"Tom ......"

It was as if in the distant sky, the footsteps of death were heard in the midst of death's unique, heavy footsteps, and the earth trembled with these tremors.

"What ......"

Major Miller hurriedly slipped into his command car, and in his hurry did not even close the hatch. The body shrank down and focused his eyes on the "periscope observation glass" specially equipped on the command vehicle with a long-term effect.

The continuous flashing light in the sky and the continuous vibration he had just heard made him look down and shout loudly to the orderly who had rested in the car.

"Shelling, shelling, alerting!"

When the whistle on the command vehicle sounded the signal of "shelling alert" throughout the armored convoy, most of the soldiers in the armored vehicle just rubbed their eyes and just opened their eyes.

There was a shrill howling sound in the sky, and the soldiers who had participated in the Battle of Nancy immediately recognized that it was the sound of German artillery shells flying.

"Hidden ......"

The awakened veterans shouted one by one, and then jumped out of the car and drilled into the nearby anti-artillery holes, and the recruits who had not really been in contact with the war listened to the shouts of the veterans.

"Boom ......"

(The first release of this book) does not laugh at group A: 35761481; Email: [email protected].

The explosion of a large group of shells as it fell, like the beat of a drum when a troop was advancing, was quickly indistinguishable as the first batch of shells exploded. The sound of continuous explosions reached the densest level that the French soldiers had ever seen.

In order to attack Verdun, the German side spent great efforts.

Falgenheim, chief of the General Staff, drew 270,000 of the best-equipped, battle-hardened troops, armed with a large number of heavy artillery, including 420 mm siege guns, and placed 542 mine-throwers on the offensive front.

This mine-thrower can fire shrapnel loaded with more than a hundred pounds of high-explosive charge and metal fragments, and the anti-personnel effect is excellent. It is comparable to a 130-mm small-caliber high-speed gun, which fires 132 mm shrapnel at the speed of a rifle bullet.

In order to recapture from the French the starting point of the captured campaign, the Germans counterattacked with the strength of one division, and at the same time a short artillery preparation was to be carried out before the attack.

The reason for this small counterattack was simply that the French army in the Verdun area was not large in number, and if they lost an infantry regiment in formation, it would be more advantageous for future attacks.

The mud that had spread across the field fortifications was soon swept away by the shells, and then a large cloud of dust flew up, mixing with the morning fog, which was no longer milky, to form a brown plume of smoke that rose high into the air.

At this time, the French infantry on the front line no longer felt the cold, and they desperately huddled in trenches or anti-artillery holes, holding their heads tightly with their hands. The trembling earth with its body under the shelling was like a small boat in the wind and rain, and its body shook involuntarily.

As infantrymen, all we can do about this kind of heavy shelling is to hide desperately and shout God Almighty in our hearts.

Fortunately, this field fortification was abandoned by the French army for quite some time. Since it was always in a position that the Germans could take away at any time, it was never considered a French position. Therefore, no detailed shelling coordinates have been established for the pillboxes and various defensive facilities here.

Thus, the shelling, although ferocious and inflicted heavy casualties on the unprepared French army, was far from the point of collapse.

Major Miller kept watching the French troops under shelling from the "telescopic periscope" on the command vehicle, and kept urging his subordinates.

"Quickly contact the command and report to them that the front line is under heavy bombardment by German artillery!"

While instructing the operator in the command vehicle to contact the military headquarters as soon as possible, he grabbed his helmet and got out of the command vehicle. When he got out of the hatch, according to the rules of the war, the heralds who had to rush to his command car were to huddle behind his command car one by one at the first moment of attack.

"We didn't get directly shelled, which is a blessing! Otherwise, my hunters ......! ”

Major Miller, though he could not help but feel frightened by such sharp artillery fire, had the duty to report the news to the War Headquarters. In addition, although his hunter regiment was in the middle of a desert with almost no concealment, it was clear that the shelling was not directed at them, and did not do them much harm.

"You have informed the battalions separately that the infantry in front of us may be under great attack, and my plan is to rush forward as soon as the enemy's artillery fire extends, and make a short assault on the German positions, so as to buy some time for the retreat of the infantry brethren in front!"

The Hunters, under the orders of their regimental commander, Major Müller, soon moved to prepare for the attack while the Germans were preparing for the bombardment.

As the shelling began to extend back, the preface German attack began, and the forces of an infantry division began to attack.

The assault level of the German infantry was very distinct, and the division's attack formation was such that two regiments were in front and one regiment was on standby in the rear as a division reserve. The regiments of the first line were divided into two battalions as the first echelon and one battalion as the second echelon, each battalion with two battalions below a width of 400 to 500 meters, forming three attack waves.

The infantry attack was ordered in such a way that at the front were one to three infantry squads and engineer squads, which were heavily manned with machine gun squads, flamethrowers, and mortar squads.

The task is to break through obstacles, observe the effect of artillery bombardment, break through the defensive forces on the first line, and create favorable conditions for the offensive of the follow-up troops.

According to past experience, the German infantry combined with other special weapons detachments in a combat formation could completely break through the French army's first-line positions lacking artillery fire and machine gun cover, and maintain the continuous attack force of infantry advances, so as to continuously attack other defensive positions.

The German infantry, under the cover of the last falling shells before the extension of their own artillery fire, opened the skirmish line and rushed towards the French front. The assault detachment in front of them was in a more advanced position, and even the machine guns and mortars used to suppress the enemy's fire had already been selected and ready for firing.

However, the French position, after the extended artillery fire, did not react further, which led the German soldiers to even think that it was just an empty position.

Soon, the facts told them that their observations were wrong, because a group of "monsters" had rushed out of the "walls" of gunsmoke and dust that had not yet dissipated.

"My God, what is this?"

The German soldiers kept their eyes wide open, staring at the guys who were rushing towards them, but no one knew what kind of weapons to use against them.