust and debris.

The flour in the kitchen was also disturbed by the air current, and the vision became blurred.