Specifically speaking, before the Battle of the Somme, the British Expeditionary Force fought with "Follow Me". Officers took the lead and attacked the German positions with the troops. In addition, in order to show their bravery, British officers usually dressed up.
It's like a big rooster going to a banquet.
Since the outbreak of the World War, the total number of casualties of the British army has exceeded one million. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British army suffered 60,000 casualties. Almost all of the courageous British people have died. Now when the British Expeditionary Force attacks
, the officer’s command has changed from “Fight with me” to “Fight with me.”
Under the dual stimulation of alcohol and "tobacco", the soldiers did not notice this small change at all. After the bearded captain gave the order to attack, the Indian soldiers, whose eyes were already bloodshot and red, jumped out of the trench with their bayonets raised.
There was no neatly arranged thin red line, nor was it a temporarily trained skirmisher line. They just launched an attack on the German positions in a chaotic manner.
The German machine guns had already begun to fire at this time. Although the starting distance was relatively far from the German position, the German machine gunners were inspired by mortars and invented a method of shooting into the sky and then using the inertia of the bullets to cause damage. This was somewhat unlucky.
The Indian soldiers were hit as soon as they jumped out of the trench, and fell to the ground instantly like a punctured balloon. There were also some people who were not hit by bullets, but still fell to the ground. These are smart guys. They are
Want to avoid attack in this way.
Smart guys on the battlefield usually die faster. With red eyes, the bearded captain pulled down a shivering Indian soldier lying beside the trench, and yelled at the Indian soldier with his head to his head: "What the hell are you doing here?"
What happened? Why not attack? Have you forgotten what I just said?"
"First-first-first-sir, I can't see in my eyes, I'm blind-" The Indian soldier was shaking and crying bitterly, and his pants were wet and dripping.
This reason sounds very legitimate, and some incredible things do happen to some people when they are extremely nervous.
"Really - you're blind, good, good -" the bearded captain gritted his teeth and looked fiercely, took out his pistol with his backhand, rubbed it on his pants and loaded it.
"I'm fine, sir. My eyes are fine. I'll attack right away. This is the power of God. I'm fine -" The Indian soldier woke up immediately.
"God wants you to die!" The bearded captain didn't even give him a chance to correct his mistake. He put his pistol directly on the soldier's forehead and fired.
Boom!
The 9mm Browning High Power pistol lived up to its name, and the bearded captain’s face was covered with blood and brains——
"Who else is blind? Tell me and I will help him out!"
Several "corpses" not far from the trench immediately began to squirm.
In the headquarters further behind, Rock and a group of generals were observing the German positions with binoculars.
It can be clearly seen from the telescope that after the shelling of the expeditionary force began to extend to the rear of the German position, Indian soldiers rushed forward like a tide, and then retreated like a tide.
Several British generals put down their binoculars to look at Roark.
Rock didn't put down his telescope, and pursed his lips tightly, showing no intention of speaking.
An officer on the starting position stood up, brandished a pistol and roared at the retreating Indian soldiers.
The panicked Indian soldiers had no idea what had just happened in the trenches.
Tom-tom-tom——
The heavy machine gun of the supervising team finally opened fire. The muzzle of the gun was a full foot long. The Indian soldiers who escaped did not die under the gunfire of the Germans. Instead, they were shot by the supervising team in this execution method.
Rock finally put down the telescope in his hand, his eyes closed.
"Order the troops and continue the attack!" Rock's voice was colder than a snowy December night.
"Yes, Lord!" An Qi's voice was equally cold. The staff's hand shaking the phone handle was shaking. The generals looked at each other and looked at Rock with complicated expressions.
"Gentlemen, abandon all illusions. This is a life-and-death war. Either the glory of the British Empire can be continued, or we will live in the shadow of the Germans from now on. There is no third possibility." Rock held the telescope in his hand.
Passed it to Paul Coker beside him, returned to the chair behind his desk and closed his eyes to rest.
"General Goff, order the troops to continue the attack and kill all the Germans!" the staff officer's voice on the phone was simply howling.
General Gough was the commander of the British Fifth Army.
"Yes, please tell the marshal that the Fifth Army will resolutely complete its mission." Goff's voice was as loud as a loudspeaker.
Another group of troops entered the starting position.
The soldier who was shot by the bearded captain fell before setting off to the battlefield. The wound on his forehead was still steaming. He fell on the ground with his back to the German position. It looked like he was not killed during the charge.
All the soldiers who passed by the corpse walked around and looked at the bearded captain sitting on the ground next to him with fear in their eyes.
The bearded captain didn't speak, staring directly at the pistol in his hand. The company he led had just been completely wiped out, but he, the company commander, was still alive.
A captain who also had a mustache came to the bearded captain and handed him a cigarette.
The corners of the bearded captain's mouth moved, probably because he wanted to smile at the mustached captain, but it was uglier than crying.
The two captains smoked silently until the cigarette was finished. The bearded captain threw the cigarette butt on the ground, crushed it with his foot, and then patted the mustached captain heavily on the shoulder: "I wish you good luck!"
"The same goes for you -" Captain Mustache looked cold, and after standing up, he faced the soldiers with a stern voice: "-Drink, you can drink as much as you want, drink as much as you want -"
An hour later, the expeditionary force finally rushed to the German position and completely overwhelmed the defenders. The headquarters was filled with cheers and applause.
Although the troops suffered heavy casualties, the expeditionary force had never captured the German positions in such a short period of time in previous battles.
Considering that this is an Indian army that has long been criticized by generals for its weak combat effectiveness, victory becomes even more rare.
"General Goff called. The troops have occupied the German position, killed more than 5,000 Germans, captured 1,200 Germans, and suffered about 6,700 casualties. The battle line has advanced 1.5 miles--" When Angel reported, Rock was
For lunch, although he is the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, Rock's lunch is also very simple, a box of canned soybeans, a fish, and a glass of milk.
During the battle, Rock never drank. As a commander, Rock did not need courage, but a clear mind and keen judgment.
"Order the troops to stay in place to guard against German counterattacks -" Roque was not greedy, as long as there was progress, he did not confirm whether the numbers reported by Goff were accurate. It was normal for the numbers to have errors.
After all, the battle has just ended. It is normal to have some errors when the data is compiled so quickly. Just don't go too far.
Later, the German army did try to prevent the counterattack.
Unfortunately, under the surveillance of reconnaissance planes, every move of the German army was under Rock's control. Before the German troops preparing to attack had assembled at the departure position, the expeditionary force's close ground support aircraft roared in, firing high-explosive bombs and
Incendiary bomb packages fell from the sky, and the German troops preparing to attack had no ability to resist. The German troops were not yet equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns.
When the British Expeditionary Force resumed its offensive, the Battle of Verdun was underway.
Nivelle activated Mangin, who had been dismissed from his post some time ago, and put an army under Mangin's command.
Mangin continued to display his butcher style and launched a forceful attack on the German positions, causing heavy casualties to the troops.
Pétain was extremely angry. Nivele's use of Mangin was a blatant violation of Pétain's order, but Pétain had nothing to do with Nivele and Mangin, because both Nivele and Mangin were Joffre's confidants.
Pétain could only strictly order Nivelle and Mangin to strictly prohibit the troops from launching an attack on the German army without authorization.
Nivelle and Mangin were unmoved. They were planning a larger attack. This time Nivelle and Mangin were preparing to bypass Pétain, hoping to get Joffre's approval.
While Verdun and the Somme entered the close phase, fighting on other battlefields continued.
In distant Italy, the Battle of the Isonzo River has been fought for the sixth time. Neither the Kingdom of Italy nor the Austro-Hungarian Empire has the ability to defeat each other. The Italian army is weak. Often the troops prepare for two months, and the attack can only last three days.
If this were on the Eastern Front or the Western Front, it would only be on the scale of a battle at most, but not on the scale of a battle at all.
But for the Italians who are so happy about their success, they can't wait to exaggerate every attack into a battle. From last July's participation in the war to now, the Kingdom of Italy has organized six battles of the Isonzo River.
Apart from increasing the record of hundreds of thousands of people, there is no gain.
Kondela recently got married. He and his new wife are on vacation and do not allow anyone to disturb them. Usually Kondela will issue combat orders in a very detailed way. No matter what happens on the front line, Kondela does not allow the generals to improvise.
Even so, the Italians still couldn't defeat the Austrians, and the Italians actually had the nerve to ask Britain for a loan and material aid, otherwise Italy would stop attacking.
Faced with such an ally, the British government was helpless. Edward Gray knocked out his teeth and swallowed it. After all, it was his own appointment, and he had to finish the fight with tears in his eyes.
To Roque's helplessness, Italy was not the only big problem for the Entente. In July, Romania finally decided to join the Entente. London was delighted because it believed that the Entente would gain another major boost.
On the surface, this is indeed the case. After all, Romania has 500,000 troops. Even if it doesn't work, it can still hold back some Allied forces.
General Alexeyev, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Empire, did not think so. He believed that if Romania did not participate in the war, then the Russian Empire would not need to allocate troops to defend the Romanian border.
Now that Romania has joined the war, although it is joining the Allied Powers, the Russian Empire must also be prepared to avoid a recurrence of the Schlieffen Plan.
(It’s not too late, I’m so diligent, give me a few words of praise to myself——)
