Chapter 524: Failure that cannot be admitted

As soon as Colonel Albert rushed out of the trench on horseback, he was shocked by what he saw.

There was blood and corpses everywhere. The infantrymen rushed forward with bayonets pointed. The crowds of people were like ants. They howled and stepped on the corpses of their comrades, but were riddled with bullet holes in their bodies.

Blood splattered and screams were heard everywhere.

Some of them were shot through the body and fell to the ground, covering their wounds, crawling with difficulty while wailing for help.

Some were hit in the head, and their heads exploded like watermelons, spurting out shocking liquids of various colors.

Others had their arms broken. They knelt on the ground and picked up their own limbs in disbelief, as if they wanted to put them back together.

…

Dense bullets were still raking back and forth on the battlefield like a sieve. It was not the Germans who decided life and death, but this invisible hand hanging in the air.

Colonel Albert did not hesitate. He sped up his horse and shouted to his men behind him: "Forward!"

Having participated in the Boer War, he knew that the advantage of cavalry was speed.

Only by being fast can you avoid the enemy's aim. Otherwise, you and your horse will be an excellent target for the enemy.

Colonel Albert tried to keep his body as low as possible. Bullets flew past his head and around him with whizzing sounds. He could even feel the strong wind they brought and the temperature of the bullets.

While controlling the horse to move forward, Colonel Albert looked up and observed the direction from which the bullet came.

He was surprised to find that the German positions, which were originally thought to be in ruins, had turned into bunkers at some point.

The enemy's firepower is in echelons.

The front row was the lowest, and three or more trenches were formed gradually upwards along the bottom of the slope. On each layer of the trenches, countless machine guns were firing crazily. The bullets were in a three-dimensional shape of upper, middle and lower levels, suppressing the charging troops to death.

The entire front line of defense that is dozens of kilometers long is like this. They are like the scythe of the god of death, madly reaping lives.

This is wrong, Colonel Albert thought, this is charging into the enemy's guns, it's simply seeking death.

We should stop!

Colonel Albert turned around and shouted to his men: "Retreat, immediately..."

Before he could finish his words, a row of bullets hit Colonel Albert's horse.

The warhorse, which was running at high speed, let out a scream and fell to the ground. The huge momentum even made the horse roll on the ground. Colonel Albert was thrown out violently, but his left foot was caught in the stirrup and he couldn't get free.

A scream.

Colonel Albert's left foot was torn off and twisted behind him at a weird angle, with the other end still pressed under the body of his warhorse, without any feeling at all.

The severe pain almost made Colonel Albert faint. He gritted his teeth and took out his revolver from his waist. He looked at the warhorse beside him, which was breathing heavily and had blood spurting from its mouth. He stretched out his trembling left hand and gently stroked its mane, comforting it intermittently:

"It's okay, you're brave, you tried your best!"

“You did a great job!”

…

The muzzle of the gun was gently against the warhorse's head, and with a "bang" blood splattered everywhere. The warhorse exhaled its last breath, and then relaxed like a deflated ball and collapsed to the ground completely.

Colonel Albert looked around. Bullets were still whistling in the air like raindrops. The cavalrymen were knocked down one after another, along with their horses. Many frightened war horses raised their hooves and rushed towards the infantry's attack line, causing chaos again.

No one will come to rescue me, Colonel Albert thought. They have too many people to rescue and they are too busy.

Thinking of this, Colonel Albert raised the revolver with great effort, pointed it at his head, and pulled the trigger with his last bit of strength!

…

In the semi-buried bunker behind the defense line, Haig held up a telescope and watched all this quietly with a serious expression.

Haig was very surprised by the German resistance. At this time, he realized one thing: the command had seriously misjudged the German defense line. The German positions were not reduced to ruins as they thought.

At this point, the correct approach should be to immediately terminate the attack and re-evaluate, then formulate another feasible combat plan or cancel this unrealistic plan.

However, Haikou had already boasted, which was tantamount to admitting defeat, admitting that he had made a mistake in command and that he was not as good as Charles.

Especially the last point, "not as good as Charles" is absolutely not allowed.

Whatever tanks can do, cavalry can also do, and they must do it!

Haig gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order the troops to continue the attack!"

"Yes, continue the attack."

A series of life-threatening whistles sounded, and another group of British soldiers climbed out of the trenches shouting and rushed towards the enemy.

Unlike previous attacks, this time the cavalry attacked together with the infantry, launching a rapid attack from the flank of the enemy line along the Somme River in an attempt to create a breakthrough there.

However, all was in vain.

The cavalry, both men and horses, are made of flesh and blood, and they are vulnerable to a hail of bullets made of steel.

After several rows of bullets knock down hundreds of war horses in the front row, the corpses of people and horses will form a barrier, preventing subsequent cavalry from passing at high speed.

Then, another group shot and killed another group of corpses, and the cycle continued over and over again.

The obstacles became more and more numerous, until finally it became impossible to gain a foothold.

Telegrams flew into Haig's hands like snowflakes:

"The cavalry can no longer attack unless the bodies are cleared from the route."

"The enemy was well prepared and showed no signs of running low on ammunition."

"We can't attack like this, it's pointless!"

…

But Haig turned a deaf ear and called Nivelle.

"How's it going?" Haig asked.

"Not very good." Nivelle replied tremblingly: "The German firepower is much more intense than expected, and we have suffered heavy casualties."

Nivelle couldn't understand why the Germans still had such firepower after a week of continuous shelling!

How did they do it?

Haig was not thinking about how to avoid these casualties; he was more worried about the news being known to the media.

"This is a military secret, understand?" Haig said coldly, "It cannot be disclosed to the outside world, otherwise it will affect the public's confidence in victory and further affect the morale of the troops."

"Understood, General." Haig's words were exactly what Nivelle meant.

As long as they finally made progress, even a small step, it would prove that their attack plan was correct.

As for how many casualties there were, that was the soldiers' business and had nothing to do with them.

(Note: It is a historical fact that the casualties on the Somme were concealed. More than 60,000 people were killed and wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, but the British and French media did not mention this bloody massacre at all. It was not until two days later that a report was published in the Daily Express, which was extremely positive and optimistic about the war, telling people that the army was winning the battle on the Somme battlefield)

After hanging up the phone, Haig stared at the map for a while.

Then, without waiting for the staff officer to speak, he gave another cold order: "Prepare for the next attack!"

(End of this chapter)