Chapter 472: The First Battle with the Prussian Army (Second update, please subscribe)

The South China Army is on the move!

On the morning of September 27, the First South China Army, which had just rested for a few days in Le Havre, set out.

An army of nearly 30,000 people marched towards Paris along the Seine River under the cover of several gunboats.

Although it was already September, the weather was still somewhat hot. Swarms of flies chased the marching troops, circling and flying over the heads of the soldiers who were covered in sweat and dust.

Along the way, whenever they passed through French towns, the towns inside and outside were always crowded with French people. Although they did not speak the same language, it did not prevent the enthusiastic French people from stuffing flowers, red wine and other things into the soldiers' arms. All of this was naturally captured by cameras and movie cameras.

For Li Ping, who was in the vanguard platoon, this was the kind of enthusiasm he felt along the way, and he even received flirtatious glances from enthusiastic women. However, this was a battlefield.

"Platoon mate, where are the Germans you say?"

Looking ahead vigilantly, Zhang Chuanwen asked.

"Just ahead."

The enemy is right ahead. This is an immutable rule on the battlefield. You never know where the enemy will appear, but one thing is certain, as far as Li Ping knows, those Germans are definitely the most difficult enemies they have ever encountered.

"Germany... I don't think there is any Germany yet."

Someone corrected them, saying that they had all learned geography in the "New Immigrants Education Camp" and in the military literacy classes, and had some basic understanding of European countries through teaching maps. Of course, they knew that there was no Germany in the world at all.

In fact, they were not unfamiliar with Prussia. In fact, the Prussians had made contributions to the early construction of the South China Army.

Among the instructors who first trained the first batch of immigrants was a veteran who had served in the Prussian army. And later served as deputy chief of staff, von Hessen. He was also a Prussian officer. Although he was an artilleryman, he also made an indelible contribution to the construction of the South China Army.

Although Zhu Xianhai introduced many tactical concepts that were ahead of their time into the army, in reality the construction of the South China Army still had many Prussian shadows.

It is for this reason that they regard Prussia as an extremely strong opponent. After all, to some extent, the Prussian army is Nanhua's teacher.

"Who cares? Prussia is Germany anyway..."

Suddenly, accompanied by a gunshot, the marching soldiers fell to the ground one after another.

"Enemy attack!"

"hidden……"

As the platoon leader shouted, everyone lay on the ground and looked in the direction where the gunshots came from. They saw something blue flashing at the edge of the town in the distance.

"Prussian blue, it's the Prussians..."

The moment he spotted the enemy, Li Ping raised his rifle, pulled down the safety at the tail of the rifle with his thumb, and took aim. When the peep sight and the front sight formed a straight line with the blue in the distance, he pulled the trigger.

With a crisp gunshot, the Type 70 rifle opened fire.

This was the first time the South China Army encountered the Prussian Army. The battle was fierce from the beginning. Unlike the opponents the South China Army had encountered in the past, those Prussians were not only good at concealment, but also relied on buildings and fortifications for defense.

After a brief exchange of fire, Li Ping led a squad of soldiers to approach the enemy from the flank. He was running very fast on the grass with his back bent. The soldiers also stayed in groups of three or five. In front of him and on his flanks, several low bush hedges blocked his view.

"The South Chinese are here!"

Behind the bush hedge, Heinrich, who was lying behind the hedge, looked a little fanatical. He picked up the Dreiser needle rifle and aimed at the enemy in the distance.

South Chinese!

After the South China Army's airships caused them heavy casualties, they were finally able to take revenge with real guns and bullets.

Dozens of Prussian soldiers pointed their guns out of the hedges with fanatical eyes, aiming at the enemy in the distance.

"put……"

As the officers shouted, they opened fire at the same time. Amid the whistling of bullets, Li Ping heard screams around him and several comrades fell down.

"There is an ambush, there is an ambush..."

As he shouted, he lay on the ground, aiming his gun forward.

Where is the enemy?

Needless to say, the gunpowder smoke from the hedge gave away their position.

"They're behind the fence, behind the fence."

The soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at the fence. Although the bullets flew and broke the branches of the bushes, whether they could hit the enemy depended entirely on luck.

For a while, the two sides fired at each other across a field of more than 300 meters.

"Deputy platoon leader, this won't work!"

After rolling on the ground, Zhang Chuanwen crawled to Li Ping's side and shouted.

"We can't see them, so even if we run out of bullets, we won't be able to hurt them. I'll take a few brothers and sneak over there from the other side of the fence."

"Okay, be careful."

If a frontal attack doesn't work, use a detour. Whether in the teaching team or in the company, these words have long been engraved in Li Ping's mind.

Although Zhang Chuanwen took away five soldiers, Li Ping was not at a disadvantage when shooting at the enemy thanks to the magazine and high rate of fire of the 70 rifle. He even had the upper hand.

While the two sides were shooting at each other, Zhang Chuanwen, who led five soldiers to approach the Prussians from another fence wall, did not rush forward immediately when he approached the enemy, but gave orders softly.

"With a grenade."

As he spoke, he took out a Type 61 long grenade. Although this grenade was large in size, it was easy to throw, had reasonable ergonomics, and was loaded with 120 grams of explosive, making it a powerful weapon on the battlefield.

In fact, when Zhu Xianhai designed the hand grenade, he referred to the prototype of the German M24 hand grenade in World War II. In order to increase the lethality, he deliberately replaced the thin iron shell with cast iron. From the grenadiers who "overcame difficulties and emergencies" at that time, to being widely used by the Southern Army during the Civil War.

The Type 61 hand grenade, which was loaded with 120 grams of explosives, had already proven its power time and again on the battlefield. The moment the six hand grenades were thrown out, a scream was heard from behind the fence, followed by six loud bangs in succession, and the screams became one.

At the moment the grenade exploded, Zhang Chuanwen rushed out of the fence, pointed his rifle at the Prussians and pulled the trigger.

"kill!"

When the bullets were empty, he didn't even have time to reload them, but stabbed the enemy's chest with his bayonet.

"Southern Chinese..."

Heydrich, who was stunned by the explosion, saw a bright bayonet stabbing towards him before he could stand up. He rolled over instinctively to avoid the bayonet. He stood up with the rifle and swung it at the South Chinese man like a stick. At this moment, gunshots were heard. Heydrich, who felt something hit his chest, staggered and saw someone rushing towards him.

The sound of gunfire and shouting filled the air near the fence, and soon the battle ended with the remaining Prussian troops fleeing.

Li Ping frowned as he saw the corpses scattered on the ground.

Although it was only a brief encounter, the Prussians' stubborn resistance was beyond their expectations.

"These people seem to be really different from the Argentines..."

This encounter on the morning of September 28th was barely worth mentioning in the history of war, with only dozens of casualties on both sides. But as soon as the fighting began, both sides seemed to sense the other's difference.

(End of this chapter)