Chapter 177: Edelweiss

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The plane was shaking constantly. All the paratroopers were on their feet. They checked their gear, tightening the straps on the miscellaneous equipment they were carrying for others. The red light inside the plane flashed continuously, as if to remind everyone that a very dangerous journey awaited them.

The platoon leader shouted his command, “Final equipment check! Everyone confirm your parachutes! Begin!”

“Number one, check!” “Number two, check!” “Number three, check!” … “Number twenty-five, check!”

The green light suddenly came on. The platoon leader forcefully pulled open the cabin door, and a cold wind immediately poured into the aircraft, blowing the paratroopers about. A soft song began to be heard on the plane. It’s unknown who started humming, but soon, this inspiring melody became a familiar song that everyone was singing.

The sun shines with a red glow, be ready,

Who knows if it will smile on us again tomorrow?

The engines have started, working at full power.

Take off, take us on our way, today we go to face the enemy!

Board the plane, board the plane!

Comrades, it is a journey of no return.

There are dark clouds in the distant east,

Come, do not lose heart, come!

The engines roar, accompanied by one’s own private thoughts,

Everyone’s mind quickly flashes to their loved ones at home.

In an instant, comrades, the signal to jump is given,

We fly toward the enemy, there to light the warning fires on the beacon towers.

Descend quickly, descend quickly!

“Begin the jump!” the platoon leader shouted.

The first paratrooper stepped out of the cabin in one stride, spreading his body. The singing was gone, and only the whistling of the wind could prove that he was still alive. The airflow quickly tossed him back and forth, but his parachute was already open. He could see his own two feet dangling and swinging in the air.

The second paratrooper followed with a leap, then the third, the fourth. White flowers bloomed in the sky one after another, just like the white edelweiss on the Alps.

Poland’s air defenses seemed to have never existed. The German paratroopers were a dense swarm in the sky, but the anti-aircraft fire from the ground was pitifully scarce. The German soldiers landed on the earth in broad daylight, began to form up and gather their forces, and then pounced on their designated objectives.

After snagging and breaking the branch of a small tree, Borol finally landed safely on the ground. The airflow in the sky had sent his weapon flying who knows where. All he had now was a pitiful P38 pistol and a military bayonet. Of course, he also had two grenades hanging on his chest. This was the entirety of his arsenal.

“Are you kidding me! Where did they drop me?” Borol looked at his map with his compass for a long time, then opened the reference manual they had been given and looked around. He finally confirmed one thing: he had been dropped in a place that was not his target zone at all.

The sound of gunfire came from not far away. It didn’t sound like the G43s of his own men, nor did it sound like an MP-44. So Borol very carefully crouched low and moved from where he had landed into a quiet crater. However, it was clear he was a guest here, because there was another German paratrooper inside, holding a Panzerfaust.

“My God! I almost blew your head off!” the soldier exclaimed, startled, and then complained loudly.

“With this?” Borol tapped the Panzerfaust, snorted, and found a pair of binoculars in the soldier’s pack. He slung the binoculars around his neck, holstered his pistol, adjusted the tactical vest on his body, and only then did he speak. “I am a pathfinder from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment. Do you have a target to attack in this vicinity?”

“Me? Are you kidding, sir? I’m an anti-tank man! I’m only responsible for the whole company’s work of dealing with enemy tanks,” the soldier said with a long face, as if he were afraid of being assigned some dangerous work.

Borol nodded. “Then where is your company? I would be happy to move with friendly forces.”

“Alright, alright, Mr. Pathfinder. What do we do now?” the soldier said. “I’m also from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment. How come I’ve never seen you?”

“I’m from the 1st Company. If I had a joker like you under my command, you’d be the first one I’d kick off the plane,” Borol said with a sigh. “Shut up! You must now obey my command! Help me complete my mission! We are now going to capture a bridge called Sell.”

“Alright, how far is it from here? My pack still has rations for half a platoon. It’s not light,” the soldier said.

A slight blush appeared on Borol’s face. “I don’t know our current position, so I can’t determine where the target is. But I think we should head north. We should be able to find a village soon.”

“How do you know?” the anti-tank soldier asked curiously.

Borol pointed to the smoke rising on the horizon in the distance. “If you were the air force, would you drop so many bombs on a deserted place?”

“You never know,” the soldier muttered, getting to his feet. “Didn’t they just drop us randomly here? I really don’t know how an anti-tank man and a lost pathfinder are supposed to capture a bridge we don’t even know the location of.”

“Can you sing?” Ignoring the soldier’s complaints, Borol asked casually as he stuffed cans of meat and black bread from the soldier’s pack into his own pockets and backpack. “The sun shines with a red glow, be ready, who knows if it will smile on us again tomorrow? The engines have started, working at full power. Take off, take us on our way, today we go to face the enemy! Do you know it?”

The soldier nodded. “The sun shines with a red glow, be ready, who knows if it will smile on us again tomorrow? The engines have started, working at full power. Take off, take us on our way, today we go to face the enemy! Board the plane, board the plane! Comrades, it is a journey of no return. There are dark clouds in the distant east, come, do not lose heart, come!”

The two men, humming the song in low voices, pushed their way through the dense grass toward the smoke in the distance. They walked with difficulty, sinking deep with one foot and shallow with the other, occasionally stumbling on the uneven ground. But they were still getting closer and closer to their objective.

Suddenly, four soldiers emerged from the grass, their dark muzzles aimed at Borol and his companion. The two men were stunned and quickly raised their hands, shouting, “Hey! Don’t shoot! We’re friendly! German paratroopers! Germans!”

The other German paratroopers lowered their weapons. Their faces, smeared with black charcoal, were all smiles, revealing white teeth. “If you hadn’t been singing, we would have opened fire at three meters!”

“Next time, we must announce an identification password in advance! Running around blindly like this, it’s easy to get killed by your own men!” Borol said, taking a G43 rifle that one of the soldiers handed him.

The anti-tank soldier nodded in agreement. “Isn’t that the truth! I almost died at the hands of my own men just now.”

“Do you know the way? Our objective is to attack a village near here! We don’t have a compass, so we don’t dare to move blindly,” the leader of that group said. “If you don’t mind, can you help us complete this mission?”

“No problem. We’ll attack that village together first. After we take it, we’ll find the Sell bridge we need to capture based on the map and prisoners. Then we’ll occupy that bridge and ensure the armored forces can pass through smoothly.”

The six men agreed on a plan and began to feel their way forward again. Along the way, they gathered two more stray paratroopers. On average, there was still one man without a weapon. But they were getting closer and closer to their target village. When they reached the outskirts of the so-called village, they discovered that it was a small town with a railway.

The air force had just bombed this place. The small town was a sea of fire, and the bodies of Polish soldiers were everywhere. But there were even more living people. On the edge of the town were several hundred Polish cavalry, but now only their horses were left there. Most of the soldiers had gone into the town to participate in disaster relief and firefighting.

But as they got closer, they found that the town was filled with the sound of gunfire.

“Could it be that our paratroopers have already attacked?” one soldier asked with a frown.

“How is that possible? I see at least a few hundred Polish soldiers in there. If it were our paratroopers, how large a force would that have to be? We’ve only gathered eight men all this way,” Borol said, shaking his head. He looked at the map for a while, then looked up. “I think it might be our army that has attacked! Listening to the sound of the explosions, it should be our tanks! Only the armored forces could attack so quickly!”

“It’s unlikely the army would be here so fast, is it? This small town, on the map, is the main objective of the 2nd Parachute Battalion. It’s called Guru Town. It’s 51 kilometers from the border! And it’s already afternoon…” a soldier said doubtfully. It was no wonder he was a little disbelieving—even by marching speed, advancing 30 kilometers in less than 10 hours was already fast enough.

“In any case, we have to help,” Borol said, putting away his map. “Since they are already engaged on the front, then we will encircle them from behind!”

“Anti-tank man, you provide cover! If any vehicles or tanks approach, you are responsible for taking them out!” a corporal with an MP-44 assault rifle said, assigning tasks. “Don’t look at me like that! I know you only have one rocket! But you have to guarantee you take out at least one target! Understood?”

“The rest of you, follow the wall and enter the small town! Occupy a dominant terrain feature and don’t let the Poles retreat from the edge of the town,” Borol nodded in approval of this combat plan and pointed to the unarmed paratrooper. “You don’t have a weapon. Take a grenade and go scare away the Poles’ warhorses!”

“Move out!” they all shouted together.