Chapter 984: In Their Songs

The old Norwegian man, carrying a small and delicate pistol, followed behind a young man. They were the best-equipped resistance group in the vicinity, and also the trump card the Americans truly relied on.

A month ago, they had begun to secretly clear mines in a minefield laid by the Germans, digging the dangerous mines out of the earth. They only moved a small part of the area at a time, and retreated as soon as the sun rose, so that they had, without anyone noticing, cleared out a hidden path for a sneak attack.

And so these saboteurs were now advancing along this secret path that had not been discovered by the Germans, without encountering any German resistance at all. Now, the resistance fighters from all four corners were struggling to get close to the mining area targets, attracting a large number of German troops. This had also given them an opportunity, allowing them to walk all the way to a place so close to the core without any obstruction.

The dense sound of gunfire came from the distance. The unique sound of the German machine guns echoed in the night sky, the heart-rending screams of those who had been shot and had fallen, and the angry commands of the German commanders. Before the American planes had even arrived, this place had already fallen into a state of chaos.

The deep night here was no longer silent, and the dawn would definitely not arrive quietly. The combat quality of the German army had already exceeded the imagination of all the resisters. After the initial brief chaos, the German army had already begun to encircle and annihilate these resisters, who in normal times looked no different from civilians, in an orderly manner.

The phone in the command post rang. General von Kleist picked up the receiver. The voice of a report came from the other end of the line. “Heil Führer! General, sir, we have already stopped most of the saboteurs who were trying to storm the iron ore processing plant and the mines. The firefight is still ongoing, but the situation will soon be under control! We have an absolute advantage in both numbers and equipment! Please rest assured!”

On the other side, a call had also come in from the radar station. After crossing the coastal destroyer’s radar detection warning line, the American planes were rapidly approaching the Norwegian coastline. “General Kesselring, the American planes are approaching. The radar shows a large-scale American aircraft formation is approaching. The number exceeds 100!”

“Radar station Helfa 5 has detected the target. The American air group formation has already approached the absolute defense circle! All anti-aircraft gun positions, prepare to fire!” The German ground anti-aircraft gun position command groups, having received the early warning, all picked up the phones in front of them and began to contact the fixed anti-aircraft gun positions that had been set up earlier.

In the sky above, the American pilots in their bumping planes had also entered a state of high alert. All the weapon operators had gone to their stations, using the blurry silhouettes to identify the surrounding scenery. They were flying in the clouds and could not see the ground below them at all. At this very moment, they had already crossed the Norwegian coastline and had flown from the sea into the interior.

“Judging by our course! We should already be over Norway! All planes prepare for air combat! Turn on the combat indicator lights, all weapons armed! Watch out for the enemy’s anti-aircraft guns! Maintain formation! Do not break up! Repeat command! You must maintain formation, do not break up!” In the headset, the captain suddenly broke radio silence and gave the order to prepare for battle.

A machine gunner stood at his position, feeding the ammunition belt into the machine gun. He then took out a silver cross from the collar of his leather jacket, kissed it, and began to murmur a prayer. It was clear he was very nervous, because this was his first time in combat.

In the dim moonlight, one after another of the thick barrels of the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns pointed straight at the sky. These 128mm ultimate anti-aircraft weapons, after a long and patient wait, had finally found their prey. With one after another of short, powerful commands, these cannons rapidly adjusted their direction, aiming their dark muzzles at the direction from which the Americans were coming.

BOOM! The anti-aircraft gun position deployed near the coastal defense artillery position suddenly opened fire. The huge roar carried far, far away. After a brief, bright flash, this anti-aircraft gun position was quickly submerged in a patch of darkness. But before the area around this anti-aircraft gun had completely darkened, another cannon next to it let out its own roar.

The huge shell casing was ejected from the chamber by the gun’s recoil mechanism, which had been pulled to its limit. With a crisp clang, it fell onto the concrete base below the cannon. Before the gun’s barrel had completely returned to its original position, the German gunners had already rammed a new shell into the chamber.

The skilled gunners immediately closed the breech, and then this cannon once again spewed a brilliant flame into the sky. The German air defense units had designed an assisted loading system for their cannons, which allowed this weapon to be reloaded at a very high speed when firing at an aerial target, achieving an astonishing rate of fire.

As the American bombers became more numerous and flew deeper and deeper into Norwegian airspace, more and more of the German anti-aircraft gun positions began to attack these uninvited guests. Because the current production of the radio proximity fuze was still very limited, only a small number of these shells had been committed to battle in Norway.

A shell exploded near an American bomber, and the firelight illuminated all the nearby American planes. Taking advantage of this brief moment of brightness, the American gunner on the side of the fuselage got a clear look at just how massive his own plane formation was. In an instant, he felt that there was no target he could not destroy, and no opponent that could stand up to such a massive force.

On the distant ground, the German anti-aircraft gun position commander, who was observing the sky with his binoculars, saw a different scene. He personally witnessed an American plane being hit in the fuselage by an anti-aircraft shell, spinning and burning as it plunged towards the ground.

Another plane’s engine had been hit by the shrapnel from a shell and had burst into a raging fire. Although this plane did not yet show any signs of crashing, from the burning firelight, it was judged that it would definitely not be able to fly back to the distant Iceland base. The German anti-aircraft guns were still firing tirelessly, while the American planes continued to advance towards their targets.

“Hearts formation! Follow your leader and break formation! Carry out the mission to bomb the steel factory! Spades formation! Maintain your course, your target is the meritorious mine! Diamonds formation… my God! 7 has been shot down! They’ve been shot down! Diamonds formation, immediately head south to bomb the port. Clubs formation, correct course 17 degrees, follow me! Follow me!” In the American pilots’ headsets, one order after another was given. The huge flight formation began to break up, heading for their assigned targets.

“Lower altitude! Lower altitude! Watch the dark areas below! Our target should have a five-pointed star-shaped illumination marker on its west side! Look for it! Look for it!” the commander of the leading American bomber formation ordered, while turning his head to look for the marker on the ground.

“According to the navigator’s instructions, we should already be over the target, Major! But it’s completely dark here! We haven’t found the target! We haven’t found the bombing target!” a pilot in another plane complained loudly over the radio.

As more and more of the German 88mm anti-aircraft guns joined the anti-aircraft firing sequence, the losses of the American planes also began to rise in a straight line. Several B-17 bombers were hit in the fuselage and, trailing a large fire, plunged towards the ground in the night sky, and then crashed into the rolling Norwegian mountains, turning into a pile of burning debris.

A Norwegian worker in a factory dormitory,趴在 (leaning on) the window, watched the balls of fire constantly rising in the sky. He walked silently to the side of his bed. He lit his bedsheet with a match and then, facing the flames in his own home, he began to sing the Norwegian national anthem, which he had not hummed in a long time, at the top of his lungs.

Watching the firelight from the dormitory opposite, another female worker also struck a match and set fire to her favorite curtains. Her slightly pale face was illuminated by the red firelight, and the British workers next door also began to hum the familiar “God Save the King.”

This was not a concentration camp, after all. The treatment was much better. You needed matches to smoke in the dormitory area, and you needed matches to cook. Naturally, there were too many things that could be burned to show the way for this American bombing raid. Who would have thought that these free workers, who usually lived in relatively good conditions, would at a time like this raise the banner of resistance? One after another of beautiful shirts, bedsheets with clusters of flowers, curtains, and even houses were directly set on fire with gasoline. In short, in a chorus of singing, the people here lit everything they could find.

“Stop them! Stop these fools!” a German soldier standing below the dormitory area shouted, having heard the sobbing songs. He heard the sound of chairs smashing windows, he saw the firelight pouring out of the windows… but what he probably didn’t know was that from the sky, the firelight here had already merged into one, a spectacular sight.

“Open fire! Take some men up! Put out the fire!” a German officer roared in a rage to his men. “All the prisoners of war and workers in the entire camp, shoot them all! Sound the battle alarm! Go! Go!”

After he had finished shouting, he looked up at the approaching American bombers and muttered, “It’s over! It’s all over now! These damn bastards, don’t they want to live? Damn it! Contact General von Kleist immediately! The situation here is out of control! The workers… they’ve all rebelled!”

As he spoke, this officer drew the pistol from his waist. “Don’t let a single one go! Kill all targets! Follow me!” Behind him, the Wehrmacht soldiers answered him with the sound of working the bolts of their rifles.

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