After the battle of Shepetovka, the Germans held a simple entry into the city.

Ukrainians spontaneously took to the streets to welcome the liberators into the city.

This led Otto to rush to the headquarters of the advance assault group set up in the dispatch room of the North of the City Railway, with small gifts from residents stuffed in each pocket and lipstick left by enthusiastic Ukrainian girls on their collars.

"It looks moisturizing." As soon as Otto entered the headquarters, the passing staff officer teased.

Otto smiled shyly, and then asked, "I heard that the commander of the assault group is looking for me, where should I go......

"That's the commander, you're lucky, our commander likes to go to the front line to check the situation in person, he happens to be there at this time, and it is estimated that he will not be seen after a while." After the staff officer said this, he shook his head slightly, "The biggest headache we usually have is not what the Russian army has done, but we don't know where to find the commander, and now we all directly let the communication platoon be on standby at any time, and immediately follow the commander when he sees him leaving the headquarters." ”

Otto to this Erwin? General Rommel's temper of leading the charge had long been heard, and after nodding his head to the staff officer, he walked in the direction of the commander.

Probably in order to be able to jump into the tank and go to the front line at any time, the commander did not wear a special general uniform like other generals, but put on a coat that was commonly worn by armored troops, and it was almost impossible to distinguish whether he was a general or an ordinary commander without looking at his rank.

Otto saluted the general, and Erwin just nodded.

"Captain, we are in trouble in a village to the east, the village is too small for us to send many troops to clear it, but the report shows that there are still a considerable number of Russian troops in that village who have the will to fight, and we cannot let the Russian troops who have the will to fight stay so close to our railway transfer hub. So, the ideal response is to solve this problem with a small number of elites, there is no better unit for this task than the training team equipped with new vehicles, the teaching team platoon now only your platoon still has four vehicles in good condition, and the other platoons have vehicles under repair due to breakdowns. ”

Although the Tiger has been tested a lot before it is put into the battlefield, it still encountered a series of problems after it was put into the battlefield, and sure enough, actual combat is the best touchstone, which can detect problems that cannot be found on the exercise field.

"It's not a big village." Otto looked at the photographs taken by the reconnaissance plane, in which only a dozen houses could be seen, "I think we can do it." ”

"Be careful," advises Erwin, "as you may have noticed, there are only a dozen houses in this village, but each of them is more than two stories of masonry, and we assume that this is the place where the rich of Shepetovka are concentrated. ”

"We'll be careful."

"Very good, then I will send you an elite infantry company, the commander of the unit is a Grand Knight Cross recipient, and two of the three platoon commanders have obtained the Iron Cross of the First Class, and they have very rich combat experience."

Otto was overjoyed: "It's best, I like to work with experienced infantry units." ”

"They've already set out for this village, and they should be done by the time you get there." After saying that, Alwyn gestured to the door, signaling Otto leave without a problem.

**

By the time Otto led the four Tigers to the outskirts of the village, the infantry company had already been deployed. The company commander, Captain Hans Zimmer, was waiting for Otto.

"You've seen aerial photos, right?" Hans Zimmer came up and said to Otto, "The village is a long strip along the road leading to Shepetovka, and the houses are divided into many open fields. We tried to attack once, intending to break through the middle of the village, but the Russian fire knocked us back. In the middle of the village is a square with a fountain, around which several houses are in a square, and the four intersections into the square are sandwiched by houses and completely covered with machine guns. And this circle of houses has machine guns and cannons in the windows outside the square, damn it, this thing is a fortress in its entirety. ”

Otto looked at the schematic diagram that Hans Zimmer had drawn on the ground, and built a branch and pointed to the north: "What about here, I see that there is a three-story building here. ”

"Yes, three-storey, one-size-fits-all, everything else is two-storey plus attic. There was a Russian observation post on the roof, but it was knocked out by our snipers. About 100 meters west of this three-story building are two houses with a right-angle configuration, and there is a square in front of the house, and there are mortars inside, and the fire of the houses blocks the square, and we can't get close. There are a total of four houses between the three-storey building and the square defensive ring in the middle. There are fewer houses on the south side, only three, but there is a church that is so strong that it is to death. In addition, there is a large stable on the south side, which is made of wood. That's pretty much it, all the houses have Russian troops, and the fire covers each other, it's very difficult. ”

"I said," said someone else's voice, "Shall we just blow up all the houses?" ”

Otto turned his head to follow the voice, and saw an officer leaning against the outer armor of a foot fighting vehicle in a sloppy posture, carrying a machine gun on his shoulder. Otto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, the machine gun and the officer's uniform on the man were too incompatible.

Because the machine gun was so eye-catching, Otto took a beat slow to notice that the person who spoke was also wearing an ankh.

"No kidding, if it's all wooden houses, these are all big brick and wood houses, do you know how many shells it will cost to tear down all the houses?"

"No," Otto interrupted Hans Zimmer abruptly, "we don't really need to tear down all the houses, just tear down the houses that are the enemy's support points, and the enemy's defenses will be porous, and we will have a chance." ”

"That is true, but it is precisely the strongest houses that the enemy has chosen as defensive supports." Hans Zimmer sighed, "We might as well force them out of the house with white phosphorus bombs." ”

"It would be nice if there was a Spitfire." The platoon-level officer, who was carrying a machine gun, said, "Cover with smoke and then Spitfire and get close to a fierce fire will solve the problem." ”

"If you want to get closer, you must knock out the anti-defense guns arranged in the middle of the 'siege'," Hans Zimmer took off his hat and used it as a fan to fan himself, and continued while fanning, "The gunners of the Russian army have good skills, and our tentative attack just now will cause more than a dozen casualties, basically thanks to the gunner." ”

Otto held his chin and was thinking, when the loud noise came.

Because they didn't hear the sound of the cannonball breaking through the air, the veterans were all at a loss - the loud noise sounded like a heavy artillery shell had landed nearby, and there shouldn't be no sound of breaking the air!

Everyone craned their necks to look in the direction from which the sound came, only to see a large amount of smoke rising from the other side of the village.

"Well, if we don't hear the air breaking, it means that the bomb fell quite far away from us." The machine gunner smacked his lips, then turned his head to look at the sky, "Ah, it's really the Air Force, but when we called for air support, didn't the control plane say that all the units currently have missions, so they can't provide support for the time being?" ”

By this time, Hans had already run to the communication vehicle equipped with a high-power radio, and asked the radioman to confirm the situation as he ran.

Otto also ran and followed Hans to the radio.

By this time, the radioman seemed to have made contact with the air force in the air.

"The other party is the 603 Technical Squadron," the radioman reported loudly, "that he just wanted a special weapon, but he heard the conversation between the control plane and us, so he came to help." ”

"Technical test squadron?" Hans glanced back at Otto, "Have you heard of this unit?" ”

Otto shook his head.

Theoretically, Otto's armored training brigade is also a technical test unit, but Otto has never heard of a technical test squadron in the Air Force.

At this moment a second loud bang was heard, and Otto and Hans followed the prestige together.

It looks like the bombs dropped by two tactical bombers in the air have landed outside the village again.

"Damn, what are they fighting?" An unfamiliar voice penetrated Otto's ears, and as soon as he turned his head, he saw the third officer wearing an iron cross, and the officer frowned a little dissatisfied, "It stands to reason that a unit like the Technical Test Squadron sounds like a super powerful unit assembled by aces, and this is too bad." ”

"Who knows." Hans shrugged.

At this time, the new one saluted Otto, and then stretched out his hand: "Tiger King Otto? Carley Woods? Fortunately, can you give me an autograph? My nephew adores you so much. Ah, I forgot to report myself, sorry, I'm James Horner, one of the 'Three Musketeers' of this company. ”

"The Three Musketeers?" Otto asked with interest, "What's that, nickname?" ”

James Horner pointed at himself, and then at Hans and the strange officer with the machine gun just now: "It's the three of us, the three of us have been hanging out together since the beginning of the war, and luckily we have overcome a lot of difficulties, danced together in front of death, and finally became known as the Three Musketeers." ”

"This name was originally given by Genghis Khan's division elder father."

Otto opened his mouth wide: "The commander of Genghis Khan's division? That's my dad......"

"Damn," exclaimed the machine gun maniac, who had been looking at the sky, "you're Daddy's son?" I said how to read the newspaper when I think your surname is familiar, it turns out to be my father's surname! ”

"Indeed," James Horner held his chin, "because we always call the teacher father, but we are not sensitive to the teacher's surname." ”

"Is my dad okay?"

"Spirited," said Hans, patting Otto on the shoulder, "the staff is driven by his energetic rush every day." ”

At this time, it seemed that the three of them had forgotten about the bombing of the air force, but at this time, the third big bomb dropped by the air force finally landed in the village.

The ferocious explosion blew up the 'fortress' in the village that Hans had called.

The explosion once again attracted everyone's attention, and the four Iron Cross holders looked at each other as they looked at the huge cloud of dust that had engulfed the center of the village.

"It looks like we're going to have a chance to attack." Hans said.