Chapter 196, Verdun Meat Grinder (5)
As the sun set, the already noisy battlefield gradually quieted down, and there was no moon in the first half of the night, and only the night wind quietly blew through the entire battlefield.
Between the trenches and the trenches of the French, there were communication trenches. These trenches could not only ensure the retreat of the French troops, but also could be used for reinforcements from the troops in the rear. At night, these trenches are a possible route for the enemy to be guarded by both sides.
From time to time, soldiers on both sides threw a torch into the trench that served as a light, so that if anyone were to pass by, they would be sure to spot it. And on the ground on both sides of the communication trench, there were originally minefields. Of course, during the daytime battles, there were not many mines left in these minefields.
The French sappers quietly left the trenches in the darkness carrying baskets full of mines. Came to the minefield.
By daylight, the French minefields had been largely cleared with great efficiency by Prussian and English mobilizers. The British and Prussians ran over the minefield, and ran Now, in the middle of the night when there was no moon, the French went out to lay mines.
But this job is also a very dangerous job. Although the British and Prussians did an excellent job of clearing mines in the minefields during the day, it is difficult to say whether there were any omissions in their work. In such darkness around, the French sappers could only rely on the faint starlight to see a little bit of things faintly, and naturally they could not find those mines that had not yet exploded.
So throughout the first half of the night, the battlefield was quiet, but many times, there would suddenly be an explosion and flashes of light - it was the French sappers who came out to lay mines that accidentally encountered mines that had survived under the iron hooves of the British and Prussians.
But as the moon rose, the French sappers retreated. In the second half of the night, there was gradually another movement on the battlefield.
Some British soldiers, as well as Prussian conscripts selected by lot. After about half an hour of study, each of them was shoved with a shovel and a probe in their hands, and they were kicked into the minefield, which had been told by the occasional explosions that the Frenchmen must have done something despicable in the dark.
As for what despicable things the French had done, at first the Prussians and the British feared that they would attack them at night. Although on such a moonless night, it is very difficult to launch an attack, and it is even likely to be a waste of ammunition at all. But the French have always been cunning, and God knows what they are doing. So the British and Prussians waited for most of the night, but the French did not launch a night attack.
Since the French didn't come out to carry out night raids, they couldn't have come out to walk under the stars and think about life. So the question of what the French were doing in the middle of the night was immediately answered: "These despicable and cunning Frenchmen just took advantage of the black mines in the minefield!" ”
If the French could come and lay mines at night, then the British and Prussians could also dig mines at night. So the British sappers, as well as the Prussian sappers drawn by lot, were driven out of the trenches and crawled towards the minefield under the moonlight.
So the night, in the first half of the night, passed slowly with the bombardment caused by the French, and the more bombardment caused by the British and Prussians in the second half of the night.
The next day, just after dawn, the British and Prussian troops launched a new offensive as usual. The way of attack is still artillery bombardment, artillery bombardment, artillery bombardment after the infantry rush (this time it is a real rush). However, there are some changes, and the change is that when a group of Prussian conscripts rushed forward with bayonets to clear the mines, there was also a group of heavily armed soldiers in the trenches, under the command of an officer, holding their guns and aiming at their vests.
Yes, after a night of thinking, the Prussians finally came up with a good way to use the Warlords to increase the motivation of their soldiers to fight.
Under the guns of the warlords, the Prussian mobilizers were indeed extraordinarily brave. They don't care about the mines that may be under their feet (after all, did the guy who went out last night to clear the mine, did the overseers keep an eye on, and God knows if they were lying there and paddling in the minefield?). Rush forward, because they know that the guys in the back are really going to shoot.
Accompanied by the rumbling explosions of mines, the Prussian army slammed headlong into the barbed wire fence that the French had repaired overnight.
In front of the barbed wire fence as usual, they were first shot by the French platoon, then by the shotguns of the French cannons, then by the French with "small melons", then by the French with "broadswords", and then the remaining Prussian conscripts were killed by the Prussian inspectors.
Then the next group of Prussians rushed up. For, if one trench could be captured every day, then in a few days they would be able to take the high ground, and once the high ground was taken, the gates of Verdun would be opened.
This kind of story also played out on the side of the British, except that the British were too embarrassed to get an Overseer out, it was almost the same.
After a fierce battle, by noon the Prussians broke through two more trenches. But it was soon driven back by the French who were supported by more artillery. Then they rushed back and were driven back again...... It wasn't until the waning tide that they were able to gain a foothold in the third trench.
After breaking through this trench, the Prussians stopped their offensive and began to consolidate their defenses on the spot, and it seemed that they were planning to come step by step.
The British fought a little harder, and the battle for the third line of trenches continued until the sun went down. By the time the British had repelled the last counterattack of the French, it was almost dark.
The British, like the Prussians, should consolidate this position today and continue tomorrow. Although the casualties of the British and Prussians in the past two days were a bit frightening, Mao estimated it. More than 30,000 people have been killed or injured in two days. Such losses are really rare in the history of Europe before. But now they are also very close to the "key goal". With a little more effort, it seems that you will be able to climb that high ground. So, both the British and the Prussians felt that we could hold out a little longer.
However, they didn't know that there was a big difference between the third trench and the first trench, that is, what connected the third trench and the fourth trench was not only a communication trench, but also a very well hidden tunnel.
These tunnels were originally communication trenches, but they were covered with wood, covered with thick earth, and camouflaged at the exit. And the repeated counterattacks of the French army also made the Prussians even bother to inspect these things.
The gunfire on both sides did not gradually cease until after the sun had set, and then, of course, the old repertoire of the previous night continued, and in the first half of the night, the French came out to lay mines, and then boomed, boomed; The British and Prussians came out in the second half of the night to dig mines, and then "boom, boom......
Just when the British and Prussians triggered the "Boom Boom Boom Boom ......" plot, a group of French troops were passing through the tunnel and touching towards the third trench.
At dawn, the plot of the British and Prussians' "boom boom ......" was basically coming to an end, but at this time, the French artillery suddenly opened heavy fire on the third line of trenches occupied by the British and Prussians.
Even the French artillery was still very limited in its ability to kill the trenches, but the sound of the cannon was also a signal. As soon as the cannon fired, the French soldiers, armed with bayonets, first crossed the barbed wire along the communication trenches, then jumped onto the ground and rushed towards the enemy troops on the opposite side.
Neither the British nor the Prussian army expected that the battle on this day would actually begin with the attack of the French, and they hurriedly prepared to organize a counterattack, intending to play a defensive counterattack first, and then ...... But he didn't want to, in the trenches on his side, suddenly a lot of soil collapsed, revealing a lot of tunnels, and then a large group of French soldiers rushed out from it with bayonets.
The British and Prussian armies soon collapsed, and then the French counterattacked, and even recaptured the second line of trenches for a time, and dragged the British and Prussians with a lot of effort, and destroyed many of the artillery that was ready to support today's offensive operations.
Moreover, the firepower of the French army became stronger again, and larger, apparently more than 12-pound cannons began to join the French camp, and shrapnel also appeared on the battlefield of Verdun for the first time. When the British and Prussians launched a counterattack, their soldiers were killed in large numbers by these shells.
After paying a heavy price of casualties, the British recaptured the third line of trenches that had just been lost. And the Prussians, who almost lost the second line of trenches.
When the day's battle was over, the British took stock of their losses, and in three days, the losses of the British army had reached 20,000. Even taking into account the fact that 30,000 non-English speaking British troops had just been brought over from Hanover, the losses were all really elite troops, and such losses could not be replenished by those mobilized soldiers.
The Prussians, on the other hand, lost more than 20,000 people in today's battle, and Prussia lost 40,000 men in three days.
Although that "important target" does not seem to be far away, many people are already thinking about whether it is necessary to continue to fight like this.
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