Chapter 310 Grenade Defense
With a shrill whistle, the Ottoman army launched a charge.
There are two directions:
To the west of the defense line were the 65th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Militia Regiment, trapped in corner "A", with a total strength of more than 7,000 men.
On the east side of the defense line was the 70th Infantry Regiment, which was urgently transferred up, with a total strength of more than 3,000 people.
The enemy tried to strangle Charles's troops in the cradle with this two-pronged attack.
Charles lay behind the parapet of the trench and watched all this through a telescope.
This was the first time he faced an enemy charge.
There were enemies everywhere in front of them. They wore fez hats and roared loudly with murderous intent. They rushed towards the defense line like a red tide. Their bayonets gleamed coldly in the sunlight, as if they were eager to drink the blood of the enemy.
(The picture above shows an Ottoman soldier wearing a fez during World War I. The fez was not banned until 1925)
A thought flashed through Charles' mind, and he realized that he seemed to be an "invader", while the enemies on the opposite side who were charging with their chests puffed out were the righteous army that wanted to drive the invaders out of the country.
If we follow the plots in movies and TV shows, the Ottomans should be the final winners.
But Charles quickly put the idea out of his mind, he knew it was a lie to deceive people.
Wars are fought on reality. If the army of justice was bound to win, it would be impossible for Mongolia to conquer such a large territory.
The enemy was getting closer and closer. When they were two hundred meters away, Charles could even see the curved beards on their mouths that looked like two sickles through the aperture of the telescope.
Tijani was lying on his stomach about ten meters away from Charles. He waited until this moment before shouting, "Fire!"
The staff officer, who had been prepared, immediately blew the whistle.
Almost at the same time, gunshots rang out on the defense line, rifles made "bang bang" sounds, Maxim machine guns fired wildly, and dense bullets flew towards the enemy group like raindrops.
The Ottoman army, which was charging quickly, seemed to be blocked by an invisible giant hand and suddenly stopped. Blood and screams followed, and the soldiers in the front fell to the ground in various weird postures.
However, the Ottoman army turned a blind eye to this. Even as the front row fell, the back row continued to shout and rush forward, faster and faster, almost at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.
Several times, Ciel thought they were about to charge into the trenches, only to be blown back by a barrage of grenades at Tijani's command.
This is the advice that Charles gave to Tijani.
Before the enemy attacked, Tijani frowned as he held the intelligence dropped by the seaplane.
"The enemy probably has more than 10,000 men, Colonel, and an unknown number of artillery." Tijani's voice was filled with fear. "They have assembled so many troops in such a short time, and they are attacking from two fronts. We are seriously short of manpower."
If the attack is only from one side, a 3,000-man force defending a 6-kilometer line of defense will not make much difference, but if it is from both sides, in principle the number of defending soldiers should be doubled.
If one side fails to hold, the 105th Infantry Regiment will face a devastating disaster.
Charles thought for a moment and asked Tijani: "General, have you noticed that the popularity of helmets in the Ottoman army is very low? Most of them wear that kind of... cylindrical hat."
"That's called a fez, Colonel." Tijani smiled wryly, his tone self-deprecating: "Despite this, the popularity of helmets among them is still much higher than ours."
France did not have helmets at that time, and the soldiers still wore red military caps. They even needed to use cap covers to cover the bright color to make themselves safer.
Ciel hummed, "What I'm saying is that grenades might be very effective in killing them."
The enemy has no helmets and no tactics or awareness to avoid grenades, so this is of course the best time for grenades to shine.
Tijani looked at Charles helplessly: "Colonel, have you ever considered this: grenades can only be thrown about 50 meters, it is dangerous to do so."
Ciel understood what Tijani meant.
In this era, the emphasis is on eliminating the enemy outside the range, especially for the defenders. It is taboo to fight the enemy at close range. Once the enemy rushes into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat, the defensive advantage will be lost.
And 50 meters only takes a few seconds if you go fast, and it will be in front of you in the blink of an eye.
Charles replied: "Then we need to place a barbed wire fence about thirty meters away to delay the enemy's actions."
Tijani hummed, thought for a while, and nodded thoughtfully: "Good idea, if there is a barbed wire fence about 30 meters away, the people in the front will subconsciously slow down, but the enemies behind will not slow down. They will huddle together about 50 meters away and wait to be bombed!"
This is also the reason why Tijani waited until the enemy was two hundred meters away before opening fire. He couldn't wait to try out whether this new tactic would work on the battlefield.
He, who advocated the art of war, did not seem to have considered that if this attempt failed, death might very likely await him and the 105th Infantry Regiment.
Fortunately, this tactic has proven to be effective in actual combat.
(If the Ottomans also had grenades, this tactic would obviously be ineffective, because the enemy could also throw grenades into the trenches at this distance)
The Ottoman army's momentum slowed down significantly in front of the barbed wire. The front-row soldiers took off their marching blankets while running in the hail of bullets.
This was the best way to deal with barbed wire during this period. Spread out the quilt and throw yourself on the barbed wire, and your teammates can step on your bodies and quickly rush towards the enemy's trenches.
However, grenades with smoke coming out of the tails rolled in the air and were thrown towards the crowd.
Some of the Ottoman soldiers knew that it was a grenade, but as they had not received any training, they had no idea that they should lie down and hide, so they chose to ignore it and continued to rush forward.
“Boom boom!”
"boom!"
…
Amid the explosion, the Ottoman soldiers were blown to the ground.
Many of them were only injured but not killed. Some had bloody heads, some had shrapnel lacerates in their stomachs, and some had their eyes blinded. One by one, they fell to the ground, rolling over and wailing.
Charles felt a chill in his heart. He had never observed such a tragedy at such a close distance. All kinds of painful and cruel scenes and screams were intertwined, depicting a picture of "hell on earth".
But the soldiers were not like that.
In their eyes, this scene is "victory", "strength" and "security".
Their morale was boosted, and they raised their rifles and aimed at the enemies in front of them at close range, who were still capable of fighting but had been stunned by the explosion.
“Bang! Bang!”
…
After a series of gunshots, Ottoman soldiers fell in a pool of blood, covering their wounds.
Finally, the enemy retreated like a tide.
At this time, the trenches were filled with the bodies of Ottoman soldiers, some of whom were still crawling with difficulty, covered in blood.
(End of this chapter)
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