Chapter 1430 Attack, Expeditionary Force (First update, please subscribe)
On the night of May 2, at 10 o'clock.
The Imperial Expeditionary Force that has been guarding the defense line has launched an attack!
A total of ten divisions, nearly 120,000 field troops, hit the flank of the German Fifth Army like a heavy punch.
At the beginning of the attack, the first thing to do was heavy artillery bombardment!
Facing the rumbling of artillery fire, tens of thousands of soldiers crossed the trenches. The spirited troops rushed towards the German position, like huge waves, one after another, ups and downs, never stopping.
On the battlefield late at night, the air was filled with fierce gunfire. The dense gunfire echoed in the air, the tracer bullets dragged green and red trajectories in the darkness, and small and medium caliber mortars continuously fired shells.
This kind of large-scale field offensive had not been seen since the Franco-Prussian War, and even since the outbreak of the World War, there had never been a clash between army groups.
Starting from 10 o'clock in the evening of May 2, attacks, detours, assaults, and even close combat with bayonets became the sonata of the night. From late night to early morning and then to sunrise, the expeditionary force's offensive never stopped.
Compared to the exhausted German army after the long forced march, the expeditionary army could be said to have been well-rested and they launched fierce attacks again and again. After daybreak, the attacks not only did not stop, but became even more fierce.
In the next dozen hours, the 120,000 expeditionary forces rolled in like a wave, launching a fierce attack on the German army. Even if the German army organized defense on the spot, the Imperial Expeditionary Force still used dozens of company and battalion-level commandos to penetrate the gaps between the German troops and divide and surround them. Once the division was implemented, the follow-up troops would continue to bombard the German army with heavy artillery. Facing the fierce artillery fire of the Ming army, the German troops had no time to build fortifications and no heavy artillery to counterattack. They could only struggle in the fierce artillery fire. In the fierce artillery attack, the German army, which had no heavy artillery to counterattack, could only retreat in a hurry, and the retreat was not so smooth. After all, the battlefield had already presented another situation - the battalion and regiment-sized offensive forces inserted into the enemy's rear not only divided the German army, but also completely disrupted their defense, so that the German army found that there were Ming troops everywhere and they were attacked everywhere.
The German Army had never encountered such mobile warfare before. Faced with this "strange" style of fighting, the German Army was completely overwhelmed. The communication between troops was cut off as the troops were interspersed, and the infantry and artillery units had long lost contact. Even the army group headquarters and the various armies lost contact. On a battle front covering hundreds of square kilometers, the Imperial Army used Brazil as a training ground in South America and used the new mobile warfare summarized from twenty years of exercises to show its amazing combat effectiveness for the first time in the war.
Perhaps the pattern of war had not changed, but on the 3rd, the German Fifth Army was completely at a loss under the fierce attack and could only passively take the beating. It was not until the evening of that day that they organized a basic defense.
But defense without heavy artillery cover is doomed to be meaningless.
"how so?"
Standing in front of the map, Pabie, the commander of the German Fifth Army who had made outstanding achievements in the Franco-Prussian War, stared at the German army that was torn to pieces on the map, his brows furrowed.
As a typical Junker officer, he had never encountered such a style of fighting.
"Flanks, flanks...shouldn't the Ming people use their main force to attack my weak spots, and then attack alternately?"
What should the offense be like according to the normal style of play?
It should be a heavy punch!
That is to concentrate a heavy punch and hit the enemy's flank hard. This is the most normal way of fighting. And there is a response to this way of fighting. When the ribs are attacked, just contract the abdomen and fight back from the wings with arms and legs.
In other words, the attacked part would shrink, and the two wings would defend or launch a counterattack. However, the Ming army's fighting style was very special. They did not focus on attacking a certain area, but attacked from all directions.
Even until now, Pabie has not figured out where the Ming army's focus is, let alone organizing an effective defense or counterattack, because he simply does not have much spare energy to organize a counterattack.
"Sir, I think the reason why the Ming army attacked like this is because they found that we were out of touch with the artillery!"
The chief of staff's reminder made Pabel frown. Indeed, in pursuit of speed, the distance between the infantry and artillery was too far.
"Without the cover of artillery, we simply cannot organize a fierce counterattack. On the other hand, the Ming army can continuously bombard our defense line with heavy artillery. In a hurry, our troops do not have effective fortifications to withstand the artillery fire of the Ming army, which directly leads to the disadvantage of the entire front. Now the Ming army is attacking everywhere, and what about us? We are retreating everywhere..."
Although he was unwilling to face this situation, Pabel had to admit the reality. Faced with such reality, he could only order the troops to organize defense on the spot. However, he was still relieved.
"Our ultimate goal is to lure the Ming-French coalition forces to attack our flanks. This is also one of the reasons why our flanks are exposed. Soon, we will launch a counterattack. After all, we have an absolute advantage in terms of manpower."
After saying this, Pabel stood in front of the map again. He stared at the map on the wall with a frown. Occasionally, he would pick up his pipe, take a puff or two, and then talk to himself.
"Their tactics are very strange."
The reason why Pabie had such a feeling was that this kind of interspersed attack with battalions as assault units was not only fierce but also very flexible. Faced with the fierce attack, his troops could only passively defend.
"When we shrink our defense, the gaps between our troops will get bigger, which will make it easier for them to attack... Damn it, what if we shrink our troops? No way..."
Pabie immediately rejected this idea because he was out of touch with the heavy artillery. Without it, if he withdrew his troops to defend on the spot, they would just be their targets. At least now with the troops dispersed for defense, the Ming army's artillery fire was also dispersed.
He took a puff of his cigarette, thought for a while, holding the pipe in his hand, and then he talked to himself.
"Fortunately, we have already achieved half of our strategic goal. Now the Ming-French coalition has taken our bait. Tomorrow, or at the latest on the 4th, everything will be over..."
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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