[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

A tall, blond woman soon appeared.Although modestly dressed, they were neatly groomed.The temperament in her gestures shows that she once had a relatively good life.She has a limp.

As soon as the woman approached, Sheng Rui smelled a faint scent of perfume, which was exactly what he had smelled in the letter she sent to Qi Han.

"Are you...?" The woman looked at Sheng Rui's face suspiciously.

"You don't know me, but you delivered a letter to Hans for me. I am his brother."

Greta showed a dazed expression: "Are you the Ray who sent the letter from Rome?" She smiled and looked at Sheng Rui's face again: "You and Hans look a bit alike. Please come in."

Sitting in the simple living room, after a brief conversation, Greta told the story of her and Qi Han.

She is a volunteer worker of the Red Cross, but on the night of the air raid in Cologne three years ago, she herself became the object of rescue.While transporting the wounded, her right ankle was blown up and, to make matters worse, a knife-like piece of shrapnel sliced ​​into her abdomen.

Qi Han who happened to pass by rescued her and sent her to the only safe place in the whole city at that time, the Cologne Cathedral.

After recovering from the injury, Greta introduced him to her family in order to thank him for saving his life.

Greta's father, Gerhard Winkelmann, was a Wehrmacht captain.His eldest son, Greta's older brother, was born with a disability and therefore failed his military service medical.However, as the war situation worsened day by day, Germany's domestic military resources were seriously insufficient, and they began to recruit young men everywhere, and they had to serve from the age of 16 to 60.Seeing that the eldest son will not be able to hide, I'm afraid he will have to be cannon fodder.

Unlike many people who fanatically hoped to fight for the country at the time, the Winkelmanns were not optimistic about this war and believed that Germany's future was worrying.The family was frowning because of this.

After being in contact with Qi Han for a period of time, Captain Winkelmann gradually came up with an idea.

Qi Han, who claims to be a refugee, needs an identity that can live in Germany, and the Winkelmann family needs an adult male who can replace the eldest son to join the army.

If Qi Han and Greta get married, they can change their wife's surname and become a member of the Winkelmann family, and the problems of both parties will be resolved.

Originally, due to the "Nuremberg Race Law", German women were not allowed to marry foreign men for the so-called pure German blood.Greta's case, though, was a bit special: The shrapnel that had sliced ​​into her stomach permanently rendered her infertile.In other words, she became a woman the Third Reich no longer needed.

Since Greta was injured because of helping the wounded, under Captain Winkelmann's activities, she made an exception to obtain a marriage license.

However, Qi Han and Captain Winkelmann had a little disagreement on whether to join the Wehrmacht or the SS.

The situation at the time was that the Wehrmacht was competing with the SS for troops.As soon as a crop of men of the right age emerged in Germany, they were pulled away by the Wehrmacht.The SS had no choice but to focus on non-Germans and began to recruit foreign volunteers in large numbers.

Qi Han's physical condition is outstanding, and he was spotted by the officials of the SS conscription office.But Captain Winkelmann, a Junker nobleman, believes that the Wehrmacht is the orthodox army of Germany, and the SS is miscellaneous.

However, after some consideration, Qi Han decided to join the SS.

Being in the Wehrmacht means that you have to participate in conventional combat, and you have no freedom.The SS has some special organizations affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, which can search for cultural relics and ancient books throughout Europe, which is exactly what he needs most.Correspondingly, he also had to pay a heavy price for this choice after the war.

Of course, the Winkelmanns would not know about Qi Han's thoughts, all they knew was Qi Han's final choice.For this reason, Captain Winkelmann was still angry for a while.However, at least the problem of the eldest son joining the army was solved.

Greta smiled and said, "Do you know what our wedding gift was? It was a Luger P08 that my father gave him."

"Is it G. Winkelmann engraved on the handle?" Sheng Rui asked.

"Yes. How did you know?" Greta was surprised, "G is the initials of my father's name 'Gerhard', and I joked with Hans that he could also take it as Greta. "

"I'm sorry, that gun was lost because of me." When he and Qi Han jumped out of the car, Luge was in his hand.He fell unconscious after falling from the waterfall, and the gun was thrown into the river.

"It's nothing, just throw it away, so as not to make my mother think about others." Greta sighed a long time, "My father, he is missing."

Berlin, Germany.

As the night was getting dark, a group of sneaky and agile figures rushed into the dormitory of the foreign SS soldiers. The scene was just like a repeat of the "Night of the Long Knives" 11 years ago.

This is a group of Gestapo.Taking advantage of the dead of night, they wanted to conduct a surprise inspection of the rooms of these foreign SS soldiers.

The relationship between the Gestapo and the SS is somewhat similar to that between Dongchang and Jinyiwei.The hatchback is not only inextricably linked, but also fighting openly and secretly.Himmler concurrently served as the head of the Gestapo and the imperial chief of the SS—both the governor of the East Factory and the commander of the Jinyiwei, with power in the government and the opposition.

As Germany's defeat became more and more obvious, the Gestapo's activities became more and more rampant, hunting for so-called "defeatist speechists" and "collaborators with foreign enemies".Today's Berlin is also like Beijing in the late Ming Dynasty, with horses riding everywhere, shaking the capital.

The "cleaning" of the SS did not stop for a moment.The dormitory of the young soldiers will be disrupted and redistributed from time to time. One is to prevent them from forming cliques after being together for a long time, or being sent to a concentration camp if they are too close to each other accidentally; the other is to help expose each other— It's easier to denounce a stranger than a long-time roommate.

With a bang, the door was pushed open vigorously.The lights are bright, and every corner of the room is clearly visible.

"Get up! Check the dormitory!" Someone yelled loudly and knocked on the iron frame at the head of the bed, causing the dust on the ceiling to fall down.

At the same time, there were noisy voices everywhere in the corridor, accompanied by the chaotic footsteps, the clattering of keys, and the sudden ping-pong-pong sound of the door being opened, it sounded like many people broke into all the rooms at the same time , without giving anyone a buffer.

Qi Han and another soldier quickly jumped off the bed and stood at attention on the spot.

During this time, the person living with Qi Han was a young corporal.They hardly talked, and Qi Han only knew that his nickname was "Viking", because his ideal was to join the [-]th "Wiking" Panzer Division of the SS known for its bravery and combat skills.

There were three people who broke in, all wearing black standard trench coats with their collars turned up high, the collar badges on the uniforms inside could not be seen, and the eyes under the brim of their hats were like wolves and tigers.

One wears a metal ring studded with keys around his waist.One holds a black leather notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, like a judge in the underworld.Behind the two of them was another person, with empty hands but raised eyebrows.

Without saying a word, the "key ring" opened all the cabinet drawers in the room one by one, and then stood aside with hands down. "Hanging eyebrows and standing eyes" walked over in square steps, checking them one by one without haste. The "notebook" followed step by step, the black leather book in his hand had been opened, and the pen was copied in his hand, excitedly ready to record at any time.Once the name is entered in that notebook, it will be cared for from then on. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a death note.

Their inspection didn't last long.Both Qi Han and "Wei Jing" are examples of having nothing on their bodies, and there is not a single extra thing in the room.The three of them turned upside down, even removed the magazine of the rifle, but found nothing.

"Hengmei Limu" ​​walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, suddenly turned around and walked quickly to the bed, grabbed the corner of the bed sheet with both hands, and shook it vigorously like lifting a tablecloth, even the bedding and pillows fell on the bed with a clatter On the floor, there were only bare cushions on the bed. "Notebook" leaned over to check the bedding, and "Key Ring" hurried over to lift the mattress. "Hengmei Limu" ​​took off his gloves, and groped carefully along every crack in the bed board.According to this search method, even if a hair is hidden in the bed, it can be found.

There was a sudden "bang" from the next room, followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged across the ground.

"Wei Jing" and Qi Han kept standing still, looking straight ahead, as if they hadn't heard the ominous noise outside.

No prohibited items were found on the bed. "Hengmei Limu" ​​nodded vigorously, and even said a few words "Sehrgut! (very good)" I don't know if he was saying that the condition of this room is very good, or that they checked it well.

The three walked out. "Hanging eyebrows and standing eyes" glanced at the place where the uniform was hung, suddenly widened his eyes, walked forward, grabbed the unstitched epaulettes, turned around and shouted angrily: "Whose uniform is this? !"

"Viking" stepped forward: "Report sir, mine."

Before he finished speaking, he was slapped across the face with a "slap".Viking didn't even bat an eye.

"Don't you know the uniform regulations? It's a soldier's duty to keep the uniform clean! Fix it before dawn!"

"Yes, sir!"

After they left, the lights were turned off again. "Wei Jing" and Qi Han each groped in the dark to clean up the mess on the floor, and climbed back into bed.No one said anything, just waited silently until dawn.

As soon as the gray fish belly appeared in the east, "Viking" got up and sewed the loops of the uniform by the light of the window.

Seeing that Qi Han got up too, he turned his head and asked, "Sir, do you still have the line?"

This was the first time he spoke to Qi Han.It's not that he doesn't want to mend the tab, it's that he can't buy thread for sewing.The material supplies of the Third Reich have been stretched to such an extent that the army has already run out of food, and now it is almost out of clothes.

Qi Han opened his equipment bag.He was out of spools, too, but had some small safety pins left.He used these small safety pins to help the Vikings "sewn" the back of the epaulettes and the fabric at the shoulders together, the way aboriginals use ant-head bites to heal wounds.As long as you don't turn up the epaulets, you can't see it.

"Thank you." Viking paused, as if he wanted to search for more vocabulary, but this effort failed in the end, so he had to add another blunt "Thank you." People's vocabulary and emotions also began to change like materials. increasingly barren.

The bleak morning light shone on several corpses hanging high on the gallows in the street.These are the people who were executed by the Gestapo in public.

SS troops ran past under the gallows, the uniform numbness of every young face.

A passionate voice came from the loudspeaker at the head of the telegraph pole: "...For Europe, fight to the last man! Fight! Fight! Fight!!"

The staccato broadcast cut the end of "kampf" (battle) into a trembling sigh.Responding to such a call, the corpse on the gallows swayed in the mid-spring wind like the pendulum of a death knell.Huge, inaudible bells rang randomly through Fortress Hermann Göring, through the sky of Berlin, and through the last dusk of the "Thousand-Year Reich".