Before the attack began, it was ten minutes before five o'clock in the morning. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Bedholt. Coster and the Boer commander of the Western Front, the famous "black general" Piette. Cronye walked into the headquarters. The staff officers, who were still busy, stopped together, saluted them, and resumed their work - but it was clear to both Coster and Kronye that what they were doing was to repeatedly check some information that had already been checked many times, and that it was meaningless, not to make the campaign smoother, but to keep themselves busy, and not to have the time and energy to think about the problem that scared them—the outcome of the battle.

Frustration lurks in everyone's heart, and failure seems to be a doomed result. Coaster can perceive this pessimistic thought, very clearly, because he is also one of "everyone"; And Kronye. The "Black General" knew the actual situation in the Kimberley better than any of the generals in Berlin or Pretoria, so from the outset his attitude was clear and strong: an attack on the Kimberley would lead to the heaviest losses of the German Volunteers and the Boer Army since the beginning of the war.

But no one heeded his warnings - but the result did not exceed Coaster and Cronye's expectations. Clausewitz said, "War is a continuation of politics", and unfortunately, politically, whether it was Kaiser Wilhelm in Berlin or President Kruger in Pretoria, they needed a large-scale offensive operation to inflict a ferocious blow on the British - the political intent of the war was clear and unshakable, and the soldiers on the front could only strictly carry out orders and do everything they could to accomplish an impossible task.

Of course, despite the words, "to the best of your ability", in reality the preparations that could be done were rather limited, and some of them were difficult for the soldiers of the German Volunteer Army and the Boer Army.

"General, Colonel," Stiegler, the chief of staff, whispered to them as Coaster and Kronye walked to the sand table in the center of the headquarters, staring at the sand table and thinking about what was going on with a sad face, "the sappers report that they have no way to break the barbed wire, not a single one, and all attempts have failed. ”

"Hmm." Kosworth nodded, but said nothing, and Cronye didn't move, speak, or express at all, as if they didn't care about the bad news Stiegler told them - or they knew the sappers wouldn't succeed.

Both guesses were wrong, though. Although Coster and Cronye knew that the work of the sappers was difficult, they did not expect the result to be what it was, but the consequences were serious: wait a while, the infantry would need to cut the barbed wire themselves, and only God would know if they would be able to accomplish this task in the face of American crossfire.

Obviously, if the infantry could not do it, the defeat would come sooner than expected, and there was at least a ninety percent chance that they would not be able to do it - they did not even have enough pincers.

Today's situation has undoubtedly become more difficult.

Knowing this, Coaster and Kronye took the work of the sappers and the consequences of its defeat very seriously, and they showed indifference only because they learned of it before Stiegler - they were at the front and witnessed the attempts and failures of the sappers while the chief of staff was at headquarters.

"We have to admit that we have no hope at all." Kronye remembered what he said at that time, and Coster remembered his statement: "Damn Americans, damn mercenaries." ”

The Umbrella mercenaries apparently anticipated that sappers would infiltrate their positions to destroy the barbed wire, and devised defensive measures: the intense light emitted by high-powered searchlights constantly swept across the front of the position, and from time to time, a rumor-lit shell that turned the night into day exploded in the air - in fact, the flare should have appeared in the First Great War, but Qin Lang obviously would not wait for that time - and finally, they hung many empty cans on the barbed wire, Whenever someone touches it, it will make a noise, and at this time the sapper can only pray that there are no patrols nearby, but there are not many such opportunities.

So, that's it, the operation to destroy the barbed wire was declared a failure, and it took the lives of dozens of sappers. It is conceivable that the infantry will repeat the same tragedy on a much larger scale.

It's ......

"Gentlemen, the last thirty seconds." Stiegler announced, grabbing his pocket watch in his right hand as his gaze shifted back and forth between Coster and Kronye, "What else do you want to say?" ”

Coster looked at him, then to Kronye, and then to find that General Boer was doing the same. After a moment's hesitation, the colonel tentatively questioned him. "General?"

Cronye didn't say anything, and time, though Coster wished there was a little more he could come up with, was in fact all gone.

At five o'clock in the morning, the artillery began to fire, sending warm greetings from the German Empire to the defenders of the Kimberley with great enthusiasm.

At first, these greetings worked: the explosion and the shock from the explosion brought David to the scene. Webb woke up. The military adviser sat up, pricked up his ears and listened carefully for a while, then fell back down, rolled over and went back to sleep - the German shelling was not worth mentioning. Webb didn't think he needed to waste his energy. The greetings were still not warm enough and would do little more than destroy some of the barbed wire and trenches.

Because the first and second trenches were empty, only a handful of soldiers remained at the front of the position, monitoring the movements of the Germans and the Boers - the new tactic that Qin Lang had proposed, which he had personally conveyed to Fruhauff, was to withdraw the troops to a safe place during the enemy bombardment, and then return to the position when the enemy infantry attacked. The Germans had not seen it yet, so it was natural that they did not have the appropriate countermeasures to retaliate against this tactic - in that case, why not rest with peace of mind? On the front lines, sleep is extremely precious and should not be wasted.

However, not everyone could sleep under the deafening sound of the cannon like Webber did, and he was the only one who could lie down and rest. The mercenaries all stayed in their positions, clutching their weapons as hard as the enemy who rushed over to exchange bullets with them after the shelling was over, waiting for the shelling to end in the midst of the explosions.

Then came the thrill and frenzy of the killings - unlike the German and Boer soldiers, their enemies were not nervous and were looking forward to today's battle. The mercenaries knew that they had an advantage, that they could see the goddess of victory lift her skirt, and that they had spent almost all of their time digging fortifications since their arrival in southern Africa, so that now every mercenary wanted to vent their pent-up depression on something more exciting - they wanted to do a big job.

And their commanders are further agitating them, stimulating their bloodthirsty instincts.

“…… Wait a while, and when you finally face the Germans and the Boers, do as I say. Kill every guy you see, blow off his head, poke him in the stomach, rip out his intestines, and kick him in the ass. Remember, gentlemen, that only dead Germans are good Germans......"

Along the trench, Fruhaoff walked slowly past the mercenaries, shouting at them as he slapped them on the shoulders, on their hands, on their heads, and on the chest with his fists. Even in the midst of the heavy cannon fire, his voice was clear and did not stop for a moment, even as the earth from the explosion washed away his body like a torrential downpour.

It's not his traditional style, but when necessary, Fruhauff goes crazy, because doing so makes his soldiers crazy too, even if they're like- or "just is"; Qin Lang also let his mercenaries use amphetamines, as long as they need to - they can't control themselves like they are injected with stimulants.

He needs his soldiers to become crazy people who only have murder in their heads, this is the strategy, his own strategy, the crazy soldiers are not afraid, they are not afraid, and Fruhoff does not like to scream at someone while kicking the ass of a coward: "Give it to me, you apes!" Do you want to live a life without dying? "- This is the work of a second lieutenant in the Federal Army, not of a mercenary commander; And then there's the company's strategy, Weber's last special mission. For the sake of the longer term, the mercenaries had to create more hatred among the British, Germans, and Boers than they do now.

To put it simply, it is to achieve one goal: to turn an ordinary battle into a battle without honor and humanity.

Of course, for Fruhauff or other mercenary commanders, this goal is actually easy to achieve: the battles in which mercenaries participate are always without honor and humanity; Mercenaries do not go to war for honor, morality, or justice, only for money.

So, the company's request is just a small meaning, as long as the mercenary is given a little motivation.

“…… Kill the Germans, kill the Boers, keep killing the Germans and the Boers. The commander continued to raise his voice, "Today, you only have this one thing to do......

A reasonable request. No one spoke or nodded, but the mercenaries understood their commander's intentions. Some of them looked at the Germans and the Boers, and although they saw nothing, they laughed cruelly.

Then the shelling also stopped.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

PS: The 1893 book friend group was blocked, tragedy (to be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )