Impressions suggested that the mechanization level of the German army was far from ideal. However, all along the way, Logan saw troops moving on motorcycles, armored vehicles, and trucks. Apart from those who stopped to set up vigilance, hardly any infantrymen were seen walking on foot!
The Fuhrer's guard regiment lived up to their loud name, Logan thought. No wonder in some late-stage battlefields of World War II, the armored divisions of the Waffen-SS took on the heavy responsibility of both offense and defense. With their elite equipment and unwavering will to fight, they accomplished many seemingly impossible tasks. Although they ultimately failed to prevent the collapse of the empire, tactically they achieved heights that other contemporaneous units found difficult to reach!
It had been more than half an hour since leaving Monceau, and the sky was gradually darkening. Probably due to the consecutive bombings by the German Air Force and the destruction during the Allied retreat, the road conditions were quite terrible along the way. Coupled with the numerous vehicles traveling in the opposite direction, even the versatile semi-tracked armored vehicles like the sdkfz251 could only move at a slightly faster speed than bicycles. Fortunately, air superiority still remained in the hands of the German Air Force, and before it got completely dark, one could occasionally see Messerschmitt fighters and Junkers bombers flying by. Their presence greatly ensured that the ground forces of the German army were not harassed by enemy aircraft.
Whoosh...
A familiar strange sound came suddenly without warning, followed by a thunderous explosion nearby that felt like invisible claws scratching fiercely at Logan's heart! He jumped up from his seat and peered outside from the edge of the armored vehicle's cover: although the sky was darkening, it wasn't completely black yet. The recent explosion was about a hundred meters to the left front, leaving behind a charred pit on the ground, seemingly without any casualties or damage to vehicles.
A landmine?
Logan immediately overturned this speculation. If it were mines left by the Allies, they wouldn't make such a whistle-like sound. His conjecture was quickly validated: when the sharp strange sound came again, a dark red dot appeared from the wilderness on the left side of the road, transforming into a dazzling fireball just less than 50 meters away from the armored vehicle!
"Oh crap! We're under attack!" Logan shouted in German mixed with Chinese.
From the flashing fire, billowing smoke, and scattered mud, Logan didn't feel fortunate despite the apparent lesser power of this shell compared to the artillery pieces equipped by the Waffen-SS. Just two seconds later, another "whoosh" sound came suddenly. At that moment, a hand grabbed Logan's shoulder and pushed him down. Just then, a deafening explosion occurred, making his eardrums ache instantly!
"Oh crap!" Logan cursed again. Amidst the powerful shock, even the armored vehicle trembled, and some hard objects hit the armored vehicle's cover, making clanging noises. He suddenly realized that if he hadn't kept his head, protected by a steel helmet, inside, he might have been turned into a meatball again. If luck had been slightly worse, he might have gone straight to meet God!
In the tense situation, there was no room for this Air Force lieutenant to continue wandering in his scattered thoughts. Since the shell had hit the road directly in front of the armored vehicle, the driver quickly turned the vehicle, causing Logan to fall heavily onto the floor, almost splitting his buttocks into eight pieces!
"Oh crap!" Logan cursed for the third time as Sergeant Steinfurt pulled him up, asking, "Lieutenant, you keep saying 'wocao,' what does it mean?"
"It's a slang from my hometown!" Logan patted his buttocks and said, "The full name is 'wo cao ni ma' or 'cao ni ma,' referring to a mythical creature that only exists in legends!"
"Oh... like a dragon?" the parachute lieutenant asked.
Logan found it somewhat funny but wasn't in the mood to chat, "No, a dragon is a dragon! 'Cao ni ma' and all other animals are completely different! Forget it, you won't understand even if I explain!"
At this moment, the driver shouted, "Be careful, everyone! We're going to accelerate and break through!"
Logan had no objections to this, but Sergeant Steinfurt asked somewhat worriedly, "Can the vehicle behind us keep up in time?"
"Don't worry! They can see the signals I'm sending with the tail lights!" the driver replied loudly.
Whoosh...
The endless barrage of shells kept coming, and the paratroopers held their breath, hoping they weren't as unlucky as they feared! Medals were beckoning ahead!
Logan noticed that several soldiers on the vehicle had crossed themselves!
One explosion after another illuminated the previously dim space time and time again, only to plunge back into deeper darkness afterwards.
Through a firing port, Logan glanced outside and saw that the road could only be described as a mess. Many vehicles either collided with each other or stopped on the side of the road, and two unlucky ones had turned into burning scrap metal! By the faint light, Logan noticed many casualties lying on the ground—Waffen-SS or Wehrmacht, there was no distinction now.
These were German soldiers, their own comrades!
The semi-tracked armored vehicle suddenly shook violently, causing Logan to fall heavily onto the floor again, his back burning with pain, and his head feeling dizzy. Sergeant Steinfurt quickly pulled him up, "Take it easy, Lieutenant!"
At this moment, Logan realized that he was the only one on the vehicle who had fallen twice in a row, and balance was an important part of paratrooper training. This seemed to indicate that he was not a very qualified paratrooper...
"Thanks!" he quickly said, patting his buttocks as if nothing had happened.
"The vehicle is stuck, damn it!" the driver shouted ahead, and the terrain that could trap a semi-tracked armored vehicle was no ordinary bad. No wonder the inertia just now was so great!
Logan and Sergeant Steinfurt looked at each other and shouted in unison, "Get out of the car! Everyone, get out quickly!"
The last thing armored soldiers wanted to encounter was getting stranded in the middle of the battlefield, just like how pilots feared aircraft engine failures mid-air. The paratroopers grabbed their weapons and scrambled out of the vehicle, fearing that enemy shells might hit them accurately the next second.
Thinking he was brave, Logan almost sprained his own foot when he jumped down. This made him suddenly sober: the battlefield was not a place to show off strength. Only by saving his own life could he have a chance to shine again!
Sergeant Steinfurt's adaptability on the battlefield seemed to be superior. Seeing the last paratrooper also getting off the vehicle, he shouted, "Follow Lieutenant and don't get separated!"
"Dizzy!"
Logan groaned in his heart. Now he was responsible for the lives of a dozen men. Whether to go east, south, west, or north, these options couldn't be decided by tossing a dice!
A second later, Logan decided to follow his instincts. He crouched and moved about ten meters parallel to the road embankment to the west, then clenched his fist with his left hand, signaling the paratroopers to take cover. With binoculars, he observed intermittently flickering flames on the distant horizon. Even though Logan had little combat experience, he recognized them as flames from artillery fire, but due to the lighting conditions, he couldn't discern whether they originated from field guns or tanks.
"Tanks, British tanks! We need to stop them!" shouted a German officer standing on a armored vehicle about seven or eight meters away. Soldiers on his vehicle immediately jumped down and began unloading the cannon mounted at the rear of the vehicle. Not far away, another cannon, originally towed by a half-track armored vehicle, was swiftly repositioned by the soldiers.
"British tanks?" Logan suddenly recalled what he had seen from the airplane earlier: could those be the tanks?
"It seems to be a 2-pounder! Hopefully not Matilda! But the Somua S-35 is also formidable!" murmured Stephenberg beside him.
"Matilda?" The name sounded familiar to Logan. He thought for a moment. Wasn't that the "Queen of the Battlefield," with a combat power of only 40 but a defense rating as high as 100, as the legend goes?