Chapter 355

With the will and motivation to fight, the morale of the French battalion suddenly changed.

This is actually easy to understand. It is almost the difference between active and passive... If you are forced to study or work, you will move when others urge you, and you will be absent from time to time. You will feel extremely disgusted if you don’t do your job well.

If you study and work actively, that is, you have the will and interest in learning and working, you will be engaged in it and not only do it well, but also enjoy it and don’t even feel tired.

Before this, the soldiers of the French battalion were forced to join the army. In order to maintain the family business and the lives of their families, they had to do so. In this case, of course, there would not be much combat effectiveness. Everyone would more or less think about how to survive a battle to save their lives, or even surrender to the British army.

As for the safety of their families and family businesses, they can indeed threaten them at ordinary times, but not many people will care about this when it comes to life and death. For example, Charles, who was on the verge of collapse in the tunnel, and the two deserters... They couldn’t even take care of themselves and were going crazy, so how could they consider other things?

This can be said to be a challenge to human nature, or an extreme test of their endurance.

The less motivated and willing they are, the easier it is to be eliminated in this test. For example, if Charles's position is very firm, that is, to stand on the side of Germany to win and then return home triumphantly to receive praise from his family, then he will not collapse.

His problem is that he is very conflicted inside. He is wavering between Germany and the Allies and constantly struggling with his thoughts, but he is helpless about the status quo and is finally crushed... In fact, Qin Chuan believes that most French soldiers were in the same situation at that time.

Now, when they know that Germany will win and "Fighting France" will not let them go, they finally put down all the contradictions and burdens and enter a proactive state.

"We have two targets!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said, "One is Gafsa Airport, where there are supplies airlifted by the British. The other is the bus station, which has been converted by them into a logistics supply base. All the supplies transported by transport ships to Tripoli and then transported by cars to Gafsa are concentrated here!"

"Then we have to act separately!" Baudouin said.

"Yes, you are in charge of the bus station, is there any problem?" Qin Chuan asked.

"No problem, sir!" Baudouin answered confidently.

After a pause, Baudouin added: "Thank you, sir!"

"Why thank me?" Qin Chuan was a little surprised.

"For everything!" Baudouin replied: "You trained us and took us to the battlefield, guided us to grow and have survival skills, which prevented us from waiting to die when facing the enemy... We should have known that they would not let us go!"

"Yes, they even regarded the Vichy government as traitors!"

"I heard that they are going to execute Pétain!"

"Of course they also had a share in the assassination of Darlan!"

...

Qin Chuan felt a little ashamed when he heard this. Although the liquidation of the Vichy government by "Fighting France" was true, and Pétain was indeed sentenced to death (later changed to life imprisonment), but...

"Also for this mission!" Baudouin continued: "I know that the mission of the bus station is easier to complete and easier to escape. Lieutenant, you always leave the more difficult and dangerous things to yourself!"

Baudouin is right about this.

On the surface, the bus station has more supplies and therefore a heavier task, but this is not the case.

Because the bus station has more supplies and the traffic is complicated, the French army can easily blend in to perform tasks, and even easily escape with the crowd in the chaos after completing the task.

But the airport... that is a defensive stronghold, and the only troops stationed there are the US military, which is more dangerous no matter from which angle.

"No, I'm not thinking about you!" Qin Chuan said, "I just want to meet the Americans and see what they can do!"

The French soldiers couldn't help laughing.

"And!" Qin Chuan continued, "There are still some people who have to go to the airport with me!"

"I'll go!"

"And me!"

"I also want to meet the Americans!"

...

Qin Chuan nodded, and this is what an army should look like.

The next day in the tunnel, Qin Chuan assigned detailed tasks and verbally rehearsed them over and over again in the tunnel... The so-called verbal rehearsal is a kind of rehearsal method in which the commander issues instructions at a certain time when the conditions are limited and the real rehearsal cannot be carried out.

Its effect is obviously not as good as actual combat rehearsal, but it is worse than a mess.

However, this is not a big problem.

The reason is that the French battalion has not completed the training in principle at this time, so the commander is still the "instructor", that is, according to the German army's organization, the platoon leader of each platoon and the company commander of each company are German soldiers. It's just that each platoon and company has selected soldiers with outstanding organizational and commanding abilities as assistants and quasi-commanders, so there is not much difficulty in commanding.

Qin Chuan divided the troops into two groups... The French battalion has a total of four companies, each with about 150 people.

So two companies were led by Baudouin, who cooperated with the baker to infiltrate and attack the bus station, and the other two companies were led by Qin Chuan, who was responsible for the airport together with Werner.

Then, Qin Chuan asked people to dig out boxes of British equipment from the warehouse, including military uniforms... These were prepared before the tunnel was blocked. Of course, the French soldiers had no idea what was in the boxes.

Baudouin asked Qin Chuan: "Lieutenant, we have been planning to do this for a long time, right?"

"Of course!" Qin Chuan replied: "It's just that Colonel Slaine has always thought that this won't work, because they don't believe you can complete this task, so they once wanted to cancel it. What do you think?"

"No!" Baudouin replied: "We will prove Colonel Slaine wrong!"

"Yes!" Another French soldier said: "We won't miss this opportunity. The people of 'Fighting France', including the British, will know that we are not easy to mess with!"

"Very good!" Qin Chuan nodded and said: "Remember, after putting on this uniform, you are the troops of 'Fighting France'!"

"Yes, sir!" Baudouin replied.

"Good luck to you!"

"Good luck to you!"

...

The French soldiers wished each other well, and some of them handed written letters to the soldiers who stayed in the tunnel, saying: "If I can't come back, give this letter to my family and tell them that I tried my best!"

Seeing this scene, Qin Chuan became more confident about this mission.