"It must be the Germans attacking!" Luo Tai, the captain of the 12th squadron, screamed in shock.
Then there was a bang above his head, and the shock wave rushed into the room with the air wave, blowing the deputy captain away. Others were stunned to see that the office had been blown to pieces by the shock wave.
"Damn Germans..."
Luo Tai slowly pulled his feet out of the pile of debris with disdain.
"Luo Tai, how are you..."
"It's okay, I just fell on my butt..."
Seeing that he was okay, Feng Zhijie was relieved, sorted out his somewhat chaotic thoughts, and ordered loudly.
"Contact the headquarters immediately and report that our team's base was attacked by the Germans."
Then, he turned his head and ordered loudly.
"Order everyone to prepare for evacuation, evacuate immediately..."
When Feng Zhijie gave the order, he didn't know that the most fierce counterattack of the German army on the Western Front had begun.
What's more fatal is that their contact with the outside world has been cut off - the telephone line has been broken, and all the bands used have been interfered by various German music, which has caused them to lose contact not only with the rear headquarters, but also with other nearby US troops.
Now he only knows that the artillery fire is very dense, and he also knows that this is not the focus of the German attack area. The troops have not suffered many casualties at present, but that's all.
It didn't take long for the German barrage to move away, and the shells began to continue to move in the town behind.
Across the Ardennes front, all American soldiers, Belgians and Luxembourgers were awakened by this rude wake-up call. However, in the chaos caused by the paralysis of the communication system, every group thought that this was just a local attack and it was not worth making a fuss.
They didn't think that the Germans would launch a large-scale attack in this direction. After all, in the past days, the Ardennes region was almost a scene of horses letting the south mountain go. Who would have thought that the Germans would choose this place to launch a counterattack?
However, unlike what the American soldiers thought, Feng Yunzhi, who had never had any experience fighting the German army, felt a "thump" in his heart when he saw the huge crater in the town, realizing that something was wrong.
"It must be the German army attacking!"
When everyone heard this, they all looked at each other in bewilderment. They all had this intuition.
Why?
Hey, this egg pit is really too deep and too big, almost two people deep, and they have never seen such a large crater.
Unless it is the main force attacking, how could such a powerful heavy artillery be deployed?
It has to be said that poverty limits imagination. For these soldiers from China, it is difficult for them to imagine that the 150-level howitzers in Europe are just divisional artillery.
As for artillery above 200 mm, it is just military artillery.
That is why such a "misjudgment" was formed. It is precisely because of this "misjudgment" that they were able to escape from the Germans' massive attack.
Now, what should we do?
"Captain, now, what should we do now?"
"What should we do? Retreat! Retreat to Bastogne..."
At almost the same time, the search teams scattered in the Ardennes region were all retreating to Bastogne, not only because the boss was there, but more importantly... it was the intersection of seven roads and railways. It was their only choice to evacuate the Ardennes region.
...
December 1, Bastogne.
In the early morning, when the German army bombarded and crossed the Our River, George was still asleep. When the German army broke through the US defense line, it was actually a sentry post. When the search team in front began to retreat to Bastogne, George was observing the terrain in the forest near Bastogne.
In history, the most difficult battle to defend Bastogne took place in the forest area. The total casualties of the US military guarding here were more than 3,000, of which more than 2,000 were paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division defending in the forest outside the city.
"Except for the trees, there are no obstacles. No wonder their casualties are concentrated here..."
After sighing, George looked at the time.
"December 1, the advantage is mine..."
Well, there is still half a month before the German attack!
Until ten o'clock in the morning, George still didn't know that the Germans had launched the Ardennes counterattack in advance, and the advance of the German action was inseparable from him - the tungsten and molybdenum sands he provided became the boosters of German military production, allowing the Germans to obtain equipment to launch the Ardennes counterattack in advance, and the bad weather that continued from mid-November also provided cover for the German attack.
Sixteen days ahead of schedule!
When he provided those rare golds to the Germans in Switzerland, he never thought that one day the good deeds he did would be rewarded to him.
At ten twelve in the morning, the dispatch team radio finally found that the search team ahead of time had lost contact, and the band was also full of noise.
"There must be something wrong."
As the head of the communications department, Qian Shicheng sent someone to report the information to the superior while ordering his subordinates to continue to contact the search team.
"Noise? What noise?"
George, who had just returned from outside the city, was surprised.
"It seems to be music, sung in German, and several channels are music..."
"Damn it!"
Almost subconsciously, George felt a cold sweat on his back!
"The Germans attacked in advance!"
At this time, George even forgot to cover up. No one knew better than him what position Bastogne was in this counterattack. It was the focus of the focus, otherwise the Germans would not mobilize five divisions to attack this ghost place.
"Quick, send out the signal soldiers immediately to contact other search teams along the road, and everyone should be ready to retreat."
"Retreat?"
Chu Yun asked subconsciously.
"What about the weapons we captured? Commander George, those things were hard to find in the ice and snow..."
"No matter how rare the things are, we have to save our lives first! Captain Chu, what is this place? It's the junction of seven roads. If the Germans rush over, tens of thousands of Germans will eat us alive!"
After saying that, George immediately ordered loudly.
"Distribute all the tactical vests, everyone is ready, and after receiving the people evacuated from the front, retreat immediately..."
Fuck, how could the Germans be ahead of schedule?
At noon, the news was still confusing. Because of the interference of the Germans and the cutting of the telephone lines, the U.S. troops in the entire Ardennes region could not find the regiment, the regiment could not find the battalion, and the battalion could not find the company. Everyone had to fight on their own.
At this time, George was still commanding the troops in Bastogne, not deploying defenses, but preparing for retreat.
Ardennes counterattack, first day.
At dusk, the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Versailles was holding an important meeting to discuss the issue of replenishing infantry troops. Attendees included Eisenhower, his staff, and Bradley.
Halfway through the meeting, a colonel walked into the conference room and quietly handed a telegram to British Major General Ken Strong, who served as Eisenhower's intelligence officer. Strong read the telegram, then interrupted the meeting and read aloud:
"This morning the enemy launched a counterattack and attacked the 1st Army's defense zone from five locations."
Bradley guessed that this was just a harassing attack.
"Hitler must have felt the pressure from Patton, and he had to take measures to relieve it," he said with a Midwestern accent. "If the advance into the Ardennes can force us to let Patton abandon the Saar and send another one to deal with the counterattack, then he will succeed and buy some time." "Bradley, this is not a local attack," Eisenhower said after thinking for a moment. "It is illogical for the Germans to launch a local attack on our weakest areas." "If it is not a local attack, then what is it?" "We have to wait and see. But until we figure it out, we can't sit idly by." "Then what do you think we should do?" Do you do it? " "You tell him," Eisenhower said a little fiercely. "The war of this bastard was Ak's command!" One minute later, Bredley had a phone call with Lieutenant General George Barton. Barton was in the command office of the 3rd Army in Nanyi. Should be strong, the phone was slammed by his protest. Besides, what can they do with another armored division?
Bradley patiently explained the situation to him.
"Fuck it!"
Patton said in his shrill voice,
"There's no big threat there. It's just a small fucking harassment attack. They want to destabilize my base here and stop my attack."
"Damn it, I don't want to do this, George, but I'm going to order this division. Troy Middleton must get help."
Then Bradley called his headquarters in Luxembourg and asked his chief of staff to immediately order the 9th Army to transfer the 7th Armored Division from the Netherlands to the south.
He hung up the phone, and then Bradley and his staff studied the entire front again-Versailles was flooded with telegrams from the front. 80% of the telegrams were the same-"The situation is completely out of control, and the Germans are attacking in large numbers!"
But even so, no one in the Allied Expeditionary Force Supreme Command expected that this would be the biggest gamble manipulated by Hitler himself, an all-out offensive aimed at retaking Antwerp.