Chapter 522 Battle of the Somme
The Somme River in November had a slightly chilly early morning. The deciduous trees on both sides of the river had lost much green, leaving only a few yellow-brown leaves hanging on the bare trunks, which made the scene look very desolate.
British Expeditionary Force Commander Haig hid in the trench, carefully looking at the German positions in the distance through a telescope.
Everything was so quiet. There was no German activity, only a few birds flying back and forth carefree in front of the position to look for food.
Putting away the telescope, Haig nodded to his staff with satisfaction: "The Germans have no idea that they are under fire. They are doomed!"
…
South of the Somme, French Commander-in-Chief Nivelle was also observing the Germans' movements. He said to his men smugly, "When the leaves on the trees have fallen (in a few days), we will be able to return home victorious!"
This was Nivelle's habit. He always used unrealistic optimism to motivate his troops before a battle. He believed that this would boost morale and combat effectiveness so as to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
However, Nivelle never considered that if these words were not fulfilled, he would immediately suffer backlash, and the soldiers would even lose the most basic trust in him, the commander-in-chief who talked nonsense.
(The above picture is a map of the Battle of the Somme. The Somme River runs from west to east, dividing the offensive position into two parts, north and south. To the north is the British 4th Army, with a total of 23 divisions, and to the south is the French 6th Army, with only 5 divisions arriving on the first day. The shaded area is the position captured by the Allied forces after paying about 600,000 casualties.)
Then, Lieutenant General Nivelle took out his pocket watch and stared at the hands quietly.
Behind him, observation balloons were slowly rising into the sky. There were more than a dozen of them. They were dotted across the rear position like colorful balloons released at a festival, the only difference being that they were gray like the sky.
The pointer gradually moved towards seven o'clock, and Nivelle ordered arrogantly: "Open fire, let them taste our power!"
Three red flares slowly rose up, climbing higher and higher in the sky in an arc, and their speed gradually slowed down.
Just as they were about to fall, the sound of artillery fire suddenly rang out.
The artillery fire was unprecedentedly fierce. The British and French forces assembled a total of 1,500 artillery pieces of various calibers, bombarding the German positions almost continuously.
The soldiers present could only see the trajectory of the flying shells in the first few minutes of the battle. The hot shells flew in the air and met the cold air, leaving clearly visible trajectories.
They pointed directly at the German positions, and then burst into bright lights like stars in the night.
Soon, even the ballistic trajectory could not be seen. They were obscured by the smoke, and coupled with the smoke and dust stirred up by the shells, the entire sky turned black, as if it had returned to night.
The German positions were engulfed in a sea of fire, the earth was shaking and it was deafening, and German bunkers and obstacles were blown up into the sky from time to time.
The German artillery seemed to be mute and had no power to fight back. It seemed that it was enduring all this powerlessly and helplessly.
Nivelle's face flushed with excitement as he watched the scene. He clenched his fists and shouted, "Blow it up! Blow it up as much as you can! Blow everything up to the sky. Nothing can stop us from achieving victory!"
In his opinion, anything can be destroyed with a cannonball, and if one doesn't work, use two.
…
As the British attacked their positions, Haig secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as he believed that the lack of German artillery fire meant the outcome was decided.
Because this artillery fire will continue for another week, a full seven days.
Nothing in the world can withstand seven days of bombing, if there is anything, it is the land and corpses!
At that time, all the British soldiers had to do was walk towards the ruins and they could easily trample the German army under their feet and reap the fruits of victory.
After the bombing lasted for more than half an hour, Haig sent a telegram to Kitchener: "Everything is satisfactory. The Germans are not prepared. Victory is at hand. I even think that seven days of bombing preparation is not necessary."
…
Kitchener, who was stationed in Dunkirk, received the telegram and nodded with satisfaction while drinking coffee.
He brought forward the battle plan by more than ten days.
This was done out of consideration of resolving the current political dilemma and was also the most powerful response to "forcing Charles to attack Namur".
Kitchener's way of telling everyone: Look, there is no plan to attack Namur, we have always been preparing to attack the Somme. Besides, we don't need the Charles to win, and win more gloriously!
However, Kitchener was still a little worried.
He called back Haig and told him: "Once the breakthrough is found, send the cavalry to break through immediately. There can be no hesitation!"
If one wants to achieve a "more glorious victory", occupying a few lines of defense is far from enough. It is necessary to encircle and capture hundreds of thousands of German soldiers like Charles did.
Haig called back: "Understood, Marshal, I'm ready!"
They were indeed prepared. A total of three cavalry divisions with more than 40,000 cavalrymen were assembled and on standby at the front line. These cavalrymen would quickly break through and rush into the enemy's hinterland after the attack began.
However, neither Kitchener, Haig, nor Nivelle understood the true meaning of "encirclement" or the Shire's "blitzkrieg".
Charles' "day" starts from the sound of artillery fire. The armored forces immediately rush to the enemy's position and break through, which prevents the enemy reinforcements from arriving in time.
Kitchener and Haig, however, believed that the clock should start from the time the infantry launched the attack, and that the seven days of artillery preparation should not be counted.
In seven days, the reinforcements from Berlin, Germany will reach the Somme River!
…
Charles, who was far away at the Antwerp headquarters, also received intelligence that the Battle of the Somme had begun.
Ciel didn't care much about this, he knew what was going to happen so he wasn't in a hurry at all.
Tijani has been spending most of his time in the telecommunications room these days, hoping to get news from the front line as soon as possible.
Hard work pays off, and the day he has been waiting for finally arrived.
He ran to Charles with the telegram and shouted excitedly: "The battle has begun, and the location is the Somme River. These bastards didn't even let us know the news. In their eyes, we are so insignificant!"
Then, noticing that there was no surprise on Charles' face, he asked in confusion, "You knew this?"
"Don't you know?" Charles asked back, "that they have built several roads and railways to the Somme."
Tijani was stunned. He didn't expect that he could judge the situation on the front line from this aspect.
However, Charles also knew the result first and then looked for the process.
"Now." Charles turned his gaze to Namur on the map: "We can discuss how to attack Namur."
Tijani was petrified instantly.
This is what Charles was waiting for.
Sly fellow, Tijani laughed.
Kitchener originally wanted to use Charles to attack Namur to attract German troops and attention.
Unexpectedly, Charles used Kitchener's attack on the Somme to attract German troops and attention.
Can this be considered a boomerang?
(End of this chapter)
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