Chapter 942 Incendiary Bomb
On the Fremen front, a German second lieutenant with his face blackened by gunpowder smoke sat on a shell box and wrote in his diary.
The pen tip jumped flexibly on the white paper, but the lieutenant was thinking about the flames spewing from the machine gun:
"After months of fighting, the area has turned black, and the trees are just branchless stakes stuck in the churned earth."
"The land was bare, as if it had leprosy, and there were craters of all sizes, and there was not an inch of land that had not been ravaged."
"Dear Leonie, the enemy is about to attack. They will be unstoppable. This may be my last battle..."
The soldier leaned forward and handed the lieutenant a cigarette. He accidentally glanced at the lieutenant's diary and asked in confusion: "Why didn't you send it out? I mean, she is your lover, right?"
"She is my wife." The lieutenant stopped writing and gently took the cigarette. "She died of complications during childbirth last month, along with my child, because no one could get her to the hospital in time."
The soldier was stunned, his eyes turned sad and his voice became heavy: "Sorry, lieutenant, I don't know this."
"It's okay." The second lieutenant acted calmly: "We've seen it a lot, we're used to it."
The lieutenant closed the notebook and put it and the pen into his jacket pocket: "Sometimes I wonder, what is death? Are the living people necessarily happy? No, unless they can see the moment when the war ends."
There was silence in the trench. The soldiers were holding their guns, sitting or squatting, each thinking about their own thoughts.
Yes, if I continue to live like this, death would be a relief.
The same may be true for my family members at home, who have been struggling on the brink of hunger and exhaustion because of this meaningless war.
Suddenly, there was a whistling sound in the air, like the howling of the wind blowing through a cave.
The second lieutenant shouted "Hide!" and was the first to fall down in the trench.
“Boom boom!”
“Boom boom boom!”
…
Artillery shells exploded in front of the position, very densely.
The bombing lasted for more than two hours, back and forth, plowing the trenches and the no-man's land several times like plowing land.
When the artillery fire stopped, the second lieutenant shouted to the soldiers around him with fear in his voice: "Get ready, the enemy's attack is coming."
"How do you know?" the soldier asked.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" the lieutenant answered loudly, "They are using artillery fire to clear the mines and barbed wire to make way for the tanks!"
Sure enough, when they stuck their heads out, they saw tanks appearing in the smoke and dust that had not yet dissipated.
When they saw the model of the tank, the soldiers couldn't help but gasp, with deep fear in their eyes:
"'Char B2', Char's First Armored Corps!"
"We're fucked!"
"Goodbye to this world, gentlemen!"
…
At the Freman Joint Command, Haig, Pershing, and Shire were reunited.
The command was widened and divided into British, American and French military sectors, each with its own command system.
The British and American area looked very busy, with radios and telephones ringing, and signalmen and staff running around, but they were actually just a supporting role.
The real protagonist is the French army.
The French military zone is in the middle, with the largest space and the most radio stations, where Charles and Tijani are in charge.
Pershing and Haig were like Charles' staff officers here, ready to command their respective troops to cooperate with the French attack at any time.
"We are going to put on a show in Fremen," Charles said to the map:
"The goal is to make everyone think that our attack direction is Saarbrücken."
"Of course, the Germans were not so easy to fool. They were able to identify my First Panzer Corps."
"So we're going to have the First Panzer Army really attack the German lines, with the mechanized and motorized divisions."
Pershing looked puzzled: "Use the main force of the First Armored Army to launch a feint attack?"
"Yes."
"So, how far should the feint go?" Pershing asked.
Haig sat in a chair, drinking coffee leisurely, and seemed not to want to participate in the discussion between the two.
Only when he heard Pershing's question did he show some interest. He raised his eyebrows at Charles and answered for him: "I think it's a feint to attack the Saarbrücken defense line, right?"
"You can say that," Charles admitted, and praised Haig: "You have a good understanding of the situation, Lieutenant General."
Haig smiled noncommittally: "That's not hard to guess."
After Haig's reminder, Pershing also figured it out. He pointed to the map and analyzed:
"We can use artillery shells to clear the mines on the Fremen front, so the armored forces can pass through smoothly."
"The Centipede Tunnel can also be suppressed by aviation and automotive artillery, so there will be no difficulty in passing through it."
"The most difficult part is the Saarbrücken Line, so the feint attack ends there?"
(Note: The narrow road leading to Saarbrücken is called the "Centipede Passage" by the US military because it is lined with forest trails on both sides, resembling the feet of a centipede.)
Charles did not deny it: "If we can break through the Saarbrücken defense line, we won't need a feint attack."
"But." Pershing frowned:
"With all due respect, Admiral."
"'Centipede Pass' is a place that is easy to get into but difficult to get out of."
"The Germans will deliberately let us in, then block the passage with artillery fire, and the supply will be cut off here."
The last time the British and American coalition forces attacked, they suffered a great loss.
Haig even thought of this and used infantry to defend, but was still badly beaten by the German artillery.
"That won't happen this time." Charles took a red pen and drew a circle on the forest on both sides of the road, then put a big cross on it.
"What do you mean?" Pershing looked confused.
Haig's eyes were dull, and he thought for a while before nodding slightly: "Incendiary bombs, have you prepared a lot of incendiary bombs?"
…
On the Fremen front, the ferocious French army, under the cover of tanks, broke through the German defense line like a whirlwind.
The German army did not fight the French army head-on. They turned around and ran into the forest, leaving behind a pile of corpses.
This was a strategy they had prepared in advance. The forest was their best cover, as it contained many fortifications and traps. Even Charles' troops did not dare to go deep into it to fight the Germans.
Especially heavy tanks would be blocked by thick tree trunks and unable to move forward.
Charles's troops did not enter, they just set fire to the perimeter: using flamethrowers, mortars and 75mm cannons to fire incendiary shells.
A huge fire suddenly broke out on the outskirts of the forest, crackling with the wind and burning deeper into the forest.
What made the German army even more desperate was that a group of bombers flew in the sky, forming a black mass.
They flew over the forest and dropped incendiary bombs randomly like flowers from heaven, throwing them wherever there was no fire.
Soon, the spring-filled forest disappeared, replaced by flames and smoke, occasional explosions and the shrill shouts of the German army.
(End of this chapter)
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