Chapter 336 Yellow-Green Fog
In mid-April, there was a gentle breeze in Ypres in the early morning, and the humid sea breeze still carried a hint of chill.
Inside the Allied defense line, most soldiers were still asleep, with only a few sentries hiding under the trenches, yawning and staring in the direction of the Germans.
Suddenly, a yellow-green smoke wall more than one person high rose in the no-man's land and slowly drifted towards the Allied defense line with the wind.
Felix, who was on guard, rubbed his eyes. He thought his vision was damaged because he hadn't slept all night.
After confirming again and again, he turned his head to his comrade who was dozing off against the trench with his rifle in his arms and asked, "Klein, wake up. Am I seeing things? It's yellow-green fog."
Klein muttered, "You must have seen it wrong. The weather has been very good these days. There won't be any fog!"
"It's real. It's right in front of us." Felix kicked Klein with his foot: "Get up and take a look."
Klein frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with Felix's behavior. He had lived in this area since he was a child and had never seen any yellow-green fog. This must be an excuse Felix made up to wake him up, a poor excuse.
However, when Klein stuck his head out, he actually found a yellow-green fog rolling towards them like a tide, and it was only a hundred meters away from them.
Klein exclaimed, "It doesn't look like fog."
"If it's not fog, then what is it?" Felix asked.
"I don't know!" Klein replied.
"Maybe we should report this to our superiors..." Felix suggested.
But before he could finish his words, Felix smelled a pungent strange odor. He couldn't help coughing, his eyes felt burning, and his throat felt like it was burned by fire.
The same is true for Klein.
Felix immediately realized that this was the "credit" of the "yellow-green fog". It had not even "flooded" in front of him but had caused such a big reaction.
The word "poison gas" jumped into Felix's mind. He made a prompt decision and pulled Klein back along the communication trench.
Klein shouted intermittently as he ran, "We need to notify the others..."
"Too late!" Felix replied.
By the time they notify others, everyone will be "drown" in the poison gas. They should notify the second line of defense troops to avoid greater casualties as much as possible.
Facts proved that Felix was right. Of the more than 3,000 people on the first line of defense, only dozens survived because they were unprepared.
Behind the second line of defense, there were far fewer casualties because of the timely notifications from the sentries.
Even so, the entire Allied force in the Ypres salient, including the British Fifth Army and the French 20th Army, totaling more than 100,000 men, all retreated, leaving a 10-kilometer-wide gap in the defense line.
In this battle, the German army released a total of 6,000 cans of 180,000 kilograms of chlorine gas, poisoning 15,000 people, including 5,000 deaths.
The German 26th Army rushed to the gap following the gas, easily overran the Allied positions and advanced towards the Ypres-Comine Canal with almost no resistance.
(The picture above is a close-up of poison gas release during World War I. Since chlorine gas is denser than air, it can be deposited in low places for a long time, maintaining continuous killing power on the enemy)
…
At the Northern Army Group Headquarters, Foch got up at six o'clock as usual. After a quick wash, he started his jog around the village.
This was a habit that Foch maintained for many years. He believed that a strong physique was essential to ensure the offensive speed of the troops.
Although as a general he no longer needed to charge the enemy on the battlefield, he should still do so at least to serve as a demonstration.
Foch usually ran for half an hour, but on this day he had to interrupt.
Just as he finished half a lap and was about to drink a sip of water, Morini ran towards Foch in a panic, shouting in panic: "General, something has happened, you must return to the headquarters immediately."
Foch was quite dissatisfied with Morini's performance. As a soldier, especially a staff officer of the army group headquarters, he should remain calm at all times.
Morini did not realize this. He ran to Foch and reported breathlessly: "Poison gas, General, it's poison gas!"
Foch said "Oh" with a dissatisfied tone: "Charles mentioned the poison gas again?"
This guy won’t stop yet. I warned him last time. This information might have been released intentionally by the Germans in order to disrupt the morale of the Allied forces!
However, Morini shook his head and replied: "No, General, it was the Germans... The Germans released the poison gas!"
Foch, who was drinking water, choked. He coughed uncontrollably, but looked at Morini with shock and asked with difficulty: "What, poison gas? Are you sure?"
"Yes." Morini nodded heavily: "In Ypres, our army suffered heavy casualties and retreated on a large scale. Charles is right. The Germans are indeed preparing for a gas war!"
Foch could no longer remain calm. He threw the kettle in his hand, turned around and ran towards the headquarters.
…
The news soon reached France, and Paris was instantly in an uproar. Everyone knew that the Germans were using poison gas on the battlefield:
"It's an inhumane act, they can't do this."
"This is not war, this is massacre!"
"They are simply demons, murderers and executioners who will do anything to achieve their goals!"
…
Charles was on vacation at home at the time. He had a lot of vacation time during this period, so he temporarily resumed the habit of taking one day off every two days.
This was Gallieni's decision considering that Charles had just returned from the Gallipoli battlefield and needed rest, and Charles gladly accepted it as he had a lot of personal matters to deal with.
Just as he was sleeping soundly, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by Laurent's shout: "Colonel, the general wants you to return to the headquarters immediately!"
Charles immediately realized that something urgent was going on.
This was the first time that Laurent went upstairs and knocked on the door himself instead of waking Charles up through Djokovic.
Charles vaguely guessed that a gas war might have begun, and only this could make Laurent so nervous.
Sure enough, when Charles hurriedly put on his military uniform and went out, Laurent reported with a pale face: "Poison gas, the Germans used poison gas, you guessed it right again!"
Charles said "hmm" expressionlessly and took him downstairs.
Djokovic and Camille were already waiting downstairs. They heard some news and were nervously looking at Charles who was coming downstairs.
Shouldn't we send Charles to the battlefield now? Camille thought, but she didn't say it out loud. She just stepped forward uncontrollably to stop Charles.
"Today is your day off, Charles." Camille's excuse was feeble: "You should rest at home!"
"It's all right, mother," Charles answered. "I'm going to Paris, not anywhere else, I promise!"
(End of this chapter)
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