Chapter 13: Attacking in Defense

Matthew didn't have to go to the battlefield.

Charles didn't have him in his plan. Charles had already selected a dozen tractor drivers, which was not a difficult task for the tractor factory.

However, when these drivers heard that they were going to drive tractors to the battlefield and walk in the front to block bullets, they were scared and pale:

"We are just drivers, Master Charles, not soldiers!"

"We have families to support!"

"We only have a salary of 28 francs a month, which is barely enough to support our families!"

...

The implication is that it is not worth risking your life for a salary of 28 francs.

Charles had the urge to increase their salary, but he finally held back.

Charles understood that once the increase in salary was opened, there would be more troubles later.

French soldiers also fought hard on the battlefield. They also had families to support. Their salaries were even lower than those of workers. Shouldn't they be paid more?

A fully staffed army group has about 300,000 people, and there are at least 100,000 people assembled in Darvaz. Can Charles afford it?

Therefore, the drivers must volunteer, and no extra money can be added!

When Charles was in a dilemma, Matthew stood up:

"Let me go!"

Charles refused without thinking:

"You are in the assembly workshop, what we need is a skilled driver! This is going to the battlefield, not a joke!"

Charles emphasized the second half of the sentence, especially the word "battlefield".

Matthew's eyes flashed with a trace of confusion, and he understood the next second. He stared at Charles with a smile and answered word by word:

"I have been driving tractors as toys since I was a child. No one in this factory is more skilled than me!"

Matthew raised his eyebrows meaningfully, as if to say, you clearly know this.

Charles did know, he just didn't want Matthew to take the lead.

But at this point, Charles couldn't refuse, otherwise no one would be willing to take the risk.

Seeing Charles acquiesce, Matthew turned to the others and raised his hand easily:

"Gentlemen, think about it! We may be able to defeat the Germans, isn't this protecting our families?"

"Have you made up your mind to kneel down in front of the Germans and beg them not to kill your families and take your things?"

"Stand up, gentlemen, I don't want to live like this!"

Matthew's words were very convincing.

The drivers were silent for a while, and then raised their hands one after another:

"Count me in!"

"I plan to try my luck, maybe I can come back alive, and I'll be lucky enough to be the one who defeats the Germans!"

"I'll join! I have no family, and it doesn't matter if I can't come back!"

...

So, these ordinary and great people went to the battlefield.

They had not received any military training, and drove the unverified and crudely made "iron cans" and went to the battlefield to face dozens of times more ferocious Germans and black muzzles.

…

Perhaps because the "tanks" had poor external perception, two "iron cans" drove into the trenches one after another and got stuck in them and could not move.

Joseph suddenly became nervous. Could it be the "iron can" driven by Matthew?

Charles cursed inwardly. He had told them to pay attention to the trenches long ago. This first-generation "tank" had no ability to cross the trenches at all. Their tracks could only barely cope with the mud pits and ridges on the farm!

The German soldiers also noticed this. They seemed to have found a glimmer of hope, or the last dying struggle. Some of them hid in the trenches and tried to reorganize the defense.

This is a reflection of the quality of the German army. Even at this time, some of them did not give up.

However, the reality was cruel, and their efforts soon came to nothing.

The "iron cans" stopped in front of the trenches one after another. They no longer moved forward, but aimed at the German soldiers in the trenches with machine guns at close range.

The French soldiers following behind also relied on the cover of the "iron cans" to snipe the German soldiers. They were divided into two teams to cooperate with each other. After one team fired a shot, they retreated and the other team immediately leaned out to shoot.

This was an asymmetrical battle. The trenches where the Germans were stationed were built by the French soldiers. They faced the opposite bank and had not been completed in time. The German soldiers had to shrink their bodies to hide in them.

However, the French soldiers had several huge shields blocking the front, and one after another, leaving only a passage of more than ten feet wide in the middle. The German soldiers would be blocked from shooting if they slightly deviated from this passage.

In the end, the German army could only admit this result with casualties: one soldier after another was knocked down in the trenches with regret and unwillingness, and most of those who resisted stubbornly turned into corpses.

Major Brownie shouted behind the "iron can":

"Hold on, hold the line! Hold the line!"

This is an incredible tactic, Major Brownie thought.

Before this, the French army's tactics had always been "attack, attack, and attack again!"

It didn't matter whether an officer graduated from a military academy, because everyone knew how to command and fight... French tactics were too monotonous, and all commands could be summed up in one word: "advance"!

We advance when the enemy is guarding the line!

We advance when the enemy retreats!

We still advance when the enemy attacks!

...

It doesn't matter who is in command.

This made the French army pay a heavy price from the beginning of the war. Although Major Browne didn't know the exact number of casualties, what he saw, heard, and felt was definitely not less.

(Note: In August and September 1914, the death, disappearance and capture of French soldiers reached 164,500 per month, which made France quickly lower the minimum age for conscription to 18. By 1915, 80% of men aged 18 to 46 had been conscripted.)

But now, they seem to be attacking but always on the defensive.

To be precise, they are attacking while defending. They have been hiding behind the "iron can" and slowly advancing towards the enemy under its cover!

Then the enemy collapsed. An elite German army of thousands of people collapsed under the attack of more than 300 of them!

This was unimaginable before. France needed at least tens of thousands of people to defeat this elite German army, but they only had more than 300 people, plus more than a dozen tractors! Major Browne roughly estimated that only twenty or so were killed or injured.

"This is amazing!" Major Browne exclaimed while commanding: "Fuck! What were we doing before? They were simply wasting the lives of soldiers. We should fight in this way in the future!"

The soldiers were also encouraged. They shot at the enemy while thinking: Fighting will become easier in the future, and France will undoubtedly win!

So although the troops were small in number, their morale was high and they fought more and more bravely.

The frightened German soldiers continued to retreat to the bridge, but the main force of the German army on the north bank of the Marne River still charged along the bridge as ordered. The two forces collided fiercely like a surging tide. In an instant, people were crowded and unable to move. Many people were stabbed by fallen spiked helmets, and some were squeezed off the bridge and fell into the river with strange screams.

"Drive them to the bridge!" Major Browne shouted: "Machine gunners aim at the enemies on the bridge!"

The machine guns soon sounded. They didn't need to aim at all. The overwhelming bullets shot at the Marne Bridge at will but hit it easily.

The French 8mm rifle bullet was quite powerful. If it had not been stuck in the bones, it could have penetrated three human bodies and killed the fourth person.

Amid the dense gunfire, the Marne Bridge set off a bloody storm.

The entire bridge was dyed red, and the sticky blood flowed along the bridge edge and cracks like a stream, dripping into the Marne River from the bridge, and the flowing river water was rendered shocking red.

Finally, the Germans realized that the Marne Bridge was impassable, and they turned to run to the Marne River under the bridge.

However, this was also not a good choice!