As the hands of the clock slowly swing towards the bottom of the scale, the winter light finally arrives, and the Crimean peninsula finally wakes up in the cold wind and ushers in another weak morning. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

As dawn dawned, the sky gradually brightened, but the winter sunlight was faint and pale, so it was not possible to cut a clear dividing line between the earth, and there was still a blurred shadow between heaven and earth. Thick clouds hung gloomily over the sky, with no sign of dissipation, and the winter wind, which seemed to never cease, howled through the gaps between the valleys and hills, and the almost bare branches of the forests everywhere were stripped of the few dry leaves.

The bare hills and valley roads, the dirt and the rocks made up a gloomy picture of gray and black, and everything was so cold and bleak that the original life of the field could no longer be seen.

The bodies of the soldiers lying horizontally between the tunnels, the dense cobweb-like trenches on each side, and the dark barrels and barrels of guns hidden in the dark corners of the melancholy, add a bit of terror and slaughter to this field.

When the pale daylight finally illuminated the trenches on the French side, the cold wind suddenly intensified, and Colonel Lucien-Leflaire, who was in the forefront, shivered, tucked his military coat, and shrunk his neck.

But even so, his eyes did not move, and he kept his eyes on the positions of the enemy troops on the opposite side, the bastions on the hills, the narrow valley roads, and the trenches hidden behind them, all seemed to be in his sight as if they were living creatures.

These days, he often spent himself in various positions on the front line, observing the defensive positions on the opposite side, but today the meaning was very different, because today was about to come when the French army would launch a general offensive.

The heavy gloomy picture made his mood very solemn, but now that it was this time, he could only hold on to the end. After the command gave the order, they had been preparing for this offensive for a long time, and regardless of the consequences, they must fully cooperate with the other troops to fight to the end, no matter what the casualties cost.

As the day grew brighter, Lucien took out his pocket watch and waited for the scheduled moment to come.

He had been a commander for many years since he joined the army, and he had participated in almost every major battle, but whenever a new big battle was coming, he couldn't help but feel nervous, as if his blood was burning, and this was probably the instinct of that kind of warrior.

Maybe it was psychological, he just felt that his heart was beating faster and faster, and the pointer was getting slower and slower, and just when he was about to see through it, the pointer finally reached the predetermined moment.

He took a deep breath, then looked up at the bastions on the hills in the distance.

And almost at this moment, a dazzling light suddenly shone from behind him, so much so that it seemed as if an aura had been added to him for a moment. The roar of the cannons behind the hidden forward position suddenly sounded, and the deafening whistling sound made Lucien feel only pain in his eardrums, and he was almost instantly deaf.

With the roar of the cannons, the whole earth shook slightly, the supporting planks of the trenches creaked and wailed, and the heavy shells roared and tore through the still gloomy sky in the momentum of this row of mountains and seas, and crashed headlong into the opposite position, making the light between heaven and earth shine again, as if the dawn had come early.

These cannons are no longer the light and easily transferable field guns used by the Anglo-French coalition and the Russian army in several battles before, but siege guns specially used to bombard fortresses, the power of heavy artillery is simply worlds different from light field artillery, and only by relying on the undoubted advantages of sea and sea, the British and French coalition forces were able to gather these heavy artillery on the Crimean Peninsula so quickly and put them into the fierce fortress offensive battle.

In this offensive, these heavy artillery also carried great hopes from the coalition forces to rely on them to blast open gaps in the Russian lines, kill and wound their officers and men, and at the same time wear down their will to resist.

And just as they had hoped, the heavy artillery bombardment soon had obvious consequences on the ground, large masses of earth and stones were smashed into the air, and the flames soon burned in the front and deep positions of the enemy, and the bastions directly hit by the shells, the brick walls on the surface began to peel off, and even revealed large gaps.

Despite the thick smoke and the presence of dust and mud everywhere, Lucien and the other French officers boldly continued to move closer, trying to gauge the losses of the Russian positions and the weaknesses of their lines.

The massive artillery bombardment continued and opened a grand prelude to the offensive, and now Lucien and other front-line troops scheduled to participate in the offensive were ready to go to the next step of the battle as planned.

And just after the shelling lasted for more than ten minutes, the Russian army finally began to counterattack with artillery, but their momentum was much smaller than that of the French army, although the shells fell between the open space and the valley road between the two armies for a while, but it did not bring much deterrence to the French army that was about to attack.

At the beginning of the siege, every time the coalition began to bombard, the Russians would immediately counterattack with artillery fire as if showing determination, without showing weakness at all, but after a period of time, perhaps because the reserve of shells began to run out, every time the British and French forces launched an artillery bombardment on the fortress, although the Russian army still launched artillery bombardment to counterattack, but it was very restrained, the scale was extremely small, and it only showed an unyielding spirit of resistance.

During the time of the artillery bombardment of the two armies, the French soldiers in the forward positions began to move slowly from the trenches and shelters everywhere under the leadership of the officers, and came into the wilderness between the positions of the two armies.

At this time, the climate was already very cold, so they were all wearing thick military coats, bulging uniforms, and various stains on their clothes, and they could no longer see the gorgeous image they had when they first came to Crimea, and on everyone's faces, they were a little more dignified and bored because of the long battle, and they could no longer see their previous spirits.

The long hours of fighting, the harsh environment, and the often inadequate supplies had already worn down their morale, but even so, these officers and men were ready to carry out their orders and fight until the last moment.

After the fierce shelling between the two armies, the firelight began to spread in all directions, and now the sky is brighter, the vision has become very clear, although the temperature is still very low, but under the background of these fires, it seems that the original fierce winter wind has become a lot warmer.

The sound of artillery in the French positions gradually subsided, and the order to launch the next offensive according to the plan was soon heard from the headquarters, and passed through the entire chain of command to the end of the entire military system, the company commanders and platoon commanders in the most advanced positions.

They were now mingling with their respective troops, and for the convenience of commanding their troops, they wore feathers on their caps, command knives in their hands, and some wore the medals they had received in their military careers on their chests, which glittered in this gloomy weather, and could hardly be more clearly marked.

These junior officers can be said to be the backbone of the entire army, and only they can contact the upper command system and the lower soldiers, so that the latter can carry out the predetermined plan to the letter, and it is because of this that they face no less danger in the next offensive than the privates, if not more.

Amid the constant noise and the cold wind, most of the officers were looking at their pocket watches, waiting for the last moment, and some of them were gently puffing on their pocket watches to relieve their uneasiness.

As if a century had passed, the loud sound of the trumpets suddenly remembered from the French position.

"Attack!" A hoarse shout roared out from every hidden forward position, converging into a roar.

Then, flags began to flutter between the clearings, and then streams of infantry poured out of the trenches under the guidance of the banners, like beasts that had suddenly emerged from the shadows.

The infantrymen who were the first to break out of the trenches immediately spread out into skirmishers on the front line, and then began to carry out individual soldiers in a company platoon with wide intervals, while the platoon commander or company commander of the front line troops nervously directed the offensive of his subordinates in the middle and back of his troops' formation.

Because of the dense fire of the opposite fortress and artillery fire, the French would use skirmishers to get close to the enemy's front after the attack, and the intended main attack direction was the left and right flanks, with two battalions of infantry deployed at the front of each flank, and then one battalion followed as a reserve. And when the troops in the front line begin to engage the enemy, several infantry platoons in the rear will all be deployed in a skirmish line to advance to support the front line at any time and further expand the occupied positions.

After these forward troops begin to attack, the artillery will also advance the light field artillery to the front line under the cover of the infantry, and continue to carry out suppressive artillery attacks on the deep areas of the Russian army, so as to cooperate with the infantry units to continue to expand the occupied area.

Amid the rumbling artillery fire, the entire French unit involved in the attack spread out in the predetermined positions as planned, and began to attack. If any creature could look down from the air, it would find that the entire army was in order, running in an orderly manner like a huge and sophisticated instrument, and the centuries-old military tradition of the French army, as well as the breakthrough contributions of modern science to the military, were vividly displayed.

Amid the loud trumpets and the spontaneous shouts of the soldiers, a large gray-blue figure quickly filled the positions of the two armies, and rushed towards the opposite positions like a tide.

Slowly, they got closer and closer to the trenches in front of each other, and came to the path between the valleys. This is the only way for them to attack, and it is also the place where they have fought with the Russian army many times, and countless officers and soldiers of the two sides have been put to eternal sleep here, and a large part of the mud under their feet has been transformed from these poor people.

However, no one had time to care about these anymore, and countless pairs of feet trampled on these colorful mud blocks, and suddenly pulled out of these mud and continued to advance forward, and at this moment, the sound of dense gunfire rang out again from the Russian position.

Under such a counterattack, the originally scattered French front suddenly seemed to stop, and many people lay on the spot to avoid the oncoming bullets, while many people directly covered their chests or limbs, and struggled to fall to the ground, mixed with the colorful mud under their feet.

The overwhelming offensive was briefly halted by the intense artillery fire, but soon, under the hoarse shouts of the officers, the officers and men immediately got up again, and then continued to rush forward with their guns in their arms, their eyes already red, and they even forgot about their own safety.

In the trenches of the original French position, as the brigade commander of the main attacking force, Lucien has always been closely monitoring the situation of the forward position. When the Russian army launched a counterattack, his heart involuntarily tightened, but he tried to control his emotions and not allow himself to show any negativity.

The intensity of the Russian artillery counterattack was a little higher than he originally expected, but it did not exceed his imagination, and it was obvious that after seeing the insufficient artillery reserves, the Russian army consciously saved ammunition in the usual artillery fire, and deliberately showed weakness.

Although the French army had taken into account the remaining strength of the Russian army when formulating the plan, and had made a due estimate of their will to fight, the strength of the counterattack shown in the first battle still made him feel a little nervous.

However, he also knew that from the moment the soldiers jumped out of the trenches to launch an offensive, there was no turning back from the entire campaign, and even if it didn't go well, they had to go to the end, and it was impossible to stop halfway.

"At the very least, we're consuming more of their resources, and they can't replenish manpower and ammunition while we can." Lucien thought to herself. "Even if we don't succeed this time, we can still continue to launch an offensive in the future."

At this time, it was not only the troops at the front who were nervous, but also in the rear headquarters, where there was also commotion, and officers and heralds were moving in and out of the headquarters, the atmosphere was serious and tense, and almost everyone was in a hurry.

The commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Trevier, paced calmly in the tent, as if listening to the sound of artillery fire from the front line and judging the current situation.

While he was pondering, a staff officer walked up to him and handed him a document. "Your Excellency, this is the casualty report of the front-line troops at the moment."

"I don't want to know how many casualties there are, tell me, how far we advanced!" Marshal Tréville interrupted the staff officer with a slight wave of the marshal's scepter. "Tell the brats at the front, attack! Give me offense! ”