Chapter XIV: The Bulge
After three days in Hammamet, we received a new order to advance westward, with the general objective of encircling the enemy salient at Bualadai with friendly forces in Kendubai.
"Trode, this time it's a big move." As soon as I received the order, I discussed it with Hans.
"I have a headache when I look at this map, I'm really busy these days. It's the end of our good days. ”
"Well, it looks like a tug-of-war. Although it is an encirclement attack, if you don't cut off their back road, you can't force them back at all. "Yorkson was also next to me, as if he had a good analysis.
"Cut, you better forget it. Can the British still hold out there? We can't reach Maxel and cut off their supply lines, but we can crush them head-on. With their passive appearance, we can defeat them by our will. Roy doesn't seem to agree with Yorkson.
"Don't say it so light, they must be ready, and as I know, the terrain there is complicated, which is not suitable for large corps to fight in groups." Nattle disagrees with Roy.
Stein, who was next to him, didn't speak, silently looking at the map.
I tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "What are you thinking about when you don't speak?" ”
He turned back to me and smiled, "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about where we can be assigned to fight." ”
"You see, it's not as useful as Stein has said for a long time." I put one arm around Stein and the other pointed at them.
Just as I was about to continue, Stein came up with a sentence that made my heart cool for a while: "I just want to know if we will be assigned to a particularly remote place, and we will not be able to eat good things at that time, so I think I will prepare more things to take while the conditions are good now." He scratched his head and smirked at me.
"Cut, you foodie, I thought you could come up with any good ideas, I'm really convinced." Roy leaned over to us and elbowed Stein, who had been defending with his arm.
"Look at the three of them fools, they are really worthy." Nattle tilted his head to talk and laugh with Yorkson.
"No, I thought only Roy was a pig's head, but now it seems to be both." Yorkson echoed Nattle.
Roy has always responded to all kinds of attacks from Nattle and Yorkson: "You two madmen still have the face to talk about us? Don't be funny! Wait a day, Yorkson, you learned from Nattel's drinking problem, and we still did the tank? ”
One thing that occurred to me interrupted them and said, "Oh, yes. Last time, we fought well, and our superiors sent us a commendation. ”
"Commendation? There's no medal to reward or anything? My box of francs didn't work?! Yorkson said that he could not accept this result very much, and he was still haunted by the box of money. I've been saying that the soldier in charge of transporting the loot didn't report our matter, and that he must have done it alone.
Without looking back, I gagged his babbling mouth with my hand, and continued: "Of course it can't be just this thing, between the last performance and the needs of this battle, let's"
I paused, deliberately selling the guanzi, and only when I felt Qi Shushu's expectant gaze did I slowly speak: "We're going to expand!" ”
"Huh? Expansion? What's the expansion? Roy looked interested.
"Don't think too much about what we can expand. It's just another tank for us. Hans blew on his coffee. Hearing this, Yorkson was very unhappy, but no matter how he looked at it, it looked like he was crying out for the box of coins: "One? That's too cut-throat, isn't it? If there are new tanks one day, it will be good for us to replace them all with the latest ones, and it doesn't matter what expansion it is. ”
I saw that they were talking about good things and getting worse and worse, and then I couldn't stand it anymore, so I interrupted them loudly: "Look at your little bit of talent, say it and scare you to death, this time we were given two self-propelled anti-tank guns, two III.B self-propelled anti-tank guns!" ”
"III. Type B assault gun? That's a lot of money. When I first heard you say it was an assault gun, I thought it was a Pz.Kpfw.1 and a weasel. Yorkson's mouth couldn't even close when he smiled.
"It's really boring to give us those crispy skins, and we have to take care to protect them all the time. However, the armor of this III is genuine, and it is not known who will cover it when the time comes. Hans took a sip of his coffee and said slowly.
"That's fine, it's fine now, I don't have to worry about this drunkard messing around with high-explosive bombs all the time." Roy, like Yorkson and Nuttell, never misses an opportunity to damage the other.
"Wait, Trowder, look over there, it looks like I'm looking for you." Stein patted me on the shoulder and gestured into the distance.
There were two people walking over there, shuttling through the crowd of people coming and going, and their faces were a little hazy due to the yellow sand raised by the passing vehicles, and they walked straight in our direction.
We stopped rambling and looked in their directions, and the two of them sped up as if noticing our movements.
The man has short black hair and is in his early twenties, while the woman has blue eyes and short blonde hair, which also gives people a sense of vitality.
They gave me a military salute, and then the female soldier came up to me and asked, "Are you Lieutenant Trode?" ”
After returning a military salute to them, I replied, "Yes, what is the matter with you coming to me?" ”
She nodded slightly, smiled at me, and said, "We are the commanders of the two assault guns that were ordered to join your unit. ”
"It's just in time, we're still talking about it. Hello, I'm Trode. I shook hands with them.
"I'm First Rank Corporal Amphitri, and here's First Rank Corporal Marcus. The first time we met, we will fight together in the future, and I would like to ask you for your advice. She introduced them to each other.
"Poof!" Hans instantly squirted out the coffee in his mouth, wiped his mouth in embarrassment, and hurriedly asked the corporal in front of him, "What's your name?!"