Battle of the Third Reich
v5 Chapter 31: Old friend (on)
"We're here, General." Captain Witt, the adjutant sitting in the driver's seat, turned back and said.
Weierle didn't seem to hear from his subordinates. He leaned back in the back seat of the car and looked out the window with both eyes.
"We are here, Your Chief of Staff."
Dougan's face was somber, he patted Weierle's shoulder gently.
"Oh? What... oh, here we are."
Weierle twitched, and he turned his head to look at Dougan, and only then did he realize that his car had stopped.
"I'm distracted, Siegfried." Weierle said with a embarrassed smile.
"Maybe you should take a good rest after you go back, sir, you are too tired during this time." Dogen said indifferently.
"Really, I will consider Xiang Yuan as a holiday when this time passes, how about you?"
"I hate holidays."
"...
Lieutenant Witt got out of the car, and he quickly walked around the front to open the door for Weierle.
Weierle got out of the car, stretched his shoulders, then looked up with interest at the huge old building in front of him.
The huge stone exterior wall has been eroded by wind and rain for hundreds of years, and each rock has left marks of years.
Among them are the commemorations left by previous wars, the hollows made by the old solid shells, the bullet holes made by muskets, and the cracked stones wounds are now covered with a layer of green moss, but they still can’t hide that year. The brutality of the war.
This is a castle. To be more precise, this is a fortress. How many **** fights have happened here, how many heroes are weeping here, and Weierle can’t help but look at the scarred wall. .
"All salute!"
A loud voice of password dragged Weierle, who was immersed in the long history of history, back to reality.
Weirle turned sharply, and found a half of the company's military gendarmes standing in front of him. A military gendarme led by the younger man looked at himself with a humble face.
"You are... Major Yokes." Weiler returned to the military salute, and then asked Major Gendarmerie who was approaching quickly.
"Yes, General Weiler, after receiving a call from the headquarters, my men and I have been waiting for you. Oh, and Colonel Dougan." The Gendarmerie Major walked respectfully to Weir Dogen, standing next to Le, nodded.
"Your gathering speed is quite fast... Major." Dogen said coldly.
"Yoks, Colonel Dougan."
Yokos turned his head and pointed at his men with pride. "My men are the best soldiers. I train them rigorously every day. I feel very honored to receive your praise."
"Humph." Dogen frowned slightly.
"Okay, let's start doing business right now. Yokos, did the headquarters tell you what we are here for?" Weyler took the conversation, knowing that Dougan had never liked the Gendarmerie.
"No, Lord General, the headquarters just said you are coming, let us cooperate without further explanation."
"Is..." Weierle smiled.
"Shall we stand here and talk?"
"Ah, no, Lord General. I was negligent. Please go inside and rest."
Yokes made a gesture of reverence and then walked toward the fortress with Weiller and his party.
Weierle was surprised to find that there was a deep natural gully in front of this fortress. There was no road that could pass through except the wooden suspension bridge in front of the main entrance, whose age could not be seen.
The other three sides of the fortress are surrounded by dense bushes. He believes that no unit can launch effective offensive operations on this terrain.
"This was built during the British-French Centennial War. I have never seen such a strong fortress. The whole fort has only one entrance and the other three sides are solid stone walls ten meters high. Imagine that those British soldiers saw this fortress. The expression of time. I heard that the fortress had not fallen once until the Napoleonic era, but the attacking side paid a very high price."
Seeing that Weierle was very interested in his castle, Yokos tried to introduce it without losing time.
"Well, it is indeed a model in a military fortress. Although it is not large, it is indeed difficult to capture it from the front without the support of strong firepower."
Dogen said as he watched the military police patrolling the surrounding high walls.
"Indeed, I heard that the only fall was because the food in the fortress was finished." Yokes introduced diligently.
"Okay, I don’t think we are talking about this now, we are not here to visit, Major Yokos."
Walking to the small square in the middle of the fortress, Weierle stopped.
"I can explain to you our intention now."
Weyler paused, then said solemnly: "The man's sentence came down and will be executed tonight."
"Wh... what, I'm very sorry, Your Excellency, I don't know which one you are referring to." Yokes asked doubtfully.
"Witt!"
Weierle shouted in a deep voice.
"Yes, lord."
Witt walked quickly behind Weiller. He pulled a document from the file bag hanging on his waist and handed it to Weirler.
"Ok."
Weiler nodded approvingly to his adjutant, and the young man finally behaved like an adjutant.
"Major Yorks, please remember that this is the top secret, and you should know the consequences of the spread." Dogen said coldly on the side.
"Of course, Colonel."
Yokes took the document from Weirler with a serious face, and his eyes widened in surprise after just two lines.
"It's him, I understand."
Yokos respectfully returned the document to Weiller.
"I am very honored to be able to perform such an important task, Your Excellency. May I ask what else I can do for you now."
"I want to talk to the prisoner alone before the execution." Weiler said indifferently.
"This...you know the order...the command department has orders..."
Yokos was a little hesitant, but when he saw Weierle's eyes began to flash a strange cold light, he ignored nothing.
"However, there is no problem for you, Lord General." he said aloud.
"And I."
"Of course, you certainly have no problem, Colonel Dougan."
"Are you sure you really want to see him? Dougan."
Walking in the long, dark corridor in the basement of the fortress, Weierle whispered to Dogen around him.
"Yes, I confirm, sir."
There is no expression on Dougan's face.
"Do you hate that person?"
"No, sir, I'm not disgusted, I hate that person." Doug replied coldly.
"Then why do you want to see him."
"Then why do you want to see him, sir." Dougan asked back.
Weierle did not answer, and he went on in silence.
"Your Excellency, you know him well."
Dougan didn't turn his face to look at Weiler, he asked in a low voice.
"It's familiar, I met him in the last war."
Weierle laughed bitterly.
"For a long time, we were very good friends."
"Oh." Dougan nodded, a look of sympathy flashed in his eyes, but his signature cold expression returned to his face next second.
"It is not a pleasant thing to bring news of death to a good friend, sir."
"Yes, Dougan. But he is no longer my friend. Also, please don't be too harsh on me, Colonel."
"I understand, sir."
The aisle was very long. Dougan and Weiler walked silently along the cracked slate floor. The aisle echoed the crisp footsteps of leather boots stepping on the slate.
There are torches on both sides of the gloomy aisle, and the air exudes a light smell of turpentine. The air here is not as muddy and dull as expected. It seems that there must be another ventilation system. The flare swaying from the torches on the wall proves this. The swaying firelight brought a touch of vitality to this gloomy aisle but also successfully produced a strange atmosphere.
"How many people are being held here, major."
Witt, walking side-by-side with Yokes, whispered.
"Forty-five people are all repeat offenders." Yokes was happy to show off his power to the young adjutant.
"Is it used to be a prison from the beginning?"
"I don’t know about this. I don’t think it’s the case. In those days, prisoners couldn’t have lived in such a good cell. I guess it might have been a fortress storehouse, stocked with food or weapons, so it was made. It's so sturdy and specially equipped with a good ventilation system." Yokos was proud of his knowledge.
"Then it has always been so quiet here? I can hardly feel the presence of anyone else here." Witt looked curiously at a stupid wooden door inlaid with steel bars on both sides of the wall, most of which were heavily corroded. Too.
"Maybe these doors are as old as this fortress." The young adjutant secretly guessed.
"Where, my friends, these guys were so upset when they moved here, and they became honest after a week of interrogation, as they are now." Yokes said with a smile.
"We are here, this one."
Yokos walked to a door and stopped. He turned his head and said to Weiler.
Weierle approached the door, and a gendarme hurried forward to open a small sliding window on the door. The corroded frame made a harsh whine in the same corroded track.
"It's him."
Weirler's probe glanced into the room and sighed.
"Open the door." Weiller turned to Yox and ordered loudly.
"Comply, General. Open the door."
A gendarme quickly pulled out a bunch of keys, and after a gruesome metal friction, the cell door opened.
"You guys go outside and wait for me. Without my order, no one is allowed to come in and hear clearly." Wehrler ordered seriously.
"Observe, sir. But..." Yokes looked around the cell with some concern.
"Nothing, you don't have to worry about my safety. Do you think this person still has the ability to threaten me."
"Of course not, Lord General, then I will go up first, and there are some preparations to be completed."
"Very well, go do your work, just leave two soldiers at the stairs."
"Comply, sir."
Yokos respectfully nodded to Wehrler and Dougan and hurriedly took the two gendarmerie away. He did have a lot of things to prepare, at least he had to arrange the execution ground before dinner.
"Give me the bag, you are at the door." Weiler whispered to Witt.
"Comply, sir."
Witt handed a brown leather briefcase in his hand to Weiller.
"Let's go in."
Weierle took the briefcase and turned to nod to Dougan, then lowered his head to avoid the low door lintel and entered the dim cell.
The cell was not as small as it looked from the outside. It was basically the size of an ordinary residential bedroom, and it seemed quite empty because of the lack of furniture.
The air in the cell is also acceptable. If there is no pollution source that constantly emits odors in the corners, it can be said to be fresh.
Weierle soon found the reason. There was a small window on the high wall of the cell. The evening sun was shining through the small window, which also made the cell look less dark.
It turns out that this basement is not buried deep underground as you think, but a semi-underground structure. Think about it too. When you came down just now, you didn’t walk many steps. It seems that you were misled by the dark walkway outside. Too.
There was a brand new canvas camp bed against the wall in the cell. The bed was messy now, and there was a pile of things on the bed that seemed to be blankets.
There is a low folding table in the middle of the room, and a shabby desk and a chair in the other corner of the room.
In front of the folding table in the middle of the room, there was now a man sitting with his back to the door. He sat there quietly. The door made such a loud noise, but he didn't seem to hear it at all.
"How are you. My old friend..."
Weierle walked slowly behind the man and said softly.