Reading a couple of pages using Amazon's preview feature… It might not be just the cover (which, in a more positive light, does seem like it allows one to judge the book by it).
For an unknown author marketing is important (and for this book putting it in the shops at airports, railway station where people just want some 3h entertainment). So I think you shouldn't self publish but sell it through a publisher who has access to these channels.
https://blondyn.com/lolpop.html
I actually randomly started adopting a very similar reading model with my short story series just yesterday, though with incorporating ~ 3 ad units per short story.
I’ve thought about testing this out for a bit, & while the idea of “inline-ads” sounds way-distracting, it does somewhat fit in with the “Pop Art” style literature of these short stories
Any feedback / critique super appreciated
Thanks for the heads up, though, will choose a new link color tomorrow
5tefan noted a few issues I agree with. There is a lot happening there, but you're not giving the reader much to hold on to. Bauer getting shot by the SS officer is a means to establish his ruthlessness, but at this point the reader doesn't have much to actually care about poor Bauer — perhaps I could care a little if he shared a piece of chocolate with Werner at a stop earlier and related a short anecdote about his bucolic yet blissful childhood in the Rheinland-Pfalz helping at his uncle's vineyard (note that I am not a writer, this may not be good advice). The execution scene also feels overwrought. Lange seems to care about fulfilling his mission above all, and time seems of the essence, so why would this ruthless man waste time on a nobody like Bauer? He might as well have kicked him aside, sending him tumbling down into a ditch and left for dead and thrust the torch into Werner's hands (or perhaps his right-hand goon would have done so automatically) with a good deal of «Verdammt noch mal!» leaving the fatigued Wehrmacht privates and non-coms to carry on, unable to disobey their leader and leaving poor Bauer to his lot.
Also, starting with 'Alps' is like saying 'Texas'; it's a huge area spanning eight countries, and at this stage of the war it matters where they (roughly) are. I would expect something like 'Alps, somewhere near Saalfelden' or less specific 'The Bavarian Alps'.
I can't say if the story itself is good or bad (it has something of an Agatha Christie feel in terms of plot, which is not a bad vibe to have), but your prose looks like it needed a stern professional editor. Did you have one or did you rely solely on test reader feedback?
Bear in mind that by writing and actually publishing a novel you are already a better writer than I am (a mere humble reader), and anything you'll write after this will likely be better than what you've written before.