Carno is the prominent point on the entire front of the British Expeditionary Force. In the previous stage of the battle, the British Expeditionary Force paid a huge price of 170,000 casualties. Carno was one of the few pitiful results, and it also had a negative impact on the entire campaign.
cannot play a decisive role.
Roque chose Carnot as an important breakthrough. The offensive troops of six divisions launched attacks on the German positions at three different locations. There were three divisions in Carnot.
These three divisions are all from India. They have never participated in previous battles and maintained a miraculously complete organization. After Rock issued the attack order, the soldiers of these three divisions collapsed almost instantly. They did not expect at all.
Even though their performance is so bad, it's not bad enough.
In order to boost morale, Rock sent the three divisions enough whiskey and cigarettes laced with some kind of stimulant to make the Indian soldiers forget their fear.
It sounds a bit unethical, but this is a commonly used motivation method in the military nowadays. Why the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army braved German artillery fire and machine gun fire to attack the German army in neat lines was because of the role of whiskey and "cigarettes"
played a role.
In this regard, the United Kingdom is already a habitual offender, France is also a veteran, and Germany is no less inferior. However, these facts will not be recorded in any documents. In all documents, all countries use alcohol to improve morale, but alcohol can make people feel calm.
Facing death?
Alcohol can only turn a person into a puddle of mud.
"Drink, drink as much as you want, drink as much as you want, then rush over and kill all those Germans. Don't think about being lazy or becoming a deserter. Anyone who dares to stop moving forward will be prosecuted by military law. I will stand
Keep an eye on you from behind. Don't let your family be ashamed of your cowardice. Soldiers should die on the battlefield. Long live the king!" The officers used to boost morale before setting off. A bearded captain was particularly excited.
He probably drank a lot too.
Before the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme, including the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, when the British Expeditionary Force attacked, officers had to act together with the troops.
The German army now also has snipers, and officers holding command knives are the key targets of sniping, so the casualty rate of officers has remained high.
Now the expeditionary force has learned to be smart. After Rock became the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, he no longer ordered officers to act together with the troops. This order immediately won the support and love of all generals and middle and low-level officers.
Training an officer is much more difficult than training a soldier.
British officers are either high-quality personnel who graduated from military academies, or they are children of nobles. They are brave and full of sacrifice, but they do not want to die worthless.
Just as the bearded captain was boosting morale, several machine gunners were setting up machine gun positions in front of the starting position. These general machine guns were not prepared for the Germans, but for possible deserters. If there were really soldiers during the attack
If you run away, the supervising team will shoot without hesitation.
"Sir, will you join us?" an Indian soldier bravely asked.
"Of course, I will always be with you. Remember what you have learned in the past few days. Make reasonable use of every bunker, whether it is a tree stump or a bomb crater. It may save your life. Forget about those stupid things.
Offensive line, destroying the enemy is your only mission, no matter what method you use." Captain Bearded emphasized that before the attack, Rock sent veterans from southern Africa to teach these Indian soldiers some life-saving things. How much can they learn?
It all depends on the individual's understanding. No matter what, the performance of the troops will be better than before.
The reason why Rock needed more time was mainly to allow the officers and soldiers to adapt to the new tactics. In the previous attack, the Anzac Army used the tactics used by the Southern African Expeditionary Force when fighting on the Garibaldi Peninsula, and was also attacked by some
The British generals ridiculed them, but as a result, the Anzac Army's casualties were significantly lower than those of the British Fourth Army, and its progress was significantly greater.
Carno is the record of the Anzac Army.
"Give me another bowl!" A drunken Indian soldier still wanted to drink. If he must die, then dying drunk may be a better choice.
"Even if you die, you will die on the way to attack -" the bearded captain said sternly. It was impossible to get drunk and escape from the attack. He really thought that the team was just a decoration. After the attack order was issued,
, those who are still in the starting position are deserters.
No one will reason with you on the battlefield. Even if you are under heavy machine gun fire when you give an order, you must charge when it is time to charge. Otherwise, how can you be called "cannon fodder"?
"Give me another bowl, and I can hit Berlin in one go!" The Indian soldier was really drunk, and he was strutting his neck to challenge the bearded captain.
"Hahahaha - great, I just need this kind of spirit, let him drink as much as he wants." The bearded captain laughed. Britain was indeed rich at this time. In peacetime, a bottle cost 15 cents.
Ling's whiskey was open and he drank it casually. A bottle of 18,000 troops only cost 13,500 pounds per person, which was not worth mentioning compared to Britain's annual military expenditure of 2.5 billion.
In the first year of the outbreak of the world war, Britain's military expenditure was 1.56 billion pounds, which was the lowest among all participating countries.
Even though it was the lowest, it made the British government feel overwhelmed. However, no one expected that this was the year when the British military expenditure was the lowest during the World War. Starting from the second year, the British military expenditure has not been less than 2.5 billion pounds.
Considering that the Second Boer War only cost 220 million, the British government almost went bankrupt. The depletion of the world war on the economy is evident.
When Captain Bearded was mobilizing before the war, the artillery positions in the rear were shelling the Germans.
Hundreds of heavy artillery fired at the same time, with earth-shattering power. The German positions were shrouded in violent explosions and billowing smoke, making it look like a hell on earth.
"No one can survive such an intensity of shelling -" an officer held a telescope with lingering fear. Fortunately, this was an attack by the British army. If it was the British army's position that was bombarded, then these Indians should have been attacked by now.
It collapsed, and even a supervising team could not stop the Indian soldiers from escaping.
"The Germans are all rats hiding in holes in the ground. If only they could be wiped out so easily -" the bearded captain felt heavy. At this time, several planes with British flags painted on their wings roared past the sky.
, flying towards the German position, the bearded captain took off his hat and waved to the aircraft, cheering loudly.
The plane did not respond at all and flew roaring over the German position. Several German biplanes took off to fight. The formation of the expeditionary force aircraft immediately dispersed. It seemed chaotic, but if you look carefully, you can see that the planes were flying around the German position.
.
The speed of several "Strong Winds" was not very fast, and the German biplanes immediately followed them in a low-altitude dogfight. This was the main method of air combat during this period.
However, the "Strong Winds" flying at low altitudes are all decoys. Higher up in the sky, two "Strong Winds" are looking for opportunities. The fuselages of these two "Strong Winds" are painted with many solid or hollow red star patterns. Each solid
The red star pattern represents the downing of an enemy aircraft, and the hollow one represents damage.
One of the planes had a solid red star pattern painted all over its fuselage.
The German biplanes that were chasing at low altitude had not yet found the opportunity to shoot. The two "Strong Winds" hovering at high altitude had already begun to dive.
The "Strong Wind" fighter plane with stars painted all over its fuselage fired a short burst of fire and hit a German biplane. The German pilot did not even have a chance to open the parachute, and the aircraft immediately disintegrated.
The "Strong Wind", which succeeded in one strike, did not fight. When it flew out of the combat area at low altitude, it was targeted by another German biplane.
The biplane trying to avenge its comrades also failed to find a chance to shoot. Another "Strong Wind" with 12 solid red stars on its fuselage also shot down the German biplane with a short burst.
The air battle lasted only five minutes. All eight German biplanes were shot down. The six "Strong Winds" of the Expeditionary Force were unscathed. After shooting down all the German fighter planes, the six "Strong Winds" of the Expeditionary Force attacked the German positions.
Dive and shoot, use up all the bullets, and then return safely.
The shelling suddenly stopped at this time.
According to general procedures, the cessation of shelling means that ground troops begin to attack.
However, the attacking troops who were already well prepared at the starting position did not receive the order to attack.
"What's going on?" The bearded captain was confused.
"It's not like the attack has been cancelled, right?" Another officer had a look of expectation and regret on his face. The regret was because if he didn't attack, there would be no credit, and the expectation was because it was humble or better than being killed in the attack.
"Stop dreaming, it's impossible. Our commander is Lord Nyasaland. Do you think he will change his decision?" The bearded captain felt that it was not that simple.
Sure enough, just after the British Expeditionary Force's artillery bombardment stopped, the hidden German artillery positions began to bombard the German positions, attacking the infantry units that were attacking under normal circumstances.
The German army had just started shelling, and a reconnaissance plane conducting high-altitude reconnaissance turned around and ran away. When it flew to the artillery position of the expeditionary force, the pilot of the reconnaissance plane dropped an orange-red iron bucket.
Three minutes later, the British Expeditionary Force artillery began to counterattack the German artillery. Post-war statistics showed that the German army had 156 heavy artillery groups in Carno, 87 of which were destroyed in this artillery battle.
How difficult it is to train an artilleryman, you can understand how distressed the Germans are.
Anyway, if the Southern African Expeditionary Force lost 87 heavy artillery groups, Rock would be heartbroken.
Seeing that the German artillery fire became sparse, the British Expeditionary Force still did not stop the artillery fire. The offensive troops at the departure position finally received the call to attack. The bearded captain smashed the bottle in his hand, pulled out his pistol and hung it on his rifle.
The soldier with the bayonet roared angrily: "Come on, charge over and kill all the Germans!"
Go against me, which is two different things from "go against me".
