When the Southern African Expeditionary Force was still within the order of operations of the British Expeditionary Force, it was always the Southern African Expeditionary Force that was unlucky.
Now most of the Southern African Expeditionary Force has been transferred to the Mediterranean, and only the three artillery divisions of the Southern African Expeditionary Force remain in France. The unfortunate ones were replaced by the ANZAC Corps.
If you look at it this way, the ANZAC is unlucky than the Southern African Expeditionary Force. At least in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, the Southern African Expeditionary Force can get sufficient rest. The ANZAC is unlucky in the Mediterranean, and still suffers little in France.
In this attack organized by Haig, the forward force was still the ANZAC.
There was nothing we could do about it. After the Southern African Expeditionary Force was transferred, the total strength of the Anzac Army in France reached 200,000, making it the largest servant force in the British Expeditionary Force.
Before the battle began, in accordance with the tradition of the British and French allied forces, the artillery unit of the British Expeditionary Force conducted a 12-hour artillery bombardment on the German positions. Three artillery divisions in southern Africa also participated in the battle. The British Expeditionary Force had 900 artillery pieces at this time.
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Behind the artillery position of the 21st Division, artillery shells were piled up as high as a hill. Trucks were still sending artillery shells up in a steady stream. An Indian division was responsible for delivering the artillery shells to the position.
In the winter that just passed, the snow in Mons was not heavy, but it kept falling, and after melting, it froze into ice. The ground was extremely slippery. The shells of the 150mm howitzer weighed 45 kilograms, and two soldiers could only deliver them at a time.
One piece.
The young men of the artillery division were in full swing. Many of them went into battle shirtless despite the severe cold in winter. At this time, they did not care about uniformity. They just wanted to throw more artillery shells onto the German positions in the shortest possible time.
On the starting position in front of the artillery position, the third division of the ANZAC had been assembled and waiting to attack. Their division commander was John Monash. During the Battle of Dardanelles, John Monash also accompanied the troops in Australia and New Zealand.
The regiment landed in Xiaowan. He was the only surviving brigade commander in the army. The other brigade commanders were either killed in battle or wounded and returned to Australia to recuperate.
The organization of the Anzac Corps is different from that of the British Expeditionary Force. There are only about a thousand people in a regiment, which is similar to the organization of a battalion.
The reorganized ANZAC Corps, like the British Expeditionary Force, had about 18,000 men per division. Haig invested three divisions in the first batch of attacks, namely the newly formed 23rd and 4th divisions.
From the Anzac Corps.
"General Coker, if possible, I hope we can practice infantry and artillery coordination next, just like you did in Operation Horn of Victory." John Monash is an outstanding soldier, he has a keen mind
With his extraordinary insight and decisive execution, after Operation Horn of Victory, the War Department wrote down the methods used by the Southern African Expeditionary Force in Operation Horn of Victory and spread them throughout the army. Until now, John Monash has shown the true spirit of
interest.
"Of course, we also hope to have better cooperation with our brother troops. At Verdun, the Germans adopted brand-new tactics. Their artillery no longer used the previous methods and was more closely integrated with the infantry. Unfortunately, some
People turn a blind eye." Paul Cocker, chief of staff of the Southern African Expeditionary Force, did not hide his secrets. The German army performed well in the Battle of Verdun. Their infantry and artillery coordination has reached a very high level. The infantry discovered the starting position during the attack.
Artillery can be called directly to carry out fire strikes. The infantry and artillery coordination of the Southern African Expeditionary Force has not reached this level.
The German army's infantry and artillery coordination had very high requirements for communication.
Roque had always thought that this level of infantry and artillery coordination would not be possible until the level of communication was not qualitatively improved. Unexpectedly, the German army was able to achieve this using only the most primitive telephone communication, which made Roque deeply respected.
No wonder the Germans are able to fight against the Allies on their own. Their reputation as the world's best army is indeed well-deserved.
"In the Mediterranean, I served under the Earl of Nyasaland. Although our Anzac Army suffered heavy casualties, that was not the responsibility of the Earl of Nyasaland. I really wish I could go back to that time. Although we were suppressed on the beach, but
We are not worried because we know that the final victory must belong to us." John Monash did not directly say anything bad about anyone, but the implication was that he was not optimistic about the attack organized by Haig.
Like Rock, most of the expeditionary force generals did not take this attack organized by Haig seriously.
In the year just past 1914, the British Expeditionary Force suffered heavy casualties. The veterans before the outbreak of the World War have now been lost. All those serving on the front line are recruits who have just joined the army. They still need time to adapt to the cruel Western Front. Now
It would be irresponsible for them to rush them back to the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the opposition of the generals was not enough to make Haig change his decision. This time back to London, Haig had clearly felt that the attitude of George V and Asquith towards Haig was obviously different from before. George V
The fifth generation did not even meet Haig, which was unimaginable before. Asquith only gave Haig five minutes. You must know that Haig is the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force. Roark went to see Asquith.
At that time, I chatted with Asquith for half an hour.
Haig didn't know what Roque and Asquith were talking about, but Haig knew that he needed a record, urgently needed a record, in order to consolidate his position.
"The German army carried out periodic shelling when they attacked Verdun a few days ago. After the shelling stopped and the French army entered the position, the German army carried out repeated shelling in Verdun. Can we also try it?" John Monash informally said
, no matter what tactic it is, as long as it is beneficial to the battle situation, John Monash is willing to try it.
Paul Coker said nothing, his eyes fell on the figure wearing a dark brown officer's uniform in the artillery position.
These officers were all from the British Expeditionary Force headquarters. Haig was worried that the artillery of the Southern African Expeditionary Force would not be able to work effectively, so he sent observers to the artillery positions before the battle started.
These observers are equivalent to supervisors. They constantly shuttle between various artillery positions, frequently urging the artillerymen with white smoke in their hair to speed up. An artillery officer did not like the observers jumping up and down and complained casually.
The two men immediately started arguing, and the artillerymen from several nearby gun emplacements stopped what they were doing and glared at the furious observers.
Paul Coker ignored these trivial matters. When the twelve hours were up, the artillery attacks stopped and the ground troops began to charge towards the German positions.
"Good luck John -" Paul Coker wishes John Monash.
"I wish you good luck, and God bless us -" John Monash took off his hat and waved, then left without looking back.
Having experience in cooperating with the Southern African Expeditionary Force, the Anzac Corps also abandoned the traditional thin red line of the British army, and the troops formed a skirmish line to attack the German positions.
The 12-hour bombardment played a huge role. All the barbed wire fences in front of the German positions were destroyed, and clumps of them were piled up in front of the German positions like chopped off earthworms.
The mines laid under the barbed wire are also useless. They were originally a great weapon against infantry. The infantry only need to follow the craters to avoid most traps.
A section of German trenches was completely destroyed by artillery, and the machine gun positions built with sandbags were completely leveled. Black soil was turned up from the ground and covered with white snow, as ugly as a scar on the earth.
Several German soldiers hidden in the trenches stood up staggeringly. Their minds were destroyed by the shock wave of the artillery shells, and they forgot that they were on the battlefield.
Seeing the charging Anzac soldiers, the staggering German army woke up from a dream, but before they even raised their rifles, they were knocked to the ground by a dense rain of bullets.
After a winter, the German army also established a strong defensive position in Mons.
After all, there were very few trenches destroyed by artillery shells. Most of the German troops were lucky enough to escape the bombardment of the Expeditionary Force and entered the position shortly after the Anzac Corps began their charge.
When skirmishers faced heavy machine guns, they were actually lining up to shoot, which had no effect at all.
As the German heavy machine guns began to fire, the German artillery units in the rear also began to shell the attacking troops. The attacking troops immediately suffered heavy losses. The soldiers fell down row after row like wheat being cut down, and were hit by artillery shells.
The soldiers were thrown into the air like rag dolls, and then fell to pieces, like a bloody rain.
No matter how tenacious the fighting will is, no one can persist for too long in an attack with no possibility of victory. After the German army began to counterattack, the attacking ANZAC troops retreated to their starting positions like a tide. Some people lost their own weapons in the retreat.
Weapons, some people were devastated, some lost relatives or friends in the attack just now, and cried loudly as soon as they returned to the starting position.
In less than half an hour, the three reorganized divisions lost their ability to attack.
"Continue to attack until the German positions are captured." Haig's heart was as strong as iron and he did not care about the casualties of the troops. If victory could not be achieved, all sacrifices would be meaningless.
The generals in the headquarters looked at each other, and the ANZAC generals gnashed their teeth. They looked at Haig like enemies. When the ANZAC was trapped in the ANZAC cove, Roark also ordered the troops to hold on, but Roark also ordered the troops to hold on.
Croton sent its air force and navy to cooperate in the battle and gave the ANZAC enough support. In the end, the ANZAC did win.
Now that the Anzac Army was in trouble again, Haig lacked countermeasures and blindly ordered the troops to continue attacking, ignoring the heavy casualties suffered by the frontline troops.
This is really not a qualified commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.
"General, it is getting late. Even if the troops capture the German positions, they may not be able to withstand the German counterattack. It is better to wait until tomorrow to continue the attack." Paul Cocker couldn't help but suggest that neither the British and French forces nor the Germans have the habit of fighting at night.
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"I said, continue the attack until the German positions are captured!" Haig had lost his mind and looked at Paul Coker with a look that was simply destructive.