bookrandom Chapter 278 D-DAY and Giant Panda
Chapter 278 D-DAY and Giant Panda
Tuesday, June 6, 1945, the Grain in Ear in the Moonlight.
The day Operation Overlord was launched was also known as D-Day.
发国当地时间凌晨02:00点，一条侧舷编号LCT-636号的LCT坦克登陆艇上，3辆除下外罩防水帆布的M4A1型谢尔曼中型坦克在月光的照耀下，安静的跟随着艇身一起摇晃。
Sherman DD amphibious tanks that had undergone amphibious modifications and could swim ashore on their own (the author mentioned the picture at the end of the chapter) were ultimately a minority. The vast majority of M4 Shermans still had to rush directly to the beach in landing craft like the infantry.
Under the light of the full moon, Lieutenant Weller, the tank platoon leader leaning against the side of the ship, lit a Camel cigarette and looked across at the endless sea.
Hidden behind the darkness is the Atlantic Wall built by the Nazis of the Third Reich.
Although his superiors repeatedly emphasized that the guards of this iron barrier were all old, weak, sick, and disabled infantry divisions and Eastern Battalions that had retreated from the Eastern Front, the feeling of anxiety always lingered in Lieutenant Weller's heart.
In order to ensure the smooth launch of the landing operation, the breakfast time that day was advanced to 1 a.m.
Because of the upcoming battle and considering that this would be the last meal in the lives of many officers and soldiers, the food that day was unusually rich.
However, when I think of the various threats I might encounter after landing - MG42 machine guns, 88mm anti-aircraft guns, 75mm PAK40 anti-tank guns, anti-tank grenades, anti-tank rocket launchers, anti-tank mines, anti-tank dragon teeth...
Lieutenant Weller was so worried that he found it difficult to eat any food.
Shipwreck, anchoring, vehicle getting stuck, mechanical failure, accidentally crushing accompanying infantry brothers, countless bad possible futures unfolded before Lieutenant Weller's eyes. He asked himself, could he really lead his brothers to survive?
"Hey, boss, relax..." The voice of Corporal Sean, the gunner of vehicle No. 3 'Texas Pretty Widow', brought Weller back to his senses.
"Go on!" As Sean shouted, a black shadow flew over quickly.
Weller casually threw the burnt cigarette butt in his hand into the sea, turned around and caught the black shadow accurately.
This feels like canned food?
In the moonlight, Weller looked down and saw a cute black and white giant panda grinning at him on the outer wrapping of the tin can in his hand.
"Panda brand canned fruit? This is top quality stuff. Where did you get it?"
"I spent two cartons of Camel cigarettes on this from Mike." Sean walked over to Weller and lit a cigarette. "I was planning to use this can of cigarette to find a beautiful girl to have sex with once we got to Paris. You know, I'm tired of all these John women."
"But since I saw you didn't eat anything just now, I decided to give it to you," Sean said with a playful smile. "This thing is sour and sweet, and it will make you relax a lot."
"You should spend less energy on women's bellies." Thinking of Hyde Park, the foggy city that has become a nightclub (the White Eagle soldiers left behind 180 million illegitimate children), Weller said angrily.
Lieutenant Weller, who is over 30 years old, is different from his subordinates who are energetic and harm John's women every day. He had a family and children in the country before joining the army, so he has a firm grip on his belt.
However, he also knew that there were too few people like him who were clean and self-disciplined in the White Eagle Army.
Thinking about all this, Weller felt a lot more relaxed. He pulled out his dagger and directly stabbed open the can of Panda brand pineapple imported from Pegu. He smiled and said to Sean, "Anyway, thanks. I'm a little hungry."
Weller used a dagger to poke out a piece of golden peeled pineapple ring, took a bite, and felt the juice overflowing.
Compared with the canned Spam luncheon meat or bitter chocolate in the field rations, which were known as the "spiritual meat", the various canned fruits exported to White Eagle by Zhang Chi through his network of connections in the Pentagon quickly captured the tongues and hearts of the White Eagle soldiers.
As a supplementary ration similar to wine, tea and cola, Panda brand canned fruit quickly became a "holy product" traded privately in the military due to its diverse fruit varieties and generous use of sugar.
That's right, after using the industrial production line exchange coupons to exchange for a 60s corn syrup production line from the system, sugar, an absolutely strategic material, became an easily available commodity in Pegu.
Compared with sucrose, which requires growing sugarcane and going through a series of processes to produce, corn syrup, which can be mass-produced by fermenting corn starch, is not only low-cost, but also contains sufficient calories per weight. It is also easy to produce and can be manufactured on a large scale industrially.
In order to prevent the people under his rule from becoming fat and suffering from diabetes in the future, Zhang Chi took the lead in requiring that corn syrup could only be used in export products.
And considering that foreigners, especially white people, are very fond of sweet things, Zhang Chi specifically reminded several food processing factories not to use the taste of Chinese people as a reference, and to add sugar until it feels choking.
(This is a true story. If you have ever eaten foreign donuts or other desserts, you will know that they contain a lethal amount of sugar and sweetness.)
Although the factories below did not understand this, since the entire Nanhua Group of companies was basically controlled by Zhang Chi, the boss's orders were final, so the workers could only add corn syrup against their will.
Who would have thought that the Panda brand, which uses the giant panda as its trademark, would quickly become popular in the market once it was launched.
Whether they are the Russian bear soldiers in the high latitudes, trapped in the ice and snow, or the white eagle soldiers on the small islands in the Pacific rainforest, the Panda brand canned fruit with the "black and white bear head" pattern has become their favorite.
Even the Hans and Japanese soldiers who were under blockade and short of supplies considered it a major event worth celebrating to be able to seize a can of Panda brand canned fruit.
In this way, the panda, an animal that has a special relationship with Chinese people all over the world, quickly became popular all over the world along with Panda brand canned fruit.
Especially for soldiers on the battlefields of World War II, almost everyone knew the legend of the black and white bear. After all, after a day of fighting, the refreshing feeling of drinking a can of sugar water filled with corn syrup is really something that cannot be explained to outsiders.
On LCT-636, Weller, with an empty stomach, slurped down the entire can, then tilted his head back and swallowed the remaining syrup. Only then did he wipe his mouth with his sleeve in satisfaction.
He carefully tore off the wrapping paper from the can, placed the cute panda head solemnly in his breast pocket, and prayed silently:
"God bless you, Panda bless you, everything goes well on the landing..."