Expedition to Europe

Ferentard Nova.

The attack started from the self-propelled artillery unit. 18 194mm powerful artillery pieces were lined up one kilometer away from the German positions and began to bombard the German positions.

The French technology was still good. On the fourth day of the battle, only two of the 20 self-propelled artillery pieces were down despite frequent deployment. For a new weapon, this was already very good.

Watching the orange-red flames bursting on the German positions, the soldiers of the Xu Sheng Regiment and Xiang Ankang Regiment, who were waiting in the starting position to launch an attack, cheered loudly.

Along with the orange-red flames, there were also large pieces of soil and flying sand and rocks, and occasionally broken human bodies or weapons. The Germans did not have enough time to build complete fortifications. There was not even an anti-gun hole on their positions. The soldiers defending the positions could only hide in a narrow and simple trench and shiver, waiting for the long artillery bombardment to end, and waiting for the attack of tanks and infantry.

If it weren't for the supervision team, the German front would have collapsed by now.

The supervision team was not unique to the Russians during World War II. The Germans during World War I also had it, and even the French and British had it. The long and cruel war has worn away the warriors' fighting spirit. The more tenacious ones have died in battle. The remaining ones have to rely on the supervision team to ensure the basic fighting spirit and maintain the front from collapsing.

The soldiers of the First Division do not need the supervision team. The desire for honor and the yearning for military medals inspire them to move forward bravely. Since their establishment, they have not suffered a defeat, except for the remnants of the former Second Brigade. But the remnants of the Second Brigade are now more eager for honor. They need honor to wash away their shame and need honor to gain the same status as the soldiers of the former First Brigade.

Whether it is from a financial or psychological point of view.

Now the former Second Brigade soldiers in the First Division have a hurdle in their hearts that they cannot get over, that is, their disastrous defeat in the spring offensive. Although their companions would not mention it, the soldiers of the former Second Brigade always felt that there was a special meaning in their companions' eyes. They needed to prove themselves and prove that they were qualified to join the First Division.

According to the French government regulations, as long as they made military achievements in the war and received military medals, soldiers would enjoy extraordinary treatment after retirement. The soldiers of the First Division were all mercenaries. If they did not join the French nationality, they would return to the Far East after the war. Soldiers who received military medals would enjoy a one-time compensation. The amount of compensation varied according to the difficulty of obtaining the military medal. Even the lowest level was equivalent to two years of salary when serving in the Foreign Legion.

The French bombardment has always lasted for a long time and the intensity of the bombardment was high, but the First Division did not have much time. If it dragged on for too long, I am afraid that Chen Kangjian's armored forces would not be able to withstand the Germans' two-sided attack. So the bombardment lasted only twenty minutes, and the tanks and infantry immediately began to attack.

As early as when he was in Corsica, Qin Zhiyuan attached great importance to the coordination of infantry and artillery when training troops. So when the bombardment ended, the tanks and infantry of the First Division were less than 200 meters away from the German positions. Considering that the artillery of the First Division was a 194mm heavy artillery, it was equivalent to launching an attack on the German positions right at the bombing point.

How could the Germans, who lacked defensive means, persist? Almost as soon as the tanks rushed to the positions, the Germans raised their hands and surrendered.

There were also those who refused to admit defeat.

When the tanks rushed to the German positions, some Germans tied five or six wooden-handled grenades together to make cluster grenades, ready to attack the tanks of the First Division.

Wooden-handled grenades are heavy and long. If ordinary German soldiers did not have great arm strength, they could only throw them a dozen or twenty meters. Five or six wooden-handled grenades tied together can be thrown even closer, almost like carrying explosive packs to blow up a bunker.

At this time, the role of accompanying infantry can be seen.

Although tanks have super strong attack and defense capabilities, they still have limitations. For example, the turret of the FT-17 can rotate 360°, but it takes a certain amount of time to rotate the turret. In the ever-changing battlefield, even if the tanker finds the enemy's infantry approaching, he cannot stop it in time because the turret rotates slowly.

If they had the time to rotate the turret, they would have stuffed cluster grenades into the vehicle body.

But when the tank is accompanied by infantry, the situation is completely different.

When encountering enemy bunkers, the infantry will hide behind the tank and protect themselves with the solid body of the tank. After the tank destroys the enemy bunker, the infantry will continue to move forward. But when enemy infantry tries to approach the tank to attack, the accompanying infantry will launch an attack first to prevent the enemy infantry from approaching the tank.

The accompanying infantry of the First Division is equipped with semi-automatic pistols, shotguns and Lewis machine guns, and bolt-action rifles are not available at all. These weapons have one common feature, that is, short reaction time and rapid firing.

The result was that the Germans who wanted to blow up the tanks had just jumped out of the trenches, but were either turned into honeycombs by large-caliber shotguns or smashed into pieces by Lewis machine guns.

It was indeed fragments. The power of military weapons is not comparable to that of police or civilian weapons. The only meaning of military weapons is to kill the enemy, so the power of military ammunition is unimaginable to ordinary people. Even if the caliber of the Lewis machine gun is not as large as the 12.7mm machine gun equipped on the tank, it will break wherever it hits a person at close range.

Especially, the accompanying infantry was also equipped with a large number of Mills grenades. When this type of grenade with a "condom" exploded, it would fire the 800 steel balls in the "condom", and almost everyone within a 15-meter range would be killed or injured. It was really "safe" to use it to clear trenches and German soldiers hiding behind bunkers.

Using mid-20th century tactics against early 20th century troops, the battle was so simple. Almost at the same time as the tank troops rushed to the German positions, the Germans' resistance stopped. The Germans who were still determined a moment ago raised their hands and walked out from behind the trenches and bunkers to surrender to the soldiers of the First Division who were waiting for them.

When the gap in strength reached a certain level, all resistance was futile. Like French soldiers, German soldiers were not afraid of death, but were afraid of meaningless death. When they found that all resistance could not stop the tanks, following their true thoughts was the only choice.

This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

The battle went so smoothly that it was not unexpected for Qin Zhiyuan, but it was incredible in the eyes of Armstrong and Bastian.

Armstrong and Bastian were also veterans. They had been fighting the Germans for three years. During these three years, Armstrong and Bastian's troops killed many Germans, and many people in their troops were also killed by the Germans.

It was precisely because they knew each other well that Armstrong and Bastian did not think that the Germans were easy to bully.

When Qin Zhiyuan proposed to annihilate the Germans, Armstrong and Bastian did not believe that Qin Zhiyuan could do it. Even if Bastian agreed with Qin Zhiyuan's battle plan, Bastian was deeply skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the First Division.

Not to mention Armstrong, when the First Division just launched the attack, he even had the intention of watching the show.

"The 32nd Division will be responsible for accommodating the prisoners. My troops will continue the pursuit until all the Germans are wiped out." Qin Zhiyuan ignored the stunned Armstrong and Bastian. For the 1st Division, this was just an appetizer.