Chapter 135 Bastogne (fourth update, please subscribe)
Western Europe at the end of 1944 was a bit like Eastern Europe!
The entire Western Europe has encountered a cold winter that has not been seen in fifty years. The biting cold wind and severe snowstorms make people wonder whether they have arrived in Russia.
Winter came early this year and the snow fell heavily.
It’s only November in northern France and it’s already snowing heavily.
Although the snow is heavy and the weather is very cold, people's hearts are hot.
On June 6, six months ago, the Normandy landings began. In just two months, the Allied forces quickly liberated large areas of France and Belgium from the Germans.
The Allies were shrouded in the aftermath of victory. The overwhelming victory made some in the Allies begin to think that the war was about to end. It seems that advancing into the Third Reich's homeland is only a matter of time.
In just six months, the German army lost 450,000 soldiers on the Western Front, and also lost a large number of weapons. For the "vultures", the German losses were obviously a good thing - the battlefield was littered with abandoned weapons and ammunition.
Vultures are the French’s derogatory name for the Allied Command Task Force, not because of their phoenix armbands, but because these guys, like vultures, will fight as soon as the battle ends. Pick up weapons and ammunition left behind by the Germans on the battlefield. Not to mention the tanks, even the ammunition chains scattered in the foxholes would be picked up without leaving any trace.
"They are like vultures, greedily searching for everything left on the battlefield!"
But now, their good days are over - the Allied offensive has encountered the coldest winter in the past fifty years. , along Germany's borders, bogged down near the Siegfried Line and came to a standstill. A series of bloody battles were fought from Saar to Aachen, but no progress was made except for mounting casualties.
The Allied attack was thwarted, and the task force was naturally unable to clean the battlefield. They could only station themselves nearby and wait until the Allied attack resumed before carrying out the search mission.
On the road to the Ardennes area, Li Yian, who was sitting in a jeep, looked out the window at the mountain forest shrouded in heavy snow, his brows furrowed.
Ardennes…
With this word in his mouth, what Li Yi'an was thinking about was the Germans' final counterattack on the Western Front - the Ardennes Counterattack!
That was Santoku's last counterattack and the last chance.
How arrogant mustache be - using 250,000 troops to attack 750,000 allied troops, and what is the most deadly thing?
He almost succeeded.
If the bad weather can continue for a few more days, and if the US military can collapse like the French instead of stubbornly resisting, maybe he will really succeed - once again drive the Allied forces into the sea.
But in the end, Mustache failed.
Well, none of this has anything to do with Li Yian. Now he comes to this area to withdraw the sixth, ninth, and thirteenth search brigade.
Three search teams, a team of six thousand people.
30% of the entire task force is in this area - in order to collect as many weapons as possible, the search team has been following the Allied forces, and the Allied forces are advancing rapidly in Belgium and Luxembourg. , the task force naturally invested more strength in the northern region.
As a result, they arrived in the Ardennes. Now the three search teams are counting ducks in the Ardennes area.
"Get them all out quickly."
Wrapped tightly in his M43 cold-proof windbreaker, Li Yian counted the time in his mind. It is now November 27th. Historically, the German army launched its attack on December 16th, which means that it has almost twenty days.
"As long as the troops are withdrawn to Metz, it will be safe. Let's leave the war to the US military!"
Thinking in my heart, through the car Li Yian looked out the window and saw a road sign.
"Bastogne."
Li Yian frowned when he saw this road sign. This was the destination of his trip.
In another world, Bastogne is famous. Anyone who knows a little bit about World War II knows that this is the key to the entire Ardennes campaign - this small town in Belgium has become a key point since the beginning of the war. This became the focus of attention for both sides. The rapid mobility of the German mechanized troops must rely on roads, and the seven roads in the Ardennes area all pass through Bastogne. Therefore, the Germans must capture this place, and the Allies must also hold it.
The reason why Li Yian came here is because the search team must pass through Bastogne if they want to withdraw.
“Bastogne…”
As he murmured the name of this place, Li Yian felt uneasy for some reason.
"It's okay, there are still twenty days left!"
Thinking this in my heart, the motorcade continued to drive towards the town,
Fifteen minutes later, a team A convoy of jeeps and trucks slowly drove into Bastogne, which is just a small town in Belgium.
Different from the constant attacks of Patton's Third Army on the northern French front, the Ardennes region is a "ghost front". In this cold and quiet place, artillery shells are often fired for calibration, and patrols detect the enemy's front just for the sake of calibration. train. Although they were both within each other's rifle range, the Germans quietly watched the Americans eat, while the Americans watched helplessly as the women slipped into the bunkers of the Siegfried Line in the evening. For more than two months, both sides have been resting, monitoring each other's actions, and avoiding provoking each other.
It was defended by six divisions of the US Army. But three of the divisions were all new recruits, and they were sent to the Ardennes region just for "showing off." In other words, these three divisions need to undergo some small battle tests in areas where the fighting intensity is not strong before being sent to participate in big battles. As for the other three divisions, they are all exhausted and have been severely damaged in previous battles. They come here to rest and recuperate.
Because it is a resting place, there are almost no troops stationed in the small town of Bastogne. Only a US military company is stationed. After a simple communication, Li Yian's motorcade drove into the town.
When this independent convoy arrived in front of the cafe opposite the city hall, one of the jeep drove out of the convoy and stopped at the city hall. After getting off the car, Li Yian looked up at the city hall in front of him. , ordered to Lin Xuede beside him.
"Okay, let's set up the headquarters here."
"Yes, sir."
The task force members from both the Jeep and the truck then jumped out of the truck.
Looking at these soldiers wearing US military uniforms, the locals on the roadside couldn't help but be stunned and said something.
“Asians?”
For people in the town, Asians are rare, but in the next few days, people were withdrawn along many roads The task force gathered in this small Belgian city.
This is the fourth update. Such an explosive update, it should be very impressive! Please support me with your first order! Thank you!
(End of this chapter)