The desert, which can freeze to death at night, heats up quickly after the sun rises and returns to temperatures above freezing. But after all, it is winter now, and even at noon, the temperature is only 14 to 15 degrees Celsius.
But at least during the day, this is not a bad thing. At least the temperature is very suitable for traveling, and the burns on Pierre's legs are not easy to inflame.
But for Wei Ran and others, the real trouble was that the last mouthful of fresh water was given to Pierre who was still suffering from a high fever in the morning, but they did not find it until noon. The so-called 101st Armored Division has not even encountered any traces of humanity.
Looking at the fuel gauge of the three-wheeled motorcycle, Weiran gently stepped on the brakes and turned off the engine, "Carlo, Panetong, are you sure you can meet the 101st Division if you keep going south? We've been running all morning, but we haven't seen any ruts."
"Maybe the strong wind last night has wiped it out?" Panetong answered optimistically.
“Use your brain when you speak,” Carlo said while twirling the happy curls of his mustache on his lips. “There are thousands of armored divisions, even if the wind didn’t blow last night. "Young man, you shouldn't leave nothing behind."
"Did we go in the wrong direction?" Wei Ran once again asked a question he had asked countless times along the way.
"Maybe the 101st Division was too slow, and we had already crossed it before we reached the position." Like a repeater, Panetong recounted the previous few times A line he will definitely say after saying the same sentence.
"It's a pity that we don't have a map in our hands." Carlo sighed, "Let's take a rest."
"If I had known we would get lost, we should have surrendered last night." Panetong There was regret in his tone.
"It's too late to say this now." Carlo seemed to regret it as well. He walked toward the sand dunes not far away with a submachine gun and said, "I'll go check out the sand dunes in front. Maybe there are some nearby." Where's the oasis?"
"Do you want something to eat?" Panetong asked as he took out a tin can from the cargo bin.
"Forget it. Before we can find fresh water, there is no difference between eating those cans and poison."
Wei Ran was the first to refuse to eat those cans. He suggested that he carefully inspected the wound on Pierre's leg and saw that there was no sign of inflammation. Then he picked up an oil drum and filled up the three-wheeled motorcycle with fuel.
"Victor, what do you think about us going back now?" Panetong asked in a low voice, "You must still remember the road, right?"
"You You overestimated me."
Wei Ran screwed on the fuel tank cap. Yesterday, he was chased by a British armored reconnaissance vehicle for most of the night. If he could still run back the same way, he would probably have a long growth on his back. There are two humps.
Hearing this, Panetong looked at Pierre, who was still suffering from a high fever on the cargo hopper, and suddenly thought, "What if we use those fuel to light the fire?"Make a fire, remove the tires from the motorcycle and throw it in to emit some black smoke. Maybe someone will come to rescue us. "
"I think we should throw you in," Carlo came back with a submachine gun and cursed with a smile, "Without this motorcycle, we are really dead. ”
“How is the situation? "Wei Ran asked, leaning on the motorcycle.
Carlo shook his head, "Not very good"
"Maybe we go back," Panetong made a chicken paw gesture. He suggested again, "Even if we can't get back to Gubi Well, as long as we keep going north, we can at least reach the shore of the Mediterranean. As long as we can reach the sea, the most we can do is to be captured by the British." "
"It is also possible that the British will catch you halfway," Wei Ran reminded with a dumbfounded voice.
"Wouldn't that be better? Panetong asked as a matter of course.
To Wei Ran's surprise, Carlo even more naturally agreed to this suggestion that he thought was extremely nonsense, "In this case, let's set off now. Let's go back, as Panetong said, if we encounter the British, we will surrender. "
"Really go back? "Wei Ran asked in astonishment, was he running away last night in vain? Why do these Italians like to surrender more than the French?
"I'm afraid Pierre won't last long"
As Carlo said, he got on the motorcycle, "If it hadn't been too dark yesterday and I was worried about being beaten to death by the British, I would have been ready to surrender at that time. "
"I..."
Wei Ran suppressed the urge to slap the opponent, took the submachine gun handed by the opponent, stepped on the wheels and rolled into the cargo compartment. Since the two of them had already planned to surrender, he himself had no objection.
After Wei Ran and Panetong were seated, the motorcycle that had been running for most of the day started up again under Carlo's control. With their backs to the sun above their heads, they drove around the dunes and headed in the north direction.
On the way back, Carlo obviously did not follow the ruts left by the weiran. It was heading straight north, with the intention of rushing back as quickly as possible.
The hungry and thirsty people rode this hard-working three-wheeled motorcycle from noon until the sun went down, to Carlo. But he suddenly stepped on the brakes, and at the same time, Wei Ran also raised the submachine gun originally carried on his shoulder, and kicked Panetong awake beside him.
What made the two of them so vigilant was. But behind the sand dune of the one directly in front, there was an Italian-made CL39 light truck with a square head and a square head.
Just as Wei Ran pointed his gun at the opponent, at this square head. In the shadow on the side of the truck with a square head shaped like a van, there was a man in a German uniform pointing a gun at them.
"It seems to be one of ours"
Carlo. He signaled Wei Ran to put away his submachine gun, raised his hands and shouted, "We are from the Aries Armored Division, what about you? "
The one in the shadow of the front of the "101st Armored Division"The man walked out with a P38 pistol in his hand, pointed to the truck behind him, and said in blunt Italian, "At least this car and its driver belong to the 101st Armored Division."
"Aren't you?" Carlo put down his hands and walked forward and asked.
"I am Pell, the war correspondent of the German newspaper Vanguard. This is my ID."
As the other party spoke, he took out an ID card from his jacket pocket and handed it to him. Carlo, then looked at Wei Ran and Panetong walking over and asked strangely, "Why are you here? Wasn't the 132nd Armored Division sent to Gubi Well?"
"We While conducting reconnaissance on the front line, I was intercepted by the British and lost my way in order to escape their pursuit." Carlo returned his ID to the reporter named Pell, and then handed his own ID to the other party, "Why are you here too? Here? Wasn't the 101st Division also sent to Gubijing?"
Hearing this, reporter Pell had an undisguised look of ridicule on his face, "The 101st Division is going in the wrong direction. And if nothing else, the entire division is heading in the wrong direction."
"The entire division?" Carlo's eyes widened, "So the 101st Division is around here?"
< p>Pell shook his head and exchanged Carlo's ID. "We also got separated from the main force, and in the early morning, we encountered several British reconnaissance vehicles about ten kilometers away to the west, and we were with them. There was a firefight."Pell didn't notice the strange expressions on the faces of Wei Ran and others. He turned around and took them to the cargo box of the truck. He pointed at an Italian soldier lying inside and continued, "With the help of the armored vehicle protecting us, we eliminated one of the reconnaissance vehicles and captured a British soldier. But the truck driver was also injured and became separated from the armored vehicle protecting us. Now the fuel and water tanks are gone. Empty."
"What's your name? How are you doing?" Carlo climbed into the bed of the truck and asked the wounded man lying inside.
"Trento, I am Trento from the 80th Transport Company."
The pale wounded man opened the blanket covering his legs while speaking. Then everyone saw that his left leg was wrapped haphazardly with gauze. Dark red blood had soaked the gauze, and even the blanket was stained with blood.
"The bullet seems to be still stuck in his leg," Pell, who was standing at the back of the car, reminded with a headache. "We need to find a doctor who is good at surgery as soon as possible to help him remove the bullet."
Hearing this, Carlo and Panetong both looked at Weiran, who was currently looking at the inventory in the truck.
In addition to the wounded man named Trento, there was a Breda 35 20mm anti-aircraft gun in the carriage, as well as several boxes for ammunition and cans and two boxes with crosses printed on them. There was a medical box, and underneath Trento, there was obviously a whole layer of wooden boxes, but they were all covered with thick canvas, so there was no telling what they contained.
"Victor, can you perform surgery?" Panetong couldn't help but ask.
Hearing this, Wei Ran came to his senses, grabbed the edge of the cargo bed and climbed into the car, "Let me see what's in the medical kit first."
"He Is it a doctor?" German reporter Per asked Carlo who jumped out of the truck. < /p>
Reporter Pell glanced suspiciously at Wei Ran, who was rummaging through the medical kit. When he was about to say something, he heard Panetong ask, "Pell, you just said you still had prisoners. An Englishman? Where is he?"
"Under the car" Pell bent down and pointed to the chassis of the truck.
Carlo and Panetong looked in the direction he pointed, and then discovered a shirtless and gagged prisoner under the truck, with his hands separated and tied to the chassis.
"How did you two do it?" Panetong straightened up and asked in surprise.
"That anti-aircraft gun"
Pell pointed to the weapon in the cargo compartment with some pride, "We turned off the engine and hid behind a sand dune, waiting for the British to be protected. When our armored vehicle attracted attention, I used the anti-aircraft gun to blow up their reconnaissance vehicle, but when I pulled out the prisoner, Trento was shot in the thigh with a pistol."
"Where is the armored vehicle that protects you?" Panetong asked.
"He attracted the remaining British reconnaissance vehicles to run in other directions." Pell spread his hands, "If they are not in danger, maybe they can come back to us."
"Does he know the road?" Carlo asked, pointing to the prisoner under the chassis of the truck.
"Maybe" reporter Pell spread his hands, "but I don't know English, and the one under the chassis doesn't seem to know German or Italian."
"Alas!" Carlo He and Panetong sighed in unison, and the little hope they had just ignited suddenly turned into bubbles.