When French infantry Michel Blerian, who was hidden in the trench, saw those German chariots with gray metal texture approaching the position step by step in the fire of artillery, he felt that his heart was jumping faster than when he first confessed to the girl. How he hoped that this was just a nightmare. No matter how fearful or desperate he was, he would wake up. But the rational consciousness reminded him over and over again that this cruel war was real. Many of his compatriots and partners had died on the battlefield. The death that once seemed far away was right in front of him and could come to him at any time!

On the French position, there was obviously more than Blerian. Just looking at him, there was no face that was frowning and a grim expression. Before the officers and soldiers could recover from the shadow of the defeat in the Battle of the Marne River, they gritted their teeth and stood on the front line. The German artillery fire was as fierce as ever. After more than three hours of artillery bombardment in the early morning, the orderly defensive positions became riddled with holes, and the trenches that were highly anticipated collapsed in many places, and the continuous wire mesh belts also showed many gaps. The dense craters in front of the position provided natural shooting cover for the attacking German soldiers.

During the Battle of the Marne River, Blerian had seen German chariot groups on the battlefield. Because of their existence, the German steel offensive was no longer a false mental suggestion. These guys wearing steel plates and carrying artillery had a strong impact on conventional field fortifications. Rifles and machine guns had no effect on them. Only the accurate bombardment of field artillery can block their attacks, and field artillery did not always appear in key positions at critical moments.

A few days ago, the friendly troops of the 40th Infantry Division fought a relatively successful defensive battle in Klesui in front of them. They held the German army for a day and a night with few enemies. It is said that they destroyed more than 20 German tanks. You should know that during the entire Battle of Marne, the total number of German tanks destroyed by various French troops was only forty or fifty, and there were many subjective numbers that could not be confirmed. After the remnants of the 40th Infantry Division retreated to Villepalisi, the mystery of dealing with German tanks blew like the wind and the German tanks were driven within 300 meters, and they aimed at them with small-caliber rapid-fire cannons and attacked them hard!

During this massive attack, the Germans invested sixty or seventy chariots in one breath. They were divided into two types, with the size of the large ones on the front line, and the small ones seemed to be the difference between porters. Several steel plates of five or six meters long and more than one meter wide were hung on both sides of the chariot. The last time Brelian saw the German chariot, he just glanced at it, so he did not realize that the scene in front of him was strange. He crawled quietly on the edge of the trench and only exposed his eyes. When the German chariots were still two or three kilometers away from the position, the French field artillery behind opened fire in a mess, firing one or two hundred shells, most of which were shotguns used to deal with infantry and cavalry. It seemed that they had no effect on the German chariots, and all the gray iron lumps were moving forward step by step.

"Three hundred meters! Three hundred meters!"

Blerian muttered in a voice that he could only hear. A five-barrel rapid-fire cannon was deployed more than ten meters away from him. The gunners built half a circle around it with sandbags, and built a solid shed on it with tree trunks as thick as arms. They covered the shed with nearly one meter of soil to protect it. At this moment, seven or eight guys in naval uniforms surrounded him, aiming, shooting, and shooting, and shooting, and shooting. They all performed their duties and were ready to shoot at any time.

Over the battlefield filled with smoke, the two sides of the colorful fighter jets were coming and going, driving each other away. Overall, the gray-painted German aircraft had the advantage. Whenever the field artillery behind the French positions opened fire, they came like sharks smelling blood, and then reported the position of the French field artillery to their own artillery. The Germans' heavy artillery used their range advantage to counterattack, which was also a key factor in the performance of the French field artillery today.

The artillery troops against both sides were busy, and the combat troops on both sides, which were about to start a frontal battle, were ready to go. The frontier positions of the French army were lined up with infantry, and the traffic trenches and shelters were also officers and soldiers who were ready to go to the front line at any time. The group of German chariots arranged in wedge-shaped formations continued to approach the French position, followed by at least seven or eight thousand German infantry in six echelons. Heavy machine guns and light artillery could be seen in the infantry formation.

There were more than a thousand meters away from the French trench, 1,300 and 400 meters away from the French trench. German tanks stopped one after another. Seeing their actions, the most experienced French officers and soldiers would squat at the bottom of the trench as soon as possible and block their ear holes with their fingers. After a moment, these German troops opened fire one after another, and the shells they shot directly hit the frontier positions of the French army. Every protrusion suspected to be a machine gun or artillery fire point will be given their attention. The power of the 37mm chariot cannon can penetrate ordinary civil structure bunkers. Some unfortunate machine gun teams were killed before they even entered the battle.

The close-up shooting of German tanks was not the most terrifying blow. Just after they opened fire, a thunderous roar suddenly sounded from the rear of the German offensive troops. This was the roar of field artillery groups and light howitzers. Their damage power was not as good as heavy howitzers, and their effective range was not as good as heavy cannons, but they were better in the number of artillery and shooting speed. In the blink of an eye, the frontier positions of the French army were shrouded in the flashing flames and the rolling smoke and dust. The short suppression fire lasted only ten minutes, and the French officers and soldiers were probably more injured than the previous two or three hours!

Taking the suppressed shooting of their own artillery groups as the number of shots, the German infantry who were put into the attack decisively accelerated their advancement, especially those in the first echelons. They trotted all the way and approached the French trenches with the rhythm of the chariot troops. At this time, the German artillery groups shot a batch of smoke bombs on the French positions, mixed with gunpowder, dust and chemical smoke. French officers and soldiers even had difficulty breathing normally.

"The Germans are going to rush through the trench!"

Someone shouted, and the officers in the trench were both shocked and anxious. They rushed to drive the soldiers to pick up weapons and throw them into battle. After being bombarded by the German artillery, Blerian's head was blank. Until he was kicked on his butt, he subconsciously grabbed the rifle and stood up. He heard the bullets flying over his head, and a deep chill suddenly rose behind him, and he woke up suddenly. He hurriedly lowered his head, his vision was full of smoke and dust, and he could not see the shadow of the Germans at all, but his companions were shooting. Blerian had to bite the bullet and pull the trigger. As for where the bullets were hit, I'm afraid only God knew.

After five or six minutes of ignorance, the smoke and dust spreading on the position disappeared. Before the smoke bombs of the German artillery group turned this place into a chaotic world again, Blerian saw that all the German tanks were parked in front of the wide trench. They could not cross the trench, nor could they climb down and climb up again. This was the result of Galieni's original idea.

"Be careful! Press the muzzle down, aim at that guy's turret...the ammunition hand, and keep the ammunition delivery speed with all your strength..."

The small-caliber rapid-fire gun group nearby was obviously overwhelmed by the close-up artillery fire of German tanks and the fierce suppression of the rear artillery group. The officer's roar immediately allowed Blerian and the surrounding French infantry to see the light of hope in the depths of the darkness. The 37mm-caliber m1877 rapid-fire gun was a standard equipment of the French Navy in the late 19th century. They used vertical magazines equipped with 10 Hatchacas shells. In addition to requiring the operator to manually shake the barrel and the maximum firing rate was only 60 rounds per minute, all combat performances were similar to those of the Maxim machine gun.

Hearing the sound of machine guns that were like drummers pounding war drums, Blerian couldn't wait to look at the trench. He wanted to see German tanks one by one after another. At a distance of no more than three hundred meters, machine gun shells kept firing into German tanks. These iron lumps of turrets or chariot bodies splashed everywhere, but none of them smoked and caught fire or even exploded. Blerian watched the German tank in front of him still fired after being hit by more than a dozen shells in a row, which immediately made him feel deeply desperate.

Soon, the German artillery group once again made a thunderous roar. What surprised the French officers and soldiers was that the Germans who were put into battle were at the forefront of the French positions, and their artillery was far away a few kilometers away, and it was impossible to avoid accidental injuries. The shells fell like raindrops, but they made not a deafening explosion, but a muffled sound unique to chemical smoke bombs. From the front of the trench to the rear of the French trench, the huge area was filled with gray-white smoke. The German chariots and the infantry that had entered the trench once again "disappeared" from the muzzles of the French soldiers.

Under the repeated orders of the officers, Blerian and the French infantry around him had to continue shooting blindly. At the same time, because of the smoke, the direct threats to the French army on the position were temporarily reduced a lot. The soldiers gradually began to adapt to the urgency of the battle. The commanders also used this rare opportunity to increase the reserve troops to block the gaps, and allowed field artillery to cover the frontiers of the position with rapid firepower, trying to defeat the German offensive.

After knocking out 18 bullets, Blerian guessed that he might have killed one or two German soldiers by chance, and was relieved by this idea of ​​self-deception. However, in a flash, the situation suddenly changed, and the loud roar of the German chariots being in a state of marching came from the fog, and then someone immediately shouted loudly: "The German chariots rushed through the trench!"
Chapter completed!