Calvus did not feel lucky that he was about to return to his hometown with meritorious service. At the moment when the all-out war was in full swing, even his hometown at the rear had no stable place to live.
Going home, this word that countless soldiers fighting life and death on the front line yearn for, now is just a change of place to continue to experience a different war-torn purgatory.
"Sometimes I even feel doubtful and puzzled. Didn't we join this war to prevent our motherland from suffering another loss of life and misfortune? If that is the case, then what does it mean now? We have paid so much. So much, and enduring unimaginable suffering, did we get such a result? The borders between the front line and the rear have been completely erased. I really don’t know what the meaning of this is."
"..."
In normal times, Major Schwerner would have severely criticized Calvus, and would never tolerate his company commander saying such stupid things that demoralized and shook the morale of the army.
But now, Karl has received permission to return to China and is about to set off with honors and awards.
At least the frontline war would be far away from him. Major Schwerner did not expect that at this time, he would be too harsh on a subordinate who had sacrificed so much for the war and only risked his own life.
In terms of the results of the battle at Marinovo Village, Karvus commanded his company to indeed achieve an incredibly strong record, and the battle loss ratio reached an astonishing level.
Yes, it's amazing.
The new steel monsters in the hands of those Russians are so difficult to deal with that the 502nd Battalion has never had any success in the past against these monsters with strong armor and powerful guns.
It is common to lose two King Tigers to destroy an IS6 with a 2:1 battle loss. If you can inflict a 1:1 battle loss on these terrible monsters, it will be even more worthy of bragging and amazing. Like Karvus, who The victory with less, the weak defeated the strong, and the victory of more than a dozen Russian IS6s and several new medium tanks with a numerical disadvantage was indeed very exciting.
Even though this was at the expense of half of the elite vehicle crews of the 502nd Battalion being killed at once, from a tactical perspective, this was still a valuable victory.
This also explains another important reason why Calvus suffered such huge losses but was not punished in any way.
At least in the eyes of the big shots above, if you can defeat the elite Russians with less than the majority, that is victory. Especially since the reputation of this elite Russians is still well-known among the front-line troops and can scare the shit out of rookies and recruits. This victory with heavy losses was even more precious and hard-won.
At least, this incident finally gave the National Defense Forces the capital to boost morale and publicize it, and make great efforts to produce propaganda materials to make a big splash.
Compared with a wide range of morale improvement and boosting military morale, what is the loss of a few King Tigers and a few crews? From the perspective of war economics, this loss is absolutely cost-effective. Those "slightly polished" Promotional materials are definitely good "task rewards".
Thinking of the above twists and turns and the various derived complications, Major Schwerner, who felt overwhelmed, just shook his head, and then spoke softly to Calvus again.
"At least we are preventing the Russians from spreading the war to our own territory. There is an essential difference between fighting on their territory and fighting on our territory. This is the significance of what we are doing now."
"..."
Kalvus could not deny the correctness of Major Schwerner's words, but on the other hand, he was also thinking that this was not asking for trouble. If he had known this, why would he have done it in the first place? If he had not launched this inherently unjust crime,
Wouldn't a war of aggression be enough? If Germany already owns the whole of Europe, does it still have to capture something indispensable?
Calvus couldn't understand, but after thinking about it, these things were not something he could decide, so there was no need to think about it any further, and he felt relieved.
"Honestly, I think it is unlikely that you will retire at this point. The certificate and transfer order approved for you this time are just for you to return to China to recuperate. Like other people in your situation, they will come with the retirement documents."
While he was still meditating, he heard Major Schwerner's sudden words. Calvus, who looked puzzled, didn't think much about it and asked directly.
"Why do you say that? I'm already like this, a useless person. Aren't those generals still willing to let me go? I still have value, and now I'm a burden wherever I go."
Hearing Calvus's self-deprecating words, Major Schwerner paused for a moment, then thought about it for a moment and then expressed his guess.
"If you don't have a retirement document, it means you have to continue serving in the National Defense Forces. This is certain."
"You have difficulty writing without your right hand. Civilian work is definitely not suitable for you. It is even more impossible to continue fighting. There are no commanders on the front who are missing arms and legs and still insist on fighting. Maybe there are some among the Russians, who knows?"
"But let me tell you, I guess you will be assigned a position like an instructor after you return to China to recover from your injury. You are now a well-known star and Germany's top armored ace. The publicity offensive after this time will definitely be extraordinary.
Guess how Dr. Goebbels will promote your glorious deeds? In fact, it’s not bad at all, right?”
"Instructors in the army or teaching students are all the work of armored soldiers anyway. There is a shortage of experienced ace instructors like you in the rear. If I were one of those generals, I would not let you go back to your pension.
There's so much more you can do, Carl."
"...."
I deliberately said that I didn’t want to do this job, but then I thought about it, it’s not something I can control. Even if I explicitly expressed my “protest”, it would probably be in vain. This kind of thing is beyond my control. Since I can’t resist, then
It would be more appropriate to think about how to accept it calmly and calmly. When Calvus reached this position, he no longer insisted on so many details.
Although it was true that he was about to leave to return to his country, Calvus still had some things that he was worried about. He needed to explain clearly to Major Schwerner face to face before leaving, some things that might really be serious.
"There's something I think I have to remind you one more time before I leave. If I don't take advantage of your chance to see me this time, I'm afraid I won't have the chance to see you again before I leave."
Calvus seemed a little hesitant and tangled, as if he had something serious in mind that he wanted to say but didn't know where to start or how to say it better.
"The enemy we have provoked this time is not simple, Schwaner. I don't know what the Russian guy will do next, but I'm sure the steel butcher will be very unhappy now."