Chapter 767 Crossing the River
German defense line on the east bank of the Meuse River.
Captain Matteo inspected the defense situation along the trench in the drizzle. They moved forward in a crouched position, munching on dry bread.
Captain Matteo was originally an accountant. He lived a very regular life every day and even had a fixed shaving time.
At that time, Captain Matteo wanted to change because he thought such a life was too boring and tedious.
Until one day, when he went to the battlefield with great anticipation, he discovered that the other meaning of "boring" was "happiness".
Captain Matteo stuffed the last bite of bread into his mouth, lowered his head and crawled into the half-buried bunker, checking the maintenance status of the 77 infantry gun as usual.
The artillery observer came up to him and reported: "Captain, there was some movement from the French last night."
"Hmm." Captain Matteo fiddled with the infantry gun in his hand and asked casually, "What did they do?"
"I'm not sure," the artillery observer replied. "They built a platform upstream."
"Platform?" Captain Matteo stopped what he was doing and turned to look at the artillery observer.
There must be something wrong when things are abnormal, especially since the troops on the opposite side may be Charles's troops.
"You'll know when you see it." The artillery observer raised his head outside.
After the two men walked out of the fortifications, the artillery observer indicated a direction for Captain Madio.
Captain Matteo raised his telescope and slowly leaned his head out, and sure enough, he saw the wooden platform extending to the river in the rain.
There is more than one, there are many more above, but the ones farther away are not clear.
Captain Matteo retracted his head and heard the discussion of his subordinates around him:
"Why do they build a stage like this?"
"Are the Franks going to build a wooden bridge? They must think we can't see it."
"Our artillery will blow them to pieces!"
The artillery observer asked, "Captain, do you want us to blow it up?"
"No." Captain Madio shook his head. "Perhaps this is what they want. Our gun position will be exposed as soon as the gunfire sounds."
The subordinates all expressed their agreement:
"Those wooden platforms are no threat to us."
"If you want to blow it up, you should wait until they reach the middle of the river, so that they can spend more effort."
"I don't think they can build it in the middle of the river, it's a stupid idea."
While they were discussing, a horrible "whooshing" sound suddenly came from the air.
Captain Maddio, who had seen the French rockets, shouted: "Artillery attack!"
While speaking, he fell prone in the trench, and in the violent shaking and flying dust, he rolled and crawled into the tunnel.
Dense rockets hit the vicinity one after another, like a giant hitting the ground with a hammer.
This was followed by the howitzer fire, which lasted for a long time without stopping.
Captain Matteo felt strange. Was the French army preparing firepower for crossing the river?
There is no bridge nearby. Is it really wise to force a crossing here?
"Captain!" At this time, the artillery observer entered the tunnel. In the dim light, he shouted at Captain Matteo with a panicked tone: "The enemy is attacking, they are crossing the river!"
Captain Madio was stunned and quickly ordered: "Prepare for battle, fight them off!"
Amid the shrill whistles, the German soldiers lay down in the trenches and raised their guns.
I saw teams of French soldiers rushing towards this side from the other side of the river in speedboats, and there were also some rubber boats.
Following Captain Matteo's order, rifles, machine guns and all kinds of weapons fired intensive bullets, creating splashes on the river surface that extended to the speedboats and overturned them one by one. The surrounding river water instantly turned a shocking bright red.
However, Captain Madio felt something was wrong.
An attack of this intensity cannot pose a threat to the defense line, it may just be attracting firepower.
Suddenly, he thought of the wooden platform and quickly raised his telescope to look in that direction.
Sure enough, cars drove out from the wooden platform, drove backwards, and threw something from the trunk into the river.
When Captain Matteo was wondering, he saw those things unfolded in the river into a "big bed". French soldiers used speedboats to piece them together one by one. They became longer and longer, and soon it looked like a bridge.
"Floating bridge, that's a floating bridge!" Matteo shouted, turning back to the direction of the 77 guns and shouting: "Aim at the floating bridges and blow them up!"
However, the 77mm gun had been suppressed by French howitzers and it was difficult to hit the floating bridge floating in the river.
And even if it hits, it will be useless because there are multiple watertight compartments in the pontoon bridge. Even if the shell makes a big hole in it, it can still float on the water and become part of the bridge.
A few minutes later, a floating bridge appeared in front of the German officers and soldiers. The speed was so fast that everyone was stunned.
Then, a tank they had never seen before appeared in sight.
This tank has two gun barrels, a small cannon on the turret and a 75 gun inside the body. The black muzzle is pointing at the German position. There are also many French soldiers following behind, each of them holding a gun and looking murderous.
The Germans were terrified by this scene:
"It is Charles. Those are Charles' troops. They are not in Nancy."
"That's Ciel's invention, and his new tank."
"We are outnumbered, Captain. We can't stop them!"
…
Captain Madio knew that the soldiers were telling the truth.
This place is not a defensive focus, and there is only one infantry battalion with less than a thousand people nearby.
The enemy on the opposite side was a massive mass of at least tens of thousands of people. They could build pontoon bridges quickly like magic, and they also had new tanks.
Captain Matteo gritted his teeth. He wanted to order his soldiers to continue defending.
After all, there is still hope. As long as we hold on until reinforcements arrive, we may be able to stop the enemy's attack.
However, when he saw that the French had built another pontoon bridge upstream and that batches of amphibious boats were carrying French troops into the water, Captain Matteo was completely desperate.
"Retreat!" Captain Matteo ordered.
This cannot be stopped by human power. If we don't retreat, we will either die here or surrender.
…
Charles stood on an armored vehicle on the opposite bank and watched with satisfaction as the German troops abandoned the trenches and fled.
The absolute advantage of artillery, pontoon bridges, tanks, and the charge launched by a thousand amphibious landing ships could scare the German army to death.
From a strategic point of view, Charles should not inflict too much damage on the German army, as this would only bring trouble upon himself.
But Mays is different.
Metz's geographical location is very important.
If it was in the hands of the Germans, the German army would be eager to attack France on the Western Front.
But if it was in the hands of the French army, especially Charles, it would basically eliminate the German army's idea of attacking.
As long as Metz was there, any German offensive would risk having its supply lines cut off.
Therefore, Charles was determined to win.
Tijani sighed:
"You've cracked the eggshell again, General."
"The Germans are unprepared. From here all the way to Metz, it's an undefended area for the Germans."
"Even if there are troops, they are just stragglers who rushed over in a hurry to stop us!"
(End of this chapter)
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