Time passed slowly, from day to night, and from the darkness there were a few gray rays of light. www.biquge.info For those who live in peace, this new early morning is just another page on the calendar, but for the armies on both sides of the Crimean peninsula, the coming day represents a new meaning.

Previously, they had fought each other here, exhausted with all their strength and shed blood, and a month earlier, the armies of the two armies had suddenly reached an agreement on a temporary truce, allowing the officers and soldiers on both sides to recuperate from exhaustion.

Now, a full month has passed, the truce stipulated in the agreement has expired, and there is no consensus between the two sides to continue the truce in the negotiations.

That means that, with this new day, the two armies will be thrown into battle again.

And this time, the French army besieging the fortress was already full of ambition, and they didn't even intend to waste an extra day, they would attack directly after dawn.

During this truce, although the French army ceased military operations against the enemy, their pace of concentrating troops and weapons never stopped, and thanks to the efforts of engineers and engineers, the besieging army outside the fortress of Sevastopol was stronger than ever.

Although the fortress was not directly attacked by the French during this time, their supplies were still cut off, unable to replenish any much-needed ammunition and supplies, and they could only watch the enemy become stronger and stronger.

In the midst of the busy days that lasted for many days, preparations were ready, and the troops scheduled to attack were in place, waiting for the order to attack.

In the commanding heights and preset positions occupied by the French army, all the cannons have been deployed under the impetus of the artillerymen, looming in the dim light.

In the rear of the front, the commander-in-chief of the French army, Marshal Treville, took his headquarters to the front line to direct the battle, and in this way declared his determination to the whole army.

In the previous offsets, the French army had invested great strength and determination, but on several occasions they had been defeated by the defenders, but this time, the marshal had made up his mind not to allow himself and his army to suffer such a defeat again.

Charles also accompanied his grandfather here.

The offensive was equally important to him, and he knew better than anyone that the war was now coming to an end, and he wanted to see for himself the most glorious moments of the war.

The sky was getting brighter, and the remnants of the entire fortress were revealed before his eyes, and the harbor, which was surrounded by the coast and hills on both sides, shone like a gray-white satin, shining with starlight.

It was silent, only the sound of the wind and the sound of intermittent breathing reached his ears, and the lifeless fortress on the other side was still asleep, and there was no sign of it being occupied by humans. However, invisibly, he could also feel that the fortress on the opposite side was also on guard, waiting for the French army to attack that was destined to come.

Yes, the truce is over, and the preparations of the French army have always fallen into the eyes of the defenders, so no one will be at a loss for what will happen next, and these defenders will still meet the enemy with great courage, ready to fight until the last moment for the honor of the Russian Empire.

Field Marshal Trevier, dressed in military uniform and wearing a medal, stood straight in front of the makeshift command post, watching every move of the front line with a falcon-like gaze, and he was struck unhurriedly on the ground with his marshal's staff, as if he were beating the drumbeat of the soldiers' march.

The rhythm of the percussion sound of Didi Dong is steady, like the swing of a clock, this sound is heavy in everyone's heart, many people can't hold back the anxiety in their hearts, and from time to time they take out the pocket watch in their arms to look at the time, this anxiety is also getting stronger and stronger with the change of the sky.

When the sky had turned from dark black to grayish-white, the earth began to tremble.

As if it were an earthquake, Charles felt himself shake, followed by a terrible roar. It was the roar of the most advanced and powerful monster on land, the roar of the siege cannons that had been assembled by the French army with every effort to break through the fortress.

Previously, the artillery carried by the French expeditionary force was mainly light field artillery, and only a small number of howitzers could cause damage to the fortress, and after several attacks on the fortress were frustrated, the French were determined to desperately mobilize a large number of heavy artillery from the country to the front line, although they were bulky and difficult to transport, but in a few months of travel, they finally arrived under the city of Sevastopol. And now, it is time for them to fulfill their combat mission.

At the roar of the cannons, huge cannonballs kept being spat out of the mouths of the behemoths, and rushed into the sky with a terrible roar, and as they left the land, the muzzles of the cannons burst into white and fiery red light, so dazzling that the earth suddenly became bright.

In a matter of moments, the cannonball, which had been pierced into the air, suddenly spun down, and then slammed into the front fortress along the pre-calculated trajectory, slamming into the ground. Under the terrible kinetic energy of the cannonballs, the fortifications on the hills were directly blasted open, and the earth trembled, and large stones were whistling into the sky, and these stones and metal fragments with fire looked like a meteor shower on fire from the sky.

In order to weaken the enemy's defenses to the greatest extent, the French army planned to carry out artillery bombardment for several hours. The incessant roar seemed to last for a century, and the besieging army shelled the fortress on the opposite side at all costs, and the fortress that had stood majestically in front of the enemy became a miserable victim, almost bombarded beyond recognition in such a fierce shelling.

The Russian defenders, already squeezed in a small strip, would face an even more terrible test than the previous offensives. Under the heavy shelling, many of the fortifications they had carefully built and maintained were reduced to miserable ruins in an instant, with falling stones everywhere, and thick smoke of dust soon rose into the air and enveloped the entire fortress.

Under the bombardment of heavy artillery, the ground shook, and the entire fortress was already in danger.

In the forward position, Charles watched with horror and joy at the terrible situation caused by the artillery fire in front of him. For him, the clearer and more obvious the effect of the shelling, the more it proved that his work was fruitful and how close he was to victory.

And this devastating artillery bombardment also inexplicably gave rise to a strange thought.

In 1942, another well-equipped and well-trained foreign army had already conquered almost the entire European continent in just a few years, and after conquering Western and Northern Europe, they reached out to the Soviet Union and launched an attack on the Soviet Union with the largest army ever built at the time.

Under the command of Nazi Germany, the inland Crimean Peninsula was soon under fire, and it was General Manstein who commanded the German army. In that year, the Soviet defenders were able to stand up to the invading Germans with great valor, but they were eventually defeated and retreated all the way to the fortress of Sevastopol.

Relying on this strong fortress, the Soviets thwarted several German attacks, and eventually, with Hitler's support, Field Marshal Manstein concentrated a large number of heavy artillery to besiege the fortress, and even mobilized the largest cannon in the world at the time, the 800 mm Gustav cannon. And this huge cannon did not live up to its expectations, and after joining the siege, it achieved great results, and the well-built fortifications of the Soviets turned out to be useless against it.

Under the bombardment of these heavy artillery, the originally strong fortress was finally breached, although the defenders still resisted bravely, but in the face of the superior German army, they had no fortress to rely on, they finally failed, and the German army was able to clear the entire Crimean peninsula, and General Manstein was also made a marshal by Hitler for his achievements in conquering the Crimea, and reached the peak of his military career.

As he crossed over, that world line had been disrupted and altered, and he had rehearsed such a scene in advance, which made him have mixed feelings.

Although the cannons and artillery fire of this era could not have been as sharp and terrifying as they were in the mid-20th century, the forts of today could not have been as strong as they had then, so the defenders still had to face the same fate.

He admired the heroism of these defenders, but in war bravery and blood alone cannot defeat steel, although the will is important, but the material can determine everything.

As Charles had witnessed, the bombardment of so many heavy artillery pieces soon had a gratifying effect, and the flames swept through the entire burn, and there were huge stones scattered everywhere, as if they had been torn by giants.

At the same time, because the positions of the Russian army have been greatly reduced, some shells even flew directly into the harbor, causing a large splash of water, so that the fog began to fill with the smoke and dust.

Although there was smoke billowing everywhere, and dust and mud obstructing the view, not only the Charles, but everyone else was convinced that they had subdued the fortress to the ground.

The hours of shelling were almost as long as a century, and the massive shelling did not begin to cease until near noon, but this did not mean the end of the fighting, but on the contrary, it was only a grand prelude to the offensive.

A large number of French officers and soldiers who had already assembled, under the urging of the officers, began to rush towards the fortress like a tide, because of the previous heavy shelling, so their ears were now a little deaf, so their shouts now became extremely loud, and some of them were even a little distracted, just red eyes and followed the large army forward.

As the commander of the first assault force, Lefry-Lucien took his saber and followed his men and rushed towards the fortress together.

As one of the main forces favored by Field Marshal Tréville, he witnessed the war from beginning to end, and in several battles his troops suffered great losses, although the rear was always replenished with new soldiers, but this could not but have a negative effect on the combat effectiveness of his troops. However, in line with respect for the soldier's duty, he still carried out the above plan to the letter, did not shirk responsibility because of the loss of the troops, but took the lead and led his subordinates to attack forward.

He had been pessimistic about storming the fortress, but now he knew that after a few months of siege, the defenders of the fortress were at the end of their power, and the French troops were well rested and replenished, and had such powerful artillery to help him, he was now confident of victory.

At the urging of him and other French officers, countless French soldiers rushed into the already unrecognizable fortified front, and in the rear of the French line, countless reinforcements and reserves waited nervously, praying for victory on the front.

In the previous bombardment, most of the Russian fortifications in the hills and ravines have become unrecognizable, and even make people wonder if there are still living beings living in them. The charging French soldiers stepped over the potholed ground, over the ditches and stones, and forced their way into the forward position.

And the Russian army has been strangely silent, only when the French almost rushed to the forward position, they began to shoot back, not only the only remaining artillery fire in the rear, but also in some unexpected corners from time to time gunfire, taking the lives of some French soldiers.

However, although their counterattack caused a small number of casualties, the strength of the Russian counterattack was visibly weakened compared to the previous offensives, which gave great encouragement to the French officers and soldiers.

It is clear that the strength of the Russian army has been extremely weakened during the long siege, and the long shelling just now has caused them heavy losses.

"Win!"

"The Russians are going to be finished!"

"Kill them!"

In the midst of this cheering and cheering, groups of French soldiers rushed into the positions of the Russian army, they did not care about the casualties of their comrades, but rushed into the Russian trenches and the fortified hills, and fought frantically with the remaining defenders in the ruined position.

The defenders were much more miserable than they had been in the previous meetings, they were sparsely numbered, haggard, with long hair and beards on their faces, and even their clothes were so worn out that they hardly looked like living people, but like wild beasts in the jungle, and the terrible war had left a deep enough mark on them.

However, most of them struggled to fight back, using what little energy they had to resist the swarming enemy forces, and then they were engulfed in a blue-red flood.

The flood swept towards the fortress and seemed unstoppable.

And looking at everything at the front, the command in the rear also gave a small cheer.

"Grandpa, your victory is in sight!" Charles walked over to his grandfather's side and held his hand tightly.