Chapter 26 Battle Plan

Major Browne hid in the trench and carefully stuck his head out to look across the Marne River.

The 6th Army, under the command of Gallieni, launched an attack on the German flank...that could no longer be called the "German flank". When the 6th Army assembled, the German army had turned its defense direction towards them, and the original flank had changed. It becomes the front, while the direction of the Marne River becomes the flank.

What the Germans did was obviously correct.

The Marne River blocked the front of the 5th Army, and there was only one Marne Bridge for passage. The German army only had to detach a regiment of a few thousand men to set up defenses along the river, while the French 5th Army's hundreds of thousands of people could only watch the fire from across the bank.

"The battle plan is like this!" Major General Gard personally gave an order to Major Browne's troops: "General Gallieni will command the 6th Army to attack the enemy's flank. They will rush to the Marne Bridge to attack the northern bridgehead. position, your tank troops will pass through the Marne Bridge as quickly as possible to cooperate with their attack to flank the enemy, do you understand?"

"General!" Major Browne immediately asked: "The enemy dug a trench on the other side of the bridge and deployed machine guns. Our tanks will probably be trapped in the trench and unable to move!"

Major General Gard looked at Brownie with a puzzled look: "Major, I did not order you to drive the tanks into the trench. You only need to stop in front of the trench to block the German bullets, and our troops can pass through the bridge. Keep killing the enemy!"

"Yes, General!" Major Browne responded.

Although Major Browne said so, he had no confidence in this attack plan.

He nervously held up his binoculars to carefully observe the enemy's defenses. At the bridgehead on the north side of the Marne River, the Germans built a circular position and deployed at least ten Maxim machine guns.

This water-cooled machine gun is not like the French Saint-Etienne machine gun that fires a hundred rounds or suffers from barrel overheating or failure due to its complex structure.

The Maxim machine gun will pour bullets into the tank at a rate of about 500 rounds per minute.

If the tank attacks the bridge and stops in front of the trench, as Major General Gade said, it will face machine gun fire from all directions. Even enemy artillery may mark the bridge. The dense shells will blow up the tank and subsequent troops. !

Can the tank's 9MM steel plate withstand Maxim's continuous strafing?

Can it withstand the bombardment of large-caliber artillery?

Therefore, this combat plan is obviously not feasible. Only Major General Gard, who is as stupid as a pig, can be confident!

The 6th Army launched an attack on the enemy's defense line amidst the sound of artillery.

The old tactics were still used. The soldiers grabbed their rifles with bayonets and charged towards the enemy's defense line in a dense formation. Their bright red trousers were clearly visible even under the smoke of artillery fire.

They wore hat covers to cover the red part of their military caps, but it was of no use. The German machine guns and rifles poured bullets at them crazily, and rows of French soldiers were neatly knocked down in a pool of blood.

The soldiers were very brave. They charged one after another under the rain of bullets, stepped on the mud and stepped over the corpses of their comrades. Some soldiers even fell down on the barbed wire fence to become a "bridge" for their comrades to advance.

But it was of no use. The bullets ruthlessly took away the lives of the soldiers. There seemed to be an invisible wall in front of the enemy's defense line, blocking the 6th Army's offensive wave.

Before that, Major Browne might have thought that it was okay to fight like this. This was war. In war, people would die and there would be sacrifices. All of this was normal.

However, after working with Ciel, he couldn't help but doubt everything!

Does this really make sense?

If you can do the same thing, or even win, by sacrificing fewer people, is there any need to do it?

"Major!" Someone couldn't help but said next to Brownie: "Major General Gard's battle plan will kill us!"

"Yes!" Someone immediately echoed: "This may be just a command error for him, but for us it is..."

Life, life lost!

Everyone has only one life, which is extremely precious to soldiers, but generals don't care at all!

They don't even want to spend more time thinking about the rationality of the battle plan. They only know to order the soldiers to advance, attack, and kill the enemy!

Major Browne saw Major General Gard put away his telescope, and he seemed to be about to order an attack!

"This idiot!" Major Browne hurriedly ran back along the traffic ditch.

Major General Gard noticed Major Browne's actions, and he yelled angrily at Major Browne: "Go back to your post, Major, we are about to attack!"

Major Browne was the commander of the tank unit, and the attack could not be launched without him taking the lead.

Major Browne pretended not to hear. He crouched and ran to Major General Gard and said, "General, now is not the time!"

Major General Gard's face darkened: "This is not an issue you need to consider!"

"General!" Major Browne explained: "Look at the other side. The 6th Army's attack has been repelled. They are retreating and cannot form a pincer attack with us... We should wait for their next round of offensive!"

Major General Garde looked across and saw that this charge had indeed come to an end. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of French soldiers and the screaming and wailing wounded. The surviving soldiers were risking their way back under the bullets of machine guns.

"Do what you have to do!" Major General Gard ordered with a straight face: "I know when to launch an attack!"

"Yes, General!"

Major Brownie knew that Major General Gad had accepted the suggestion, but he just refused to admit it for the sake of face.

On the way back, Major Brownie did not return to the position. He turned a corner along the communication trench and ran quickly towards the town of Darvaz in the blind spot of Major General Gad's sight.

He ran faster and faster. After getting out of the trench, he ran wildly, almost running towards Charles's residence at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

The door was ajar and not locked. Major Brownie pushed the door open and rushed in. There was no one inside, and Major Brownie's heart sank.

They must have left, Major Brownie thought.

At this moment, he heard a faint sound coming from the basement. He immediately understood what was going on, and rushed down the stairs while knocking on the door and shouting:

"Charles, I'm Brownie, I need to talk to you! Please open the door!"

Deyoka was stunned when he heard the voice. He hesitated. Could Major Brownie come to ask Charles to go to the front line to command tank operations?

But Deyoka still opened the door. After all, the major had a gun in his hand, so it was easy to open the door.

Major Brownie pushed the door open and asked with a heavy breath: "Where is Charles, is he here?"

Deyoka's eyes were wary: "I will not allow you to take him to the battlefield, he is only seventeen years old, Major!"