Chapter Seventy-Four: The Night March

On June 10, in Ingville Oplein, Parks received a letter in a pink envelope, and even after thousands of mountains and rivers, the letterhead inside still revealed a fresh fragrance.

West, who was in charge of sending and receiving letters, looked at the envelope for a long time, and said stupidly, "You are really lucky, sir! ”

"What?" Parks was opening the envelope and smelling the scent of the stationery, and when he heard West's words, he couldn't help but raise his head in confusion, "Is there anything wrong with this?" Private West. ”

Wester hurriedly explained, "No, no, I just want to say that at least you haven't been abandoned by the girl, unlike me!" ”

"You mean to say that there are still girls who remember me?" Parks laughed, "I still want to show that you've been abandoned by the girl!" ”

West shook his head: "I received a breakup letter before D said. ”

"Oh, that's unfortunate!" Parks couldn't help but laugh, "But there's absolutely no way I'm going to share it with you." Then he raised the letter in his hand and left with some pride.

It was a letter from Virginia.

In the letter, she poured out her thoughts about Parks, hoping that he would return soon, and if she could, she could contact General Lee and perhaps transfer him back to his post. And for the previous automatic rifle thing, she didn't say a word. It seems that it should be very unoptimistic. Still, she mentioned one thing, which was that Brigadier Lee had recently mentioned Parks during another visit to her home, and that he had recently mentioned Parks in a letter to General Taylor, in which General Lee described Parks as the best American paratrooper he had ever met.

All this made Parker feel a little proud, and the appreciation of the father of the American paratroopers was not easy to come by, after all. This letter is basically good news. What could be better than a woman who has not changed her mind and is able to be valued by her superiors?

The good days of the company in Ungville Oplain are over.

The 29th and 101st Divisions, coming from Omaha Beach, met northeast of Carrington. This allowed the beachhead to be consolidated. But if the Americans did not drive the Germans out of Carrington, it would not have been possible for this beachhead to expand or extend inland. And the task of capturing Carrington fell on the shoulders of the 101st Division.

General Taylor decided to attack simultaneously from three directions. The 327th Glide Infantry Regiment attacked from the north, the 501st Regiment from the northeast, and the 506th Regiment marched around the night march to the southwest of Carrington, which was close to being surrounded. The time for the coordinated attack was set for 5 a.m. on June 12.

"I want F Company to be the vanguard, E Company to follow, and D Company to be the queen!" Colonel Zinke's order was clear.

This time, Company E did not take the lead, and after Winters carried out this order, many people in Company E were very happy. In short, not being exposed to the forefront of the position at any time, and encountering sniping from the Germans from time to time, is the greatest happiness.

"Colonel Zinke is such a good man!" Webster wrote in his book, "Company E has always been at the forefront of my memory, including the battle of the manor and the attack on Ingville Oplein on that day. But that's all in the past. I now understand what war is, to find honor in the thrill, and to appreciate the camaraderie between brothers in the midst of danger. If one day the war ends, I don't even know how to say goodbye to my brothers......"

Webster's idea represented a large group of brothers of Company E. They look for each other's warmth in the excitement and pain, and they look for honor in this warmth.

On June 11, the 506th Regiment began its night march, keeping their distance from each other. The brothers of Company E had been training at night for several months when they were company commanders in Sober, including cross-country at night, forced marches through the woods, the use of the night compass, the problems that the troops might encounter in their night operations, and the control of the troops' night movements. The people of E Company are very familiar with night work.

But the other companies kept having problems, which annoyed the brothers of Company E.

"Alright, we've lost contact with D-Company again!" Goneri cursed under his breath, "These goddamn fools! ”

"It's not just Company D, but we've lost contact with Company F." Parks walked past him and said with a blank face, "Sergeant Goneri, you and Luz go and contact F Company." ”

Then Parks shouted to the front, "Sergeant Tybert, you take someone to contact Company D!" ”

This was not the first time that contact had been lost, and during the march, several companies of the 2nd Battalion often appeared in such a situation, so much that the stop-and-go made Parks very annoyed.

"Look, we're often alone!" Even though Parks knew that this was going to happen, he couldn't help but complain to Company Commander Winters.

"This is all the reason why the officers did not teach the soldiers well when they trained." Winters also looked a little angry, and although he complained, he was able to endure it.

"Look, our Sauber still left us with an elite army!" Nickerson, who was beside Winters, couldn't help but whistle and said with a smile, "This should be Sauber's greatest contribution to E-Company." ”

"We've arrived at our intended location, are we going to wait?" Parks shook his head, there was some anger in his words, "Can't the staff officers of the regimental headquarters be more accurate?" Now at least I know that our intended location is also the wrong place. ”

"Even though it's wrong, we're going to carry out the order." Winters said helplessly, "Parks, stop complaining, tell your brothers, build fortifications, set up machine guns, and we'll go into defensive positions." ”

"Okay!" Knowing that it was useless to tell Winters, Parks calmed down and began to arrange the fortifications for his brothers.

The sound of the MG42 machine gun was particularly abrupt in the night sky. Firing in the direction of E Company. It's just a point shot, and they shoot every short distance.

"Get down." Parks cautiously beckoned to the brothers, "Be silent. Looking in the direction of the Germans, we are ready to go over and take them by surprise! ”

"Christenson, come here, set up the machine guns, aim them at the enemy's point of fire, listen to our guns as we assault, and then fire heavily to cover us!"

"Okay!" Christensen crawled over and mounted the machine gun.

"The rest of the brothers in the platoon, follow me! Keep your profile low, let's go kill them! Parks, with the remaining brothers in the platoon, quietly reached for the German firing point.

The Germans were looking for American troops at firing points. But in doing so, they have undoubtedly exposed themselves. By the time Parks could see where they were, they were no more than forty meters away, which was already the visible distance of the brothers of E-Company, who were familiar with night operations. Parks could even hear the Germans talking in whispers. There were fifteen Germans in all, and there were more than one class of formation.

"White, tell everyone what they want to do, and then listen to my gunshots. After defeating them, immediately retreat to the fortifications and prepare for defense. Parks carefully laid out the assault on the Germans. He's going to wipe them out in one fell swoop, and then retreat cleanly.

"Three" Parks counted in his mind, he raised his M1 rifle, and then carefully adjusted the crosshair, so as to kill with one shot.

"Two!"

"One" Parks had just counted to one, and he pulled the trigger, and with a "bang" a gunshot, crisp in the night, and far away, the German machine gunner's head drooped, and he was shot in the head, and a shot was fatal.

The Germans were startled, and when they reacted and were about to return fire, a burst of gunfire killed them one by one. But the Germans responded with fire, and the machine guns were firing heavily in this direction!

At this time, Christenson's machine gun also sounded, and he attracted most of the enemy's firepower.

"Retreat, retreat!" Parks shouted, then directed his brothers to retreat back the way they came. He followed at the back of the group, and the group quickly retreated to their original fortifications.

"That's enough, Christenson." Parks stopped the machine gun, "We're safe now, there's no need to waste bullets." ”

The machine guns here stopped, and the Germans' return fire also stopped, and neither side knew the details of the other side, and neither dared to attack rashly, which had caused unnecessary losses.

"We killed 15 of them at once." Caber whispered something ostentatious about the excitement just now.

His words were echoed by many people. The initiative of the first platoon, knocking out the fire reconnaissance points of the Germans, was praised by Winters, which avoided unnecessary losses for the brothers and seized the initiative. Moreover, Parkes's strategy of fighting and leaving was undoubtedly very successful, so that the Germans did not dare to act rashly because they were not sure of the situation on this side.

Soon Goneri and Tybert returned, and they contacted Company D and Company. At the same time, orders from the regimental headquarters were also brought, and Colonel Zinke ordered Company E to move on.

"Don't they know that we have encountered the German forces on the periphery of Carrington? Why not set up positions here, and then capture them? Parks was a little puzzled by the order.

"Do the order, Parks, when did you start complaining like that?" Winters couldn't help but frown.

"Yes sir!" Parks could only salute and turn around.

"Parks!" Winters stopped him.

"What?" Parks turned and looked at Winters.

"I want your platoon to be a striker," Winters said, "be careful! Then he patted Parks on the arm.

"I see!" Parks nodded, sighing inwardly, he knew that this could not change anything, only he had to be a little more careful. But E-Link was lucky. Because Parks cleanly killed 15 Germans, the remaining Germans thought they had met the main force of the American army and retreated overnight, so that although Parkes was cautious, he never met a German again.

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