The northeast corner of Bastogne is the Jacques Forest. In the past ten days, the most intense battles have been taking place here.
The battle here seems to be primitive, with only gun-to-gun shooting and occasional artillery fire.
By the tenth day of the battle, the ammunition in the hands of both the German army and the task force was becoming increasingly scarce.
At night, the wind and snow stopped in the evening. With the reflection of the snow, Wang Xiong, who was lying in the foxhole, carefully exposed half of his head and observed the movements in the forest. Although the thick snow would slow down the pace of the German attack, the German army wearing white overalls was often difficult to be discovered when marching in the snow.
In the past few days, they have repelled the German attacks in this forest again and again.
There are no bunkers, only foxholes.
There is no stove for heating, only snowflakes blown up by the wind falling into the foxholes.
"Come, scholar, warm your feet."
The old soldier lifted his clothes and let Wang Xiong put his feet into his clothes. In the past few days, they kept each other warm in this way, so that their toes did not freeze off.
"Brother, I am a scholar. I just studied in a normal school for a few years..."
"Teacher, I am a scholar. When there is no war in the future, let my son learn to read from you..."
The wind and snow condensed on the old soldier's beard. The old soldier took out half a box of Camel cigarettes from his pocket, lit it, took two puffs, and handed it to Wang Xiong.
"Come, scholar, take a puff."
The forest and snowy plains at night were tightly wrapped in darkness. The whole world was quiet. On the white snowy plains, some trees that were blown off stood alone.
"Brother, I remember you are not married."
"After the war, I will definitely find a wife. I earn 25 US dollars a month. I have been a soldier for half my life. I have followed the commander and the superior. Only now can I earn military pay. In the past, let alone military pay, I could eat well because of the commander's kindness..."
The old soldier is not old, but compared with other people in the task force, the old soldier who served in the army before the Anti-Japanese War is already very old, and he has a full beard. So many people in the task force call him a veteran, even the captain calls him a veteran, and even forgets his name.
Since the day he arrived in North Africa, the old soldier was very happy. Not only did the team pay a lot of military pay, but he could eat meat every day and every meal was full.
"Now, this life is comfortable, braised pork every day and daughter's red wine every meal, this is not the life of a human being!"
This is the life of a god!
All this makes the old soldier feel very comfortable, unprecedented comfort.
Even if I die, it's worth it...
However, everyone has a thought. In the past, the old soldier never thought about it, but now, he really thought about it.
But the old soldier knew that there were some things that he couldn't think about. The more he thought about it, the more likely it was to happen.
"Maybe it's coming soon!"
Thinking about the brothers being surrounded, the old soldier muttered to himself in his heart, what was coming soon, he himself couldn't tell clearly, just felt that it all seemed to be over.
"Wait until the future..."
What to do in the future?
Get a wife, have a few children. Live a peaceful life.
Well, there is also working in the company.
In the past, the old soldier didn't think so much, it was nothing more than being a soldier and eating food, but now after so many days of life and death, he really found a sense of belonging here.
This sense of belonging is not given to him by any team in the past. Being here is like home.
Home!
It's home.
That officer George is a really nice guy, and he treats people kindly. It would be nice to work for him for the rest of my life, what else would I want to do?
Thinking of this, the old soldier took another puff of cigarette, and at this moment, the snowflakes blown in by the wind fell on the cigarette butt, and then melted again.
Looking at Wang Xiong who was sleeping sleepily, the old soldier smiled.
Let this kid take a nap first.
Then the old soldier half popped his head out, looking at the cold snowfield, he didn't dare to be careless at all, after all, the Germans had launched many night attacks in the past few days.
The treetops whistled in the mountain wind, and the wind swept the snowflakes on the ground, making everything in the forest foggy.
Very quiet!
It seemed that something was wrong, and some kind of intuition made the old soldier pick up the STG44 and pat Wang Xiong gently. After he woke up, he signaled him not to speak and whispered.
"Signal gun."
When Wang Xiong took out the signal gun, the veteran aimed his gun forward. With a gunshot, the tracer flew into the air with a fire dragon. The white light from the signal flare was reflected by the ice and snow, illuminating the snowfield. Among the flying snowflakes, hundreds of vaguely visible white figures were immediately exposed.
"Germans!"
The shouts and gunshots echoed in the forest. The red and green tracer bullets whistled in the dark night with beautiful trajectories. Soon the snowfield was dyed red, and the bodies of Germans were everywhere in the snow.
...
Five kilometers south of Bastogne, Zhao Le of the third search team was standing in the basement of a remote farm, looking at the road leading to Arlon. He was holding a camel in his mouth - this was the supplies dropped yesterday.