Chapter 483 What will the fortress in the rear be used for?
The German 5th Army was the elite of the German Army, and the 51st Infantry Regiment, which was responsible for the main attack, was the elite among the elite. Most of the soldiers in this infantry regiment were veterans who had fought on the battlefield, and many were demobilized soldiers who insisted on returning to the army after recovering from their injuries.
They are first-class in both combat quality and fighting will.
However, faced with this bizarre situation and the tragic sight of people being knocked down in large numbers, they were so frightened that their legs went weak and they turned around and ran away using their hands and feet.
In fact, not only the German soldiers were frightened, but even the French soldiers on the defense line were frightened.
What lay before them was not a mountain of corpses or a sea of blood. These German soldiers were all alive, or at least most of them were alive.
Some of them had half of their faces knocked off, some had their eyeballs blown out and hanging on their faces, and some had no wounds at all, but their hands were trembling and hesitating in the air, wanting to scratch but not daring to...
Screams, wails, and curses filled the air, and everyone was rolling around in front of the French army, like a group of evil spirits demanding their lives, or a bunch of crawling worms.
Suddenly, the sound of a grenade exploding was heard. It was someone who couldn't bear the pain and lit a grenade to commit suicide.
This seemed to inspire other German soldiers, and the sound of grenade explosions continued one after another.
Some surviving German soldiers wanted to occupy the trenches on the top of the mountain to confront the French army, but soon a terrifying and familiar explosion was heard in the trenches, and screams were heard again.
Of course, the French army would not leave the complete trenches to the German army, as directional mines had already been buried inside them.
The French soldiers waited in the trenches for a while, and only came out when the Germans had almost finished their battle, and then they used bayonets to reap their lives, or in other words, to end the Germans' suffering.
…
Crown Prince William stayed at the Seventh Army headquarters. He planned to enjoy the attack he led and the victory, a complete victory.
Listening to the bursts of artillery fire coming from outside, Crown Prince William slowly moved the electric light in his hand to the city of Verdun on the map and locked it.
"I hope we can take it before daybreak," Crown Prince William said. "Street fighting will be more dangerous after daybreak, and they may be fully prepared by then."
Major General Bennett thought that street fighting at night was more dangerous because they were familiar with the terrain and could circle around in Verdun with their eyes closed, but that was not the case for us.
But Major General Bennett said nothing. He smiled and answered confidently: "Don't worry, Your Highness, we will soon be walking in the streets of Verdun, but there may only be ruins there."
Crown Prince William laughed and said, "That is the most beautiful scenery, General. I can't wait to see it!"
(The picture above shows the city of Verdun after the war, with a group of French soldiers crossing the street)
However, the signalman who was guarding the phone suddenly turned his head and looked at Major General Bennett: "General, the 23rd Infantry Regiment has been repelled, and our army has suffered heavy casualties."
"What?" Major General Bennett's smile froze, and then he gritted his teeth and cursed: "That Elias guy, make him appear in front of me immediately."
"Yes, General."
Major General Bennett thought it was an "accident" that happened to a certain unit.
But within seconds, bad news came:
"More than half of the 51st Infantry Regiment was killed or wounded. Colonel Witold was killed. Request for reinforcements."
"The 77th Infantry Regiment has been defeated, Colonel Braden is injured, requesting retreat!"
…
Major General Bennett was stunned. These were the vanguard troops he sent out, the elite troops. In just a dozen minutes, they were either defeated or suffered heavy casualties.
Crown Prince William frowned: "Does the enemy have reinforcements?"
"No, Your Highness." Major General Bennett shook his head and denied it. "We have been blocking the enemy's roads with artillery fire. Even if the enemy has reinforcements, they are small-scale and will not have much effect."
"That is..."
At this time, a wounded soldier was carried into the fortification on a stretcher amid screams. It was Colonel Elias, commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
Crown Prince William was almost frightened when he shone the electric light on Colonel Elias. Two pieces of flesh were torn off his face and his body was covered in blood, looking like a zombie.
"What's going on?" Major General Bennett asked.
"Yes, it's a bomb." Colonel Elias' voice trembled with pain, and he gasped as he spoke: "I'm not sure, not sure what it is, but it has a lot of shrapnel!"
The military doctor arrived and deftly cut open Colonel Elias's uniform with a scalpel. The scene under the electric light made everyone shudder uncontrollably:
Elias' body was covered with bleeding spots. Each spot was small, but they made him look like a honeycomb. Even the "knowledgeable" military doctor felt his scalp tingling when he saw it.
After a moment's pause, the military doctor used a scalpel to cut open one of the bleeding points, then carefully inserted a clamp into the wound and clipped out the "fragment" amid Colonel Elias's painful cry.
With a crisp "clang" sound, the "fragments" were placed on the tray.
Then another one...
Then everyone understood that it was not shrapnel, but steel balls, small steel balls with a diameter of about 3MM.
The military doctor had some experience. He reported to Major General Bennett and Crown Prince William: "They must have filled the explosives with steel balls to create fragments, which is why they have such horrific lethality."
Major General Bennett looked at Colonel Elias who was still in pain, and then cast an inquiring look at the military doctor.
The military doctor understood and shook his head helplessly.
It is impossible to remove the steel balls one by one from so many wounds, and it is inevitable that some will be left inside the body.
Even if all of it could be removed, he would eventually die from wound infection. He was living during this time just to endure the pain.
Crown Prince William narrowed his eyes: "New equipment? Could it be, Charles?"
Everyone in the command center changed their expressions instantly.
…
Charles and Major-General Lacoste had withdrawn their headquarters to Fort Saint-Michel.
This is the fortress closest to the city of Verdun.
It actually had no defensive function because the French had no defense line here, the cannons had been cleared out, and even the machine guns and ammunition had been moved to the front-line fortresses for combat.
Phone calls were made to the headquarters, all reporting good news:
"The 32nd Regiment routed the enemy, with only five casualties in the unit."
"The 81st Regiment repelled the enemy's attack, suffering 13 casualties in the regiment."
"The 19th Regiment..."
Major General Lacoste smiled from ear to ear. He looked at Charles with a look of satisfaction and said with emotion: "You are right, Brigadier General. The lethality of directional mines is far beyond our imagination. Although we haven't had time to count them yet, it is estimated that the enemy's casualties are dozens of times ours!"
Charles didn't care about that at all.
The use of directional mines, which are ahead of their time, in a battle involving dense formations and charges would certainly cause considerable damage.
He stared at Fort Douaumont on the map and asked Major General Lacoste thoughtfully: "General, if the enemy is attacking our defense line and causing a large number of casualties, what will they do with the fortress behind them?"
Major General Lacoste was stunned and replied: "There is nowhere to take their wounded. The fortress will probably be transformed into a field hospital."
(End of this chapter)
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