Battle of the Third Reich

v3 Chapter 19: Meeting

The night slowly fell on the vast land of Europe, and Xu Jun's huge convoy finally stumbled to the military camp near Tournai.

Before 5:00 in the afternoon, everything went well. They first came to Cambrai to add some fuel, and then rushed towards the Belgian border. They followed a very steep arc to bypass the defense zone set up by the British and French troops.

But after the team entered the Belgian border, trouble started to appear. Those German-made military vehicles and half-track armored vehicles were okay, but the seized French and British trucks began to fail. Due to the heavy load, continuous high-speed operation, and the British and French people have not been well maintained, the engine of some trucks began to be a bit unsustainable.

First, a few "bulldogs" in the 42nd anti-tank artillery battalion suddenly fell into their nests, and the result was like a chain reaction. The British and French trucks began to break down one by one.

Mueller was anxious at that time, he used all the words he knew to curse the truck factories in France and Britain. Xu Jun also looked at the trucks that didn't move, dumbfounded. He hadn't counted on this for a long time, and he didn't expect these British and French trucks to be so disappointed.

Xu Jun quickly ordered all troops to stop advancing.

In addition to soldiers, these trucks are loaded with a lot of ammunition and supplies, and it is impossible to abandon them.

Then drag them away! Xu Jun issued an order to let all trucks and tractors with a load of more than 10 tons return to drag a broken French truck and move on.

As a result, even those 251 half-track armored personnel carriers hung a British-French truck. The 18-ton half-track heavy tractors of the artillery were even more powerful. The artillery hung those failed trucks behind the artillery, and some even hung two 50 mm behind their 105 mm heavy infantry guns. Anti-tank gun. As a result, the guy didn't see any difficulty in driving, and he could still use his 30-kilometer speed to hurry, which made Xu Jun amazed by the ability of the German heavy-duty tractor.

So the whole team rushed to the destination like a giant string of candied fruits. Although it seemed a little embarrassed, but finally did not pull the next car.

The infantrymen hardly got out of the car during the entire march, and the artillery and engineer were busy. Of course, it's inevitable that a little backache and pain in a car that has been in such a long time, but the infantry troops still maintain sufficient physical strength and morale.

Compared with the infantry, the tank soldiers are much worse. In the end, the shock of that thing is still too hard. Especially the drivers of those tanks, they drove more than 140 kilometers in that big iron tank continuously, and now the whole person can't climb up on the driver's seat. They have to rely on the mechanic to remove them from the tank cockpit. Dragged out.

And the first thing the captains did after getting out of the car was to quickly regroup their bodies that had been broken up. They took their respective crew members and twisted strange dances on the side of the tank, trying to make His stiff waist and legs returned to normal.

Xu Jun was pretty good. Everything was normal except for a little pain in the waist. He looked at the tankers who were wriggling on the side of the tank and felt a little overwhelmed.

The continuous long-distance march is already a very tiring thing, especially for these tank troops, it is simply a difficult test. Although they passed the test perfectly this time, Xu Jun made up his mind not to try the same as this time.

Because seeing the current state of the armored forces made him clearly aware that after such continuous long journeys, the armored forces would temporarily lose their combat effectiveness. If these tanks are needed immediately to fight, then if they can exert one-tenth of their usual combat power, it would be thankful. If unfortunately encounters an enemy raid again, then these tanks will be left on the battlefield, which is absolutely intolerable by Xu Jun.

Xu Jun looked back and observed the camp in front of him.

The camp was built in accordance with his requirements to gather all the engineering units of the Sixth Army in one day. It looks even bigger than Tournai on the side. Because this will serve as the main base and command center during the offensive, the engineers have reserved large areas of space for those important facilities and equipment. Simple barracks and warehouses are lined up neatly, and some parts of the rear of the camp have not been completely built. The engineers of the Sixth Army are still working hard under the searchlights.

It seems that his troops were the last to arrive here, because a variety of military vehicles have been parked in the open area of ​​the camp. The lights of many barracks are still on, and the ventilation pipes on the roof of several wooden boards that look like bathrooms in the distance are still steaming out. It seems that the first arrived troops can’t wait to enjoy the luxury facilities of this camp. Too.

Air defense positions have been set up around the camp. The anti-aircraft artillery of the first-coming troops has been densely set up in the position, and the beam of the searchlight is constantly shooting back and forth in the night sky.

Large groups of German soldiers crowded at the entrance of the camp and curiously watched the arrival of this fully mechanized semi-traction unit.

When they saw that this army had almost innumerable tanks, they issued heartfelt admiration and exclaimed. But when they saw the trucks dragging behind the semi-tracked vehicle, they couldn't help but laugh out loud. Xu Jun also looked at the trucks, crying and laughing, which really looked funny.

Hans took Xu Jun and his briefcase and climbed off the command car. He carried the two leather bags to Xu Jun's side.

"General, it seems that we are the last to arrive."

Xu Jun nodded and looked down at his watch.

"Not bad. Although we are the last one, we are not late. The time is just right now."

At this time Randolph and Dougan also climbed down from their armored cars, and they ran quickly to Xu Jun's side.

"His deputy head of state, these soldiers are too rude to have no discipline at all, would you like me to scold them.

Dougen frowned at the soldiers who were still laughing.

"Yeah, there is nothing ridiculous about it. If they drove so long at this speed, maybe even a truck could not get here." Randolph said indignantly.

"No, it's not to blame them, we are indeed a little embarrassed."

Xu Jun shook his head bitterly.

"If I see this kind of scene, I will laugh. They are now resting, and some are forgivable. I don't want my soldiers to be as rigid as machines."

"You are really tolerant to soldiers, my general, but this may be underestimated by veterans." Hans smiled at Xu Jun.

"Hahahaha, I will let those veterans recognize you first. You must be scary to be angry, just to scare them." Xu Jun and Hans teased each other.

"stand at attention!"

A loud password sounded from the camp, and the group of soldiers surrounding the gate of the camp quickly stood on both sides of the road, forming a neat formation and standing there in a straight line. A group of officers came out of the camp.

Xu Jun also led his adjutants to welcome the group of people.

The group of people I saw were all senior officers, headed by two generals, one of them was more than 50 years old, with a serious face, but also had a refined temperament, the whole person gave Xu Jun Feels like a harsh university professor. The other is a bit younger, but it seems to be close to 50. With a pair of glasses, he has an absolutely Germanic face, with a steel-like sag.

Xu Jun stopped and stood on the spot waiting for them to come over. The two generals walked in front of Xu Jun and slammed their heels together to salute Xu Jun's very spiritual uprightness. The officers behind them all stopped neatly and stood upright.

Xu Jun saluted them.

"German Army Lieutenant Reinhardt. Von Stead."

The two generals immediately returned the salute.

"German Army First Commander Commander Major General Philip. Kleinfeld"

"German Army Third Major Infantry Division Commander Rear Admiral Walter. Litchell."

"Hahahaha, I have heard of the names of the two generals long ago, but unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to know. Now the headquarters has given me the command of the two generals, which really makes me feel ashamed. But the two generals In the future, working in the Army Command will certainly be able to make greater contributions to the Third Reich. I don’t know if the two lords have informed your soldiers that I will command them in the future."

Kleefel replied quickly: "The duty of the soldiers is to obey the orders. As long as it is your order, the first infantry division will be resolutely executed, and the soldiers are sincerely happy and proud to be commanded by the deputy head of empire."

Richell also hurriedly continued and said, "It is indeed true. We admire your merits in Arras and can be a direct force of military geniuses like you. This is the glory of the third infantry division."

"Ha ha ha ha, please don't say that, both of them are my predecessors. Well, we don't stand here anymore, if you have anything to say in the meeting room."

"Observe, please come with us, Lieutenant General."

Xu Jun turned to Hans and said.

"Hans, you and Mueller will be responsible for the placement of the troops and the general headquarters. When things are done, call Mueller and come to the headquarters together."

"Follow the order, general."

Then Xu Jun spoke to the two SS deputies.

"You two help Hans, maybe he and Mueller are too busy."

"Yes, your deputy head of state."

The two generals also quickly dispatched their respective adjutants to assist the seventh armored division in their placement work.

Then Xu Jun was led by two major generals towards the row of houses in the middle of the camp.

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