Unless there are special circumstances, in general, .

On the northern outskirts of Limerick, on the training ground of the Enke Barracks, which belongs to the New United Kingdom Army, the single-story viewing platform made of wood is almost full of people in suits and leather shoes, some of them are gray-haired, some are bald and fat-bellied, some are shrewd, and some are old-fashioned; Some people are holding umbrellas, some are drenched in the rain, some are looking forward to it, and some are full of emotion......

With the sound of rattling footsteps, well-dressed and well-equipped soldiers marched in a long four-way column, and before they could approach, there was a noticeable commotion on the viewing platform. One by one, people craned their necks, some of them chanted words, and some of them began to applaud early.

The soldiers strode forward, wearing the subthermal brimming helmets of the New United Kingdom Army, wearing subtropical mabra camouflage combat uniforms, carrying on their shoulders the Hubert-III semi-automatic rifle, the MG-43 general-purpose machine gun and the Model 1944 50 mm individual bazooka, except that the Stg-45 assault rifle was not issued, which was basically the standard light arms equipment of the new United Kingdom Army troops stationed in the subtropical regions.

As early as the First World War, people have been aware of the shortcomings of the traditional pure infantry units, such as slow transfer speed, weak penetration capability, low combat resilience, etc., and the great powers have devoted themselves to the construction and development of armored troops, motorized troops, and mechanized troops. The current team, which is larger than an ordinary infantry regiment, does not have a single artillery, a chariot or even a mule and horse......

The review is not over yet, and the suits and leather shoes at the front of the viewing platform are already talking about each other.

The old man in the middle of the front row, who is not good-looking, is David Ben-Gurion, the pioneer of the Zionist movement and the chairman of the Zionist Executive Committee. Beside him, a general with gray temples and multiple medals on his chest, his head held high, his chest held high, and he proudly inspected the soldiers passing by in the procession.

The aged Ben-Gurion said with a twitch of lips: "The Jews thank you forever, General Randolph, for training us an elite and courageous armed force, and the last time the Jews had such a proud regular army was 2,000 years ago......"

The general Randolph replied proudly: "These young men, all of them can endure hardships and are obedient, and most of them are diligent and studious, so they can complete our regular training course of 20 weeks in 14 weeks, and they are all good!" ”

In accordance with the secret agreement signed between the Government of the New United Kingdom and the Zionist Organization, the New United Kingdom has provided various forms of military assistance to the Jews, including the rigorous training of 3,960 young Jews for 14 weeks in accordance with the New United Kingdom's recruit training standards.

After the outbreak of the war between New Austria and Italy, the new United Kingdom carried out military mobilization accordingly, and a large number of reservists were re-enlisted. In this way, the 14 weeks of "retreat" were completed in one day, and the best 360 of them were selected as reserve non-commissioned officers, who took a simplified version of the non-commissioned officer course in addition to their normal training.

"They are the best of the younger generation of Jews!" Ben-Gurion said, "General, I hope you will pass on to them the valuable experience of many years of warfare. ”

General Randolph raised the corners of his mouth: "If they can stay under my command for a full year, especially young officers and non-commissioned officers, they can learn a lot from me to defeat the enemy and protect themselves on the battlefield." In just these 14 weeks, they have learned only the basic combat skills, to put it bluntly, they can manipulate all kinds of weapons and equipment, and have a general understanding of what war is really like. In my opinion, the training cycle should be extended to 18 weeks. Don't underestimate the extra month, I can guarantee that when they go to war, the casualty rate will drop by at least 10%. ”

Ben-Gurion sighed helplessly: "General, I believe that your suggestion is well-intentioned and objective, and if it were not forced by the situation, I would have gladly let them stay in Ireland for an extra month or two, but now, our national independence movement is in a life-and-death danger period." Since the outbreak of the war and the blockade of the Mediterranean route by Italy, the Arab armies have repeatedly attacked us, and many of the towns we had previously recaptured fell back into Arab hands. Now, even the city of Rehovot, our victorious place, has been captured by the Arab armies, and many of the data points on Tel Aviv's periphery have been abandoned because the defenders have run out of ammunition, and most of the Jewish forces have withdrawn to Tel Aviv to hold out. Although our defenses in Tel Aviv are very strong, if the situation is not improved, it has the potential to become a modern Masada...... General, do you know the story of the Masada Fortress? ”

General Randolph shook his head.

As a native, Catholic Irishman, a professional soldier who has dedicated much of his life to the Irish Army, it is not uncommon not to know Jewish history. Even after spending more than three months with a large group of young Jews, it is difficult for them to quickly integrate into it due to the peculiarities of the Jewish religion.

According to the Jewish Wars, Masada was first fortified as a fortress sometime in the 1st or 2nd century BC. Between 37 and 31 BCE, Herod the Great further fortified and expanded Maceda, building two palatial palaces, a bathhouse, a system of ditches, and a perimeter wall. Herod the Great, though brutal and violent, succeeded in maintaining the relative independence of the Jewish dynasty in Israel, and since his death, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Ottavi, in order to strengthen his control over the Jewish areas, has appointed Roman officials as governors from 6 AD, which has led to an intensification of tensions between the Romans and the Jews. ”

Around 66 C.E., the Jewish rebels defeated the Roman garrison and took control of the holy city of Jerusalem. At the beginning of the uprising, the hero Ben Gary led his men to capture Masada. The Roman governor appealed to the Roman emperor, the notorious Nero, and was reinforced by a Roman legion led by the general Vespasian. The following year, the northern region of Galilee was pacified by Vespasian. Just as Vespper first marched to Jerusalem in the south, the Roman Emperor Nero died violently, and Vespa withdrew his troops back to Egypt, and a year later in 69 he was proclaimed emperor in Egypt, and the following year he led a large army back to Rome and officially became Roman Emperor. After ascending to the throne, Vespasian sent his son Titus to continue suppressing the Jewish uprising. Three elite Roman legions besieged Jerusalem. ”

"In 70 C.E., Jerusalem fell, the Jewish temple was reduced to ashes, the rebels were slaughtered, and the crucified crosses were strewn all over the land, so that 'there was no place for any more crosses, no more crosses for crucification,' and 70,000 Jews were sold into slavery. The leader of the uprising, Ben Gary, was also killed, and his nephew, Ashar, escaped from Jerusalem and established the last Jewish base in Masada. After that, Jews who were hunted down by the Romans came here one after another, and Masada became the last stronghold, and continued to fight for three years. ”

This period was also the most heroic, tragic and glorious period in the history of Masada. In 72 AD, the Tenth Army led by Flavis Silva, the Roman army, besieged Masada. The Romans used catapults to throw stones at the Jewish camp on high ground and built a huge earthen slope on the west side of the Masada's cliffs, successfully reducing the relative elevation difference in the capture of Masada's to 30 meters. Before the general attack, a large number of slaves were used to push the giant siege carts onto the edge of the walls of Masada, and the siege walls were broken down with siege ropes, and the fire attack was prepared. Eventually, after a seven-month siege, the Jewish defenders were exhausted and forced to make a final choice of fate. ”

"It is recorded that when Masada was about to be breached, Liashar summoned all the remaining people and said: 'We were the first to rise up against Rome and the last to stop the struggle. Thank God for giving us this opportunity, when we are calm and righteous, we are free people, no matter how much the enemy wants us to be prisoners, but there is nothing they can do to stop us, unfortunately we have not been able to defeat them...... At dawn we will no longer resist and thank God that we are free to choose to die a noble death with our loved ones. Let our wives not be ravaged and die, and let our children not be slaves and die! Burn all your belongings along with the entire castle. But do not burn the grain, let it tell the enemy: we do not die because of lack of food, but from beginning to end, we would rather die for freedom than for slaves! After that, the Jews chose to commit mass suicide, and they chose ten warriors to be the perpetrators of the suicide, all of whom clung to their wives and children, and lay on the ground, voluntarily accepting the merciful sword of their comrades. After killing everyone, the ten warriors drew lots from ceramic shards to select one of them, killing the remaining nine, and the last one set fire to the castle and committed suicide. ”

By the time Ben-Gurion had finished recounting this, General Randolph had changed his expression, and he said with regret and admiration: "This is a very tragic story, especially the last scene, and I hope that such a tragedy will never happen again." ”

Ben-Gurion said: "Just because we don't want such a tragedy to happen again, we urgently need these lads to return to Tel Aviv and defend our last stronghold." ”

General Randolph nodded in understanding. In fact, reconnaissance planes taking off from Tel Aviv's city airfield flew over the fortified positions around the city held by hundreds of thousands of Jewish militiamen and thousands of Irish Foreign Legion soldiers, and flew south along the coast, leaving ruins everywhere they went. Not long ago, the Jewish armed forces joined forces with the Irish Foreign Legion to fight a war of annihilation around Rehovot, which dealt a heavy blow to the ace troops of the government army of the Arab kingdom and greatly improved the situation of the Jewish War of Independence, but after the outbreak of the Triple War between New Austria and Italy, the shipping lines in the Mediterranean Sea were interrupted, and the Arab kingdom united with Syria to launch an offensive against the Jewish armed forces that had declared the establishment of a Jewish state in the Palestinian areas. At first, the Jewish militants and the Irish Foreign Legion held their positions and withstood the repeated onslaught of the Arab coalition, but as time went on, the Arab coalition's advantage in size became apparent, and the situation worsened as the defenders suffered more casualties and ammunition consumption.