Chapter 14: The Knight's Iron Cross

"Found it, follow me!" Weidenbeyler appeared ghostly in front of everyone and beckoned to everyone.

The Casablanca Museum has been reduced to a pile of rubble by the bombardment of Gneisenau, and even the strong shelter deep underground, near the entrance to the ground, has partially collapsed, revealing several dimly lit holes.

The group carefully bypassed the two Sherman tanks guarding near the ruins, cleared a hidden collapsed hole, and entered the underground of the museum.

The underground passages are somewhat damp, and Casablanca, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and heavily influenced by the sea, is a rare oasis in Africa, rich in groundwater. Explosion-proof lights are installed on both sides of the passage, and the air circulation is good, and it looks like there should be a relatively complete ventilation setting.

After nearly 15 minutes of walking through the underground passage, the group finally realized that the area of the underground shelter was much larger than expected, and it was estimated that it was larger than the Casablanca Museum on the ground level.

Baron Weidenbele had already divided into several vampire bats to explore the passage ahead, but only a moment later, the Baron's face was a little strange.

"Lieutenant Colonel, it looks like this underground shelter has a huge, very large footprint. There are many forks in the road, and the network covers the entire downtown area of Casablanca. The baron looked back in surprise and said, "I can't remain in human form anymore, I'm afraid I will have to divide all the vampire bats in order to uncover the entire underground network in a short time." ”

Weidenbeeller's words silenced the crowd, and although the upper echelons of the Allies were forced underground by the shelling of the Gneisenau, they were only given a few dozen minutes. In fact, in such a narrow passage, vampire bats are easily ambushed by the enemy, and Weidenbeyler is using his life to open the way for them.

"Lieutenant Colonel, it seems that our original guess was wrong, and this underground network seems to cover all the important buildings in the center of Casablanca in the United States and Britain." Captain Bock calmly analyzed.

"Well, Your Excellency, I'm sorry for you, we have too little time to find the Allied heads and their General Staff at all costs." Skorzny said sternly.

"Living too long, sometimes life can be a burden, and I feel honored to be able to contribute to the rise of the German nation!" Weidenbeeller bowed gracefully, "Your Excellency Lieutenant Colonel, then we will meet later!" ”

"Baron, please wait!" Qin Lun suddenly stopped Weidenbele, who was about to leave, and turned to Skorzny and said, "Lieutenant Colonel, the Allied forces have quite a few garrisons in Casablanca, and I believe that this underground network will also have many checkpoints at important forks. Vampire bats alone are able to convey too little information, and they are not strong enough to get through these fortifications, and even if they are blocked, they may not necessarily find important targets......"

"What do you mean, Gerthhard......" Skorzny asked thoughtfully.

"Let us explore the way ahead, let the baron send a few bats to follow us, let him coordinate in the center, and switch the work responsibilities of the two sides!" Qin Lun's light gray eyes were calm, and he said slowly.

"Good idea, we have enough strength to break through the checkpoints of ordinary armies. If he encounters a superpower, then the baron will immediately sense it through the vampire bat, and then summon us! Captain Bock touched his chin approvingly.

"However, there are only five of us in all, and the search area is very small, and this is an underground passage that leads in all directions......" said Weidenbeyler with some hesitation.

"Actually, we just forgot that this is Casablanca, not the real territory of the United States and the United Kingdom. Even if they connected the original underground network, it was not really an underground fortification, at most it was just a temporary shelter. Qin Lun's eyes slowly revealed a sharp light, "If you analyze it with this point......

"If this is analyzed, then the most likely hiding place and shelter of the enemy should be in the central core of the three important buildings on the ground!" The excitement in Skorzny's eyes flashed, "Ensign Gerthard, you have made the first contribution, if this time it is a good thing, I will personally meet the Führer and apply for the Knight's Iron Cross for you!" ”

In the German military rank system, Skorzny's rank was not too high, and the lieutenant colonel was only a mid-level military rank. However, Skorzny was also the commander of the Orningburg force.

After the decline of the Brandenburg Special Forces, which belonged to the German Espionage Bureau, the Orningburg Forces inherited almost all the elites of the Brandenburg Special Forces, and had an astonishing appearance that surpassed their predecessors in the middle and late stages of the war.

Rescuing Mussolini, preventing the Hungarian dictator Horthy from making peace with the Allies, and a series of sabotage in the Allied rear ...... the fame of the "Nazi ghost", "the most dangerous man in Europe" Skorzny, thanks in large part to the astonishing combat effectiveness of this special forces.

As commander of the Orningburg Force, Skorzny also held a number of positions within the SS and was one of the few mid-ranking German officers who could meet with Führer Hitler on a regular basis later in the war. In a way, Hitler trusted this loyal dog more than many German field marshals.

Hearing Skorzny's promise, Weidenbeyler and Bock both glanced at Qin Lun with envy, and the Air Force captain, who was usually calm like a granite, even pouted his lips in annoyance.

The Iron Cross of the Third Reich was not a cabbage, it was awarded only to those soldiers who had a particularly heroic operation on the battlefield, in other words, it was a desperate fight. Originally, there were only two types of Iron Crosses, the Iron Cross and the Great Iron Cross, and later the German Führer added a knight's Iron Cross of the first class.

Germany had expected that World War II would end soon, and the division of the Iron Cross of the 3rd degree was enough. But I didn't expect that this war had been fought for five whole years, and until now, the two camps have not completely separated the winners and losers.

As a result, the German military had no choice but to subdivide the ranks of the knightly iron cross again, and divided it into the knight's iron cross, the knight's iron cross with silver oak leaves, the knight's iron cross with silver oak leaves, the knight's medal with diamond double swords and silver oak leaves, and the knight with diamond and gold double swords and gold oak leaves, a total of five levels.

In the history of World War II in Qin Lun's time and space, there were only a few thousand tens of millions of German soldiers who had won the Knight's Iron Cross, and only a few hundred people had won the Knight's Iron Cross with silver oak leaves, and there were even fewer winners of the higher-level medals, and there was only one person left at the highest level. As for the Grand Iron Cross, only one person received it, and that was Goering, Germany's only Imperial Field Marshal.

Qin Lun, who has the remnants of Gerthhard's memories, discovers that the history of the Iron Cross has shifted in this space-time world. Germany does not divide the knightly iron cross into five categories, but only distinguishes three categories: the knight's iron cross, the knight's iron cross with silver oak leaves, and the knight's iron cross with silver oak leaves, while on the ordinary iron cross, it is divided into five classes.

Even the lowest Iron Cross of the fifth rank required the German soldiers to have a heroic act of sacrificing their lives. A strong-willed German soldier who participated in the war for half a year and did not die was sure to receive a fifth-class iron cross. In the case of medals above the Iron Cross of the Third Class, the number of recipients decreases dramatically.

This is not because these German soldiers no longer have heroic acts, but because they have long since turned them into battlefield heroes. The only German soldiers who can receive the Iron Cross of the third class or above, and even the Knight Iron Cross, in addition to the German colonels who independently command the troops, are only particularly excellent air force pilots and special snipers.

Gerthard, possessed by Qin Lun, is a special sniper who once won a first-class iron cross. If this operation is indeed listed as the first merit, he will really get a knight's iron cross.

You must know that their commander, the leader of the "League of Gentlemen", Skorzny, led the Orningburg troops to change the situation of the war several times, as the commander of the special forces who can influence the whole of Europe, and is also a close confidant of the head of the Reich, there is only a knight's iron cross of the first order of Gogthard, which shows the preciousness of this medal.

In fact, no one has yet won the Great Iron Cross of this time and space, and there are only two winners of the Knight's Iron Cross with two swords and silver oak leaves, namely Dönitz, the commander of the "U-boat wolf pack" of the Navy, and Air Marshal Goering.

In the following two medal levels, less than half a hundred winners of the Silver Oak Leaf Knight Iron Cross and less than two hundred Knight Iron Cross winners have won such a medal, which is really glorious in the minds of German soldiers.

Not to mention a German soldier like Captain Bock, who regards glory as his life, even Weidenbele, who has no military position, is a little jealous of Qin Lun at this moment.

"Haha, you don't have to envy Gerthard, in fact, this operation involves the entire course of the war. If we can achieve our goal, all the main players will be able to get the Iron Cross! Skorzny was encouraged again.

Weidenbeyler and Bock looked at each other and smiled knowingly, Gerthard was able to get the Knight's Cross in part because he had a first-class Cross of Iron, and they did not have the Iron Cross of the First Class, so they could not expect the Knight's Cross. What's more, there is no distinction between honors and ranks, and Gerthard did have a good idea this time, and it is not indispensable to list it as the first merit.

"Now that we have a clear goal, even if there are only five of us, we should be able to find the core hideout of the Allied forces quickly." Baron Weidenbele smiled and said, "Your sense of direction is not as good as mine, let me show you the way." ”

Weidenbeyler stretched out his hands, and his arms and sleeves turned into a group of black bats, some of which climbed onto the shoulders of the crowd, while others flew towards the depths of the fork in the passage.

"I wish you all a good luck!" Skorzny instantly transformed, following one of the bats.

"一qiē顺lì!" Several other people also immediately set off, scattering and chasing into the fork in the road ahead.

Qin Lun flashed into a passage alone, but after walking a short distance, he slowly stopped, hugged his shoulders and leaned against the wall, as if waiting for someone.

"Hehe, your solution is good, you finally got rid of them!" A person quickly caught up at the back of the passage, looked at Qin Lun and said with a smile, "Skorzny really did as we expected, and finally dispersed the manpower!" ”