"Let's get out of this place!" Lenny shouted loudly, and Christenson reached out and dragged Heflon and yelled at him, "Julian is gone, you know, but we can't get in anymore, we need to go back to Command!" ”

Hefflang was silent, and he was pulled back by Christenson, when they were met by Captain Parks and the platoon leader of the platoon, Haliger, who had come to meet him, and they drove a jeep.

"Carry the wounded up and tie them tightly!" Captain Parks turned to Martin again, "How's it going?" And what about Lieutenant Pikak? Where is he? ”

"We don't know where he is? He said he was going back to the headquarters to ask for reinforcements. Martin said helplessly, "So I made the decision to let the brothers withdraw first, and besides, Julian is dead!" Martin's tone was a little heavy. He turned his head to look at Hefflang, who was walking back listlessly with Christen, and said, "We can't save him, the German firepower is fierce, and we don't have enough manpower!" ”

Captain Parks pursed his lips, to be honest, this was something he hadn't expected, he should have known about the plot, but if it wasn't for Julian, maybe someone else, war is like that, it's not something you can avoid. They are going to carry out combat patrols, and when they are on patrol, there will inevitably be casualties, which no one can change, and the guns will not grow eyes.

"Talk to your brothers, it's not your fault!" Parks patted him on the arm, "Take the brothers back, go to the medical station in Bastogne, go there and get some hot food for the brothers!" ”

Martin nodded, then motioned to his brothers and left the place with their heads down. For them, the patrol mission was largely a failure. They found the main line of defense of the German army, but found that the German army was not as loose as they said, and their fire was very heavy. But Martin and the others were unable to capture a single prisoner, and their own people were killed and wounded.

Parks told them to go back to the rear, knowing that people who have experienced setbacks need a stable environment where people can look at peace, and this is very important for them, even if it is just for an hour, to allow them to drive away a little bit of gloom from their hearts. Parks looked at Heffron's look and knew that his heart was on the verge of vulnerability.

Captain Winters rushed over when he knew what was going on, and he was desperate to know what was going on on the patrol, and Captain Parks reported to him all that had happened, which apparently made Winters frown. He did not expect that even if the Germans withdrew, they would still be left behind to defend with heavy troops, and judging from the defensive line of Company E, it was too long, and if the Germans switched to infiltration operations, they might achieve what they could not do with a large attack.

"The brothers are not very emotionally stable, mainly those who go out on patrol." Parks looked at Winters and said seriously, "I believe there will be such a situation in the future, but we have to carry out such a combat patrol again!" If this happens for a while, I believe that most of the brothers will have such unstable emotions. That's not a good sign, Dick! ”

Winters nodded, but he couldn't think of a good solution for a while. He could only look at Parks, and said helplessly: "Talk more to the brothers." Let the non-commissioned officers not collapse first, they are the backbone, and besides, we must stabilize ourselves, let the officers cheer up, and the non-commissioned officers and soldiers are watching them! ”

Although there is nothing new, if you work hard to do a good job, you can still play a certain role, and now at the critical moment, the role of the officers will be highlighted. Speaking of this, Parks couldn't help but feel a move in his heart, he didn't know if Winters had the right, but he still had to give it a try, so he thought about it for a moment and said, "Dick, about Pikak......"

Winters couldn't help but be stunned, he knew that Pikak had played a dishonorable role in this patrol, he was a deserter halfway, at the company headquarters, Parks did not find him, and later when Spina was getting medicine from the ambulance station in Bastogne, he found Pikak drinking hot coffee next to the medical station.

"Lacey, I know about this, but I don't have the power to appoint or dismiss, and if I want him to leave, I must get the approval of Head Zinke. Don't worry, he alone has nothing to do with the overall situation! "Winters can't help it. However, he reminded Parks, "If there are other jobs that need to be arranged, maybe he might be able to do it." ”

This made Parks very helpless, good officers are an important factor in motivating morale, Parks can't tolerate those guys who withdraw from the line before the soldiers, not to mention that he was on patrol at the time, his behavior is to run away, which will seriously affect morale. As for arranging another position for Pikak alone, it also seems a bit unrealistic, and E-Company is already short of manpower in the defensive line.

Winters patrolled around the line, with Captain Nickerson passing with him, and the two men walked around the line of E-Company, which made a lot of sense to the brothers. After all, this is tantamount to telling the brothers that they are not alone, they still have a battalion, and they have D and F companies with them. And also told the brothers that the officers would always be with them at the front line.

"Look at the brothers of Company E, their morale is not so low, but our officers are not doing enough!" Nickerson and Winters talked as they walked back.

"They do a better job than the other companies, but they don't like this patrol mission either, everyone gets tired of it, and in the end, there may be resistance!" Winters was a little worried, except for the smiling face he wore when he talked to his brothers, and the rest of the time, he frowned. Obviously, even if it is such a better E company, the brothers are like this, then the other companies can be imagined.

"Would you like to talk to Colonel Zink?" Nickerson suddenly looked at Winters.

"About Pikak?" Captain Winters shook his head and said, "No, no, Colonel Zinke won't care about such a thing, he doesn't have any extra soldiers for us now, so he won't have extra officers for us." ”

"It seems that this is the only way to go!" Nickerson shook his head, and the two of them walked towards the battalion headquarters, it was clear that they didn't have a good solution, and Parks understood Winters' plight perfectly. Now Parks can only hope that Nickerson's mission to promote war bonds will come sooner, so that he can get rid of Pikak, in fact, this opportunity was also given to Pikak by Winters, E Company can not be one less soldier, but it can definitely be one less mediocre officer.

The brothers who had gone to the Bastone Medical Station were back in the line again, and they sat together, huddled together on the toppled tree trunks on the snowy snow. None of them spoke, they all huddled together on their arms. Martin shuddered and pulled a box of cigarettes out of his pocket, one for each of them, and then lit the lighter with trembling hands. Christenson, who was next to him, leaned his head over, lit his own cigarette, took a hard puff, and then stabilized his mood a little.

Parks walked over, and Martin was about to stand up to greet him, but Parks hurriedly signaled, "Don't move, I'll sit with you for a while!" He sat down beside Heflang as he spoke, and not far from them was Doctor Luo, who looked at them, then pursed his lips and said nothing. Parks knew they needed themselves at this point.

"Don't worry about patrols, that's in the past. Julian is a good soldier, he always has been! Parks patted Hefflon's hand beside him, "James is not in danger of his life, and he will soon be leaving here to go to the hospital, or even go home, he can get out of this hellish place alive." ”

The brothers listened silently, none of them spoke, Parks nodded and said: "We have experienced a lot, from Normandy to Holland and here, we have survived, believe me, the rout of the German army is not far away." We're Company E, we've beaten them every time, we've defended our line and there are a lot of companies that are worse than we are. They had no warm clothing, no ammunition supplies, and even little food. ”

Everyone was silent, and Parks didn't say anything anymore, too much dogma was not good, and if he could sit with them for a while, it might play a greater role.

After sitting for a while, Parks patted Martin's arm and said, "John! So saying, he departed and walked on. Martin stood up and then chased Parks from behind, he knew that Parks optimized and said to himself.

"Brothers' emotions are not quite right!" Parks said to Martin as he walked, "I know that the impact of a patrol is not so much, it may be an outburst of emotions for many days. John, you are a good non-commissioned officer, you have to take care of the emotions of your brothers, they need you, they are your brothers! ”

"I see!" Martin nodded, he thought it was also his responsibility, he had talked to his brothers when he was at the ambulance station, but some of the brothers' emotions couldn't be brought back for a while.

"They are all good soldiers, no matter whether the mission is completed or not, saving their lives is the most important thing!" Parks finally nodded at her, "We need to get out of this hellish place alive, not bury our brothers in this cold and snowy place." He nodded at Martin, turned and left.

This is Parks's true words, his current thoughts are slowly changing, from wanting to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield and bring honor to his brothers to the current idea, which is after countless battles, Parks himself involuntarily surged up from the depths of his heart. It is indeed enviable and even proud to bring honor to the brothers through the battle, but compared to the lives of the brothers, everything seems so unworthy. Even if it's the Congressional Medal of Honor?

It is life that deserves the most respect in war, even though war is the place where life is buried.

(To be continued)