How long did the shelling last?
One hour?
Two hours?
A full twelve hours!
After more than ten hours of continuous shelling, the Ming army's position was bombarded from the inside out - even though the British army fired a lot of shrapnel, the shells exploding in the air would do little harm to the fortifications.
attack, but the barbed wire fence in front of the Ming army's position was blown to pieces, most of the surface positions were destroyed, and even the trenches were razed to the ground.
Such a violent bombardment was unprecedented. The reason why the British launched such a violent bombardment was to... break through! Break through the defense line of the Ming and French coalition forces.
Since the Anglo-German Allied Forces' attack on the Marne River was frustrated on May 7, they began to retreat across the board. After retreating to the Verdun line, their front line fell into a stalemate, and trenches and barbed wire became insurmountable obstacles.
.
In the following two months, hundreds of thousands of British Expeditionary Forces arrived at Verdun, and the British Commander-in-Chief, Marshal Kitchener, proposed a plan to break through the defense line. According to this plan, the British and German forces were determined to break the current deadlock.
, once again threatened Paris, and even occupied Paris to force France to withdraw from the war.
"In Russia, millions of troops are training and gathering, and in Austria, the same number of troops are gathering. If we cannot break through the French defenses as soon as possible and force France to withdraw from the war, then we will have to face two fronts.
The dilemma of combat..."
The pressure of reality forced the British and German forces to speed up. They needed to solve the French problem before France's allies, the Roman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, completed their war preparations.
Therefore, under the advice of British Commander-in-Chief Kitchener, and after careful planning by him, Schlieffen and other German generals, they decided to use a fierce attack to break the deadlock.
And what was the first thing to break the deadlock?
Of course it’s heavy artillery fire!
Use violent artillery fire to destroy the wire steel in front of the Ming-French coalition positions and level their trenches... In a word, use cannons to speak!
Early the next morning, the shelling stopped!
After the shelling ended, the world suddenly became extremely quiet. The soldiers in the shell-proof cave looked up at their tops and asked each other in silence. Suddenly, there was a sound coming from outside the shell-proof cave.
cry.
"Poison gas! Poison gas..."
The poison gas is coming!
After the shelling, the British and German forces released more than 500 tons of chlorine gas from cylinders on the battlefield!
During the Battle of Brazil, the Imperial Army used chlorine gas to severely damage the Brazilian army, which directly led to the destruction of the Brazilian army and the demise of the Brazilian Empire. Now, in order to break through the Allied defense lines, the British and German forces also chose poison gas.
"Poison gas, poison gas..."
Along with the horrified shouts, the imperial officers and soldiers in the bomb-proof cave all grabbed gas masks from the bags on their waists and raced against time to put them on their heads to prevent the poisonous gas from harming them.
As the first country in the world to implement chemical warfare, it is not only poison gas that is leading. The protection against poison gas is also ahead of the world in both respects.
"Quick, quick, prepare to counterattack..."
When the green poisonous gas struck like a ghost, under the supervision of the officer, Shigeru Honjo and his comrades walked out of the shell-proof hole. They stood in the trench that had been deformed by the bombing, relying on the parapet and aiming forward.
Because they were wearing gas masks, they always felt that they were not breathing enough, and sweat was flowing in the masks.
"The British are coming, prepare, prepare..."
According to common practice in chemical warfare, after carrying out a poison gas attack, the enemy will launch an attack.
The British are coming!
…
"beep"
In the early morning of July 9, whistles echoed over the British positions. The British soldiers who had been preparing for the attack since the early morning stood up facing the direction of the attack with the longing to end the war.
Although the faces under the helmets were full of longing, the people's movements seemed a little nervous, unable to conceal their fear of death. Some of them could not even insert their bayonets, and in the end they could only use the help of officers and sergeants.
, and then stuck the bayonet.
After checking the soldiers' preparedness for the last time, Captain Hank, the aristocratic son, looked at the soldiers and encouraged them.
"Gentlemen, each of us joined the army driven by honor, and now our moment of glory is coming. If we win this battle, then we will win this battlefield! We will occupy
Verdun, capture Paris, soon, all this will be over! By Christmas time, we can spend Christmas at home with our families!"
After some encouragement, Hank took out his pistol and handed it to the soldier beside him.
"Doug, hold my gun! If someone retreats or doesn't leave the trench after a while, it's up to you to carry out the order!"
"Yes, sir!"
Supervising battles is an old tradition of the British army. The so-called glory and reputation are often not as useful as the pistol or stick in the hands of an officer.
The shelling that lasted for twelve hours stopped, and silence returned to heaven and earth again. The rising sun shone on the scarred battlefield, and the Ming army's position, which had experienced nearly devastating artillery fire, was deathly silent.
At the same time, green poisonous gas was released. The green poisonous gas was like morning mist, spreading along the earth. Under the influence of the wind, it rushed towards the Ming army's position little by little, and it would bring death!
The green poisonous gas quickly swallowed up the barbed wire, and soon it poured into the trenches of the Ming army!
At the same time, a harsh whistle suddenly sounded from the British army's position.
"Quick, quick..."
Captain Hank, standing at the top of the trench, shouted loudly, urging the soldiers to rush out of the trench on ladders, while Sergeant Doug, holding a pistol, kept kicking those soldiers who moved too slowly, pushing them out of the trench more than two meters deep.
trench.
In just a few minutes, tens of thousands of British soldiers climbed out of the trenches and began to line up towards the Ming army's positions. Although the Ming army's positions had been shrouded in poisonous gas, the artillery of the British and German forces continued to attack.
A shelling was carried out.
This was the most intense artillery cover before the charge.
The Ming army's position was immediately covered by fierce artillery fire. This kind of artillery fire was the experience gained by British observers in the Battle of Brazil. In fact, at that time, the imperial military had just begun to study it. In another world, this tactic was called
"Xu Jin Barrage".
Although they have been studying for twenty years, in fact, neither the imperial military nor the British have figured out the key, such as the distance between the barrage and the infantry, and what speed the two should maintain.
Rhythm, how to guide the bombardment, and so on cannot be explained clearly in just four words.
After all, in another world, the "Xu Jin Barrage" was the result of Europeans spending millions of lives and several years of bloody killing to figure out the principle behind it.
Just relying on daily exercises may not necessarily allow you to grasp the essence.
However, despite this, the British still believed that they had mastered the secret to victory. Even when their soldiers jumped out of the trenches, the British officers in the rear began to cheer for victory with joy.
The British Empire was destined to win this war!
There is no doubt about this!
The old group has died and a new book club group has been established: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of chapter)
This chapter has been completed!