On the battlefield, all sorts of strange things can happen.
In the movie "The Longest Day," a group of American paratroopers and a group of German soldiers walked past each other across a low wall, casually greeting each other, unaware that they were enemies. Now, Lynn and his four German soldiers lay closely behind the edge of a shell hole, with a Soviet T-34 tank, a "Katyusha" rocket launcher, and several soldiers just thirty meters ahead, coexisting peacefully—of course, the opponents were unaware of Lynn and his group's presence, while Lynn racked his brains to figure out how to deal with them.
"I can drive the truck and handle the tank, but... which one of you speaks Russian?"
After Lynn asked this question and received no response for a long time, just as he was about to change his approach, the old soldier Gordon Wolffrum muttered softly, "I do."
"Really?" Lynn turned to look at him as if he had found a treasure.
Appearing still resentful from their previous dispute, Wolffrum didn't look directly at Lynn but muttered under his breath, "Of course, who's joking at a time like this?"
Although it should have been uninteresting, Lynn was not in the mood to argue at the moment. Instead, he was secretly excited by a bold idea.
"Hey, Gordon, can you fool those guys with your Russian?"
"What do you mean?" Wolffrum still stared straight ahead, where the Russian soldiers were tying ropes to the rear of the tank and the front of the truck. Suddenly, the engine roared, and thick black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipe at the rear of the T-34 tank, and its tracks began to turn.
Seeing the Katyusha rocket launcher moving forward under the tow of the tank, time was running out for Lynn's plan to be implemented, but he still felt hesitant and nervous—this might cost at least two lives.
After the T-34 pulled the Katyusha out of the shell hole and moved forward several meters, the soldiers would untie the ropes between them. At that moment, Lynn finally gathered his courage and whispered, "Gordon, take off your helmet. From now on, you're a Soviet soldier, and I'm your prisoner!"
"What did you say?" Surprised, Wolffrum finally turned to look at Lynn, only to receive a sincere and firm gaze.
"Your Russian..." Lynn confirmed for the last time.
"Alright, I should be able to fool the Russians!" Wolffrum finally gave Lynn the answer he wanted.
Hearing this, Lynn quickly removed his infrared night vision equipment and handed it to the unfortunate and innocent Markus Tanze. Then, he stood up and raised his hands high.
Just like the other three companions, Wolffrum was stunned by this sudden change, but forced by the situation, he had to take off his helmet and pick up the MP44 assault rifle that Lynn had used earlier and followed him out of the shell hole.
Hearing footsteps approaching from behind, Lynn whispered, "Stay behind me, don't let them see your uniform and weapons!"
At this moment, the Russian soldiers in front had already untied the ropes used to tow the Katyusha rocket launcher. The commander wearing a black leather cap was commanding his T-34 to chase the last truck that had passed by a minute ago. When the soldiers got back on the truck, the Katyusha would follow suit.
Seizing this opportunity, Lynn's plan was to approach the enemy, but he still felt hesitant and anxious—perhaps there was a sharp-eyed person on the truck.
As the footsteps approached, Lynn whispered, "Tell him you're a reconnaissance scout, and you've captured a German scout who is wounded and needs help!"
Without hesitation, Wolffrum translated this into Russian.
The truck didn't move, and Lynn walked slowly, pretending to be hesitant, while whispering, "Kick me! Curse at me!"
Wolffrum didn't hesitate to kick Lynn. If Lynn hadn't been prepared, he would have been truly kicked—without being able to discern colors and accessories, soldiers from the Soviet Union and Germany might not be able to distinguish each other's combat uniforms at a glance, but who knows if there's an eagle-eyed person on that truck.
After kicking hard, Wolffrum didn't let Lynn off verbally, sounding genuinely fierce, but Lynn didn't know what he was saying.
Seeing this scene, the soldiers on the truck probably discussed it. A guy carrying a PPSh-41 submachine gun came out of the cab, followed by two others from the back. Lynn calculated that there should be a driver and a loader still on the truck.
To ignite the anger of the enemy, Lynn uttered a phrase commonly used by his comrades to insult Soviet soldiers: "Russian pigs!"
The voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for the three Soviet soldiers who had just disembarked to hear.
The one who came out of the cab was indeed furious, but since his "comrades" were following closely behind Lynn, directly shooting would inevitably cause friendly fire. Instead, he raised his submachine gun backwards, seemingly preparing to strike Lynn with the butt of the gun.
There was no time to waste. Lynn shouted, "Fire!" and immediately crouched down, swiftly drawing his dual-barreled shotgun from its holster with practiced movements. Behind him, Wolffrum also racked the bolt and fired at the three approaching Russian soldiers—such close range didn't require aiming; the powerful bullets left the barrel at intervals that ordinary human reflexes couldn't discern, hitting and piercing the targets in rapid succession, effectively killing the Soviet soldiers in a matter of moments.
Unaffected by Wolffrum's gunfire, Lynn quickly leveled his gun after drawing it, aiming at the position of the truck driver and fired four shots in rapid succession. Seeing the bullets penetrate the windshield and hit the anticipated positions, he slightly bent his waist and ran forward as fast as he could, passing around the front of the truck to the other side. As expected, the loader left on the truck jumped down from this side, holding his gun, ready to use the truck as cover to return fire, completely unaware that Lynn, who was just in front a moment ago, had appeared so quickly and decisively in front of him.
With just a simple movement, Lynn delivered a clean headshot.
Fortunately, the training course of the "Vampire" assault team included driving Soviet vehicles, and Lynn had diligently learned and quickly mastered it. Sitting in the driver's seat, he realized that this was actually a standard American truck, but luckily, he had experience with the commonly used vehicles of the British, American, and Soviet forces during training. The Katyusha had been in a ready-to-go state, and it easily restarted. Stepping on the accelerator and turning the steering wheel, he drove towards the shell hole.
The rumble of the cannon somewhat masked the sound of the gunfire, but the T-34 that had helped tow the truck earlier hadn't gone far. Lynn could only pray that the tank commander sitting on the turret was too disturbed by the engine noise to hear the gunfire clearly. Even if he vaguely heard something, he couldn't witness the battle process or see the bodies on the ground—although these conditions could indeed be met, Lynn didn't dare to delay even for half a second, merely slowing down near the shell hole. Wolffrum opened the door and called out the names of their companions, then dragged Graf and Tichmyer one by one into the truck. At this moment, Private Tanze showed the courage of a man. Not only did he help Tichmyer get on the truck, but he also agilely stepped on the pedal and climbed onto the cargo bed, still holding onto the night vision equipment entrusted to him by Lynn!
"Well done!" Lynn slammed on the accelerator and yelled over the roar of the engine. However, the joy was clearly premature. Through the rearview mirror, he saw a solitary light suddenly appear in the darkness behind them. Compared to a searchlight, its brightness was much weaker, but it was enough to find out the truth through the darkness of the night—the position where the light appeared, wasn't it the place where they had just killed and stolen the truck? Oh... the T-34/85 seemed to only have one light!