The Reno River in Italy, located between German-controlled Bologna and Pistoia, has been a territory for German patrols and reconnaissance since the Germans took the area around Bologna in August, and the Italian army basically retreated to the other side of the Reno River in a defensive position.

In the early morning of October 2, the Germans near 44 degrees north latitude were enjoying the last residual heat of the temperate zone.

The commander of the 1st Field Army was Rundstedt himself, but he was not in the corps headquarters, and the deputy commander of this army, Maximilien von Weix, was in charge of the command, and the man who went from division commander of the Imperial German Army to the commander of the National Army was jokingly called the brother-in-law general by the people below, because Weix's wife and first lady were sisters.

The 1st Field Army was a mixed unit specially created by Eric in response to the German-Italian war, and it was also a hodgepodge of weapons to make it easier to test all weapons, and the internal organization was not quite the same as that of the Wehrmacht's active corps.

As the 32nd, 23rd, and 24th Wehrmacht mountain armies were gradually compressing the Italian defense line, the field armies that had arrived late began to reorganize the entire army, and the three mountain armies were also incorporated into the sequence of field armies.

With that came more than a hundred trains from Munich were the equipment they carried.

If Horch had been at the train station, he would have seen the same section of the black barrels sticking out of the wagon, which was the same as the FLAK-20 he designed.

Vergato, located in the middle of the Renault River, next to the river connecting the Italian and German fronts, was the headquarters of the 1st Field Army.

However, it was full of woods, and it was difficult to spot it if you didn't look closely, and almost all the residents scattered outside the city were driven away by the soldiers, and the residents of the city were forced to not leave the city.

"Lalala~Lalala~ It's so comfortable, I didn't expect this war to be the same as the vacation, much better than in 1915~" Private Volker Shapiro, a submachine gunner, was lying in the middle of the town square enjoying the midday sun, and the surrounding scene was mostly the same, because the Italian army had been silent since September after a series of defeats in August. The Germans were the same, the high attrition, the intensity of the August campaign depleted the already scarce supplies, which had to be transferred from the nearest Ruhr area to Munich and then via Vienna to Treviso, and then to the German front by captured Italian trains.

The trouble was something that the soldiers couldn't feel, but Hoffman was so troubled by it that he had an urge to let Eric take charge of it himself.

Bang ——! Yes! Bang ——!

Just as Shapiro was enjoying himself, his chaise longue was hit and tilted sideways, and Shapiro, who was too relaxed, fell to the ground, and his nose was knocked out of shape when he landed on the ground, and he screamed in pain.

"Damn, who is it! Looking for death? Shapiro scolded lazily before he could get up, then touched the place around his waist and found it empty.

"Hey! Where's my gun? Shapiro asked himself in surprise. Damn, it was thrown in the barracks. ”

"Hurry up, the squad leader told us to go back to the camp and gather." It was Victor Webb who spoke, the machine gunner in the squad, the recliner he kicked in, and an old comrade-in-arms who had served with Shapiro since 1918.

Of the 10 members of the class, 4 were veterans of the First World War and were promoted during the war, while the other 6 were recruits who had joined after the reorganization of the field army.

Shapiro, who fell to the ground, was a soldier who had participated in two offensive campaigns, each time killing the enemy, and in the second battle, he was promoted to private. Webb was the only soldier in his class to have participated in three offensive campaigns and was awarded the Iron Cross of the Second Class.

Seeing that it was Webb who kicked him, Shapiro instantly lost his temper, "Why are you gathering?" Just after training in the morning, eating canned food at noon is not healthy. "Shapiro was a soldier who was forcibly conscripted in the middle of World War I, and was sent to the front line after only one month of training, and it was all up to his luck to survive, and he still spoke with a full ruffian.

"No matter how much you say, believe it or not, I'll shorten your life." Webber looked at Shapiro angrily and scolded with a smile. "Hurry up, you're the last, it's really hard to find you, if the squad leader comes back and doesn't see you, there is something nice about you."

The 231st Infantry Division of the Field Army was the only regular infantry division of the 23rd Mountain Army, and its commander was Friedrich Paulus, who had participated in many battles on the eastern and western fronts.

Operation Chimone was Paulus's campaign codename, and it was also his first combat mission as a division commander.

The 231st Infantry Division had about 21,000 men, 3 infantry regiments and 3 new artillery regiments, and the 231st Infantry Division was also an infantry division specially created by Eric to test weapons. The entire division's equipment will also be fully reloaded before the troops depart.

In charge of the weapons transport was Paulus's old acquaintance, Ferdinand Schellner, an old friend of Eric's War Room.

"Colonel, here's the list." Schellner solemnly handed the list to Paulus with both hands, looking like he was doing business.

"How could it be you? General Weix told me at first that they would be old friends, but I never thought it would be you. Paulus asked curiously, looking at Schellner. Yes, they've all become lieutenant colonels, and they're about to catch up with me. ”

Schellner looked decadent, "Come on, let's not praise each other, shame." ”

"How can it be considered a boast, seek truth from facts, 28-year-old lieutenant colonel, my friend, you are still not satisfied?" Paulus said seriously.

"Really? That Rommel guy was only a year older than me, he was just a second lieutenant at the beginning, and now he is not a general, isn't he? "Schellner is really jealous of Rommel and Guderian, although he did not come to the front line to lead the army to scold Fang Shao, Manstein, but he is in the United Front Work Department, and the only deputy chief of staff is the deputy chief of staff of the United Front Work Department.

"Ahh Paulus did not know what to say, "Yes, yes, yes." Both of them are perverts, let's not compare them to each other. ”

"How can it not be compared? Why are you so unmotivated? Schellner said pretending to be angry.

"Hey, I'm talking about you, I'm comforting you, okay?"

"You don't need to pretend, I'm here with a mission." The corners of Schellner's mouth curled up, as if there was a conspiracy.

"What task? By the way, I wonder why you led the team to send weapons to the front line this time, and it shouldn't be such an important task..." Paulus instantly felt that he had said the wrong thing.

"What shouldn't be? I shouldn't be a lieutenant colonel, should I? Do you think the United Front Work Department is rash? Hey! How come I didn't find out you were such a snob? Schellner pulled out a letter of appointment from his chest and handed it to Paulus.

Paulus didn't speak, but read the contents.

"So, you're not just here to deliver weapons, or to assist me? Is the Chief of the General Staff so untrustworthy to me? Paulus quipped.

"Don't say that, these weapons are not trivial, don't think that they are simply upgrades, many weapons are designed at one time to deal with the 'future' war." As soon as Schellner talked about these weapons, he was very serious, and there was no joke at all, which made Paulus a little nervous.

"This batch of weapons is the first batch and is used for testing, so our mission is not only to fight, but also to accumulate experience and data for use." Schellner whispered. "Don't you wonder why the 231st Division has an establishment of 21,000 people? That's because Mr. President has counted all the personnel needed for each weapon, and you are saying that it is a division, but in fact it is better to say that it is a reinforced division. ”

"I haven't heard of any of them, like an anti-tank group, an anti-tank artillery squad, a heavy machine gun team, or something else." Paulus actually discovered the problem after serving as the commander of the 231st Division, and it was only after Schellner's reminder that he understood it.

"Okay, I won't say much about the details, you are responsible for commanding, I am responsible for reminding, let's cooperate well and strive to satisfy our superiors, maybe we can also become popular." Schellner was full of thoughts about comparing Rommel, and finally ran out of Berlin and had a chance to lead the troops in battle, and of course he didn't want to miss it.

It's just that what Schellner didn't expect was that Eric kept him in the Ministry of Defense in order to give the future star more opportunities to be exposed to new tactics, because the new Berlin Academy was set up for the purpose of exuding sexual thinking, and it was only to blame Schellner for wanting to make war achievements and failing Eric's single-minded cultivation.