(Leave on Qingming Festival, so 4000 words as compensation)

"Boom!"

Accompanied by the bright muzzle flame and the muzzle wind radiating in all directions, the thick barrel was fiercely pushed back, and the hydraulic gas retreat retractor under the barrel absorbed all the impact force, and then returned the barrel to its original position, while the gun carriage below only shook violently, and then calmed down.

Corporal Bernard on the side held the handle of the bolt with his right hand and lifted it up slightly, and then the hot shell slid from the barrel with gunsmoke and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Corporal Bernard was full of pride in the Schneider M1897 field gun in front of him, and the well-designed hydraulic-gas stationary retractor helped the gun to fire a limit rate of 30 rounds per minute in its current state, and at this time, the Germans who were already under the pressure of hundreds of guns on their own positions could not raise their heads at all.

The German artillerymen could only return fire when the French were attacking, taking advantage of the inability of their own artillery, and then hit the shells in the middle of the two lines to kill and wound the French soldiers who bravely launched the charge. Presumably, those German artillerymen only dared to shrink in the rear of the battle line, so the firing range could only reach the middle of the battlefield, and they did not dare to compete with the French artillery in a dignified manner.

As Bernard thought so, he pulled the firing rope, and another 75-mm shell flew out of the chamber with fire and strong winds, and flew towards the German position.

Suddenly, Bernard seemed to hear a muffled strange sound in the noisy environment full of artillery on the position, and before he could make a closer look, a huge fireball suddenly rose from a position hundreds of meters in front of the left side of the position, and orange-red firelight appeared from time to time in the tumbling black smoke, and the powerful shock wave carried the dirt and sand and gravel to spread around at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then. There was a deafening thud that clung to Bernard's heart.

Although the explosion was still far from the artillery position, such an explosion scared everyone. For a moment the entire French position was silent, and everyone looked at the still tumbling smoke like Bernard. If it weren't for the explosion at the front of the position and not at the rear, Bernard would have thought it was the ammunition yard in the rear that exploded.

"Don't be stunned! Keep shooting! The artillery commander behind him, Second Lieutenant Duran shouted.

Bernard came back to his senses, and the same shouts came from the positions on both sides. The frightened French artillerymen continued their work. They didn't know what caused such an explosion, and they didn't know what would happen to the French troops at the site of the explosion in this situation, they just kept shooting, shooting, shooting, at the urging of the officers. Guided by indescribable emotions, the French artillery shelled faster than before. The French soldiers on the position did not notice that on the top of their heads, a small black dot was slowly circling in circles.

"20 to the right, 50 to the front." At an altitude of 3,000 meters above the Frenchman's head, the backseat observer of a Me-2A-3 looked at the smoke rising from the ground and reported a set of numbers into the microphone.

"Right 20! Forward out of 50! Fix shooting ready! "On the German rear positions. Lieutenant Colonel Michelle, who was holding the microphone of the radio station, shouted loudly.

"Right 20! Forward out of 50! Fix shooting ready! Michelle's order was quickly conveyed from the position.

Unlike their French counterparts on the other side, who were busy but seemingly relaxed, the Germans were sweating profusely.

“1！ 2！ 3！ Six strong oxen ammunition men panted and carried a clamp holding a huge 290-kilogram shell that had just been fused, shouted a trumpet, carefully placed the shell on the bullet support plate of the shell cart, and then used the clamp to fix the shell firmly, and the two ammunition men standing behind the cart leaned forward and pushed the cart slowly with all their strength.

A gun with a thick barrel, heavy walls, and a huge gun carriage that the French 75mm field guns could not match, had been flattened and ready to be reloaded.

Aim the pallet plate on the cart at the chamber. Five loaders carried a four-meter-long ejector lever to send the huge shell into the blackened chamber. Two chargers shoved a shiny brass cartridge into the tail of the gun, and a bomb pusher sent it into the chamber. The bolt opener closed the bolt with force, and the aiming hand quickly turned the pitcher, and the thick barrel slowly erected and pointed to the sky.

"Ruler 355! 013 to the right! The sightman shouted the direction of the artillery.

"Number one is loaded!" The bolt opener shouted.

"Fix the shooting preparation ~~~~!" With the shouts of the gun commander, everyone hurriedly ran away from the gun position, turned their backs more than ten meters away from the gun, and opened their mouths wide to cover their ears.

"Put!" The red flag in the hand of the gun commander waved down vigorously. The striker pulls the strike rope hard. Along with the barrel backseat, the huge recoil force is still transmitted to the ground through the gun carriage after being absorbed by the stationing and retreating retractor, and the powerful impact force makes the artillery standing around feel the vibration of the earth, and the powerful muzzle storm spreads to the surroundings with the dust on the ground, and the huge sound can be heard several kilometers away.

Michelle was very pleased with the performance of his artillerymen. Although he was the commander of the regiment, Michel did not like to stay in the command post in the back, he liked to watch the busy scene on the position, he liked to shout orders to the whole regiment, and he liked to see the image of his young man who was full of strength, precision, meticulousness and methodical when he operated a powerful artillery, which was the image that a German soldier should have.

And the weapons that these lads wield are fully worthy of their excellence. The artillery regiment commanded by Michel only had 4 guns, but these 4 guns were indeed the most powerful weapons in the entire group army, and these guns were also full of steel, strength, and rigorous beauty.

The 305-mm M1911 howitzer, produced by the Škoda Arsenal, is a giant of the German Army's body-barreled artillery, and due to its excellent design, although it weighs 26 tons, it can be broken down into two parts on the march and can be towed by trucks for road maneuvering. And it only takes 12 people to assemble it for 40 minutes to change from a marching state to a combat state, and the explosive power of firing a 290-kilogram high-explosive shell is enough to sweep an area the size of an entire football field, while a 380-kilogram semi-armor-piercing projectile can penetrate 2-meter-thick reinforced concrete fortifications, with a maximum range of 11.5 kilometers and a rate of fire of 1 round in 6 minutes, which is a masterpiece of the Skoda Arsenal!

At this time, the German Army did not ask Krupp to develop and equip the powerful Great Bertha. The Germans built only 4 420-mm siege guns like the Great Bertha in history, and the transportation was difficult and the deployment was slow, and the effect was not ideal in fact. As a result of Jochen's intervention, the German Army's siege artillery was far less in need than it was historically when he held a goblet, a bomb that could ignore almost any fortress defense system during World War I. Although the use of goblets mounted on airships is indeed very limited, but it can't hold a large number and power. But the M1911 is completely different, this is almost indistinguishable from the Austro-Hungarian M.11 305mm howitzer also manufactured by Skoda in history, but it is favored by the army because of its excellent mobility and extremely short deployment time, each army group is equipped with two M1911 heavy artillery regiments, a total of 8 heavy guns, which has become a super firepower that the armies of various countries dare not think of at this time.

Since the 7th Army had made every effort to build a defensive line to cope with the attack of the French army under the order of Hindenburg a few days ago, the rear gave priority to the materials, equipment, and various types of ammunition needed for the construction of fortifications, while all the equipment of the heavy artillery brigade directly under the group army was only delivered to the battlefield yesterday, after the firing position was not hurriedly constructed. Only today was a counterattack against the French artillery thrown in.

Although the Schneider M1897 is indeed a masterpiece artillery, the hydraulic gas stationary retractor used on it does far exceed the technical standards of various countries at that time, but in any case, this is still only a cannon at the end of the 19th century, except for the world-leading generation of retraction and retractor, other designs are still at the level of the late 19th century. For example, in the case of firing at an elevation angle of less than 10 degrees, the cartridge case needs to be manually withdrawn.

And the German artillery actually fired at the French. The German side was not fooled by the French as in history, and gave up the hydraulic gas type to develop a hydraulic spring-type standing thrust and retraction machine with backward performance. Moreover, a more advanced semi-automatic bolt with a shell hook was used, which could use ****** residual energy to automatically open and unplug the shell, so the German artillery was a generation ahead of the French in terms of technology. And the reason why the German artillery was inferior to the M1897 in terms of rate of fire was that the German side did not accompany the French in the field artillery race at all.

Historically, the Germans were tricked by the French in field artillery technology, so they had to give up competing with the French in this field and embark on the heavy artillery route. Now, the German Army, in its long-term research on trench warfare, has found that the attack of artillery below 100 mm on a well-established trench defense system is actually similar to tickling. Therefore, on the initiative began to work on larger and heavier artillery. The 105-mm howitzer has become a regimental artillery, and the divisional artillery uses a more powerful and long-range 150-mm heavy howitzer.

The 75mm field guns that had already been produced were either modified and replaced with assault guns, or lost to the National Guard, or simply shipped to the colonial army to bully the local natives.

Therefore, the German artillery could have stayed in the prefabricated positions of the main trench a few days ago and taught the French artillery a lesson with a longer range and greater power, but first, in order to ensure the consumption of ammunition for the shelling mission. Second, it was necessary to leave ammunition reserves for the subsequent fire preparation for the counterattack, and because of the fear of possible return fire from the heavy artillery of the French army, the body artillery of the 7th Army stayed in the rear and did not entangle with the French artillery. In addition, the rate of fire is indeed not as fast as the French, which created the illusion that the French thought a few days ago that the high rate of fire of the M1897 could suppress the German artillery.

And now the German artillery finally has the opportunity to take revenge on the French artillery that has been unscrupulous in the past few days, and the range of 11.5 kilometers can be completely fired directly from the rear to the middle of the French, who did not expect that the Germans would have such a long-range artillery and built the artillery position relatively forward.

The muzzle velocity of the M1911 is lower than the speed of sound, and it is said to be a howitzer, but only the 12 times diameter barrel is projectile at a high angle, which is more similar to the old mortar. Therefore, the muffled sound of a heavy shell in the air is different from the screeching sound of a supersonic flying shell.

However, after witnessing the fireball rising from the French position, the pilot of the reconnaissance plane became even more nervous, and even unconsciously pulled the plane a little higher after hearing the sound of shells flying.

A few dozen seconds later, the pilot observed the second point of impact, and another black-red fireball rose from the French position.

The shell landed on the artillery position next to Bernard, and Bernard saw that in the dust flying in the sky, mixed with the parts of his proud Miss 75, and even a complete wooden gun wheel flew into the sky, and then smashed into the front position, I don't know if it will hit the head of some unlucky person.

And on the position that was hit, there was no screaming, no wailing, and this was more terrible than screaming and wailing. Bernard couldn't see that the position was in shambles. A large crater was blown out of the center of the explosion, and the nearest 4 Miss 75 instantly turned into a cloud of metal shards, and the artillery next to them flew into the sky like their beloved artillery without even letting out a scream, and then fell on the charred and illegible debris.

The force of the huge explosion continued to sweep the position, the seven guns turned into broken and twisted scrap metal, more than a dozen artillerymen were shredded by the sharp and twisted steel scattered everywhere, and the irregular stumps and broken arms fell into all corners of the position. Farther away from the center of the explosion, several artillery wheels that were affected by the shock wave broke off and overturned to the side, and it was not known whether they could continue to be used, although the artillerymen who had not been tragically dismembered were blown away and hit the ground fiercely, bleeding from all over the body, and they did not know whether they were alive or dead.

Those who survived sat on the ground in a daze, blood flowing from their ears, and the dust on their bodies turned them into clay statues, looking at this hellish scene, but their eyes lost focus, their brains went blank, and all around them was the buzzing sound of tinnitus.

With a single shell, a French artillery regiment lost its combat effectiveness.

There was a deathly silence in the entire French position, and at this time everyone knew that the Germans had a terrifying super cannon, and this cannon had corrected its target, aimed at itself, and maybe the next moment, the terrible shell would fall on their side.

They guessed right.

"Hit the target, the distance is the same, the impact interval is 20, and the effectiveness is fired." As the reconnaissance plane reported the guidance message, eight minutes later, four flowers of death bloomed again on the French position. (To be continued.) )

PS: Happy April Fool's Day

It's too hard for me to write a chapter before April Fool's Day is over.