The Great Retreat of Ibor began.

The Nordland Combat Regiment and all the Germans in Ibor had successfully completed their mission, and now the almost completely bombed city had to be abandoned for the time being.

To give up is for the sake of returning in the future; To give up is to rebuild for the future.

Every German is sure of this.

The first to evacuate were the German civilians, who had given up almost everything they had here. Ernst. Marshal Braham told each and every one of them:

Go to Berlin, every German who can still fight goes to Berlin! No matter what difficulties they encountered on the way, the capital of Germany needed them.

The baron, on the other hand, personally assumed the task of the queen of the palace.

He was always doing the same thing, and he was never afraid. All he feared was the civilians who had fled.

In fact, not only in Ibor, but also in all the fallen cities of Germany, there were German refugees fleeing everywhere. They were confused, they didn't know what tomorrow would hold for Germany. But when they heard that Baron Alexon had returned, they had a clear goal:

Berlin – to Berlin – only Berlin is where they end up......

No one can stop them, no one can stop them from making their dreams come true. Just like the two sisters Blue and Avril from Bremen.

Both of their parents died under enemy bombardment, and now they are the only ones left to depend on each other. And their destination, like all Germans:

Berlin!

That would be where their dreams would begin again. That would be the place where they would be able to find peace of mind, and that would be the only place they could go......

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They woke up at the dawn and were ready to go. This is the third day of their walk. The fighting had diverted them from their established routes, and their progress was somewhat slow, so they set out early, hoping to make more travel. Once again, the god of luck favored them. A farmer passed them in his wagon, and gave them a ride, about six or seven kilometres, and they sat on it. Feet dangling around the edge of the carriage, enjoying the pleasure and luxury of not having to walk.

After the farmer dropped them off the car, they continued on foot. Whenever they heard the sound of military aircraft or artillery fire, they would rush to the ditch on the side of the road. Or crawl forward under the cover of the trees. Once, after an air raid, Blue was about to struggle to her feet, only to find Avril giggling because Blue was falling too the grass. His face was stained pale green with grass.

The number of pedestrians on the road gradually increased. Some of them are going to the same places as them. Although they don't talk to strangers casually, they do occasionally walk with some of them, especially if they know the way. Near the town, there are sometimes trenches called "tank graves", which are specially prepared by local residents to block the advance of American tanks, and whenever we hear gunfire, we will curl up and hide in these trenches. There was a particularly fierce battle that day, and they were both afraid. Avril wrote in her diary:

"The enemy attacked again, and they had to retreat into the woods. The attack was fierce. They really don't know if Lu Dao will come out alive. I wondered, "Is that all there is to it?" Is this the end? Are they going to die here? Thankfully, they were relieved that they managed to escape unscathed. But I'm still very worried about the future......"

Avril has realized how dangerous their journey is and how much they have to risk to get back to their mother. As they came out of the woods, I saw a group of soldiers talking to a foreign man, a tall man in a dark coat with a danger signal in the air. A German officer shouted and questioned his identity, "Where are your papers?" The officer was visibly angry, and pulled his pistol out of his belt.

Avril quickly shifted to block my view, but it was too late. I saw the whole process of the officer aiming and shooting at the man, I heard the sound of the pistol shooting, and I saw the whole process of the man's body slowly collapsing and falling heavily to the ground, where he lay motionless, blood slowly flowing from his chest, and finally stained with blood. Avril took her sister's hand and hurriedly pulled her to her side and continued on her way, but Blue Love kept shaking from head to toe.

"Don't think about it, sister, forget what you see, and think about the things you are happy about." She whispered.

They walked along the road, moving away from the place where they had witnessed the terrible events. Avril began to sing, and after a while, Blue Love tried to forget the terrible scene she had just seen, and sang along with Avril.

On the way, they passed a place that had been a battlefield a few minutes ago. It was a horrific scene that was hard to let go. There were casualties everywhere, and the field ambulance crew carried the wounded into the car one by one; Tanks and armed vehicles were scattered everywhere, some still smoking from their bodies, others still burning; Ambulance crews ran around on stretchers, lifting wounded soldiers, and the air was filled with the pained moans of the soldiers, with the occasional high-pitched cry of excruciating pain. Some of the soldiers crouched beside the soldiers who were motionless and seemed to be dead.

"What are they doing?" Blue Ai asks Avril to 2.

"They're checking to see if those people are still alive. If they have no signs of life, they remove the name tags from the soldiers. All soldiers wear a chain tag around their necks so that they can be identified and their families can be informed if something happens to them. ”

Blue Love's eyes widened. "Please, please." She began to pray that they would not receive any such news, that Daddy would not lie somewhere for someone else to take down his name tag, that he would tell them that his mission in this war had been accomplished. And will never return to them.

Blue Au had been wondering, and even now I wondered, whether the soldiers would put the corpses of their comrades alongside those of enemy soldiers. What about being buried in the same grave? In later years, she learned a German proverb: "They mourn the dead, and they have found their peace." ”

Whenever this scene appeared in front of her eyes, she would say this to herself.

They staggered out of the battlefield, leaving this sad place to soothe their hearts a little. On the way, they met two soldiers, who luckily were on the same road with them, and knew which direction to take. Through their presentations. The sisters learned that they were Mr. Oldman and Officer Stern.

They took the sisters to the village of Grafena, a small village near Oberim, where there was a hospital. They persuaded the hospital staff to provide the sisters with a room to spend the night. They were then taken to a two-bed room, so that the two soldiers slept in one bed and Blue Love and Avril slept in the other. By this time, the sisters were already very tired. And they knew how rare it was to be able to sleep in bed at this time. Especially after a night's sleep in a deep ditch, they had no extra strength to mind the arrangement, and besides, both were young men of good moral character.

They sleep with all their clothes, even their boots. They say it's important because danger is everywhere and you have to be ready to flee at any time. Bruine had never stayed overnight in a room with a stranger, and everything felt new and interesting, especially when hearing the snoring of one of them. She thought of her father, and she had heard his snoring. But that also seems to have been a long time ago.

Moments later, she was awakened by the sobs and cries of wounded soldiers in the hospital room, and another memory lingered in her mind forever: poor hygiene, the smell of disinfectant water, and cracked, blood-stained wounds. The doors of their rooms were ajar, perhaps to allow for an emergency escape in case of danger, as the two soldiers had said earlier. The faint light that came through the hallway occasionally allowed me to see the doctors and nurses passing by, casting shadows on the ground, first growing larger and then filling the entire hallway, then fading until it finally disappeared. I prayed to God and thanked him for not letting them get hurt or suffer in any way, and slowly she fell asleep again.

It was undoubtedly much more comfortable than sleeping in a deep ditch, even if she and Avril were crammed into the same single bed. But they managed to get themselves a good night's sleep, and set out for their departure the next day, and the two men followed them on the road, and the sisters were glad to have them with them, and they both felt that it would be safer to be with them, though this was probably an illusion, for their uniforms were more likely to cause the enemy to fire at them than if they were to walk alone. However, they believed that even if they weren't with them, the enemy would still kill them if they found out, so it didn't make much difference.

The day had been a long one, and they had to fight to avoid the fighting and the air raids overhead, so they were all very excited when the town finally appeared before them.

Mr. Osdemann was quite familiar with the area, "and my sister lives in Oberlim..... "I think she will be willing to help you." ”

He was right. When they arrived in town, he took them to his sister's house, and she was very helpful in arranging a place for them to spend the night. The house next door to her house was blown up, but the wine stored in the cellar miraculously escaped, and she later sent them a few bottles of wine. They spent the night in the basement of a large villa, which the owner's family kept into a comfortable home. Because it is underground, there are no windows in the room, but the room is very elegantly furnished. The family had small children, and even though the children were asleep when they arrived, the owner brought them their toys to play with. There's also a makeshift kitchen with a stove in the basement, and there's even an underground shower and toilet with yellow ducklings embroidered on each towel. Everyone was given an inflatable camp mat, pillow and blanket. Avril and I moved their "beds" together in the corners and drew curtains around them for more privacy. The place is not a lot of space though. But it's cozy, cosy and makes people feel safe.

Every night, Avril would stay with Blue until her sister fell asleep. She would also massage her sister's feet, especially after a long day of walking, her feet would always feel heavy, difficult to lift, and her buttocks would be sore, and Avril would always give her sister some massage at this time to relax the overly tense muscles. Meantime. Avril always had words of comfort for her sister, and she was optimistic about everything.

"It's the pain you have to go through to grow up." She would say, "And you'll grow taller by doing exercises like this regularly!" ”

After Avril gives her sister a massage. Blue Love's tiredness and all sorts of aches and pains always feel much lesser. Even in the midst of extreme chaos, Avril can come up with a great way to calm her sister and make Blue feel safe. She is the support of Blue Love, and she will always cling to her sister in the vicious sea full of reefs. Sometimes at night she helps her sister massage her feet. Blue Love will also ask for a massage for her. And she'll gladly agree.

"That's good." She would always smile and say, "It's so comfortable." ”

Although in reality the strength of Blue Love's little hands could only touch the surface of her skin, she would always gently tell her that she felt much better after this.

Avril was worried that her sister would get lice on her head, so she carefully combed her hair every night and re-tied her braids, and combed them very hard. It reminded her of her mother, who she would do every night when she was at home to help her re-tie her braids, combing it back and muttering that she was playing like a wild child, and her hair was tangled together. Blue longs for my mom to brush my hair again. Even if you let her read me two sentences at the same time.

After I fell asleep that night, Avril had a drink and chatted with two of their friendly military friends. She recounted that pleasant evening in her diary.

The next morning, they arose to prepare for their departure, and said goodbye to Officer Stern and Mr. Osdeman. At half-past seven, they were on their way again. They hadn't changed their clothes for two weeks, and they even slept at night, but Avril had towels and soap, and had confirmed that Blue had cleaned her teeth. If there is a house where they can spend the night, they can use the toilet and bathroom. But if they were on the road, they didn't even have toilet paper, and gradually they became very good at identifying large soft leaves along the way, and would pick up some of them on the road in case they needed them.

It wasn't very difficult for them to walk, and they had so much mandatory rest that they had to crouch under the bushes or lie flat on the ground whenever they were attacked by airstrikes. When Blue Love really feels tired, Avril will still have strong faith and treat Blue Love in the same way as an adult, if it weren't for this, Blue Love might have given up long ago.

They had a few bottles left, and Avril packed them in her backpack because they were too heavy to carry in the small trolley. In her diary, she wrote:

"These bottles of wine are so heavy that my back hurts so much that I want to take them out and put them on the side of the road. Luckily, just as I was about to throw my wine away, a large military truck pulled up and gave them a ride. My sister sat on the lap of one of the soldiers, and I sat in the middle of the two. When I saw the boy sitting on my right, there seemed to be an electric current passing through my back, and he had a very handsome face, and he was very good at the little ones. The care they give us is what we really need.

I still remember us sitting in the truck. The soldiers did everything they could to make me happy, telling funny stories, making grimaces to make me laugh, and occasionally asking me about myself and my family. They also asked about my doll, and I told them its name was Charlotte, and we formally introduced ourselves to Charlotte. Looking back now, I can fully understand their strong homesickness at that time, longing for a normal family life, and longing for the company of their families. They treated me very well, and before I knew it, I might have done them a favor, bringing a short, childlike innocence and laughter to their lives, hoping that they could really get the ...... they craved from me."

The truck took them to a village, where they went to the shelter service center for help, where they arranged a place for them to stay overnight. Eventually, they were arranged to spend the night in a large commune with a kitchen full of women and soldiers. Soon they became friends with a young girl named Hana, and they found three beds connected together, which were actually three mats lined up on the wall.

"Where did you come from and where are you going?" Hana asked them.

"They're from Bremen, they're going to Berlin." Avril explained their situation: "What about you? ”

"I was sent to serve in wartime, you know, on a farm. But I told them that since the war was coming to an end, I had to go home, and the farmer and his wife agreed to let me go, and now I was going back to my family. ”

Hana is also the one who is trying to find a way to go home, and it's good that it's the same situation as them.

They had a dinner before going to bed. Avril wrote in her diary:

"A soldier made dinner for my sister, me and Hana, and they were well taken care of. Then we enjoyed the last four bottles of wine and we toasted together for peace. Sometimes it's nice to ignore what's going on around us and not think about what we might encounter tomorrow. ”

And at this time, great danger has quietly befallen the sisters! (To be continued......)