"This is the specific plan. What do you think? Who else has any additional opinions?"

Sneed took a lit cigarette from a commander and took a sip of it, then sniffed a cigarette ring proudly.

"It should be fine, but I don't know if the infantry and the artillerymen on time can meet us on time. If they are late, wouldn't we have to fight another night battle? If so, will the command agree to let us rest for a night before attacking." A platoon leader Lieutenant Zaft squatted on an empty oil barrel, holding a combat map in his hand and frowned at his company commander.

"Do you think the military command agree to do this? We have already fallen behind many other troops. But don't worry, when we arrive at the meeting place, the mechanized infantry and two heavy artillery companies of the battalion should have been waiting there. The telegram I just received said that these troops had already set out from their base. And they will do the necessary reconnaissance work for us before we arrive." Sneed replied lightly.

"Where are those troops? Have you encountered them before?" Rulf, the third platoon leader, put down the kettle in his hand, and asked while rubbing the corner of his mouth with the cuffs used as his combat uniform.

"The command center said it was the 77th Mechanized Infantry Battalion. They seemed to be from the Fourth Army before. I only remember that their commander was Lieutenant Colonel Von Furshougen, a hero who participated in the last war and a first-class Iron Cross winner. But he should be over fifty years old now." Sneed replied with a smile.

"I haven't heard of the Seventy-Seventh Mechanized Infantry Battalion?" Zaft scratched his head.

"They just reorganized into a mechanized battalion, and before that they were just a second-line infantry battalion."

"The second-line troops, that means that the army has transferred a group of warehouse guards from behind to support us." Rulf opened his mouth wide and looked at Side in surprise.

"What's the solution? Our front-line troops are now suffering serious losses and must be withdrawn and rested. The second-line troops are not bad, and they are not asking them to charge. As long as they attract the firepower of the French, provide us with some cover and consolidate the positions we occupied, the key attack depends on ourselves." Zaft smiled and patted the shoulders of the third platoon leader.

"Zaft is right, we are the protagonists of this game. Okay, you have no problem with this action. If there is no problem, go back and convey the orders, so that all the personnel can make preparations before departure and pack up the things. We are..." Sneed raised his wrist and looked at the watch.

"We set out on time at 13:00 German time after half an hour. Don't let the infantry wait for a long time."

"As for orders, sir."

The platoon leaders quickly stood up and nodded to Sneider. Then the officers turned around and ran towards their respective armored platoons. Sneider squatted down and carefully folded the map spread on the ammunition box and stuffed it into his own file bag.

"Sir...Company Commander...Side..."

At this moment, a man shouted loudly and ran towards Sneed in panic. Lieutenant Sneed was startled. He looked up in confusion and found that it was his young reloader.

"What happened?" Sneid asked loudly.

The loader ran quickly to the commander. Because he ran too hard, his face was now flushing red.

The young loader gasped violently and reported to Sneider: "Report... Report... sir. The sentry on the periphery encountered two of our soldiers, and they... they said that their troops were attacked by the French. Sergeant Hank... asked me to report to you, and he wanted you to go and take a look right away."

"What... is this kind of thing." Sneed carried his file bag and ran towards the entrance of the village. The little pretender quickly followed with a bitter face.

"Do they only have two?" Sneed asked his subordinates as he ran.

"I only saw two people." Carl quickly replied.

"Do you know which unit they are?"

"I don't know, Sergeant Hank talked to them for a few words and hurriedly asked me to come to you. I don't know what happened, I only heard that they were attacked by the French." The loader answered gasping.

It seemed that he could not ask anything from his subordinates, and Sneed couldn't help but speed up. The two German soldiers were able to run to their garrison, which showed that their troops were attacked near their garrison. In this period, it was very abnormal for the French to take the initiative to attack the German team. Sneed couldn't help but feel an ominous premonition.

Side could clearly see his tank at this time. He saw from a distance that there were already a large group of people surrounding him in front of his car. What surprised him was that there were two tall war horses standing beside his tank.

"It seems that the two soldiers came." Sneed's company was an armored company, with only four horses on the whole company. And that was the slow horse used by the logistics squad to pull field cooking chariots, and none of them were such a tall war horse.

"Get out of the way, the company commander is here." Several sharp-eyed tankers saw Side running from a distance and shouted loudly at the crowd. The soldiers quickly made way for their commanders to enter the circle.

Side slowed down, he tried to calm his breathing, and then walked towards the group of subordinates. Before entering the crowd, he looked at the two horses carefully. It seemed that they were exhausted, the muscles on their legs were still trembling, white foam remained on the corners of their mouths, and dust mixed with sweat all over his body. The beautiful fur had lost its original luster and looked dirty, looking really embarrassed. The two soldiers pulled their reins to comfort them.

Sneed walked into the crowd and came to the center of the circle. At first glance, he saw two dirty German soldiers sitting on the ground with their tank tracks on their backs. The military doctor in the company, Dales, was bandaging one of the soldiers' wounds on his arm, while his gunman and the driver squatted beside the other soldier in a kettle and chatting.

Seeing Sneid arrive, his two crew members and the military doctor stood up and greeted him. The two soldiers also struggled to stand up and salute, and Sneid hurriedly squatted down and pressed them down.

"What unit are you? What exactly happened?" Sneed asked anxiously.

"Report to the sir, I am Private Loway, and he is Private Bruce. We are the reconnaissance company of the 77th Mechanized Infantry Battalion. Our battalion was suddenly attacked by French troops. We must be prepared for defense immediately. The French are advancing here. Also, please report this situation to the Legion Command immediately." The sir with an arm injured answered weakly.

"What! Seventy-seventh Machine Camp? Tell me quickly, what's going on? Aren't you going to the meeting place to join us? How are your camp now? And those artillery soldiers. Where did you attack by the French? How many troops do they have... Hurry, tell me about this matter from beginning to end." Sneed was almost stunned by the news. He didn't expect that the troops who were attacked were the troops who wanted to join him. He was eager to know the details of the matter.

"We set out from the village of Cardot early this morning toward the meeting point with you. Our battalion was walking in front, and the two heavy artillery followed closely behind us. We were scout cavalry, and our squad had seven people responsible for searching the right wing of the troops. It was very smooth at the beginning and there was no trouble on the road. We were still resting on the road for half an hour for lunch. At that time, no one thought we would be attacked by the French team. The comrades were still talking about how to teach the French a lesson at that time." Loway said weakly, with a wry smile on his face.

"What about it later? Let's continue talking about it. How did you get attacked by the French team?" Sneed lit a cigarette and handed it to Rowe.

"Thank you, sir." Rowe took the cigarette and took a hard breath. After coughing violently, he continued to say to Sneed: "Later we continued to march. Just as we were about to reach the rendezvous reconnaissance team discovered an abnormal situation. I don't know what they found, but Lieutenant Colonel von Fulshougen immediately ordered the troops to stop moving forward. He also ordered us to expand the search range to both wings. As a result, in the depth of the right wing, we found a large number of French teams moving towards us. Then the left wing also discovered the same situation. We collided with the French large army, and in terms of number, there were at least three regiments of French infantry."

Rowe trembled and picked up the smoke and took a breath, his face filled with pain. He continued: "Next, the French attacked us. The French soldiers rushed towards us like crazy. They shouted and charged towards us. We were just scouts and could not resist their attack at all, so we had to retreat back and move closer to the brigade.

Lieutenant Colonel von Furshogan ordered a full speed retreat, but it was too late. The French attack was too sudden and they caught us off guard. The heavy artillery troops behind had no way to turn around and retreat immediately. They blocked the way for our retreat. Before our battalion formed, the French rushed to us. The flank defense line collapsed at that time, and the infantry could only shoot at the French with the cover of the armored vehicles. Then the French shells hit us. We were all blinded, and the troops had almost lost command. This was simply a massacre. The officers were knocked down one by one like targets, and the screams of our soldiers were everywhere..." At this point, Loway's eyes flashed with tears, and his face wrinkled in pain.

From Rowe's description and the sad expression, Risnede felt the tragic battle, and he could hear the loud shouts of the German soldiers who were fighting desperately.

Side took off his military cap with a heavy expression, and then gently patted the shoulders of the crying soldiers. The lieutenant stood up and looked at his subordinates around him. His platoon leader had already received the news and rushed here. The officers and tankers followed their company commander to take off their military caps and express their solemn expressions to mourn the officers and soldiers who died in battle.

Side squatted down and asked Rowe kindly, "Soldiers, what happened later, how did you escape from that disaster."

"We rushed out to the death, Lieutenant Colonel von Fulscher Gen ordered us to break out of the French siege to report to the command center about our attack. Since the radio station was destroyed, we could not report to our superiors.

The Lieutenant Colonel ordered us to break through the French siege and come here to find you. You are the German team closest to us. The Lieutenant Colonel asked us to inform you of this situation. He also said that you should prepare for defense immediately. If the French continue to attack, the next target will be here. He also asked you to report the situation to the command center immediately with your radio station. The Lieutenant Colonel finally asked me to bring you a word, please tell his family. He said that sacrifice for the motherland is the most glorious thing, and he hopes that his sacrifice can make a contribution to the great Germany's final victory. So his family does not have to be sad. When I finally saw the Lieutenant Colonel, he was standing in his command carriage and shooting at the French with a machine gun. The closest Frenchmen were only three or four meters away from him. My reconnaissance cavalry and I fought desperately to break through the siege, and the seven people were only two left. "

Rowe trembled and took out a delicate wooden box from his pocket, and he handed it to Sneid.

"This is what the Lieutenant Colonel asked me to bring to you. Please give it to his family if possible."

Side opened the box with a serious expression, and there was a Class Iron Cross inside, with the words 1914 cast on it, and the silver-white border shining dazzlingly in the sun.

"No, soldier. It's up to you to save it." Sneed suddenly closed the lid, and he carefully put the box in Rowe's hand.

"You will hand it over to the Lieutenant Colonel's family. This is the entrustment of a great soldier. A fierce battle is about to begin here. This may be the most difficult test for our company. As a commander, I will stand on the front line to command the battle. So, I don't know if I can still complete the task given to me by the Lieutenant Colonel. I ask you, Private Loway, to complete this task on my behalf."

"But, sir..."]

"No, but, this is the mission I gave you. Okay, we don't have time to be sad. Tell me how many troops the French have, whether they have tanks, and how long they will arrive at us." Sneed took out his map.

"The situation was very chaotic at that time, and it was difficult for me to give you exact information, but according to the skill of the troops they participated in the attack, the French had at least one division, and they had a lot of heavy artillery. At that time, the French were covered with shells and tanks? I didn't see them, I only saw some armored vehicles."

"They have tanks, I saw them." Bruce, who had been listening, said loudly.

"What, the French have tanks, what model is it, and how many are there?" Sneed grabbed Bruce's shoulder and asked anxiously.

"It's indeed a tank. When I went to the forward to pass the command, I saw a lot of French tanks. Although their speed was very slow, the forward troops had no way to stop them from moving forward. I don't know what model they were, but there seemed to be two types, one was about the same size as the second type, but it was much taller, and the other was very large, larger than... and very high. But their speed was very slow." Bruce pointed to the No. 4 tank behind him and said.

"Why didn't you tell me about the tank before?" Rowe asked Bruce.

"I told you, maybe you didn't listen at that time." Bruce whispered.

"Okay, don't argue about this issue. There is not so much time now. Tell me how far the French are from us and how long will it take for them to be here? Rowe?" asked Sneed.

"We were attacked about three kilometers east of the rendezvous point. We rode our horses for more than an hour before we got here. And the battle was still going on. They could not have been as fast as ours. My Reims was the fastest horse in the army. I think if the French were infantry and those slow tanks, they would have to be here at least three or four hours later."

"Three or four hours, I understand. Well, you and your companions must be very tired and injured. You should follow the military doctor Lieutenant Dales to go to the back to rest first. This time you have made great contributions, and I will ask the command center to give you medals. Okay, don't insist anymore. This is an order." Sneed stopped the protests of the two soldiers. They obviously wanted to help a little in the combat preparations behind, but under Sneed's stern gaze, they had to give up their plan to continue arguing and followed the military doctor to rest in the tent at the voluntary station.

"Okay, I think everyone has heard it and understands our current situation. No need to say anything else. You all know what to do. Everyone is ready for battle immediately. Remember that among the enemies we are going to face this time, there are French armored soldiers and communication soldiers. You will now report this intelligence command immediately. Please give us instructions for the next step immediately and notify me as soon as there is any news. Come with me, and now we must discuss the next action plan." Sneed loudly to his subordinates, and then he led the four platoon leaders to his temporary office.

Behind them, the tankers ran towards their respective tanks in scattered and now they decided to check their tanks carefully again. Because this time, they would face fellows who also possessed this kind of steel beast. Any minor mistake in the tank battle would kill the entire crew at the same time.

"What do you think?" Sneed sat on an ammunition box and looked at his platoon leaders.

"I think we are in danger this time. It is difficult to defend this village with tanks alone. We need infantry support." A platoon leader Zaft said with a frown.

"Yes, we only have nineteen four-type tanks left, and the two three-type and two-type light-equipped units that have been cooperating with us have been transferred to the rear for rest. If we want to talk about infantry, we now only have one platoon of logistics soldiers. If we stand here, anyone can guess the outcome." The second platoon leader Kongs also nodded in agreement.

"No matter what, I will obey your orders, sir." Rulf said loudly to Sneid.

"If I follow my ideas, this battle will never be fought. We do not have the strength at all. If we do what I want, we will retreat immediately and give up this village. Anyway, this place is already ruins. If the French want it, they will not be of use. We immediately retreat to the rear, and then build fortifications in places that are easier to defend, gather enough strength to teach those French soldiers a painful lesson. But now it seems unlikely. The headquarters will not let us retreat, otherwise the rear will not be ready for defense in the future. I guess the above order must be to let us defend here, try to delay the French attack and consume their strength." Sneed said seriously.

"From the current situation, our victory is too small. If the command commands us to defend the enemy, we will be ready to build fortifications now and we will also formulate defense tactics. Time is too tight." Galwan, the fourth platoon leader, said slowly.

"Yes, we're very tight on time. Now let's start discussing the defense plan. I just found a problem from Rowe and the others. If my guess is correct, we might even make the French suffer a little." Sneeded and said, scratching his head.

"Sir, the headquarters call back." At this time, the communications soldier rushed into the tent with a telegram. Sneed stood up and took the telegram, and the officers' expressions began to become nervous.

"Can you tell me what's said above? Sir." Rulf asked in a low voice.

"Hold on your own."

Sneed stuffed the telegram into his military uniform pocket.

"General Guderian personally ordered that he ordered us to block the attack of the Filipino team at all costs. We were not allowed to give up our position unless we had to. Our mission was the same as I thought before. We should try to delay the attack speed of the Filipino team and buy time for the support troops to arrive."

Side glanced coldly at his subordinates, and then ordered loudly: "Gentlemen, it's our turn to defend the glory of the Deutsches team. As Lieutenant Colonel von Fulshougen said, it is his highest honor to die for the motherland. Get ready for the final battle."

;
Chapter completed!