Chapter 712 Propaganda Offensive
On the Verdun front, a tense atmosphere permeated the trenches of the German 5th Army.
But what they were worried about was not the French attack at hand.
The 3rd Army under Pétain's command might have been strong in defense, but their offense could be described as "child's play". They were unable to pose any threat to the German defense line.
In the smoke, Major Kenyon crouched down and rushed along the communication trench to observe the battle situation. He lay in front of the trench, carefully poked his head out from the parapet built of sandbags and raised the telescope.
Behind him, the German soldiers, their faces covered in dust and smoke, exchanged glances and finally focused their attention on Lieutenant Paulino.
Lieutenant Paulino, who was resting on an ammunition box, nodded slightly. He threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, grabbed the rifle leaning next to him, trotted along the trench to Major Kenyon, leaned against the trench with his back, and prepared to provide fire cover for him.
However, Lieutenant Paulino had other intentions.
He waited for a moment and whispered to Major Kenyon, "Sir, don't you think the French attack is a little strange?"
Major Kenyon frowned, remained motionless, and asked quietly, "What do you mean?"
"The French army has not attacked for more than a month." Lieutenant Paulino replied: "We all know that Pétain is more focused on defense, and the main force of the French army has been transferred to the Somme River. I don't understand what the point of their attack here is."
The implication was that the French only wanted to hold Verdun, and the decisive battle between the two main forces would take place on the Somme River.
Therefore, the French attack in the direction of Verdun was unreasonable and there must be some reason for it.
Major Kenyon retracted his head and put down the telescope. He turned his head and stared at Lieutenant Paulino with a warning in his eyes. He asked word by word: "So, what do you want to tell me?"
Lieutenant Paulino was frightened by Major Kenyon's expression and hesitated for a moment.
But he finally mustered up the courage to answer: "It's Charles, Major, I mean Charles, he may be leading his troops to Verdun, behind us..."
"That's not something you need to worry about, Lieutenant!" Major Kenyon interrupted Paulino and said sternly, "You only need to consider how to complete the task assigned to you by your superiors!"
"Yes, Major," Lieutenant Paulino replied.
"And keep your mouth shut." Major Kenyon continued to scold: "You should know how much negative impact your so-called 'speculation' will have on the troops."
"Yes, Major!"
"There won't be a next time." Major Kenyon tapped Lieutenant Paulino's chest with his finger: "Unless you want to be sent to a military court!"
"Yes, Major!" Paulino answered, but with an unwilling look on his face.
This concerns the lives of the soldiers, how can it be something we don't need to worry about?
Major Kenyon glanced at the trench and found that not only Lieutenant Paulino, but other soldiers also had doubts on their faces.
He immediately realized that Captain Paulino was just a representative of the soldiers.
"Don't worry, soldiers." Major Kenyon said confidently:
"Charles did capture Mezières, but they were infiltrating the Ardennes Mountains, and they could only lead 20,000 men."
"We have intercepted them at Bizen-si, I am sure of that."
"In addition, we have received reinforcements from the 1st Tank Division."
When the soldiers heard the name of the 1st Tank Division, their tense expressions relaxed a little.
With this unit blocking the way, Verdun would be less likely to be attacked by Charles' Armored Division. An attack from behind.
But at this moment, several "Caproni" bombers suddenly flew in the sky. Under the astonished eyes of the soldiers, they dropped dozens of flaming bombs and then flew away.
The German soldiers were terrified.
The bombers flying from the north are from the German rear area. Could Charles' planes come and go freely?
And those bombs, they had never seen such bombs that spewed out flames, were they Charles' new invention?
Someone whispered, "Maybe this is Charles's hint. He's telling us that he's coming!"
Soon, this word spread among the soldiers and was quickly recognized.
Those bombers just now did not have any targets to bomb; they seemed more like they were conveying some kind of information.
Major Kenyon glanced around and gave a murderous order: "Whoever spreads similar rumors, I am willing to send them to attack the enemy's defenses!"
The soldiers fell silent, as no one wanted to walk into the no-man's land and become a "target" for both the enemy and us.
However……
A call came from across the defense line in German, using several loudspeakers to ensure that everyone could hear:
"Germans, lay down your arms and surrender, there is no hope for you."
"You may not know that Charles' First Armored Division has already recaptured the town of Truk. It is only 5 kilometers away from you."
"In one hour, or two, his troops will appear behind you."
"Your First Tank Division has been defeated."
"To be exact, they were not defeated, but burned to death in the forest in Truk Town."
"Do you hope to suffer the same fate?"
…
The German defense line was in chaos, and all kinds of "rumors" could no longer be controlled and spread wildly:
"That's why the French are attacking, they have us surrounded."
"Other troops have already retreated, we just stayed to cover them."
"Yes, we are nothing but abandoned pawns. They hope that we will resist to the last moment, even if we are doomed to fail, or even pay the price with our lives!"
…
The German army had the strongest fighting spirit in Europe, but their battlefield concept was also not to fight meaningless battles.
If they were destined to fail, but were allowed to stay and die, especially without knowing the truth, the soldiers would regard it as an insult, a deception, and a trick.
Many of them fought for honor, like medieval knights.
But now, sacrifice has no sense of honor in their eyes!
The German high-ranking officers responded immediately. After Lieutenant General Wareck reacted, he immediately ordered artillery bombardment of the French defense line, focusing on the direction where the sound came from.
But this is clearly an attempt to cover up one's intentions.
The soldiers immediately thought: If this is not the truth but a rumor, then why are you afraid of the soldiers hearing it? Can't we just wait an hour or two and wait for the rumor to be broken?
I don't know who started it, but someone shouted amid the sound of the cannon: "Run! Are you waiting for Charles to come and kill us?"
At first there were only one or two deserters, but then there were more and more, and soon they were everywhere in the mountains and plains.
The worst thing was that the German deserters were very smart. In order to avoid being executed by their superiors after escaping, they shouted to the bewildered friendly troops while they were running away:
"Char's troops are coming and we have failed."
"We are doomed to fail, let's run away!"
"If we don't run, we will just die here. They want us to hold on until the last moment. This is not fair!"
…
Major Kenyon waved his pistol to try to stop it, and he even shot and killed two soldiers, but it was still useless. The defense line had collapsed and it was like a flood that could not be stopped.
At this time, the French army on the opposite side launched another attack amid the sound of artillery.
This time, the French army would not return after being bombed by artillery shells as before.
They knew the Germans were fleeing, and now was their chance to make a name for themselves!
(End of this chapter)
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