"Everyone follow me, lower your posture, speed up your movements, don't fall behind!"

On the way to lead the team, Dibalt learned from the senior officers to alert the soldiers around him in a low and powerful tone. Just a quarter www.biquge.info of an hour earlier, the headquarters of the 2nd Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division had been attacked by artillery fire from enemy positions on the way to attack, and although the opponent's artillery was not many and its power was far less than that of large-caliber artillery, many of them had no time to hide because of the short distance and short trajectory, and the only officer in Dibalt's platoon was unfortunately seriously wounded in the shelling, and before being carried back to the landing ground on a stretcher, the platoon commander assigned him to temporarily take over the combat unit.

Before entering the battle, Dibalt foresaw that he might be ordered to be in danger on the battlefield, but he did not expect that the landing campaign would only be more than an hour after the start of the battle, and the opportunity to test himself would come. The regimental headquarters assigned an armored company and the 1st Battalion to pin down the enemy in the front, and the 2nd Battalion transferred two companies to carry heavy mortars and chemical smoke shells from the left and right flanks. In this case, Dibalt joined the attack on the left flank with his soldiers.

U.S. artillery shells were still falling in waves, trying to block the Allied forces in front of the positions, and the Allied air force battlefield support also arrived in time - four Ju-30 tactical bombers with a bomb load of 1,200 kg and three Fokker G-51 fighters with 200 kg of aerial bombs arrived one after another, and they quickly found their targets and dropped incendiary bombs mounted under the fuselage. In such a hot summer and wooded area, the incendiary bombs of the solidified ****** are undoubtedly very destructive, but they are sometimes not enough to rid the American soldiers hiding in strong fortifications, caves, and even underground bunkers.

The lethality of the incendiary bombs is now enormous, and the pain suffered by the attackers is so intense that the German soldiers who often witness these tragic scenes will add the phrase "do not be accidentally bombed by their own planes" when they pray -- accidental injuries caused by aircraft in the war are unavoidable, but so far there are few examples of accidental bombing by their own incendiary bombs in the German army, which should have a lot to do with the caution and calmness of the German pilots.

The bombing of the air force made the advancing German officers and men feel a little regretful in their excitement, and Dibalt used his binoculars to observe the incendiary area not far away, where the only few large trees had been ignited, and the situation on the ground was somewhat complicated. Some of the scorched places were filled with smoke, others were still burning, and of course, more importantly, the wreckage of a few U.S. howitzers and some human remains huddled on the ground.

The fact that the Americans did not move their positions in time when the attack went well was the main reason why they escaped the massive bombardment of warships and aircraft bombardment before the German landing, as the experienced colonel clearly saw.

For the next half hour, the German Marines came and went as they were caught up and down by cold guns and mines, which were just innocuous little troubles, and they were more concerned about the sound of gunfire coming from ahead, which became clearer and clearer as time went on, and the highest part of the hill looked closer.

While Dibalt's headquarters was preparing to cross a relatively intact wood, the officers and guards of the regimental headquarters came up in three wheeled off-road military vehicles, led by the colonel who was loudly cheering up the officers and men on the troop carrier. Seeing that the soldiers who had just experienced a vicious battle were a little depressed, the officer with a neat beard said in a hearty tone: "Young men, goats also have times when they are ruthless, so don't take it lightly on the battlefield!" ”

"No matter how stubborn the goat is, we will tame it!" A lieutenant officer replied loudly.

"Good!" The colonel raised his right hand and spun twice in the air, "All rest in place for five minutes, pay attention to vigilance!" ”

Dibalt let out a long sigh of relief, and as he sat down against the trunk of a cedar tree, he found that the clothes behind his back were soaked with sweat. He took out the military kettle from his back and was about to moisten his almost smoking throat, but found that the kettle was light. When I looked closely, the position near the bottom was actually scratched by shrapnel, and a pot full of water leaked clean. The power of shrapnel varies according to the size, a slightly larger one can make a person shatter, and a slightly smaller one can cause serious injury or even death, and before he knew it, he brushed shoulders with death, and after thinking about it, he suddenly felt a deep chill behind him.

"Quedlinburg, Quedlinburg, this is Magdeburg, please reply when you hear it!"

In the off-road military vehicle parked next to the tree, a murmuring call came from the radio station, and the arrogant colonel took the headset microphone from the signal soldier: "This is Quedlinburg, please instruct!" ”

After a rustle, the voice on the walkie-talkie became clearer again.

"Quedlinburg, please report your location!"

The colonel's adjutant hurriedly took out the combat map, and the two compared the terrain and estimated the marching distance, and then replied: "We are in the D43 area...... Currently on the way to D33! ”

A moment later, the voice of a communications officer from the front command came from the headset: "Quedlinburg, please rush to the D42 area immediately, Halberstedt is blocked by the defenders, they have suffered heavy casualties, and they need reinforcements!" Again, please go to the D42 area to support Halberstedt! If possible, take the enemy by surprise from the flanks! ”

The Colonel glanced at the map and saw that Area D42 was to their right, where the gunfire sounded most densely.

"Understood!"

The colonel's answer was simple and concise, but at this time he already had a faint feeling in his heart that it would not be easy for his own troops to force their way through the area that friendly and neighboring troops could not cross, and the casualties might be very large, and even they would suffer defeat, but he did not intend to bow to the difficulties in front of him, let alone give up this mission.

The minute hand of the clock turned forward half a turn, and the stretcher unit transporting the wounded along the way confirmed the colonel's fears, but when his troops successfully joined up with the unit that had been blocked in the attack, the situation of the other side still made him a little chilled, the other side was also part of the German 3rd Marine Division, and it was also a marine regiment of more than 4,000 men when it was full, and several rounds of onslaught not only failed to take the enemy's position, but lost nearly a thousand combat strength.

The colonel immediately reported to his superiors that he had arrived at his destination, and his superiors responded directly, ordering him to assist his allies in capturing the American line in front of him.

The colonel summoned all the commanders above the company level for a simple field meeting. According to the reports of the previous company commanders and his own preliminary observations, he quickly understood the situation in front of him, and the US defense line that he wanted to capture was composed of a series of standing fortifications, which may be a bit unworthy of the name, because the length of those fortifications was only seven or eight hundred meters, and they were single-line positions with no depth to speak of, but the difficulty in capturing them was that they were concrete fortifications half-hidden underground. As far as the eye can see, those round or oval bunkers are like mushrooms half-buried in the earth, they are not large in size, but they are integrated with the surrounding environment, and if it were not for the square shooting holes in the front and the dirt peeled off by bullets, it would be difficult for people to spot them from a distance of 100 meters, let alone reconnaissance planes flying quickly in the sky.

"I called for air fire support four times, but only destroyed one bunker...... the German major who spoke in front of him was just in his early thirties, and it can be said that he was a talent, and it seemed that he had a good future, but he was planted here. Listening to his introduction, the colonel was a little surprised in his composure. The remains of the four armored vehicles were still less than 100 meters away from the bunkers, and it was evident that they had been destroyed by American small-caliber artillery, and more recently there was a German Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicle, which was charred and somewhat deformed, and there were even many remains of the dead that could not be transported down for the time being within the range of the rifle. Large and small craters were scattered around those bunkers, and judging from the only one that was blown up, the Americans did put a lot of thought into it - the outermost layer of the bunker was an ordinary layer of earth, and then the inner layer was an alternating arrangement of layers of sand, earth and concrete, and the innermost concrete layer was half a meter, at least half a meter, and it was indeed difficult for conventional shells and bombs to threaten them.

"We've tried everything!" The major said helplessly, "50 mm anti-aircraft guns, 75 mm field guns, 75 mm tank guns, I'm afraid only big guys with a caliber of more than 100 mm can pull them out." ”

"How could the enemy set up such a bunker complex here? The pass should be the focus of their defense! The Colonel was puzzled, but none of those present could answer the question.

"Major, your people have worked hard, let's withdraw and rest first!" The colonel first said in a calm tone to the major and several of his company commanders that although they were unwilling, they had no choice but to carry out this order to the letter.

After careful consideration, the colonel gave an order to his officers: "First Battalion, Second Battalion, you go up and take their place!" It was now 9:27, the 1st Battalion was on the left, and at 10 o'clock it opened fire on the Japanese line with all its firepower, and the 2nd Battalion was detouring on the right flank of the enemy, and the attackers carried grenades and smoke bombs to attract enemy fire as much as possible; The 3rd and 4th Battalions were responsible for launching the main attack from the left flank, and the attack began at 10:15, and the Spitfire Platoon directly under the regiment was also deployed to you, understand? ”

"Understood!" The officers replied in unison.

"Good!" The colonel nodded, "The second battalion has the heaviest task, but don't be afraid of losses, whether we can succeed depends on your side!" ”

After the officers set off with their respective units, the colonel gathered his tank company and the remaining armored vehicles of friendly troops, these armored units were deployed in the middle of the battle line, and their appearance also reactivated the battlefield that had been in a calm state before, because it was within the range of artillery, the field guns deployed in the American bunker fired first, and the shells fell on the side of the German position, although as long as they did not hit directly, they did not destroy the armored vehicles on the German side, But the constant falling shells clearly affected the preparations for the German offensive. The colonel frequently raised his hand to look at his watch, and at the same time arranged for soldiers and vehicles to avoid attacks.

(End of chapter)