Chapter 157: Charles' Elite Troops
The heavy rain was falling, and the raindrops were like bullets falling from the sky, hitting the ground violently. The rain mixed with mud and blood flowed on the battlefield, forming streams into the trenches.
In the trenches, the enemy and our army had already fought together, wrestling in the mud and even unable to distinguish the enemy and ours.
Bayonets, rifle butts, shovels, and even stones and teeth were used. As long as they could kill the other side, they were all weapons.
Most of the German army were veterans who had been on the battlefield for a long time. They were of high quality and had a numerical advantage in the local area of the trenches.
The French army took advantage of the residual power of the grenade explosion and rushed in before the German army could react. They pulled the trigger and fired a bullet before engaging in hand-to-hand combat, taking the lead in offensive skills and equipment.
The two armies had their own advantages and disadvantages and were indistinguishable for a while. There were screams and fighting sounds everywhere inside and outside the trenches. The accumulated water was dyed red, and it was hard to tell whether it was rain or blood.
On both sides of the trench, the follow-up troops of both sides were trying to reinforce the front line.
If both sides succeeded, the trench on the front line would become a meat grinder, with both armies filling in people and being consumed continuously, and eventually one side could not hold on and the entire line collapsed.
However, this short-lived balance did not last long...
The tank "clacked" up, and its 8-meter-long body easily crossed the trench of about 1.5 meters, which was just a small ditch for it.
Then, its tracks rolled forward towards the German reinforcements.
The German army surged up like sea water, but the tank was like a steel gate blocking them. It even pushed back in the direction of the "sea water" and stopped the surging waves in an instant.
Screams and blood splattered!
German soldiers were constantly being crushed under the heavy tracks, and they made bursts of "crackling" sounds like dry wood breaking, which was the sound of bones being crushed.
Everyone nearby was frightened by the sound, and the crisp sound seemed to come from their own bones, and a tingling sensation arose spontaneously.
The tank's machine gun sounded, and a Vickers machine gun on its front "da da da" sounded, and bullets poured down on the German army like a torrential rain. They were like a sickle of the god of death, harvesting lives in the crowd.
Rows of German soldiers screamed and fell in a pool of blood, without any resistance.
Some people tried to stop this steel behemoth with K bullets.
However, the front armor of the "Mark I" 17MM could not be penetrated even at close range.
Some people tried to go around the flank of the tank.
But the sound of machine guns rang out from the side of the tank again...
On the side of the "Mark I" was a Hotchkiss. Although its firepower was not as sharp as that of the "Vickers", it cooperated with the neighboring tanks to form crossfire to cover each other:
The side-firing machine gun of the No. 1 tank provided cover for the flank of the No. 2 tank, and in turn, the side-firing machine gun of the No. 2 tank also provided cover for the No. 1 tank.
The Germans who tried to sneak in between the tanks could only fall in a pool of blood one after another.
The tanks successfully blocked the German follow-up troops. Although it was only two minutes, the outcome of the rear trenches had been decided.
The French army poured into the trenches like a tide. They easily nailed the German soldiers who were still struggling to the ground or pierced their throats with bayonets. They had no chance to surrender in the fierce battle.
The soldiers who won a partial victory did not stop, but immediately climbed out from the other side of the trench and raised their rifles to provide cover for the tanks.
With a quick whistle, the French soldiers immediately pulled out the grenades, ignited them and threw them out.
"Boom boom boom..."
After the explosion, the soldiers shouted again and rushed up with bayonets.
The battle seemed to become simple. The battlefield repeated the cycle of tanks, grenades, and close combat, and then the enemy's trenches were broken through again and again, almost without stagnation.
Colonel Klopp, who was watching the battle from the rear, couldn't believe his eyes.
He had organized no less than ten attacks on this line of defense, and the troops had been replenished seven or eight times. A group died and a group was replenished. At least three or four thousand French soldiers fell on this land without making any progress.
The enemy's counterattack was the same!
Colonel Klopp once made an assessment with his staff, and they agreed that it would take at least five times the number of troops to break through the enemy's defense line.
About 15,000 people, and a large number of artillery, could only win after paying a heavy price.
Therefore, when he saw Colonel Estiny rushing up with more than a thousand people and insisting that he didn't need other troops to cooperate, he once thought these guys were crazy, which was simply suicide!
But Klopp didn't stop them. This was an order from General Gallieni.
Colonel Klopp could only pray for these poor people in his heart: forgive these ignorant people, they don’t know how cruel the battlefield is, their commander is even an artilleryman...
However, his prayer was not over yet, the battle had won the first stage, and the imagined death did not happen.
To be exact, it happened, but it was the enemy's side!
"What happened?" Colonel Klopp raised his telescope and observed carefully. Although he couldn't see clearly in the rain, he could be sure that this unit was advancing at an alarming speed.
"Colonel!" A signalman came forward to report: "They have broken through the second line of defense, and the Germans are fleeing!"
Colonel Klopp looked ahead in disbelief: "There are more than 3,000 Germans, and they were defeated by 1,000 people?"
When did the Germans become so weak?
Does this make his troops incompetent?
But on second thought, this was the elite force commanded by Charles. Although this result was unexpected, it was also reasonable!
Colonel Klopp never realized that at this time, his assessment of this force had naturally and smoothly changed from the initial "a mob going up to die" to "Charles' elite troops".
...
The German army collapsed when the French army broke through the second line of defense.
They realized that nothing could stop the French offensive, and all bunkers and fortifications would be ruthlessly crushed under the tracks of tanks. Resistance was meaningless!
However, Estiny did not intend to let these deserters go like this.
German deserters are very dangerous, this is the conclusion Estiny came to after fighting with them. They will organize defenses again in a place you don't know, and even launch ambushes on both sides of the road against you, even though they are deserters.
Therefore, Estiny did not intend to let them go. He sent out teams of three-wheeled vehicles with machine guns to chase and kill these fleeing soldiers.
They were always close but not in contact, yet they were everywhere. This was an old trick of the three-wheeled vehicles. They knew how to play it!
In the end, the Germans realized that they could not escape, so they could only raise their weapons and surrender in large numbers.
