Chapter 122 Crossing the Street

Lin didn't have real experience in urban street fighting, but during his time at the "Vampire" Assault Squad headquarters, he learned some from training courses, gained some insight from staff work, and simulated scenarios in his mind. He summarized some tricks to increase the chances of survival: as the defending side, never take the main streets if you can use alleys, never stay on the surface if you can go underground, it's even better to be able to enter buildings directly, unless by some chance shells are hitting, regular bullets generally won't harm you.

Following these survival rules, Lin led his team, escorting the relatively defenseless senior war correspondent through twists and turns, crossing two blocks smoothly. Then, along a small alley to the end, huh? They still had to cross a four or five-meter-wide street to reach the opposite block.

It seemed that the Soviet army had only broken through the outer defenses less than an hour ago, and now the city was filled with gunfire. Lin, determined to protect himself wisely, was more cautious than usual. He took out the combat map to confirm his location, then leaned against the corner of a wall, took out a rear-view mirror, lowered it to knee height, and cautiously peeked out sideways.

This mirror was different; it could observe the entire street with just one glance. There was a barricade on the other side of the intersection, built with sandbags, door panels, and heavy furniture piled up to about a person's height. Many German soldiers with steel helmets were firing towards the front from there, and there were some fallen bodies of casualties who hadn't been removed yet. Also, balconies and windows on the second and third floors of buildings along the street were manned by defenders.

From this perspective, although the Soviet army had entered the city, at least this section of the street was still under their control. Without delay, Lin turned to the four men and one woman following him and said, "One by one, follow me, and remember, move as fast as you can!"

"I'll go first!"

Wolfram shouted manfully, but Lin didn't have the habit of letting his men take risks to scout. He stopped the old soldier with his hand and said firmly, "Your task is to protect Comrade Eva, understand?"

Wolfram nodded vigorously.

Lin looked at Eva Furtwängler. Her face was flushed from running, a bit out of breath, but she remained calm.

"After I go, Gordon, Eva, Marcos, Karl, Anton, one after another!"

With that, Lin took a deep breath and rushed out. The sky was still overcast, but suddenly going from a small alley to a wide street gave a feeling of relief. Carrying a battery pack, two bolt-action rifles, two anti-tank grenades, and a lot of ammunition, this newly minted Waffen-SS corporal was now carrying a load of over sixty pounds. With his head down and crouching, his speed across the street felt slow even to himself, but fortunately, he made it to the other side unscathed and quickly moved a few steps forward, reaching another alley.

Holding his gun, he directly leaned in to check. There was no one there, so he waved his hand back.

Wolfram dashed out, mimicking Lin's movements perfectly. At this moment, to Lin's surprise, Eva also came out. Her movements were somewhat clumsy, and she hadn't put on her helmet yet—Lin regretted not giving her one earlier.

Seeing Wolfram had already arrived, but Eva was still in the middle of the road, Lin suddenly heard the whizzing sound of bullets flying close by. Instantly alarmed, he saw the bullets hitting the ground nearby, barely five centimeters away. Before he could curse, realizing the bullets were coming from an angle above, he quickly pulled back the bolt of his rifle with lightning speed and leaned out, holding up the rifle sideways—daytime infrared sights could still be used, but everything appeared in monochrome. Without time for careful observation, he fired towards the building on the other side of the street. In a crouched position, his balance was almost lost under the recoil. Firing about ten bullets, he estimated Eva should be at the edge of the street by now, then quickly retreated.

Just in time, a barrage of bullets flew past, hitting the wall and road beside Lin. He suddenly felt relieved, and turning back, he saw Wolfram pulling Eva towards him.

"One by one, didn't you understand?" Lin stared at Eva with helplessness and annoyance. Despite maintaining a calm, composed, and resilient expression, her big eyes were filled with a frightened look.

Ordering Wolfram to take Eva into the alley first, Lin gestured to the soldier across the alley entrance, Tantsor, signaling him to pause. Judging from the gunfire just now, the enemy was likely positioned across the street, anticipating German soldiers to cross over. They still had their guns aimed in this direction. Lin decided that moving one by one, rather than all at once, was safer in this situation. He hadn't expected the Soviet soldiers leading the charge to have already secured some vantage points, explaining why the German soldiers on the barricade were positioned behind obstacles capable of blocking bullets.

Across the street, there were only Tantsor, Techimel, and Graf remaining. Considering that the Soviets had breached the urban area, leaving them alone was not prudent. Lin realized that his weapon, unlike in the movies, couldn't perform flashy sniper shots. Furthermore, the enemy wasn't using sniper rifles but rather rapid-firing light machine guns or submachine guns, with lower accuracy but continuous shooting capabilities. After observing the layout of the street, Lin raised his left hand and signaled three fingers to Marcos across the street, closing one finger every second until he made a fist, indicating "watch my signal, action in three seconds."

This was tactical sign language Lin had learned from the "Vampire" assault team. Besides this, there were signals for "prepare for battle," "advance cautiously," "flank from both sides," and more, all taught to his four soldiers during their days in Oranienburg - except Mr. Wolfram, who had trouble remembering.

Seeing Marcos Tantsor nod vigorously, Lin steadied himself, picked up the lucky mirror, and peeked around the corner at ground level. Several buildings across the barricade had collapsed or were on the verge of collapse. About two hundred meters away stood a few three or four-story buildings. Lin had fired towards them just a moment ago. Upon careful observation, he spotted movement in one of the buildings.

"Let's go!"

Lin silently encouraged himself as he quickly put down the mirror. He raised his left hand again, signaling three fingers to Tantsor to begin the countdown, while he himself raised his assault rifle and flashed out a little over half his body, aiming at the building he had observed earlier. With precise single shots, he fired four bullets and immediately took cover. Bullets from the opposite side followed, but at that moment, Tantsor sprinted over as if in a hundred-meter dash, his speed so fast that he didn't even have time to turn towards this side of the street, simply crashing through the window of a store with shattered glass - about three meters away from Lin's position. Because the corner of the alley protruded slightly, walking close to the wall wouldn't expose him to enemy fire.

Tantsor's speed was impressive. The enemy's bullets futilely hit the ground, not even touching him. But Lin worried about the next two, Techimel and Graf, whether they could cross safely.

In an instant, Tantsor circled to the back door of the store - it was in the alley. Then he came to Lin's side.

"Sir!"

The young private couldn't contain his excitement. The risky action of darting under enemy gunfire was indeed thrilling, but one wrong move could lead to death on the street.

"What's in the store?"

"Huh?" Perhaps not expecting such a question from Lin, Tantsor hesitated for a moment before answering, "Nothing, it's empty!"

Of course, Lin wasn't looking to loot or find food; he still wanted something to attract enemy attention or block bullets. But looking at the barricade across the street, it was clear why the store was empty.

"Darn it!"

Lin muttered to himself while gesturing to Carl Techimel across the street to "pause and wait." It was evident that the 16-year-old boy was extremely nervous; he must not fall down while crossing the street!

With a conflicted heart, Lin glanced back, where Wolfram and Eva were waiting in the alley. It was obviously not safe to let just the two of them go to the rendezvous point. What to do?

After waiting for a while, the density of gunfire from the alley entrance suddenly increased. Lin listened intently and heard someone shouting in German, "Attack the tank," and vaguely heard the muffled roar of an engine, followed by two explosions. It was probably the German soldiers guarding the barricade using anti-tank weapons to ambush the Soviet tanks. Thinking that explosive weapons might produce a lot of smoke, Lin quickly picked up the mirror from the ground and, sure enough!

With the intense gunfire covering from the barricade, Lin was no longer worried that the Soviet snipers would anticipate his movements based on his voice. He shouted across the street, "Carl, Anton, come over! Right now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin rushed out without hesitation, shooting at the building across the street. With his precise shooting, almost every bullet hit the window he had seen movement in earlier. Perhaps avoiding his own bullets, or perhaps due to being preoccupied with the battle at the street corner, the Soviet snipers didn't fire back at Lin immediately. Techimel and Graf took the opportunity to bend down and run across the street, mimicking Tantsor's action and rushing into the store.

What surprised Lin was that this time, Tantsor, with newfound courage, actually turned around and fired a shot with his Mauser sniper rifle, then quickly withdrew.

Phew...

Taking cover back behind the wall, Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed being a street mouse was indeed not easy! There were still two more blocks to cross, at least one major road. If they continued like this, he would collapse before reaching the destination. Fortunately, the two young privates under 18 had shown improvement, probably the greatest gain amid zero casualties!

The gunfire from the alley entrance gradually diminished. Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted. Lin glanced over and saw a powerful blast of air mixed with various debris and smoke sweeping across the street. Judging from the situation, the barricade was probably no longer there. At this moment, there was no time to investigate further. Lin quickly picked up the mirror, darted into the alley, and hurriedly ran after his companions...