Chapter 664 The Germans Counterattack
When the British saw a large number of German tanks appear in front of them, they lost their will to fight.
They habitually assumed that the Germans would defend in trenches as they had done before, using barbed wire and anti-tank trenches to block the advance of their tanks, and using a barrage of machine gun bullets and artillery shells of various calibers to stop their charge.
Although they were in danger of death, the British soldiers believed that they would be able to rush into the trenches in the end.
Because they had the cover of tanks, and there were quite a few of them, more than 70 of them were dispatched at a time, rushing towards the enemy in a mighty manner.
This is Monty's tactic, which he calls the "shield formation tactic."
The name comes from the ancient Roman shield formation.
As the name suggests, the "shield formation tactics" is that once the tanks in the front are destroyed by the Germans or withdraw from the battle due to a malfunction, leaving a gap, the tanks in the rear will immediately speed up to fill the gap and continue to advance.
However, the battle did not develop at all as they imagined.
The British soldiers exclaimed:
"Damn it! The Germans are sending out tanks to counterattack!"
"And there are more tanks than we do, and bigger tanks than we do."
"What should we do?"
…
The soldiers turned their attention to the brigade commander, Captain Monty.
Captain Monty hastily raised his telescope to take a look at the enemy's situation and ordered: "Don't worry, their tanks are imitations of ours, we can defeat them!"
As he spoke, he raised his revolver and fired two shots into the air, shouting, "Forward, warriors, kill them all!"
"Kill!" British soldiers shouted and rushed towards the German tanks.
They rushed in front of the tanks at the speed of a 100-meter sprint and attacked the enemy because they were trained to charge forward with all their strength once they launched the charge.
As a result, some people fell on the bumpy snow and were crushed under the tracks of the following tanks.
They never understood until they died: didn't the tanks know they were right in front of them?
The tank soldiers inside the tank were equally puzzled.
The shooter had already raised his machine gun and aimed at the enemy, but suddenly he saw the backs of his own people everywhere... The British soldiers who got to the front blocked the machine gunner's shooting angle.
Many British soldiers also blocked the driver's observation window.
The tank soldiers in the tank shouted anxiously: "Get out of the way, you idiots!"
But no one heard them.
Compared with the chaos and even infighting of the British army, the German army advanced in an orderly manner.
The German tank consciously found a flat ground to stop and fine-tuned its gun to aim at the target.
At the same time, the infantry in the rear came out in batches and shot at the charging British soldiers.
“Bang!”
“Bang, bang, bang!”
…
British soldiers fell one by one, in front of and behind the tanks in various strange postures.
Those who were already dead were fine, but those who were alive were soon crushed by their own tanks, with blood and flesh flying everywhere and screams everywhere.
"Boom boom!" The German tanks opened fire.
They were less than a hundred meters apart. The main weapon of the "LK2" tank was the Krupp 37MM short-barreled gun. Although it was not a dedicated anti-tank gun and its armor-piercing ability was not strong, it could easily penetrate the 12MM armor of the "Whippet".
One British tank after another slowly stopped with smoke coming out of it. Those whose engines were hit burst into flames amid the explosions. The air was instantly filled with black smoke and a burnt smell.
(Note: The Whippet tank is equipped with four machine guns but no artillery, so there will be no shell explosion.)
The British tanks in the rear followed closely according to the "shield formation tactics", but were turned into a pile of scrap metal.
Soon, enemy and friendly tanks were huddled together in front of the formation.
The charging British soldiers could only charge towards the German army through the gaps between the tanks, and the originally complete offensive was cut into thin streams.
But standing in front of them was the iron defense line consisting of the black muzzles of the German army and tanks.
Many British soldiers died without ever pulling the trigger.
Because the people blocking the way ahead are our own people, and the backs of our own people are everywhere in front of us.
Suddenly the person in front fell down, and the muzzle of a German gun suddenly appeared in front of him. Before he could react, he only saw flashes of fire coming out of the muzzle, and then he lost his strength and fell in a pool of blood.
Monty, who was commanding the battle, realized that the attack had failed, and hurriedly shouted: "Retreat, everyone retreat!"
However, the German tanks started moving again.
With a terrifying sound of steel clanging, they crushed the bodies of British soldiers through the wreckage of the Whippets, leading the German soldiers into the British infantry like wolves into a flock of sheep.
Each German tank was followed by an infantry platoon of dozens of soldiers.
There were not many of them, but they knew how to coordinate with the tanks. They knew where the tanks' observation windows were and the tanks' firing angles. They also knew how to use the butts of their guns to hit the tanks' armor and use the sound to guide the tanks forward.
British soldiers fell in front of their positions in large numbers. The orderly retreat turned into a rout. Everyone was fleeing in panic, and even the commander Captain Monty had to join in.
Captain Monty escaped back to the trench using his hands and feet under the protection of his guards.
He was breathing heavily and was depressed. The attack that he had planned for several days ended in a dismal failure and with such huge casualties.
Damn it, how am I supposed to report this to General Haig?
However, the soldiers' shouting made him realize that the battle was not over yet.
"Captain!" the guard reported in a panicked tone: "The Germans haven't stopped, they are attacking our defense line!"
Monty looked back and saw that the German tanks were still rattling towards the defense line, but they were replaced by larger medium tanks in the lead.
"Organize defense!" Captain Monty shouted in a hoarse voice, with confusion and fear in his eyes: "Stop them!"
However, all the British soldiers were confused without exception.
Some of them lay on the trenches with their rifles raised, some looked at Monty stupidly, and more of them stared with horror at the tanks that were slowly approaching in front of them.
How are we going to stop these tanks?
With the rifle in hand? Or with the bayonet?
Suddenly, no one knew who started it, but the British soldiers began another retreat.
The dark crowd abandoned the defense line and ran to the next line like a tide. No matter how Monty shouted, it was of no use.
…
At the British Expeditionary Force headquarters, Haig poured a glass of French wine, intending to enjoy a moment of peace before hearing the news of victory.
70 tanks, three infantry divisions, and a total force of more than 60,000.
Although there will be certain casualties, it is not a problem to take down this line of defense.
As for casualties, it is just an additional conscription order in the country.
However, after only half a glass of wine, a guard ran up to him breathlessly and reported: "General, I think you'd better evacuate."
"What?" Haig looked at the guard in confusion.
"The Germans are counterattacking!" the guard replied, "They will be here soon!"
(End of this chapter)
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