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"At the very beginning of our inspection, the lieutenant showed some very stressful reactions. For example, during this time, a wooden cabinet was gently blown open by the wind, and he turned around as if he felt a German soldier had crawled out of the cabinet. He even made a gesture as if he was reaching for his pistol... So we temporarily withheld his application to return to the unit. After a series of investigations, including visiting relatives and friends, we found that the lieutenant's life was even more difficult than we had imagined..."
"for example."
"Headaches, vomiting, nightmares, and even needing to put a fully loaded, cocked pistol under the pillow every night to fall asleep... If it weren't for this new war, we probably wouldn't have known about these things for another year."
“Jesus, Hitler probably felt more comfortable than he did in the ten or twenty days before he died in Berlin.”
"It's hard for me to talk about this kind of illness, General. To quote a classmate of mine who graduated in the same class as me and became a field medic, he also finds it hard to understand why a veteran would have such a huge psychological problem. Even if it were General Patton, he wouldn't slap a soldier with outstanding combat achievements, let alone Lieutenant Murphy."
“What a coincidence. That old man, Blood Gallbladder, once said that the best fate for a soldier is the last bullet that kills him in the last battle of the war. Look at us now, whether it's a lieutenant or us generals, no one wants to face the ceiling of this hospital, right?” General Taylor couldn't help but raise his hand and scratch his eyebrows. “We hope the war will be over before he goes to Europe, but I think he doesn't.”
[Author's Note: It is worth mentioning that Audie Murphy also died on May 28, 1971, when his private plane crashed due to severe weather conditions including rain, fog, and zero visibility. He was less than a month away from his 46th birthday.]
"So, what do we need to do? How much time will it take?"
"This room is for quiet recuperation, at least two months."
"And, the media and the public must not know."
……
It was still a peaceful day in Texas. From Dallas westward to the tiny village of Muirshu, an elderly woman in a tarpaulin sat in a wheelchair, while a young man dressed as a mailman slowly pushed her into the post office lobby.
"Oh, Mrs. Campbell, you are feeling much better today."
"Yes, yes... cough cough..."
“My son and daughter-in-law couldn’t stay at home for long. My only grandson even said he would take leave from Europe to come back and see you this Christmas.”
"Hey Jonathan, let's just leave the kid to him, he's a soldier after all... cough cough..."
"Alright, alright, please stop talking. Let me speak for you: after all, he's a soldier, and there's going to be another war. In Europe, his life or death is uncertain, but he came back just to take care of you. I'm afraid some people will gossip about it."
"Hmm...we can't let the younger generation's important matters get in the way..."
The postman slowly walked to the radio and turned up the announcer's voice.
……
"...Audi Murphy, a national hero, the honorary son of Texas, will carry the American spirit of fearlessness and hardship, and the American attitude of facing adversaries with a smile, from the Rio Grande to the Rocky Mountains, to the Mississippi River. We will always believe that we will become legendary heroes like Murphy."
"Lieutenant Murphy, after a recent whirlwind tour of Texas, needs some rest. He has assured us that he will soon be fully prepared to depart, carrying our hopes and those of millions of American soldiers, to Europe to fight the aliens who seek to conquer us. Let us await Lieutenant Murphy's triumphant return, and let us await the return of more American heroes to their homeland after the war. This is Dallas Radio reporting for you. God bless Lieutenant Murphy, God bless America!"
Chapter 199, Section 270: Moon Over the Treetops at Night
"...This is news from Fort Bern: The results of last night's probing of the US defenses around the city are not optimistic. Of the 10 reconnaissance teams with 42 KMF aircraft drawn from the Knights and neighboring legions that infiltrated the outskirts of Fort Bern, 6 teams either failed because they were discovered by US patrols, or were forced to retreat because other exposed groups prevented the US from penetrating the area and imposed martial law."
"Based on this intelligence, we can definitively say that the US military already possesses a considerable amount of night vision devices and other night combat equipment, most likely collected from the rearguard units annihilated during the Fort Bern evacuation. Worse still, these rearguard units contain a significant number of infantry, and the US military, like the British and Soviet Union, is primarily an infantry-based force. This undoubtedly poses a greater challenge to our future operations. Perhaps our only consolation is that we have not yet gathered any information on any US, Soviet, or British forces transferring night combat hardware from our tanks or KMFs to their own combat vehicles. Similarly, the electronic equipment of the KMF's operating interface is also among the fortunate finds."
"During this night raid, only three reconnaissance teams successfully infiltrated the weak points of the American defenses, destroying several American artillery pieces and vehicles, destroying one forward supply point, and eliminating approximately sixty American soldiers. Although the results were not significant, the destruction of the supply point created a considerable visual impact. I believe that this may be the reason why, apart from reinforcing the area around the city, the American forces have shown no signs of leaving Fort Bern and continuing their northward advance..."
……
The night in Berlin descended into darkness along with the earth, seeping into the city streets and into the subway tunnels still being slowly excavated by construction machinery. Apart from that, only the dim streetlights proclaimed that there was still life here.
This long report came from the hands of the young lieutenant colonel—Caronville straightened his back and solemnly read the words on the scroll, facing the dejected girl sitting not far away.
Yes, it was Elizabeth. For some reason, she had squeezed herself into this unfinished underground chamber. There was only a candle on the table and a chair. She had called all the guards out the door and locked herself in here all day. She sat in the chair to meditate, sat in the chair to fall asleep, and sat in the chair to listen to the cold roar of the construction machines outside. She didn't want to hear any news or advice—except for the Soviet army coming to the city again.
Just now, she pushed open the door with her slightly messy white hair, intending to arrange something for the guards, only to find out that a young man who wanted to see her had come to see her with a chronicle of the major events that had occurred in the past few days.
The lieutenant colonel didn't know why Her Highness was doing this, nor did he know how much Her Highness had mentally exhausted herself while he was sighing and complaining in the Tokyo Concession over the past few weeks.
"You just said that you initiated this probing plan?" Elizabeth's voice was still very low.
"Yes."
Are you confident about this?
"At least compared to the streets of Berlin a few months ago, we have a clearer understanding now." The lieutenant colonel wiped his mouth. "The American soldiers are quite interesting. According to the soldiers who came out, they did have a lot of the same hot-blooded impulses as the Russians when they fought, except that they replaced the 'Hurrah' they shouted with guns and cannons stuffed in their hands and on the tanks. It is clear that what I faced, understood, and personally experienced three months ago was not what you would call the American army."
“We have no reason to blame you, nor is it meaningful, Lieutenant Colonel.” Elizabeth did not move at all.
"Ah, good, good... On the one hand, American soldiers fight very fiercely, but on the other hand, their way of advancing is far less aggressive than the Russians' brute force. As we've seen these past few days, if the cities along their route are like biscuits, the Russians eat them by pouring hot soup from artillery bombardments all over them and stuffing them into their mouths without a care for whether they're hot or soft. I think what Your Highness and the entire expeditionary force fear most is this kind of indiscriminate eating that disregards one's teeth."
"And the Americans," the lieutenant colonel paused, "are like stacking cookies and dominoes in a long trough, pouring in hot Air Force milk, and then eating them one by one, softened and ready to eat. It's extravagant, yet there's a lot of theatrical choreography involved. This might cause us considerable trouble in defeating the American forces, but I think right now, it's something we can very well utilize."
"Let's put that aside for now, where are the British?" Elizabeth slightly raised her chin.
"They, cough... are a bit like sitting in front of a blender, waiting for the cookies to fall into the blender, and then eating the crushed powder... When they get uncomfortable eating the powder, they might get up and give the cookies that didn't fall in in time to their meal."
“Some of your statements are quite witty, Lieutenant Colonel,” she chuckled softly. “But I suppose you didn’t come up with these ideas all by yourself.”
"Yes, I've been considering the opinions of many generals these past few days, and Duke Sassler has also given me a lot of support. I can't help but feel that everyone here, from top to bottom, seems to have changed a lot compared to the past... Also, His Highness Kelly, have you always held such a grudge against this predicament?"
“Because our enemies have changed so much that even our past glories seem so fragile.” Elizabeth sighed, finally looking up at him. “Now you can tell me what your thoughts are on the present.”
……
“That’s my opinion, Your Highness.” The lieutenant colonel took a deep breath. “His Highness Kelly has already told me that the current task is to use the forces of the nine army groups and corps at hand to maintain the status quo in the occupied areas as much as possible, and ensure the safety of Berlin until the arrival of the new wave of our expeditionary force, a total of twelve army groups and corps. To achieve this, we must first understand what is putting pressure on us right now.”
"The expeditionary force has several objectives: defeat the British army, drive out the American army, and isolate the Soviet army. Among these, we only have the initiative against the British, but it is the one with the least substantial change. The generals all say that the British army not only has very few ground troops advancing, but even its air force only follows American warplanes and then comes to the front to provide support. This means that the British army is likely aiming to continuously weaken our offensive against them. Combined with His Highness Kelly's worst-case scenario, we cannot rule out the possibility that the British and Americans are cooperating, with the former acting as bait to attract us and the latter as a hook to flank us."
"So I have a preliminary idea: since the British want to hold their ground, we can secretly redeploy some of our troops, leaving only basic firepower and air support, and retreat to the Elbe River line for dispersed defense. There are no major cities along the way, and we can also try out the booby trap method that the Soviets used on us before, and plant explosives along the retreat routes. Finally, we can use these redeployed troops to counterattack the US and the Soviet Union in the South. This way, we can save manpower, test the British offensive tactics and capabilities, and not give them too much of an advantage."
"Then there's the situation with the US and the Soviet Union. We're powerless, but we're not entirely without hope. After these past few months, everyone should have better ideas. The generals have been discussing this a lot. Since digging trenches and building fortifications seems to be very effective against the Soviet frontal assaults, let's dig trenches all over the city and make everything from the EU a hundred years ago even more terrifying... But I've thought about it, and it's not a good idea. Digging trenches all over Germany is very unrealistic. No matter how much we dig, there's always a chance that the Soviet army's water can seep through the gaps between us and drown us in the rear."
"Therefore, we can try the trench + mobile force approach. We can hold the trenches along the main lines of communication and then prepare a large number of mobile forces. Wherever the Soviet army focuses its attack, we can delay them with trenches while counterattacking with mobile forces. Yes, just like they penetrate our lines, we can penetrate their offensive spearhead."
“If that were done, and it worked, that would be wonderful… but…” Caronville’s confident, lengthy speech suddenly stopped in a sigh, “Just as His Highness Kelly said, what if the mobile forces’ counterattack is blocked… especially by unbridled fighter jets…”
……
He paused for a moment, then suddenly realized that Her Highness Elizabeth seemed to have stopped talking.
She glanced around uneasily, then lowered her head again, her arms resting limply on the armrests of the chair, seemingly without any feeling.
"Heavens..." Caronville cautiously moved closer, scrutinizing him carefully from an arm's length distance. "Your Highness, you wouldn't... Hey, someone come here!"
As he was about to leave, the lieutenant colonel suddenly felt his wrist being grabbed by something cold, and then he was pulled down to his knees in front of Elizabeth's skirt and boots.
"Your Highness, I..." He panicked and hurriedly tried to get up to apologize for his rudeness.
“No need, I don’t like being bound by formalities.” Looking into the lieutenant colonel’s eyes, she noticed a strange, inexplicable glint of pride in her otherwise dull pupils. “I just said that our enemy is different from those before, didn’t I?”
"Ah... yes."
"You might hear this from your brother, but there's a second part: 'Our warriors are no longer the same as they were three months ago.' Have you heard anyone else say that?"
"Huh?" The lieutenant colonel was stunned.
"Since no one has said it before, I'll tell you specifically: Do you know why I've had this rule for the soldiers who fly the KMF aircraft for so long?"
"No, I don't know."
"It is more important to cleverly escape and understand their tactics than to fight to the death in the crossfire of war, because the death of the former proves nothing except that the foolish die young." From the day I arrived in the 45th district, from the first day that American bombers visited Berlin, I was determined to think about how to let them know what it feels like to have no one of our own in the sky... I think that the soldiers who have survived from those days in the sky should understand very well how to protect themselves and shoot down the enemy.
"Your Highness?"
"Here, let me see this." Elizabeth smiled and took a report from Caronville's hand. "The day before yesterday, with prior warning, three Gloucesters of the Jade Knights successfully shot down three of the four American warplanes preparing for ground attack using appropriate tactics, and our side suffered no casualties. See? We can do it, we can do it big."
"You mean, in the future..."
“One day we will be able to make those planes fear us. If we can’t fear the whole of Europe, we can fear Germany. If we can’t fear Germany, at least we can make them fear Berlin, and that would be a good start.”
“Hmm…” Caronville nodded. “I understand.”
Just as he was about to say something more, Elizabeth suddenly frowned, sat up, and extended one hand. Seeing this, he thought for a moment and then placed his own hand on hers.
"Lieutenant Colonel." Her Highness the Princess was surprisingly agitated. "Please remember, three months ago, you brought back a vanguard force to District 11 that was already too small to handle the overall situation. Today, you will be assisting the Expeditionary Force of District 45, which currently comprises nine army groups and legions. I know that the difficulties we face this time are not something anyone can shoulder alone. I am already exhausted and need rest, so please help my brother, help him, and help those generals. No one can say for sure that they can save the Expeditionary Force, but at least by uniting everyone's wisdom and courage, and with the countless subjects and strength of the Empire behind us, we will surely achieve victory for a better tomorrow, won't we?"
Seeing Elizabeth cover him with her other hand, Caronville nodded confidently and walked out.
“Go, Lieutenant Colonel, do everything you can. If you ever get tired, come find me…”
……
The door wasn't closed immediately. After the lieutenant colonel left, the female guard at the door nervously entered—she noticed that Elizabeth looked rather unwell.
But instead of immediately calling for a doctor, she examined the increasingly pale skin and the light in the prince's eyes, quietly whistled, signaled another guard at the door to come in, and slowly lifted Elizabeth from the chair.
“Ah… Iska…” Her voice suddenly turned chilling, a venomous murmur flowing down like a shadow, her eyes staring at the female guard’s face like a cold-blooded animal, deep and frightening.
"Your Highness, is it that again..." The two guards muttered to each other, one on each side, and carried Elizabeth's tall figure out of the way.
“Let’s go…” The two guards’ voices also became shrill, “Your Highness… needs to rest…”
Chapter 200, Section 271: Red-hot Sickle, Swinging the Hammer
As the eastern sun gradually rose over this bustling land, flocks of enormous birds flew overhead, brazenly traversing the still-unlit clouds, heading towards Berlin.
But this scene filled Anton and Lemilia, whose eyes were fixed on the truck beside them, with unease and anger—those behemoths did not have the sleek and reliable appearance of the B-17 and B-24.
"Damn it, these guys get really cocky at night." Lemilia gritted his teeth as he looked at the fireworks rising from the west bank of the Elbe River in the direction where the sun was rising, his back to the direction from which it was behind. The reliable information was that it was the area under the jurisdiction of the US ground forces; the very unfriendly information was that these fireworks were precisely the ones that these guys above him had smashed down on the US troops.
"This time the bombs and rockets didn't land on our heads, so we should thank the Americans for diverting our attention," Anton said, pursing his lips with a hint of helplessness. "So, now that our friends have made their stance clear, shouldn't we take action?"
Amidst the distant roar of howling guns and the fiery heat emanating from the Britannian army positions, the two exchanged a faint smile.
“We started from the village of Nedritz and have covered 20 kilometers of road since yesterday to get here. Enemy reinforcements around Wiesenberg are likely to arrive soon. The regimental commander has given the order that we must take this place before 10 o'clock today, otherwise our desperate attack over the past day and night will be in vain.”
"So, thanks to our dear comrades in the Guards Tank Corps, I'm here with them for the first time with their new stuff."
Lemilia laughed heartily as he put the flask back down, watching with great interest the IS-3 heavy tanks advancing towards them—everything here today would be resolved by these terrifying 122mm tank guns and wedge-shaped armor.
"Grab your weapons, comrades!" Anton jumped onto the tank, glanced at the hundreds of comrades in the distance, and stared intently at his subordinates. "We will soon take over Wiesenberg's defenses in the name of our motherland, for the comrades who died in the past nights, for our loved ones who are hoping for our early expulsion of the foreign rioters. Now, prepare to attack!"
As the overwhelming artillery fire was about to end on the front lines, the bright Soviet flag was slowly pushed high by comrades who were squatting on the ground.
……
"We are about to arrive at the battlefield. Report complete."
On the flank of this battlefield, a squadron of KMFs and assault guns was advancing rapidly. As a warrant officer, Shishian led Juliet, Ypel, and many other pilots. According to orders, their mission was to attack the Soviet forces from the flank, relieve the pressure on the last position on the outskirts of Wiesenberg, and wait for the main force to stabilize the defenses here.
"We're going ahead!"
Above them, Griffin, Angelina, and Lilizia, along with another squadron of KMF aircraft providing cover, watched the Soviet fighters flying towards the sun in the distance. They then increased their speed and ascended to a higher altitude.
"We'll leave our air operations to the captain; the rest is up to us." Xixi'an glanced at their bombarded positions, a slight frown creeping across her face. "This is going to be tough, it seems..."
“It seems we need to be more careful than ever before.” Juliet held up the shield in her hand. “Soviet tanks are no joke. The captain and Lieutenant Angelie have both emphasized that I should protect Ypel and keep her out of the air.”
"Huh?" Ypel was stunned for a moment. "Are you talking about me? Oh, I'll be careful."
"Everyone, deploy into battle formation!" They were about to engage the enemy. Xixi'an was about to unleash a fierce barrage of fire on the Soviet flanks. The infantry following behind were obscured by the dust kicked up by tank tracks and engine exhaust; the tanks' silhouettes were still somewhat blurred.
"Is it a giant horned rhinoceros? Haha, looks like we've caught one." Ypel seemed to have gained a lot of enthusiasm. "Come on, let's crush them together!"
Clearly, this group of side-hook fighters, who had come under the cover of darkness, were not spotted by the Soviet troops. The tank guns did not turn around when they fired and were directly swallowed up by the dust and smoke that rose up on the ground.
"Wait, something's not right." Xixi'an suddenly felt something was wrong. Why could those giant horned rhinoceroses still move? Weren't the side armor of the IS-2 insufficient to withstand the armor-piercing rounds of the assault gun?
"Oh no!" Well, even the environment made her make a mistake. "Yes, it's the Minotaur! Everyone back up! The Minotaur are here, we can't do anything to them!"
"What?!" The team was immediately thrown into panic by Xixi'an's words. They had been just about to celebrate the Soviet infantrymen they had knocked down and who were now running for cover, but all their joy vanished. "Quickly, stop fighting! Retreat! Retreat!"
The KMFs were moving quickly, but the assault guns were having a hard time. IS-3s began to stop one after another—not because they had been hit and caught fire, but because their tracks had broken during the recent attack, and others simply wanted to stop and fire back. The tank guns, with their rotating turrets, turned and fired 122mm shells at these metal boxes that were still swaying and reversing at full speed, one after another, with a crisp, loud sound like hammers striking, like thick rivets, randomly choosing a spot on the assault guns and piercing them.
“Oh my god…” Juliet’s shield slowly lost some of its metallic polish in the mud kicked up by the 122mm shell explosion. Turning her head to look at the assault guns, she saw that they were either engulfed in flames like cans of alcohol, or the turrets had been lifted off the vehicle like pot lids in the rising flames. There were always places where these huge but not very sturdy metal shells were thrown up and down, whether against the vehicle body or directly facing the grass.
“What should we do? This is a Minotaur.” The troubled and dejected look returned to Ipel’s face. “Assault guns? Ah, all destroyed? Captain? Captain, you…”
“No need to call them.” Xixi’an also looked up at the sky with her. Griffin and Lilizia were still having a headache flying Vincent around by several Soviet fighters, while Angeli and a large group of Gloucester and Sunderland were chasing those sturdy Il-2 attack aircraft in the sky. No one had time to fire at the Minotaur on the ground—although they all knew that they could break through the seemingly invulnerable shell by aiming a recoilless cannon at the Minotaur’s skull, but this was only for the veterans in the sky.
"Corporal Ypel, how is your ability to operate a recoilless rifle in a moving-to-moving firing manner?"
"No problem! As long as the opponent isn't an airplane."
"I need you to follow me at high speed past the Soviet army formation, and then use your artillery to destroy the tracks of the tanks that haven't lost their mobility yet, is that alright?"
"Okay, I'll do my best!"
"Julie, you and I will use the machine gun to suppress the Soviet infantry and the machine gun operators on the tank turrets. Use your shield to protect Ipel! The rest of you, head towards the position immediately. The Soviet artillery fire has temporarily stopped. See if our allies need any help."
"Yes!"
……
"Blyat! These damned puppets!" Anton had just helped Lemilia up from the ground. "Are you alright?"