Chapter 127 Easy as pie
The balloons slowly rose again, and the planes circled in the gray sky like dragonflies, both the enemy and us.
The battlefield at this time was like a big chessboard, with the no-man's land in the middle being the border between Chu and Han, pawns on both sides of the defense line, a command post in the rear, and artillery and guards, all ready for a big battle.
Albert I looked at the balloons and planes rising in the direction of the German army and was quite puzzled. He asked: "The Germans clearly knew that Charles had put the machine guns on the planes. Isn't it a way to commit suicide to release the balloons?"
"The Germans had to do this!" General Charles explained: "In such weather, only at the height of the balloon can you see the fire from the muzzle a few kilometers away. In order to deal with the French artillery, they must face possible dangers!"
"But how can they protect themselves?" Albert I looked incredible: "This is tantamount to suicide!"
Charles replied heavily: "The infantry is also committing suicide when rushing to the enemy trenches, but they still rushed up. This is war!"
Albert I was silent. He found that although he stayed with the soldiers, his understanding of war was still the tip of the iceberg.
...
However, General Cross did not think this was suicide.
He deployed eight Maxims around the balloons, each balloon, and once the enemy plane approached the balloon, it would immediately be frantically strafed by ground machine guns.
The artillery position was no exception. Cross almost surrounded it with Maxim machine guns.
Cross even told the pilots: "Once your plane is tracked by the enemy, immediately approach the balloon or fly to the artillery position!"
The machine gun will help the pilot solve the problem, Cross thought, just as Falkenhayn said.
...
At the Paris Defense Command, Charles obtained the enemy's new deployment through a telegram.
The intelligence was obtained by the reconnaissance plane of the artillery regiment. The German planes had no machine guns, so they could safely fly to the German positions and see everything.
The German pilots were so nervous when they saw these reconnaissance planes that they hid everywhere. They were worried that these reconnaissance planes were equipped with machine guns.
Lieutenant Colonel Fernan placed several machine gun models around the balloons and artillery positions, and looked at Charles with a little worry.
The aircraft of this period had a speed of only about 100 kilometers per hour, and there was neither a fuel tank leak-proof device nor a bottom armor. The ground machine guns posed a considerable threat to it.
But Charles still ordered the first battalion to attack.
…
The brutal war was staged again in Ypres, but this time neither the enemy nor our side fired, only a large number of German soldiers attacked the Belgian defense line on the muddy land.
The French artillery was waiting for orders, and Gallieni's instructions were not to fire without orders, even if the enemy rushed in front of them!
Major General Thierry, the artillery commander, was a little confused about this. Isn't this handing the artillery to the enemy?
He nervously looked at the observer on the balloon, who was using a signal flag to tell the enemy below that the enemy had entered the artillery range.
But deep in the heart of Major General Thierry, he knew that General Gallieni might be right.
Since the French 75 gun was equipped with a hydraulic recoil mechanism and could fire 30 rounds in one minute, the German artillery had given up competing with the French in terms of firing rate, and they chose to develop in terms of range and power.
Now, although the German howitzer can only fire 4 rounds per minute, in addition to its advantage of 12 kilometers of range, its 105MM caliber shells only need one round, and if there is no direct hit, it only needs to hit nearby to kill all the artillerymen of a gun group!
Major General Thierry understood that once he ordered to open fire, the 105MM caliber shells on the opposite side would immediately fly over and blow them all up!
However, what is the point of going on like this?
Is it because of the fear of being bombed by the enemy that they don’t fire a single shot?
Major General Thierry is waiting for the fate of the artillery!
At this time, bursts of "rumbling" engine sounds came from the sky. Major General Thierry looked back and saw several rows of "Avro" flying in the air, heading straight for the German army. They were of the same model and lined up in neat formations, which was quite powerful.
"Still attacking like yesterday?" Major General Thierry was a little confused.
His scout had sent the enemy's deployment to General Gallieni. The enemy had deployed Maxim machine guns around the balloons and artillery positions like hedgehogs. Even if the aircraft attack was successful, it would cost a heavy price!
...
Carter, who was commanding in the air, didn't think so. He gestured to both sides easily and ordered the fleet to climb higher.
"These idiots, they never realized that the plane was something flying in the air!" Carter muttered to himself.
However, he felt a little ashamed, because when he heard that the balloon was surrounded by machine guns, his reaction was similar to that of others. He asked in horror on the phone: "What should we do? Blow it up in the rain of bullets?"
Charles asked in surprise, "Do you need to do this?"
Carter was stunned for a while, and then he knew what to do with an "oh", it was easy as pie!
"Keep the altitude!" The fleet climbed to about 1,500 meters, Carter gestured and gave orders, and then let the fleet attack freely.
Since there was no radio, once the fleet broke up the formation and attacked the target, no more orders could be issued, and then it all depended on the pilots to act freely.
…
Standing on the ground, General Cross held up a telescope and observed the "Avro" of the balloon approaching from a high altitude, wondering secretly, what are they doing? At that altitude, their rockets can't hit the balloon either!
Suddenly, he thought of the reason, and hurriedly put away the telescope and shouted: "Put away the balloon, put away the balloon! Immediately..."
However, it was too late to put away the balloon at this time.
Several "Avro" drew a beautiful arc in the air, diving from the top to the balloon at an almost vertical angle from top to bottom, and fired rockets with a "whoosh" sound when they were about to approach...
"Boom!"
A balloon was blown into a ball of fire in full view of the German army, and the machine gunner below did not fire a single bullet and did not play any protective role at all.
Everyone thought that the enemy would approach the balloon from the side as usual and blow it up, but they didn't expect that there was a large blind spot on the top of the balloon.
This blind spot is a dead angle where the aircraft can carry out a top attack but the machine gun cannot reach it and is also out of its range.
"Boom boom!"
The balloons exploded one after another and turned into ashes in the air.
Almost at the same time, the French 75 gun roared.
Hundreds of artillery pieces from four artillery regiments rained down shells at the German soldiers who were charging densely in front of the trenches at an average rate of 15 rounds per minute!
General Cross's face turned pale. He realized that all this might have been planned by the enemy!
And this was not the end. Two "Avro" fired rockets at the artillery positions from a distance. These rockets did not explode. After they landed, they released a stream of smoke, and soon the German artillery positions deployed in the valley were submerged in the "sea of smoke"...
