"Uh......h Rumble! ”

Another large-caliber grenade hit the vicinity of the division's command post, and the whole earth trembled a few times, and then a fierce wind blew in through the lookout hole of the shelter with all kinds of debris, sand, gravel and mud, and slammed the staff officers who were watching there to the ground.

"God, forgive me."

Montgomery looked at everything in front of him in despair, and his heart was filled with great guilt and anger. Everything started at 10:30 last night.

Montgomery led his army and finally reached the predetermined position within the time specified by Gott. He had confirmed from the reconnaissance reports of the reconnaissance units he had sent out earlier that there were no German ** teams within ten kilometers of the vicinity. Now he could finally put aside the doubts in his mind and devote all his energy to the attack that was about to be launched.

Montgomery first ordered all units to immediately build offensive field fortifications and set up their own forward command posts in the positions arranged in the previous plan. All artillery was concentrated two kilometers behind the offensive positions, protected by a regiment of infantry. He did this to ensure that his vanguard would receive maximum fire support and sufficient fire intensity in the event of an attack. After all, they were short on ammunition, and it would be difficult to achieve the density of fire required for the attack if the 25-pounder guns were placed separately.

When all this was arranged, Montgomery sent a telegram to the Expeditionary Force Command that he had arrived at the departure point on time. Then he took his staff to the forefront and began to observe the situation of the German troops opposite.

Such a large force could not hide its tracks, and now the Germans on the opposite side were clearly aware of their arrival. The entire city of Arras was shrouded in darkness, and only a pitch-black silhouette could be seen in the bright moonlight. Except for the faint sound of the German army's short orders in the distance, the whole city was silent like a dead city, and this eerie atmosphere made people feel a chill in their backs.

"Why can't I hear the voices of the people in the city, not even the barking of dogs? The city gives me a bad feeling, like ...... It's like ......," a staff officer said to Montgomery with a frown.

"Don't say that word, because I feel the same way. It's very unusual, did the Germans move all the inhabitants here? Montgomery interrupted the staff officer, who also felt that the atmosphere in the city was suffocating.

"Let's go, go to the forward command post. I'm going to see what the Germans have in store for us. ”

Indeed, he had been looking here for a long time and had not seen anything of value, and he was in a very depressed mood, so he was ready to launch a small tentative attack, at least as the first fire reconnaissance.

Montgomery led his men into the forward command post, where he picked up his binoculars and looked at the dark city.

"Send a regiment of troops to make a tentative attack on Arras first, I want to know the strength of the other side."

"Yes, General."

The forward commander picked up the phone and began to deploy his troops. After a while, he reported to Montgomery.

"General, the troops are ready, they will attack from three positions, the fifth and fifty divisions and the third division will each send a battalion, and the artillery is also ready for artillery cover."

"Okay, let's get started."

With an order from Montgomery. The forward positions of Great Britain as a whole immediately turned into a boiling cauldron, and all sorts of light and heavy weapons swarmed towards the German positions. Flares were all over the sky, illuminating the German positions. The tracer bullets gathered in the night sky into a huge net and shrouded Arras. They were like shiny electric whips whipping back and forth against the German trenches.

With a piercing whistling, the first round of 25-pounder shells exploded on the German positions. The explosion of fireballs and smoke with splashed earth turned the entire German position into an erupting volcano, and the shocking and destructive scene made all the British ** officers express their heartfelt admiration.

The Germans, apparently blinded by the surprise attack of the British, did not react in any way. The entire German position silently withstood the ravages of British artillery fire.

After three rounds of artillery fire on the German forward positions, the artillerymen extended their artillery fire to the depth of the German positions. The first British infantry jumped out of their trenches and rushed towards the German front with their bayonet rifles in their arms. Montgomery and his staff officers stared nervously at the German position.

The infantry had already rushed halfway through, but the German positions were still silent, and there was no sign of a counterattack. For a moment, Montgomery even wondered if the artillery fire in front of him was too fierce, and that the soldiers on the Germans' forward positions might have been wiped out. But he immediately overturned his opinion, that situation was impossible, and he had seen more terrible artillery fire in the First World War, but he had not been able to do anything to the Germans. What the Germans were up to, a sense of foreboding filled his mind.

The infantry had already rushed to within five hundred meters of the German position, and the infantrymen were puzzled by the Germans' reaction, clenching their rifles and staring at the position. Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded from the German side, and then numerous steel helmets emerged from the trenches. The British soldiers let out louder roars of excitement, and they quickened their pace and rushed towards the Germans as they fired.

Suddenly, countless tongues of fire erupted from the entire German forward position. With the heart-rending burst of MG34, the British soldiers in the first row fell to the ground, then the second and third rows. Mortar and infantry shells exploded in the ranks, and fragments of corpses and guns flew through the air. The British infantry were still charging forward one after another, but the horrific sight had deeply shocked their hearts, as the soldiers in the front row fell one by one, the soldiers behind involuntarily slowed down, and the officers were considering whether to let the soldiers lie down or simply retreat. But something even more terrifying befell the heads of this group of British infantry.

A dull whistling sound rang out above their heads.

"Shelling! Take cover! ”

An officer shouted. A second later, a shell exploded next to him, and with a violent explosion, the soldiers within a radius of fifty meters were torn to pieces by shrapnel in an instant, human fragments and internal organs of various shapes, guns, military uniforms, and backpacks were thrown up to a height of thirty meters, and then scattered in different trajectories in the surrounding infantry ranks, and the shells left a large crater on the ground with a depth of five meters and a diameter of about ten meters.

"Oh God! Heavy artillery. Montgomery was stunned at the command post.

How is it possible, the other side is just two ordinary infantry regiments, how can it have such a heavy artillery at the army level. The largest artillery of the infantry regiment is a 105 mm infantry gun, but the shell I see now is at least 150 mm or more. Then something that shocked him even more was that the Germans' large-caliber shells began to rain down into the infantry group.

"They have at least ten or more of these heavy guns!" Montgomery exclaimed.

"It's a trap, the Germans have been prepared for it. Contact the General Command immediately, I will personally report the situation to General Gort! He yelled at the staff officers who were in a daze. Immediately let the infantry withdraw, and then order the forward positions to be immediately reinforced with fortifications, and the trenches were to be deepened by three to four feet. Artillery was ordered to carry out covering fire on the enemy's forward positions. Sending out scouts, we must find out the location of the German artillery positions. ”

"Yes, General!" Only then did the staff officers come to their senses, picked up the telephones, and shouted orders to the various positions.

Montgomery rushed out of the forward command post and ran towards his division headquarters. He had to report his situation to Gort as soon as possible, judging by the unusual firepower, strong fortifications, and accurate and terrifying shelling of the Germans, the other side had been prepared for a long time. All of this shows that this is all a trap, and if the infantry is allowed to continue the attack now, they will run out of blood here without armored troops.

Montgomery anxiously circled around his headquarters, the telegram had been sent for an hour, but Gort had not yet responded. The regiment was still not able to withdraw, and none of them were wiped out by the German artillery in the middle of the battlefield. The scouts had not yet discovered the artillery positions of the Germans, but there were indications that the artillery had been fired from the city of Arras. The Germans must have concealed their artillery in the city, which explains why the reconnaissance planes were not able to spot them during the reconnaissance of the previous two days.

And from the current situation, it seems that they also have other guns of various calibers, at least in the front attack, the Germans used four different caliber heavy guns, and various cannons of different firing ranges completely blocked the regiment on the battlefield. The Germans also had plenty of ammunition, as evidenced by the way they fired shells without sparing. They are even carrying out sporadic shelling of their forward positions, but since it is still night, their shelling is not very accurate, so they have not caused significant casualties. But what should I do when it will be dawn in a few hours, and my position will be uncoveredly exposed to the eyes of German artillery observers?

"Report, call back from General Gott, General." A signal corpsman ran into the command post.

"Give it to me!"

Montgomery snatched the telegram from the soldier's hand.

"The British Empire sent the General Headquarters of the French Expeditionary Force to Bernard, commander of the 3rd Division of the British Army. Toil. Major General Montgomery.

Now it is clear from various sources of intelligence that the German army opposite your unit is indeed only two regiments in number. And they only have very few cannons, and the command is suspicious of your reports that the enemy has heavy artillery.

Even if the other side does have that kind of artillery, it proves that the German army attaches great importance to Arras and strengthens his defense capability, and it cannot be proved that this is a trap for our army.

So the command asks you to continue the continuous offensive in order to break through their defenses, and if you can't do this, you must also find a way to consume the opponent's ammunition and strength. It must be persevered, the command believes in your command ability, and you are now the key to the realization of our plan. The 2nd and 4th divisions are also moving closer to you.

Finally, the command ordered your troops not to retreat under any circumstances, and to hold out until friendly forces arrived. You have to understand that any price is worth it for the sake of victory. If your troops withdraw from their positions without permission, you will be court-martial with the harshest possible judgment!

General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force. ”

When Montgomery read the telegram, he couldn't help but be furious.

"What do you mean that there are only two regiments and no heavy artillery. Why didn't those command idiots come and listen to what the hell was smashed on the position? Could it be two regiments with such artillery? ”

Montgomery angrily crumpled the telegram and threw it out of the command post. His staff officers watched silently as their commanders were there and yelled at the bureaucrats at the General Headquarters.

Montgomery vented for a while, and finally calmed down. He looked down at the map on his desk, thinking about how he could get out of his current predicament.

At 5:30 a.m. on the 27th, the Germans finally stopped their sporadic shelling, and the British positions finally gained a period of peace.

The soldiers hurriedly took advantage of this precious gap to repair the damaged positions and trenches.

"If they don't fight, then it's my turn to fight, and order the artillery to harass and fire at the enemy positions."

Montgomery decided that even if he couldn't break through the opponent's defenses, it would at least slow down the opponent's energy, and that his artillery return fire would restore a little morale to the troops.

The artillerymen faithfully carried out his orders, and from the rear of the position came the rumble of artillery fire, followed by the sound of 25-pounder shells whizzing over their heads, and the last thing heard was a loud explosion on the German side.

Suddenly, an even duller whistling sound sounded from the direction of Arras, and then this whistling swept over the command post, and all the staff officers pricked up their ears to identify the direction of the shells.

"It was towards our rear positions." A staff officer shouted.

"Not good, our artillery positions!" Montgomery jumped to his feet and ran out of the command post as fast as he could, looking behind him.

At the moment when he just ran out, more than a dozen fireballs rose in a row from the rear artillery position, and then a thunderous roar came, and even here the powerful shock wave was felt.

"How so! How did the Germans know the location of our artillery positions, although it was almost dawn, but it was still night. A staff officer shouted from the side, crying.

Montgomery looked at the artillery positions that were still exploding, and there was no expression on his face. Only an attentive staff officer noticed that the commander's hands were now shaking violently.

"Command the troops! Be prepared to retreat. Montgomery turned around and ordered.

"But the order of the General Command is ......"

"Don't care what the General Headquarters says, I will bear any responsibility alone, I can't watch it as a trap and let my soldiers die in vain."

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