Company E stopped on the outskirts of Eindhoven and began digging foxholes for the night. This makes a lot of people complain constantly. No one could have imagined that after the warm hospitality of the Dutch, they would have to lie in the dirt for the rest of the night. This feeling is tantamount to falling from heaven to hell, and it is really unacceptable.

"Where are the Germans? Can anyone tell me, why are we digging foxholes? The Germans did not see a shadow! "James? Ellie kept complaining, digging foxholes, and it was clear that he wasn't working hard.

"Soldier, it makes far more sense to use the time you complain about to dig foxholes than this. On this road, we may meet the Germans at any time, they are eyeing us, they may appear in front of us at any moment, and then shoot at you! A voice suddenly came from behind Ellie, and his tone was a little stern.

He looked back and saw that it was Captain Winters, and couldn't help but salute quickly: "I'm sorry, Captain, I'll hurry!" ”

Winters nodded, and continued to patrol the rest of the place. Apparently there were not many battles along the way, and the occasional presence of enthusiastic Dutchmen and delicious wine, food, and fruit made the GIs completely lose their vigilance, both veteran and new. They must have thought it was a wonderful trip around Europe.

The calm night seemed deep, there were no stars in the sky, there were clouds, and the weather was not very good. But without German artillery fire, and without the cold guns of snipers, the night was beautiful.

Winters personally inspected each outpost, he could not sleep, closed his eyes, as if he could see the shadows of more than thirty brothers, he could only keep walking to dispel this feeling of suffocation.

"Dick!" Someone stopped him from behind.

Winters turned around, then looked at the man, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Nick, if you keep getting involved with me, Zink will definitely have to consider whether to change someone to serve as a staff officer in the second battalion." ”

"Even if Zink knew, he would open one eye and close one eye. He knows you need a partner right now! Nickerson laughed, "Someone who can calm you down." Obviously I'm the best person to do just that! ”

"Congratulations, you can mix from the battalion headquarters to the company headquarters!" Winters glanced at him, then turned his head to look at the night sky in front of him, "Yes, I've been a little distracted for the past two days, and it's the second day of parachuting. The British 1st Parachute Division had no contact at all, and according to the original plan they were already going to occupy the Arnhem Bridge. ”

"Do you believe their plan will succeed?" Nick stepped forward and stood side by side with Winters, "At least we're not going very well now, the Germans are obviously prepared. Although yesterday our actions were not what they expected. I don't believe the 1st Division has taken Arnhem. ”

"Me too!" Winters's tone was deeply worried.

Nickerson looked at him and said, "Dick, I know what you think, and I think the same way." Thirty or so brothers, it is absolutely impossible to disappear silently. Don't worry about Parks, he's a good commander. The most important thing for you right now is to keep your clear head and sharp reflexes, and don't let your brothers here be harmed! ”

"I know!" Winters nodded.

The two of them did not speak, but walked to the edge of a few trees, leaned against the trunks, and looked at the night sky, and at the brothers who were nesting in the foxholes, and the air of this night gradually became a little solemn.

This night was definitely relaxing for the brothers of E Company, they passed peacefully, as calm as an ordinary night in the countryside, and the chirping of summer insects seemed to be like a nocturne in their ears.

But on this night, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division of the British Army was not so lucky. The daytime attacks yesterday and today have hurt their vitality to a certain extent, and it is clear that attacking the south side of the bridge in full view of everyone during the day will only suffer a greater setback. So they decided to attack at night, using the cover of night to break through the southern end of the bridge in one fell swoop.

The British paratroopers came out of the buildings and houses that had been used as bunkers during the day, and they reached for a fort at the head of the bridge, which had been a huge obstacle to two attacks, and many of the paratroopers had fallen in front of it.

The British troops of the brigade hid on the bridge deck, and they lay down.

A paratrooper lieutenant and three paratrooper soldiers quietly tried to approach the fortress of the bridge.

"Why us?" One of the GIs asked in a low voice.

"Because you won the lottery!" The lieutenant replied, "Don't talk nonsense, we can only move forward if we kill this." ”

The four of them quickly approached the fortress, and then were spotted by the Germans about ten meters away. Machine guns fired in the direction they were heading. Plans to bring them closer to the fortress fell through.

"Is this distance certain?" The lieutenant and three paratroopers said as they hid behind the piers.

"I don't know, I have to try!"

"Well, God forbid!" The lieutenant said, "Grenades!" ”

"Still—" The four men braved the hail of machine-gun bullets and threw grenades.

There were several explosions of "boom-", and the grenade exploded near the fort. They bounced off the walls of the fortress and only then exploded, not throwing into the observation port of the fortress.

"Damn it!" The lieutenant couldn't help but curse, it was clear that he was very dissatisfied with this bomb. The machine guns of the Germans could not be found, the target, and were strafing in all directions.

"One more time!" The lieutenant whispered, then raised his fist, "Still—"

The grenades flew out again, but the Germans saw them too, and the machine guns fired without hesitation, and two soldiers fell to the ground without bullets on the spot.

"Boom-" The grenade still didn't go into the observation port. The lieutenant patted his head in annoyance, and was about to beckon the remaining one to throw it again, but he had already let it go.

Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded near the fortress, and then a huge flame rose into the air, and the fortress was lifted into the sky with the sound of explosions. The explosions were heard one after another, and huge fires continued to burst out.

"God, lieutenant, we blew up their ammunition depot!" The remaining soldier shouted in surprise, "Haha, God is on our side, Lieutenant." They're going to be finished! ”

"Yes, there is wrong!" The lieutenant shouted with joy, then rushed out, waved at the British army lurking behind, and said, "Brothers, rush, go kill the Germans and let them know how good we are!" So saying, he rushed forward with his head. The British troops behind saw that the arsenal of the bridgehead had been blown up, and they all cheered, and rushed forward with the lieutenant. It's obviously a good start, and it's a great morale boost. This stimulated the British to rush south of the bridge desperately.

"Dudu-" Lieutenant Colonel Gofu kept blowing his whistle, calling these more British troops, and they were going to succeed in one fell swoop. Now this is the best opportunity in a few days. The Germans lost the cover of the bridgehead, and the firepower would be greatly reduced. It was also easier to provide cover for the British at night, allowing them to rush to the south of the bridge smoothly.

"Boom-" A flare exploded in the air, and then the flickering light of the fire illuminated the British troops on the bridge clearly. Then it was the German machine guns and tank artillery that opened fire. Sparks from the barrels and muzzles, as well as flares, illuminated the neighborhood as if it were daylight. The Germans' dense firepower frantically harvested the lives of the British.

Lieutenant Colonel Gofu ran in the middle, and he saw the machine guns of the German tanks spewing tongues of fire, and through the flares, he could see that the British troops were constantly falling, and then the British troops were constantly filling up. Despite the heavy casualties, he knew that this was the best opportunity, and if it was lost, the British would lose the ability to attack forever.

He jumped, forward. And kept yelling at the British troops around him.

"Rush, guys! Don't let the Germans crush. We're about to break through them! He continued to boost his morale, and then led the charge towards the Germans.

It is clear that the Germans were also frightened by the deadly attack of the British. Seeing that the British army was getting closer and closer, some of them were retreating in horror. These Englishmen are dying, they are like a bunch of crazy people.

Gofu saw a German with his rifle shooting at the British, who was already approaching.

Near, closer......

Lieutenant Colonel Gofu pounced, raised his rifle's bayonet and stabbed the German into the body, and in the alternating light and darkness of the fire, he saw the German's blood splattering and heard his screams of fear as he died.

In the end, the British paid a huge number of casualties and the German troops guarding the bridgehead were close to each other.

The bayonet blasted bloody holes in his body, and then splattered blood.

Gefu didn't know how many Germans he had stabbed, but they seemed to be like cockroaches that couldn't be killed, falling one after another, and the British troops around Lieutenant Colonel Gefu were decreasing one by one.

The sound of gunfire and shouts and screams was mixed.

"Bang-" A gunshot rang out in Gefu's ears, and as he hurriedly turned around, there was a sharp pain in his lower back, and then he saw a German raise his rifle towards him.

The German soldier methodically pulled the bolt, then took aim again, his face expressionless.

Lieutenant Colonel Gofu tried to raise his gun at him, but he couldn't use his hands at all. He tried to dodge, but his body was as heavy as carrying a bag of potatoes, and he couldn't move at all.

"Bang-" The gunshots rang out again.

Blood bloomed in Lieutenant Colonel Gofu's chest, and he was knocked to the ground by the bullet's habitual impact, and then watched the road continue to fall. The face of a Ying[***] man also fell on the bridge deck, and then the flare, his sad eyes struggling as he died, were the last memories of Lieutenant Colonel Gefu.

(To be continued)