Adolf Hitler wrote in his autobiography a few years later: The reason why he survived the world war was that fate hinted that he would become a brave man in the future.
Virtually everyone who survived the World War was brave.
In the cold and damp fields of Flanders, the British, French and Belgian forces were engaged in a desperate struggle with the Germans. A village in Lombardside was captured by the Germans on October 1st, was captured by the French one day later, and again on October 5th.
It was captured by the Germans, and the British and French forces jointly recaptured it on the 7th. On the 8th, this miserable village was captured by the Germans again. After that, it changed hands twice before the Germans firmly defended it.
After the Germans stabilized their defense line, all the houses in the village were completely destroyed. Fierce battles took place on every ruined wall in the village. There was a whole layer of bullet casings on the ground, and the corpses of soldiers who died on both sides of the war were also covered.
Spread the village over one level.
Every forest, every river, every village, every house was fiercely fought, and the whole of Flanders was in flames.
When Roque arrived in Paris, the 2nd Cavalry Division did not stop in Paris, but went directly to Calais to rest. After three days of rest, the 2nd Cavalry Division officially entered the war. Their defense line was at Hlufeld, and on the left was
The 7th Division of the British Expeditionary Force, with the 65th Division of the French 9th Army on the right.
After the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company were reorganized into the Second Cavalry Division, Hank Wesley, a cowboy from Texas, transformed into a second lieutenant company commander in Southern Africa. Hank had no psychological barriers to this arrangement, but what made Hank uncomfortable was that he
The name of the group he was in was actually called "Muscat Pirates", which was really hard for Hank to accept.
Just because it's hard to accept doesn't mean it's impossible to accept.
"Why don't we call the damn pirate regiment, the infantry regiment, the rifle regiment, or the carbine regiment?" Hank had complained countless times on the way to France, and this time he finally took him with him
Even if the 2nd Cavalry Division did not provide the 0.45-inch bullet used in the Cowboy revolver, Hank would not give up on the Cowboy.
"Don't you think the name Pirates can represent our spirit? We have nothing and we are galloping on the sea. As long as we like something, we will snatch it back directly -" Hank's partner is Oscar, their battalion commander
It's Bill, the former squad leader.
The 2nd Cavalry Division is not all mercenaries. Many are Persian soldiers recruited from the Sinai Peninsula. Compared with the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company, these Persian soldiers are easier to manage. They fight without fear of death and execute orders meticulously. Umbrella Company
There are also scumbag mercenaries, and the discipline of Persian soldiers is quite good.
The key is strict management. Under the umbrella, if a mercenary fails to abide by discipline, the most he can do is to be fired. There are rarely more serious punishments. This is not the case in the army. Disobeying orders requires the enforcement of battlefield discipline.
"Gentlemen, cheer up and don't let the Germans attack the position, otherwise even if you don't die in the hands of the Germans, I will kill you with my own hands!" Bill was emphasizing discipline. Compared with the British and French troops, the equipment of the Second Cavalry Division was
There are more machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars, and artillery is equipped at the regiment level. Hank's company has nine light machine guns and two heavy machine guns, plus two grenade launchers.
The company of the 2nd Cavalry Division has 140 men. This translates to 70 machine guns for every 1,000 men of the 2nd Cavalry Division. This ratio is not the best in southern Africa, but it is a world of difference compared with European armies.
When the World War broke out, the British army only had 1.32 machine guns per 1,000 troops, the French army had 1.51, and the German army only had 4.41 at most.
In another time and space, until the fourth year of the outbreak of the World War, the number of machine guns in the US military was only 47.8 per 1,000 people.
So after inspecting the positions of the 2nd Cavalry Division, Ferdinand Foch was deeply impressed by the number of machine guns in the 2nd Cavalry Division.
According to the habits of the southern African army, after Hank's company arrived at the combat position, it first built a complete defensive position.
It was not necessary for the officers and soldiers of the Second Cavalry Division to dig trenches. The British did not have the ability to send more expeditionary troops, and there was no shortage of labor. The Second Cavalry Division was also assigned a cooperating force, the 135th Division from India, 135
The division's establishment is the same as the British regular army's 18,000 men. Although they are also troops, they are not responsible for combat tasks. They are only responsible for digging trenches and transporting supplies. The British War Department does not even include the Indian army in the British army.
"Did you dig this trench? Not even a dog can get in. A standard trench must be two meters wide and two meters high, with a foxhole every two meters and a machine gun position every ten meters. Shooting from the machine gun position
The holes must be reserved according to the standard positions and all reworked!" Hank was very dissatisfied with the work of the Indian engineers. He said that they were "engineers" to praise them and simply insulted the engineers as a branch.
The trench dug by the Indians is about 50 centimeters wide, 1.5 meters long, and only 20 centimeters deep. For the Indians, it is just the right size to accommodate one person, but it is a bit small for the Second Cavalry Division. The Second Cavalry Division
The average height of teachers is over 1.7 meters.
"There's no need to dig so deep. You might have to abandon this place tomorrow, so these trenches won't take too long." The Indian captain with a big turban and a big beard spoke plausibly and sounded like there was nothing wrong with him. The position changed hands in Buddha.
Landers is normal.
"Nima, when has our Umbrella company ever given up its position? I'll kill you if you do that!" Hank felt extremely insulted. This kind of thing like giving up our position has never happened in Umbrella.
"You - how can you curse -" Captain Big Turban was extremely surprised. Probably in his concept, the status of southern Africa in the British Empire was similar to that of India, or worse than India.
The Indian army, like the southern African army, came all the way to Britain to show its loyalty. It was already irritating that it was not taken seriously by the War Department, and now it was scolded by a second lieutenant. The captain was really losing his face.
"Why are you scolding you? My father is an American!" Hank said proudly. If he were a pure-bred Englishman, Hank would be more restrained. Forget about India, there are many Indian workers in Port Elizabeth, working at the lowest level.
The work environment is very bad.
"I'm going to file a complaint against you!" This is probably Captain Big Turban's most serious threat.
"Whatever, let's dig the trench for dad first." Hank didn't care about complaints. The slave army must have the consciousness of the slave army.
As he spoke, a sharp whistling sound suddenly sounded from above the position.
The Germans began shelling.
Before Hank could react, Oscar pulled Hank down from the trench.
"Discover the enemy and prepare for battle——"
"Kick the Germans in the ass-"
"Kill the Germans and don't embarrass our protective umbrella——"
The officers' high-pitched voices came one after another. Hank kicked the hooded captain away and looked into the distance with his binoculars.
There were indeed people wearing German military uniforms advancing towards the troops of the 2nd Cavalry Division, but what surprised Hank was that the Germans seemed not to be attacking, but some kind of mysterious ritual.
About one kilometer away from the position of the 2nd Cavalry Division, a German troop was advancing. They wore Brotherhood hats, and some of them had flowers on their hats. They held hands and formed a dense formation, singing military songs.
Sing forward.
If this was a parade, Hank could understand it, but this was such a battlefield. The Germans actually appeared like this, which made Hank wonder where he was.
"Don't be stunned, machine gunners and grenadiers are ready, wait for the enemy to enter the 500-meter range, have bullets and grenades ready, shoot freely at 200 meters, throw grenades at 50 meters, if the enemy is not dead yet, then there will be nothing
Do not hesitate to pick up the engineer shovel, whether you bite it with your teeth, chop with a knife, or spit at the Germans, in short, kill all the enemies -" Bill's voice echoed on the battlefield, mixed with the fierce German artillery fire.
After about five minutes, or maybe a little longer, the artillery units of the 2nd Cavalry Division began to counterattack.
The 2nd Cavalry Division is equipped with a 120mm howitzer (an error in the previous article). This kind of howitzer has a longer range and more power than the German 105mm howitzer. The German artillery was soon suppressed. At this time, the attacking German soldiers
It has entered the fire range of the heavy machine gun.
"Fire!" Bill's voice was particularly high-pitched. The word "fire" in English has an accent, so it was still very powerful when he shouted it.
The heavy machine gun was impatient. The muzzle on the muzzle was half a foot long. The pre-installed bullet chain contained a tracer bullet every four rounds. The shooter could use the tracer bullets to better aim and shoot.
The grenade launcher also began to roar. Compared with the heavy machine gun, the grenade launcher is an absolute killer for infantry. The explosion range of the 40mm grenade is similar to that of the defensive grenade. Although the effective range is 15 meters, in fact, shrapnel
It is also lethal when flying a hundred meters away. The key is that the grenade launcher fires very quickly, which can reach about a hundred rounds per minute. The shooter must also pay attention to controlling the rate of fire to ensure the supply of ammunition to the rear.
At this time, the 135th Division was busy sending bullets to the front line. They could not do this job well. The German artillery had been suppressed by the artillery of the Second Cavalry Division. Only a small number of artillery shells fell on the position of the Second Cavalry Division. These were the sporadic ones.
The artillery shells still frightened the soldiers of the 135th Division, and some soldiers just found a shell hole and crawled into it, howling like ghosts and wolves, forgetting about their mission.
No matter how miserable the performance of the 135th Division was, the German troops could not put any pressure on the position of the 2nd Cavalry Division. The battle only lasted for just twenty minutes, and the charging German soldiers were all killed or wounded before they could reach the firing range of their rifles.
A rough estimate is that the German army invested at least one battalion in this wave of attacks just now.