The machine gun is a work of art. The shining light of their polished steel parts and the full roundness of brass parts are really eye-catching. The machine gun is also a coquettish prostitute. It is exquisite and expensive, requiring many objects to ensure its work, and it also needs careful maintenance. A large group of men have to wait for it.

This is the image description of machine guns by a French official in his biography. When Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns became popular in Britain, Germany, Russia, the United States and other countries and almost became the standard weapon of the world's army, only France and Japan insisted on their "non-mainstream" choice. In the Russo-Japanese War ten years ago, the Japanese-equipped Hachicais M1900 showed stable shooting performance and excellent rapid firepower. On the European battlefield, whether it was against German infantry or cavalry, the Hachicais in the hands of French soldiers was an unfavorable meat grinder. In the first month of the war, at least 200,000 German officers and soldiers fell under the guns of Hachicais. In a small-scale encounter, attacks were everywhere.

However, on the defensive positions outside Amiens, French machine gunners encountered their natural nemesis. Hatchcas's 8mm bullets could not penetrate the armored steel plates of German naval combat vehicles, and it was difficult to break their steel tracks. At a distance of about two thousand meters, these German tanks continued to bombard French machine gun fire points with 37mm guns of 30 times the diameter. This direct-aid gun specially developed for combat vehicles is easy to operate, and can be loaded in five or six seconds. Each Hubert-13 is equipped with 128 37mm shells and 3200 7.92mm machine gun bullets, which is enough to deal with a large-scale battle. On the battlefield in 1914, only rivers, swamps and their own mechanical problems seemed to be able to block the advance of these small mobile forts.

The assault fire of 24 German naval tanks quickly removed one machine gun fire point after another on the French position. It was not until the German vanguard troops approached the barbed wire area in front of the trench that the French field artillery reacted and began to shoot. In previous battles, the French 75mm-caliber Schneider m1897 field rapid-fire cannons played an effective role than any weapon. They could not only use ordinary grenades for saturation shooting, but also loaded shovels to shoot enemy infantry at close range. Especially in the process of French defensive operations or orderly retreating, they could kill German troops in large numbers and effectively cover their own infantry. However, today the French artillery obviously encountered the same as the machine gunners.

Big trouble. As soon as they opened fire, they were captured by the German artillery balloons to the exact position. The data of orientation and distance were transmitted to the shooting command post of the naval train artillery unit through the telephone line. Professional artillery commanders quickly calculated the shooting parameters based on these data. The effective range of the French m1897 is 8.5 kilometers, and the range of the German train artillery is basically twice that of this number. They can bombard the French artillery positions without being threatened. The French did not even see the enemy's cannons, the artillery positions behind the position were bombed into pieces, the cannons were destroyed, the ammunition exploded, and the fire suppression of the German offensive forces was terminated...

The sky was getting brighter and the German naval aviation troops also rushed to join the war. These gray-painted biplanes flew over the French positions without staying for a moment. Before the battle began, the main force of the French defensive forces was stationed on the front line of Amiens, and the peripheral positions were set for surveillance, alerting, blocking, and delaying their propulsion speed at the beginning of the German attack. Faced with the sudden fierce offensive launched by the German army, regardless of whether the peripheral positions could be held or not,

The French troops who were preventing Amiens had to send troops to reinforce and assist with the help of the dawn of the morning, the German pilots indeed saw trucks, cars and teams of cavalry driving from west to east on the road to Amiens. The power of the cavalry's counterattack against the infantry was self-evident. These vehicles also carried fully armed infantry and a considerable number of machine guns. If not stopped, the French reinforcements could reach the frontier positions within twenty minutes.

During the previous phase of the combat operation, the German Army seconded heavy artillery and combat vehicles to the Navy, but did not invite naval aviation troops to participate in the war. Putting aside the reasons, most German naval pilots have not yet obtained actual combat opportunities. In order to make up for this shortcoming, the naval aviation troops conducted intensive training and live-fire exercises in the first month of the war, and used the combat experience of the carrier-based aircraft carried by the Bismarck to make some technical improvements, including the installation of mechanical bomb drop mounts and simple flight bomb drop sights to the aircraft.

The four German naval fighters that arrived in the scheduled air strike area were all albatrosses. Their fuselage was short and solid, and they could be distinguished from Hubert's aircraft at a glance. These "albatrosses" were originally reconnaissance/school launchers developed and manufactured at the request of the army. The original design did not have combat capabilities, had a fast flight speed, and could flexibly travel over the battlefield. Considering that the take-off and landing of seaplanes were greatly affected by the weather, the German Navy was

During the construction of the aviation force, a large number of land-based aircraft were purchased. The early role positioning of the Albatross was also a reconnaissance and scheduling, and then secretly conducted a series of tests of carrying bombs to carry out low-altitude raids. As the war approached, the German Navy began to add weapons to various aircraft. The new standard for Albatross was a rear-seat machine gun and two belly bombs, and 6 additional light bombs could be carried in the rear seat, which were manually thrown by the machine gunners.

After more than a month of fighting, the French soldiers had a good understanding of the commonly used tactical methods of the German army. Seeing several German planes rushing down like eagles, the car driver quickly drove off the road, but their speed of movement was not as good as that of the plane. The bomb quickly fell from the sky, a truck was blown upright, three or four cars were damaged by shrapnel, and some cavalry were also blown upside down. This rapid air raid played an immediate role. The remaining French officers and soldiers quickly threw the cars beside the road, and all the personnel abandoned the cars and scattered them, and they used rifles and machine guns to shoot at the air in panic. The cavalry rushed into the woods in a swarm.

The German naval aviation troops who flew to the battlefield one after another dragged the French reinforcements. On the front line, the infantry of the 1st German Marine Brigade drove the way with chariots and rushed to the French position in one go. In the extremely unfavorable situation, many French soldiers bravely rushed out of the trench with bayonets, but they were either knocked down by the machine gun fire of the German chariots or killed by the gun bullets of the German naval infantry. The gray wave finally spread across the French defense line. The sound and light of the grenade explosion sounded in the trench.

Flashing constantly. Fighting close combat with opponents in narrow trenches, the Leber or Berhetiye rifles in the hands of French infantry were heavy and clumsy. They were one-two or three without bayonets. It required a lot of movement to turn around in the trenches. In this regard, the Mauser 1898 of the German Army was not much better, but the Marines used the 1888 cavalry and Mauser 98az carbine with shorter body tubes. The former had only one meter in length, while the latter was one meter in weight. The weight was reduced and the flexibility was increased accordingly.

When fighting face to face with German Marines on the position, French soldiers will find that their bayonet skills are almost useless. These German soldiers in gray naval uniforms are not only short cavalry rifles, but also light machine guns, semi-automatic pistols, grenades and even terrifying flamethrowers. On the other hand, the French side, infringing infantry had only pistols besides rifles and machine guns. In 1914, the standard pistols issued by the French army were 8mm caliber Leber revolvers, which had the advantages of sturdy, reliable and accurate, but were weaker than the British 11mm caliber Wibery revolvers, and the combat rate was slower than the German semi-automatic Ruger pistol. Moreover, the equipment was limited to officers and soldiers who performed unconventional combat missions. Unlike the wealthy German Marines, they used pistols as combat weapons with the same position as rifles and machine guns.

Before the battle started, the attack order of the regiments, battalions and companies of the 1st Marine Brigade were arranged in advance. The company where Ferrich was located rushed to a relatively forward position. When the naval corporal with first-class shooting skills rushed into the French trench with the infantry, the battle to clear the remaining French soldiers was still ongoing. He used a 10-round magazine Mauser C96 with a melee firepower comparable to a Madson light machine gun. At first glance, he saw the French soldier wearing a blue top and red pants more than ten meters away. Ferrich didn't think about it. He raised his hand and had three guns on both sides. His companions also raised their guns to shoot at the first time. The crisp sound of guns was still echoing in his ears. The French man's upper body had been beaten into a hornet's nest.

The first time he killed someone since he was born, Felrich couldn't believe it. The strong sensory impact made his mind blank. He froze in place for two seconds. Suddenly, he saw a French soldier carrying a rifle running along the trench. In this case, Felrich didn't even think about whether the other party was going to attack him or flee in panic. The Mauser C96 in his hand opened fire in a horizontal state, and there were three more shots on the left and right. Although only two bullets hit the target this time, it was enough to kill the French soldier's life. Felrich realized that the bullet was piercing through the other party's body and stirred up a small ball of mud on the wall of the trench behind him.

Two French soldiers were killed in succession, and Ferrich and his companions were suddenly at a loss. They stood there blankly, but no third French soldier appeared in front of them. As more German naval infantry entered the trenches, the battle for positions with a huge firepower gap quickly came to an end, and the remaining French soldiers retreated toward Amiens. According to the original rapid attack plan, the German naval chariot troops crossed the French defense line and did not rest.
Chapter completed!