Great time travel

Chapter 71、Winter in Melbourne

The deep night sky is dotted with bright crescent moon and countless stars, sometimes mixed with meteors, which outlines a magnificent and vast night scene.A thick layer of hoarfrost formed on the ground, and the cold night wind carrying ice shavings howled and wreaked havoc under the starlight...

——When the Eurasian continent in the northern hemisphere is in hot summer, Australia in the southern hemisphere is in the cold and windy winter.

In the middle of the night, southeastern Australia, the outskirts of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, the forward position of the Allied Forces, Broadford Town

Melbourne, which has been rated as "the most livable city in the world" by UN-Habitat for many years in a row, has a very good climate.Summer is not too hot, and winter is not too cold. Even in July and August, when the temperature is the lowest, there is almost no snow.

Even so, Melbourne's wilderness is chilling in the middle of a cold August night.Except for the sentinels who had to stand guard to blow the cold wind, the rest of the off-duty Australian soldiers and American soldiers didn't have the mind to hang out outside, but retreated into their wooden barracks, wrapped in military coats, and surrounded the production in the United States. He warmed himself by the fire next to his kerosene stove while listening to the news on a rustling American radio.

"... Today, the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, Lieutenant General Aubrey Fitch, arrived at Pearl Harbor. Because the Pacific Fleet headquarters building collapsed in the typhoon and has not been repaired so far, Lieutenant General Fitch chose to serve on the new flagship USS Missouri. The inauguration ceremony was held at the USS Enterprise - the flagship aircraft carrier of the former commander, Admiral Halsey, was severely damaged in the storm and is still undergoing repairs at the San Diego Naval Port...

At the inauguration ceremony, Lieutenant General Fitch stated that the withdrawal of the fleet from Fiji, New Zealand and Australia is a temporary measure of last resort.In the face of the current difficult battle situation, he will do his best, and he also hopes that everyone in the army will fulfill their duties..."

"... Tsk tsk! Listen to George, another bunch of clichés! Doing your job? Is that going to get us home from the war?"

A U.S. soldier grumbled dissatisfiedly, "...the fleet that just arrived in New Caledonia has retreated, and the Fiji Islands are estimated to be abandoned, and the reinforcements scheduled to be transferred to Melbourne have disappeared... If this continues, it will be even more hopeless to regain Australia!"

"...What can I do? Donnie, it was God's arrangement for the fleet to encounter a typhoon, and no one can do anything about it! Anyway, the Navy has recently opened up a transportation line for several months. There are more free wheels, and our supplies are finally a little more generous... While there is still food to eat, hurry up and eat more! Otherwise, when we have to eat stinky kangaroo meat in the future, there will be a lot of food. It made you cry!"

Another American soldier named George said so, successfully making other people look disgusted when they heard the word "kangaroo meat"...while George himself was holding a long-handled spoon, carefully He was stirring a small iron pot on the kerosene stove. Under the flames, the soup in the iron pot was already boiling slightly, and the pasta was cooking in it.He quickly added dehydrated carrots, dehydrated potato slices, and canned tomato sauce to it, and then opened a can of Spam luncheon meat, and cut the meat into thin slices with a bayonet knife and sprinkled it into the pot.

Looking at these pink "meat slices" added to the soup pot, the American soldiers in the wooden house all showed a salivating expression...

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For American soldiers on other battlefields, in the fifth year of this world war, Spam luncheon meat, an unlucky can that never seems to be eaten, has caused soldiers as much pain as enemy bullets and gonorrhea. Frightened by the news, they became their common enemy.

Although the U.S. Army logistics department and contractors developed more than 60 kinds of canned meat for military use during World War II, including beef, lamb, pork, ham, chicken, duck, turkey, tuna, sardines, etc., and even Canned rabbit meat also has a variety of cooking tastes, including smoked, spicy red stew, creamy carrot stew, tomato stew, honey sauce roast, black pepper roast and so on.But what was sent to the frontline soldiers was almost all spam luncheon meat.Because in the view of the U.S. Department of War, although luncheon meat contains almost no vitamins and minerals and is of little help to health, the calories it provides are crucial to maintaining soldiers’ physical strength, and its price is cheaper than other canned foods.

Well, although this conclusion is not wrong, it does not fully consider the delicate taste buds of American soldiers.Therefore, in the eyes of those American soldiers who are tired of eating canned Spam luncheon meat, Spam luncheon meat is like the enemy's bullets and raging diseases. Sensational nickname.For example, "suspected meat", "seed meat" and "spiritual meat"...

But in the Melbourne battlefield where the enemy is alone, surrounded on three sides, and the logistics supply is intermittent, if the Allied soldiers on the front line can get a few cans of Spam luncheon meat for their teeth, it will be a very happy thing: In any case, it can provide enough fat and calories at any rate.

——Because the U.S. Pacific Fleet has been defeated again and again in previous sea battles, and even the entire army has been wiped out twice... Uh, if you count the recent typhoon event called "Destroyer", then it is already It has been wiped out three times in a row.Therefore, most of the time, the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy holds the command of the Southwest Pacific Ocean, and the supply line from the mainland of the United States to the Australian battlefield has always been full of risks.

The U.S. Liberty Ship fleet, whether it is taking the South Pacific route, departing from Chile to Melbourne, or taking the South Indian Ocean route, departing from South Africa to Melbourne, is equivalent to a thrilling adventure in the enemy's territory. The transport fleet was attacked. The probability of sinking or capturing is as high as 30%!After the Japanese army completely occupied Western Australia and deployed a patrol fleet in Perth Port, the supply line in the direction of the southern Indian Ocean was completely cut off. The millions of Australian soldiers and civilians trapped in Melbourne and Tasmania all relied on The transport fleet on the New Zealand side barely held on.

However, even the supply line in the direction of New Zealand is also very unreliable.Because New Zealand itself has been attacked many times by the Japanese army, even burning and massacring the city.It is difficult to transport materials from the United States to Australia, and sometimes the goods shipped to the destination are not as good as those robbed by the Japanese army halfway.

Therefore, on the side of Melbourne, which is unfortunately located at the end of the entire supply line, it is common to see no transport ship for several months.

Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for the Allied forces in Melbourne to have a good life. Lack of food, clothing, medical treatment and medicine are common daily routines.

As for the Australian civilians trapped in the small land of Melbourne, their lives are even more miserable.Due to the destruction of nearby agricultural areas by the war, the limited number of fleets, and the need to prioritize the transportation of ammunition to maintain operations, Melbourne's civilian food supply has been extremely scarce for a long time.

Almost all the remaining white citizens had to try to reclaim wasteland in a small barren field, earn a living by growing taro and potatoes, or evacuate to the slightly safer Tasmania.In the past few years, the number of civilians who have died of illness due to malnutrition alone has reached as many as 20.

Coupled with the indiscriminate bombing and poisonous gas released by the Japanese military planes, countless people were killed by bombs every month, burned into coke by the fire, overwhelmed by poisonous gas, and lying on hospital beds without treatment... Common people To survive in this place, the vitality really needs to be stronger than cockroaches.

Fortunately, in the past half a year, due to the huge impact of the Tokyo nuclear explosion on the Australian Japanese army and the all-out northward movement of the Japanese Navy's combined fleet, the military pressure on the Melbourne frontline has been greatly reduced, and the sea blockade against the Allied forces has also collapsed on its own. .The Pentagon hastened to seize this short period of safety, and organized an ocean-going transport fleet to scramble to transport a large amount of food, clothing, quilts, ordnance and ammunition to Melbourne, and transported nearly a million wounded and refugees one after another on the return journey... Of course, the Pentagon also A considerable part of the troops was drawn from Melbourne, and Marshal MacArthur was brought to the Japanese battlefield...

In short, such a lot of tossing, coupled with the previous failed Canberra counterattack, reimbursed 13 Allied officers and soldiers in one breath, and finally reduced Melbourne's side by more than 100 million eating mouths and logistical supplies. became a lot richer.At the very least, the Allied combat troops deployed on the front line can have enough food and clothing for the time being, and they can even make a luncheon meat spaghetti at night as a supper...

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Moments later, after peppering the soup, a small pot of spaghetti with luncheon meat in black pepper tomato sauce was cooked on the kerosene stove.Mouth-watering tomato and pepper aromas, combined with the oily aroma of spam luncheon meat, hit the nostrils all at once.George, who was in charge of the spoon, asked everyone to take out lunch boxes or teacups, distributed a spoonful of noodles to everyone as fairly as possible, and then poured a spoonful of thick soup.

As soon as Donnie got his share of spaghetti, he impatiently poked a piece of lunch meat with a fork, dipped it in an open can of Mexican hot sauce, and swallowed it in one gulp, then closed his mouth tightly, Eyes narrowed, enjoying the greasy and spicy taste in his mouth.

"...it tastes great...this is the life we ​​Americans should live." After a while, he chewed slowly and swallowed the luncheon meat in his mouth, "...it's a pity that there is no turkey and corn pie and chocolate, and no brandy and whiskey..."

"...Don't get fancy, man! Think of the miserable days of last spring when you ate kangaroo meat with your nose pinched, and your bread ration was only two hundred grams a day! Thank God for spaghetti now! Well, it's winter. A little spicy is better..."

After distributing the noodles to everyone, George, who was in charge of the spoon, first put a lot of pepper and hot sauce into his own portion of noodles, then directly picked up the lunch box, and drank it in big gulps.While drinking the soup, use a fork to pull the noodles and luncheon meat into your mouth.

After the others saw this, they followed suit and poured hot noodle soup with a lot of chili, pepper and other spices into their stomachs with their lunch boxes. Soon, a trace of sweat appeared on everyone's head , The stomach, hands and feet, which were a little uncomfortable from the cold, also began to feel hot.

With some warmth on your body, the chatterboxes of all the American soldiers were also opened one after another, and you started chatting with each other.

"...Speaking of which, the climate in Australia is really good. It's not too hot in summer, and it's not too cold in winter. It doesn't even snow. It's much milder than my hometown in Maine, where every year In winter, there will be heavy snowfall, and when a heavy snowfall falls, every house can be buried!"

"...It's a pity that the supplies are too scarce. Bread, canned food, butter, coffee, cigarettes, whiskey, Coca-Cola, everything is missing!"

"...the girls are quite enthusiastic, and a bar of chocolate can soak them up...but we don't have much stock ourselves."

"...and even the tooth powder and toothpaste are often out of stock, and sometimes I feel that my mouth smells so bad that I'm embarrassed to go out to pick up girls..."

"...I didn't even have soap to use when taking a shower before, and my clothes were always dirty. I only got a few yuan recently..."

"... and the emails from the rear are also intermittent, either missing in the middle or delayed horribly! I actually received a letter written three years ago last month! It was written by my wife. I want to ask What was the name of the newborn son at that time...Damn it, with my German wife's stubbornness, because she never received a reply, maybe she really called my son "Noname" (Noname) for three years. )Bar!"

"...I couldn't get aspirin even when I had a cold. The military doctor got some weeds and bark from somewhere, and boiled a pot of black medicinal soup for me to drink. They said it was an earthen recipe, like a witch's potion... As a result, not only did I not catch a cold after drinking it, but I also had diarrhea for several days..."

"...Damn it, why did we come to this hellish place to fight? It was us poor poor people who fought the Japanese devils to death, but those high-ranking congressmen and generals gave orders in a safe place! Why should we use ours? Die to earn merit and benefits for them?"

"...Yes, since the start of the war, the government has said that we want to defend our country, but the battlefields are almost always on the territory of other countries. Even the Philippines has already established an independent country before the war... the blood of the American boy They will all be drained by these unsatisfactory allies!"

"...Is there any way? The White House and Capitol Hill are ambitious to be the savior, anyway, they are not the ones who need to sacrifice their lives..."

——On the Australian battlefield where the conditions are difficult and the supplies are scarce, those native Australian soldiers may still have the natural emotion to defend their homeland and the ambition to avenge their shame.

However, these American soldiers who came to the ocean to help the war, after so many years of cruel and arduous war torture, their initial morale and fighting spirit have been exhausted, and there is only endless exhaustion and burnout in their hearts. There are also endless thoughts of hometown and relatives.

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In fact, when the Australian battlefield was just opened, the spirit and fighting spirit of these American soldiers were still very good, and each of them was full of the inherent contempt of white people for people of color in the hundreds of years since the opening of the age of discovery. And arrogance, as well as the shame and anger of being slapped by an "inferior race".However, in the next few years of fighting, the cruel reality gave them a slap in the face - since the Japanese army landed in Australia, the Allied forces have almost always been defeated repeatedly. Retiring the Japanese attack was already a remarkable success.As for the field counterattacks initiated by the Allied forces, almost all of them ended in disastrous defeats.Even if some initial breakthroughs are achieved, a more catastrophic collapse is sure to follow.

In this way, repeated failures and various tragedies in the war made grassroots U.S. officers and soldiers who could not see the dawn of victory quickly cool down their enthusiasm for this war of "defending the white civilized world", their combat attitude gradually became negative, and their overall morale became even worse. It is getting lower and lower, and the enthusiasm and efficiency are getting worse day by day.After the Tokyo nuclear explosion, the Australian allies, who had been given a shot in the arm, once again dragged their exhausted bodies and launched the largest and last counterattack since the war began. Unfortunately, it still ended in a disastrous defeat...Although they were equally exhausted It is unbearable, but the Australians have already been riding a tiger. Facing the greedy eastern invaders, they have no choice and no room to retreat. The end of failure is to lose their homes forever like the American Indians.Regardless of national righteousness and national honor, even for their own lives, they can only stick to it like red-eyed gamblers.

However, U.S. soldiers who have been thoroughly infiltrated by the bleak future and war weariness do not have such pain.In their view, they are fighting a war that belongs to others in a distant foreign country. If they can win the victory and triumphantly, it is great, but if they can't win, it seems that there is no need to shed it just for the illusory honor. My last drop of blood... It's a pity that what they said about it didn't work.

As a result, the more people talked, the more depressed they became, and the more they talked, the more depressed they became. Finally, the chatter gradually stopped, and everyone kept their heads down and didn't say a word. They just washed their lunch boxes, and then drank hot coffee or smoked in silence. , while listening to the popular song "Lily Marlene" on the radio:
"...Before the barracks, before the gate, there was a lamp, still burning. We shall meet there again, standing under that lamp. Just like before, Lily Marlene. Just like before, Lily Marlene;

The figures of the two of us seem to be one, it is a figure like a couple, and it doesn't matter if we are seen.All people see the same, as long as we meet under the light.As ever, Lily Marlene.As before, Lily Marlene;

The sentry has already started to shout, and the name has also been blown if it is late. If you are late, you will be locked up for three days.I have to return immediately, so I have to say goodbye here, but I still hope to walk with you in my heart.With you, Lily Marlene, with you, Lily Marlene..."

The soft and melodious singing very effectively soothed the depression of these tired soldiers and cheered them up a little.Someone took out a small notebook and a pen and began to write a diary, while someone scratched his hair and wrote a letter to his family that he didn't know when he would receive it.Some people just lazily slumped in a corner of the wooden house, closed their eyes, and at the same time hummed lightly in response to the tunes from the radio, and whistled playfully from time to time.

However, a soldier who was humming suddenly shut his mouth tightly, and at the same time stretched out his hand to cover the mouth of others.

"... Shoo-Boom! Shoo-Boom!"

A blinding orange-red light suddenly pierced the night, and the ground of the barracks trembled violently. The dust from the roof and the radio placed on the wooden box "slapped" and fell, smashing to pieces immediately.But at this moment, no one cared about being distressed anymore, or even cared about it at all.

"...What's going on?! What happened outside?!"

"...It's bombardment! The Japanese are coming!"

"...Damn it! What are you yelling about! Lie down—"

Boom! ! !
A terrifying explosion sounded from a short distance away, almost breaking everyone's eardrums.The orange-red light tore through the sky, and the simple wooden house also collapsed in the flames and air waves, splashing a large amount of choking dust... When the fire light went away and the smoke and dust gradually dispersed, Private George tremblingly got up from the ground, feeling himself His throat was filled with the taste of rust, and the roar just now seemed to be still buzzing in his ears.

In the process of getting up, he seemed to have bumped into something hard and sharp, and that thing knocked out a bulge on his forehead, which made his eyes burst with pain, but this bit of pain had nothing to do with his current Compared with the injuries all over his body, it was really insignificant - at the beginning, for a few seconds, George felt that there was complete darkness in front of his eyes, so scared that he almost thought he was blind.

After finally waiting for the darkness in his vision to fade, he heaved a sigh of relief, then hurriedly looked around the environment, and found that the wooden house where he originally lived had collapsed.A group of colleagues in the army were buried under wooden beams and rubble, groaning slightly.In a charred crater next to the wreckage of the wooden house, there was still lingering smoke at this time. On the edge of the crater where the mud and vegetation were rolled up, there were scattered pieces of paper, cloth, sundries and human limbs.

What frightened him even more was the diminutive figures in the flames—at least a hundred Japanese soldiers in camouflage uniforms who had touched the town at some point and were facing every tent and every car. Cars and every house shot!
In the light of the fire, George clearly saw a ferocious Japanese officer wielding a sword and slashing and killing the fleeing Allied soldiers frantically.Behind him, a Japanese soldier held up the military flag and shouted ferociously, forming a strange and shocking picture - no one knows how they broke through the outer barbed wire and killed the vigil The sentry rushed all the way into the town.In short, the Allied forces who were suddenly attacked were in chaos. Many vehicles exploded and caught fire. Many people were knocked down before they could pick up their weapons, and they were screaming for death...

Seeing this scene, George quickly put on his helmet, scrambled and crawled to find a machine gun, and frantically poured bullets at the Japanese at the end of the street, sweeping down a large group of people with steel and flames like a wind, killing them all. There are almost as many enemies as there are friendly troops who were accidentally injured... No way, no one can see who is clear in the dark, but at least it temporarily curbed the attack momentum of the Japanese surprise attack team.Then, an Australian major personally led the reserve team to kill them, and started a fierce battle with the Japanese.Tracer bullets shuttled and intertwined in the night, and gunshots and grenades rang together.

After a fierce hand-to-hand battle, the Allied forces in the town finally wiped out the enemy with bayonets and grenades, relying on their absolute superiority in numbers.But the price was high, and everyone who survived was splattered with blood—the enemy's and their own.Some had broken arms, others were blinded.George was also shot in the stomach, and his intestines flowed out.He could only cover his stomach with a triangular scarf, and leaned against the wall to rest panting.

There is no way, the sky is too dark, the battlefield is too chaotic, the military doctor can't rescue him, he can only endure until dawn - if he hasn't died of pain by then.

Gradually, George felt that his entire abdomen was numb, and the numbness rose to his chest and head... However, before he passed out, the Japanese field artillery fired again, and the shots became more and more fierce, and soon Turned the town into a sea of ​​flames, and hot shards flew everywhere, causing English groans to ring around George.He could see nothing but the flash of the exploding shell.

Facing the collapse of the entire front line, some Allied soldiers began to retreat in a disorderly manner. Some even found a means of transportation. A truck full of soldiers sped through the town. When it passed by George, there were still people on board. He greeted him, as if he wanted to let him come up and withdraw together.

However, George, who had lost too much blood and was dizzy, had no strength left to move. He just continued to lean against the wall, weakly holding the handle of the heavy machine gun, wanting to fight the enemy again before dying.

Then, the messy battlefield seemed to be silent for a while, until a harsh noise of metal crushing the ground gradually sounded nearby.Amidst the shaking of the ground, George, who had already had difficulty concentrating, opened his heavy eyelids with great difficulty, and suddenly saw a huge black monster appearing in front of him, and heard a desperate cry from an unknown guy nearby: "...Tanks! Japanese tanks are rushing in!"

Then, George had only time to pull the trigger subconsciously, firing a chain of bullets in vain, and was immediately blasted into the sky by a high-explosive round.