Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 48: Surrender your weapons and you won’t be killed!

Some soldiers didn't know why Ryan ordered not to capture any Farlan soldiers.

Most of these soldiers are young people who are on the battlefield for the first time. They are only in their early twenties. Before going to the battlefield, they may have been college students or children who had just graduated from high school.

But when they actually stepped on the land that was supposed to be a field but now had a strange purple-red color, and smelled the bitter smell of gunpowder in the air, the children immediately understood one thing.

If someone could survive in such a place, they would definitely try every possible way to prevent themselves from dying.

The best way to avoid death is to kill all enemies who want to kill you.

Ryan was the last to enter the battlefield.

Behind him followed Warrant Officer Perris, and in front and on both sides there was a soldier holding a pistol for protection.

The three rows of soldiers in the front followed the instructions in the drill manual, holding G98 rifles with bayonets, and every few steps they took, they checked to see if there were any living people on the ground beneath their feet.

The land, which had been plowed by artillery shells all night, was as soft as sand. Every time I stepped on it, I could feel a slight heat rushing up, and then my legs and feet would have a strange feeling of being wrapped by something.

Ryan did not command the soldiers of the third row to clear the front line. He held his pistol, looked at the red light emitted from Warrant Officer Perris's pendant, followed the red dot on the map, and soon found Lieutenant Farlan who was buried in the purple-red soil and was half dead.

He was wearing his trademark thick blue military uniform, his eyes were gray, his hat was long gone, but there was a leather belt from his chin to his neck.

The color of his curly hair was unrecognizable, and his face and head were covered with a layer of yellow-black dirt. He seemed to sense someone approaching and was twisting his body slightly, but he could neither see nor hear, so he had no idea whether the person approaching him was a friend or foe.

This was obviously caused by a shell.

Seeing that Ryan and the others hadn't moved, a sergeant who looked about thirty years old walked over, looked at Lieutenant Farlan, and muttered, "He has such bad luck."

Ryan took a look at the sergeant and found that he was the deputy platoon leader of the third platoon - the platoon leader's name contained the word "Feng". Although the young man was honest and smart, it was obvious that his family cared more about whether he could survive.

The deputy platoon leader is a veteran who has served in the army for twelve years. He should have been honorably discharged, but he is still in the army because his hometown promised to provide his sister with a job in the capital, Berggreen, with a monthly salary of 150 marks.

He turned his head to look at Ryan, then at Warrant Officer Perris: "His lower body was blown off. Logically, he should have died long ago, but if this continues..."

Before he could finish his words, the deputy platoon leader shook his head, using actions instead of words.

Then Ryan discovered that the red dot of Lieutenant Farlan had disappeared.

An almost inaudible hissing sound came from his throat and nose, which frightened Perris beside him.

"stop looking."

Ryan kicked the female warrant officer's leather boots and began to move towards the next red dot.

Perris was frightened by Ryan's move and almost jumped up. When she landed on the ground and stepped on solid ground, she found that Ryan had walked more than ten meters away.

She still stood behind Ryan. After a while, the sky on the west side of the Vosges Mountains - in the direction of Lorraine - began to darken. A fine drizzle fell from the west under the sunlight, hitting the ground in Mulhouse and turning into a thin mist on the warm ground.

This dissipated a lot of the bitter smell of gunpowder in the air, but Ryan and his men did not find any living officers.

During this time, a few Farlan soldiers who were hiding in the mud and only had their nostrils exposed wanted to launch a sneak attack on Ryan and Perris who were protected by the soldiers, but before they could find weapons, they were caught by the deputy platoon leader of the third platoon commanded by Ryan and driven into the minefield in the middle of the barbed wire.

The soldiers in the first and second rows also did their job very efficiently.

They cleared the entire battlefield in an hour and found a whole box of Farlan flares. They were so excited - the parachutes for flares in those days were made of silk, very large, and were in short supply.

Then Ryan and his men stood next to the last two red dots.

The "radar" on Warrant Officer Perris's chest emitted a bright red light, pointing to a communication trench.

But it was filled with mud, with only a little undulation visible in one corner.

This indicated that the people inside were still breathing, and the soil wasn't very compact. Ryan raised his hand and took his GW98 from a nearby soldier, aiming the jet-black bayonet at the red dot. Then, he tilted his rifle a few centimeters and fired a shot at the wooden planks of the trench.

Then, in Farlane, which he had urgently learned a few days ago, he shouted, "We are the Imperial Army! Those inside! Surrender your weapons and we won't kill you!"

Inside the soil, a few minutes ago.

Pierre was suddenly awakened by several sporadic gunshots.

He suddenly opened his eyes and found that there was a wooden board above his head.

Fortunately, he didn't suffer any injuries, but one of his arms was dislocated and he was completely unable to move.

He quickly used his good hand to brush off the dirt on his face, and heard a faint groan coming from the side.

The collar badge on the collar emitted a faint light, illuminating the underground space supported by broken wooden boards.

Pierre saw that it was a Farlan soldier, whose epaulettes showed that he was a private of the 3rd Infantry Regiment.

His face was covered in blood, which had turned black and turned into blood scabs. His eyes were particularly badly bruised, probably because he was blinded by shell fragments.

But there were no injuries elsewhere, perhaps because he was swept in by the shock wave.

"You're fine."

Pierre quickly squatted down, squeezed into the inverted triangle-shaped communication trench, helped the soldier up, and sat him against the wall opposite him.

There were also gunshots coming from the side.

Through the mud barrier, it sounded like a sandbag being beaten.

Imperial soldiers began to clear the battlefield.

Pierre's heart sank.

This war should have been avoided, he thought.

My thoughts also jumped back to a few years ago when Farlan changed from a kingdom to a republic.

It seems that Farlan has never had a good day since he overthrew the king.

Pierre couldn't remember the last time he had eaten a whole piece of meat. It seemed like last night, but also like several years ago.

Suddenly, he felt a piercing pain in his left shoulder.

My thoughts returned to reality.

In the underground where there was only a dim light, there were wounded soldiers groaning with their remaining consciousness, dislocated arms, and imperial soldiers sweeping outside, making the sound of their boots kicking up wooden boards and clods of earth.

Pierre suddenly shuddered as a splinter pricked his back.

Feeling the sudden pain, he instinctively straightened his back, hitting his head on the wooden covering, startling the soldier leaning next to him.

The soldier frantically stretched out his hands, trying to struggle, but Pierre immediately held them down: "It's okay, it's okay, the Empire is sweeping, they didn't find us!"

But before he could finish his words, a bullet pierced the wooden board covering his head and made two holes in the head of the soldier facing him.

Then, a somewhat stiff Farlan language squeezed through the soft soil and entered Pierre's ears.

"We are the Imperial Army! Those inside! Surrender your weapons and we won't kill you!!"

(End of this chapter)