The first thing Qin Chuan did after entering the position was to test the communication first.

"Report the situation!" Qin Chuan said into the walkie-talkie.

"10 everything works fine!" Eberhard replied: "Two guns were blown up!" ”

"20 everything is fine!"

"30 everything is fine!"

The first number represents each "island", the second number represents each area on the "island", if it is the headquarters, it is "0", and the other areas are arranged according to the serial number, so that when calling, you only need to report the serial number, and immediately know what situation occurs in what position.

The sound of the cannon slowly stopped, and it was not until the smoke cleared a little that Qin Chuan realized that the sky had been bright for a while.

Qin Chuan carried a rifle into the trench, and preferred the trenches built by the soldiers to the pillbox fortifications of the fortress.

This is not to say that the pillboxes of Metz Fortress are not strong enough, in fact, Metz Fortress has the nickname "Little Maginot Petit", and in addition to the artificial canals as "moats" on its three "islands", there are many rotating turrets on the "islands" similar to those on the Maginot Line...... It was apparently built when the French were stationed here, although it had fallen into disrepair and rusted, and the artillery had been moved out by the cadets to be used as teaching aids.

But this thing only needs to set up a few machine guns on the perforation, and it is another solid defensive point.

However, Qin Chuan still likes to drill around in the trenches.

This is perhaps the difference between a veteran and a recruit...... Recruits always like to find a strong fortification to hide from harm, but veterans want to be free at all times, have more space, and run fast to avoid bullets and shells at any time.

"Lieutenant Colonel!"

"Lieutenant Colonel!"

……

Seeing Qin Chuan coming up with a gun, the cadets of the military academy all looked at Qin Chuan with admiration.

"Don't look at me, soldiers!" Qin Chuan reminded: "You should keep an eye on the crosshair and let it aim at the enemy, not at me!" ”

The soldiers let out a burst of laughter, and then shifted their gaze to the muzzle of the gun again as Qin Chuan had ordered.

Qin Chuan chose a position, raised his binoculars and looked ahead, and could not see anything in the smoke of gunpowder, only the sound of some tank "rumbling" motors and the sound of explosions one after another...... This is the US military searching and advancing, and the explosion should be the masterpiece of the US mine-sweeping tank, or it may be that the US soldiers are using grenades to clear mines.

Qin Chuan observed his surroundings.

This is a line of defense on the island of Little Solsi, the Moselle River more than 100 meters wide flows from south to north to the west of the island of Lesser Solsi, and the French garrison here dug a large 50-meter-wide artificial river, which circled around the island of Little Solsi and then returned to its original channel.

The other two "islands" are similar.

Therefore, if the Americans want to pass through the Metz Fortress, they must at least cross the river in front of them, and Qin Chuan wants to know how the Americans can do it.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" Eberhard took a few communications soldiers to Qin Chuan's side and reported: "We may have encountered the US 3rd Army!" ”

"The 3rd Army?" Qin Chuan couldn't help frowning, which meant that his opponent was Patton.

"Yes!" Eberhard replied: "Last night Werner went out with two men to reconnoitre, and they brought back a prisoner, who confessed...... We are facing the 3rd Army of the US 20th Army! ”

Qin Chuan nodded.

This was unexpected, but it was also expected, as only Barton would have such speed...... His combat motto was similar to Rommel's, "Attack, attack, attack!" ”

Patton was arguably luckier than Rommel.

Because Rommel fought a lot of the time when he was undersupplied.

Patton can also be said to be less fortunate than Rommel.

Because Rommel always had the Führer's trust and great decision-making power, Patton was constrained at every turn, and his boss Bradley at this time was even Patton's former subordinate, and this subordinate was still stealing Patton's plans in some disgraceful way.

Just as he was thinking about it, tanks drove out of the smoke on the other side of the river, and in front of them were minesweepers, and the sound of breaking the air when the iron chain struck the ground and cut through the air could be heard on the other side of the river.

Perhaps sensing the riverbank, the minesweeper slowly retreated...... It did not dare to turn around, because it would expose the weak armor in the rear of itself.

Then, one after another "Sherman" tanks emerged from the smoke of gunpowder, one every dozen meters, and there were dozens of them at a glance.

Then, dozens of tanks adjusted the angle of their turrets and spewed flames one after another at the other side of the river.

At the same time, mortars and howitzers in the rear of the American army roared again, and shells rained down in the direction of the German positions.

However, this time the bombing was somewhat different from the previous fire preparation.

Because Qin Chuan saw in the telescope that the American soldiers carried out many assault boats and rubber boats from the rear of the tank, apparently intending to force the crossing of the Moselle River.

This is actually an offensive advantage in this terrain...... There was a river between us and the enemy, so the artillerymen and tank crews knew the line between us and the enemy, and they could accurately hit the German positions.

Of course, the shortcomings are also obvious, the US tanks cannot cross the river, and even the river with a width of more than 100 meters cannot be erected with bridge-building tanks, so they can only use this method to force the crossing.

In fact, Patton also considered a method, which was to erect a pontoon bridge.

But on the one hand, it was because the US 3rd Army was not well prepared...... Before Barton got a detailed map from the French, he thought that the fortress of Metz was just a field fortification, so all he could think about was tanks covering the infantry and then it was over.

Only then did it realize that the river needed to be crossed.

However, there was no time to prepare the pontoon and other equipment, and all Patton could do was to collect as many assault boats and rubber boats as possible to use as a forcible crossing.

Even assault boats and rubber boats were so inadequate that in the end, American soldiers had to build rafts with shell boxes and tires to attack, and some soldiers even blew condoms into balloons as lifebuoys to swim across the river.

Of course, this was more of a way for Patton to preserve his strength, and his real killer weapon was the 7th Panzer Division.

The Germans, of course, at this time did not know this.

When the U.S. soldiers rowed rubber boats and assault boats into the middle of the river, Qin Chuan shouted an order: "Fire!" ”

The German soldiers who had been prepared for a long time pulled the trigger one after another, and poured a dense rain of bullets at the American soldiers in the middle of the river.

Assault boats and rubber boats can be said to be defenseless, and American soldiers are still piled up on the boats, so the bullets immediately set off a bloody storm everywhere.