The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 964

c961 Grass and trees are all soldiers

Colonel Torres was right, all they could do was pray.

But their God may not be able to answer every request, especially this prayer is a bit excessive… Anyone knows that the US military penetrating into the Metz Fortress has ammunition problems.

This is partly due to the US military’s continued attack on Chambier Island.

On the other hand, the US military’s transportation lines are always semi-blocked by the German army.

The semi-blockade mentioned here refers to the fact that when the US military implements certain response tactics, such as laying barbed wire fences in the river, traffic will be temporarily better, but it will soon be blocked again.

The consumption of ammunition by the US military in combat is absolutely indispensable. This is related to the tactical habits of the US military. They always use firepower to suppress the enemy and then advance… Due to tactical restrictions, it is difficult for them to save ammunition even if they want to.

As a result, a large amount of ammunition was consumed on the battlefield, but the transportation situation did not improve or even worsened… Amphibious landing ships were lost in large numbers. At this time, the US military could only use rubber boats and rafts to transport supplies.

The result will inevitably lead to a serious shortage of ammunition in the U.S. military. Some “Sherman” tanks even have only single digits of remaining shells… This is something that has never been experienced by the U.S. armored forces in combat.

This, of course, caused panic among the armored troops, so Colonel Nathan made a phone call to the 3rd Army headquarters.

“General!” Colonel Nathan said, “We are seriously low on ammunition. I don’t know if we can survive tonight!”

“There will be no problem, Nathan!” General Patton said: “You have tanks, they are your fortifications, use your rifles and bayonets to block the enemy, and we will let the transport planes airdrop ammunition for you!”

“Yes, General!” Nathan replied helplessly.

But in fact, Colonel Nathan knew that this was just a comforting statement… During the day, transport planes could not accurately deliver supplies within the control range of the 17th Armored Regiment, let alone at night when nothing could be seen and could only be guided by signal flares.

Just when Colonel Nathan put down the phone, he heard an American soldier shout: “They are coming!”

Then there was a gunshot.

“Cease fire, cease fire!” Colonel Nathan finally got the soldiers to control themselves.

The flashlight was on, and in the dim light a deer was almost beaten into a sieve.

“God!” Colonel Nathan shouted: “Do not shoot without orders, do you understand? Otherwise, when the enemy really attacks us, we will have no ammunition to stop them!”

“Yes, Colonel!” the American soldiers replied awkwardly.

At this moment, there was a “bang” and a bullet flew over from the darkness… The American soldier holding the flashlight fell to the ground without even making a sound.

“Sniper!” the American soldiers shouted and fell to the ground one after another.

Then there were countless figures advancing towards the US military position in the darkness, and from time to time there were several blasts of assault rifle fire.

“Sir!” Someone asked Colonel Nathan loudly: “Are you allowed to shoot now?”

“If you see the enemy…” Nathan replied: “Then shoot and stop them!”

Sometimes Colonel Nathan didn’t know what to do either.

To be precise, the US military simply cannot fight such a battle with insufficient ammunition, especially when German soldiers are equipped with assault rifles.

From the perspective of saving ammunition, the US military should move the Germans closer before attacking… Of course Nathan also knows this.

The problem was that he simply didn’t dare to get close to the Germans and fight again.

The reason is simple. Americans are not good at night fighting but the Germans are not. Even these Germans are cadet soldiers… This is related to the fact that the German army is equipped with STG44, and it is also related to courage and morale. But more importantly, the US military has a natural fear of hand-to-hand combat. This is a sequelae of an army with advanced equipment and strong logistics.

However, if you want to keep the enemy out of range, or prevent the Germans from charging and engaging in hand-to-hand combat, you must consume a lot of ammunition.

The two are actually contradictory.

So Colonel Nathan allowed the soldiers to shoot on the one hand, but on the other hand he kept giving orders: “Aim and shoot again, you fools, be careful to save ammunition!”

The US military was actually fooled. Qinchuan had no intention of launching an attack so soon. What they were doing at this time was just a tentative attack, which to be precise was consuming American ammunition.

Of course, some snipers are also arranged, and they can put some pressure on the US military at the appropriate time.

“Colonel Nathan!” Colonel Torres found Nathan amidst the sound of gunfire and artillery: “I think we should continue to attack the enemy’s third line of defense!”

“What?” Nathan looked at Colonel Torres with an incredulous expression: “No, Torres, we don’t have enough ammunition to attack!”

“But look at the situation now!” Colonel Torres raised his head in the direction of the gunfire: “The Germans are consuming our ammunition.”

“I know what they are doing, but there is nothing we can do!”

“We have a way!” Colonel Torres replied: “Attack the third line of defense while we still have ammunition. Because that is our only way out. Only by completely capturing Chambier Island and then building defenses along the river bank can we Maybe stop the Germans from harassing you!”

Colonel Nathan thought about it and shook his head, “But they have already appeared on our flank, which means… we have to deal with not only the garrison on Shambher Island, but also the reinforcements from other islands…”

“Fight, sir!” Colonel Torres interrupted Colonel Nathan, “We have no other choice!”

After hesitating, Colonel Nathan nodded and said, “You are right, Torres, we have no other choice!”

So the tanks were started again, and the mortar shells continued to bombard the third line of defense on Shambher Island. Teams of American soldiers followed the tanks and launched the last charge towards the third line of defense on Shambher Island under the light of flares.

But Colonel Nathan soon discovered that the situation was much worse than he had imagined… When the flares rose into the sky, bullets and shells were fired at the U.S. military in the darkness from all directions. What was particularly terrifying was the “Hitler’s chainsaw”, that is, the MG42, which made a “swoosh” sound like tearing cloth. Bullets poured down like raindrops, knocking down American soldiers hiding behind tanks in groups.

“Turn off the flashlights and car lights!” Nathan ordered loudly: “Otherwise you will become the enemy’s target!”

But after turning off the flashlights and car lights, the army didn’t know where to attack.

The U.S. military fell into despair as soon as they entered the darkness, as if the darkness around them was full of enemies.