Seven Hundred and Five Snowflakes

A tiny snowflake fell from the sky, and the temperature has unknowingly dropped to the point where people feel bitingly cold. The exhaled breath forms a light white mist around the mouth, and the cold steel helmet on the head is no longer It's sweltering, but rather cool.

The German m35 steel helmet was distributed to the front-line Wehrmacht in the 1920s. Two models of this helmet were produced, one was a cheap export model that was woven into a lining with rope, and was mainly exported to surrounding slave countries. There is only one sales channel for its products, which is far away in China; one model is a high-end model lined with leather, with vent holes pierced by perforated rivets on both sides, and a rainproof helmet with a delicate rolled edge, which is perfect for winter. Warm summer cool work first-class.

However, as the pace of German military expansion became faster and faster, steel helmets became a commodity in short supply. Some non-front-line combat troops in concentration camps even only issued a set of steel helmets for patrol soldiers to wear temporarily, and the rest could only wear cloth. Soft caps, so the distribution of steel helmets became confused.

On the German front now, the exquisite early m35 steel helmets are only eligible for use by platoon leaders, and the vast majority of soldiers use the "new" ones without ventilation holes. As it turns out, new cars aren't necessarily better, and new equipment isn't necessarily enhanced.

When winter came, the Germans on the Eastern Front made very detailed preparations, including a white camouflage camouflage covering the helmet and a windproof hooded hoodie to keep out the cold. However, this set of equipment is not very comfortable to wear, and its functions are not perfect. At least the gray-green multi-kinetic tactical vest of the German army can only be worn outside this blouse.

Of course, something is always better than nothing, at least these things gave the German troops on the front line a passable camouflage after the first snow came, compared to the famous gray-green iconic military uniform In other words, it can be regarded as giving the grassroots soldiers a little more chance of winning.

Now another snowfall is coming, and the sky on the entire Eastern Front is gloomy. The cold current passing through brings a sharp cold wind, blowing on the muzzle of the steel-cast cannon, making a whirring sound. There was silence on the battlefield, as if holding your breath, waiting for that terrible time to come.

"Huh!" A German soldier about 35 years old pressed his left hand on his assault rifle, and held a half-smoked cigarette in his right hand. The eyes deeply sunken in the eye sockets stared at the muddy land not far in front of the position, and farther away was an invisible forest, which was an area frequented by Soviets.

There is a mg42 machine gun position next to him, and about 100 meters to the right is a bush, where a 75mm long-barreled anti-aircraft gun is skillfully hidden, which can destroy the Russians at a distance of 1000 meters. Most tanks - of course, except for monsters like kv-2 tanks.

This trench also has a prominent position extending not far to the front, where it is prepared for occasional snipers and anti-tank teams during large-scale operations.

They have been carefully camouflaged, and most of them are squatting soldiers equipped with Tekken rocket launchers, and they are also waiting for the battle at this time.

The highest-level combat readiness order has been issued. Half an hour ago, all front-line platoon-level units have received more basic ammunition. Everyone is required to stay in the cold combat position. The squad leader and the platoon leader are repeating It emphasizes the precautions during combat, as well as the combat tasks that need to be completed on each position.

The smoker is a veteran, and his identity can be seen from the fact that he can be equipped with a precious assault rifle. As a non-commissioned officer, he is the backbone of a combat squad, and his task is to stabilize the entire cover near the machine gun. Smoking is not allowed, but because the squad leader is on the other side of the position, the recruits around him dare not stop him from such a death-like behavior.

In front of the entire position, the snow water and soil were mixed together because of the slight temperature increase more than ten days ago, and because of the cooling these days, they were frozen, and then they were covered by the new snow. Mixed with many black mottled. Many places have been mined a few months ago, and now there are no traces. The reserved passages can only be distinguished according to the map, and there are no signs or signs at all.

The sky is still gloomy, the speed of snowflakes falling is very slow, and there is not much wind around, so when the falling snowflakes fall on the white helmet little by little, it gives people a feeling that time has been slowed down.

However, the speed of the bullet will not be slowed down by the slow fall of the snowflakes. Just as the German veteran was puffing, a bullet flew from the distant woods and hit the trench less than 30 centimeters away from him. On the parapet, white snow and ice splashed.

The German veteran was so frightened that he quickly dropped the cigarette in his hand, and retreated into the trench as soon as his knees softened. He touched the helmet on top of his head with his hand to confirm that he had not been hit by a bullet, and then he was slightly relieved. But before he raised his head, more intensive gunshots came from the woods, and the Soviet attack started without warning.

The veteran changed his position, exposed his head and glanced into the distance, only to see about hundreds of Soviet soldiers rushing out of the woods, some were waving their guns, and some were firing their guns. Judging from the scale, it is definitely the largest in two months, and this number does not seem like a tentative attack.

"Hold on! Automatic weapons don't fire! Rifles start to fire back!" The veteran yelled loudly, and then several German recruits on the German position who had been aiming with Mauser 98k rifles for a long time opened fire. There were sparse gunshots, the battle had just begun, and it was far from reaching its cruelest peak.

For the soldiers on both sides, this kind of exchange of fire was almost like an appetizer. The machine guns did not fire, and the heavy artillery did not roar, so the whole scene was not very hot. Only the occasional bullets hitting the trench dirt reminded everyone to pay attention to safety. The other things are just to test whether everyone's usual shooting training can reach home.

Obviously, the shooting skills of German soldiers are deeper, and the accuracy of German Mauser 98k is also slightly better. After all, Germany's mechanical processing is much better than that of the Soviet Union, and the relocation of the Soviet military production enterprises also directly affected the quality of Soviet gun production, which was not superb. Of course, the accuracy of the two weapons is actually not too different. The main thing that affects the performance on the battlefield is the post-maintenance and other aspects.

The shooting of German soldiers is very efficient, some are similar to three-stage shooting, some stand up to aim and fire, others squat down and pull the bolt to complete the feeding action, and they have the cover of trench positions, so there are almost no casualties Under the circumstances, at least a dozen Soviet soldiers have been killed.

As time went on, the Soviets were getting closer and closer to the German positions. An unlucky Soviet ran forward and encountered the trigger device of an S-type landmine, which was called in the Wehrmacht. The mine of "Bouncing Betty" immediately sensed the vibration from the outside world, and it started working without any doubt.

With a small bang, the jumping mine flew up from the icy soil, exploded in the air at a height of about 1.5 meters, and shot out dense metal balls. Immediately there was a metal storm around them, and a dozen Soviet soldiers were hit to the body by these metal balls. Those who were close were bloody and bloody, and those who were far away also fell down clutching their wounds, screaming endlessly.

With the explosion of this landmine, a forward machine gun position in Germany also began to scream violently, which had a taste of taking advantage of the fire. The sound of tearing linen made the Soviet soldiers desperate, although they were already very close to the Germans. position, but suddenly couldn't go any further.

Bullets swept towards the Soviet Red Army like hailstones, and some Soviet Red Army soldiers wearing long padded jackets at the front were shot and fell down in the snow. The dead grass trembled back and forth in the wind, slapping the cheeks of the Soviet Red Army who had fallen to the ground. Unfortunately, the open eyes on this face could never be closed.

The second mine exploded, and the Soviets obviously realized the danger of entering the minefield. They began to slow down their charging speed, but they seemed unwilling to retreat back in such a mess, so they moved forward cautiously, hoping to alleviate the minefield. casualties to them.

"Boom!" Another S-shaped landmine flew up, and with a "boom" explosion, many Soviet soldiers fell into a pool of blood again. Eventually the gunfire began to thin out, and the Soviets stopped advancing, but retreated while shooting. It didn't take long for a seemingly tragic battle to be repulsed by the German army, and even some of the German army's firepower did not have time to fire.

"Boom!" Before the German soldiers began to celebrate their victory, a large-caliber artillery shell hit the position not far from them. Everyone squatted in the trench holding their helmets according to the training, and kept praying that the shells would not fall right in the middle of the trench.

Explosions began one after another, and the shelling by the Soviets seemed to have no end at all. With the sound of explosions, black smoke columns rose from the entire position, which could be clearly seen a kilometer away.

In a hidden and sturdy observation post not far away, next to the two artillery mirrors, a German military officer grabbed the phone and loudly reported the battle situation to the distant military headquarters: "Yes! There are heavy artillery bombarding our position The scale of the Soviet attack is larger than expected! We don’t need support yet, but please prepare the assault artillery unit, I guess it should be used.”