Chapter 538 Tank Ditch

It was raining heavily in Namur, and the whole city seemed to be shrouded in mist. In the afternoon, it was as gloomy as night, and only a few human figures could be vaguely seen in the rain a few meters away.

However, there were many people in the city cheering in the rain. They held hands and formed a circle, dancing a cheerful folk dance to the music and rhythmic applause, shouting as they danced.

The Germans were told that this was a celebration of the coming of the rainy season, but this was not true.

They were celebrating the sound of cannons outside the city, celebrating the French army's attack on Namur, and celebrating the long-awaited arrival of Charles' troops at the gates of the city.

The people gathered together and whispered in the rain:

"Are you sure it's Ciel's troops?"

"Of course. Hear that heavy bombing? They say there are at least 10 artillery regiments. The Germans are getting hammered! This is their doom!"

"Will they attack us at the last minute?"

"Don't worry! Do you remember the statement that Charles issued against Ghent?"

"Well, if the Germans do anything bad to us, Charles will not let them go! They dare not do that!"

…

(The picture above shows a Belgian folk dance scene)

In addition, Belgian guerrillas and civilians also took the initiative to attack the German army, with explosions in garages and fires in warehouses occurring one after another.

…

At the River Bay District Command, Lieutenant General Nicolas was busy seeking help from various places through telephone and radio.

But to his disappointment, no reinforcements could be sent to Namur from anywhere in time.

"The battle lines are tense everywhere, Lieutenant General," Falkenhayn replied to Nicolas. "They have no extra troops or equipment at either Verdun or the Somme. I will organize a reinforcement as soon as possible, but it may take three days."

Lieutenant General Nicholas could hardly believe his eyes when he received the telegram.

Three days, it takes three days for the reinforcements to arrive?

After most of the day's artillery battle, the only three artillery regiments he had were either dead or wounded, leaving only two artillery battalions still capable of combat.

Others were either blown up into the sky by rocket launchers or suffered heavy casualties.

If they gathered the remaining soldiers and repaired the faulty artillery, they might be able to piece together an artillery regiment.

But what's the point of this?

The reorganized artillery regiment was still powerless to fight back and could only watch as their guns were destroyed and paralyzed one after another!

Lieutenant General Nicolas cast a helpless look at the river bend area under the rain. The area was covered with craters of various sizes. The artillery bunkers had disappeared and the remains of artillery were scattered everywhere.

Why is this happening?

These are the invincible 105MM howitzers!

They had never lost an artillery battle since the war began, but now they were defeated without even seeing the shadow of the enemy.

…

Across the river, Charles had just arrived in Namur from Verdun.

The tunnel of the command center was a little damp, with water still seeping in some places, and the ground was so muddy that it felt like walking into a swamp.

But these are not important. What is important is that this place is safe and basically no enemy artillery shells can hit here.

Under the pungent smell of kerosene lamp smoke, Charles looked at the battle results estimated by the artillery observer with great interest.

Tijani excitedly reported:

"We destroyed at least two enemy artillery regiments."

"There were almost no casualties on our side, except for one rocket launcher vehicle which broke down and could not be evacuated in time and was destroyed."

"But all personnel were evacuated, and the only injury was a sprained ankle that affected their walking."

Charles was not surprised. Vehicle-mounted rocket launchers that could maneuver quickly were almost "immortal", although they were very fragile and would be shattered to pieces by a single shell.

However, he was quite confused about how he could destroy two German artillery regiments.

"The German artillery didn't retreat?" he asked.

"No." Tijani answered simply: "The German artillery can't block the passage if they withdraw. This is not what they want."

Charles said nothing.

The German artillery actually had a choice. They could use their range advantage to withdraw to a point where the 105MM howitzers could block the passage, but the rocket launchers could not hit it due to insufficient range.

In this situation, Charles could only suppress it with bombers and let the armored forces advance under the artillery fire.

This is how war works. You can't hope to launch an attack in a nearly perfect enemy and friendly situation. Danger is inevitable.

However, the German army did not do so.

After thinking for a while, Charles seemed to understand that the Germans knew nothing about rocket launchers. They did not know the range of rocket launchers and therefore could not respond correctly based on their weaknesses.

"They are not spread out?" Charles asked again.

Tijani shook his head again: "No, it hasn't."

Of course, there will be heavy casualties when cluster deployment confronts rocket launchers. Howitzers are precious items, and any hit from a single shell or a collision with the side may cause them to malfunction.

If the Germans had dispersed their artillery, the less accurate rocket launchers would have needed to consume more ammunition and take longer to achieve the same results.

However, the Germans did not do so.

This can be regarded as a welfare package for the new equipment, Charles thought. Once the Germans understand the data of rocket launchers, the artillery battle will not be so smooth.

…

Erwin looked at the heavy rain outside the headquarters and breathed a sigh of relief: "We seem to be safe."

"What do you mean?" asked the anxious Lieutenant General Nicholas. "Aren't we in danger? The enemy can break through the blockade and attack our defense line at any time, Lieutenant Colonel!"

And it was Charles' armored unit. He even thought Erwin was joking.

"No, General." Erwin raised his head toward the observation window and answered seriously, "This rain saved us. At least it bought us some time. Our reinforcements will arrive in three days."

Lieutenant General Nicholas thought of something, but was still unsure: "You mean, rain will make the ground muddy and make the environment unsuitable for tank combat?"

"This is one of them." Erwin walked slowly back to his desk and pointed to the two fortifications in front of the defense line on the map and explained:

"More important are these anti-tank trenches."

"I built two in total, one of which is within the range of our army's 77MM infantry gun."

"The other one is within the range of our infantry's K bullets."

"I was just worried that the French would use sandbags to fill in the anti-tank trenches to force a breakthrough."

Lieutenant General Nicolas said "Oh" and his tense forehead gradually relaxed: "After this heavy rain, the anti-tank trench will become a pile of mud and puddles. It will be as difficult to fill as a swamp."

Erwin added: "Even if it is filled, the foundations on both sides will easily collapse, which will trap Charles' armored forces!"

Lieutenant General Nicolas nodded slowly and turned his gaze to observe the heavy rain outside the window.

Not long ago he was cursing the damn weather, but now he hoped that the rain would fall heavier and longer.

(End of this chapter)