"Bastone!" Captain Winters sat in the jeep, and behind him sat Captain Nixon and Lieutenant Compton. He couldn't help but turn back to Nickerson and mutter. Obviously, Parks was still right this time, and although he had made such a judgment before, he was not as sure as Parks. He didn't know what Parks' firm tone was about.

"He's always right!" Nickerson shrugged his shoulders at Winters and smiled slightly, "But Colonel Zinke hasn't been announced yet, maybe we'll go somewhere else!" ”

Compton smiled, shook his head, then looked at Nickerson and said, "The German attack will be fierce, and General Macaulay has warned us." And the front can be long, we don't have enough manpower! ”

Winters glanced at Compton and said, "It's not something we're thinking about, Buck. We only think about how to accomplish our mission! We've got to hold that line. ”

Compton didn't speak, he looked at the motorcade on the road, trying to give Winters a smile, but he couldn't. Compton had always been very positive about his journey from Tacoya's barracks to Europe, and even though he had gone through so many battles, he was unfortunately injured, especially when he saw the tragic condition of the dying GIs in the hospital, and his heart was shaken. Living in the hospital all day, the miserable atmosphere of suffocation made him cautious about everything. Especially when he saw those disabled soldiers with despair in their eyes, he always warned himself: I can't become like that, if that's the case, I might as well die!

"Buck!" Winters felt that Compton's expression was a little strange, and he couldn't help but call out to him, "Is there a problem?" ”

"No, Dick!" Compton came back to his senses and smiled at Winters. Then he turned his eyes to the convoy, he didn't want to talk anymore, he was more worried about the unknown road ahead.

Winters opened his mouth to say something, but he never did. He already felt that there were some differences between the injured Compton and the previous Compton, and he couldn't say what the specific changes were, it felt like it made people a little weak or depressed. Winters nodded slightly, then stopped talking and looked ahead.

On the road ahead was a procession of trucks with no end in sight, winding like a huge long snake crawling slowly. Faintly, you can still hear the shouting songs of GIs coming from the nearby trucks.

The sky outside was gradually darkening, and the night covered the road ahead, and the lights of the long line of cars were lit, and from time to time you could see the motorcycles speeding past the trucks from behind, which were used by the signal corps and heralds, who were in a hurry, and kept honking their horns, trying to give way to the swaying trucks.

Some of the trucks had been requisitioned improvised, without roofs, and the brothers were huddled in thick winter coats, and even then, the cold air outside made the GIs huddle in a ball.

"I guess there was no trial of light control, the German air force must be sleeping!" Lieutenant Halig stood in the compartment of the truck with his arms crossed, constantly exhaling hot air, looking at the light emitted by the truck, and couldn't help but say with some concern, "If there are a few bombers at this time, we all have to go to see God and his old man." ”

"God? Oh, he can't see me, it's been a few days, I'm even stuck in the thinking of Christmas turkey and rugby, and now I'm freezing and starving on nights like this. Gordon hung his head and looked listless, it was clear that he hadn't turned the corner yet, but the word Christmas sounded very far away.

"God, I miss those C-47s!" Goneri looked outside and complained to his brothers, "I don't want to jump out of these trucks, it's a crime, we did it all day, and then sent us to the front to be ravaged by the Germans." Lieutenant, why should the matter of the 4th Division be thrown to the Airborne Forces? ”

Lieutenant Halig looked at Gunnari and shook his head, "I don't care about that, I just want to know, where are they going to transport us?" God, we don't even know where we are fighting, but we are going to fight the Germans. ”

"It doesn't matter, Lieutenant!" Gordon couldn't help but say, "They just put us on the battlefield and say to us: the Germans are in front of you, go and fight them, you die or he dies!" Hell, what's going on? Don't they know that we're going to die if we're shot? ”

Helrig shook his head and said, "We are paratroopers, we all know this. But since my first skydive, I haven't landed exactly at the landing site, don't think about where we're going, we'll go wherever the parachute takes us. Now we are still the same, where we stop, we fight, this is the paratroopers! ”

"But except for the second battalion, in fact, the entire division is short of ammunition and supplies, I'm really worried about how those guys will survive!" Pupai smiled and took the cigarette handed over by a recruit next to him, and put it in his mouth, at this time the recruit lit a lighter for him, helped him light a cigarette, he took a puff very comfortably, and then pointed to the long convoy behind him with a cigarette, "Our luck has always been good, at least we don't have to be cold and hungry!" ”

"We have a good company commander!" Hailig glanced at Pupai and said lightly.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, and they looked at the convoy behind them, as if the road would never end, of course, they hoped that the road would be as long as possible, so that they would no longer stay in the foxhole.

"Hey, boy, what's your name?" Goneri suddenly said to the recruit who was lighting a cigarette for Pupai. In fact, the veterans don't know the recruits very well, they don't want to ask, because they think that the recruits will die soon, remember their names, and once they die, it will make the psychological side panic.

"Soth, Soth II!" The recruit looked at Goneri and replied a little strangely, he was not surprised that Gurneiri did not remember his name, because the veterans were very arrogant in front of the recruits, and they were reluctant to ask, so the recruits did not have a chance to introduce themselves to them.

"Is there any smoke?" It was clear that Guneri had seen Soth handing out the cigarettes to Pupai, and he looked at Soth with a malicious smile, which made Soth a little uncertain, but he still pulled out the only two packs of cigarettes on his body.

"Yes, I've got some smoke!" Soth stammered, then handed two packs of cigarettes to Goneri. He sees this as a good opportunity to get close to the veterans, but he apparently ignores that veterans don't change their minds easily unless you behave in battle to get them to approve of you!

"Oh, finally a human word!" Goneri reached out to take the cigarette, but someone took the pack faster. Goneri tore up the cigarette, and everyone in the truck compartment would be given one.

"Hey, throw it over!"

"Pass it, damn it, divide it with me!"

"Who has fire?"

Suddenly there was chaos in the carriage, and everyone began to scramble for the two packs of cigarettes. After all the noise and shouting, everyone finally got their own satisfactory result, and suddenly the carriage was filled with smoke, and everyone was swallowing the clouds.

The convoy made the silent and cold night a little noisy, and the roar of the cars made everyone's hearts heavy. The jeep was bumpy or not, the road was not very smooth, and then they turned to a small road, the path was even more bumpy, and Winters jumped out of his seat from time to time with a bump, and without a bump, Nickerson had to scold a "damn it", and it was obvious that there was no good mood for a person who had been doing a whole day and continued to ride.

At this time, a two-wheeled motorcycle suddenly caught up from behind, driving side by side with the jeep. Winters couldn't help but look at him strangely, and the driver shouted at Winters, "Sir, Colonel Zinke asked me to deliver orders!" The motorcycle rider said as he pulled a piece of paper out of his satchel with one hand and handed it to Winters.

"Looks like we were right!" Winters reached for his flashlight, shook it on the paper, and then laughed, "Colonel Zink's order is the same as our planned destination!" As he spoke, he handed Nickerson a flashlight and paper.

"Bastone!" Nickerson looked at it, then smiled knowingly, and handed the command and flashlight to Compton, "Buck, looks like we're going to spend some time in the forest!" ”

At this time, gendarmes appeared along the way, wearing armbands, constantly waving their arms to guide the brothers of the 101st Airborne Division in the direction of progress, and the trucks turned one road after another under their command. They waved their hands and shouted, "Keep walking, keep going, keep going!" ”

A few kilometres from Bastogne, the truck carrying Company E stopped. As soon as they stepped on the land, they felt the cold wind like an unstoppable sharp knife, piercing their skin through their thick coats, making people shiver all over.

After sitting in the car for too long, many people began to stretch their waists and began to mumble incessantly, cursing the damn weather. And they could also hear the faint sound of firefighting.

"Oh, damn the battlefield! Here we go again! Private Freeman couldn't help but groan as he jumped out of the car.

Lieutenant Haliger's truck also stopped, the baffle went down, he was the first to jump off, and then shouted into the truck, "All right, guys, get out of the car!" The brothers who got the cigarettes hurry up and finish smoking, we still have 15 minutes to prepare! ”

"Hey, where are we?"

"It's definitely not in hell, it's too cold here!"

Someone was muttering, and Goneri jumped out of the car and immediately turned to the back of the car, pulling open his pants and preparing to release the water. This long journey suffocated him. At this time, someone poured gasoline into the pit blown out by the shell next to the road, and then scratched a match and lit it, and immediately ignited a raging fire, which immediately attracted a group of people to go to the fire.

"Guys, stand back, I've been holding back for a long time!" Goneri yelled at the man pushing him behind him. His roar only made the group of guys behind him laugh.

"This is Bastogne! Strategically speaking! Colonel Zinke threw a map on the front hood of the jeep and said to Captain Winters and Captain Nickerson, "Seven roads in, seven roads out." Ideal for the movement of the German armored forces, Eisenhower wanted to make these roads inaccessible to the Germans, so we will set up positions around Bastone! Dig deep trenches and stick tightly to the Germans. ”

Then Zink glanced at Winters and said, "The second battalion will be deployed in the deep woods to the east. Winters nodded, signaling that he understood. At this time, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Oh my God, I'm finally catching up!" Just listen to the voice and know it's Streil.

When Winters and Colonel Zink turned their heads to look at him, Winters couldn't help but smile and saluted Strieve, "Colonel Stryll!" "Yes, Stryll has a colonel's badge on his collar badge, and when he went to London, he was promoted.

"Go and summon the men of the headquarters of the group department! Striele! Colonel Sink smiled at him and said, "We need to establish a solid regimental command. He quickly sent Colonel Stryll away.

"The first battalion is in the north, as your left flank. They will resist the German attack, and all you have to do is dig a trench in the forest as soon as possible, remember to dig the Parks trench, our line is too long as we expected before we set out, so we must use the clever arrangement of the trenches to redeem our disadvantage! Colonel Sink admonished Winters.

"Parks trenches?" Winters couldn't help but wonder at Colonel Zink.

Colonel Sink looked at Winters: "Captain, I discussed with General Taylor, if the 101st Airborne Division promotes this kind of trench, we will definitely name it after the person who invented it, so we call the trench invented by Parks the Parks trench, is there anything else you don't understand?" ”

Nickerson couldn't help but smile next to him: "This is really enviable!" ”

"The third battalion as a reserve!" Colonel Sink ignored Nickerson's warm smile and continued to Captain Winters, "We don't have any other men. Winters, no matter what, we're going to keep this way! ”

Zink didn't talk any more nonsense, he nodded at Winters and said, "It's all up to you!" He patted his arm as he spoke, then turned and walked in the direction Strider had left. He's going to set up a regimental headquarters in Bastogne, and there's still a lot to do!

Suddenly, a group of people appeared on the road ahead. Their appearance surprised the brothers of E Company. They are defeated American troops. They fled from the front lines, and many of them threw away their rifles and coats, which were a burden and would only cause them to lose their lives. They looked lifeless, glazed-eyed, ragged, like a bunch of beggars.

"Hey, Goneri, look, who are these people?" Toy pulled the peeing Gunneri and let out a cry of surprise as he watched the rout in the road.

Goneri was pulled by Toy and peed on his hands, he couldn't help but curse "damn it", and then while straightening his pants, he turned around and walked towards Toy, and then he also saw this scene on the road, and couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"Oh my God!" Heflon looked at the wounded and unmotivated beggar-like American soldiers who came towards him, and couldn't help but throw away his cigarette butts in surprise! He stepped aside and grabbed Guaerry and Toy and said, "Hey, gonorrhea, Marachi, Toy, do you see?" What's wrong with these guys? ”

"What the hell is going on?" Heflon looked at the guys and asked Guneri next to him.

"Hehe, you're going in the wrong direction!" Gunari couldn't help but shout at some of them, "Aren't you going to Bastogne?" Hey, friend, what's wrong with you? He grabbed one of the American soldiers with a dull expression, his hair was messy, there were blood stains on his body, and his face was covered with smoke and dust, and he couldn't see any life.

"What happened? Where are you going? Didn't you come to fight alongside us? Toy asked strangely at the U.S. soldier who was holding on to Gunnery.

The U.S. soldier looked at them with demented eyes, then shook his head and said, "Run, run, don't stay here, they will kill you." God, they came out out and slaughtered us. You need to get out of here! They have Tigers, MG42 machine guns, 88mm cannons and airplanes, they are like butchers! ”

Unable to hold back the shock in his heart, he said to the American soldier, "Hey, brothers, we've just arrived here, give me your ammo!" I want as many as I want! ”

The American soldier unloaded all the ammunition and let Goneri and Toy take it: "You're going to use it!" Then Hevron rushed into the ranks of the routs and shouted, "Whoever of you still has ammunition, stay." Then he turned back to his brothers in Company E and said, "Guys, let's come here and replenish the ammunition, we need to replenish the ammunition that has been given to the other battalions, God, it's going to be a tough battle!" Heflang's words worked, and the brothers of Company E swarmed up to surround the group and then scavenge them of ammunition.

"Let's go, guys, I've got something good for you!" A jeep came from the front, driving the logistics officer of the De Sobury detachment of the 10th Armored Division B Combat Command, Second Lieutenant George? Rice. Winters stopped his car.

"Sir, I know you are short of ammunition, there is an ammunition yard ahead, I have brought some bullets and grenades, if you need it, it is best to free up a truck, my jeep is too small to carry much. Then follow me and come back with some ammo, or we'll just have to detonate them!" Second Lieutenant Rice said to Winters.

"Thank you very much, second lieutenant!" Winters nodded at him, and he quickly mobilized a truck and followed Ensign Rice to the ammunition dump he had mentioned. Soon he returned with a jeep and truck full of ammunition.

"Guys, come here and get it yourself, take a little more, we're going to have a tough fight, we're going to hold on for a long time! Hurry up. Winters shouted at all the soldiers of the second battalion. The GIs used their hands and feet, desperately grabbing boxes of M-1 bullets. The sound of a fierce exchange of fire in the distance and the horror on the faces of the retreating American troops showed that every bullet they got was worth it. Ensign Rice kept bringing in a steady stream of bullets until each soldier could no longer hold them.

"A German panzer division is going to cut the road to the south, and you may be surrounded!" When Ensign Rice finally started the jeep to leave, he couldn't help but look at Winters and kindly remind him.

Winters smiled at him and said, "We are paratroopers, ensigns, we should have been surrounded!" ”

"Well, then, good luck to you!" Second Lieutenant Rice spoke, and then sped the jeep toward the rear, accompanied by a long, somewhat tailless ragged American rout. They came from Bastogon and were to leave the place far away, where their countless brothers fell.

Company E continued its march towards the Foy area, and as it exited Bastone and headed northeast, the sound of artillery fire mixed with the sound of small arms fire. The battle ahead is getting more and more intense. The soldiers of Company E walked silently, they looked at the road on the ground, the snow had gradually drifted, the road on the ground was slowly turning white, in the dark night, so white, the whole earth became a little white, and a little dim, leather shoes stepped on the dirt, making a creaking sound.

Gnerey grinned and frowned as he slowly moved forward with the group, knowing that the place he was going to might be a difficult place he had never seen before. Behind him was Toy, who was wrapped in a thick coat, and then shrunk his neck behind the coat, and the snowflakes gently drifted into the collar of the coat and landed on his skin, making him shiver. And many more people have a heart of apprehension, but they still set foot on the road to Bastone without hesitation.

Maybe Winters didn't think about what kind of situation they would face, maybe all the GIs of Company E didn't think about how difficult they would spend in Bastogne, but because of their heroic performance in Bastogne, they achieved the legend of the American Airborne Forces, and they didn't expect that Bastone made them the most heroic unit in the history of the American army.

And this result is known only to Parks. He knows what his brothers will endure, what they will lose, and what they will gain. It's just that what he doesn't know is what kind of legend he will become after this war, a legend that has always been talked about by the US military!

(To be continued)