Chapter 326: To Stay Alive

“The one who died outside just now?” the French company commander asked with a frown.

The observer from Britain ran his hands through his hair a couple of times, brushing off the debris, and nodded sadly. “That man was my superior, Colonel Ambroise. He was just wounded trying to cover me. He was like a father to me.”

“Please accept my condolences,” the French company commander said, taking the young Briton’s identification, looking up to verify it, and then handing it back to him. “Well then, Mr. British officer, your intelligence must be sent out quickly. Our telephone is already broken. I will have someone send you to the battalion headquarters behind us. A dozen minutes ago, this place had already become the front line. As you can see, the fighting in the city is very chaotic now. Even our rear is not a safe place.”

“Then, thank you for your arrangements. I wonder what your tactical arrangements are next?” the British observer asked, glancing at the French company commander.

“In that red building, I suspect there is a German sniper team. Our means of communication have been destroyed, so we have no choice but to risk taking out this German sniper position. We can’t let them attack so wantonly, because they have already killed more than a dozen of our soldiers,” the French company commander said, pointing to the distance.

“Are you going personally?” the British observer continued to ask.

“Yes!” the French company commander said with a helpless shrug. “What we can do now is to stop the German advance as much as possible. I don’t have any reserve troops left here. I have a dozen or so soldiers left. I will personally lead them to knock out this sniper team.”

“Is it dangerous?” the British observer asked, for some reason.

“They only have two people. Including me, we have a dozen or so. Logically, there shouldn’t be much danger, but I estimate there will still be casualties,” the company commander said with a smile. He then slung a rifle over his back and put on a steel helmet. “I won’t see you off then. Good luck.”

“That’s the only way,” the British observer said with a nod. “Then I will immediately go back to the battalion headquarters with your men.” He shook the dust from his body, holding the rifle that had just been given to him.

At this time, the two soldiers who had gone out earlier returned. The two men came into the room and sat down on a chair with a creak. “Company commander, the 1st platoon leader and his men have been wiped out. The bloodstains have already dried. When we went up, one of our men was attacked by a German sniper. One of our men was shot in the head. The other side’s marksmanship is quite accurate. We had no choice but to open fire and shoot randomly in return. It’s very likely that we have exposed our position. But we have confirmed that there is indeed a German sniper team there.”

“It’s not very likely, we have already been exposed! A shell just exploded here just a moment ago!” the French company commander said helplessly, pointing to the courtyard. “This is an observer sent by our British allies to see if we are really defending Amiens to the death! This is Arnault. He used to be a tram driver.”

He patted Arnault’s dirty shoulder and commanded, “Immediately assemble the brothers. We’re going to take out those two Germans, otherwise we won’t be able to hold this place!”

“Yes, sir!” Arnault turned and left the room. Franks took a water bottle from a cabinet in the room and handed it to the British observer. “Don’t mind it. This originally belonged to our company’s deputy commander. He was killed in action an hour ago.”

Without speaking, the British observer nodded and slung the water bottle over his shoulder. He followed the French company commander out of the room and saw a dozen or so ragged French soldiers in the rubble-strewn courtyard. These men were all carrying rifles and submachine guns. Only his own uniform looked relatively neat.

“Arnault! You pick two men and take our British officer to the battalion headquarters! The rest of you, advance under cover. You two, bring up the rear!” the French company commander skillfully arranged the tasks. “I suspect that there might be a German unit stationed in the square over there! At least a company! We’ll take out that sniper team and then retreat back here! Be careful not to be discovered by the Germans!”

After bidding farewell to the British officer, the group of French troops carefully moved through the rubble and collapsed houses. In the distance, under the sky, columns of black smoke rose. The sound of the German 2nd tank-converted 150mm self-propelled artillery’s firing could be heard from afar, and from time to time, there was the loud roar of a building collapsing.

This place was no different from hell. The air was filled with suffocating dust, mixed with a nauseating smell of blood. Under the piles of rubble, one could occasionally see a twisted hand or half a body.

And on the other side of the building, Rein was leading Alice, the two of them trudging through the same ruins. The two of them moved, leaning against low walls and ruins, trying to avoid the wide streets and the small square that was filled with landmines and rubble.

“See over there? If we go around, we can find the way upstairs. But we can’t go directly, because there are clearly French troops in this vicinity. Otherwise, this sniper team would have retreated on their own long ago,” Rein said, pointing to a tall red building not far away that was half-destroyed. “Over there, yes, see over there? There is a French light machine gun nest there. Their angle is very good. The snipers can’t hit them.”

“Then what do we do? Let’s go back and find someone to support us?” Alice’s voice was trembling a little. It was clear she had not yet adapted to this atmosphere of daily killing on the front line.

“You just need to watch! Don’t close your eyes. See everything clearly with them. See how we have to bury our reason to survive on the battlefield,” Rein said with a smile. He then pointed to a place not far away. “I’m going to go around and take out this French machine gun nest. You stay here and don’t expose yourself, understand?”

“…” Alice’s eyes were filled with a pleading look, as if she didn’t want Rein to take the risk, but in the end, she still nodded.

Rein moved forward, crouching low and sticking to the wall, going around the rubble and a huge shell crater. He cautiously took the assault rifle from his shoulder, gently worked the bolt, and then, at a distance of only a little over twenty meters from the French machine gun nest, he leaped up.

The two French soldiers were manning the light machine gun, watching the exit from which the snipers might appear. But they were caught off guard by a strange target that charged from the side. Logically, Rein’s black SS armored corps uniform was not very good for concealment, but because of the angle and the focus of their attention, these two French soldiers had really not noticed his approach.

Rein leaped up. A special German military knife in his hand left his hand and flew directly toward the French machine gunner, while the assault rifle in his left hand pulled the trigger on the other man.

Because of the recoil, apart from the first bullet, the other two did not hit the French soldier. And because of the time it took to aim, the first bullet had only hit the French soldier’s shoulder.

But because it was a knife thrown with his right hand, and he had aimed, the throwing knife was very accurate and directly hit the French machine gunner. The knife flew straight into his neck, making this unlucky machine gunner clutch his neck and fall directly to the ground.

Rein did not stop. As he landed, he rolled with the momentum, got close to the shot French soldier, and the assault rifle in his left hand had already been switched to his right. He then squeezed the trigger, a shot that hit the forehead of this French soldier who was aiming his rifle at Rein.

Only then did Rein discover that there was another French soldier in the corner, who was frantically working the bolt of his rifle. Rein reached out, pulled the bayonet from the body of the French soldier who had been shot in the forehead, aimed at the French soldier, and with a powerful throw, the throwing knife flew into the French soldier’s shoulder. The pitiful French soldier, in pain, fired a wild shot that hit the already dead French corpse.

And when this French soldier wanted to continue to work the bolt of his rifle, Rein had already shattered his head with his assault rifle. Rein looked around, confirmed that there was no danger, and only then did he wave to Alice’s direction.

Alice had clearly seen the entire process of Rein killing the men. By the time she came over, Rein was using the body of a French soldier to wipe his beautifully shaped SS military dagger.

“See? If I had been even a little bit slower just now, these French soldiers would have had the chance to kill me,” Rein said, pulling a revolver from the waist of the French machine gunner and handing it to Alice. “Let’s go up, find the sniper team, and leave together.”

“After all, we have invaded their homeland…” Alice murmured as she took the pistol.

“The Führer sent us here. This is the Führer’s order. We must survive when we come here. This is our fate,” Rein said, bending over and checking the surroundings. He then waved his hand, signaling for Alice to follow him. “If you still want to die, that is your own business.”

“Did you come here just to kill people?” Alice asked, looking at Rein.

Rein turned his head back and grinned. “No. The Führer and those generals sent us here to kill people. And we are just trying to stay alive.”

He sniffed, then narrowed his eyes and said, “From my experience of killing several hundred people, we had better get back to the tank quickly. This place has a bit of a dangerous air now.”

He looked around again, then leaped nimbly out of the trench. “Let’s finish our mission quickly, and then go back.”

Alice had no choice but to follow. On such a battlefield full of ruins, if she were to wait here alone to die, she probably wouldn’t last an hour. The two of them, one after the other, ducked into the nearly collapsed red building and stopped, leaning against the wall.

Rein cautiously went upstairs, tiptoeing forward step by step. He didn’t want to have his head blown off by his own snipers, nor did he want to die at the hands of the French soldiers who might be stationed in the building.