The saying goes, "Three cobblers together equal one Zhuge Liang." Schultz, Steffenberg, and Logan, three young German officers lacking in life experience to the point of being indistinguishable, spent half an afternoon wandering the countryside of Saarbrucken before finding a farmhouse willing to offer temporary accommodation. The conditions were average, the environment was average, but fortunately, the hostess knew some French (after all, it was a region near the German-French border), so at least there wouldn't be too much difficulty in communication.
The kind German farmer provided some clean clothes for the three French children. Although they didn't fit perfectly, they were much better than their previously filthy attire. Leaving behind a 20-mark note, Logan instructed the couple to take good care of their "distant relatives." With significant victories already achieved on the front lines, these German civilians obviously wouldn't be too concerned. As for "little Sophie Marceau," Logan once again assured her, in the name of "dandelions," that he would visit them every day as long as time allowed, and would send them back to France once the situation stabilized.
Back at the barracks, it was already completely dark. Having missed dinner time, Schultz had his men set up a small stove and opened a bottle of gin he had obtained in the Netherlands. With simple food, the three officers secretly drank and chatted, feeling quite cheerful!
"I never would've guessed, Hans, that you were such a compassionate and sympathetic fellow! Ah, I really did misjudge you before!" Schultz said with a mischievous smile, a look somewhat reminiscent of the SS officer from earlier.
"Oh, it's not as complicated as you think!" When speaking in an official tone, Logan would deliberately use serious military language, but in casual conversation, he couldn't help but reveal a tone from future eras. Fortunately, this didn't cause much confusion most of the time. Steffenberg seemed to have gotten used to it, but Schultz clicked his tongue and said:
"Ho, it's only been a few days, and your tone has become so gentle! Come on, tell us, did something romantic happen in the hospital? Or... ah! Could it be that these three French kids are all your illegitimate children?"
"Illegitimate children?" Logan emptied the remaining drink in his cup in one gulp and laughed, "How could I, Logan, have such big illegitimate children? Speaking of hospitals, ah, brother, you haven't seen it. From now on, I'll never believe that hospitals are paradise nonsense!"
Schultz smiled slyly and poured Logan a half-cup of gin. "Hehe! You're completely wrong about that! You've met Colonel Brauer's wife, she was quite a beauty when she was young, and wasn't it during the colonel's hospital stay that romance blossomed? Oh, Runt, I heard you were there too! If breaking a bone can get you such a beautiful wife, I wouldn't mind falling two or three times!"
"Oh?" Logan turned to look at his deputy, with whom he had spent several days, especially in the battlefield, risking their lives together, but had never asked about this aspect.
Steffenberg chuckled, tacitly admitting it.
"Hans, no wonder both you and I are single men. You don't know how to seize opportunities!" Schultz said, with a touch of self-pity.
"Hey, it's easy for you to talk. If that beauty served you for two days, I bet you wouldn't ever want to go to the hospital again!"
"Oh... Beauty? Beauty! Haha, what a name!" Schultz laughed, stimulated by alcohol. Even officers who usually presented themselves with a serious demeanor would show their natural side under the influence.
Seeing Steffenberg's similar reaction, Logan sighed, "Ah, that's how rumors start!"
Schultz and Steffenberg couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Alright, getting back to the point, Hans, I heard you had a skirmish with the British 3rd Division on the outskirts of Mönchengladbach, and the paratroopers took out several tanks?" Schultz said, giving a thumbs-up and burping, "Paratroopers taking on tanks, exemplary! Heroes! Impressive!"
Logan shook his head vigorously, "It was just survival in the midst of danger! Oh right, I wanted to ask you, what powerful anti-tank weapons do we have now?"
"Powerful anti-tank weapons?" Schultz picked up his military-sized teapot, "Anti-tank rifles, anti-tank grenades, and anti-tank mines, and you could barely count rifle grenades!"
"Yeah!" Logan continued, "But don't we have rocket launchers or something?"
"Rocket launcher?" Schultz looked puzzled.
"Yeah, shouldn't it be called Panzerschreck? With a few more words." As someone who wasn't even a pseudo-military enthusiast, Logan was already doing pretty well to know this name.
Schultz clenched his left fist, "You mean this?"
"Panzerschreck is a type of anti-tank weapon!" Logan glanced at Steffenberg, "Haven't you heard of it?"
Both of them shook their heads.
"Uh..." Logan shook his somewhat dizzy head. Wasn't his tolerance for alcohol better than this? Could it be that this gin was stronger than baijiu?
"What is that?" Schultz further asked.
"A very practical individual weapon, used to deal with enemy tanks or concrete fortifications, very effective, with rocket propulsion, looks... like a short gun barrel, uh, similar to a mortar!" With the alcohol kicking in, Logan's sentence structure gradually became less clear - not far from being incoherent.
"Oh? Never heard of it, but... sounds interesting! Similar to rifle grenades?" After downing two glasses of pale yellow liquid, Schultz's face also glowed with a red light.
"No, not like rifle grenades!" Logan gestured with his fist, "The projectile is at least this big, enough to take out a tank from close range!"
"Tell us, Captain, where did you see this strange thing?" Steffenberg's cheeks were also flushed at this point, looking at the nearly empty bottle of gin. These three tough guys didn't have much of a drinking capacity!
"Where? On the battlefield, of course!" Logan put down his cup and made a motion as if firing a rocket launcher, "You just shoulder it like this, aim... whoosh... bang! You can blow up enemy tanks and bunkers! It's simple, really simple!"
"Ah ha, I see!" Schultz raised his index finger, "Hans, you must have been scared by the British tanks, so you dreamed of inventing a weapon to deal with Matilda!"
Logan, dissatisfied, said, "Pfft! Scared of what? Ask Runt, how brave was I then!"
"Yeah, very brave! Extremely brave!" Steffenberg hurriedly played the role of a witness.
"Haha! Let me tell you, I have an even better idea!" Schultz said, "Submarine tank! I dreamt that I was taking a bath, and a tank emerged from the pool! Later, I thought, can tanks only run on land? Can they only float on water with inflatable valves? No, I'm sure tanks can also move underwater, just like submarines, popping up to catch the enemy off guard! If they can't win, they can dive back underwater!"
"I-I-I... also have an idea!" Steinfelberg took a gulp of his drink and said, "Equip tanks with powerful engines and wings, easily crossing enemy lines. The infantry behind would be scared to death, and when the tank lands, they'll surrender obediently! Haha!"
"Shh, what's that?" Schultz stood up with the help of the alcohol, took a couple of unsteady steps, and gestured with his hand, "My idea could save countless soldiers' lives. Do you know what it is? Bulletproof vests! Insert steel plates into regular clothes. When bullets hit, they'll bounce off, and they're much lighter than ancient armor!"
"Bulletproof vests?" Logan suddenly sobered up a bit. What era is this? Why are they still talking about bulletproof vests? The drunken ramblings of intoxicated individuals, could it be the source of technological progress? Oh God, forgive me...