Chapter 371: Another New Home

What is the most badass unit to the extreme? It is the newly formed SS Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion. What is the main force among the main forces? It is the newly formed SS Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion. Who are the instructors of the elite troops? It is the newly formed SS Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion!

So which unit in this Panzerjäger battalion is the most terrifying? It is this strange 1st Company right before his eyes. Not to mention the extent to which this training company, which had been drawn from various units, was full of hidden talents, at the very least, Rein felt really uncomfortable looking at the four tank commanders standing in front of him.

There was not a single person at his collar who did not wear an Iron Cross. The campaign medals on their chests were also varied and colorful, almost as if he had entered a German army medal museum. And looking at the combat record markings painted on the barrels of their cannons, the “dumbest” one in this group was also a super ace who had destroyed 17 tanks.

The one with the most seniority and who looked the most like a normal person was the commander of Tiger tank 112, Lieutenant Wittmann. At a glance, he was a bit like Andre, a man who was exceptionally calm at critical moments. Like Rein, he liked to wear his cap crookedly, with a cynical smile on his face, looking relatively normal.

Next was a little boy. In this boy, Rein seemed to see a younger version of himself. This young boy also wore his cap crookedly, but the main reason was that the cap was a little bit big for his head. The boy named Carius liked to purse his lips and didn’t talk much, but when Rein thought that this boy was the commander who had destroyed a full 30 tanks, he lost any thought of underestimating him.

Standing next to the little boy was an amiable fat man with a vulgar smile on his face. This fat man was only about 170 cm tall, only a little taller than the 16-year-old boy Carius beside him, and not as tall as Rein. This height was considered short among the Germanic people, and this fat man was not just short, but also at least three times as fat as Rein—it was a good thing the commander’s hatch of the Tiger tank was relatively spacious, otherwise it was really hard to say how this fat man would get in.

The last person was polite and well-mannered. He introduced himself as a village teacher from near Munich who had enlisted. His hobby was writing poetry, but according to him, he had already destroyed 18 tanks, one more than the fat man with the vulgar smile, and compared to Marcus on the side, he was only eight kills short.

Well then, Rein had 65 kills, Wittmann 47, Carius 30, Marcus 26… If you also counted the new commander of tank 115, who called himself a teacher, with 18, and the fat man with 17, and the several tank commanders in Marcus’s platoon who had 21, 15, 13, and 11 kills respectively—just the ten tanks of this company had an astonishing kill count of 263 tanks.

If you can’t quite imagine how terrifying these elites were, you can compare them with some other similar numbers: when the French 10th Armoured Corps was at its peak strength, it had less than 300 tanks. The number of tanks lost in the destruction of Poland was about three times this number. The number of tanks that Britain currently had on its home island was about 400. Now do you know what these 263 tanks really mean?

“Apart from teaching, do we just stay in the rear and retire for the rest of our lives?” Rein asked, leaning against his war machine. He did not introduce himself. He knew that these people must know him, or rather, know the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves around his neck.

A self-introduction was completely useless. At least that’s what he thought. If you had the strength, the people here would respect you as a god. And if you didn’t have the strength, these talents wouldn’t care what your name was.

“I’ve already asked around since I got here,” Wittmann said with a chuckle. “We are a training company. Only four tanks are permanently stationed here. The other tanks, after four weeks of learning, whether they are killed in action or transferred, will be immediately replaced.”

He saw that Rein was waiting for him to continue, so he didn’t keep him in suspense and directly introduced, “The advantage is that we are always at full strength here, so our forces are always the most sufficient. The disadvantage is that apart from the four instructor tanks that are left, the rest of the people don’t coordinate very well with us.”

“Me, you, Carius, and Marcus?” Rein asked with a frown.

“That’s right. But the rule is that we are not allowed to be split into platoons to participate in battles. So this platoon leader, Marcus, is probably the unluckiest platoon leader in the entire 1st Corps,” Wittmann said with a nod.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Marcus laughed. “Maybe I’m the luckiest.”

“What about the company commander? Are we here more to teach or more to fight?” Wittmann asked with a smile. Carius’s eyes lit up when he heard this, and he stared at Rein.

“I’m here to kill people,” Rein replied with an expressionless face, turned around, and climbed onto his tank. “Check the fuel and ammunition. Andre, remember to save me a portion of dinner. Alice, help all the crews to calibrate their radio equipment. Bruce, if anyone gives Alice any nonsense, take care of it.”

“As you command, chief!” the tall and strong Bruce said with a grin and a nod. Andre covered his eyes with his hands and gave a bitter smile but did not speak. Of course, the driver, Baumann, was still whistling, but with a wicked smile on his face.

“Anyone who doesn’t accept my command can challenge me one-on-one,” Rein said, looking at the several tank commanders. He found that only Marcus was still as annoying as ever. He spoke coldly, “Those who follow me, I will find a way to keep you all alive. It’s that simple. If you dare to touch my people, I’ll blow your head off.”

After speaking, he took out the MP-44 assault rifle from the turret, stuffed the magazines into his tactical vest, which looked a bit like a beggar’s rags, and then, with the gun on his back, he jumped off the tank and walked toward the battalion headquarters without looking back.

“Here to kill people?” The smile on Wittmann’s lips grew wider. He looked at Carius beside him, whose eyes were full of admiration, nodded slightly, and retreated to the side of his own tank. As he climbed onto the tank, he muttered softly, “That’s really good.”

“I advise you not to have any crooked ideas,” the teacher, whose nickname was “Teacher,” the commander of tank 115, said with a sneer, looking at the fat man with the vulgar smile on his face. “He makes me very uncomfortable. Three of you would not be his match.”

“What about with our tanks?” The fat man’s eyes suddenly became sharp, as if he were very confident in his own tank tactical level.

“Look at that battle-scarred Tiger tank…” the Teacher said, pointing to the Tiger 113. “Still three of you, and you would not be his match!”

The fat man’s sinister face once again broke into a vulgar smile. He wiggled his fat butt and walked back. “I was just joking. Rein Hardt, who in the SS doesn’t know him? A frontline soldier whose name even the great Heydrich remembers. I knew he would be no ordinary person.”

The entire 3rd SS Panzer Division had been supplemented with dozens of Tiger tanks in one go. Of course, they were busy. A full forty crews had been transferred from some other units, which could be considered a massive supplement.

Of course, there were also the corresponding repair and engineering units, supply trucks, tow trucks, and an independent battalion command vehicle. Including the independent diesel fuel supply units, the corresponding transport trucks, four battalion-level tracked self-propelled 150mm howitzers, and an independent company of “Jagdpanther” tank destroyers with a long-barreled 75mm gun on a Panther tank chassis without a turret, the scale of the entire Panzerjäger battalion was almost comparable to an understrength tank regiment in terms of numbers.

The battalion headquarters was even more lively. It seemed that the配套 distributed supplies were really quite a lot, such as the flashlights, raincoats, and other items that should be equipped on the tanks. And there were also many people who had come to receive their self-defense guns and ammunition.

“Battalion commander! 1st Company commander Rein Hardt reporting,” Rein said, coming before a major and saluting at attention. “Heil Führer!”

“Oh, Heil Führer Akado Rudolph!” The battalion commander looked very young and full of vitality. His whole person seemed to be a model of the enthusiastic and precise Germanic nation. He returned the salute at attention and then smiled and patted Rein’s shoulder. “I’m glad that a big star like you could come to my 501st Battalion. My name is Kurt, Kurt Meyer.”

“When are we returning to the front?” Rein suddenly asked.

The 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 3rd SS Panzer Division has just become another unit. That kind and amiable company commander, Carter, has just become unrelated to me. That radio operator with the glasses, Clark, has just been forgotten by people, as if he had never existed in this world.

Did they never exist then? No! They did exist! I still remember them! I still promised them that I would kill a few more Frenchmen. I don’t care what training company or what tank battalion. I’m here to kill people. I’m here under orders to kill people, and then to live, to live better than anyone else!

Rein thought this in his heart, so he just asked this question. Meyer was clearly not expecting Rein to suddenly ask this. He was taken aback for a moment before he smiled and replied, “It seems you are more anxious to get back to the front than I am. Let’s put it this way, it seems it’s not our turn to attack Paris. If possible, we will follow the troops and attack Rouen, but the intelligence provided by the reconnaissance units shows that over there, it’s mostly a bunch of British who have thrown down their arms and armor.”

“When do we set out?” Rein asked again.

“Wait for the notice. If there are no surprises, we will advance west in three hours and return to Poix,” Meyer said after a moment’s thought.

“Then I will go back to the company and prepare for departure,” Rein said, saluting at attention. He turned and walked away, without the slightest bit of sloppiness. Meyer looked at Rein’s retreating figure and smiled helplessly, thinking to himself, He’s really pretty much as Faehlich described. A likeable young man.

Rein returned to the company and ordered everyone to prepare to move out. For Rein, who was thinking of killing a few more enemies for Carter and Clark, coming to the 501st Battalion was just changing to a new home. As long as he could go into battle and kill the enemy, it didn’t matter which unit he was in.