Chapter 170: Polish Campaign (33)

Warsaw garrison commander Carol Rommel decided to defend Warsaw at all costs, and this decision brought unprecedented suffering to the Poles in Warsaw.

Because the evacuation notice leaflets had been dropped long ago, the German army could throw all kinds of artillery shells and bombs into Warsaw without scruples.

45mm, 82mm, 120mm mortars; 50mm, 75mm infantry guns; 105mm cannons; 122mm rocket launchers; 152mm howitzers; 283mm railway guns; 380-meter Sturmtigers kept roaring, and all kinds of artillery shells bombarded Warsaw.

In the sky, densely packed Army Air Force bombers threw tons of ordinary aerial bombs, cluster bombs, incendiary bombs, and white phosphorus bombs weighing 50 kg to 500 kg into Warsaw.

At this time, Yannick came to the last inspection point, the List Command of the 14th Army Group west of Warsaw, leaning on the scissor periscope, watching the flames in Warsaw and the explosions one after another. I couldn't help but sigh that war is really not a joke. It is the childhood dream of many people to lead millions of troops to fight on the battlefield and become a generation of heroes. But when you go to the battlefield, you will find that war brings not only glory and achievements, but also death and destruction.

"This Carol Rommel is really stubborn. It would be great if he just surrendered." Hearing Yannick muttering, List on the side took over. "Your Highness, if he refuses to surrender, we will flatten the entire city of Warsaw."

Yannick glanced at him and resisted the urge to laugh in his heart. "That's not necessary. Since they refuse to surrender, they can be used to train our street fighting troops."

As for why he wanted to laugh, it was because one of William List's eyes was disabled. Of course, Yannick was not mocking the disabled, but his injury and the follow-up were really hilarious.

This matter has to start from the Battle of the Somme during the last World War. At that time, the Belgian army was preparing to launch a charge against the German army, and the German army buried a lot of mines at the front of the defensive position to block the impact of the Belgian army. I don’t know if the commander of the Belgian army has seen the fire bull formation invented by Tian Dan, the general of Qi State, and mobilized more than 70 bulls to charge and break through the battlefield as a pioneer in order to clear the mine formation on the battlefield.

As the Belgian army began to charge, a group of frightened and angry bulls rushed on the battlefield, and one of them rushed into the German position without bias. The bull seemed to know the truth that the king should be captured first, and rushed straight to the leader Lister. As a result, Lister was accidentally hit in the eye in a panic.

This blow can be said to make Lister angry and daring. Enduring the severe pain, he drew his gun and was about to shoot the beast when a shell fell near them. The unfortunate List was knocked unconscious, and the bull was also injured by the explosion, but escaped because of minor injuries.

What's more coincidental is that more than 70 bulls that attacked the mine array that night either stepped on mines or were shot by the German army or their own people. The bull that hit List became the only survivor. Because of its meritorious service in resisting the enemy, the bull was personally awarded the rank of Army Colonel by the King of Belgium and awarded the Second Class Medal of Honor. It truly became a soldier from a bull. After the war, it was sent to the Vessouri Invalides to enjoy its old age.

List hated the bull, of course, until the German army's blitzkrieg on Belgium in 1941, which finally gave him a chance for revenge.

List, who had been promoted to the Chief of Staff of the Army Group at that time, directly ordered Major Kruper, the commander of the Vessouri garrison, to go to the Vessouri Invalides to execute the damn mad bull.

Major Kruper was confused when he received the order, and didn't know why the general was so upset with a bull. However, a soldier's duty is to obey, so he still went to the Vesoulier Invalides to inquire about the cow. This inquiry really led him to find a bull named "Knight", an old black bull, who had lost his temperament in the past. In addition, the psychic seemed to know that his country had been occupied, and there was a trace of sadness in his fatigue.

It was good to find it. Just when Major Krupp pulled out his pistol and prepared to shoot the old cow, he was obstructed by the group of Belgian wounded in the Invalides. They claimed that the cow was a prisoner of war. According to the Geneva Convention, the cow could not be killed and must be treated as a prisoner of war! They even took out the certificate of honor issued by King Leopold in 1917.

Major Krupp was stunned. This was really a cow with military status, and its rank was higher than his! According to the Geneva Convention, he really had no right to shoot it.

Helplessly, he could only call General Lister back and report this unexpected situation.

Perhaps he was bored or eager for revenge, General Lister personally came to Vesuvius Invalides to prepare to kill this "knight".

Since it was a prisoner of war, he had to work hard on the prisoner regulations.

The prisoner regulations stipulated that if a prisoner of war tried to escape, the winner could execute the prisoner on the spot.

Lister began to use various tricks. He arranged for his subordinates to put grass that cows like to eat outside the prison gate, so that the cows could escape by themselves. If the cows ran away, they could shoot them immediately.

But the cows were not moved at all.

This trick didn't work. The second trick, if the prisoner of war committed suicide by himself, would also work. The cow couldn't commit suicide, so he created the illusion that it committed suicide. Lister also had people bury mines outside the prison, and took the opportunity to take the cow out for a walk, hoping that it would step on the mines by itself. But the cow seemed to be protected by the bull god, and just didn't step on the mines.

Then he found a fierce German shepherd, gave it the rank of Army Major, and locked it up with the old cow.

Originally, he thought that the fierce dog would bite the old cow to death, but within two days, the two animals became inseparable friends.

After more than a month of tossing and turning, Lister finally compromised and let the cow go, he said. "If I can't kill it, I won't kill it. Maybe it's God's instruction. I can't disobey God's order."

I don't know if he will go to trouble the old cow at this time.

At this time, Anne on the side reminded. "Your Highness, it's time to set off."

"Oh, let's go." No longer thinking about the grudge between the general and the old cow, Yannick prepared to leave. He is usually busy enough, and in special times like now, he can't wait to split one second into two seconds, and various schedules are full.

When he arrived at the airport by car, he suddenly said. "Go to the airport next door." This is a military airport, but a runway was specially blocked for his special plane to take off and land.

Lister, who was also on the plane, looked embarrassed. "Your Highness, there are no security measures there."

Yannick waved his hand nonchalantly. "General, you are worrying too much. If I can't even trust my own soldiers, what else can I trust?" He asked the driver to drive over.

Five squadrons of Army Air Force bombers were stationed here. Batch after batch of bombers took off and flew to Warsaw, and batch after batch of bombers returned and landed over Warsaw. Yannick watched the ground crew push the returning bombers to the side of the runway and reload fuel and ammunition, while the maintenance technicians quickly checked the engine, oil pipeline and other parts.

The whole airport seemed very lively, but perhaps because of the rigorous character of the Germans, everything here seemed orderly and well-organized, busy but not messy.

And Lister noticed that many of the soldiers here were working shirtless, and he quickly spoke up. "Sorry, Your Highness, I will emphasize the issue of military appearance."

"Hmm?" Yannick didn't understand why he said this for a moment. After he said this, he noticed the shirtless soldiers and smiled disapprovingly. "General, compared with their contributions to the empire, these are insignificant problems. They can do whatever they want, and there is no need to set strict rules."

Everyone at the airport also noticed that their row of luxury cars drove into the airport. Although they couldn't see who was sitting in the car, they could guess that the person was an important person by looking at the two small national flags on the front of this luxurious Mercedes-Benz.

At this time, the loudspeaker in the airport sounded urgently. "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"

Wow! Everyone was in an uproar, putting down their things, standing at attention and saluting.

Yannick couldn't help but click his tongue twice. "I originally wanted to take a turn and leave." He asked the driver to stop the car next to the crowd in front.