Chapter 1041: The Cabin

In a quiet little town on the outskirts of Rome, everyone was busy with their own work. Yesterday, in Naples, Garibaldi had announced that he was officially replacing Mussolini, and the King of Italy had declared his support for Marshal Garibaldi to succeed his predecessor as the new leader of Italy.

The new Italian leader, upon taking power, had immediately begun to hunt for Mussolini and had announced that Italy would remain in the Axis to contribute its strength to the Greater European Union. After his declaration, a wave of support had immediately swept through Italy, and the turmoil had ended in just three days. The farce of Italy’s withdrawal from the Axis, along with the dissipation of the gunfire from the fierce battle in Rome, had been brought to a complete close.

Suddenly, the dogs in the small town’s streets began to bark wildly at the distance, on and on without end. The dog’s owner tried to stop his pet from making such an annoying fuss, but it had no effect. He looked up and saw, in the sky not far away, a black dot that was rapidly approaching.

Soon, the roar of an engine came from the sky. A German Odin helicopter hovered over a barren patch of land on the edge of the small town, and then it slowly descended, finally landing in this inconspicuous open space. The helicopter had no cabin doors, and the seven or eight German soldiers riding inside, clutching their weapons, jumped out.

“Hello!” The wind from the helicopter’s rotor was so strong that the German officer who had walked over had to squint, his expression not very pleasant, as he began to question the local Italian. His Italian was very pure, and he sounded just like a local.

“Hello…” This Italian farmer, who was standing by the side of the open space with a hoe, looked at this German officer, and at the special forces soldiers behind him with their weapons slung across their chests, and his speech was a little faltering. After all, he had rarely seen Italian soldiers, and even if he had, he had never seen such a shocking entrance.

“Excuse me, have any strange people passed through this small town recently? For example, have they done anything strange, like buying a house or a car?” this German officer shouted, having to raise his voice over the noisy engine.

The other man shook his head and pointed in the direction of the small town. “I haven’t met any. If you want to confirm, there are some rich people in the town who have come to escape the chaos. I think they might know more.”

The German officer nodded, then signaled to the helicopter behind him to shut down its engine and wait for them. Two German soldiers were left behind to guard the aircraft, and the rest followed the German officer into the village. They were under orders to investigate Mussolini’s escape route. After all, a day had already passed, and the search area of these units was already quite large, so the German military had brought in helicopters, hoping to find the missing Mussolini as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, they quickly got all the information they wanted. The local people did not deliberately protect their former leader. They had, with great ease, sold out Mussolini’s movements to the German pursuers. An Italian businessman, in a suit and tie, who at a glance was quite successful, received the inquiring German officer in his courtyard. He quickly answered the other’s question. “A day ago, a disheveled man with some stains on his clothes came to me to buy a car. You know, I couldn’t confirm his identity. He gave me the price of two cars, so I had no reason to refuse the deal… In fact, I am a pro-German Italian, so I am willing to tell you everything I know.”

Italy was short on gasoline. At least during Mussolini’s reign, Italy’s gasoline resources were very scarce. The Italian navy and air force had always been troubled by the lack of fuel, and in the civilian population, only a portion of the rich could afford to use this high-grade consumable.

So when this Italian businessman had, very cleverly, remembered that there was not much gasoline in his car, and had suggested that the Germans who were chasing these fugitives should go to the towns within a hundred kilometers and ask around carefully, and that they might be able to find the trail of this group, the German officer had politely taken his leave.

Soon, the helicopters that the Germans had scattered around Rome were gathered and began a more targeted search. The increase in density and the confirmation of the direction had suddenly made the pursuit twice as effective. Just a few hours later, a German helicopter had discovered the abandoned car in a field. Soon, they had found two decoys who had split off to flee, to divert the pursuers’ attention.

These two Blackshirts were very stubborn. After being surrounded, they had chosen to commit suicide rather than be captured. But their deaths had not bought much time for Mussolini. After all, the German special forces were very experienced in this area of searching.

Soon, hunting dogs were brought in, and several thousand Italian soldiers, loyal to Marshal Garibaldi, also came to assist in the search. The huge encirclement was drawn tighter and tighter, and the prey inside was being discovered and tracked more andB. Mussolini could not possibly escape alone. From another perspective, if he had escaped alone, then he would have truly lost all his value.

“Let’s not run anymore… I said it when we were in Rome, let’s just not run, shall we?” Mussolini was huddled in a small cabin in the woods. On the floor lay the original owner of this cabin. The body was still somewhat warm, because this unlucky fellow had, just a short while ago, tried to drive away these uninvited guests who had fled here.

Now there were only three people left with Mussolini. The army colonel was at this moment holding a pistol, leaning against the window and watching the distant sky. It had been two days. The German helicopters in the sky had been following them like a shadow, which had greatly affected their speed of movement. The German encirclement was getting tighter and tighter, which made him, who was now the de facto core of this small group of refugees, feel more and more uneasy.

“As long as we can evade one more German search, we can escape,” the colonel said, looking at Mussolini’s attendant, who was trembling, holding a shotgun that had been hanging on the wall. His voice was dry. “We’ll just stay here. As long as they don’t find us, we can continue south to Catanzaro… I have a relative there who can hide us for at least a year.”

“But they have hunting dogs, and a lot of people are guarding the edge of the forest. We saw it with our own eyes that day…” the attendant said, his voice trembling. “They will search here soon. This is just a small cabin. Where are we going to hide?”

Before the colonel could answer this question, the roar of an engine came from the sky. A German helicopter passed by, and the German soldiers on board looked down from the open side doors, as if they were looking for something. It was a good thing that this small cabin was covered in moss and its color was very similar to the surroundings. Otherwise, this group of fugitives, who had been hiding all over the place, might have been completely exposed.

Everyone had a tacit understanding and stopped talking. They waited until the helicopter was far away before the colonel finally spoke slowly, his voice laced with dejection. “We’ll just hide in this room and see if we can last until night. If they can’t find us during the day, I think it will be easier to break out at night.”

The four of them fell silent. The Blackshirt soldier bowed his head and checked the magazine of the submachine gun he was carrying. He hadn’t had much chance to fire on the way, so he still had plenty of bullets left. The attendant was holding the hunter’s long gun. He didn’t have much ammunition, only a dozen rounds or so, but he was already very satisfied. After all, he hadn’t even had a weapon to defend himself with on the way.

The colonel had a small, exquisite pistol in his hand. This was his weapon. Unfortunately, he was almost out of bullets now. He couldn’t be bothered to check, and after filling the magazine with a few rounds, he just threw the rest in his pocket. After all, he only needed to save one bullet for himself. That would be enough.

The Almighty God did not give them any more time to struggle. The quiet atmosphere had put the colonel on alert. He knew that this small cabin might have already been discovered, so he jerked his head at his Blackshirt subordinate. The other quickly understood, stood up, and cautiously approached the window, trying to get a look at the situation outside.

Crack! A gunshot rang out, piercing the wooden cabin’s window frame. This unlucky Blackshirt soldier didn’t even get a clear look at what his enemy looked like before he was killed by the other’s shot. His soul was torn from his body in that instant, leaving only a heavy shell. It fell to the floor of the wooden cabin with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Ah!” Mussolini screamed in terror, and the attendant, holding the shotgun, fired wildly at the window. The shotgun’s blast was powerful, shattering the glass with one shot. The broken glass then fell with a clatter, some of it even landing on the body of the Blackshirt who was lying on the ground.

Crack! The colonel stuck his gun out the window and, without even knowing what he was aiming at, pulled the trigger. He was just a high-ranking officer loyal to Mussolini. To ask him, who rarely fired a gun all year round, to fight against a group of German special forces, that was a real joke.

The door was kicked open from the outside, and two German soldiers dived to the ground, rolling into the small cabin. They were holding long-barreled MP-44 assault rifles, and behind them were two other soldiers who were covering them.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! Without giving the people in the room any time to react, these dark muzzles all spat bright tongues of fire. The colonel’s chest was immediately turned into a sieve, and the attendant with the shotgun was also hit by a volley of bullets.

“Ah! Ah!” Mussolini, who was lying on the ground, holding his head, was still screaming in terror.

“We’ve got him!” A German officer at the door glanced at the scene inside and reported into his walkie-talkie.

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