On the battlefield late at night, fierce gunfire echoed in the air. For the Western Front battlefield, this may be the first time after the Battle of the Marne. The dense gunfire echoed in the air day and night, attacking, detouring, and assaulting.

, and even hand-to-hand combat between bayonets. In the past dozen hours, the stalemate has turned into a mobile war again. Dozens of companies and battalion-sized commandos are interspersed deep in the German army. They bypass the German firepower strongholds.

Cut off the German telephone lines in the rear of the German army and attack the forward artillery positions. ([] )

These company- and battalion-sized commandos that penetrated behind enemy lines completely disrupted the German defenses. Even some German troops who had just reinforced to the front line of the Somme were overwhelmed by this "unfamiliar" fighting method. The troops and

The communication between the troops was cut off as the telephone lines were cut off, the infantry troops and the artillery troops lost contact, and even the strong fortresses lost contact with the covering troops. On the front line of hundreds of square kilometers, a

A brand new mobile war is changing the mode of war little by little.

Night is the best cover for offensive troops. Whether in the stalemate of trench warfare or during campaign movements, for the 27th Regiment of the Expeditionary Force, from the moment they receive the order to attack, this ninth reserve team,

At the first opportunity, they took advantage of the defensive gaps torn and expanded by the assault troops to quickly advance towards the German deep targets.

In order to speed up the march, unlike previous offensive forces, the soldiers of the 27th Regiment were all lightly armed. They even carried only one day's rations, with only rifles and grenades left on them. Then they still dropped all other supplies.

Under the command of the officers, they silently and quickly marched across the battlefield.

"Sir, a German stronghold was found ahead!"

"Can you go around it?"

After getting the negative answer, Gan Zhenxian immediately issued the order as soon as possible.

"Three battalions and eight battalions are connected to the enemy! We must annihilate all the enemy troops!"

As soon as they received the order, more than a hundred officers and soldiers of the Eighth Company immediately and quietly approached the enemy's stronghold along the two wings of the stronghold. This stronghold was a simple fortress. In front of the fortress, tens of meters of iron wire protected the steel bars.

It is a concrete fortress, and there are several cold machine gun perforations on the fortress wall. The Maxim heavy machine gun is aimed at the front of the fortress and firing from the side. If it were in the past, at least hundreds of people would have died to conquer such a fortress.

cost.

"Be quiet!"

Cao Weiqiang, who was holding a submachine gun and hunched over, whispered to the soldiers behind him. At this time, they were only dozens of meters away from the fortress. Compared to the dense barbed wire in front, there were only two simple barbed wires here. Perhaps because of the

For these German soldiers, no enemy has ever been able to enter their rear through machine gun blockade.

Perhaps it is because this place is located in a relatively safe position behind enemy lines. Even though it was in wartime, although explosions continued to be heard in the air in the distance, the German defenders in the fortress did not maintain due vigilance. As a result, under the leadership of Cao Weiqiang,

When a platoon of soldiers detoured from the side of the fortress to the entrance without barbed wire behind the fortress, several German soldiers were still chatting in the trench, and no one seemed to notice their existence.

In the trench, while several German soldiers were lighting cigarettes, Cao Weiqiang took out a weighted offensive grenade, a weighted offensive grenade with a large charge. It is a grenade specially developed in China for the battlefield on the Western Front. This grenade does not emphasize

Fragmentation kills, but uses the violent impact and shocking explosion effect caused by the explosion of one kilogram of ** to shock and kill the enemy. Unlike ordinary grenades, its charge is not ordinary tnt**. It is a specially made high-energy gun.

*Composed of 60% tnt and 40% hexanitrodiphenylamine, its power is approximately equivalent to 107% of pure tnt. According to past tests and battlefield use effects, after this aggravated attack grenade explodes, enemies within a radius of 25 meters

Even if they are not killed, they will be temporarily disabled by the strong explosion.

After unscrewing the grenade cap, Cao Weiqiang stared intently at the simple defensive trench at the entrance to the back of the fortress, and then pulled down the match rope hard, counting silently in his heart.

"One, two, three, four..."

At the moment when he was silently counting for four seconds, a heavy weighted offensive grenade was suddenly thrown out from his hand and flew in a parabola towards the German trench. The time from when the grenade was thrown to the time it exploded was only one to one point and a half seconds.

Almost at the moment when the grenade fell into the trench, the grenade exploded, and the violent explosion swallowed up the trench in an instant. At the moment of the explosion, the soldiers who were originally leaning against the barbed wire immediately crossed the gap between the barbed wire and approached the fortress.

When they rushed into the trench, the German troops in the trench were already dead and wounded. Without hesitation, Cao Weiqiang took the lead with his submachine gun and fired a magazine of bullets left and right in the trench. Then, while changing the magazine, he headed towards the entrance of the fortress.

After attacking, the fortress was also in chaos at this time. The German machine gun shooters and officers in the fortress did not even realize what had happened. Before they could pick up the rifles placed on the gun racks, the fan was hit by the explosion.

The steel door was opened with force.

When he rushed into the fortress, Cao Weiqiang saw a young face, still puzzled and confused.

"clatter……"

Clear and continuous gunshots rang out, and at this time the soldiers following him also arrived. Several soldiers with submachine guns quickly swept the fortress with a rain of bullets. When they killed the last German defender,

, this short battle ended in less than three minutes.

"Contact the 27th Regiment quickly and let them race against time to seize the railway bridge. Don't be reluctant to fight along the way, just push forward. I have ordered the 10th Division and the 11th Division to lead the main force to move closer to them and respond to them!"

In the mobile command vehicle, Han Wu gave instructions to the staff.

"Tick-tick...tick-tick..."

The antenna signal was sent from the mobile command vehicle...but no response was received.

"The troops are on the march and cannot be contacted."

The operator reported to the commander anxiously.

"Twenty-seventh regiment..."

Facing the night in the northeast, Han Wu said secretly.

"Whether we can complete the plan and fight a beautiful encirclement and annihilation battle depends on you!"

At this time, Han Wu seemed to see a large number of retreating German troops rushing towards the inconspicuous railway bridge. The road was crowded with German troops eager to retreat...

While Han Wurang was looking northeast from the command vehicle, the soldiers of the 27th Regiment were walking quickly on the snowy field under the moonlight. Although along the way, this unit did not encounter any major enemies.

The enemy's large-scale army could only remove some unavoidable strongholds at most. However, for this army that had been fighting continuously and marching for eight hours, the soldiers were extremely tired, and some of them even fell asleep while walking.

By daybreak, although on the map, they had only walked 19 kilometers, in fact, they had traveled more than 30 kilometers. After all, they needed to bypass all the strong German fortresses.

For the expeditionary force, Isolated Fortress, with large loads traveling roundabout to the rear of the German army. Perhaps they had practiced this tactic at home, but in fact, such a risky move was also the first time for them. After all, this was

On an "airtight" battlefield, at this time, they were still more than ten kilometers away from the target.

When the sky was getting slightly brighter, Liu Changqing, deputy commander of the twenty-seventh regiment, took a look at the sky and then boldly suggested to the regiment leader.

"Sir, if we continue like this, we will definitely not be able to reach the target by 18 o'clock in the morning. I think we should simply march on the road in a swagger to confuse the enemy. Now the German army is retreating backwards. There is not only one unit, but there are many units that need to be replaced.

The German troops who went down. Now that we have penetrated behind the enemy's rear, if we hide and hide, it will not be conducive to quickly seizing the railway bridge. Moreover, it may not be easy to hide our traces in a place like this during the day. Instead of this, we might as well be bold.

Let’s go…”

The deputy commander's suggestion made him think for a moment. He glanced at the exhausted soldiers, then took out a map and aerial photos and compared them carefully. There was no solid fortress or fortress near the simple road.

"What we look like..."

At this moment, Gan Zhenxian actually regretted his "royal man" appearance, otherwise he would have changed into a military uniform... But it looked like this! At this moment, his eyes were fixed on a location on the map, which was the railway

Line, if...

"What do you think of us doing this..."

The railway bridge 2.5 kilometers away from Perona West is one of the three railway bridges on the Somme. This railway bridge was built in the last century, but in the past two years, it has experienced bombing and reconstruction.

In order to prevent the Germans from using it, French engineers blew up the bridge, and in order to be able to use it, German engineers rebuilt the bridge again.

"There's no need to think about blowing up the bridge!"

For Second Lieutenant Wilhelm von Kluen, who was guarding the bridge, listening to the sound of artillery in the distance, the order from the Army Headquarters emerged in his mind. Just yesterday, he asked by phone whether he was on the railway bridge.

He placed troops there and blew up the bridge when necessary, but the Army Headquarters stubbornly rejected his suggestion.

In the view of the staff of the Army Group Headquarters, the French are still far away from this railway bridge, and the German troops on the west bank still need this railway bridge to transport supplies, ammunition, and reinforcements. In short, the railway bridge is

It is extremely useful. This is not a simple railway on the battlefield, but a main line railway built by the French. This railway bridge is the most important railway hub for ensuring the logistics of the Somme front line. Naturally, it cannot be blown up. Of course, the most important thing is, at least

Now, there is no need to have such worries at all, that time has not yet come!

Looking at the railway bridge that reflected a layer of golden light in the morning sun, he had no time to admire anything. How was the battle going on the front line?

Judging from the latest news, starting from the early hours of yesterday, a strange team member entered the battlefield - the Chinese Expeditionary Force. This Chinese expeditionary force, which once taught the German army a profound lesson in Verdun, only took one day.

In one night's work, the defense line of the first position was torn apart. They not only broke through the front line defense, but also used the gaps in the position to infiltrate into the rear.

Will they attack here?

Just as he was thinking this, the whistle of a train came from the expedition. Looking in the direction from which the whistle came, Second Lieutenant William von Kluen knew that this was someone who had just returned from transporting supplies to the front line.

train.

"If you dare to say anything, I'll beat you to death!"

In the train, the Cao Weiqiang he was holding was pressed against the German driver's waist. This train was "captured" by them after they captured a military station. According to the regiment leader's plan, they would take the train and go straight all the way.

Arrive at the railway bridge and strive to reach the railway bridge in the shortest time.

Now, you can see the railway bridge as soon as you open your eyes, but don't let anything happen!

Accident!

For Gan Zhenxian, what he is most worried about now is that their actions will be discovered by the Germans. Now they only need a few cannons to attack them. All the men in the regiment are in this car. These twelve carriages are densely packed with people.

The brothers squeezed into the small No. 4,000 carriage. Inside each carriage, they were so crowded that there was no room to put their feet. They didn't even need to fire, they could just shoot with machine guns. The brothers had no other choice but to be shot.

But other than that, he had no other choice at all. Either the brothers marched all the way, working hard to make time, and then reached the railway bridge when they were exhausted. Then, what next? If a tired army encounters the German army

What will happen to the reinforcements? It is estimated that they will not be able to survive until the follow-up troops arrive. By then... there will be no other option except blowing up the bridge.

But the general command post needs more than just holding the small 100,000 German troops on the west bank of the Somme. Both the general command and the headquarters want to fight a beautiful "encirclement and annihilation war." And this means

Then they must develop the front to the east bank of the Somme River to encircle the German troops on the west bank. Perhaps an assault battalion or even an assault company can blow up the other two railway bridges, but if they want to complete the strategic purpose, the expedition

The army must seize a railway bridge to gain a strategic advantage, instead of watching the German elite use boats to withdraw from the Somme to the other side when the encirclement and annihilation is about to be completed. By then, the Second Army's

The defense will be strengthened again, and the battle situation will remain as stalemate as ever. For the expeditionary force, if they want to fight, then they should fight a decent battle.
To be continued...