Italy's diversionary attack still requires a week of preparation, but the officers and soldiers of the two camps in the Paris area will not wait. They are still fighting fiercely around the city of Paris.
As the attackers, Britain and France assembled heavy troops and launched a desperate attack, which of course put the German army under pressure and achieved some results.
For example, the British army conquered the Guyville Defense Line composed of the German 7th Army and the 11th Army at the cost of 79,000 casualties. After repelling the enemy, they are now moving towards their next target, Bonteru.
There are currently 13 divisions of British attack groups consisting of 270,000 people, and they are rushing towards Bonteru. The only German troops in Bonteru are the defeated 7th Army, the 11th Army, and the troops sent by General Kluck.
The 57th and 35th divisions, as well as the 76th and 82nd divisions with domestic reinforcements.
In terms of numbers, the German army has at least ten divisions in Bonteru, and they are on the defensive side. They should be very easy to hold, but this is an ideal situation.
The real situation is that the 7th and 11th armies suffered a lot of losses on the front line of Guyville. In addition, in order to successfully withdraw from Guyville, they also used the tail-cutting tactic. This resulted in the two armies having to act as
Used by one army. In addition, there are two domestic reinforcement divisions. It can be seen from the numbers that these two divisions were formed after the outbreak of the war. There must be some gaps in combat effectiveness.
Therefore, in terms of actual combat effectiveness, the offensive side is twice as strong as the defensive side, so the pressure on the German army in Bonteru will be very high.
Of course, the German army did not have some advantages, that is, Bonteru's position was well constructed.
Before the battle broke out, Bonteru, as the key point on the left wing of Paris, had already built a lot of fortifications. After the battle broke out, Bonteru, as the key point on the west wing after Guyville, went on a large scale to build defensive fortifications. Now
Bonteru is densely covered with trenches, barbed wire, and bunkers.
Although the attacking formation of the British army looks very oppressive, does it mean to look down upon their firepower?
There were tens of thousands of them, and they were led by aristocratic officers in the British army. These British aristocrats were really brave. They wore gorgeous military uniforms and took the lead in charging towards the German positions with sabers in hand. The pride of the aristocrats at this moment also inspired them.
With the soldiers they led, they rushed towards the German position along with the officers.
The tragedy of killing did not stop because of his death. Officers and soldiers were constantly being knocked down by machine guns. The corpses lying on the ground and the screams of injured soldiers turned this place into a miserable scene of hell.
Although it has rained heavily before and is still raining lightly, the muddy ground will be detrimental to the attack, but it can also affect the shooting accuracy of the defending enemy, so it does not have a big impact on the attack.
When General Rawlinson, who was in charge of the offensive command, received the casualty report at night, his whole hand was shaking.
Following the officer's order, the machine guns on the position opened fire. Maxim and Revery, who were constantly spraying flames, formed a fire network of light and heavy machine guns on the battlefield, and they continued to harvest the lives of British officers and soldiers.
At this time, the British officers and soldiers waiting in the trenches were really waiting for the order to charge. The officers' voices kept coming, and they were constantly comforting the nervous soldiers. Of course, just comforting them was not enough, but they also had to tell them that the military police were there.
After their death, if they dare to run back privately, then in addition to death, there will be dishonorable deserters waiting for them. Their whole life's reputation will be in vain, and their parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters in their hometown will all die.
This was met with a blank stare.
He made history with more than 80,000 casualties. Even after the officer in charge of statistics repeatedly contacted the front line, he even thought that the other party was making false reports.
As for London, after receiving the telegram from the expeditionary force headquarters, they repeatedly asked if there was an extra zero written in the casualty number. When it was confirmed that it was not the case, they were also shocked.
After the battle was over, a spectacular and cruel scene appeared. Between the two positions, the corpses on the ground were lined up from the British side to the German position. In the afternoon, there were even more corpses in some areas.
To the point where the offense has no way to start.
At this time, a sharp whistle sounded, and at the same time the melodious sound of Scottish bagpipes came. Amidst the officers' shouts of attack, the soldiers rushed out of the trenches. At this time, figures jumped out of the trenches, densely packed toward the German troops.
Rush into position.
And the British officers and soldiers kept jumping out of the trenches and rushing towards the German positions, as if they were going to overwhelm the German positions with a sea of people.
It was too late to say anything at this moment. General Rawlinson knew that he could not hide it, so he could only hand in the report because the other party was still waiting for his telegram.
"Send it to London."
On the defensive side, watching the dense sea of British troops charging, the German officers and soldiers in the defensive position were stunned.
Needless to say, the role of machine guns is very useful in the attack. In the defensive battle at Guyville, the continuous firepower of the heavy machine guns caused a large number of casualties to the attacking British troops.
"Send it to General Haig."
"Fire!"
At this time, a British officer held his saber high, motivating the soldiers to attack. But then he shook a few times and a few streams of blood came out of his body, and then fell into the mire. When his consciousness disappeared, his eyes looked at the falling
The pocket watch beside him contained photos of his wife and daughter. At the last moment of his life, he thought of his wife and daughter.
Soon the news was passed to the commander of the expeditionary force, Admiral Haig, on the radio wave. When he saw the number of casualties on the radio wave, Haig's eyes went dark. Such huge casualties made him almost stop mentioning them.
Of course, the more important thing is that they need to continuously defeat the German positions along the line and cannot give Germany time to dispatch troops for reinforcements. Therefore, the British army that launched the attack cannot stop and can only continue to attack in order to reach Tilai, the most important node of the battle, as soon as possible.
And this is also a reflection of the fact that after the defensive capabilities have been greatly enhanced, the offensive tactics have not been changed. To be more precise, in the face of the enemy's modern defense system of trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, artillery, etc., they don't know how to attack.
.
However, because the machine gun configuration on the Guyville front line was only a conventional configuration, and the British artillery was exceptionally fierce, the British army still captured the Guyville front line position despite huge casualties.
At this time, the roaring artillery subsided. The Bonteru line, which had just been bombarded by British artillery for three days, was full of craters caused by artillery shells, which looked almost like the surface of the moon. German trenches, barbed wire, bunkers and other defenses
, the bombed 7788, now it’s time to launch an attack.
"attack!"
And these attacking British troops were constantly knocked down like wheat.
Obviously, this combination of kindness and power made the British soldiers who were preparing to attack know that they could only charge and not retreat privately.
In addition to the fortifications, there were also a large number of weapons and ammunition brought by the two German reinforcement divisions, the most important of which were more than 600 light and heavy machine guns. This was brought to them by Moltke after plundering the ordnance warehouse.
Several newly mobilized divisions no longer have machine guns available.
At this time, on the German position, densely packed machine gun positions were ready, just waiting for the British officers and soldiers to enter the shooting range.
And this kind of mindless mass offensive lasted from the morning until after the sun went down.
The British troops who were preparing to attack did not know about this. At this time, under the leadership of the British commander Haig, they were preparing to attack Bonteru in high spirits.
Yes, this is indeed the idea of the British commander General Rawlinson. At this moment, he is like a gambler, trying to use a sea of people to break through the German positions on the Bonteru line.
As for the Bonteru front line, the German army deployed thousands of light and heavy machine guns on the 30-kilometer defense line, with a firepower density of up to 4 guns per 100 meters.
Not only the British were shocked, but the whole world was shocked. A staff officer who was dissatisfied with General Rawlinson revealed the news.
So, the next day, major newspapers reported the news. This news made the British people angry. They angrily questioned the government, this is not a war, this is murder.
Therefore, General Rawlinson, who was directly responsible, was fired directly the next day, ordered to retire immediately, and asked to accept parliamentary questioning.
What awaits him will be the dark moments of his life.
