Leaning against the cab window of an Opel truck, Hansen. Sergeant Aubrey happily held his Kodak camera and took pictures of the small city monument in the downtown square.

"That's the fleur-de-lis symbol of the French royal family, and the city has changed very little since it was built under Louis XIV." Senior Soldier Kruger, who was in the driver's seat, squinted his head at the monument from the front window of the cab. The yellow-brown granite stele is equipped with a bronze iris heraldic stele on the top, and five or six signs of various materials are nailed to the stele with bronze screws, which are the records of the major events or famous people in this small city over the years, telling the history and glory of the city.

"Gravolinne is a famous city." Seeing the sergeant retract his arm, Kruger stepped on the clutch and put on gear, and the Opel truck slowly circled around the small town square before turning into the street leading to the docklands.

"It's famous, I've never heard of this city." Sergeant Aubrey carefully closed the camera flap and fastened the holster.

"Private Kruger, you seem to be very knowledgeable about history."

"Before joining the army, I studied European history at the history department of the University of Cologne." With one hand on the wheel, Krueger expertly steered the two-ton transport truck through the narrow streets of the old city.

"Oh, I only went to middle school, and I originally wanted to go to university, but my family didn't have the spare money to pay for my tuition, so I ended up in a mechanical processing factory in my hometown, don't look at me like I am now, I was a skilled mechanic at that time." Sergeant Aubrey put the camera in his glove bag and pulled out two apples from it.

"Kruger, how can you think of being a soldier, it is rare for a college student to be a soldier, you can go to a military school and become an officer after graduation."

"I couldn't get a job, history was too unpopular, and the professor was going to keep me in school. But the position was finally taken by someone else. Then I had a fight with my family, and I ran straight into the army recruitment office in a fit of rage, anyway, I went through a lot of things in the middle, and now I'm here. Kruger didn't want to talk too much about himself, he took the apple from the sergeant, wiped it on the sleeve of his uniform, and then took a big bite on it.

"Oh, it's hard for everyone these days. You said earlier that this city is famous, what is the story? Aubrey finished the little apple in two or three bites, and threw the pit out the window with his hand.

"O Gravoliner. Not far from the city, in the strait, there was a famous naval battle named after the city. Kruger replied, munching on an apple and puffing out his cheeks.

"Battle of Gravolinne?" Aubrey tilted his head to indicate that he had never heard of it.

"Yes, the Spanish Armada fought a decisive battle with the British Navy here, and it was in this naval battle that the whole army was finally destroyed."

"Oh, so I understand, I've heard this story, and I didn't expect it to be here. I'm going to take a little more pictures, it's very memorable. It's no wonder that this small city has such a strong wall, it should have been a military fortress. Aubrey realized that he was not ignorant. Feel very happy.

The truck had already left the city, passed through a sturdy stone arch, drove onto a concrete road bridge, and looked around. It is flanked by a six-metre-high brick-clad wall and a wide moat.

"It was built in the 17th century, and if you look down at the city from the sky, you'll see that it's actually a huge double-decker." Kruger threw the pit out the window and hung up the gearbox.

The truck began to accelerate. From this vantage point you can already see the canal wharf of the Inner Harbour. The Opel truck turned right at the T-junction and drove straight ahead for about a kilometer, turning two corners. After passing through two more guard posts, we drove onto the road in the dock area.

The dock area in front of you has completely turned into a messy barracks. Everywhere were German soldiers in army and navy uniforms, mostly logistical support personnel, and partly guards and anti-aircraft artillery units. Everyone is busy, with people and various means of transportation shuttling the road between the docks and the various warehouses.

Kruger honked the horn hard, and when he found that the other party was unmoved, the history graduate of the University of Cologne stuck his head out of the car window, leaned out of the window with his left hand, banged on the door of the truck, and shouted at the guy who was blocking the road.

"Move this pile of garbage quickly, I have important supplies on my car, and it will be loaded on the ship soon."

"It's no use honking your horn again! These chests are full of pyrotechnics, what do you want me to do, kick them with my feet? The corporal leading the group yelled at Kruger. The trailer with its axle off was crooked in the middle of the road, and several soldiers were carefully moving the wooden boxes on the truck to the side of the road.

"What the hell, it's a mess here." Kruger reluctantly retracted his head, and on the opposite lane on the left was a slowly advancing truck convoy, and on the right was an anti-aircraft gun emplacement surrounded by a pile of crates, and the truck was currently nowhere to go. Seeing several gendarmes running towards him in the distance, Kruger took off his military hat and scratched his head, then hung the truck into neutral.

"It's already good, last week I went on a business trip to Le Havre and the situation there was a mess. The French dockers and the German construction engineer regiment filled the harbor area, plus a bunch of naval gunboats and warships, and the marines, all in disarray. I didn't do anything all day, just looking for people. Aubrey pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then he glanced at the no-fire sign on the wooden box that the soldiers were carrying, hesitated for a moment, and then slipped the cigarette back into the pocket of his uniform.

"Oh, I thought we were bad enough here, look at the sergeant, it's the Verdant Hill, it looks like it's loaded." Kruger pointed to the inner harbor canal and shouted, and in his field of vision, a medium-sized transport ship with a dark gray hull was slowly moving down the straight canal towards the outer harbor, the hull was pressed deeply, and the red waterline was no longer visible, and now the black ribbon on the waterline was exposed.

"This is to the outer harbor berthing area, this ship does not need to load personnel, look at the pile of anti-aircraft guns on the deck, it should be the third echelon, or it may be a reserve." As he spoke, with the help of the soldiers passing by, the road was finally cleared, and dozens of infantry and gendarmes pushed the damaged trailer directly into the open area and overturned it aside, waiting for the sappers to tow it away with heavy trailers. Kruger tapped his horn. Waved to the soldiers on the side of the road, then put up his gear and headed for his company's embarkation point.

"Did you notice the soldiers on the cart? It's all new faces, and the colors of the uniforms are different. See the armband on their arm? They should all be mountain infantry. Aubrey pulled out his cigarette again and pressed the electronic cigarette lighter on the side of the dashboard of the Opel truck.

"The mountain infantry, it's all elite troops, I hope they can give the British a hard blow." Kruger looked into the mirror, but couldn't find the group of infantrymen, he pulled a cigar out of his pocket, then took the cigarette lighter that Aubrey handed him and lit it.

"Where did you get the good stuff. I've only gotten one on the periphery of Paris. Aubrey said, sipping a cigarette and pointing to Kruger's cigar.

"From home, sergeant, I have half a box left, and I can give you two if you want."

"Okay, I'll look for you after dinner." Aubrey smiled and patted Kruger on the shoulder.

At this time, the truck slowly drove into a dock berth, the ground was painted with huge digital markers, and all kinds of construction vehicles were parked around. The Opel truck stopped next to a gray medium-sized cargo ship parked at the berth.

"All come over and help unload the cargo, this is a type of cargo, push that crane over, and a few of you come over to help move the boxes." Aubrey jumped out of the truck. While greeting the soldiers who came up, he walked around to the back of the truck bed.

The sergeant climbed into the carriage and lifted the canvas curtain at the rear of the carport, and the two soldiers opened the latches on the tail of the carriage, one left and one right. Lowered the hoarding.

"Take these boxes of engine spare parts down first, be careful, the portions are heavy." The sergeant stood in the carriage and commanded. The two soldiers climbed into the carriage and struggled to lift the box, and the soldiers surrounding the carriage hurriedly stepped forward to take it.

"This is the last roll of emergency pavement on the manifest, tow the crane over, you two hang the hook, be careful." Four soldiers climbed onto the truck, removed the tarpaulin bracket from the rear compartment, folded the bracket with the tarp to the front, and then dragged it over the tow rope of the crane and hung it on the hanging strap of the cargo. With the roar of a twelve-horsepower small gasoline engine, several soldiers pulled the tow rope and carefully hoisted the cargo from the wagon to the trailer on the side.

"This is the last roll, immediately load it on the No. 6 paving vehicle, pay attention to the direction indicated on the label, all the locks should be checked on one side, and the action is fast." The sergeant shouted loudly from the inside of the carriage.

"Got it, head."

"Don't worry, we've done it many times." The soldiers agreed, and then pushed the cart towards the construction vehicle parking lot.

"Now there are more and more new equipment, and our work is becoming more and more complicated. I hope that if I really go to the battlefield, this group of guys will not perform too badly. Aubrey jumped out of the carriage and smiled at Kruger, who was standing next to him.

"The task of our engineer company is very heavy, and I heard from the company commander that this time may be even more dangerous than the French one, and we may have to directly participate in the battle." Kruger watched as the soldiers in the distance maneuvered the crane and hoisted the stacked cake-like thing onto a strange Mercedes four-and-a-half-ton truck. The soldiers uncovered the lasale of mille-feuille and hung it from the top of a semicircular skid, which looked like a strangely patterned curtain, around the top of a semicircular sled on a stand at the back of the truck.

"Like this thing, it's called a military express pavement, and it doesn't look like chain mail, these hexagonal aluminum alloy plates are connected in series with steel rings, and they are said to be able to bear a weight of forty tons, and a car can pave eighty meters of road. I've looked at the data of our landing area, and the widest beach is only 70 meters deep, which should be enough distance. Aubrey threw away the cigarette butt in his hand.

"I was in charge of the transfer of supplies when I landed, and this kind of road surface is very useful." Kruger turned to Aubrey and said.

"In addition to this paving, we also have bulldozers, motorized cranes, tractors, trench trucks, and we are also responsible for setting up temporary oil depots and refueling points, and the forty-eight rubber oil bladders are only allowed to be filled before landing, so that we can only tank them on the ship when we land. The two armored engineer companies also carried minesweepers and heavy half-track tractors, armored refueling vehicles and motorized steel bridges, assault boats, mechanized pontoons. The two construction engineer companies brought with them a bunch of forklifts, rollers and bulldozers, air compressors, air picks, air hammers, concrete mixers, dozens of truckloads of tools and various explosives. Looking at this list, we are going to load all the engineering equipment and tools on board by midnight tonight.

The goods must also be arranged in the order of the list and cannot be shuffled. There are only four cranes on this ship, we have to install a few temporary booms, and the unloading sequence after arriving at the destination must also be strictly according to the plan, the slightest mistake will mess up the whole process, and the time will be a rain of bullets, this time the job is really not easy to do. Aubrey pulled a stack of scraps of paper out of his pocket and looked through them with a frown.

"Don't worry, Sergeant, after all, we've been preparing for a month, and we've done everything we can, and before that, I think it's better to think about how to get to the beach safely." Kruger comforted with a cigar in his mouth.

"It's useless for me to think about this question no matter how much I think about it, I'm just a platoon officer, and when it comes to how to get to the beach safely, I think you can see the answer now." Aubrey's eyes widened as he looked behind Kruger.

Kruger hurriedly turned his head, and he was immediately stunned by the sight in front of him, on the sea in the distance, several huge warships, forming a column, with an indescribable majesty, slowly heading towards the breakwater of the outer harbor. Kruger hurriedly pulled out his personal binoculars from the glove bag on his waist.

Immediately, in the camera, he clearly saw that a huge red background iron cross naval flag was hanging on the top of the tall mast of the battleship.

"It's the main fleet of the Navy! Sergeant, it's the Grand Fleet! Kruger shouted excitedly.

"It's a battleship, I've only seen pictures in magazines before."

The leading battleship's massive sword-mounted bow plowed through the sea with ease, and huge waves smashed against the gray hard hull and scattered in all directions, snowflake-like droplets shining like diamonds in the sun.

"What's that?"

Kruger adjusted the focus in confusion, and there seemed to be a black cloth hanging faintly on the huge naval mast of the leading battleship. Maybe it's a naval custom, Kruger thought to himself. (To be continued, please search, the novel is better and updated faster!)