Chapter 546 "The Last Madness"

Foch, Pétain, Parliament, the British, and everyone else, including Charles, overlooked one thing.

The "final madness" would happen not only to the surrounded Germans, but also to their own people.

People only know that Niveled is unworthy of the position, but no one considers it from his perspective: if he continues like this, his future will be ruined, and he will probably never get ahead in the future. Instead, if he tries his best and gambles on one game, there may be a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, Nivelle desperately mobilized troops to assemble on the south bank of the Somme. In just a few days, he gathered more than 300,000 people from more than a dozen divisions, including Christian's First Special Artillery Division that was originally to be transferred to Verdun.

The 1st Special Artillery Division has been fully equipped with the "Charler A1" tank. Nivelle thought that he had been learning Charles' tactics during this period of time. If he put it into the battlefield, it should not be much different from Charles' troops, right?

What Nivelle didn't know was that he limited the 1st Special Artillery Division to attack the Somme River line, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack, so there was not much room for the tactics that Christine learned to be used.

Nivelle still worried that these preparations were not enough.

As the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, he asked the Russian and Italian armies to counterattack, and negotiated with the British army to cooperate in the counterattack on the Somme River.

Nivelle carried out all of this in secret on the grounds of "military secrets".

This seemed to be Joffre's offensive plan, which had not been implemented before due to Charles's obstruction, but was now realized in Nivelle's hands.

The only difference was that the Joffre Plan also included Romania declaring war.

But it was not that Nivelle did not want to, but that the decision could only be made by the British and French governments in contact with Romania, and Nivelle, as the commander-in-chief, could not do it secretly without going through parliament.

…

In the early morning, it was cloudy and rainy on the Somme River defense line.

The air was filled with the stench of burning corpses. The soldiers hiding in the trenches seemed to have gotten used to it and they didn't even bother to cover their mouths and noses with a napkin.

Some soldiers huddled on the footpaths, but the muddy, foul-smelling water still reached their ankles.

The soldiers who were trampled under the trampling irons had to endure the freezing cold feeling of being soaked in water below their thighs all night.

They stood shivering in the cold rain, holding a small piece of bread in their hands, or holding an expired and smelly can of food, and tried to put it into their mouths with trembling hands to prevent it from falling and getting wet by the rain.

One soldier couldn't help but complain: "It's just December now and the weather isn't too cold yet. What if the temperature continues to drop or even snows?"

Another soldier chuckled. "Our Dujar is optimistic. He said we can survive until the snow falls."

There was laughter all around, but the laughter was a little sad.

There were many new recruits in the army, and they were frightened by the veterans' calm attitude towards death.

Du Yaer was one of them. He looked pale, and he was shaking uncontrollably, not sure if it was because of the cold or fear. “You, you…won’t you do anything?”

The veteran replied expressionlessly:

"What can we do? Take it easy, Dujar! Unless Charles is here to command us, we won't survive long."

"For France, for victory, isn't it? It's just that we can't see it."

"Look at the bodies lying in no man's land. That is our fate and the reality we must face!"

…

Du Yaer was about to say something when suddenly three red flares rose into the air in front of his horrified gaze.

The artillery fire sounded immediately, and thousands of artillery pieces roared almost at the same time. Batch after batch of shells hit the German positions, almost illuminating half of the sky red.

But unlike the previous week-long bombing, this time the artillery preparation lasted only half an hour.

To be precise, it did not last for half an hour, but when the shells were still pouring towards the enemy's defense line, the charge whistle was blown like a death warrant.

French soldiers crawled out of the trenches like ants and rushed towards the enemy positions shouting.

…

Christian's 1st Special Artillery Division was in the attack sequence, and his troops were deployed on both wings of the attacking force.

He protested: "Tanks should be in front of the infantry to provide cover for them, instead of being deployed on the flanks like cavalry."

This is what Christine understood during her study and training during this period. Tanks and infantry should cover each other so that they can exert their combat effectiveness.

However, Nivelle's reply was: "Infantry need no cover, Major General, they have enough artillery cover."

"Artillery fire?" Christine objected. "We know what will happen. As soon as our artillery fire stops, the Germans will bring up machine guns and mow down the charging infantry like wheat."

"So." Nivelle moved closer, staring at Christine: "I have no intention of stopping the artillery fire."

"What?" Christine thought she had misheard: "You plan to, you plan to let the soldiers charge under the artillery fire? Your own artillery fire? This will inevitably cause accidental injuries..."

"I know." Nivelle interrupted Christine: "But as you said, if we don't do this, they will die in droves under the enemy's machine guns, right?"

It is better to let them die under artillery fire than under the enemy's machine guns.

The latter would also give the French an opportunity to charge into the German trenches and engage in hand-to-hand combat, while the former would just be a pointless waste of lives.

Therefore, in the long run, it is of course better to choose the latter.

Christine was shocked beyond words.

To put it nicely, this was for victory and for France, but in essence it was using the lives of the soldiers to pave a bloody path for Nivelle so that he could continue to hold the position of commander-in-chief.

He's absolutely crazy, Christine thought.

Nivelle didn't care about Christine's idea at all. He pointed at the map on the table and ordered coldly: "When the infantry rushes into the trenches and fights the enemy hand-to-hand, you will find a way to penetrate the enemy's depth through the anti-tank trenches and trenches. Can you do it?"

"Yes, General." Christine replied helplessly: "We can do it."

He was able to do it: trenches could be filled with sandbags and anti-tank trenches could be bridged with steel beams.

This was the inspiration Christine got from the Battle of Sharnamur.

Charles used a sophisticated method and directly boarded the armored bridge-laying vehicle, so Christine could only let the engineers build the bridge: the tanks carried two thick steel beams, and they were manually erected before arriving at the anti-tank trench for the tanks to pass through.

"Very good." Nivelle straightened Christine's uniform: "It all depends on this battle. After the victory, you don't have to worry about promotion. Do you understand?"

"Yes, General," Christine stepped forward and answered.

But his mind was in a mess: Where were the infantrymen who would support him after the breakthrough? What about logistics? How would he ensure fuel and ammunition?

He wanted to speak, but he opened his mouth and swallowed the words back.

There's no point in saying it, Nivelle doesn't understand anything at all.

Besides, the attack will start tomorrow, and there is no time to prepare.

Christine regretted not expressing her support for Charles sooner.

If I had become a part of the Charr's army, there wouldn't have been such a confusing and messy battle!

(End of this chapter)