"Sir, where are we going?"

"bridge!"

"Then do we want to bypass the British army ahead?"

"No!"

"Can we rush through?"

The officer who didn't like to answer questions turned his head and looked at the soldier next to him who liked to ask questions, and then turned his gaze back to the soldiers opposite him. The armored vehicles were often very bumpy during the process of traveling, and a considerable number of soldiers were often sick and vomiting at first. Although this symptom gradually disappeared with the increase in the number of rides, these people developed the habit of keeping silent in the car over time. It seems that this officer is one of them.

In the carriage of this "Troy" armored personnel carrier with a size of roughly the same as that of an ordinary truck, 10 infantrymen sat face to face in two rows, with a box of ammunition in the middle. The four walls of the carriage are half-person-high and 8 mm thick steel plates, and on the top of the cab, there is a water-cooled maxim on both sides of the carriage. With armor protecting the cab, fuel tank and tires, the whole car is much heavier than the ordinary truck. Fortunately, its road speed is slightly faster than that of the "stone" tank, and it will not fall behind when advancing with the tank.

"Maybe it can!"

Although the officer participated in the tank armored assault battle in the Battle of Rhodes-Warsaw, and after this landing, he participated in the battle with his armored assault team, this was the first time he participated in this single team's action of completely penetrating the opponent's defense line. Perhaps only Guderian, a master figure who specializes in the performance and tactics of tank armored vehicles, dared to formulate such a bold action plan.

"But even a ferocious bear, I dare not enter the wolf pack alone!" The soldiers who liked to ask questions were still reluctant. The other soldiers were no longer happy to pay attention to him. Everyone sat upright against the wall of the car with serious expressions, and the rifle in their hands was leaning down on the bottom of the car.

"Enter the British military controlled area ahead, please be careful!"

This simple sentence came from the tank that opened the road at the front of the convoy and soon reached the tank that was broken at the rear of the convoy. The soldiers on the armored vehicles checked their helmets again and loaded the bullets. However, the convoy had not yet exchanged fire with the British army. Suddenly, a rumbling sound of cannons sounded from the rear. The tight sound was like a pianist's fingers swept through the lowest tone on the keyboard from the highest tone. In the blink of an eye, people's ears were filled with dense and depressing explosions.

Several soldiers on the armored vehicles held their helmets and poked their eyes out of the carriage. Balls of fire, large or small, continued to rise on the flat ground and hills in front of them. It seemed that all the German large-caliber field artillery and heavy howitzers were opening the way for this convoy. The shooting scene of a large number of artillery artillery always seemed so exciting. Besides, this was originally an era of cannon machine guns and trenches. The emergence of tanks and aircraft could not completely take away the role of artillery on the battlefield.

Under the fierce artillery fire, even the earth was trembling slightly, and the air seemed to heat up quickly. In the sky, two huge gray Zeppelin airships were like the eyes of German artillery soldiers, and they commanded their artillery fire to extend backwards in the direction of the convoy.

Soon, several naval fighter jets passed over the convoy at a low altitude, and the infantry could see the eye-catching iron cross sign under their wings just by raising their heads.

Amid the huge sound and air waves of heavy shell explosions, the small convoy continued to advance north in the slightly muddy snow. The infantry sitting in the armored vehicles lowered their heads and opened their mouths. Their armored vehicles also bumped even more violently due to artillery fire, and the road ahead began to become bumpy and difficult to move.

After the baptism of artillery fire, the bunkers and trenches temporarily built in the area controlled by the British army became dilapidated, and British soldiers who died in artillery fire, firearms, carriages and other equipment could be seen everywhere on the ground. However, it is far from enough to make the British army disappear nearby. After discovering this German armored unit, British rifles and machine gun bullets continued to fly from all directions. In some remaining trenches and bunkers, on the hills, even in the craters of German artillery shells, the yellow figures of British soldiers were vaguely visible.

The German tanks and armored vehicles were not afraid of ordinary bullets. The British army's pitiful anti-tank guns were deployed here, and the chances of posing a threat to the convoy were only British grenades, a few divisions belonged to field artillery, and a very small number of bullets that could lucky enough to hit key parts of armored vehicles from hundreds of meters away.

The armor on the wall of the car was hit hard by bullets again and again, while the British grenades and small-caliber shells exploded near the convoy from time to time. The infantry sitting in the armored vehicles were extremely nervous. Most of them were silently praying that their cars would not break down here unlucky. The tanks used their artillery and machine guns to try their best to suppress the British firepower outside, and the machine guns on the armored vehicles were also roaring desperately. With the bombing and strafing of their own fighter jets, this armored convoy seemed like a warship that was bravely moving forward in the sea. Although the surroundings seemed to be rough, it was walking on a safe and secure waterway.

"Sir, are we going to Bonesmouth?"

"Yes! But before that, we must conquer a bridge first!"

"bridge?"

"Yes, the Fording River Bridge!"

One of the interlocutors was a British lieutenant and the other was an ordinary private. They were on a train traveling westward, and the flatbed carriage they were in was covered with canvas with two huge water cabinet-like objects.

"I heard that the German tanks were very powerful. Can they beat our little vagrants?" Through the thick canvas, the privates used their hands to feel the hardness of the object inside. From the appearance, this big guy was about 2 meters high, more than 3 meters wide, and nearly 7 meters long.

"I think it should be possible!"

In the eyes of this lieutenant, the "little vagrant" was an extremely surprising weapon, which had attack power and defense power that ordinary armored vehicles could not match (in 1855, the British J. Cohen installed machine guns and armor on the chassis of a steam tractor to make the first wheeled armored vehicle and obtained a patent, but this armored vehicle was not practical. In 1899, the British Sims installed armor and a machine gun on a four-wheeled car. In 1900, the British put armored cars into the British-British War in South Africa).

Most British officers and soldiers have not seen real objects for German tanks, and British researchers' understanding of their appearance and performance only comes from the French battlefield.

As early as the beginning of the war, when visiting Hankai, the Secretary of the National Defense Commission, the British Army Colonel Swinton suggested that weapons and armor plates be installed on the Hotel crawler tractor in the United States to make off-road tracking armored vehicles to deal with German machine guns, and to make up for the lack of off-road capabilities of armored cars. The weapons installed on this vehicle include machine guns and artillery, which can play a good role in both offense and defense.

Hanke immediately reported Swindon's idea to Army Secretary Kitchener. It happened that the German army invested tanks on the Western Front for the first time in order to capture Verdun. This new weapon immediately aroused great interest from all countries, especially Britain and France, which were fighting with Germany. The British Army Department then established the "Crawler Chariot Committee" and appointed Colonel Swindon as the head of the research of this weapon. At the same time, a large number of technicians involved in the research and development of armored vehicles were convened, including Army Colonel Croum, a senior officer who had been engaged in the research and development of armored vehicles before the war. Almost at the same time, the French also established a special research institution. Before France was defeated and surrendered, British spies obtained a considerable portion of research and design data from the French. The British Navy even sent submarines to smuggle several French experts who studied anti-tank guns and tank armored vehicles to Britain.

As the German offensive approached, the British Army Department was preparing for the war with all its might, but also accelerated the research progress of this new weapon. Due to the high confidentiality of this project, although Germany knew that the British were studying weapons similar to tanks, they knew almost nothing about the situation of this weapon. Although domestic resources had reached a level of scarcity, the British still rushed to build a batch of prototype vehicles before the German army landed. However, like the "Tiao" fighter jets, the "little vagrants" were rushed to the battlefield without sufficient tests and improvements.

Even the noon sun in winter does not bring people a feeling of heat. In other flatbed cars in the middle of the train, more than a hundred British soldiers were sunbathing beside piles of canvas, and on top of other cars, there were air defense combat positions composed of sandbags and machine guns. After using lunches mainly canned and bread, most of these soldiers were drowsy. On the Southampton-to-Dorchester and passing through the Fording River Bridge, dozens of other trains were driving fast, some of which were from Taunton and then turned in Dorchester, while others were directly from Southampton.

Some of these trains were loaded with infantry, some were loaded with large batches of artillery and ammunition, and they occasionally surpassed the cavalry advancing along the railway line. On the road not far from this railway line, teams of infantry and carriages towed cannons were traveling at a relatively slow speed, and there were also a few trucks full of soldiers.

Although the marching methods, speeds and compositions are different, these troops have a common purpose, which is to travel through the Fordine River Bridge to Bonesmouth. Overhead, an British reconnaissance aircraft occasionally flew over low altitudes. What British air forces can do now is to conduct small-scale reconnaissance while avoiding contact with the Luftwaffe.

After the German fleet from Cherbourg left, no planes had appeared over the Fording River Bridge for a long time. Just under this sky with only clouds and birds, the strange battle continued. The offensive and defensive sides were fighting for only half a town, and more than a dozen heavy artillery could completely level the place within a few hours. However, tens of thousands of infantry were invested on both sides, and the battle was extremely fierce and cruel.

At the intersection in the west of the town, the offensive and defensive sides had been confronting each other through the north-south streets for nearly half an hour. During this period, the dense gunfires never stopped at all. Sometimes, there were small-caliber artillery shells from British troops and German mortar shells. The streets were filled with broken bricks, glass and wood chips, and corpses in some places even began to stack.

The German army's 12 "firebirds" have temporarily held control over this intersection, 136 Mauser 1898, 6 mortars and N grenades, and 9 professional snipers, including 1 super ace and 3 aces. If the British army launches a few more charges like before, the remaining 5 people will likely be crowned as aces here. (At Chen Tian's suggestion, the Army Department sets the first battle standard, shooting 50 people will become aces, and if the results exceed 100 people, they will be promoted to aces. After equipping special sniper rifles and opening a sniper academy, this standard will be appropriately improved)

After the war, the British called it a "death intersection" and the Germans called it a "sniper bonus point."

At the intersection of the street west of this intersection, there was an English 57mm rapid-fire cannon. Next to it were several British soldiers who had no weapons in their hands. It seemed that they were the gunners of this cannon. There was still half a box of shells behind the cannon, and there was not even an empty shell shell on the ground. Obviously, the cannon was not fired after being pushed here.

Although he hunted three gunners and forced the British army to use the cannon to bombard the house opposite, Hilderland was not in a good mood. There were so many peers rushing business on the street, and his speed of increasing the record was reduced a lot. He originally planned to end the battle with a new record of 450 people, but now it seems a bit hungry. After paying a lot of casualties, the morale of the British army has shown signs of decline. Although on average, each German paratrooper shot less than 4 British troops, the British lost more than half of their troops.

The air is fresh and the sight is wide, and the snow under him can keep him awake. The only thing that worries him is the occasional shells that fall nearby. He holds a gun in his right hand and puts his left hand in front of the scope to prevent the lens from reflecting. Several British soldiers who were struggling and moving on the ground just now had been moved away by medical soldiers holding white flags. After three consecutive waves of charges failed, the British officers and soldiers seemed to retreat to the two streets they occupied to brew new attacks.

If you look at it from a higher point, Hilderland's gray military uniform is very conspicuous on the white roof, and the only cover on the roof is the thick chimney next to him. After observing the situation on the street, he slowly moved back to the back of the chimney.

In the several alleys behind the house where Hilderland is located, Major Shields assembled nearly five hundred paratroopers, and all of them were equipped with bayonets at the muzzle. They were also the first German soldiers in the Fordin Town defensive battle to use bayonets to fight hand-to-hand combat.

"Don't worry, although the British soldiers have a lot of numbers, the road width here is limited, so they can't unfold at once! Even when fighting with the Russians, we are not at a disadvantage, and the British are even less!"

Shields encouraged the soldiers with the principle of "the brave will win when they meet on a narrow road". He himself also held a bayonet rifle. After the Battle of Biavestok, many officers and soldiers of the East Prussian Legion would proudly talk about several of the head-on bayonet battles. After all, their opponent was the Russian army, which was known as the strongest bayonet battle.

However, Shields organized these soldiers to prepare for bayonets not to show off their coolness or show the German army's bayonet fighting ability. Although the British attempt to use cannons at the intersection for close fire support was destroyed by German snipers, the British artillery at the entrance of the town, grenades from both sides of the offensive and defending, and the German own mortars caused most of the houses at the intersection to be seriously damaged. Several houses had collapsed and there were many semi-collapsed houses. The German soldiers guarding the house were either killed or injured or forced to retreat. The firepower of the blockade of the intersection had dropped a lot compared to the initial stage. The British army's last wave of charge just now was only one breath away from successfully seizing this area.

More importantly, at this time, Lieutenant Colonel Garris could no longer allocate more reserves to support the battlefield here. Two regiments of British cavalry and a train rushed from Southampton one after another. Now the cavalry are slowly approaching Qiaodong Town, and the troops and artillery transported by the train are being unloaded one after another.

When a faint buzz came from the east, Shields and his soldiers looked up at the sky with anticipation. Even if only a German reconnaissance plane came, they would be very happy. Hilderland on the roof turned sideways to find the maker of the roar of the aircraft engine. However, what flew over their heads was an absolute British reconnaissance plane, its simple fuselage, grassy yellow paint, and the logo of the wings and fuselage, which were not even hooked with the Luftwaffe.

Hilderland slightly raised his gun and pointed it at the British plane that was moving away. He could see the figure of the British pilot from the scope, and the distance of more than 300 meters was within his range. Two seconds later, Hilderland fired a shot with expectations, but the scene he was waiting did not appear. The British reconnaissance plane still flew forward staggeringly and began to turn right after a while. Even the title of Super Ace did not allow him to shoot down an aircraft with a rifle.

The young archer suddenly felt extremely disappointed, and the paratroopers below were covered with an ominous cloud.

Shhh…
Chapter completed!