The distance from Longvi to the banks of the Maas River is only 20 kilometers in a straight line. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After a day and a night of fighting, the German 5th Army under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm successfully repelled the French 3rd Army in front of them, and a full-scale counterattack sounded the trumpet the next day, August 22. With the exception of a part of the men and horses that were left to surround the fortified French fortresses of Longvi and Montmedy, the main force of the legion ran inexorably through the French line and rolled down the high and low hills towards the Maas River.

Shortly before noon, an advance unit of the German 6th Corps arrived at a place called Oval. A tributary of the Maas River passes through here and flows into the Maas River at a distance of 5 km.

In the middle of summer, when the scorching sun was in the sky, after several hours of trekking, the German officers and soldiers marching on foot were exhausted, but before they could stop to wash their faces and drink saliva, a burst of artillery fire suddenly came from the other side of the river, and the shells fell like a torrential rain, which made these German infantry, who had not long ago been chasing after the defeated French army, dizzy and untempered.

After more than ten minutes of bombardment, the shelling stopped, and Oval had become the burial place of hundreds of German soldiers. The dead were in different postures and expressions of horror, some leaning against the corner, some reclining on the side of the road, as if they were taking a break and continuing their journey......

At this time, the French army had retreated on all fronts, and even showed signs of collapse, but his own troops were inexplicably beaten in such an inexplicable place, and the German commander was furious, and he sent a messenger to the regimental headquarters to ask for help, and on the other hand, he sent a "sharp knife platoon" to cross the river to reconnoitre.

The curved channel was only a dozen meters wide at its narrowest point, and the water was shallow and slow, and the German combat scouts easily crossed the river and went ashore. I saw these sturdy Prussian infantrymen rolling up their sleeves high, revealing their furry arms, holding long Mauser rifles in both hands, bowing their heads and backs, and cautiously advancing in a scattered battle formation. They quickly captured the stone mill next to the river, from which they gained a good lookout and battle base, and then advanced through open farmland to the woods more than two thousand meters from the river bank. In the previous artillery bombardment, flames and gunpowder smoke appeared in the woods, and the artillery position was deployed here not only to avoid rapid reconnaissance from the air and cavalry, but also to defend, which could effectively weaken the enemy's artillery fire.

On the outer edge of the woods, the German reconnaissance infantry was unsurprisingly attacked, and for the French riflemen, who were hiding in the bushes, the German soldiers in pointed steel helmets and gray uniforms were very conspicuous targets in the harvested fields. With the crisp sound of the Bochtier rifles, the German infantry who crossed the river to reconnoiter were mercilessly hunted one after another, and those who survived were either prostrate on the ground or behind the ridges, unable to move under the close fire of the enemy.

Seeing the plight of his scouts through the binoculars, the commander of this German unit, a burly, fierce-looking German major officer, gritted his teeth at his opponent hiding in the woods. Knowing that reinforcements were coming, he ordered his officers to lead a company of men and horses with machine guns to cross the river in advance and organize a battle line relying on the embankment.

Unlike the French army, which was obsessed with offense and neglected defense, the German General Staff not only valued the traditional military skills of the troops, but also drew a lot of useful experience from the example of the Russo-Japanese War and the two Balkan wars, and added new subjects such as field defense to the German army's combat regulations. The soldiers not only added the subject of digging trenches and building positions in their daily training, but also equipped them with shovels for marching operations, so that they could dig bunkers anytime and anywhere.

More than 100 German soldiers who crossed the river quickly dug out individual bunkers and machine-gun positions using the mound of earth on the riverbank, and reinforcements arrived in Ovar after receiving battle reports. Seeing a large number of German troops, the French artillery on the opposite bank lost no time in firing, their shooting was very accurate, the dense artillery fire fell on the road, and the flying shrapnel instantly swept down one German officer and soldier after another, this long marching column immediately lost control, the soldiers quickly left the road and entered the field, the frightened horses pulled the gun carts and galloped wildly on the road, and the ignited ammunition carts made earth-shattering explosions from time to time, and there were dead and wounded people struggling and groaning everywhere......

The German reinforcements were scattered before they could enter the battle, but the timetable for the offensive did not allow the Germans to wait indefinitely. The officers met to discuss the battle while gathering their troops, and they decided to launch an attack without howitzer support. In a few moments, the two German units, the advance and the rear, cobbled together six or seven hundred soldiers, who did not cross the river in a scattered and orderly formation instead of migrating wildebeests, and the soldiers in the rear advanced with MG08 water-cooled heavy machine guns, while the artillery company placed the three surviving 77mm field guns on the south side of the road, relying on the hill as a cover to fire at the woods on the opposite bank - their shooting lasted only five minutes because most of the ammunition trucks accompanying them were damaged, It was only then that the German infantry, who had joined the attack, crossed the river bank and stepped into the farmland.

Fear of what comes, it seems that it is not just a psychological effect. As soon as the German artillery bombardment stopped, the short but powerful roar of the French field artillery was heard from the woods on the opposite bank, and the light shells fell in the field with a sharp whistling, although the killing range of each shell alone was very limited, but they fell one after another, and in the blink of an eye they swept over a huge area, and the casualties of the German officers and men who threw themselves into the attack increased rapidly, and the rest of the men continued to advance with great courage and determination, and when they entered the farthest position reached by their own reconnaissance troops, At the edge of the woods, a dense burst of gunfire rang out—the Bochtier rifle and the Hatch Chase machine gun echoed each other, playing a farewell song for the German infantry in front of them to heaven!

The last German soldier fell from the sound of gunfire, which lasted only two or three minutes, but the German officers and soldiers watching the battle on the south side of the river bank felt like they had spent decades. Seeing the young lives of their companions fall in the flames of war, they have no choice but to endure the pain of waiting, despite all their indignation and anger burning in their hearts.

It took a long time for another gray wave to finally appear at the end of the road in the direction of Germany and Luxembourg. Compared with the previous reinforcements, this wave of reinforcements is wave after wave, as if it is endless, and the power contained in it invigorates the officers and soldiers of their own side and makes the enemy personnel fearful.

The advance troops paid a bloody lesson, the main force of this division did not bury its head in the march, some companies crossed the river early, and the M96 77 mm caliber field guns also waded to the opposite bank under the guidance of mules and horses. The infantry columns, which were numbered side by side, were divided into separate columns, some walking in the shade of the trees, some in the fields, and on the flat roads there were only baggage transport vehicles—the spacing between each vehicles was widened to twenty or thirty meters, thus minimizing the damage that could be caused by enemy artillery fire.

In the face of the locust-like advance of tens of thousands of German troops, the French artillerymen in the woods on the other side of the river may feel weak and fearful, and may be worried that the time of death is approaching, but they did not withdraw from their positions, but chose to face it bravely. The intensive, accurate firing arrived as scheduled, and while the sound of artillery continued, the well-armed and well-trained German troops were bleeding at every moment, and the gray uniforms of the dead could be seen everywhere on the side of the road and in the fields......

The French artillery fire was like a vicious dog on the street, unreasonably biting indiscriminately, and the German soldiers were deeply stimulated and furious. The limited circumstances made it impossible for them to determine whether the enemy in the woods was an artillery unit or a strong French counterattack force, and a detour would not only mean passive avoidance of battle, but would also leave endless hidden dangers for their own military operations. So, the German division commander made a choice without common sense: the troops turned on the spot and swooped down on the French artillery positions on the other side of the river!

Supported by howitzers and field guns, two regiments of German infantry plunged into the attack in one go, with pointed helmets and gray uniforms surging through the farmland on the north bank of the river. Although the German offensive queue is not as one-sided as the French army, the means of attack are not much different in nature, and the French army is equipped with Hatch Chase heavy machine guns that are only fewer than their opponents, and the ability to slaughter infantry is not inferior, and the terrifying explosive rapid-fire ability of the 1897 75mm gun can be called the king of field warfare in the early days of the war. In this battlefield full of stray bullets and shrapnel, the German infantry fell in rows, stumps flying in the air, and fragments scattered all over the ground. The dead were silent, the living were silent, the gray wave moved forward slowly but firmly, some infantry stopped to cover their comrades with fire, the MG08, which was based on the Maxim heavy machine gun, screamed furiously, and a dense rain of bullets rained into the woods, and the German artillery fire began to find the target after several adjustments, and the French gunfire was suddenly suppressed - although there was only a brief pause in the blocking fire, the pace of the German offensive suddenly accelerated. With the shrill whistle of the charge, the infantry let out a low roar and rushed forward desperately with bayonets in hand. The French dug improvised fortifications at the edge of the woods, infantry fired in individual bunkers or potholes, machine guns were erected behind large tree stumps and sandbags, and French field artillery was scattered behind this line.

Judging by the number of fortifications, the French soldiers who carried out the blocking operation here were at most battalion-sized soldiers.

As soon as the German infantry rushed into the woods, the balance of battle was immediately reversed by 180 degrees, and all the French soldiers who did not have time to withdraw from their positions were shot, and the gunners saw that the situation was not good, and they also abandoned their equipment and retreated in panic, most of them finally escaped from the pursuit of the German army, and in the hours before that, they killed and wounded nearly 2,000 German officers and men with a loss of dozens of men, and the blood of the Germans stained the French land, and along the canals into the river, and finally into the Maas.

(End of chapter)