In the telescope, the French were digging trenches. Most of them were soldiers in military uniforms, but many of them looked like civilians. Perhaps they were nearby farmers or labor recruited by the French army. This may be the original source of rumors that French civilians participated in the war.

Witnessing this scene, Colonel Weisman of the 5th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Marine Brigade smiled contemptuously, and ordered the first battalion of infantry to launch an assault with five Hubert-13 tanks.

Seeing the German offensive troops suddenly appear without being bombarded, the French trench suddenly became messy. The officer hurriedly ordered the soldiers to pick up their weapons, and some trench diggers in military uniforms fled from their positions as if they were flying. Knowing that the firepower of machine guns and rifles could not stop the impact of German combat vehicles, the French deployed several field artillery in the trench, flattened their muzzles, and covered them with wooden boards and mud. It was not until they opened fire that the German offensive troops discovered their existence.

The French Type 1897 field guns are cannons with low ballistic trajectory and suitable for direct firing. The shells equipped are usually ordinary explosive shells and shrapnel shells. Although they do not have armor-piercing shells, with the power of ordinary shells, they can cause fatal damage to them as long as they hit the German tanks. However, the sights of this rapid-fire artillery are not suitable for direct firing. The gunners are accustomed to attacking regional targets and have never received special training to deal with mobile individuals. These French field guns fired more than ten shells in a row, but none of them hit, which caused considerable damage to the German infantry.

In the two-kilometer-wide battlefield, if the Hubert-13 equipped with a new engine attack at full speed, it will only take seven or eight minutes to pass. In order to support the naval infantry that followed, they had to slow down their speed a little.

The 37mm tank cannon equipped with Hubert-13 was short-range and had a small power, but it was equipped with a simple and practical direct-fire sight. After passing the center of the battlefield, the artillery accuracy of the German tanks suddenly increased, and the chariot machine guns also began to sweep the French positions, and several French field artillery pieces were all silent. During this period, a chariot shell fell into the French field artillery bunker, detonating the ammunition piled next to the artillery position, causing a very powerful explosion. A large ball of smoke rose to more than 100 meters high, which attracted two German aircraft. They pounced down, threw bombs at the French positions, and repeatedly fired with machine guns.

It was sixty or seventy meters away from the French position, just outside the throwing range of grenades. The German tanks stopped at the same time, waiting for their accompanying infantry, while launching the most violent gunfire at the French position.

At this time, there was almost no one emerging on the French position, and the blocking firepower dropped sharply to zero. The German naval infantry took advantage of the situation to follow up. When they were completely connected with the chariot troops, the infantry officers then notified the chariot crew with signal flares and jointly launched the ultimate attack.

A sudden burst of artillery fire broke out from the rear of the French position, and the shells fell near the German chariots. The German infantry who were put into the attack were knocked down in groups. The rest had to crawl and avoid bullets. However, the five naval chariots had already received the offensive signal. The rigid and rigorous national character showed a fatal side effect at this moment. Except for one naval chariot that consciously slowed down, the remaining four Hubert-13s rushed forward with full force. They quickly ran through the French trenches and then drove towards the newly discovered French artillery positions.

As soon as four German chariots passed, the French soldiers' blue hats emerged from the trench. All the artillery on the positions were destroyed, and there were only a few machine guns left. The rapid shooting of two or three hundred rifles still formed a dense blocking fire. At this time, the German heavy machine gun combat team was still outside the effective range, and the infantry could only compete with the French army in the trench with light machine guns and rifles. In addition, the French artillery fire invaded, the offensive troops were suppressed in front of the position for a time and could not move.

The field artillery deployed behind the French infantry trench hid behind a dense and tall bush and bombarded the German troops at the forefront of the position with curved artillery fire. Although the dense bushes blocked the flames, the smoke generated by the cannons clearly revealed their location. It was only more than a kilometer from the French trench to the bush, four German tanks advanced rapidly in this open area. The chariot commanders deliberately turned the turrets on the chariot backwards to prevent French soldiers from attacking from behind. However, the French infantry

The soldiers did not leave and followed up to deal with the four Hubert-13s. Only a few people turned their guns and tried to attack the rear bodies of the German chariots, and ordinary bullets did not pose any threat to their rear armor. In a blink of an eye, two German chariots had reached the front of the bushes, and it seemed that they could only be a matter of minutes. At this moment, a team of French cavalry suddenly rushed out from behind the bushes. They held the reins in one hand, but they held not sabers or rifles in the other hand, but ignited the explosive pack of the fuse.

As soon as the French cavalry appeared, four German naval chariots fired machine guns. A series of bullets quickly swept down more than a dozen French riders, but some cavalry swayed to the flanks of the German chariots, avoiding the opponent's machine gun fire and throwing explosive packs at them. As the fuses burned out one by one, the field was filled with violent explosions. The riders who died halfway and their mounts were often blown up and flesh and blood. The tragic and tragic attack did not fully achieve the expected effect. The explosive packs that exploded nearby failed to overturn more than ten tons of German chariots, nor could they blow through their car armor. Only the explosive packs that landed on the chariots could cause fatal damage to them. However, the marching Hubert-13 was not conducive to "placing objects". As a result, only one chariot was damaged due to the engine's fire, and the other was blown up with one-sided track.

After packing up the French cavalry, the remaining two German chariots bypassed the bushes from one side. Their approach forced the French artillery to quickly discard the cannons and turn around and flee. Because there was no infantry to follow up, the German chariot crew had to give up their plans to seize these artillery, and simply stopped at the periphery, fired at them with chariot cannons, which eventually caused ammunition to explode and destroyed the French artillery position.

At this time, the German infantry, who were blocked from the front of the French position, advanced forward with the support of the only Hubert-13 chariot. The front row of soldiers crawled forward and reached a position twenty or thirty meters away from the French trench. They began to throw Sheshou grenades, and then took advantage of the opportunity that the French firepower was weakened and stood up and rushed forward.

The first group of German infantry entered the French trench. Their aggressive momentum failed to scare the defenders on the position. The officers held the revolver in one hand and the saber in the other, and rushed up with the French soldiers with bayonets.

Because the fortifications were interrupted before they were dug, the trench here and the chest wall were less than one person high. When soldiers stood up, they often exposed their heads and chests. In close combat, soldiers on both sides became victims of this "half-slap project". French soldiers wearing blue hats and blue tops became excellent targets for German offensive troops. Many people shot and killed guns from the front of the positions, and the German infantry attacking the trench was attacked by defending machine guns and rifles fire.

Melee battle turned into chaos, and both sides were killed and overwhelmed.

Relying on the melee equipment of three people, one pistol, one person, three grenades, the German Navy's land infantry gradually gained the upper hand. They controlled more and more positions, and the trenches were almost covered with the corpses of French fallen soldiers. The remaining defenders were compressed to both ends of the defense line, and some people directly evacuated their positions and retreated to the rear.

The battle situation was decided, and Colonel Weisman sent his second infantry battalion. His companions had opened the road to attack. More than 600 naval infantry in this battalion were able to stalk forward with their heads raised and their chests were raised. In less than a quarter of an hour, they crossed the battlefield to reach the French front, and then crossed the French trenches and penetrated directly into the French artillery position behind the front line. Then they divided the troops into two groups and detours to the flanks of the French front. It seemed only a matter of time before they completely seized the French defense line and forced the remnants of the defenders.

When he learned that the newly built defense line of the right-wing troops had been broken, Philippe Betton was surprised by the German offensive speed, and was incredible when facing the enemy's continuous combat capabilities, because not only the battle reports of the frontline troops, the division troops sent to inspect and supervise the war also confirmed the situation of the defenders killing and wounding the German offensive troops. After experiencing the border battle and fighting operations in the Maas River Basin, the hard-working character of the German soldiers is indeed commendable.

However, the successful blocking of the French rear guard forces often allowed the momentum German troops to stay in place for several hours. The infantry regiment he had originally commanded fought a beautiful ambush by his opponent, killing and wounding hundreds of Germans, causing the infantry under Cluke's command to stay on the road for more than five hours. The French officers and soldiers who participated in the ambush calmly withdrew from the battle and fought in France. The French team seemed to be at ease, while the Germans were passive everywhere and had many concerns.

When Betton hesitated, a staff officer suggested to him: "Three of the five chariots have been damaged by our side, and the German troops put into the attack have also been severely damaged. Perhaps we can take advantage of the fact that the enemy has not yet established a stable foothold and launched a local counterattack."

Seeing that Betton did not make any noise, the staff officer then proposed: "The cavalry battalion that General Clermont arrived first has been ready for combat. We can dispatch a locomotive and drag it onto six or seven cars. If it is fast, Colonel Lorif's regiment will be sent two or three kilometers away from the defense line in twenty minutes. Two thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry are very sure to defeat this German army. Winning a small-scale counterattack before launching a full-scale counterattack can well boost the morale of the troops. What do you think?"

This plan sounds very touching, but Beden obviously has concerns. He doesn't want his opponent to know that he is brewing a Jedi counterattack. If the Germans become alert, they stop attacking in the next few hours and turn to build defense lines. With their infantry firepower configuration, they will definitely cause amazing damage to the French infantry who are engaged in the counterattack. They even have time to calculate the counter-encirclement tactics, annihilate the French 6th Infantry Division and friendly forces coming to reinforce in Amiens.

Thinking of this, Betton stared at the combat map for a long time. The defensive position that had just been broken through by the German army was the last line of defense on his right wing. In the previous call, he assured General Foch, the commander of the army, that he would defend the last line of defense no matter what the counterattack at dusk. Now he could only try every means to build a new "last line of defense" on the right wing. Finally, his eyes stopped on a dot marked "Grimathieu", and there was a one in the beautiful field.

When inspecting the defense zone, he once looked at it from a distance. The main body of the manor was a Renaissance architectural building. It had three floors, covering an area of ​​about one-third of the acre, much smaller than the orthodox castle. The excessive windows made it unsuitable as a military fortress, and its location was also far from the Amiens defense line. In addition, it belonged to a famous senator, which made the Amiens defenders never have the idea of ​​fighting this manor from the very beginning.
Chapter completed!