Artillery fire roared, and bullets rained down like a torrent of bullets.

In the front-line command post covered in green grass, Simon was excitedly observing the scene hundreds of meters away. In front of the barbed wire fence nearly two meters high, a thick layer of corpses was already covered at this moment, and from time to time stray bullets submerged into it, like steel nails pierced into a water bag, stirring up the blood-colored cave where Bobo gushed blood. At this distance, he could already faintly hear the roars and wails of the French officers and soldiers opposite; The sound was mixed with the explosion of shells and the roar of machine guns, which made him so excited that he couldn't help but want to sing loudly.

Before the battle began, Simon was excited and anticipating, but still had a little fear in his heart. Although his own side had already built this perfect defensive position before the war, although the lethality of machine gun trenches and barbed wire against pure infantry charges had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the German army in countless exercises before the war, and although his own infantry battalion had greatly increased its projection firepower in the face of a large number of light and heavy weapons, the French army's far superior numbers still made him feel a little uncertain. However, today, the monstrous tide of 100,000 French troops was so blocked by their own firepower nets, and the countless broken corpses that fell on the field are the best examples of the indestructibility of the German defensive front!

"Bang!" There was another loud bang next to him, and Simon didn't need to look to know that it was another round of fire from the battalion's 60-mm mortars on the French troops behind the barbed wire. After a few seconds of silent recitation, I saw that the target area burst into a ball of red and gorgeous billowing fire, and the earth waves exploded; Several French soldiers were immediately blown up and shot into flesh and fell over. Seeing this, Simon exhaled softly. There was a heartfelt admiration for this weapon.

From 1908 onwards. The Imperial Government, which had reduced the cost of building ships for the Navy, began to purchase a large number of new weapons for the Army. Simon's infantry battalion was one of the first units in the Duchy of Bavaria to get these things. At that time, he was still dismissive of this thin empty barrel-type weapon, and even wanted to report to his superiors that the five mortars he had received would be replaced with two heavy machine guns, but the subsequent demonstration made him completely dismiss this idea. Simon's simple operation, precise aiming, light carrying, huge power, and high-throw trajectory brought by the no-blind strike all made Simon dumbfounded, and he couldn't imagine that there could be such a weapon in this world!

Since then, Simon has become a staunch fan of mortar suppression, but almost all of his troops have used this lightweight and powerful weapon as the tactical core of the army's assault drills. Even after that, the army issued a batch of imitation Danish Madsen light machine guns and wooden-handled grenades used by infantry throwing to the infantry battalions. Nor did it change his enthusiasm for the new, relatively short-range artillery. After a few years of running-in, he has a good understanding of the performance of this 60mm mortar; If it weren't for the fact that as a battalion commander, he still had to command the 4th company of troops under his subordinates, he would have gone to fiddle with these guys a long time ago.

"Battalion commander, the French army has begun to break through the first barbed wire, Agamo Company Commander please give instructions quickly!" A slightly anxious voice suddenly sounded behind him. Simon was taken aback, and turned his head to see a herald who had appeared behind him at some point, reporting to him at a very fast pace. He lifted his telescope and scanned forward. Smoke billowed and waves of fire hit the sky. in some of these areas. The red and blue corpses had been piled up into a "mountain" as high as the barbed wire; And the French soldiers, braving the rain of bullets and bullets on their own defensive lines, are stepping on the corpses of the robe like a tide of rushing up! The entire barbed wire fence is like a causeway in the face of a tsunami. There are already some places that can't hold on!

"#%&, are these French people crazy?" Simon's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but take two steps back, and a layer of fine beads of sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead. After a while, he put down his binoculars as if he had seen a ghost, and shouted in a tone of extreme shock and horror: "They have already suffered such heavy casualties, why don't they choose to retreat, but continue to launch this charge regardless of the casualties?" ”

"Battalion commander, what should we do now?" The herald asked again, somewhat anxiously.

Simon turned his head abruptly, a pair of gray-blue eyes showed a fierce look, and roared: "Of course it's a dead position!" Go back and tell the lads with light machine guns to put the French within 500 meters before firing, and don't stop mortar and machine gun fire during this time! There is a barbed wire fence behind us more than a hundred meters in front of us, and I don't believe that the French can even fill it with corpses! ”

With Simon's order, the German infantry in the trenches began to move quickly. The dark muzzle of the rifle protrudes from the eyelets of the various breastworks made of bricks or sandbags, and one by one the gaze selects the figures swaying in the distance through the aim of three points and one line. Although the Madsen light machine gun has a longer range than Simon's prescribed firing range, the Madsen machine gun is the most cost-effective at this range due to the characteristics of the gun itself and the consideration of saving bullets. They were calm or nervous, waiting in audible silence for the moment to shoot.

To the surprise of Simon and all the German officers and men, the French officers and men who had crossed the first barbed wire were facing the most difficult situation since the charge. As the distance closed, flying shells rained down from the sky around him, and the German machine gun hit rate increased dramatically.

According to the "Field Regulations" promulgated by the French army, it took 20 seconds for the enemy machine guns to complete their aim and start firing, so all the French officers and soldiers who stepped on the corpse of the robe and rushed into the first line of barbed wire almost all followed the standard combat regulations to attack: that is, sprint forward for 20 seconds, advance 50 meters, and then crawl down to find cover. However, the German officers and soldiers who used the MG-08 Maxim heavy machine gun only needed 8 seconds to complete this full set of effective shooting actions! Therefore, before the French soldiers were halfway through, the German machine guns had already spewed out a deadly metal storm, which instantly swept them down when they were running upright and the projection area was widely exposed. In addition, the German-made Madsen machine gun, which weighed less than 10kg empty, became one of the masters on the battlefield with its excellent fire control and accuracy, and each 30-round magazine could set off a bloody storm among the attacking French soldiers. Only ten minutes later, the French army was bleeding even more on the road of a new round of charge, and the storm-like barrage and the skyfire and meteor-like bombardment dominated the area, and human life seemed so fragile in the face of the weapons created by humans!

Faced with this serious disruption of the offensive, it was clear that the French would not sit idly by. Fragments of shrapnel shells from 75-mm artillery bombarded fluttered and clanged across the ground in front of the German positions, splashing dust. Their field regulations also approved that the shotguns fired with this type of gun were enough to suppress the defending side by forcing the enemy to not raise his head and only to "fire into the sky." However, the experience of the Russo-Japanese War has long been confirmed that the defenders who are entrenched can continue to shoot from the hole of the gun if they have the cover of the breastwork! A French soldier who survived this offensive battle complained with grief and indignation that the subjects they had worked so during the exercise had been proven to be an unattainable stupidity on the battlefield, and countless comrades-in-arms had become the souls of the Germans at gunpoint in the process of charging with great enthusiasm!

"Bang bang bang!" As soon as the French rushed to within 500 meters, the German soldiers, who had long been unable to hold back, immediately pulled the trigger, and the rapid firing of Madsen's machine guns resounded over the entire trench. The French soldiers, who risked their lives to the death, finally lost all space to attack in front of the most rear-line line of this rifle, and were completely pinned down on the ground and unable to move; As soon as he raised his head, a dense and furious spin barrage would poke more than one bloody hole in his body. The lives of the French soldiers hiding behind improvised bunkers were also being taken away at an extremely rapid speed; Because mortars with a high projectile trajectory are enough to take care of any dead spots that machine guns can't reach!

Bullets flew and artillery fire roared. The red light dances, and the thunder bursts. The limits of the desperate assault of the French soldiers, who were "armed with their minds" with metaphysical theories, were laid bare in the face of the German army's tight defensive lines: they were either pierced by bullets through their bodies and convulsed to the ground, or they were devoured by shells, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere. After all, the fragile bodies of mortals could not resist the ferocity of metal, and the materialist philosophical concept that objective matter is not changed by subjective consciousness was once again confirmed, and the French used their "impulse to live" to teach the most painful first lesson of the war on the Western Front.

As the red sun set in the west, the French army finally withdrew with all its might.

The sunset is like fire, and the sunset is like a candle. From the German position, the front was scorched and devastated, and the corpses of French soldiers in blue shirts and red pants were everywhere, and even the ground beneath them was dyed dark red. Among the scattered fragments, a corner of its field regulations can be vaguely seen:

"The French Army, now traditional. I don't know any other entries other than offense......"

In this battle, which lasted from early morning to evening, the French suffered more than 30,000 casualties, a full third of the heavy losses, while the total number of German casualties was less than a battalion. From the beginning to the end, the French did not rush to the rear barbed wire of the German army. Due to the large number of French corpses, which seriously hindered the range of gun fire, the Germans acquiesced in the collection of corpses by a small group of French troops within their effective range after hastily cleaning up the battlefield. Darkness crept in, and the night owl roared in the wilderness full of dead bodies, looking terrified.

Impulses alone are not enough. (To be continued......)

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