Suddenly, a strange sound came from the sky overhead, a shell hit the wreckage of a destroyed French tank that was already smoking, and a piece of iron dust was splashed; then the second shell hit a big tree next to the road, and in an instant it blew up countless branches; about two seconds later, dense ammunition was poured down on the heads of the French troops piled up in the pass, and the explosions continued one after another.

After some adjustments, and various news and intelligence showed that the French army had indeed launched a large-scale attack on the small road pass, so the Germans soon mobilized their most powerful weapons, and the 9th Motorized Rifle Division's divisional Frederick rocket artillery covered the pass with dense artillery fire.

Looking at the explosions and fires on the pass, and listening to the explosions that seemed to hit the heart, de Gaulle could not say a word. He couldn't understand why his carefully planned counterattack couldn't even take a small pass, and he couldn't understand how the other side could mobilize such a dense artillery fire so quickly.

"General, listen to the artillery fire, the other side has at least one regiment of large-caliber artillery, otherwise, let the artillery under his command open fire?" The staff officer looked at De Gaulle, who was a little confused, and whispered: "We also shell a round of German positions?"

"It's useless, there's no way to take it here. De Gaulle said dejectedly: "It won't be long before the German planes taking off from the front-line airfields will arrive, and our armored troops are so densely piled here that it is no different from suicide." ”

He waved his hand and said: "Contact the air force, cover our retreat as much as possible, all the troops disperse and retreat, move in companies, and then assemble after 50 kilometers to the south." ”

Yes, there was no need to force the attack any further, and as de Gaulle had expected, five Stukas were belated—after all, because of the speed of the German advance, the field airfields had not yet been built, and the planes were coming from farther away, so they were slower than the divisional rocket artillery units.

The French army retreated, and the French 10th Panzer Army, which had suffered huge losses, was covered by Frederick's rocket artillery and attacked for a round, and was indiscriminately bombarded by Stuka by biting its tail, and when it returned to the starting point, counting the equipment abandoned due to breakdowns and other failures, it lost a full 49 tanks and more than a dozen armored vehicles. This accounted for almost one-fifth of all the power in de Gaulle's hands.

You must know that one of his main tasks is to prevent Guderian's 1st Panzer Army from moving south, so most of the troops cannot be drawn out to participate in the attack, so his failure this time is basically equivalent to losing the ability to attack.

Wren sat on his tank, holding his gun and looking into the distance in a daze, and on the side of the tank, a small pergola was improvised with a dusty white sheet. Andrei was lying on a door panel, and the medics of the infantry company were simply bandaging him. There were still steaming craters everywhere, and the power of Frederick's rocket launchers left an intuitive impression that it was overwhelming.

Bruce sat on the ground, his head listless, and was complained about by Bowman. The rotten life as a hero car crew in Berlin made Bruce, a drunkard and a colorist, hollow out his body, which is why he was out of breath when the reload strength was higher in the battle just now.

The two assault guns that arrived had already opened the pass and set up a cordon on the perimeter, and then truckloads of infantry passed by, jumping out of the trucks and unloading the anti-tank guns by the craters improvised with stones and broken bricks, and establishing a stronger defense.

The grenadier company commander, who was standing here together, walked over and took a closer look at the god-like No. 113 tank. The barrel is painted with a white circle representing its previous record, but apart from the gun, the tank is almost indistinguishable from the wreckage.

The track on the right side has fallen off, and the guide wheels on the same side have been broken into several pieces and scattered not far away. From here, the shell pierced through the side armor of the tank and hit the mechanics of this tank. Of course, in other places, the tank was also covered with bullet marks, and more than half of the board skirts hanging on the sides were blown away, and only a few pieces were still hanging on it, and they were all about the same as a sieve.

The entire turret had been hit several times, the gondola at the rear of the turret had been destroyed, and the contents of the original contents had long since disappeared, and the only thing that was still intact was the white sheet that had been used as the roof of the infirmary.

A tank is not big or small, but on such a tank, even the exhaust pipe less than one-twentieth in size was blown off, and even the running lights that were less than the size of a fist were hit, so it is not difficult to imagine how dense the tank was facing at that time.

The company commander of the grenadier leaned against the fender of Wren's tank, handed the cigarette case to Wren, who never smoked, took out one, lit it with the company commander's lighter, took a deep breath, but choked and coughed.

The company commander of the grenadier was visibly stunned, and then laughed: "The first time you smoked?"

"Ahem. Yes, the first time I smoked. Wren nodded, pinched the cigarette with his fingers, exhaled the smoke and said, "How are you guys over there?"

"More than 60 people died, almost half. The company commander sighed lonely, and with a little pride, he said in a cynical tone: "Originally, we also wanted to retreat, but when we saw that you were still fighting, we didn't leave." The soldiers under my command still have to be more or less face-saving, and they have not left behind the habit of running by themselves. ”

"You're all good soldiers, and so is Clark. Wren took another puff of cigarette and choked on tears again, but he still swallowed it very stubbornly: "This cigarette is really spicy, and it hurts to take a breath." ”

"The tobacco in the small German factory is not handled carefully, and even the filter is cut corners, which is naturally choking. The company commander smiled, touched the outer packaging of the half box of cigarettes with his fingers, and looked up at the tank that had been completely scrapped: "We got the order to retreat to Stone in half an hour to rest and wait for replenishment." What about you? When are you leaving?"

"I don't know, I'm waiting for my troops, I don't know when they'll come, my radio is broken......" At this point, he remembered the soldier with round eyes again.

When they first met, the company commander Carter pointed to this person and introduced: "This is Private Clark, he is an electromechanical officer, and of course he is also in charge of your machine gun." ”

Wren remembers that at that time, he was different from others, and immediately returned the salute, which looked very standard. Carter also added a sentence of praise for him: "He is the most normal soldier in this dormitory! ”

It's just that now, whether it is Company Commander Carter, who took Wren into that small dormitory, or Clark, who Carter described as the most normal soldier, is no longer there. They just became memories, and if the whole company or even the entire battalion was gone, then who would prove that they had survived?

"If you're not afraid of trouble, I can help you inform the regimental headquarters, and then have the infantry over there tell your men to come over. The grenadier company commander was smoking a cigarette and was eager to help.

The army is a very peculiar place, the people here are cold-blooded enough to kill and fight without even blinking an eye, the people here are indifferent enough that the veterans usually don't remember the names of the new recruits, and the people here are righteous enough that honor and friendship can even surpass life for a soldier.

Although they are both cold and cold-blooded, they worship the strong from the bottom of their bones, and when they identify the people they admire, they will not change lightly in their lives. What is even more puzzling is that this sentiment has continued from the time of Caesar in Rome to the present day, and it has not changed in the slightest. So it's not hard to understand why some soldiers can't even borrow a cigarette, and some soldiers borrow a truck and have someone to deliver it with a smile.

Wren smiled and shook his head, then took another puff of his cigarette, still choking and coughing: "Ahem, no need, they should already be on their way." ”

Yes, the infantry had caught up, the line had been reinforced, and one anti-tank gun after another had reinforced the battered line, making the line south of Stone impregnable, and there would never be another battle as fierce as this one.

"It's an honor to play alongside you. "As an old smoker, I smoke a lot faster than Wren. The grenadier company commander threw the cigarette butt he was pinching his finger into the dirt, crushed it with his leather boots, spat out the last puff of smoke and said, "You are welcome to come to the 1st Company at any time." What's next?

"Kill the French, until they realize how miserable it is to be my enemy. Wren looked at the cigarette burning between his fingers, laughed softly and said, "Next time, I'm going to kill 20 tanks unscathed!"

"Hahahaha! Take care!" the grenadier company commander was stunned for a moment, then laughed before continuing: "I hope to see you again." ”

Then the grenadier company commander turned and left, and Wren finished his last puff of cigarette, tossed the cigarette butt aside, and shouted to the frustrated Bruce and Bowman, "Come and help, get out what you can still use." ”

So the three of them climbed into the tank and began to work, moving the remaining shells out of the tank one by one, and piling them aside in a trapezoidal shape. Then there are the drums for machine guns, the toolbox in the corner, and the small mirrors and coaxial machine guns. Of course, with a leather pipe and empty gasoline drums, they also looted the fuel from the tank.

When they had moved all of these things out, Marcus arrived with two other tanks, divided the ammunition and fuel, put Andre on a tank, and then the rest of the people sat down, detonated the No. 113 Leopard tank, which was no different from the scrapped tank, and they were ordered to return to Stone.