By daybreak, news of the capture of the Boyosling battery by the Germans had reached all parts of the battlefield via telephone lines and radio waves, and the 1st Brigade of the German 7th Prussian Light Infantry Division, which had penetrated the French lines of communication west of Verdun, was perhaps the most in need of this report. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBefore he knew it, Major General Joseph Plier and his officers and men had repelled 14 French attacks on this field front near the Aisne. In these 14 bloody and life-threatening battles, the light infantry from Prussia in Germany thwarted the French offensive with fearless courage and tenacity, many lightly wounded continued to fight after simple bandaging, and the soldiers of the reserve braved the enemy's artillery fire to deliver ammunition to the forward positions.

According to rough estimates, the French army has suffered more than 30,000 casualties in the Aisne Valley, and the total number of soldiers under General Purli's command, including subsequent reinforcements, is no more than 1. 50,000 people. For this, Plier has already received an honorable mentions, and regardless of the outcome of this battle, he will become one of the heroes of the Western Front.

Before dawn came, Prier and his adjutant went to the front-line positions, and he was shocked to find that many of the soldiers here were faces that he was completely unfamiliar with, and in the field headquarters of the two regiments belonging to the 1st Brigade, he did not see the right-hand men he was most familiar with. With a sufficient number of field guns and heavy machine guns, the German infantry was clearly better at defensive battles than offensive battles, but in the Aisne Valley, the French attacked at any cost, allowing the Germans to truly experience the hardships of defensive warfare. Seeing that it was difficult for a simple infantry charge to break through the German defensive line, the French army also began to adjust its tactics, and even tried the trick of "taking the sword to the front". In order to maximize the suppressive effect of the rapid-fire field guns, they sent infantry charges without waiting for the end of the shelling, and the artillerymen did not stop firing until their infantry was halfway or approaching the enemy's position, so that the German officers and men either waited until the French rushed to them before raising their heads to shoot, or they could only pray that they would not be swept away by the enemy's shrapnel. In addition, the proud German officers were always the first to be left behind in battle, so the French army selected a group of accurate marksmanship, these riflemen followed the attacking troops to the front of the German positions, and then hid among the remains of the fallen soldiers, taking the opportunity to snipe the officers on the German positions. As a result, the number of casualties in Pryer's brigade has increased dramatically, including the reserves, and the combat attrition has exceeded 60 percent, and it is not uncommon for the battalion commander to take over the post of regiment commander and the company commander to take command of the troops. By the end of the battle, more than half of the officers and men on the position had come from other reinforcements.

With a rather heavy heart, Prill returned to the brigade headquarters, which was located on a high place. In such a deserted area, there will naturally be no ready-made houses and living utensils to use, so everything is simple, suitable for the place, ammunition boxes are built into tables, tree stumps are turned into chairs, and the only few marching beds are also used in turn.

Because the morning light was not yet bright, Prier did not notice at first a man lying on the marching bed next to him, and he had just stopped at the table where the ammunition box was built, and the man stood up sharply, like an assassin.

"General! Captain Brunot of the Reconnaissance Company salutes you! ”

Prill was startled, but not angry, but looked the man in front of him up and down, his face was dusty, his uniform was covered with dust, his cuffs were rolled up high, and his collar was unbuttoned.

Without saying a word, Prill reached out to help the second lieutenant tighten the collar, said "hard work," and asked him to sit down.

"What's new?"

The captain walked over to the table and quickly reported on the map: "The French have repaired a section of railroad tracks on the perimeter, so that infantry and supplies from the rear can be transported closer to the battlefield." Two military vehicles arrived in the first half of the night and one in the second half of the night. In addition, the French troops pushed the artillery positions forward by 2 km, and many small mounds of earth were piled up in the place where the artillery was deployed, apparently in order to carry out direct shelling of our positions on the top of the hill. ”

Purrier didn't respond, but used a pencil to mark where the captain had pointed out, and then thought with a frown.

"Around the new artillery positions, the French deployed at least one regiment of troops, and it was difficult to sneak up with small forces, but we could try to start with ammunition hoarding points in the rear of the French army...... Presumably in this position. The French troops from the rear were assembled here, and the troops that had retreated from the front were also resting here, so the order was relatively chaotic. If you'll allow you, I'll take the reconnaissance company to put on a French uniform tomorrow night, and touch it here to give them a hard beat. ”

"Tomorrow night?" Prill sighed wistfully.

"What? We received an order to retreat? The captain's first reaction was curiosity, a flash of regret in his eyes, and then a palpable relief.

Plier shook his head: "I just received a telegram from the division headquarters two hours ago that our army has captured one of the main batteries of the Verdun fortress, the Poyoslin battery. ”

"Really?" The captain was very surprised when he heard this, although he did not know the specific plan of the main force of the corps to attack the Verdun fortress, but in the dead of night, the dense artillery sound from the Verdun direction was undoubtedly solemnly announcing the start of the offensive.

"The attack started at 12 o'clock and ended at less than 1:30." When Prill said this, there was not the slightest joy on his face.

The captain did not notice this minute detail, and said: "Then won't we soon be able to take the whole fortress of Verdun?" ”

"If yes!" "Otherwise, we will have the fiercest and most relentless attack of the enemy." ”

The causal relationship was simple and clear, and the captain knew it when he thought about it, and he hurriedly asked, "What then?" ”

Prill shook his head, at his level, there were too few things that could be decided and changed, and more often than not, he could only go with the flow and pray for Lady Luck's favor.

The captain looked down and thought for a while, and when he saw that it was not very bright outside, he said, "It's better to ...... We took the initiative and took the French by surprise. ”

Prill glanced at him, the old colonel who had made this suggestion last time led his troops in a beautiful counterattack, but he himself was unfortunately killed in battle, and the naval tank was not as invincible as he had imagined. Of the 5 naval combat vehicles that were deployed in the counterattack with the infantry, 1 was damaged by direct French artillery fire, 1 was damaged by the tracks, and 1 was damaged due to unknown faults. The German infantry had to blow it up at great cost in order to prevent the damaged tank from being captured by the French, and although the counterattack was so devastating to the French that they were silenced for the next seven hours that they did not attack again, it was not worth the loss in Prieer's opinion.

"We only have 7,000 soldiers, 34 cannons, 16 machine guns, and ammunition to last half a day at most, so what are we going to do to fight this counterattack?" Prieer's rhetorical question was no longer as fierce as before, but a kind of hopelessness of loss.

The captain was speechless, at his level there was even less that could be decided and changed.

Prill sighed silently and commanded, "If there's nothing else to report, go and rest first!" ”

The captain saluted silently and walked out of the brigade headquarters with his head bowed.

Worried, Prill stood alone at the table for a while, and was about to lie down on the camp bed for a while, when the smell of food wafted outside. Soon, the adjutant brought breakfast - bread, bacon, omelette, and vegetable soup.

Prill smiled wryly and said, "Oh, is this the last breakfast?" ”

The adjutant was confused.

No sooner had begun his breakfast than the whistling of cannonballs, followed by the sound of explosions, which sounded stronger than any before, and the soup on his plate spilled.

The adjutant looked outside and immediately shouted: "Damn, the French artillery fire has reached the top of the mountain!" General, do you want to move the command to a safer place? ”

Prill calmed down at this point, and he continued to enjoy his meal unhurriedly. Except for the observation bunker located on the front of the hillside, the main body of the brigade headquarters was originally located behind the top of the hill, so until the top of the hill was flattened, the French field guns with straight ballistics could not pose a direct threat to this German headquarters.

With the experience of resisting French attacks many times before, the German officers and soldiers on the position did not need orders from their superiors, and naturally turned into a state of response as soon as they heard the sound of artillery. The deeper and deeper the bunkers in which they hid, and the more daring they became, they began to ignore the presence of French shells, allowing shrapnel to fly across the surface, ignoring the deliberate French charging whistles, and only waiting for the machine guns in their positions to fire before they stood up in their bunkers and fired forward through the firing holes in the breastwork.

As with most previous attacks, the French infantry offensive reached halfway up the hill and was held back as soon as it approached the German front-line positions. More than a dozen German water-cooled heavy machine guns were deployed in reinforced bunkers, weaving an impenetrable net of fire in cross-fire, while the dead spots of machine-gun fire were solved by experienced German infantry with hand grenades.

On the front of the valley, a French unit once again challenged the German defensive positions constructed by crossing the railway line. The position was less than a kilometre wide, and the defending force, though only two battalions, was ready to receive fire support from the heights of the slopes, behind which naval combat vehicles were also attached as mobile units. Under the fierce blows of the German field artillery, the two regiments of French infantry were already at the end of their crossbows before they could reach the front of the German positions, and the final rout was also expected.

Prier had breakfast and smoked a cigarette as the French attacking force slowly retreated under the cover of artillery fire. Arriving at the observation bunker ahead, Purrier stared blankly at the ebb tide. This offensive by the opponent may seem like a blow to his own troops, but a successful defensive battle is not without cost. Seeing the French troops in the distance, who were ready for the next round of attack, Prier seemed to see a black storm cloud coming, and the suffocating weight rushed to his face.

(End of chapter)