On January 1, 1908, the northern Italian city of Verona, which was the tip of the Allied line of defense in Italy, which began at Lake Garda near Verona and stretched south to the Po River, then east to the Adriatic Sea, relying on the wide expanse of the Po River. On the defensive line stretching for more than 200 kilometers, from north to south and then to east, there are four armies: the Greek First Army, the German Sixteenth Army, the Austro-Hungarian Eleventh Army, and the Greek Second Army, in addition to the Montenegrin Army responsible for mobile reinforcements, and in Verona is the Greek First Army, whose headquarters is in this ancient city that is famous for the story of Romeo and Juliet.

But today, this holy place of love is about to usher in the day of destruction.

On a pouring morning, the Greek soldiers, hiding in the mud of the trenches, shivering from the cold and worrying about their relatives back home, were giving themselves some heat with a breakfast that was almost not hot, and their supplies were in the care of Austria-Hungary, after all, Greece was so poor after the Balkan War and the naval race that it was almost out of its pants, and it was certainly impossible for them to afford it. However, because Emperor Joseph was nervous, the supply of the front line was inevitably equally tense, and the distribution of materials was inevitably divided into three, six, nine, etc., the German army was the main force, and the Austrian army was its own people, which had to be well supplied.

"Bastard, why are you eating less and less!" A soldier shouted angrily at the neck of the man who delivered the food.

"I'm a food deliverer, not a quartermaster, what's the use of you looking for me?" The guy said without showing weakness, but the image of this guy with a fat head and big ears is very dazzling.

The soldier was speechless, glared at him and gave him a hard push, and the man couldn't help but take a step back, but unfortunately his feet slipped and he fell to the ground. There happened to be a broken piece of wood next to him, and the stubble cut a cut on his face, and blood immediately flowed out. As soon as this guy touched his face and looked at the blood on his hands, the anger of a kick he received early in the morning because the food was not in line with the general's appetite immediately surged up, and he jumped up without hesitation and punched the soldier in the face.

The soldier was not polite, and the two quickly scuffled together, which was a joy in the boring trenches, and a group of soldiers who had not eaten enough and were looking for something to distract their hunger immediately gathered around to watch the excitement. As he was applauding, an older soldier was stunned for a moment. This was followed by a heart-rending scream: "Shelling! ”

Before his words fell, he heard a sudden piercing whistling in the sky, and even the battle-hardened soldiers rushed to the nearest anti-artillery hole as fast as they could, but at this moment, a dazzling ball of fire exploded on the edge of the trench above their heads, and a dozen soldiers nearby instantly turned into countless stumps and broken arms and disappeared.

And this was only the beginning, for the next three full hours, the fire of the shell explosion always hung over the positions of the Greeks, and it is no longer necessary to guess what the preparation of artillery fire on such a scale means. The Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the Italian Theater of Operations, General Borojevich, immediately mobilized the Montenegrin Army as a mobile to rush to Verona for reinforcements, and at the same time ordered the German Sixteenth Army in the south of Verona to feint to the opposite side to relieve the pressure on the Greek army, but unfortunately before the Montenegrin Army arrived, the First North American Army, which was secretly assembled opposite the Greek army's defensive line, launched an attack.

Before the artillery fire was ready to end. More than 200,000 North American soldiers rushed to the Greek line with Springfield rifles and under the cover of more than 200 chariots supported by the French.

"Quick, get into the post, fight back!" Inside the trenches of the Greek army. Immediately there were shouts of confusion, and one by one the soldiers mechanically drilled out of the anti-artillery holes and climbed up the ladders that had not yet been destroyed by the shells. Sticking out of the trenches with Chinese-made rifles, the machine gunners quickly cleared away the debris in front of them, and a water-cooled machine gun erupted from the hidden bunker, and the North American soldiers who were charging across from them fell in pieces.

But undaunted, these young men from across the ocean continued to run forward in the face of the dense fire of the Greeks, while the accompanying light machine gunners began to look for craters and lie down to shoot at the Greeks, and in their own positions behind them, heavy machine guns also spewed flames, and grenadiers and mortars began to shoot at the bunkers.

Among the North American soldiers who charged, heavy tanks of large size and slow speed rumbled forward in the mud, and on the position of the Greeks, a three-seven or two-five-millimeter anti-aircraft gun was also firing at the fastest speed, one by one tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells hit the front of the tank, some were directly wiped away but some pierced through the armor, flames poured out from the bullet holes the size of fists, and then the explosion inside the tank sounded, and there was even a spectacular scene of the turret being blown away.

This set of procedures is already very familiar to both the attacker and the defender, this kind of battle is actually the will, that is, the strength, if it is Italians, at this time it is already time to turn around and run back, those Greek soldiers are also waiting for this moment, but unfortunately they are facing the North Americans, those soldiers who stepped on the corpses of their comrades did not flinch at all, and there was no order to retreat behind them, and more than 200,000 North American soldiers who rushed forward like a tsunami were still shouting and running.

Beside them, their comrades were scattered by bullets and then fell screaming, or were shattered by Greek shells and splattered with blood, but the remaining North American soldiers continued to advance as if they had not seen it, charging through the barbed wire jungle.

"General, our casualties are too great!" On the American position in the rear, an officer looked at the corpses of his own soldiers that had piled up in the distance in a very short period of time, and said to the lieutenant general beside him with a pale face.

"Without sacrifice, how can there be victory, the sea of corpses and blood is the most magnificent beauty, we must use our courage to let the world know that the free and democratic United States of America is no longer a place that any colonizer can humiliate." Lieutenant General Bliss, commander of the Third Army in North America, said with a resolute expression that as a veteran who had fought since the time of the First Spanish-American War, he was very impressed by the word humiliation.

The officer beside him couldn't help but sigh, how can there be the United States of America, now it is a fake at best.

However, the bravery and tenacity of the North American soldiers did pay off, after paying huge casualties, someone finally rushed into the trenches of the Greeks, and then it was time for hand-to-hand combat, but at this time the Greeks panicked, their main opponent before had always been the Italians, and the battle between the two sides was usually to smash the cannonballs together, and then rush with the courage at the beginning, and when they found that the fire on the opposite side was still fierce, they immediately turned around and ran back, everyone did this, and they were very familiar with each other, But now the North American soldiers are doing this unprofessionally!

As soon as they saw the enemies who jumped into the trenches with their bayonet rifles on their hands, the Greeks, who had no will to fight, immediately began to flee, and these North American soldiers were equipped with revolvers, and those Greeks did not want to fight after taking out their revolvers and firing them indiscriminately. Can't eat, the life and death of their relatives in their hometown are uncertain, soaked in the mud endlessly, these have long tortured their courage clean, and it is okay to shoot with guns and cannons, and when they see the bayonet on their chests, they immediately lose their courage, and as a result, the North American soldiers rushed to the trenches and found that they were almost victorious, and the Greeks surrendered except to escape, and almost no one dared to fight bayonets.

The victory was so sudden that Lieutenant General Bliss was also a little baffled, in his opinion, rushing to the trench should be the time when the battle was most intense, but he didn't expect it to be over? Back then, well, the U.S. military he led seemed to have done the same when facing the Caribbean Alliance coalition forces.

After seeing the friendly troops in the trenches on this side begin to flee, the Greeks on other positions also reacted in the same way before and after the North American soldiers rushed to the front, and the entire defense line collapsed like dominoes, and countless Greeks fled in a hurry under the drive of the North American army.

However, at this time, the reinforcements of their Montenegrin army also reached Verona, but they had no time to fight back to retake the positions lost by the Greeks, and these fierce or poor Montenegrins immediately made the wisest choice, they blocked the city of Verona and prepared to fight the American army in the streets.

At the same time, after learning that the Greek defense line had been breached, General Boroyevich also immediately ordered the German 16th Army to change its feint attack into a real attack, breaking through the frontal Italian defense line and cutting off American supplies, and the Austro-Hungarian 11th Army and the Greek 2nd Army on the Po River front launched a feint attack on the south bank at the same time.

For a time, the entire Italian battlefield was opened.

"General, you can't do this, there are countless Italian civilians in the city." Outside Verona, looking at the North American soldiers who were setting up the 240 howitzer, an Italian official said to Lieutenant General Bliss with a pale face.

"Your Excellency, Mayor, my task is to win, and nothing else is beyond my consideration, maybe you don't understand the meaning of this battle, but I do, so please don't get in the way of my work." Lieutenant General Bliss said impatiently, when is this coming, who cares about your civilians.

"You can't do this, you're sinning, I'm going to accuse you!" His Excellency the Mayor roared angrily.

"Invite the Mayor to a place where you can sober up." Lieutenant General Bliss said to the soldiers beside him. (To be continued......)