The decisive battle against the Third Reich

As the helicopter carrying the 1st Battalion landed in the village of La Roche-Guiron, the 1st Battalion's diving training quickly began.

The training venue is on the Seine River next to the village.

The Seine River is a large river in northern France. It is more than 200 meters wide in the village of La Roche-Giron, which is very suitable for soldiers to conduct diving training.

Since the mission has been determined to be a sneak attack on Dover at night, and it is also for training not to be discovered by British pilots, it is usually carried out at night.

It started with diving training.

This puts no pressure on the soldiers of the first battalion. In fact, they enjoy this kind of training... The temperature in Paris in mid-March ranges from 7 to 15 degrees. This temperature might be considered cold to ordinary people, but to a battalion of soldiers who had just returned from the Soviet Union, it was simply warm.

On the other hand, the entire training is spent swimming in the water, which has always been their dream.

The only thing that made them uncomfortable was having to wear a wetsuit.

Werner protested: "Lieutenant Colonel, I think we should take off our diving suits to save weight!"

"I agree, Lieutenant Colonel!" Alfredo said, "It's best to get naked!"

As he said this, the soldiers laughed in the water.

There are people in the water calling Qin Chuan on the shore: "Lieutenant Colonel, why don't we come together? I love diving training so much!"

Qin Chuan just nodded to them in response.

The follow-up training of the first battalion is to learn to use the underwater propeller...but this is not difficult at all, just grab the propeller and let it carry you forward. In order to prevent the propeller from being separated from the driver, the researchers also designed a hand-held switch in a very user-friendly manner.

That is to say, it will only start when the driver holds the propeller, otherwise it will automatically shut down.

After that, there should be a complete set of training.

That is to say, transport it to the river by helicopter, then jump from the helicopter into the river and continue to move forward for five hours... The speed of the underwater propeller can reach five kilometers per hour, and it takes five hours to reach the other side from the center line of the strait.

Among them, they also need to train how to avoid Allied patrol boats and so on.

But what Qin Chuan was thinking more about was not that, but the subordinates who had been with him for many years, the comrades who lived and died together. It was very likely that none of them would come back from this battle.

Qin Chuan didn't know what to tell them, especially since he was not allowed to participate in this operation, which made Qin Chuan feel like a deserter.

Many times, Qin Chuan wanted to run away from them because he could not face the trusting eyes of his subordinates.

Before that, these eyes would make Qin Chuan feel warm.

But now, they make Qin Chuan feel burning pain, like swallowing a burning cigarette butt, or stuffing a piece of red-hot iron into his body.

This feeling kept Qin Chuan awake all night but there was nothing he could do. Sometimes he wished he could take them there in person and accompany them through the last stretch of the road to complete the last mission.

But he knew Rommel would not agree.

The reason is simple. Qinchuan's role in this battle or future battles is far more than that.

Rommel saw it clearly, so he would rather cancel the entire plan than let Qin Chuan lead the team to carry out this mission.

The training went on for a week, and Rommel would come to inspect the training progress from time to time, and occasionally he would give An Wei Qinchuan a few words of understanding.

But Qin Chuan could not let go of this matter.

In the early morning of that day, the correspondent woke Qin Chuan: "Lieutenant Colonel, the marshal wants you to prepare and leave for Paris immediately!"

"Paris?" Qin Chuan couldn't help but be confused after hearing this.

Paris also meant Rundstedt, because only Rundstedt could impress Rommel.

But Rundstedt didn't get up before ten o'clock. Just like last time, he just had breakfast at ten-thirty, went to the headquarters and had lunch.

And it's six in the morning and Rundstedt is already awake?

Sure enough, when Qin Chuan got into the car with Rommel and Colonel Slain, Rommel said: "The commander-in-chief ordered us to go to the headquarters!"

After a pause, he added: "Maybe it has something to do with the 1st Army, because he designated the three of us!"

Rommel's guess was correct, it was indeed related to the 1st Army.

When Rommel, Qin Chuan and others walked into the "Bold Rooster", they saw Longdstedt having dinner at the same table with an old general. The two were chatting and laughing, and from time to time they would raise glasses in salute.

Seeing Rommel walking in, the old general stood up and saluted excitedly, but his movements were a little slow, making him feel unsteady on his feet.

"Your Excellency Marshal!" The old general stood up.

Rommel looked at the old general and said in surprise: "General Kramer, it's really you, you're not..."

"Yes, Marshal Rommel!" Rundstedt explained: "He is your old subordinate, Commander of the African Armored Corps Hans Kramer."

"You're not..." Rommel looked at Kramer with disbelief: "Weren't you captured by the Americans?"

"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" Kramer replied: "You remembered correctly, in Tunisia!"

This happened when the main force of the German army was withdrawing from El Alamein to Algeria. At that time, Qinchuan was building the Gabes defense line in Algeria.

"So now..." Rommel still didn't understand how Kramer came back.

"Because General Kramer's health is deteriorating, Marshal Rommel!" Rundstedt seemed very patient: "So, at the request of the Swiss Red Cross, the Allies sent General Kramer back!"

Only then did Rommel react. He nodded, then went up to hug General Kramer and said, "That's great, General Kramer. I'm glad to see you can return safely!"

"Thank you, Marshal Rommel!"

At Rundstedt's signal, Rommel sat next to General Cramer.

Rundstedt seemed to be trying to control his excitement. He first toasted Rommel and Kramer with a glass of wine, and then said: "Dear Marshal Rommel, I want you and your men to come here this time. , in addition to celebrating the return of General Cramer, I also hope that you can listen to General Cramer talk about his experience..."

"Of course!" Rommel smiled and nodded.

But Rommel's eyes betrayed him. Rommel didn't want to hear about his experience. He just wanted to work and be in the best condition to face the upcoming war instead of listening to a prisoner describing the treatment in a prisoner of war camp. Although General Kramer was his old subordinates.

Rundstedt seemed to see through Rommel's thoughts, so he added: "General Kramer... passed through Dover before coming back. I thought you would be interested in knowing what he saw!"

Rommel's smile froze on his face.