Chapter 474 Prussia's Iron and Fire (First update, please subscribe)
“Whoosh… Boom…”
There was a loud explosion, and the low hedgerows were blown away, and dirt and branches flew everywhere, and they came down from the air and hit us in the face. More shells came, and the loud whistling of the shells was overwhelming, and then there was a deafening roar, and the fierce shells kept exploding with a continuous boom, boom, boom.
When the soldiers in the trenches heard the "whoosh" sound coming from far away, they hurriedly pressed their bodies tightly into the trenches and buried their heads in them. Rows of shells were exploding, the ground was shaking, and the sky was filled with dust. The trenches were immediately filled with the choking smell of gunpowder smoke.
“Swoosh…whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…”
The whistling and exploding sounds of the shells are completely different. The sharp ones are the shells fired by the Krupp field gun, and their speed makes the sound sharp, while the low ones are the sounds made by the mortar. The power of the field gun is average, but the mortar is very powerful.
Although mortars were introduced to Europe, the Prussians, like many countries, did not choose this type of artillery with a range of only about 1,300 meters and average accuracy. They chose another type of artillery - the rifled mortar.
Compared with the smoothbore mortar, the 1867 model rifled mortar manufactured by Krupp has a caliber of 150 mm, a range of 3,000 meters, and a shell weight of 30 kg. Although the gun body is much heavier, it is definitely a powerful weapon on the battlefield.
Occasionally, a heavy mortar shell would fall into the trench, and the shell weighing dozens of kilograms would immediately cause a bloody storm in a certain section of the winding trench.
"Where are the cannons? Our cannons are there... Damn it, why don't the artillerymen fire back?"
The soldiers who were crouching in the trenches to avoid the artillery fire shouted loudly.
However, shells fell like raindrops near the trenches, shrapnel flew over the trenches, and even the soldiers hiding in the anti-artillery bunkers felt like they were on the sea, swaying in a swaying boat.
They were waiting for the bombardment to end, and only a few people remained on the position to monitor the possible attack of the Prussian army, while the others were in the anti-artillery shelters.
As an army good at using artillery, the Nanhua Army was hit by the superior firepower of the "enemy" in all its exercises. It was also in the exercises that they learned how to protect themselves. Although there was only half a day from receiving the order to building fortifications, they still dug trenches and fortifications as much as possible. The only problem was that the trenches were a little shallow.
"This group of artillerymen haven't fired yet! They must be waiting for an opportunity. In an artillery battle, it's not the one who fires first that has the upper hand."
Hung over and crouching in the bunker with his rifle in his arms, Wang Taisheng said to the soldiers. He had just been promoted to squad leader, and now he was no longer the new recruit he was last year.
He was a veteran and naturally knew what the artillery was waiting for.
"That's right, that's right. Guys, maybe our artillery is waiting for those foreign devils to finish firing their cannons before opening fire. It's called... um, lure the enemy to expose themselves first, and then destroy them all... Damn it, when our cannons go off, we'll knock out their artillery. By then, without their cannons, those foreign devils will become our targets. Let alone these barbed wires, the foreign devils will definitely kill thousands of them..."
Squeezed next to the squad leader, Li Mingdou took out a cigarette and handed it to him, then started smoking. Although he seemed relaxed, he had just taken a puff of cigarette when the area near the bunker was hit by a shell. In the violent explosion, the bunker shook, and particles of soil fell into the steel helmets above their heads.
"This iron hat is so damn heavy..."
The steel helmet was a new type of equipment that had just been equipped to the expeditionary army. The shape of this steel helmet was completely imitated from the M35 helmet shape. The reason for developing the steel helmet was ultimately to take into account the Prussian cannons. After all, as far as Zhu Xianhai knew, the Prussians were able to win the Franco-Prussian War by relying on cannons! The steel helmet could provide soldiers with a certain degree of protection from artillery fire. Even this kind of ordinary carbon steel helmet was much better than a cloth hat. The only problem was that it was much heavier than a cloth hat.
Li Mingdou loosened the straps, and just when he was about to take off his hat, a shrill whistle sounded from outside the anti-gun cave!
"Quick, quick, the foreign devils are coming, the foreign devils are coming..."
Amid the whistles and shouts, the soldiers crouched down and came out of the anti-artillery holes, ran to their positions, and immediately picked up their rifles.
"Quick! ...Quick! Everyone get into position...Everyone, hurry up!"
As soon as Wang Taisheng and his soldiers entered the position, he heard the shout of Captain Jiang Shanyue, the company commander. The captain's voice sounded a little anxious. When Li Ping picked up the rifle, he saw a group of seemingly disorganized blue figures about 800 meters ahead of them.
It's the Prussians!
They crouched down and rushed towards the man with rifles.
"Everyone, attention, distance 800, release..."
At the company commander's shout, a burst of rifle fire immediately rang out on the position, and a Gatling machine gun pushed out from the bunker also began to roar.
There was also a chorus of rifle "bangs" and machine gun "da da" sounds.
Wang Taisheng placed his rifle on the breastwork in front of the trench, opened the safety, and pulled the trigger. The rifle violently recoiled, and at this moment there was only one voice in his mind:
"Shoot forward!"
Like everyone else, he kept loading bullets into the gun and shooting while lying in the trench. In order to speed up the shooting, he even took out five or six rows of bullets and placed them on the breastwork of the trench. After the bullets were empty, he quickly reloaded and then shot again.
Bullets were fired one after another. Wang Taisheng, who was lying in the trench, could see the blue figures that kept rushing towards this side falling down one after another along with the flash of the gun muzzle.
But those figures who did not fall continued to approach the trench. For Wang Taisheng, this was his first time to experience such a defensive operation. He was a little nervous, afraid that the enemy would rush up, and even fired bullets at a speed never seen before in the training ground.
Aim, shoot, pull the bolt, shoot...
It was just like being at a shooting range, but now, every time they hit a "target," the blue targets would bleed, die, and scream in pain.
Suddenly, several puffs of white smoke were heard behind the Prussians.
"Bombard!"
Amid screams of fear, an explosion occurred not far from Wang Taisheng and his men. The soldiers in the trenches were thrown directly into the air by the shells. The soldiers who were blown away twisted in the air like puppets, which looked very strange.
"Cannons, cannons, they are rolling up the cannons..."
(End of this chapter)
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