Five Hundred and Twenty and a Holiday

After a short march, Rennes' No. 113 tank returned to its battalion headquarters with No. 112 and No. 115 tanks, where it joined the No. 114 and No. 111 tanks that had been repaired.

Both commanders regretted missing such a great victory, especially the commander of the No. 111 tank left behind for the No. 114 tank. He heard that Rennes fought a big battle and captured thousands of people. After the workers still had several pieces of equipment, they almost vomited blood with envy.

"Cheers! For victory!" Ren raised his lunch box, which contained beer purchased locally.

"Cheers! To Captain Rennes!" "Cheers! To the head of state!" Several car captains also toasted, saying in a hurry.

They now have a half-month vacation, which is the envy of the German infantry rushing nearby. Stationed in the small town that has been occupied for a long time, enjoying the sunshine and hot baths, the soldiers of the 502nd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion enjoyed the holiday in return for this desperate battle.

No need to arrange security, no need to worry about the shells in their tanks, all they have left is to squander their leisure time except playing cards and shopping. This is simply wonderful for a unit that has been active on the front line of the battlefield for a long time.

It's a pity that for Rennes and others, their vacation will end in the afternoon, because they will return to Berlin on behalf of the entire 502 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion to participate in the promotion ceremony hosted by the Army General Staff.

Rennes' promotion was approved, and his promotion ceremony to captain will be presided over by Field Marshal Brauchitsch himself, but what is puzzling is that Group Army G's application for honors related to Rennes was rejected by the Army General Staff on the grounds that The achievements have not met the requirements, please continue to work hard.

This can be regarded as the result that most people expected: Although Renn performed very well on the frontline battlefield, it seemed a bit too reckless to award the Oak Leaf Knight's Iron Cross with the sword.

Brauchitsch added a sword to the Oak Leaf Knight's Iron Cross for assisting in commanding the French campaign, and Lundstedt added a sword to the Oak Leaf Knight's Iron Cross because of his contribution to occupying the British mainland. Rommel and Guderian, who are collectively known as the Twins of the Empire, are still wearing the same Oak Leaf Knight's Iron Cross as Rennes.

However, Rennes' combat performance this time really left people speechless, so after rejecting the award request, the General Staff decided to make some compensation for Rennes' military exploits, that is, Marshal Brauchitsch personally presided over a captain promotion ceremony. This is already a great honor for a mid-level commander on the frontline battlefield.

In this way, it can be regarded as telling everyone that this young man is the future star that the General Staff is optimistic about.

It's not impossible to be an official to a general, so keep your eyes open for me!

With that in mind, a 15-day vacation in Rennes turned into a long trip to and from Berlin. This time the tank did not need to be taken away, but only 5 crew members followed the train transporting the wounded and returned to Germany.

At the train station in the small town behind, the members of the No. 113 tank crew who had experienced the baptism of war really experienced the cruelty of war. The station was crowded with lightly and seriously wounded soldiers, some of these soldiers were lying on the ground moaning, some stood there with their sleeves empty, looking at the end of the distant railroad tracks in silence.

Concealed under the halo of victory of the main force of the German army and the armored army, are the casualties of more than 100,000 traditional infantry. Only these soldiers can understand the heavy price paid by the German army for victory. Some of them lost their fingers and toes, and some of them lost their legs and arms.

Even so, the wounded soldiers who were able to come to this station are still lucky. After all, there are still 100,000 German soldiers who will stay on the road from Poland to here forever. .

"Excuse me, you don't seem to be injured, do you have a vacation certificate?" A German military officer who was temporarily in charge of the small station came over, looked at Ren and others and asked, he had to confirm the identity of the person boarding the train, Avoid the phenomenon of insufficient train seats.

"Hello! We have a vacation certificate. We are going to Berlin and we are ordered to take this train." Ren took out the certificate in his jacket pocket and handed it to the officer in charge of order at the small station for him to check.

After reading the certificate, the officer raised his head and looked at the Iron Cross on Rennes' collar in surprise, and complimented him enviously: "It turned out to be Captain Rennes. Congratulations, you can let the marshal personally preside over the promotion ceremony. Yours The heroic combat performance also inspires me."

Ren smiled and shook hands with the officer: "Nice to meet you, maybe I will see you at this station when I come back."

"I hope you won't get off the train here..." The officer laughed and said, "Maybe you will take the train directly and get off in Kiev."

Ren was taken aback, then nodded: "I hope so! If I can see you in Kiev, I will treat you to a drink in a bar in Kiev."

To be honest, in order to save transportation capacity and transport the resources looted from the Soviet Union back to the country as soon as possible, the German railway department prepared the carriages for the wounded in poor conditions. These wounded soldiers are often crowded into a train compartment, and the smell of disinfectant and blood is everywhere.

The noise in the entire train compartment was terribly noisy, and it was impossible to have a good rest. Some wounded soldiers even finished their excretion process on their beds because no one took care of them, which made the entire compartment stink. People nearby yelled and cursed, making the already noisy environment even worse.

The saved wagons are used to transport various raw materials, including plundered metals and valuables, as well as high-quality wood and some important equipment. The first machine tools seized by Rennes made the train transporting the wounded more crowded. He even felt a little guilty when he looked at the poor wounded.

The conditions of the carriages of Wren and others were much better, and most of their carriages were filled with some art scraped from various regions in the Soviet Union. The space left for them is not big, but there is a toilet and seats. It was heaven compared to the wounded wagons on the other side.

In this way, they left the front line where the war had not yet ended, and for the second time represented the soldiers on the front line and returned to Berlin to be received by the big shots. But Ryan always felt that they couldn't represent the soldiers who fought on the front line, at least he couldn't represent the wounded soldiers next door who were lying on the hospital bed without arms and legs.

Everyone's views on war are different, at least these soldiers who lost their arms and legs in the war will not love the devil who took their limbs.

Before the young soldier stepped onto the battlefield, he raised his arms and shouted the slogan "Long live the victory and the head of state". A few hours later, he might lie on the ground and look at his intestines and call out to his mother and God.

Who is going to ask those dead soldiers, did they hate the head of state, did they hate the fanaticism they once had when they closed their eyes?

The train moved backwards and crossed the plain. Seeing the black smoke rising in the distance, Ren remained silent. He was used to seeing this kind of scene, and he didn't feel emotional about the black smoke rising from the horizon that he could see every day. Beside him, Andre Alice, Bowman and Bruce are all used to this sight.

But who would have thought that the scene in front of them was so shockingly similar to the description of hell? But who can think that everything they take for granted is the echo of the doomsday that many people fear? Burning flames, crumbling steel, broken limbs and blood all over the ground—when people get used to such an environment, where is heaven?

However, when the train drove across the Ukrainian plains and passed through the desolate and terrible eastern Poland, the reconstruction of central Poland reminded people that the place where they lived was indeed not controlled by the god of death.

Pieces of farms began to catch the eyes of Ryan and others. It seemed that this place was far away from the war, and it was like a paradise that made people linger and forget to return. Andre looked at the scene outside the window with imperceptible relief in his eyes, but it happened that all of this was seen by Ren.

"Relief? That's right. Only when we see all this can our killing and sacrifice have any meaning." Ren smiled wryly, and said to Andre: "You don't have to hide your relief. If we fight to the death on the battlefield Fighting, after we sacrificed our lives for this country, but the people we love deeply don’t get the good life they deserve, so aren’t we wasting our efforts now?”

"The head of state is building this country! So I think we should be soldiers protecting this country." Andre glanced at Ren, then nodded and said: "You are right, our killing should and must be meaningful .”

"If it is the right thing to destroy other people's homes for the benefit of their loved ones." Ren added in his heart: "Then everything we do today is right and meaningful."

He didn't speak out what was in his heart, because the head of state needed him to fight and kill. Everything about his own life was given by that man, so he didn't need to think too much about messy issues. He just needs to be sure that the head of state still needs him to fight, and all this is enough.

In order to survive, for a better tomorrow, to protect what he cares about, to fight on, for a man, there is nothing to say about all of this, only to do it.