章 82: 82
June 1, 1940
Beauvais, France
The ground that had been swept through by a barrage of artillery fire was full of craters big and small, like the surface of the moon.
There were survivors even in this place where not even a single blade of grass was growing, and where it seemed impossible to find any living creatures even if you looked around with your eyes open.
"Bernard."
"······why."
"Are you alive?"
"······maybe."
Private Bernard LePere stood up and answered his comrade's question.
After curling up in the fetal position for an hour, my back ached. My ears still tingled from the gunfire.
Although his eardrum was not torn, Bernard was certain that it was not in a normal condition.
"Wow!"
Bernard suddenly felt nauseous and immediately vomited out. The digested food from the stomach flowed out like thick porridge.
The vomiting stopped only after I vomited up all the dried cabbage. Bernard wanted to drink cold water. Cold water with ice.
However, there was no way there would be cold water on the battlefield and not in the restaurant. Bernard had no choice but to pick up the canteen.
However, the canteen was too light. That's strange, I definitely didn't drink a single sip.
There was a hole in the bottom of the canteen. A fragment of the bomb flew out and hit the canteen.
Bernard got annoyed and threw away the canteen.
"Fuck. "Nothing happens."
"Be blessed that you're not dead, man."
Bernard's classmate Victor Fabien was sitting leisurely smoking a cigarette.
A crumpled cigarette pack rolled around beneath his military boots. Viktor sighed in a bitter tone, exhaling a long puff of cigarette smoke.
"This is the last time I smoke. Damn it."
"Give it to me. "Let's smoke some too."
Victor handed Bernard a cigarette with an expression that seemed like it was a waste of the world.
I thought smoking a cigarette would calm my nausea, but the nausea got worse.
Although there was obviously nothing more to vomit about, Bernard felt extremely nauseous.
"Wow..."
"Oh, hey! You can't throw up! "Give me a cigarette and I'll throw up!"
Bernard didn't vomit.
Instead, I felt dizzy and collapsed on the floor. My head hurt as if it was being squeezed by a thick rope. My body was screaming, reaching its limit due to extreme stress.
What Bernard needed most right now was rest. Even for a healthy young man of 23 years old, 175cm tall and weighing 72kg, the battlefield was a place that required tremendous physical and mental strength.
"I don't need fame or anything, so I would have no wish to sleep comfortably in a clean bed. "When you wake up there, even a glass of cold water."
"Me too. "I don't think it would be worth sacrificing 10 years of my life if I could go home right now."
The two sighed side by side.
Faced with the fatigue of my body reaching its limit, the crisis of my country or my honor or duty as a soldier did not give me any inspiration.
Even the yelling from the company commander and the work orders from the execution officer, which would normally have made me nervous, all felt insignificant now.
"Do you remember the instruction the regiment commander gave you two months ago?"
"You said we were going to push up to the Rhine, right?"
"okay. But let alone the Rhine River, it looks like we'll be pushed back to Paris."
Even thinking about it again, it was absurd.
What, it won't take us less than ten days to advance to the Rhine? what the!
There was a time when Bernard made a promise to his classmates to throw a Christmas party in Berlin, but now he couldn't even recall that he had said such a thing.
In just three weeks, the world has changed so much.
The German army annihilated the main force of the French army in the blink of an eye and came down to Paris.
Britain, which had promised to share its fate with France, abandoned its obligations as an ally when the war situation became unfavorable and signed a peace treaty with Germany alone.
France, abandoned by Britain, has not given up resistance to this day, but not even a single soldier knows that all this is futile.
It's like a deer dragged into a tiger's den and biting the tiger's strong paw with its snout.
France lost the war.
It's very sad, but what can you do? That's true.
But why hasn't the government negotiated yet? Because of the hope that a second Marne miracle might occur? Or is it just for the shallow pride of having lasted even a day longer?
"Alert!"
"Enemy appears!"
"Ready to fire!"
Whatever the reason, the longer negotiations were delayed, the more soldiers would die on the battlefield. Bernard found it unfair.
Why do politicians start wars and only small citizens like us have to die? why?
"Look at that, Bernard. "It's an armored vehicle."
German troops, divided into two Sd.Kfz 222s and five Sd.Kfz 251s, were approaching the direction of the French trenches.
Although there were no tanks to be so feared, the mere presence of armored vehicles was enough to discourage the French army.
They had no anti-tank rifles or Molotov cocktails.
Not a single soldier expected to be able to take down an armored vehicle with only rifles and grenades.
Bernard aimed his gun with a feeling of semi-resignation.
While waiting for the order to fire with Victor, something unexpected happened.
One of the soldiers in the front room raised his hand and went out.
As the German soldiers who discovered the surrendered soldiers screamed, the turret of Sd.Kfz 222 rotated.
However, when he confirmed that the enemy was a surrendering soldier, he did not shoot.
Bernard thought that his troops behind him would fire at the surrenderers, but that did not happen.
No one fired a shot until the moment the German soldiers searched the body of the surrendered soldier. Even officers.
Bernard exchanged a look with Victor. It's a war where you win or lose anyway. then······.
"wake up. "Let's go out too."
Bernard put his MAS-36 rifle on the ground and walked out of the trench. Victor also put down his gun.
The two who came out of the trench raised their hands as if they had made an agreement in advance.
German soldiers in armored vehicles aimed their guns and then got back out.
Bernard could vaguely see smiles spreading across their faces.
The French soldiers, who were looking at each other, also put down their weapons and came out of the trenches.
After being searched for any hidden weapons, they waited under the watchful eye of two German soldiers and were eventually handed over to German military police who arrived.
While the German army advanced west, the procession of French prisoners continued east.
***
June 2, 1940
meheux france
Just because they sensed defeat did not mean that all troops lost the will to fight and were devastated.
When French soldiers surrendered to the Germans under the white flag, the Free Polish Army fought tenaciously.
Although their numbers and level of armament were inferior to the French army, their willingness to fight was 180 degrees different.
Unlike French soldiers who had a home to return to even after the war was over, they had no place to return to as their country had already been destroyed.
Therefore, the Polish army fought with all its might, almost to the point of madness, and embarrassed the German army, which was proud of its victory.
"Shoot! "Kill at least one more German bastard!"
"Poland is not dead yet!"
The small city of Meheux in France became a sea of fire after a battle between the Free Polish Army and the German Army.
Even the French army gave up the battle and fled or surrendered, and the German commanders were taken aback when the Polish army, whom they regarded as insignificant, resisted fiercely.
The Polish army's resistance was so strong that the Wehrmacht division commander became desperate and requested support from the Waffen-SS.
Out of pride, I tried not to lend SS's help as much as possible, but right now I was in no position to tell the difference between hot and cold food.
Compared to the reprimand I would receive from my superiors for being stranded by the Polish army, the damage to my pride was not a problem.
"Then you should have sent us in a long time ago. "What kind of pride is that guy?"
SS Captain Joachim Pfeiffer ridiculed the Wehrmacht leadership for being reluctant to ask for assistance due to pride issues.
From his perspective, the behavior of the Wehrmacht leadership was truly pathetic, as he worked in the safety of the rear as Himmler's adjutant and then volunteered to go to the front line with the sole intention of fighting on the front line.
"SS Captain Piper, I have a question for you."
An SS private armed with an MP35 asked.
"I heard that you worked as an adjutant to the SS Imperial leader. Is this true?"
"Oh, right."
As Piper nodded, the voice of the SS private who asked the question grew louder.
"Then why did you come to the front line? Is there any reason?"
The SS private guessed that he had come to the front line because the company commander had caused an accident, such as getting Himmler's female secretary pregnant or being drunk and intoxicating, but the words that came out of Piper's mouth were completely different from what he expected.
"I just applied?"
Piper's answer caused even more controversy.
"No, then you volunteered to support the front line?"
"Why on earth would you do that...?"
"Did you hurt your head?"
Even the soldiers who had been quietly listening to the conversation between the two came forward and bombarded Piper with questions.
Just as it is preferable to sleep in a soft bed rather than in a narrow and smelly trench, and to eat warm soup rather than satisfy one's hunger with cold hardened combat rations, working in a safe rear area during wartime is the dream and goal of all soldiers.
But you kicked it yourself and came to the front line? Are you sane?
"If you're a man, should you fight on the front lines, or should you hang out in the comfort of the rear?"
However, Piper was far from the normal person his subordinates thought he was.
He actually avoided working in the rear, saying it was dull and boring, and preferred working on the front line, where he got to work with his body and put action into action instead of words.
His subordinates looked at Piper as if they were all crazy, but he didn't care at all.
As the armored vehicle turned the corner and entered the square, Polish machine gun fire began.
The soldiers lowered their heads as bullets bounced off their armor and splashed in all directions.
However, instead of lowering his head, Piper returned fire from the Polish army with his MP40.
"Everyone get off! "Hurry up!"
Piper and the soldiers exited through the rear door of the vehicle. When the gunner of the armored car fired the MG34, this time the Polish machine gunner lowered his head.
"Lower your posture and just run! "Don't raise your head if you don't want to be left behind!"
Piper led one squad and rushed into the flank of the Polish army.
Everyone was very tense, not knowing when the enemy would appear, but beyond the fence, several Polish soldiers could be seen moving an object on wheels with a grunt.
It was a French 25mm anti-tank gun.
Before the Polish soldiers could target the armored vehicle with their anti-tank guns, Piper fired his MP40 gun.
Three soldiers who were carrying an anti-tank gun collapsed, bleeding. Two people ran away, leaving behind their dead colleagues, but fell to the ground with a bullet lodged in their backs.
Polish anti-tank artillerymen were forced to move their anti-tank guns in an attempt to catch an armored vehicle coming in the opposite direction, but suffered a disaster.
If they had given up their anti-tank guns or had kept their positions, they would not have been killed in an ambush.
As we advanced beyond the enemy corpses, a machine gun emplacement appeared.
The Polish soldiers, who were lying on their stomachs on the lawn near the machine gun position and firing, spotted the SS soldiers and quickly turned their guns.
Piper took cover behind a stone wall. The sound of bullets hitting stones and bouncing continued loudly.
"It's still going well. "Is anyone hurt?"
"doesn't exist!"
"good. "The training is paying off."
Piper took out two grenades and pulled out the pins at the same time.
I counted to three in my head and threw it over the stone wall. Urgent cries were heard among the Polish soldiers.
"Shoot!"
Two seconds after the grenade exploded, Piper and his men raised their upper bodies and pulled the trigger in unison.
A Polish lieutenant, whose legs were blown off by a grenade, collapsed with a bullet lodged in his chest and between the eyes.
"Advance! Run, run!"
***
"Hassel, stop!"
Wittmann, who saw the launch light from the church bell tower, ordered the driver, Hasel, to stop.
To kill the sniper perched on the church bell tower, Wittmann instructed the gunner to raise the main gun upward.
"how is it? Do you think you can catch it?"
"Uh... the angle doesn't come out. "I think I need to pull it back a little bit."
"Did you hear? junior!"
As the hatcher backed up, the gunner, who had been keeping his eyes on the scope, shouted.
"Ah, I got caught!"
"stop!"
Squeak.
Once the main gun could be aimed at the bell tower, the gunner loaded the shells. When the loading was completed, Wittmann shouted a command.
"launch!"
The Polish sniper, who was searching for the enemy without knowing that he was being targeted, flew away along with the bell tower.
Polish soldiers who were shooting under the bell tower were crushed under the rubble, and soldiers who ran out of cover to avoid the falling debris were shot down by MG34s.
Because of its narrow hull, the Hatcher does not have a coaxial machine gun. Instead, a machine gun seat that could be controlled remotely from inside the vehicle was installed on the upper part of the vehicle, allowing tankers to fire the machine gun without having to come out of the tank.
The gunman operating the machine gun reported that there were no enemies left.
Wittmann again gave the order to advance, and twenty infantrymen followed Wittmann's hatcher.
The hatcher simultaneously served as a shield to protect infantry from enemy fire and as a spear to destroy obstacles and enemy positions with a tank gun.
-Kang!
"An anti-tank gun in front!"
Although the range was less than 50m, the 25mm armor-piercing round ricocheted without even making a scratch on the Hatcher's armor plate.
When the gunner fired a pre-loaded grenade, the anti-tank gunners' bodies were torn to shreds.
The impact of the explosion collapsed the barn wall, creating a thick cloud of dust.
The battle was almost over.
The Polish army fought bravely, but their resistance was now coming to an end.
Several Polish soldiers attempted to escape, but the Germans had advanced to the rear of Meheu and blocked their escape routes.
The fleeing Polish troops were scattered like a beehive under a barrage of bullets from all directions. The sound of gunfire died down quickly.
The superiors judged that almost all of the Polish troops in the city of Meheu had been eliminated and ordered the units that had advanced to the outskirts of Meheu to move.
If everything had gone according to plan, the occupation of Maiheux should have been completed long ago and the army should have advanced to Paris.
Since there are only a handful of remnants left in the city anyway, the current troops will be enough to clear them out.
"Damn, I was wondering if I could take a nap, but they already gave me an order to move."
"What are you going to do? You have to do as instructed above. And he should have been running at full speed by now."
The Wehrmacht motorcycle company departed first, followed by Wehrmacht engineers riding in Opel Blitz trucks. Wittmann's company was next.
As I was driving along the road, a huge sign appeared, standing alone among the broken trees. Wittmann shouted excitedly after seeing the writing on the sign.
"It's Paris!"
The sign had the following written on it:
76km to Paris.
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