The afternoon sun shines brightly, illuminating the rubble streets of Paris. The attacking German soldiers began to carefully sweep up the explosives placed by the opponent at the corners of each doorway, either by finding the source to destroy the fuse or by detonating it directly when it was safe to do so. Due to the concrete-paved ground in Paris, it was difficult to lay highly concealed mines, which allowed the Germans to advance calmly without worrying about stepping on the tunnel mechanism that led to hell as soon as they stepped down.

Captain Loeb took a marching dagger in his hand and gently cut a silvery-white silk thread beside the corner; Several soldiers hurriedly followed, dug out a fuse-activated explosive from a piece of rubble, and then carefully brought it to a no-man's land hundreds of meters away and detonated it with a rifle. Looking at the large wave of red and purple light that suddenly burst out in the distance, the sound was like a hurricane and thunder, Captain Loeb couldn't help but spit fiercely, and his heart had already greeted the ancestors of the evil French.

In the previous battle for the city, French soldiers planted countless explosives of this type near the houses in the neighborhood they defended, causing a huge obstacle to the German advance. If the Germans were to cut off the root of their leads, as Loeb had just done, the cold guns fired from all over the place would be enough to smash those who came through them into a sieve; These explosives, both the fuses and the main body, were extremely well hidden by the French soldiers, and no clues could be found without careful observation at close range. And if the Germans choose to rush, they will definitely face the threat of these powerful explosives. For this reason, the large-scale attacks launched by the German army before were all inflicted with heavy casualties and were fruitless; It took two months of bloody fighting to occupy about a third of the area of Paris.

However since the use of poison gas. The situation has finally taken a radical turn. The French officers and men were all smoked to death or to flee. Even if there are those who hold their ground and are lucky enough not to die. It also lost almost all of its combat effectiveness. In the case of dealing with these traps alone, the German advance became much easier. In a certain way, they are no longer advancing in battle, but cleaning up the battlefield without pressure, compared to the previous bloody battle in the line of life and death, it is completely different!

The German soldiers moved forward quickly, and it took just over two hours to clear the neighborhood; If it had been placed in the past, I am afraid that it would not have been possible to capture even a house. While conquering the city. Hundreds of corpses of French officers and soldiers were dragged out of the corners by the Germans: their faces were distorted, their faces were blue and gray, and their bodies were covered with pus-soaked sores. Even the German soldiers, who were accustomed to seeing the scene of their stomachs and intestines all over the place and their brains bursting out, still felt a chill rush up from the bottom of their hearts when they saw the tragic situation of the mustard gas poisoning of the French soldiers. In order to avoid the plague in Paris after the war, the Germans also worked tirelessly to form a transport team, throwing the corpses one by one on a wooden cart carrying ammunition supplies, and then transported them to a pit outside the city to be buried collectively.

The breeze flutters, and the red sun slants in the west. When the last explosion trap is removed. Captain Loeb finally led the men to the end of the block. The rustle of leather boots over the debris was clear in the silence of the street. When the German officers and soldiers who turned a right angle saw the scene in front of them. I couldn't help but stand still.

A huge square with a length of nearly a kilometer suddenly came into view after the previous heavy buildings. Although its wide and smooth bluestone avenue was cracked, shattered and rolled under the devastation of the war, and the trees and grasses on both sides were also burned to a bare and scorched black, the faintly revealed gorgeous and magnificent charm of the past still gave birth to a solemnity and solemnity in the hearts of these uninvited guests. More than 1,000 meters away, a neoclassical giant arch with a height of nearly 50 meters, a width of nearly 45 meters, and a thickness of more than 22 meters, rises majestically in the middle of a complex star-shaped avenue. It is like the begonia in the wilderness and the green pine in the snow, it looks so arrogant and outstanding, and it is so scorching and eye-catching!

"Arc de Tri......omphe," Loeb murmured, his voice so hoarse that only he could hear it, but the light in his eyes was as hot as ever, and it was as if a fire was burning in his heart!

"Poof!" Just as his heart was stirring, the unique sound of a bullet piercing through the human body suddenly sounded in his ears. Loeb, who had been in battle for a long time, was all too familiar with this voice, and he instantly came back to his senses, only to see a crimson blood hole blooming in the chest of a soldier beside him, and then fell straight backwards.

"It's French!" Loeb roared, and then an arrow flashed towards the waist of the trash can in the corner; The surrounding German soldiers also scattered in an instant, looking for bunkers and hiding in an instant. The soldier who had been shot had been dragged back to the corner of the building by the robes, who quickly and unhurriedly unbuttoned his shirt, sprinkled some hemostatic agents on the wounds, and wrapped them tightly with bandages. Behind the foul-smelling tin cylinder, Loeb clenched the Mauser rifle in his hand, and his mind had begun to quickly analyze the cause of this sudden turn of events; After a while, he already had a faint answer in his mind. The French's rifle fire was not intensive, and there was no such continuous thudding as in the previous street fighting, which was most likely due to the fact that a small group of French troops had not been completely gassed to death, and they were still fighting in the city.

"In order to protect this iconic building, these French people are really resolute in their will to resist!" At the thought of this, Loeb was angry and resentful, but he couldn't help but feel a little admiration for his opponent in his heart. Although he was a grassroots officer who knew nothing about the core secrets of the German army, after seeing the inhuman and tragic conditions of the French soldiers who had been poisoned and died before, he could faintly feel the terrifying power of this new type of poison gas; And such a fierce attack failed to kill the opponent, and the stubborn fighting of the French was simply terrifying!

Loeb took a lens from his marching bag, secured it with his rifle, and slowly extended it out of the top of the bucket lid. The star-shaped plaza in the distance and the nearby buildings were visible to him in the light reflected by the lens. After a long time, the French guns still did not come again, which made Loeb even more convinced that only a small group of French troops were still fighting. Because if it had been placed before, his exposed lens would have attracted the intensive shooting of countless bullets from the other side, and then it would have been smashed into pieces!

Loeb, who felt this, suddenly felt a sense of relief, and his mind spun rapidly, and a series of orders were immediately issued. From the analysis of the situation just now, it is only possible that the shooting of the French came from a limited number of areas. Under Loeb's leadership, the German soldiers who had been hidden immediately began to move, climbing through windows or climbing walls, and went around to their designated area to carry out the clearance. The Arc de Triomphe was in sight, and the German officers and soldiers had not allowed any force to stop them from reaching the pinnacle of glory!

After a while, the battlefield that had been calm again rang out with fierce gunfire; The German copycat MP18 submachine gun let out a continuous and rapid roar, followed by a violent explosion of grenades. At the cost of several casualties and a torrential rain of fire, Loeb led his team through the smoke-filled corridors; Seven or eight French soldiers in their new blue-gray uniforms had fallen to the floor, their flesh and blood blurred, and some of their exposed skin could still see shocking large abscesses.

When the others fled for their lives under the German gas, the French squad resolutely chose to lock themselves in a closed room, and waited until the air in the room was really muddy before opening the door and fighting with the invaders. However, because the poison of mustard gas was so strong, that these French soldiers still showed quite severe symptoms of poisoning after they came out, and their physical and conscious reactions were far from optimal. The recuperated Germans were able to take advantage of the situation and cut off the French resistance with their sharpest blades. Seeing this, Loeb could roughly guess the resistance experience of these French soldiers, but in the case of each master, he could only completely eliminate the opponent without mercy!

At dusk, the sporadic resistance of the French army around the Place de l'Etoile was finally completely wiped out. In addition to Loeb's company, a large number of German troops also advanced from the north, east, and south, aiming directly under the triumphal arch in the center. Loeb strode at the forefront of the company with a gun in one hand, and as far as the eye could see, the wide avenues were full of his own men rolling forward. At last, all the troops gathered in the square, and they all raised their heads in unison, and their eyes were united on the triumphal arch that stood in the center.

Compared with the pictures in newspapers, magazines, and travel guides, the Arc de Triomphe in the war is less luxurious and magnificent, but it has more vicissitudes of time. The dilapidated and decaying roads of the surrounding square did not hide the majesty, calmness and majesty of this building. The single arch design has simple lines, but it has a thicker and more ancient than the Brandenburg Gate; Under the golden red afterglow of the sunset, those large-scale reliefs that have been carefully carved are faintly brilliant and indescribably beautiful. At this time, power and art are perfectly integrated in one place, and its majestic magnificence like a picture scroll makes people's blood boil and their hearts stir!

"We have captured the Arc de Triomphe, long live Germany!" I don't know who was the first to make a celebratory declaration, and the star-shaped square suddenly seemed to be boiling; The passionate cheers were like a rolling tide, instantly sweeping the land in all directions, straight into the stars and clouds. Loeb and one of his soldiers hugged each other tightly, tears welling up in their eyes; As the years passed, his children and grandchildren asked him about his proudest achievements in his life, and he only had to answer that he had followed the 5th Army to capture the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and that was enough! (To be continued......)

PS: Today's update is presented to ~~~ The author is working very hard