After the attack on Nuremberg's prison and the escape of several high-ranking war criminals, Lynn, the main line of development, expected the same thing. Although the Germans were wreaking havoc on Allied communications throughout the state of Bavaria, the effects of these actions on the Allied military system were like an adult being bitten by a mosquito on the arm, and "he" cared not about the itching sensation or obstruction of the mosquito pack, but about whether this inconspicuous little thing carried some kind of germ that could cause a serious disease. If this potential danger exists, it should be ruled out before it develops. Therefore, the Allied forces stationed in Germany not only organized layers of blockades and dragnets with the speed of a wind, but also actively sought the truth with the eyes and ears of German intelligence officers and civilian figures who had defected to their side. In this case, it is entirely possible that the Imperial soldiers and rescued personnel involved in the assault and response will fall back into the hands of the Allies if they make a slight mistake in the retreat.

With four days to go before Christmas in 1946, the brutal and bloody war between the Eastern and Western camps caused many families to fall into or threaten to fall into the situation of losing their families and homes at any time, and "prayer" became the absolute theme of this Christmas. Lynn wondered if the Empire's top brass in Northern Europe were praying - though it was not impossible to force it, he had never promised to send someone back safely before Christmas.

After noon, the heavy wind and snow finally showed signs of abating, and the snow on the roadside ground had reached nearly 50 centimeters thick, and local residents said that this was the heaviest snow in the past five years. Sitting on the street on the second floor, holding a hot coffee, the battle-hardened but undefeated commander of the operation was a little distracted. Snowy days, small towns, such scenes reminded him of the memories of fighting on the Eastern Front more than a year ago, the roar and heavy boots of the "butcher", the unknown comrades-in-arms in the same trenches, and the family of the white goatee -- when he saw the soldiers, he called his father when he saw them, and there was always a feeling of pity and sadness in his heart; Thinking of Jiāo's shy and weak and affectionate Alice, I can't help but feel inexplicable longing.

These old acquaintances who live and die together or meet in the water, are you all okay at the moment?

There was a clattering sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the stairs, sounding vigorous and heavy. After a few moments, someone began to roll their tongues awkwardly in German saying "Please show your ID".

When the soldier in the beige sè uniform came to the table, Tanzawa, who was sitting across from Lynn, raised his head unfazed and said in fairly fluent English: "Sir, we are the staff of the German Red Cross, and this is the document and the official document. Excuse me... ・・・What's going on here? We were on our way to Munich, had breakfast here, and were told that the road to any city from here was blocked, the railroad was temporarily suspended, and even the telephone and telegraph were cut off. Now we can only stay here at a loss, and I don't know when we will be able to continue our work. ”

"The German Red Cross?" The British soldier, who looked young and a little handsome, looked very seriously at the documents and official documents that Tanze took out, and glanced at Lynn's face, in this defeated country that was still in a state of anarchy, the troops of the United States, Britain, and France squeezed out the Soviet Union and became occupiers and administrators, and the administrative areas divided between them were not like cutting a cake, some places had clear boundaries, some places were more vague, and some places belonged to the most complex "condominium areas". These political situations and the war situation were already enough to choke - NGOs such as the Red Cross were not at ease, which made the professional soldiers of the Allied countries always feel that they were not as powerful as fighting on the front line - out of knowledge and research of this situation, Lynn sat so calmly in this small town only 17 kilometers from the city of Nuremberg, completely unconcerned about the outside road closures and repeated clean-ups.

The self-introduction and small complaints just now stopped at the point, and Tan Ze didn't say much, motioning to the other party to check the identity documents and access documents he provided.

After reviewing these two materials necessary for large-scale activities in the Allied occupation zone, the British soldier with a Wilbury revolver at his waist finally stretched out his right hand in front of Lynn: "Sir, your documents?" ”

Lynn cooperated and put the document directly into the other party's hand, gave the other party a cursory glance, and then turned around and reached out to wipe the fog on the inside of the window, so that she could see the situation outside more clearly. …,

The British soldier noticed Lynn's movements, and he said meaningfully in English: "This position is at a good angle." ”

Thanks to the nine-year compulsory education and the four- and sixth-grade system, Lynn's English foundation is much better than German, and he says: "Yes, you can see what's going on on the streets all the time, it's supposed to be a spy's job, but sometimes the Red Cross people have to do it." ”

Unable to see any clues from the genuine documents, the British Army corporal politely returned the papers and documents, and said meaningfully: "If you don't plan to change your accommodation, I can come and inform you as soon as the blockade is lifted, and you can avoid the disturbance of temporary raids, what do you think?" ”

Tan Ze smiled: "Sir, we would like to stay here, but this hotel does not provide accommodation, don't you know?" ”

The corporal didn't continue, but looked at the briefcase at Lynn's feet: "Luggage? ”

"No, the luggage is in the car, this is the investigation material we recorded earlier" Lynn unhurriedly picked up the briefcase and put it on the table, unzipped it, and made a "please feel free" gesture.

The corporal looked inside, but before he could make a move, another British soldier who had gone upstairs with him, apparently an army soldier, older than the corporal standing at Lynn's desk, turned around after checking the guests at the other table at the angle: "Is there a problem?" ”

"No, no. These two are from the German Red Cross, and they can't leave and have nowhere to live, so maybe we can help a little. The corporal summed it up in one sentence.

"Oh, Red Cross, there are no prisoner of war camps or concentration camps here, and we don't usually abuse German civilians・・・・・・ so where are you going?"

This kind of flirtatious questioning used to be what Lynn hated the most, but now he looked at Tanze calmly, lest the two of them rush to answer and leak out in the most stupid way, and not so that they would both be silent for too long and make the other suspicious.

As a result, Tanzawa replied skillfully: "We will make a report on the survival of civilians in Germany, and we are in charge of the Bavarian region, and after the whole report is completed, we will submit it to the International Red Cross as a reference for providing material assistance to Germany in the near future." ”

"How's the investigation going? Civilians in Germany were living in misery, starved of food, clothing, and medicines, so that they did not have enough strength to support the Nazi restoration? The British soldier sneered with great malice.

The young corporal looked like he was well educated, and he corrected him: "Robles, don't talk nonsense, this is just an objective investigation, right, two gentlemen." ”

Tan Ze put away his documents with a very aggrieved expression, and muttered: "The Germans have never been beggars in the world - not before, not now, and not in the future" It is not shameful to be a beggar, but it is an abomination to be a robber. The British soldier said unrelentingly.

Instead of getting angry, Tanzawa silently moved his mouth.

"The two of you don't have to worry about the accommodation, we live in the car if it doesn't work, oh, the black Sè Ford over there is our car, and we can't go far even if we want to go without it." Lynn said with a cold face, "Taking this opportunity, we just sorted out the previous investigation materials, maybe the two chiefs are interested in participating?" ”

The British soldier took out the handwritten form from Lynn's briefcase and flipped through a few pages, and the corporal looked at it with the intention of looking at it a few more times, but said, "Okay, Robles, I think the Red Cross is doing everything from a humanitarian point of view, and if anyone spies in their name, God will be angry." ”

This sounded like a warning, and Lynn and Tanzer sat silently as the British soldier roughly flipped through the stacks of papers and put them back in their bags. The corporal said "enjoy your coffee" in English and went downstairs with the soldiers.

The temperature outside was still low, and the glass that Lynn had just wiped was blurry again, and he looked out to see two British soldiers leaving the café and walking to the grocery store diagonally opposite, the corporal bought a pack of cigarettes, paid for it, chatted with the owner, and looked back at the café again.

"They don't believe us... I don't believe any Germans, I think they'll be looking for a sentry to keep an eye on us! Tanzer judged, even though his tone was low, but he could hear that he was still indignant. …,

"Britain is indeed an interesting country, they have gentlemanly and conservative habits, and it is strange that such a country can dominate the world for a hundred years." Lynn said softly, "Anyway, their time is over. ”

Although he had never fought against the British army on the battlefield, from the experience of his comrades, Lynn felt that the British Navy and Air Force were strong enough, and the performance of the Army could only be classified as second-rate. Alexander may have been a good military commander, but the Southern Front, with the British armoured forces as the main force, would not have been able to fight a stunning battle in the face of adversity - Lynn had a hunch that the Allied winter offensive might be a failed strategy for the Soviet counteroffensive, and that the Soviets might be able to advance the front west of Warsaw and bring the capital of Bōlan back under Moscow's rule before surviving the icy winter and muddy spring, and the strategic initiative would be firmly in the hands of the Soviets. However, it is still too early to assert that the Soviet army will win, because it took more than two years for the Allies to destroy Germany's military industry with strategic bombing, and now the strength of the US and British strategic aviation forces continues unabated. The Allied troops in the center of the front, which played the role of supporting and coherent on the front, were slow to move, and the famous US 1st Armored Corps, together with the French 4th Armored Corps, and more than a dozen Allied infantry divisions that were close to full strength were unable to break through the defensive line guarded by a mere Soviet infantry corps, and there was always a 40-kilometer gap between the meeting with the southern route troops.

The French and Bō armies, which replaced the American and British armies on the northern front, lacked tacit understanding with the American and British fleets, and the Soviet forces were not able to contain the Soviet army, but were firmly pinned down by the other side with a small number of troops, and the pro-Soviet elements in eastern Lithuania took this opportunity to launch an armed rebellion in the capital, and were supported by Soviet paratroopers, which could keep the Allied generals busy.

In the real center of gravity of the two fronts, Western Ukraine, the famous Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army broke the deadlock in the ice and snow with the blood of the officers and soldiers, and the Soviet flank troops with this battle-hardened division as a sharp blade successfully copied the outflanking strategy of five months ago, they cut off the supply line of the Allied troops on the southern front in one fell swoop, leaving Marshal Alexander and his more than 800,000 Allied officers and soldiers to retreat on a front less than 50 kilometers wide. Moreover, the Soviet flank detour units and the Marine Corps that landed from Ozad were constantly pressuring from both flanks. At the critical moment, the Soviet army forcibly dispatched a large number of planes to drop a large number of leaflets on the Allied troops, shaking the morale of the Allied officers and men by exaggerating the predicament. As a result, the Romanian troops in the southern front cluster were the first to collapse, and these frightened birds, who had already suffered two heavy defeats at the hands of the Soviet army, retreated desperately in the direction of the homeland, and the Romanian government also secretly contacted Moscow to prepare to unilaterally withdraw from the Allied camp, and the 300,000 French troops also began to race with friendly forces. As a result, the retreat order, which was already very bad because of bad weather, became even more chaotic, and the main force composed of more than 300,000 British troops and nearly 200,000 American troops was crammed into a hilly area of less than 150 square kilometers and could not move, and the Allied troops left as a rearguard to resist the frontal offensive of the Soviet army were less than 80,000 people, including as many as 220,000 German volunteers!

The former "vampire" elite, the night hunter Eric, was still among the 220,000 German volunteers and followed his comrades from the 14th Volunteer Infantry Regiment to hold on to the hilltop position north of Gerlo for two and a half days, and the collapse of friendly forces on both flanks forced them to abandon and retreat, and then fought a battle on the improvised Fort Line, the Allied forces lacking tanks and air support were again crushed by the Soviets, and successive defeats had caused Eric's temporary combat unit to retreat nearly 100 kilometers back from the defensive position of the first battle. Despite the fighting and retreat, the distance between them and the main Allied forces did not get further and farther, as evidenced by the brief improvement in the supply situation. However, as long as the situation on the battlefield is slightly analyzed, it is easy to judge the bad situation of the Allied forces, the road to the rear is already crowded with retreating troops, supplies cannot be transported at all, and the food and ammunition hoarded on the spot are rapidly decreasing over time, if the situation continues like this, it is optimistic that it will not take a week for the will to fight and combat effectiveness of these Allied armies will to fall to the point of being ashamed of themselves without a fight.

After a difficult trek of more than ten kilometers on knee-deep snowy roads, Eric and his men finally reached their new defensive position. This time the situation does not seem too bad, the terrain of the mountains and forests is not conducive to the Soviet armored forces to exert a strong impact force, between the front and depth of the position is equipped with a lot of large-caliber anti-tank artillery in the previous battles to prove the strength of the Bōlan army in the right flank position, the officers and soldiers are struggling to dig trenches in the ice and snow, a neat American army unit is stationed on the left flank, their line extends north along the mountain, it is estimated that there is still a long section on the hill, and the defensive pressure is not small, But they should be much more reliable than the French who have no intention of fighting.

The central position (called "center" from Eric's point of view, and only the right flank in terms of the width and position of the entire front) was seven or eight kilometers long, and the troops arriving early had dug the rudiments of fortifications in the hard ground. Judging from the experience of past operations on the Eastern Front, this time there was a lack of machinery and equipment, and with the existing manpower, it would take at least a whole day to dig for a whole day to make this section of the defense line have a relatively complete defensive capability. Due to the bad weather and the continuous march, Eric's wounds healed slowly, but fortunately, there were no new injuries in the previous two battles, and he put down his equipment and took a sip of hot water to join the labor army. Upon inquiry, it was learned that many of the German volunteer units withdrawn from the front line would be concentrated on this defensive line, and for the purpose of operational command, the Allies appointed a German general to lead the German volunteers here. Judging by the current situation, it is likely that the German troops assembled here will exceed thirteen thousand people.

With the military qualities of a German general, commanding a troop of 10,000 people was a piece of cake. Although I don't know what the origin of this general is, Eric still feels excited when he hears it, since the end of the war, Germany has been in the dilemma of having no country to defend itself, and the generals and marshals who led the troops across the field or strategized in the staff headquarters were all trapped in the Allied prisoner of war camps, even if the war resumed, the Allies tapped military strength from the German prisoner of war camps, and the German soldiers who participated in the war as volunteers were at most only at the brigade level, and the troops were directly under the control of the corresponding Allied command departments. The true command range of any German general is no more than a person, and this breath has increased nearly twofold, and it vaguely gives people a glimpse of the former glory of the imperial lion.