Le Chelle is a town located between Grenoble and Darbigny, in the Isère Valley between the Belledonne Mountains and the Chartreuse Mountains.
The town has been used to plant flowers and keep bees, and it is a beautiful place.
But now, the small town of Le Chéla no longer looks beautiful, because a battle is breaking out in the town. The French 39th Division is here to block the advance of the Northern Army towards Grenoble.
"Boom boom boom..."
Artillery shells fell on the small town of Le Chella one after another, shrouding the entire town in gunpowder smoke. The French officers and soldiers hiding in trenches and other fortifications could only pray silently in their hearts to protect the shells from falling on their heads.
The Italian army's division-level main artillery, 75mm field guns, 105mm howitzers, a small number of 150mm howitzers, and four 210mm cannons specially brought for suppression were shelling the small town of Le Sierra.
This 210mm cannon is a weapon of the Italian Army. It is mainly used to suppress enemy artillery and destroy strong fortifications.
The gun has a caliber of 210 mm, a barrel length of 5.25 meters (25 times the barrel diameter), and a retractable gun mount. The muzzle velocity of the gun is 523 meters per second, and the maximum range is 14.2 kilometers.
The speed is one round every two minutes, and its total weight is 15.8 tons.
This heavy artillery is very powerful. It can bombard the town and surrounding fortifications. If it is hit by it, there is no possibility of survival.
Of course, the Northern Army Group originally planned to reinforce the 9th Army with six 210 mm cannons. However, during the transportation process, due to the changeable climate in the mountainous areas, two airships carrying heavy artillery crashed.
Yes, it is very difficult to transport such a large-tonnage heavy artillery from land. It can only be transported by airship to catch up with the battle against the small town of Le Sierra.
When it comes to the current use of airships, the Italian military ranks second, and absolutely no one dares to say it is first. Airships are in the hands of the Italian military and can be used for both reconnaissance and ground attacks in the air, from bombing to ground shooting and artillery.
, the airship failed in the hands of the Italian military.
Of course, for the Italian army, the biggest role of airships at present is air transportation. Especially in the mountains and mountains of the Alps, transportation through manpower and energy storage is too slow, not to mention that the transportation volume is small. Trucks are good.
But the requirements for roads are not low. Take the current road at Carragher Pass. Under the emergency repairs by Italian engineers, trucks can currently reach Dalbini through here, but only more than 200 trucks can pass through it every day. There are also considerations.
The number of trucks transporting materials back and forth every day is only over 500 tons.
Although this seems like a lot, a division in combat mode requires at least hundreds of tons of supplies every day. The Italian army that invaded the Savoy region has eight divisions with 130,000 people and requires at least thousands of tons of supplies every day.
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Trucks solved half of the problem, and the rest was transported by airships. Compared with trucks, airships transport faster, have a larger load capacity, and can minimize the impact of terrain.
The airship takes off from Turin early every morning, arrives in Dalbini at noon to unload its cargo, and then returns to Turin in the evening.
Of course, the mountainous environment changes greatly, and the airflow is also very chaotic. Although airships are much better resistant to climate than airplanes, they are also dangerous.
In just six days, six airships were lost in the round trip. Mainly because they were not familiar with the environment at the beginning, which led to many mistakes and damage to the airships.
It's much better now. There have been no damage to airships in the past two days.
It is precisely by relying on these air transports that the Italian army can complete combat equipment as soon as possible, otherwise the battle in the small town of Le Sierra will be delayed for two days.
Facing the artillery bombardment of the Italian army, the defending French army was certainly not to be outdone, and its 75mm rapid-fire cannons also continued to fire back. However, in terms of artillery caliber, range, and power, the Italian side had an absolute advantage. It had 75mm, 105mm
Millimeter, 150mm, and 210mm models are available, which are far beyond what the French 75mm rapid-fire cannon can match.
Not to mention that the Italian side still had an advantage in the number of artillery. Therefore, in the artillery battle between the two sides, the Italian side had an absolute advantage. The French 75mm rapid-fire cannons were retreating steadily in the artillery battle. Many artillery positions were on the enemy's side.
It was destroyed in the counterattack and soon died out.
Speaking of the defeat in the artillery battle, this was also the result of the stubbornness of the French. After the invention of the 75mm rapid-fire cannon, the French army formed the school of omnipotence of rapid-fire cannons. They added a steel mantlet to the rapid-fire cannon.
The artillery was required to advance the 75mm rapid-fire cannon to within one kilometer of the front line, suppress the enemy's front with a barrage of shrapnel, and support the French infantry in launching their proud national skill: the bayonet charge.
Due to both technical and spiritual factors, the French's enthusiastic support for the 75mm rapid-fire gun has been upgraded from a military school of thought to an unquestionable belief.
Various old firearms and large-caliber cannons such as howitzers, heavy artillery, and mortars were thrown into the garbage dump. The French army believed that they had found the best solution for future wars. The entire army only needed one kind of artillery, one gun.
One caliber and one type of ammunition, 75mm, 75mm, shrapnel, can defeat the enemy when facing it.
Therefore, after the war began, the French army had only one type of artillery available, and that was the direct-firing 75mm rapid-fire cannon.
We all know that blind faith is not allowed. It is obvious that the French army has blind faith in the 75mm rapid-fire cannon. Even now, Germany and Italy have used large-caliber artillery to educate the French, and the French artillery units on the front line have been fully beaten.
Although it was hard to find teeth, the senior military generals at the rear still believed that it was right.
France does not need to learn from Germany and Italy to adopt or design larger-caliber heavy artillery. The problem can be solved by improving the 75mm rapid-fire cannon so that it can increase its elevation angle for direct fire attacks.
Of course, if the lower-level officers and soldiers of the French army knew what they were thinking, they would definitely yell at them.
But now they don't have the energy to curse, because Italian heavy artillery is constantly shelling them, and the shelling on their positions has never stopped. The screams from time to time are a reminder of the cruelty of the battlefield. Of course, there is more
Lieutenant General Pascal, commander of the 9th Army, was very satisfied with the effect of the artillery bombardment. Although the French 39th Division set up defenses in the small town of Le Chella, delaying their progress.
However, it is obvious that the fortifications around the town are mainly civil engineering, and there are not many strong permanent fortifications. This also results in artillery with a caliber of 100 mm or more, and the bombardment effect is excellent.
Of course, this is also thanks to the cooperation of the French army. If it were not known that the French army only has 75mm rapid-fire cannons with direct fire capabilities, this battle would be much more difficult to fight.
The bombardment lasted for half a day, starting in the morning and lasting until one o'clock in the afternoon.
Seeing that it was almost done, Lieutenant General Pascal immediately ordered, "Order the infantry to attack."
Following his order, a regiment of troops arrived at the starting position. They had already recharged their batteries and were waiting to launch an attack on the enemy's position.
Following the lieutenant general's order, they climbed out of the trenches one after another and launched a charge towards the enemy's position.
