In Germany, December 24 is celebrated as the feast of Adam and Eve, where they place the "Paradise Tree" that symbolizes the Garden of Eden in their homes, hang thin biscuits on them to symbolize holy bread, and light candles to symbolize Christ. In the 18th century, this custom was popular among Lutheran believers in Germany, and by the 19th century it had become a deep-rooted tradition among the German people. In the last few years, this tradition has been preserved even in the bleakest of years, but when the Western Allies, who also believe in Christianity, occupied Germany, a draconian martial law order prevented the inhabitants of many towns in southern Germany from going into the woods to cut down fir trees, and the makeshift substitutes were too hasty, and the lucky ones were able to get the kind of accommodation of the local garrison, and the unfortunate ones had to sit at home and complain.

Early in the morning, Lynn saw snowflakes drifting outside the window, and it seemed that the winter of 1946 was destined to be a cold test for the soldiers on the battlefield. At 8 o'clock sharp, he opened the window and listened to the local Bavarian channel playing on the loudspeaker outside, which had been carried out several house-to-house searches since the Allied occupation forces entered Germany, on the one hand, to arrest the former Third Reich officials and militants who had escaped, and on the other hand, to seize all kinds of civilian weapons, including shotguns and hunting knives, as well as electrical equipment that might be used to assemble radios, so that radios became extinct in the homes of ordinary residents. In order to demonstrate the tolerant policies of the Allies, especially after the Western Allies drove the Soviets out of Germany, the occupying forces allowed local radio and radio installations to be set up throughout Germany, and the populace was able to listen to radio programs starting with "The Blue Danube" on time every day through loudspeakers hanging from telephone poles. Of course, these programs required the approval of the Allied administration before they could be broadcast, and their content was nothing more than music, poetry, history, and weather forecasts.

Behind the familiar music, the announcer's subdued voice could not hide the boredom of orthodox literature. Listening to the recitation of a fragment of Homer's epic poem, Lynn saw the town's residents busy decorating Christmas trees working hard one by one—something so familiar to them that some children could say a few classic words, but it had a special meaning for Lynn. As agreed, every other week, the Imperial Intelligence Service would use radio to transmit information and different pieces of literature would have different meanings. In the Iliad section on the dispute between the gods, the line "The day will come when the men of Achaeos will look forward to Achilles, and then many will fall in heaps under Hector, and you will be able to sigh and sigh to the heavens, and you will not be able to save them", suggesting that the operations of the task forces have been going smoothly and smoothly so far. It seems that the hidden power of the Reich has been far away from Germany for more than a year, and the Western allies, led by the United States, Britain, and France, have created the illusion that the Third Reich has completely collapsed and that the remnants of the Reich will not be able to make waves by fleeing for their lives.

Now in the first battle of Nuremberg, the Allied occupation forces, from the generals to the ordinary soldiers, were confused by the attacking troops that seemed to emerge from the ground, and in their eyes, these guys with excellent combat power were like a gust of wind, blowing with infinite power, and disappearing when they dissipated.

"Great sorrow is upon the Achaeans, and if they hear the quarrel between the two most resourceful and warlike heroes of the Achaeans, Priam and his sons, the rest of the Trojans will be overjoyed......"

The male voice on the radio is still reciting this ancient Greek masterpiece with the characteristics of the six-tone part of the Yang and the Suppression, and the current mainstream Western countries, whether it is the United States, Britain, France, or Germany, can not find such a long cultural classic, which is the pride of the ancient civilization, and also makes the inheritors of the ancient civilization infinitely lonely.

At breakfast, Lynn saw Dammel's frowning expression, and for a moment he was not sure what was going on with this Anglo-German mixed in the camp of the Shi Army, and he couldn't ask too directly, so he sighed: "Not long ago, I thought I would welcome the festival in Munich, and I watched the girls dance while drinking dark beer by the fire, and it seemed that fate was really elusive. ”…,

"Don't worry, Mr. Horst." Dammel's deputy, Hunter, an Orthodox Englishman, replied, "We celebrate Christmas in the same way, with whiskey and roasted meat, and perhaps you, a savior, can charm the young ladies of town." ”

Lynn didn't care about this vulgar ridicule, he sighed: "If the investigation is not completed, I am afraid that the plan to apply for food assistance from the International Red Cross will be postponed again, and I will be hungry at the beginning of the new year, which is not a good thing!" ”

"Maybe only when the stomach is not full will people put their minds on survival, and reflect on who is full of this 'cannon not butter, not butter, situation)." Hunter said with a smile on his lips.

Lynn shrugged: "The mistakes of politicians are always borne by the people - when they are glorious, the people tighten their belts; When they are in decay, the people are still tightening their belts - this is our civilized world! ”

"But none of us are politicians!" Danmel's gaze finally left the plate of fried eggs and ham, and he looked apprehensively through the window into the distance, and for a moment, turned to look at Lynn.

"The ban should be lifted soon, you don't have to stay here until the New Year, and we'...... Soon we will go to the front. ”

"The front line?" These were the words that Lynn had wanted to hear from the mouths of these British officers and soldiers for several days, but when they spoke, it was evident that they deliberately avoided the battle ahead, and occasionally mentioned it, but it was mostly in a state of inmental condition.

Danmer smiled slightly, his expression full of bitterness: "I personally feel very honored to meet such an upright and humorous German as you here, maybe one day in the future, we will fight side by side on the battlefield to resist the attack of the Soviet army・・・・・・ who knows?" ”

Lynn thought about it and estimated that the situation on the front line had deteriorated repeatedly, and even if the Allied troops on the southern front led by Alexander could get away with the usual outflanking tactics of the Soviet army, heavy losses in soldiers, equipment, morale and psychology would be unavoidable.

The Soviet army in this era is truly invincible!

"When I was in Bremen, I heard from a colleague about the possibility of the Allies and the Soviet Union negotiating peace on the occasion of the New Year, ending the war with no end in sight by means of an armistice." Lynn threw out lies to test the tone of these British officers and soldiers.

Hunt's smile looked sarcastic, but Dammer's expression was more bitter: "Similar rumors run from spring to autumn, and maybe from winter to summer, as you just said, the mistakes of politicians are always borne by the people, and we are only the people with weapons." ”

Lynn wiped her lips, straightened up and said to Dammel, "There is so little we can control, but no matter what, I wish you and your comrades good luck and a long time!" ”

After that, Lynn also nodded to Hunter and the other two British ** officers present. Based on his own experience with the war, he did not have much ill feeling towards the British, and most ordinary Britons were not as aggressive as Churchill.

Despite the sarcasm in the face of Lynn's blessing, Hunter responded politely.

Coincidentally, in the Zvonikhdaka area of western Ukraine, the Allied forces that had held out until the fourth day finally received a strong reinforcement - the British 70th Infantry Division, a veteran unit that had participated in a series of battles such as the North African campaign, the Italian landing campaign, and the counteroffensive in Europe, and it was also an orthodox British army composed of British native officers and soldiers. Unlike other major powers, Britain's home forces are mainly naval and air forces, and the number of land forces is limited, and it relies on the armies of Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India for many operations, but this does not mean that the British Army has only the ability to fight soy sauce.

Both in World War I and World War II more than 20 years later, the British Army made decisive contributions to major battlefields, and they always showed greater courage and fighting spirit than the French and other self-proclaimed land powers.

According to the regular establishment of the British infantry division in 1946, the British 70th Division should be equipped with three infantry brigades, divisional reconnaissance regiments and artillery groups, with a total of more than 180,000 soldiers, but the British army arrived at the line before Christmas Eve only had a large number of people, including more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers who were scattered or returned from wounded. Despite its small size, the British unit was an inspiration to the weary rearguard, along with more than forty heavy tanks and self-propelled guns they had collected along the way, as well as a well-trained artillery unit armed with 17-pounder field guns. Over the past three days, the continuation of the blizzard has also taken a toll on the Soviets, who are more accustomed to the weather. As heavy equipment could not penetrate the hilly terrain behind the snow, the Soviet attack was mainly supported by artillery, and the large infantry group, supported by some tanks, launched two large-scale attacks and four night raids, but failed to break through the defensive lines held by the Americans, Polish troops, and German volunteers, but instead left thousands of corpses in front of the position. However, this Allied rearguard line was only built on the terrain, and the width of the line allowed the Soviet forces to continue to replenish the right flank, and the real decisive battle was fought in Namirev, many kilometers away. There, the remnants of 100,000 French troops and several British armored divisions desperately defended the western Ukrainian city, covering the retreat of hundreds of thousands of Allied forces through the area south of Vinnytsia and north of Moldova towards Slovakia and Poland. …,

At the guard post at the forward position, Eric and several rotating German volunteers carefully observed the situation ahead through the periscope of the battlefield. As the battle progressed, the defenders' trenches dug deeper and deeper, creating a solid front that could evade ordinary artillery fire and withstand the low temperatures. After a night of heavy snowfall, the remains of Soviet troops that covered the fields yesterday were covered, and the world seemed to be back to a state of natural tranquility, except for the huge circular pits, the remnants of fragrant tree trunks, and the wreckage of long-abandoned chariots all silently telling the destructive power of the war.

Early in the morning, although the wind that had been raging for many days stopped, the line of sight was still white, and a simple optical instrument could not expand the visual distance to a hundred meters away, which meant that Soviet snipers were likely lurking within the range of the bullets. There's no point in destroying a commonplace battlefield periscope at the cost of revealing its location, and an experienced warrior like Eric wouldn't be unfounded, but he doesn't do it better than crouching in a trench and waiting. During the period when the survival of the Third Reich was at stake, he was the commander of a night raider squad in 19 dangerous combat operations, wounded 5 times, and almost completely withdrawn from the battlefield on 2 occasions. Again and again, he honed his keen sense of smell and became more and more proficient in killing skills, and he successfully attacked Soviet lines, camps, headquarters, and even armored units, and the Soviet soldiers killed by him and his men may be enough to form a brigade, and the effect of these battles on the war situation cannot be measured by numbers.

In this line of defense, although his superior was a German general with outstanding ability and good vision, Eric did not take the initiative to ask for help - there was no tacit cooperation with his comrades, no handy weapons, and more importantly, there was no reason and creed to fight to the death, he just repeated the mechanical defense in the posture of an ordinary non-commissioned officer, and he did not even have the urge to jump out of the trench to pursue the fleeers.

Are those distant hopes just self-deceptive consolation?

"Hey man, how's it going?"

Leng Buding heard someone behind him speak German in a British accent, and Eric almost elbowed over, because a third of the night operations he had participated in in had been against the American and British allies on the Western Front, and some of those guys could also speak German.

Obviously, the instinctive reaction is especially strong when there is no psychological preparation.

Turning his head with a straight face, Eric saw a face full of smiles, a smile a little too bright, to the point of disgusting flattery and flattery.

In the ice and snow of Eastern Europe, chocolate may be second only to spirits and hot soup Eric hesitated, and after a large piece of chocolate in tin foil from the other party's hand, he moved half a position to the side, giving the opportunity to observe with a periscope to the British soldier wearing an MKIV helmet. This tortoiseshell-shaped steel helmet, which began to be produced and equipped with troops in 1945, is currently the front-line equipment of the British and federal armies, and only the troops who have not had time to change their equipment are still using the old-fashioned Brody light helmet. Due to the cold season, the helmet is evenly painted white, and the camouflage net covering the outside is also light flaxen, lying in the snow like a clump of dead grass. Eric chewed on the cold, hard chocolate as he looked curiously at the British soldier's uniform and weapon. When fighting the Germans, the British soldiers never needed to wear light-toned cold uniforms, nor did they need to wear a strange pair of white shoe covers on the top of their boots, which looked like horses' hooves covered by hair. As for individual weapons, the British Army's Lee Enfield Hand Rifle was actually more tenacious than the German Army's Mauser 98, and although the British soldier's collar was half of the non-commissioned officer's collar badge, he still carried a Lee Enfield N.4 with a magazine on the outside. The 10-round capacity and successful bolt system make it the highest rate of fire of any manual rifle, but it has almost no advantage over successful semi-automatic rifles and assault rifles.

"Was the last attack of the Soviets launched last night? They transported the bodies of the dead back overnight, or ・・・・・・ the woods extended to less than 400 meters in front of the position, tsk, this is not conducive to defense, the impact of the Soviet tanks is very terrible! ”

"As a non-commissioned officer, your analysis is too deep and heavy." Eric coldly gave the other party a sentence in English. …,

"Oh? You German can speak English? The British soldier, who was about the same age as Eric, smiled, and smiled kindly, without the gloom and coldness of some of his predecessors.

"To defeat your enemies, it's best to learn a little bit of their language first." Eric said quickly, "That's what an old prefect told me. ”

Seeing that the other party took his rifle and rubbed it carefully, the British soldier didn't look nervous at all, and there were several other British ** people who entered the forward trench with him, and the highest rank should be a captain. Newly arrived at the defensive line, the British ** team should first act as a reserve, and then reinforce the forward position at a critical moment, or adapt to the rotation with the troops holding the front line after a period of time, and their scattered British ** people are obviously here to explore the situation on the front line for their companions.

"How? These Soviets are not easy to deal with! Well... ・・・Their tanks are not very numerous, no wonder the defense line is still in our hands. ”

"If you come up, you'll soon know if they're good or not." Eric didn't tease with bad intentions.

"Of course, we'll be up soon, and you all think the British ** team will only show their butts to the enemy?" The British soldier laughed.

Holding Lee Enfield and touching it a few times, Eric put it back next to the British soldier: "Is there any smoke?" ”

"Left pocket." The British soldier said, and when Eric pulled out the pack of cigarettes, he added, "It's the Yankee's camel brand, and there are the last two left." ”

Eric asked for one, bent down to light a cigarette with his hands in his hands, and suddenly looked up, and suddenly felt a strange orange color on the ridge on the side. If you look closely, the fog has dissipated a lot, and the orange color is due to the early morning sun. He suddenly looked back and saw that the mountain tops behind him were already shining brightly.

How long it had been in this terrible snowfall, Eric couldn't tell for a moment, two weeks—it seemed longer. The sky is finally clear, and a sunny Christmas will be a quiet and peaceful Christmas

The roar of the aircraft quickly gave a negative answer. Clear