"Huh~~ Boom!"

The shrill whistling and violent explosions accompanied by the vibrations of the ground slammed the hearts of the French soldiers sitting in the bunkers. Even though the whistling and explosions were far away from him, his body was still instinctively afraid of the terrible sound, and every time the explosion came, his body trembled uncontrollably, and the sound of dirt splashing up and splashing down made people blink involuntarily.

"Boom!" Another 240-millimeter mortar shell landed in the trench, and a dozen soldiers in the trench were torn to pieces before they could scream, their limbs and broken arms were thrown high, and dirt mixed with blood and internal organs flew into the air. A full 50-meter-long section of the trench was completely shaken down, and the soldiers who were not killed by the explosion were buried in layers of heavy earth, and even if they were dug out of the dirt to avoid suffocation, the huge shock wave also caused their internal organs to burst, spitting blood, and life and death were unpredictable.

Ridge of the Dead and Heights 304 did not have the sturdy reinforced concrete fortresses of Fort Aumont, and the shallow trenches that were hastily dug after the start of the war did not give the French soldiers a sense of security, and by the time the earth kicked off by the explosion and smashed their heads on their heads, the pride and ambition of the beginning of the war had long since vanished.

The four-hour shelling that began in the early hours of the morning brought the French army to a near collapse, and the warm minced flesh and blood on the faces of the French soldiers plunged into indescribable fear, some of them huddled under the breastwork of the trenches with their heads in their hands, and the officers shouted hoarsely and demoralizing words, but their voices were faint compared to the constant explosions that sounded in the positions.

"Lift up your heads! Look at me! Lieutenant Brown roared loudly, the rumbling sound of the cannon had filled his ears with a buzzing buzzing buzz, and he didn't know if his voice could reach the ears of his comrades, and he roared with all his might, encouraging his comrades who were squatting in the trenches with him to do his duty as a company commander.

"Don't be afraid of those shells! God will bless us! Those son of bitches German cubs trying to crush us with cannonballs are nothing but wishful thinking! Wait for the gunfire to stop. Those German cubs will attack, and then, raise your head, grab your gun, and put all your bullets in their chests! Let them taste the horror of death!

This is the land of France! It's our home! It's the burial place of those German cubs! France has millions of troops! As long as we hold out until reinforcements arrive, we'll be able to crush all those German cubs! Then our army will storm Lorraine! All the way to Berlin! Hang that damn German emperor on the flagpole! Long live France! ”

The impassioned words did not instantly boost the morale of the soldiers under Blond. A series of numb and dull eyes stared at his company commander's face, but the slightly straighter body and the movement of clenching the rifle in his hand proved that Blond's shouting was still useful.

In the chaos of the six gods, if someone gives clear instructions, then most people will follow in his footsteps, even if the direction of progress is endless hell.

"As soon as you see the signal, rush out! Then disperse immediately! 6-8 steps apart! Don't get together and be a visible target! Mobilization was also taking place in the trenches of the Germans high underground: "Bow your head! Follow your non-commissioned officers! Move fast! The faster you rush into the enemy's trenches, the safer you will be! "The officers walked back and forth in the trenches of the starting position, repeatedly explaining the precautions in the last lesson before the attack.

"Young men, you should be glad." Sergeant Herbert said to a squad of soldiers around him: "The big men above didn't let us take that fort, yesterday we shelled for more than nine hours, and I heard that the fort didn't do anything. The French positions opposite us now were improvised formations. It is estimated that there will not be many people left after such four hours of shelling, and today's attack will be an easy job. ”

"It's a real war, not a drill, sergeant." The private on the side muttered.

"It's going to be easier than a drill." Herbert pouted: "The company commander said that there are not many artillery pieces and machine guns on the positions of the French, and we have not seen any return fire from them after being shelled for 4 hours." Even if the French hide them and are ready to surprise us when we attack, the planes overhead will spot them as soon as they open fire, and someone will give them a little color to see.

So you don't have to worry at all. The firepower of the French on the opposite side is far less than what you encountered during the exercise. The **** 'own people' we met in the exercise were more ruthless than the French, so don't worry. As long as you do what you have to do during the drill, as long as you are not too unlucky, you can survive. ”

"Check the gear! Check out the gear! Not far away, the shouts of the officers came.

"Alright, boys, check the gear." Sergeant Herbert clapped his hands, and then gave his soldiers a final explanation: "Just like the usual training." Doing what you have to do, the skills you have mastered are the key to your survival! ”

"Take your courage! God and the Emperor are watching you! Glory to Germany! All-in-one! Get on the bayonet! "The shouts of the officers mean that the offensive is about to begin." Get on the bayonet! The shouts were constantly passed through the trenches, and the shiny sword-shaped bayonet was drawn from its scabbard and mounted on the bayonet mount of the rifle.

In the long trenches, at intervals. The officers of each of the companies that were about to charge looked at their watches and whistles in their mouths, waiting for the final moments.

An orange-red flare shot into the sky, the whistle on the officer's mouth made a sharp and long sound, and the German soldiers in the trench jumped to their feet and rushed out of the trench with the cry of "Long live Germany".

"The Germans are attacking!" Lieutenant Brown also saw the flares and the mournful whistle: "Get ready! Then a shell exploded nearby, and the dirt splashed up made him shut up.

"The Germans did not stop shelling when they attacked?!" Lieutenant Brown thought in horror.

Brown, of course, would not have known that the Germans used not only barrage shots, but also historically, and it was here, at Verdun, that the double barrage was first used by the French. Large-caliber artillery swept all obstacles at a distance of 140 meters in front of the infantry assault unit. And small and medium-caliber artillery formed a steel barrier 60 meters in front of the infantry.

The German soldiers, armed with rifles, machine guns, mortars, and recoilless guns, rushed to the French positions under the protection of such a steel barrier, and the smoke of the explosion and the flying earth obscured the view, and all the soldiers bowed their heads and bent over, following their non-commissioned officers in a skirmish line. At this point, all distractions in the brain are forgotten. His brain was blank, only the brown dirt in front of him, and he could see the figure of his comrades next to him in the afterglow, and although the violent explosion was close to his ears, it was like the horizon, and all that was left around him was the heavy wheezing sound and the crackling sound of the splashed dirt falling on the steel helmet.

The barrage slowly advanced, and the French army, which was lucky enough to avoid the first barrage, had to fight back against the second barrage that could fall on their heads at any time in the face of the approaching German troops. However, the French who were still using Lebel MLE1886 rifles were so thin in the eyes of the Germans, and the MLE1886's 8-round capacity was quite good for bolt-action rifles. However, it can only be reloaded in a single shot when it is fed by a barrel, and the interval between fires caused by reloading is unusually long.

The only thing that could pose a greater threat to the German army was the small number of equipped Hatch Chase heavy machine guns, because the inventor of the gas-guided Hatch Chase heavy machine gun was poached by Jochen, so at this time the French Hatch Chase heavy machine gun still used the same barrel recoil principle as the Maxim heavy machine gun, so the HK had no less lawsuits with the Hatch Chase Company over the patent.

But perhaps just to avoid paying royalties to the damned German company for being too similar to the Makqin, the current Hatch Chase machine gun still uses the same stupid cartridge feed design as it did historically, and the 30-round cartridge design greatly reduces the firepower of the heavy machine gun, but considering that it is still an air-cooled barrel design that uses multiple heat sinks for cooling. Maybe it's wise not to snap the chain.

Unlike the Germans, who dispersed the heavy machine guns and formed multiple firing points to form cross-fire. The French concentrated heavy machine guns, and the specially formed machine gun company was equipped with 8 machine guns, so the total number of machine guns in the French positions at this time was not large, and the number of those who survived the shelling was even rarer, but in some areas, the Germans still had to face quite terrible fire suppression.

The sound of bullets hitting the earth sounded right at his feet. Soldiers were constantly swept to the ground, soldiers who were hit in the thighs covered their wounds and shouted loudly for the medics, the sticky blood quickly stained the ground beneath them, the soldiers who were hit in the abdomen fell to the ground and cried out bitterly for the wounds, and some people tried in vain to put the intestines flowing out back into their abdominal cavity. Then he twitched weakly on the ground as the life force passed.

The infantry squad led by Herbert was very unlucky at this time and ran into a French machine gun company, although 3 machine guns were knocked out by the previous shelling, but the remaining 5 machine guns still caused huge casualties to Herbert's company.

"Machine guns! 98！ Hold that fire point down for me! Mortars knock those bastards out of me! Herbert shouted, "Keep rushing for the others!" Don't lie on the ground! Fast! Fast! Fast! ”

The machine gun crew of the squad followed behind Herbert, who was the squad leader, and immediately pounced on the order, fell into a shallow crater, and then put the MG4 on the ground, and then immediately began to shoot. The advantage of the 75-round short chain in the magazine was vividly displayed at this moment, compared to the MG3, which used a 300-round chain in the ammunition box, the MG4, which omitted the tripod and reloading, immediately provided the Germans with quite reliable suppressive firepower.

The machine gunner pressed his cheek tightly against the butt, his shoulder pressed against the butt, the recoil of the continuous fire spread through his shoulder, the mixed emotions of nervousness and excitement made him grit his teeth, the flame of the muzzle flashed dazzlingly, and the throat of the person choked on the smoke of gunpowder, but his fingers never let go of the trigger.

Now is not the time for short bursts, as the chain of 75 rounds has been depleted in an instant. The machine gunner opened the receiver cover, took off the magazine and threw it away, the deputy shooter immediately took out a new magazine bag and skillfully hung it on the side of the gun body, the machine gunner pinched the iron piece exposed outside the magazine and pulled it, the magazine chain was pulled out of the magazine, the magazine chain was loaded, the receiver cover was pulled down, pressed hard, and then pulled the bolt, and then pulled the trigger, and the dense bullets continued to gush out. Bullets were fed into the chamber along the canvas chain, and in the blink of an eye, they popped out of the exit port at the other end of the receiver. The hot shells with the smoke smashed to the ground, gradually forming a pile of shells that collided together with a pleasant clanging sound.

The machine guns in the two squads next to Herbert rang out at about the same time, and the German Army, because of its large base, did not have a Gew.98 semi-automatic rifle like the Marines, but most of the non-commissioned officers could use it. In World War II, the U.S. military was able to suppress a Japanese machine gun with 3 M1 Garands. Therefore, at this time, nearly 10 Gew.86 and 3 MG4 were able to suppress the French machine guns for a while.

However, the soldiers of the French machine gun company were also not afraid of death, and like most European armies at this time, the machine gun unit in the French army had the same status as the artillery, and was a well-trained elite unit, so even if the shooters continued to fall under the suppression of German fire, the French machine guns basically did not stop their own spitting tongue of fire.

Soldiers were constantly being torn apart on both sides, and the only way to break the situation was to completely destroy the machine guns on the opposite side. Although Herbert, who was the leader of the sergeant squad, did not have the authority to order the platoon to belong to the mortar squad, he saw that his comrades were constantly falling, and he yelled at the nearby mortar squad Sergeant Frank of the same level as himself with red eyes.

Sergeant Frank also knew that the situation was urgent. At the end of his day, he jumped into a crater with his own people, and the soldier carrying the seat plate smashed the seat board to the ground with all his might, and the protrusion under the seat board was fiercely inserted into the soft soil, and the soldier carrying the gun body hit the gun body on the seat board, and then propped up the bipod, and then removed the protective cover on the gun muzzle.

Frank took out the sight hanging in the small box on his chest and inserted it into the side of the gun, and then rotated the steering wheel to adjust the direction: "Shoot straight at it!" High-explosive shells! Two shots in a row! No correction! "At a distance of less than 100 meters, Frank was even sure to smash a shell into the crotch of the Frenchman's pants. There is no need to waste time correcting ballistics.

The filler immediately pulls out a cylindrical thick paper tube from the bag placed on the ground and unscrews the lid. Take out 60-mm mortar shells. "Ready!" Frank shouted, and the loader put the tail end of the cannonball into the muzzle, his palm tightly gripping the side of the cannonball, "Put!" As soon as the palm of the hand loosened, the shell slid into the barrel, and then with a muffled "bang". Shells flew out.

Before the first shell could hit the ground, Frank continued to shout: "Ready! "Put!"

Two clouds of smoke rose from the French position, and the French machine gunners suffered heavy casualties in an instant, seizing this opportunity, Herbert's squad rushed in front of the French position. A volley of guns pressed the Frenchman's head back into the trench. The German soldiers finally jumped into the trenches.

As soon as Private Mark landed on his feet, he raised his head and found himself and a French officer facing each other at this time, and the two of them stared at each other with wide eyes for a while. When he realized that there was an enemy in front of him, Mark, who was empty for a while, completely forgot that the Gew.86a rifle in his hand was equipped with a bayonet, and instead held the gun up and pulled the trigger.

However, there was a sound in the air, the Frenchman in front of him was not shot and fell, Mark remembered that he had just fired the bullet, and although the Gew.86a had been improved and used a 20-round magazine to feed the ammunition, it was still a bolt-action rifle, and the nervous Mark still did not remember the bayonet on his rifle, and hurriedly pulled the bolt.

The French officer on the other side was Lieutenant Blunde, who thought he was dead the moment he saw the damned German raise his gun and aim at him, but when a sound in the air made his heart jump and he realized that he had not been shot, and the German cub's movements made him realize that his chance to fight back had come.

And the moment Mark made the movement of lowering his head and pulling the bolt, he knew that he was finished, and immediately looked up and saw the Frenchman holding his rifle as if he were stabbing himself, and for a moment he was completely frightened and completely forgot what to do. Then a huge force came from his shoulder, and he was slammed into the back wall of the trench by this force, and Mark, who was unsteady on his feet, immediately threw himself on the back wall.

Blond saw the German cub in front of him fall to the side, and then the other German cub made a gesture with one hand to pull away from his comrades, and aimed a pistol at him with the other.

With a crisp gunshot, Blond only felt a pain in his chest, and then the strength in his body quickly disappeared as if it had been taken away, and a warm and slowly expanded in his chest, but his body became colder and colder, and then, darkness descended in front of him.

"Don't play dead there! Get the hell out of here! With a roar, Mark was kicked hard in the ass. Turning his head, Sergeant Herbert's face appeared in front of him.

"Up...... Staff sergeant. Realizing that he was not dead, Mark immediately felt a sense of happiness for the rest of his life, but before he could say words of thanks, the sergeant's saliva flew to his face.

"Are you a fool? Is it bigger than that idiot Frenchman? See the French and stab him directly with your bayonet! You still shoot? And also to pull the bolt! What you usually teach you is for dogs? An idiot like you has a hundred ways to kill you! ”

"Right...... Yes......"

"Shut up! The battle isn't over yet! Go ahead and clear the trenches! ”

The French had not yet learned their lesson, and the straight trenches could be shot from beginning to end, so the resistance of the French troops in the first line of trenches was quickly broken down by the ****** offensive. The Germans, having occupied the first line of trenches, had gained a foothold, and the originally scattered forces began to converge, and troops began to assemble on either side of each of the communication trenches connecting the second trenches.

Throwing the Gew.98 in his hand to others, and then snatching the ****** in the hands of others, Herbert pulled the handguard, and a fierce aura of bloody battle came to his face: "I'll open the way, take the guys of 98 to cover me, and the ones who follow will hold the grenades in their hands, and if you meet the enemy around the corner, listen to my orders and throw all the grenades on their heads for me!" Now, check the ammunition! ”

"Are you ready, then ......"

"Boom!!" A loud noise interrupted Herbert's deployment, and he could tell that the place where the explosion had occurred was far away, very far away, but the deafening sound reached his ears very clearly, what kind of violent explosion was this? What kind of weapon can cause such a violent explosion?

Like Herbert, almost all the German soldiers stared blankly at the place where the noise came from in the southeast direction, and then they were surprised to see a huge cloud of smoke appear in their field of vision, and the height of the smoke and dust even exceeded the height of the Dead Man's Ridge, and the rising smoke column could be seen across the Dead Man's Ridge on the slope of the Dead Man's Ridge.

There, it seems to be the direction of Aumontburg?! (To be continued.) )