Early the next morning, the German army began to prepare firepower for the British Expeditionary Force's positions.
Maybe the heavy artillery hasn't caught up yet, and the German artillery fire is not as fierce as Second Lieutenant Jack imagined before, but the defensive positions that the British army reinforced overnight last night are also quite unreliable. What's more terrible is that although the British army has experienced hundreds of battles,
But I have never had the experience of fighting another modern army - the Russians did not have the habit of preparing for long-term artillery fire in the Balkans. They always rushed forward with a bang and shouted "Ula".
Therefore, none of the commanders of the British troops thought of asking the troops to withdraw from their positions to avoid the artillery fire.
The trenches, which were not deep, were of no use in the face of the German artillery fire. The British soldiers were blown away. Multiple artillery shells over 12 pounds fell continuously around Second Lieutenant Jack. The sergeant who had been accompanying him in yesterday's battle directly
He was blown to pieces and his human form was gone. Jack held his head and huddled at the bottom of the trench, howling with fear - otherwise, fear would have crushed him completely.
No one noticed the second lieutenant's gaffe, because everyone else in the trench was basically in the same state. The most calm one turned out to be the chaplain. This Welshman was holding a Bible in his hand, sitting in the trench and reciting sentences from the Old Testament.
The German bombardment lasted for an hour and a half. When the sound of the artillery faded, Jack got up and counted the number of troops, and found that the number of soldiers under his command had been reduced by half. The condition of other troops who had been reinforced last night also looked very bad.
, but the figures of the machine gunners who were pulling the "Black Pig" out of the mud gave Jack confidence.
Yesterday, only volleys of guns were used to make the Germans retreat, and today there are machine guns. It will be okay - the young second lieutenant comforted himself, and at the same time reached out to touch the glasses in his pocket.
It'll be okay.
Jack put on his glasses, then glanced at the machine gunners who were installing the machine guns in place, and continued to comfort himself: After what happened yesterday, I have nothing to be afraid of.
At this time, whistles came from the forest a few hundred yards in front of the position, and then the German soldiers in black walked out of the forest, patting the skirmish line.
"When the Germans attacked, they also blew the whistle." Jack murmured in a low voice. He also had a small silver whistle in his pocket, which was specially used to issue commands to start the attack before attacking.
Jack stuck his head out to observe the German formation, but a Mauser 98 bullet from a German special shooter penetrated his head.
**
At the same time that French's expeditionary force, Lanrezac's French army and Germany's two strongest armies were fighting together, Foch's large-scale attack also began - compared with this attack, the previous two
The attack can only be regarded as a probing attack.
Foch's goal was just as she said that night after confirming the true intention of the German army, which was to break through the frontal German defense line and recapture Strasbourg. Then turn north and advance towards the Ruhr area, the heart of German heavy industry. The French army also had
For the French, the biggest advantage of the plan to cross Belgium to attack Germany is that after defeating it, they will directly break into Germany's most important heavy industrial area and destroy the Ruhr area. Germany's war potential will no longer be feared.
But later British intervention prompted the French high command to abandon this attractive plan.
Now Foch was preparing to achieve his goal of capturing the Ruhr area through another means.
Foch in the last time and space was famous for his lightning-fast offensives. And Foch in this time and space has her own unique insights into offense. It was she who suggested that the French army change the traditional infantry offensive tactics and adopt a set of tactics similar to Lin Youde's.
A three-on-three attack tactic like the Marine Corps: an infantry squad forms a zigzag formation in groups of three to fully utilize the firepower advantage of the automatic weapons in their hands.
On October 16, the French army, which had been preparing for more than a month, began to prepare firepower at multiple attack points between Metz and Epinal. Then Foch's offensive began.
**
German Crown Prince William could hardly believe his ears: "What did you say? You want us to retreat?"
The Crown Prince of Württemberg, who was in the same headquarters as him, also raised his head and looked at the confidential personnel in surprise.
"The French are attacking. Moltke and Falkenhayn don't want to dispatch reserve troops to us. They actually want us to retreat?"
"Sir, this is what is written on the telegram..." The confidential officer looked very aggrieved. After all, this order was not issued by him. "I am very sure that there is no problem with my decoding."
Crown Prince William wanted to say something else, but in the end he waved his hand to signal the confidential personnel to leave. The young man was immediately relieved and left the army headquarters where the atmosphere was quite tense.
Crown Prince William is different from his father. He has received a strict and orthodox Junker education since he was a child, and he is physically strong, fully meeting all the standards for the heirs of the Hohenzollern family. He is a brave and calm soldier, never like his father
Nervousness and anxiety seem to have nothing to do with him.
"Falkenhayn and Moltke told us to retreat from the current defense area." Crown Prince William said to Württemberg Crown Prince Marx, "I guess the Bagolia Army next door also received similar orders. I think they probably intend to let
The French army penetrated deep into our territory, and then launched a flank attack to engage in an encirclement battle."
"However, during the French attack yesterday, we already suffered 60,000 casualties on the frontline. If we abandon the position now, the troops will be shaken. They will feel that their compatriots died in vain, and they will be filled with resentment."
"And we will be chased by the French army and defeated." Crown Prince William came to the map table and checked his defense area. "So we need a fierce counterattack to make the French think that we are going to fight them desperately, and then retreat.
"
Crown Prince William took a compass and drew it on the map, then inserted the sharp corner of the compass into a point on the map.
"Here it is, aren't we equipped with a new tank unit? Let's see if these Chinese inventions are really that effective!"
**
Brando sat down in the German trench, breathing heavily and wearing rough clothes.
The face of the German soldier he had just mowed down with a machine gun was still lingering in his mind. The German soldier didn't look like a German at all, but more like Brando's neighbor.
He seemed to be begging for something before Brando pulled the trigger. Brando didn't hear clearly - but I always felt that it was not German, but French... I heard that there are many young and middle-aged people in Alsace and Lorraine.
The German army captured him as cannon fodder, could that guy be one of them...
Brando thought this way and his mood became more depressed.
"How strange." He said to fellow countryman Jean who sat next to him, "We have won the battle now? We have driven the German army out of the position, and tomorrow morning we can think about Alsace and Lorraine and march towards Strasbourg.
But why can’t I feel the sense of satisfaction of ‘victory’ mentioned in the poem?”
Jean snorted, picked up a piece of shrapnel from the ground, and began to scrape the black mud mixed with blood on his boots.
"Blood and mud, mud and blood," he said. "That's all we've seen since the beginning of the attack. It's strange to feel satisfied. I want to yell right now, 'Fuck the war!'
Throw it away, go home and continue to plant my land. If you want me to see it, you should let the busty Miss Foch and the German Miss one on one, or call the generals on both sides together. Give each of them a sword and let them fight each other.
cut……"
Brando stabbed Jean in the waist fiercely.
Jean quickly shut up, and the two of them just watched the ferocious-looking chief of staff walking up to them. The chief of staff rolled his eyes at Jean, and without saying anything else, he continued walking along the trench. His big leather boots were soaked with blood.
Footprints were left one after another on the ground.
Seeing the chief of staff walking away, Brando said: "Miss Foch's figure is really great. Tell me, if we fight bravely enough and get medals, will Miss Foch come to award us medals in person?
?”
"Come on." Jean said to his friend nonchalantly. "That is a high-ranking goddess. Even if you are an officer, don't even try to attract her attention if there is no 'De' or 'La' in the name."
"But didn't that Chinese marry Miss Xiafei?"
Jean patted the submachine gun in Brando's hand: "If you can build something that is enough to arm the entire French army, then you can also try to propose marriage to Miss Foch."
Just as Brando was about to answer, Jean raised his finger and pressed his lips to shush him. Brando pressed the words on his lips and looked at his fellow countrymen who were listening attentively at a loss.
At this time, he himself heard a strange roar.
At first, the sound sounded like a swarm of flies, but gradually it turned into a herd of galloping bison. Even the ground under Brando's feet began to tremble restlessly, and the blood at the bottom of the trench rippled in a circle.
Circle ripples.
Two friends from the same hometown looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
Just then, someone shouted: "Northeast! Something appears from the northeast!"
The two men quickly stood up, lying on the edge of the trench and looking toward the northeast.
They only saw smoke and dust flying all over the sky, but the thing that created the smoke and dust was blocked by a raised hill—according to the company commander, that hill was their attack target tomorrow.
"Cavalry?" Brando said, "Did the Germans launch a cavalry charge?"
"I don't know." Jean shook his head and continued to look in the direction of the smoke.
Suddenly, a black machine circled the hill, roaring towards the place where Brando and the others were, with a steely roar. On the flag on its back, the German eagle emblem was in the setting sun.
The afterglow was extremely bright and dazzling.
The steel beasts rushed out from behind the hill one after another, forming a diamond-shaped impact formation that the cavalry liked on the plain.
"Oh my God!" A well-informed soldier in the French army exclaimed, "That's a tank! It's a German armored cavalry!"
At this time, the flag car that was leading the way spewed out tongues of flames. The German tank crews obviously did not have a good grasp of mobile firing techniques, but the explosion of this artillery shell that was deflected to grandma's house still seriously shaken the French army.
military spirit.
"Mom!" a soldier cried out, climbed out of the trench and ran towards the rear, but was shot down by an officer from behind.
"Don't panic!" shouted the officers. "Show me the courage of France!"
German tanks began to use machine guns to sweep the French positions, and the French army, which lacked heavy weapons, could only use rifle rounds to fight back in vain.
When the tracks of the German tanks ran over the trenches, the morale of the French army finally collapsed.dd