Chapter 483 What will the fortress in the rear be used for?

The German 5th Army is the elite of the German army, and the 51st Infantry Regiment, which is responsible for the main offensive mission, is even more elite among the elite. Most of this infantry regiment are veterans who have fought hard on the battlefield, and many of them insist on returning after recovering from injuries. Demobilized soldiers from the army.

Their combat quality and fighting will are top-notch.

However, when they faced this weird situation and the tragic situation of being knocked down in batches, they were so frightened that their legs became weak and they turned around and ran away using their hands and feet.

In fact, it was not only the German soldiers who were frightened, but also the French soldiers in the defense line.

What was before them was not a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. These German soldiers were all alive, at least most of them were alive.

Some had half of their faces knocked off, some had their eyes blown out and were hanging on their faces, and some had no wounds at all, but their hands were trembling and hesitating in the air, wanting to pick them out but not daring to...

There were screams, wailings, and curses, and everyone was rolling in front of the French army, like a group of evil ghosts seeking life, and like a pile of crawling worms.

Suddenly the explosion of a grenade came. Unable to bear the pain, he lit the grenade and killed himself.

This seemed to inspire other German troops, and the explosions of grenades continued one after another.

Some surviving German troops also wanted to occupy the trenches on the top of the mountain to confront the French army, but soon there was a terrifying and familiar explosion in the trenches, and there were screams in the trenches.

Of course, the French army would not leave the complete trench to the German army. Directional mines had long been buried in it.

The French soldiers waited in the trenches for a while, and when the Germans were almost exhausted, they came out and used their bayonets to harvest their lives, or it could be said to end the Germans' suffering.

…

Crown Prince Wilhelm has been staying at the headquarters of the Seventh Army. He intends to enjoy this attack commanded by him and enjoy this victory, a complete victory.

Listening to the bursts of gunfire coming from outside, the electric light in Crown Prince William's hand slowly moved to the city of Verdun on the map and locked it.

"I hope it can be captured before dawn." Crown Prince William said: "Street fighting will be more dangerous after dawn, and they may be fully prepared by then."

Major General Bennett thought that street fighting at night was more dangerous because they were familiar with the terrain and could circle around Verdun with their eyes closed, but this was not the case for us.

But Major General Bennett didn't say anything. He smiled and replied confidently: "Don't worry, Your Highness, we will soon be walking on the streets of Verdun, but there may only be ruins there."

Crown Prince William laughed: "That is the most beautiful scenery, General, I can't wait to see them!"

(The picture above shows the city of Verdun after the war, with a group of French soldiers crossing the street)

However, the communications soldier standing in front of the phone suddenly turned to look at Major General Bennett: "General, the 23rd Infantry Regiment was repulsed, and our army suffered heavy casualties."

"What?" Major General Bennett's smile froze, and then he gritted his teeth and cursed: "This guy Elias, let him appear in front of me immediately."

"Yes, General."

Major General Bennett thought it was an "accident" that happened to a certain unit.

But within a few seconds, bad news came one after another:

"More than half of the 51st Infantry Regiment suffered casualties. Colonel Witold was killed. Requesting reinforcements."

"The 77th Infantry Regiment was defeated, Colonel Braden was wounded, please retreat!"

…

Major General Bennett was dumbfounded. These were the vanguard troops he sent up, the elite troops. They took less than ten minutes, but they were either defeated or suffered heavy casualties.

Crown Prince William frowned: "The enemy has reinforcements?"

"No, Your Highness." Major General Bennett shook his head in denial: "We have been using artillery fire to block the enemy's highway. Even if the enemy has reinforcements, they are only small-scale and cannot have much effect."

"That's..."

At this time, a wounded man was carried into the fortification on a stretcher amidst miserable cries. It was Colonel Elias, the commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment.

Crown Prince William shined an electric light and was almost shocked. Two pieces of flesh were torn off Colonel Elias's face, and his body was covered in blood, looking like a zombie.

"What's going on?" Major General Bennett stepped forward and asked.

"Yes, it's a bomb." Colonel Elias's voice trembled because of pain, and he gasped as he said: "I'm not sure, not sure what it is, but it has a lot of shrapnel!"

The military doctor arrived, and he quickly used a scalpel to cut open Colonel Elias's military uniform. The scene he saw under the electric light made everyone shiver involuntarily:

There were dense bleeding spots all over Elias's body. Each blood spot was not big, but it beat him like a honeycomb. Even the "well-informed" military doctor felt his scalp numb after seeing it.

After being stunned for a while, the military doctor used a scalpel to cut open one of the bleeding points, then carefully inserted the clip into the wound, and clipped out the "fragment" amidst Colonel Elias's painful voice.

There was a crisp "clang" sound, and the "pieces" were placed on the tray.

Then another one...

Then everyone understood that it was not a shrapnel, but a steel ball, a small steel ball with a diameter of about 3mm.

The military doctor had considerable experience. He reported to Major General Bennett and Crown Prince William: "They should have filled the explosives with steel balls to make fragments, which resulted in such terrifying lethality."

Major General Bennett looked at Colonel Elias, who was still in pain, and then cast a questioning look at the military doctor.

The military doctor understood and shook his head slightly helplessly.

With so many wounds, it is impossible to remove the steel balls one by one, and some will inevitably be left in the body.

Even if all of them could be taken out, he would eventually die from wound infection. He had lived for the pain.

Crown Prince William narrowed his eyes: "New equipment? Could it be, Charles?"

The faces of the people in the headquarters changed instantly.

…

Charles and Major General Lacoste had withdrawn the headquarters to Fort Saint-Michel.

This is the fortress closest to Verdun.

It actually has no defensive function, because the French army has no defense line here, the artillery has been emptied, and even the machine guns and ammunition have been moved to the front-line fortress for combat.

One phone call after another came to the headquarters, reporting all good news:

"The 32nd Regiment defeated the enemy, with only 5 casualties."

"The 81st Regiment repelled the enemy's attack, with 13 casualties."

"The 19th Regiment..."

Major General Lacoste smiled from ear to ear. He looked at Charles with a look of relief and sighed: "You are right, Brigadier General, the lethality of directional mines is far beyond our imagination. Although we haven't had time to count, it is estimated that the enemy's casualties are dozens of times ours!"

Charles didn't care about this at all.

Directional mines, which are ahead of their time, are used in a battle of dense formations and charges, and their lethality must be considerable.

He stared at Fort Douaumont on the map and asked Major General Lacoste thoughtfully: "General, if the enemy is attacking our defense line and causing a large number of casualties, what will the fortress behind them be used for?"

Major General Lacoste was stunned and replied: "There is nowhere to take their wounded, and the fortress is likely to be transformed into a field hospital."