Chapitre 74: Chapter 74: Iron Defense Line
On the relatively flat and wide concrete bridgehead, several soldiers wearing large-brimmed steel helmets and maintaining reasonably neat military discipline were inspecting passing individuals with barbed wire fences and rudimentary wooden sentry posts. From their cautious yet not nervous demeanor, Lynn felt that they hadn't been thrown into the frontline for quite some time to toughen up.
In contrast, Private Carl, although refreshed after a night's rest, bore the marks of experience amidst the dusty winds, his face exhibiting a calm that betrayed no trace of slackness.
"Are Karan, Philgot, Gam, or Holgen here?"
As Lynn and his companions approached, the tall sentry carrying a submachine gun finally spoke in his indifferent tone, gesturing with one hand for them to stop and undergo inspection.
It was then that Lynn noticed two military police officers, "Chain Dogs," sitting on a three-wheeled motorcycle nearby. They wore large badges indicating their affiliation with the German unit. Unlike the exaggerated demeanor of the sentries at the Oliver Line and the Königsberg Line, they exuded a sense of laziness and idleness.
"Holgen!"
As Private Carl, the scapegoat, responded while handing over his soldier's ID and briefly explaining their mission, the sentry seemed uninterested. He roughly flipped through the documents, barely glancing at the photos.
"Are there more of your people behind you?"
"I don't think so! We're responsible for cooking. We only washed the pots after everyone left last night!"
He then checked Lynn's, White Goatbeard's, and the young woman's IDs before waving his hand to signal his companion to let them pass.
"Hey, buddy, is there any food left?" he asked Carl from behind. "Like sausages, canned meat, anything."
"Nothing left! Absolutely nothing!" Carl turned sideways, patting his stomach helplessly. "Even here, it's empty!"
"Huh!" The sentry sneered. "Well, you'd better pray you make it onto the ship alive, because there's hardly any food left in the city of Königsberg!"
The "Chain Dogs" on the motorcycle interjected in a neither friendly nor hostile tone, "Even if you get on the ship, you'll have to catch rats to have a meal!"
Upon hearing "rats," Caecilius quickly nestled into Lynn's arms.
Lynn glanced disdainfully at the "Chain Dog." Threatening the child, he then looked at Alice with an unkind gaze. Luckily, the young woman still wore her headscarf, making it difficult to discern her beautiful face and graceful figure.
After Lynn and his group passed the checkpoint, the sentry with the submachine gun spoke again, "The last group from Holgen passed through here half an hour ago!"
This final remark made Lynn feel that the sentry still had some humanity in him, contrasting with the unpleasantness of the "Chain Dogs" – perhaps influenced by earlier films.
Walking on the wide bridge, Carl whispered, "Looks like staying here for a night hasn't wasted much time! We should be able to catch up with them soon."
"Yeah," Lynn replied, but he was still thinking about the food issue mentioned by the sentry. It hadn't occurred to him earlier that Königsberg, as the capital of East Prussia and a strategic stronghold, would lack food reserves. Upon sober reflection, considering the hundreds of thousands of civilians and refugees who evacuated from this bridgehead, especially the elderly, children, and women who couldn't carry large amounts of food, even distributing rations to sustain the minimum survival requirements during the waiting period would incur significant costs.
With only a little bread left from yesterday for breakfast, Lynn's stomach was growling now, but Caecilius was still waving her little fists, shouting, "Daddy, go for it! Mommy, go for it! Grandpa, go for it!"
Hearing this slogan, the young woman turned back continuously, but her gaze lingered more on Lynn's face.
Walking past the desolate cement bridge, Lynn and his group proceeded along the road, skirting around the village. From a close distance, it was evident that there was a German army unit stationed here, with many houses on the northern side equipped with circular anti-aircraft positions housing various calibers and models of anti-aircraft guns. This village served as a ground defense fire point for guarding the airport. Lynn counted nine single-barreled anti-aircraft guns, four twin-barreled ones, and two quadruple-barreled ones. Judging by the scattered empty ammunition boxes and shell casings, battles must have taken place here before. Despite their fierce appearance, Lynn knew that the efficiency of traditional anti-aircraft weapons had been relatively low for the German army due to the lack of proximity fuses and mature radar fire control equipment. However, by the end of the war, it was rumored that the German technical department had developed anti-aircraft missiles and air-to-air missiles. Yet, like other doomsday weapons, they were crippled by the collapsing industry and wartime circumstances.
At the northernmost part of the village, there was a large stone-built pointed roof house, which seemed quite sturdy despite its age. On the second floor balcony, there was a three-meter flagpole, from which hung a flag of the Third Reich with a red base, white circle, and black swastika. It was glaringly bright under the sunlight, but to Lynn, having experienced its rise, peak, and rapid decline, both it and this unprecedented military empire were nearing their end.
As the sunrise gradually ascended to its zenith, Lynn and his group had been walking for over three hours. The fatigue was evident on the face of the bearded man, and the woman dropped her scarf, letting her naturally curly hair loose. Her fair face showed little emotion, her gaze slightly lowered, and even little Caecilia yawned, seemingly ready to fall asleep in Lynn's arms at any moment.
"Look, the Konigsberg defense line!" Karl's light call broke the silence. Standing at the bend of the road, they could see a magnificent military defense line appearing in the wilderness ahead, even more impressive than ancient city walls. It fully utilized the undulating terrain, placing main defensive fortifications on elevated positions with height advantages. From the front, one could see continuous lines of barbed wire and trenches, crisscrossing trenches, and fortress-like permanent fortifications. At first glance, they resembled towering giant soldiers, standing tall at every key position along the defense line. Their sturdy and majestic stature reminded Lynn of the anti-aircraft towers in Berlin, making this almost perverse comprehensive defense system a marvel in human warfare history. It was equipped with powerful anti-aircraft weapons, capable of forming fierce suppression firepower in ground defense battles. What was even more astonishing was its unparalleled defensive power. Made of reinforced steel, concrete, and steel plates, the Germans had pushed their engineering skills to the limit. Even years after the war, one could still see their presence in Berlin, as conventional explosives and engineering machinery couldn't even touch them.
Lynn had never been to Berlin, relying only on impressions from historical pictures and travel programs. He felt that the concrete fortifications on the defense line in front of him were shorter and more solid than real anti-aircraft towers. Their ability to withstand artillery bombardment should have been even stronger. It was said that during the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet army used their most powerful land-based artillery but still couldn't directly destroy the anti-aircraft towers inside the city.
As they approached the defense line along the road, Lynn increasingly felt its uniqueness, with each detail in its deployment painstakingly crafted. For example, the trench fortifications had lower terrain on the outer side, gradually rising towards the inside, so once the Soviet army breached the first-line trenches, the defenders in the second and third-line trenches could rely on the height advantage to organize interception firepower. Correspondingly, to avoid casualties from enemy artillery fire, the communication trenches between these trenches were intentionally dug deep, resembling dark ditches. Additionally, the trench areas were densely scattered with camouflage nets of various sizes and shapes, underneath which could be reinforced concrete bunkers with powerful anti-tank guns, or steel bunkers and anti-tank vehicles.
Several roads from different directions converged in front of the defense line, so one could see many evacuees in the line of sight. The civilians looked exhausted, and the few military personnel were mostly wounded soldiers. It was evident that there were no landmines buried on the spacious road passing through the defense line, and the vigilant soldiers on duty only placed multiple layers of iron wire mesh frames on the road surface, which seemed completely unable to withstand the impact of Soviet tanks. But looking around at the surrounding positions, Lynn believed that the anti-tank firepower hidden under the bunker works and camouflage nets could tear apart an entire squadron of T-34 tanks in an instant.
By 1945, the quality of a defense line was not only determined by its ability to withstand the enemy's powerful artillery bombardment but also by the design and deployment of the anti-tank system, which was the key factor in determining the final outcome.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone