Chapter 171 Shadowing Close Behind

Because experienced and trustworthy soldiers guarded around, Lynn could stand confidently on the doorstep of the car, using binoculars to observe the battle ahead. From nearby to far away, the tank column attacking approached with precise night combat firepower from the start. Vehicles in the distance were frequently hit — though the silhouettes of the T-34 and Panther tanks were somewhat similar, the direction of their movement made it likely that the Soviet tanks were taking the beating.

Despite the disadvantageous situation, the Soviet tanks did not retreat but retaliated following the firing of the German tanks. Shells deviated slightly, and explosions often occurred near the vehicles with yellow-green camouflage paint. This artillery duel lasted for several minutes, with three tanks in the distance catching fire and burning, and only one nearby. Considering that German tanks with gasoline engines were more prone to catching fire when hit, while Soviet tanks with diesel engines often had ammunition explosions causing fires, the proportion of casualties on both sides could be imagined.

Amidst the roaring of engines, the gunfire subsided, surprising and proud, Lynn thought: compared to the Tiger and King Tiger tanks with 88mm guns, the Panther tanks and their 75mm guns were slightly smaller in all respects, but they didn't fall short in combat. With such sharp bodyguards clearing the way ahead, his hope of breaking out of the Berlin encirclement increased significantly! What was this called again? It's better to be lucky than early; who would have thought he'd encounter such a formidable armored unit?

Just as Lynn was feeling a bit smug, he heard a low shout, "Enemies ahead!" He slipped and fell from the car, scraping his left leg on the edge of the step, causing a fiery pain. But this hardly counted as an injury on the battlefield. He quickly asked, "Where are the enemies?"

"Sir! Over here!"

Bruhl waved repeatedly from the front right side of the military bucket car. Although infrared night vision goggles were not used, this guy's sharp eyesight still impressed Lynn. Bending over, he moved closer to take a look, indeed seeing some shadows moving forward along the ruins of the buildings beside the road. There was a large courtyard ahead, resembling a factory, with its external walls collapsed in many places. Many shadows entered the courtyard from this side, apparently taking a shortcut to encircle the German armored convoy.

"Oh no!" Lynn exclaimed softly, realizing that there were at least a hundred shadows, clearly not Soviet infantry acting on their own initiative. If it were only a Soviet battalion or regimental commander organizing the encirclement, it wouldn't have trapped the German breakout unit with over twenty tanks, armored vehicles, and dozens of accompanying infantry. The fear was that it might attract all nearby Soviet combat units.

"What should we do? Charge over?" Bruhl asked anxiously.

Lynn didn't have time to think much. Estimating that the factory was about two hundred meters away, he quickly returned to the bucket car and ordered Noah, "Do you see the courtyard ahead? Fire a rocket there, quickly!"

As usual, Noah had no doubts or hesitations about Lynn's orders. While he loaded the rocket into the rear tube, Lynn whispered, "Everyone get in the car. We'll go around from the left. No matter what happens, only fire on our command!"

With that, Lynn returned to the driver's seat. To avoid flames from the rocket launcher hurting his comrades, Noah stepped aside two steps, hoisted the rocket launcher over his shoulder, roughly aimed, and without turning back, said, "Sir?"

Lynn immediately started the car. As soon as he heard the familiar and smooth engine roar, he shouted, "Fire!"

A thick gray smoke spewed from the tail of the rocket launcher on Noah's shoulder, accompanied by a bright yellow flame. It weakened, and the spindle-shaped rocket swiftly shot out, with a doubly dazzling flame appearing at the rear of the rocket. It flew faster and faster, and soon, only the bright light remained in sight. Everyone looked up to watch, except Noah, who quickly returned to the car, and Lynn, who didn't hesitate, pressed the accelerator and turned left, leaving the road and entering the ruins. Even in this situation, the expected deafening explosion followed.

"Hey, Noah, it seems to have veered slightly!" Bruhl said untimely.

"It's okay, it's just to alert our troops!" Lynn replied, steering left and driving along a small street parallel to the main road. Before long, gunfire and machine gun fire could be heard from the front again, indicating that the German armored convoy had realized the presence of their "tails." As long as they didn't let their guard down, with the four Panther tanks at the rear, they could easily repel these Soviet infantry lacking heavy weapons.

The military bucket car, along with everyone on board, struggled on the rugged road, and the gunfire in the distance "awakened" from a brief sleep, one after another, with no sense of thinness, and the broken blocks flickered with fire. In just a blink of an eye, many rising smoke columns could be seen ahead.

"Enemies ahead!" Frederick exclaimed. If it weren't for the nearby Wolfram's restraint, he would have almost pulled the trigger to fire his assault rifle. In fact, the Soviet infantry moving along the ruins were still thirty to forty meters away.

Lynn quickly took off his helmet with his left hand. "Gordon, it's your turn!"

"Everyone, take off your helmets!" Wolfram immediately called out. After this, he began cursing in fluent Russian, which surprised most of his companions. The Soviet infantry in the ruins heard it but instead of turning their guns towards them, they hastened their actions. After moving forward for a while, Lynn turned into a road with fewer debris. There was a Soviet car ahead, with several soldiers standing beside it. Wolfram shouted angrily at them, and these guys quickly stepped aside, but when the military bucket car with German insignia passed by, they looked at it with extreme confusion — but still didn't fire.

Having crossed the entire street at a speed of nearly 40 kilometers per hour, Lynn made a left turn and entered a deep alley after a short distance. Everyone in the car remained silent, except for Wolfram, who at this moment started a "double act": talking to himself as if there were two or three people conversing, changing tones and accents from time to time, as if there were multiple comrades talking. But it must be said that this trick saved these German soldiers a lot of trouble because the ruins on both sides of the alley could see many Soviet soldiers. In the dim environment, the distinctive shape of the VW82 military bucket car was still relatively easy to recognize, but since the Soviet troops were on the offensive, capturing and using German vehicles was common. Moreover, this bucket car looked somewhat strange without its front cover, and who would expect a small group of enemies to dare to swagger in their own territory? Hearing what seemed to be their own people talking, they didn't raise their guns to let them pass.

After turning through two more intersections, Lynn had successfully avoided the several buildings guarded by the Soviets. However, after traveling several kilometers in the enemy-controlled area, there were finally Soviet checkpoints ahead. Although there were no wire fences or crossbars, light and heavy machine guns were deployed on both sides. Even if they could hard charge past the unprepared Soviet sentries, they might be chased by their bullets. With no other choice, Lynn had to turn to Wolfram and say, "My dear star, let's try again!"

Wolfram remained expressionless. In a moment, seeing that the car was approaching the Soviet checkpoint, he shouted a few words. The Soviet sentries who had come out to wave were stunned for a moment, then stepped back and saluted — what thoughts would they have when they saw a group of seemingly enemy guys driving past? They might seriously doubt their own eyes.

Later, when Lynn asked him what he had said at the time, Wolfram replied calmly, "Get out of the way quickly. We're from the division staff, we can't let a fascist leave Berlin!"

Lynn thought for a moment and felt that the last sentence played a crucial role in deceiving them. As for Wolfram, his performance talent might not be mentioned, but his adaptability was definitely top-notch.