Chapter 792 German Counterattack

In fact, it was not just British generals such as Haig who did not believe that the German army would counterattack. Even Hindenburg's deputy Ludendorff disagreed.

(The picture above shows German General Ludendorff, who was Hindenburg's deputy during World War I. He and Hindenburg were described as being as close as a couple. When Hindenburg was appointed Chief of the General Staff, Ludendorff was appointed Chief of Military Supply, equivalent to Deputy Chief of the General Staff. From then on, Hindenburg controlled the army and Ludendorff controlled military supply. They actually gained the status of military dictators)

"Marshal," Ludendorff asked Hindenburg in confusion while holding the battle reports of the past few days, "Our casualties ratio with the enemy is almost 1:7. We are winning. Why don't we continue to maintain this advantage?"

Hindenburg hummed.

Ludendorff was better at politics and interpersonal relationships, but he lacked sufficient courage and vision in military and strategic matters.

This is also one of the reasons why Hindenburg could get along well with him.

A deputy is just a deputy. Even if he jumped up and down trying to take the credit for himself, the military power was always in the hands of Hindenburg. All Ludendorff could do was to make up for the deficiencies in Hindenburg's diplomatic skills.

"Do you think our victory over the British is a victory?" Hindenburg asked calmly.

"Isn't it?" Ludendorff didn't quite understand.

"No, Erich." Hindenburg took off his still smoking pipe and replied, "We have only one opponent, and that is Charles. Although we are fighting the British at a casualty rate of 1:7, we are always losing '1', understand?"

Ludendorff said "Oh" as if he understood something.

Perhaps Hindenburg saw a longer-term prospect and was unwilling to face the consumption of the British Expeditionary Force before confronting Charles, even though it would be a victory for Germany.

"Besides," Hindenburg added, "British casualties mean nothing to us, but their supplies do not."

Ludendorff understood what was said: "If we continue to fight like this, we will not be able to seize the British supplies. But we can attack."

Hindenburg nodded, stood up and stood at the window looking west.

Now that British supplies had arrived in Metz in large quantities, it was almost time for a counterattack.

…

Lorraine, French-German border.

As the sky was just getting light, the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Haig, launched an attack on the German defense line in the drizzle.

As usual, the attack began after half an hour of artillery preparation.

Unlike before, this time Monty urgently purchased a batch of mortars, submachine guns and shotguns from France.

He planned to emulate Charles's tactics in attacking the trenches, using mortars to suppress German firepower from a distance, then throwing grenades at close range, and finally using submachine guns and shotguns to seize the enemy trenches.

"As long as it can win, it's a good way." Monty said to himself: "No one will care whose tactics I use."

But Monty knew that was not the case.

Haig hated to hear about the Charles or the Charles' tactics.

However, this is insignificant compared to victory and survival. At most, they can be packaged as Britain's "improved tactics."

More than 50 tanks carrying more than 10,000 soldiers pressed towards the German defense line in a black mass.

Monty observed the enemy positions in the smoke through the aperture of the telescope.

I must succeed, Monty said to himself.

If he still can't break through this time, he really can't think of any other way to break through.

What Monty didn't realize was that the German defense line had changed after a night of transformation.

Dozens of roads had been filled in the 21-meter-wide anti-tank ditch in front of the defense line, a batch of British tank wreckages nearby had been towed away, the craters in the no-man's land had been filled, and the barbed wire had not increased but decreased.

At the same time, the German army should have fired waves of artillery shells at the charging British army, but now it was surprisingly quiet.

Monty noticed something was wrong. He put away the telescope and frowned to himself, "What the hell?"

The staff officer nearby said, "Maybe the Germans are running out of ammunition. This is our chance, Major."

This is indeed possible, as the Germans are running short of supplies.

But on second thought, Monty felt that the possibility was not high.

Because this was the first attack of the day, the German army would be able to transport a batch of ammunition after a night of transportation.

If not this, what is it?

Suddenly, a trace of fear flashed in Monty's eyes, and he remembered Charles' warning: the Germans were about to launch an attack.

If the German army had no shells, there was only one possible reason why they were unwilling to fire: they were worried that the shells would destroy the land and affect the advance of the tanks.

"Not good!" Monty exclaimed, "The Germans are about to attack, immediately put the troops on the defensive!"

"Major..." The staff officer looked at Monty in surprise.

The troops have entered no-man's land, how can they switch to defense?

"Go!" Monty ordered loudly: "Everyone switch to defense and withdraw the troops!"

"Yes, Major," the staff officer responded.

However, just as the staff officer turned around, he saw three red flares fired from the direction of the German army.

Then, a rumbling sound of motors suddenly came from the German defense line, and tanks with soldiers emerged from the defense line to meet the attacking British troops.

The British soldiers who were attacking were stunned for a moment.

All they were thinking about was how to get close to the trenches and how to charge, but they didn't expect that they would have to face German tanks.

The tanks in the front were all "Upper Silesian" medium tanks, and soon a few huge ones followed. They had flat bodies without turrets and were several times the size of the British army's new tanks. Various black muzzles and gun barrels protruded from the surroundings, like a hedgehog with spikes erected.

"What is that?" the British soldiers exclaimed.

"It's a new German tank."

"God, Charles is right, the Germans are indeed planning an attack."

"We're screwed. Why wouldn't they listen to Ciel's advice? Those bastards are killing us!"

…

Because they were completely unprepared, the British army's psychological defenses collapsed the moment they faced the German army's new tanks.

The first to flee were the tanks.

Several "Independence" tanks turned around desperately, and even increased their speed even if their tracks crushed friendly troops along the way.

When facing the moment of life and death, people will have two extreme reactions: one is to face death calmly and persevere to the end, and the other is to only think about staying alive and not care about anything else.

The British Army has both types of tanks.

But the tanks that remained to fight were quickly destroyed one after another by German anti-tank guns.

In the process of fighting with Charles, the German army has summed up the tactics of infantry anti-tank guns coordinating with tanks to destroy enemy tanks.

Then, the German tanks rushed into the British army with their infantry like a tiger into a flock of sheep.

At this moment, the British army completely collapsed, and turned from waiting and watching to fleeing in panic!

(End of this chapter)