The cold north wind was howling bitterly, and for days it was always white outside the tent, and the whole world seemed to be monochromatic. The wounded, barely able to move around, gathered around the stove to keep warm, except for Eric and another young officer with a disheveled beard, who were lying on their beds. In the battle of the surprise attack on the Soviet artillery position a few days earlier, although Eric survived, he lost all the German volunteers he led, and the great loss of being alone far more painful than the pain on his body.

As for the so-called Medal of Courage and the Medal for War Wounded awarded by the Allied side, Eric threw them in the trash without thinking about it after the decorated officer left.

The rumbling sound from the bursts reminds people of all kinds of news related to the large-scale counterattack of the Soviet army, this time the Soviet army invested heavy troops in one fell swoop, the battlefield situation took a sharp turn, the main forces of the Allied forces on the southern front could not support it and retreated, some people said that the British armored corps that had won the battle in western Ukraine before was severely damaged, and the remnants of the troops rushed all the way back to western Ukraine, and some people said that the Soviet troops who landed in Ozad had cut off the rear road of the Allied battle group on the southern front, and the tragedy of a few months ago would be staged again. Regardless of how bad the situation was, the field hospital, which was originally located behind the battle line, could faintly hear the distant artillery sound since yesterday evening. Due to the bad weather and severe restrictions on road transportation, only a few hundred wounded were transported to the rear in a day, and the American and British wounded, who were treated favorably in terms of medical conditions, naturally enjoyed the priority of retreat, and the situation of dozens of German wounded in a few camps on the edge was not much worse than being forgotten, and medical personnel would come in every few hours to take a cursory inspection, and two half-lukewarm meals were served every day.

Compared with the last battle wound in 1945, Eleuk's condition this time is actually not too bad, the head wound has stopped bleeding, the bullet hit the arm has not broken the muscles and bones, and the shrapnel scratch on the leg is also a "minor injury" that has nothing to do with the overall situation, but he has always been optimistic that he can't mobilize the slightest positive mood this time, his future is like a storm and snow outside the camp tent and confused, the Soviet army's determination and impact ability to attack is undoubted, and the defeat of the Allied forces may be accelerating, Perhaps in a few hours, the Soviet advance troops would arrive at the field hospital, where they treated enemy prisoners of war with their usual callousness. German soldiers who defected to the Allies? The end could be even more tragic than that of a pure Allied prisoner of war!

Suddenly, there was a commotion among the wounded soldiers sitting around the fire, and then someone opened the tent curtain from inside, and a cold wind that chilled into the bone marrow rushed in, mixed with a faint German voice, and Eric's spirits were immediately lifted, and he did not hesitate to lift the quilt and get out of bed, kick up his boots and stride out, and the young officer who had been lying diagonally opposite him like a sculpture for a long time had exactly the same reaction. In a few moments, half of the wounded by the stove also spontaneously walked out of the camp.

The speaker did speak German, but it was not a conversation but an argument, and all kinds of ugly dirty words revealed the anger of one of the parties, while the other side was not to be outdone, his voice was almost roaring, and his words carried a naked threat.

"Either you refuse to obey orders and everyone will be shot as deserters, or you will show the courage you are proud of and fight the Russians to the death!" Eric heard this clearly, and took a few steps forward, and he finally saw the appearance of the quarrelger, the roaring man was a burly middle-aged officer, wearing a German short-brimmed military cap, a black fur coat over it, and only the red at the collar badge could be faintly seen from the side, and his words and deeds were stern and imposing.

It turned out to be a German general......

Eric was astonished, for it could be assumed that he was forcing the other side to obey the battle orders as a dangerous action for or in connection with the Allied forces, and in the absence of air cover, artillery support, or even the possible lack of friendly cooperation, such an action was indeed no different from sending him to death. The officer standing opposite the general looked to be in his mid-thirties, and he was of ordinary stature, wearing an American-made M1 steel helmet painted white and wearing a crisp white winter suit, and the two men were arguing over a mud-stained Ford sedan, while a column of about 200 men marched on foot not far from the side of the road. Their identities were not determined by the white winter suits and the weapons held by the soldiers, but it was clear from the quarrel between the two that this was a fighting force composed of German volunteers. …,

In the strange atmosphere of a fierce quarrel between the two men, fifty or sixty people soon gathered as they came out of the hospital tent to "watch", and in this strange atmosphere, the red-faced officers finally realized the gaze of the bystanders, and they closed their mouths in unison and turned their heads to look at these compatriots who did not know each other.

Under the cold field, only the wind and snow are still howling.

At the time of his appointment as an Allied prisoner of war, Eric had already been appointed as a reserve officer of the Waffen-SS, and he was originally only required to pass the officer course and examination during the reserve period to be officially promoted to second lieutenant, thus officially entering the ranks of officers, but with the fall of the Third Reich and the end of the war, this promotion and evaluation process was completely interrupted, and the reserve officers were still treated as senior sergeants in the Allied prisoner of war camps, and continued to do so after being released and transferred to the volunteer army. Eric had no right to interject in the officers' arguments, and the young man in the same medical camp as him stepped forward to salute the general and began to inquire about the basics.

It was during this very time that their quarrel was suspended that another group of soldiers marching on foot came from the rear, the soldiers in the ranks were uneven in size and equipment. Some wore Soviet 1940 steel helmets with a white Polish eagle emblem painted on the front, others British flat-topped steel helmets, and others wore old Adrian helmets, an old equipment common to the French and Polish armies, with red Polish eagles painted on the front. Like the helmets, the uniforms and weapons of these Polish soldiers are also varied, which fully demonstrates the difficult and complicated reconstruction process of the Polish army - after the defeat and partition of Poland by the Soviet Union and Germany in 1939, some Polish soldiers fled to the West, and they formed exile troops with the help of the French and British governments, and those who became Soviet prisoners of war and survived until the outbreak of the Soviet-German war also regained their freedom and formed troops with the help of the Soviet army, but the Soviet Union was only responsible for their provisions, and the combat equipment was provided by the British. Only those Polish soldiers who were under the direct command of the Soviet army were able to be equipped with Soviet-made weapons.

At first, the Polish army looked tired and lost, and marching north meant reinforcing the defensive line and acting as a rearguard for the main Allied forces, but when some of them recognized the traditional "German Eagle" without swastika on the steel helmets of the German volunteers, the situation quickly changed, and the morale of the whole team was very miraculously invigorated. Under the leadership of the officer, the sergeant. The soldiers sang "Poland Never Perish", a nearly 150-year-old war song that inspired generations of Polish soldiers to fight for survival, freedom and faith, and was adopted as the national anthem of Poland in 1926.

In the face of the raging wind and snow, the Polish soldiers held their heads high and stretched their necks one by one, and walked past the German volunteers parked on the side of the road in a parade posture, and the song "Poland Will Never Die" has also become one of the most familiar tunes in Europe along with the tortuous process of Poland's defeat, reconstruction, defeat and reconstruction.

The German volunteers, who were not provocative, but more provocative, surprised the dazed German volunteers, who perhaps did not understand the hatred of the Soviet Union by these Poles (this was not just a neighbor who stabbed him in the back, but an old enemy who had long been a bully and had repeatedly participated in the partition of Poland, and the Soviet massacre of prisoners of war in the occupation of eastern Poland in 1939 was already notorious before the end of World War II), but a humiliating life in the prisoner of war camp made Germany ** People understand the exuberant fighting spirit of reversing growth in this predicament.

By the time the Polish troops walked closer, their leaders had already disappeared into the snowstorm. After a long while, the three German ** officers who were standing in place finally came back to their senses, especially the faces of the two officers who were still arguing just now calmed down, and the three of them discussed in a low voice for a few minutes. There are only two paths left for us, fight with your chest up or sit by the fireside and wait for death. Ladies and gentlemen! Instead of waiting for the league to withdraw us in torment, we should fight this glorious and proud guard battle with our companions and comrades. How is it? ”

The last sentence of "how" did its best to raise the volume, so that the tail note was a little broken, but in the wind and snow environment, this slight flaw is not trivial at all, just witnessed the scene of the Polish soldiers singing the national anthem and rushing to the battlefield, the German volunteers present were all enthusiastic, and the words of this German ** officer also touched their hearts solidly - unless the transportation capacity is enough to evacuate all the wounded soldiers in the field hospital, the Allies must give priority to evacuating the wounded of the American, British and French troops, and such a rapid defeat and retreat battle, The losing side was left with a crowd of wounded and had no time to evacuate, and it was almost a foregone conclusion. …,

One of the wounded yelled "yes", followed the sound, and saw a big wounded man who had been on crutches all day moving forward, and said solemnly: "Count me in, although it is inconvenient to walk on these legs, and the Russians can still be beaten without finding their direction when they are on the ground!" ”

"Count me in!" Another wounded man, who had gauze wrapped around his neck and left arm, said, "I have good legs and feet, and I can carry ammunition for my brothers with one hand." ”

Man is an animal that is easily infected by the atmosphere of the group, led by his companions, and a large circle of wounded soldiers around him are rushing to sign up for battle. In this situation, the German ** officer, who had quarreled with the superior commander before, stood silently in front of the ranks, and the German general who came in a Ford car also turned to this group of wounded soldiers on the spot and saluted them with a solemn posture with a traditional military salute.

The wounded returned the same military salute, and the young officers turned around and bowed their arms in salute. Before Hitler took full control of the army, most Wehrmacht officers and soldiers still chose the traditional military salute on weekdays, compared with the hand salute full of personality cultism, which was the soul of the strong German army.

After saluting, the young officer turned back to the wounded and said: "There is no doubt about your courage, but the battlefield is a battlefield after all, and I personally recommend that the lightly wounded, who are easily mobile, join the fighting team on a voluntary basis, and hand me their registration cards, and later ask General Leudman to forward them to the Allied command, so as to prove that we did not run away but followed the troops to the front." As for the seriously wounded, General Leudmann would also do his best to liaise with transport vehicles to get the same priority as the French and Polish armies. ”

Poland and France had both been indisputably defeated at the hands of the Germans, and their arrogance in war tactics had become a model for the negative teaching of history, and the German volunteers had no reason not to grieve for the former victors to aspire to equal priority to the losers.

One by one, the lightly wounded with dexterity took off the registration card hanging around their necks, which served much the same purpose as a soldier's identification card, except that the metal card carried by the German volunteers had more information written on it, so that the Allied personnel could always check and closely monitor these former Third Emperor personnel who were not so "safe". The seriously wounded did not lack the will to fight, but they also knew that war was not a child's play, and that forcibly following the army would only drag their comrades back, and they remained alone and helpless at the door of the tent, and even sat in the tent and looked out through the curtain of their companions' chat.

When it hurts. When the soldiers handed over their registration cards and walked towards the marching column, General Leudeman, who had been unreasonable in the previous quarrel, solemnly shook hands with them one by one.

In the process, Eric stood in a daze, neither timid nor hesitant, but pondering whether such an act was brave or foolish. When the last few wounded men handed over their registration cards to the young officer, he walked quickly forward and walked straight to the general.

"During the war I was a sergeant in the Waffen-SS 'vampire, a night commando." Eric opened his mouth to report to his family, and he didn't know about this night commando and ordinary officers and soldiers whose status was not inferior to that of the Brandenburg troops, but the generals must have heard of it, and maybe their troops had received support from this special operations force in their difficulties.

General Leudman didn't know what the other party wanted to express, so he just nodded slightly: "Fortunately!" ”

"Sir, with all due respect, the soldiers shoulder the sacred duty of defending the homeland and the country, and we are here to perform this duty indirectly, but if we give the Allied troops a desperate death, I don't think it's worth it! Their tactical failures should be borne by themselves, rather than having non-combatant units that were supposed to be only auxiliary to organize the defensive line. If our forces were lost in such a hopeless battle, could we expect the Allied leadership to take our actions into account, freeing more prisoners of war and treating German civilians better? In uttering these rebuttal words, Eric chose to speak quickly and in a low tone, so as not to cause the most incongruous quarrel between the two sides.

This time the general did not get angry, but replied very calmly: "Yes, we can only hope that this sacrifice will make the Allies change their attitude towards Germany, and continue to reduce the garrison and relax their control, until the independent sovereignty of the country is returned to us." ”…,

Eric's eyes widened, and a deep sense of wonder was written on his face.

"When we fought with free will as defenders of Germany, every one of our combat operations had a direct meaning, but now we are in a completely different situation, we are not only fighting for our personal survival, but also for the minimum freedom of Germany. Look at this unit of Lieutenant Colonel Aicris, who paved the way for the Allies along the way, opened minefields, were more obedient than hounds, more respectful than slaves, and what are we abandoning our dignity for? Sergeants, hundreds of thousands of German people are all working for the same hope, we are not qualified to say that it is worth it or not here. It's heart-wrenching to have everyone fight on the back line, but what else can we do? General Lyudman said this in a deep voice, his face already covered with sorrow.

Eric was momentarily speechless. On the battlefield, he is the best night hunter, among his companions, he is a trustworthy big brother, but at the strategic height of the country and the nation, he is just a small ordinary soldier, and his fate is still uncontrollable, how to grasp the course of the great era?

The distant sound of artillery was faintly approaching, and the general's body stood motionless in the wind and snow. Suddenly, Eric took off the registration card with a resolute face, and the general cooperatively raised his right hand to take the inconspicuous metal card, which is a humiliating symbol of the status of a prisoner of war, and an invisible sustenance of precious life...

"All attention・・・・・・ march in line!" The officers stood at the front of the column and shouted loud slogans, the line was longer than it had been when it had stopped, most of the faces still showing exhaustion, but the elements of loss and despair were noticeably reduced.

With the sound of artillery ahead, the howling north wind making the necks shrink in fear, and the rugged mountain roads making the steps heavier and heavier, these brave warriors had only very ordinary weapons and not enough ammunition to face an extremely fierce enemy, but they did not stand still or lose their minds, they sang "Germany above all else" - a song sung by German officers and soldiers when they marched through the Ardennes Forest to Paris in 1940, and when they marched through the fields of Soviet Russia to Moscow in 1941Even in 1945, when Berlin was about to fall, its tune was heard in the dilapidated ruins. In contrast to the struggle of the Poles against their fate, the German national anthem is full of national pride of unity, strength and loyalty, and it also deeply embodies people's belief in victory. Clear