Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1063

Chapter 1063 Action

The “Verdun Battle Plan” drawn up by Marshal Hindenburg, the chief of staff, was designed to squeeze the last drop of French blood, and it was destined to be an extremely **** battlefield.

The second battlefield on the Western Front, the “Battle of the Somme” opened up by the British and French allied forces, also has the same effect, that is, draining the blood of the Germans, a hellish battlefield.

It has been 10 months since the Battle of Verdun, and 5 and a half months since the Battle of the Somme. The three countries of Britain, France and Germany have shed too much blood here. ‘s struggle.

Germany was the only country that participated in the three battles and all of them were the main force. The pressure was unimaginable, and it was supported by a strong will to win.

In addition to the large-scale battles that broke out on the Eastern Front, in this decisive year, three different battlefields in Europe have been fought since the start of the First World War. It is also the three largest battles in human history, with a total of more than 770 casualties. Ten thousand.

These three major battles took place at the same time period. The battles were interrelated and influenced each other. They were a strategic decisive battle between the Allied Powers Group and the Allied Powers Group on the two fronts of Europe at the same time.

These three major battles are also the decisive battles that will determine the future of mankind in the 20th century.

The failure of any battle will inevitably produce a chain reaction that will restrain each other and affect the final success or failure.

As one of the highest commanders of the German army, the 1st Army Commander General Fritz von Billow and the 2nd Army Commander General Galwitz and the 2nd Army Chief of Staff Edgar von Manstein were present. The lieutenant generals deeply understood this truth, and deep worries appeared in their eyes.

silence for a moment

Admiral Fritz walked to the window with his hands behind his back, his deep gray-blue eyes looked at the blue sky with white clouds floating outside, and said;

“Marshal Li, the devil of the Ocean Empire, is a soldier highly respected by His Majesty William. In the North American War, it can be seen that the layout is majestic and the command is unique.

Especially the trick of landing in the Hamptons on the east coast of the United States really makes people applaud.

Unfortunately, this Marshal Li will become our current tough opponent.

This is the first time he has made a move, so we can understand how powerful he is, and he is indeed a general not to be underestimated.

But excellent German soldiers will not be afraid of any opponents, not the British, nor the French, nor the Ocean Empire. We have proved with our strength that the German army is the most powerful army in the world. ”

Speaking of this

Admiral Fritz turned around, his eyes revealing the perseverance like a stubborn stone, and said word by word; “In view of the new changes in the Somme battlefield, we must ask His Majesty William for reinforcements, and send no more Fewer than 16 German divisions reached the western Ommu field to defend against a new stormy attack.”

“Your Excellency Commander, the 2nd Army agrees with your opinion.” Admiral Galwitz replied without hesitation.

The 300,000 troops of the Ocean Empire went to the battlefield on the Western Front, which was no secret to the German high-level officials.

As long as they have enough reinforcements, they have the confidence to hold on to the Somme line, which has been proven in past battles.

The army of 300,000 people wants to change the situation of the war, which is simply a dream.

In today’s era of large ships and artillery

Limited by the times, even the best senior German generals could not deeply understand the importance of air supremacy, and their thinking was limited to land hegemony.

The German aircraft could not be launched to fight, but it only increased the difficulty of some defenses, and it had nothing to do with the overall situation.

In the eyes of the senior German commanders, these cloth-covered planes were just little grasshoppers flying around in the sky, their main function was to detect enemy situations and drive away enemy planes.

The role of    is nothing more than that, and the outcome of the war depends on the heavy army group on the ground.

However, things turned out to be far worse than they had imagined.

After fully gaining air supremacy over the Somme, a large number of fighter jets from the Allies protected the bomber group and flew over the German positions, like a black swarm, and began to carry out indiscriminate bombing.

This action caught the Germans off guard.

From morning to night, the German positions were filled with flames, and the sound of explosions could be heard endlessly. One after another artillery positions hidden in forests and towns were found, and then blown into ruins by iron bombs that fell like rain from the sky.

Railways, bridges, roads, material depots, ammunition depots, command posts and even hospitals were all bombed frantically. The second-generation bombers nicknamed “Farmers” from the Ocean Empire and the third-generation bombers nicknamed “Hercules” did not work during the day. The paused roars carried out bombing missions, raining bombs on German positions.

A “Farmer” medium bomber has a crew of two, a pilot and a bombardier and a heavy machine gunner. It carries a 14.5mm heavy machine gun for self-defense a day, and can carry a 1100-pound load for ground bombing missions.

Under full load

It can carry 40 20-pound bombs or 16 50-pound bombs. After dropping the bombs, it can also dive and fire along the trenches until all the ammunition is exhausted, which brings a heavy blow to the German army.

The third-generation bomber nicknamed “Hercules” has the same personnel and weapons as the “Farmer”, but increases the wing area and uses a 9-cylinder radial piston engine, which increases power by 38% and load capacity by 54.5%. Carrying more bombs flew over the German positions, bringing great fear and death.

The   Ocean Empire Army Air Force was equipped with a total of 380 bombers, and lost 72 bombers in the following 11 days of frenzied bombing. Except for a small number of German aircraft shot down by the decisive attack, most of them were shot down by German anti-aircraft fire.

The German army responded very quickly. After being bombed on a large scale, it immediately sent a large number of 14.5mm heavy machine guns, 20mm, 37mm and 76mm rapid-fire artillery to the Somme front line, a total of more than 700 guns.

Whether the German army is willing to admit it or not, the 11-day frenzied bombing by the Air Force of the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force has achieved remarkable results and greatly weakened the combat effectiveness of the German army.

During these 11 days of bombing, a total of tens of thousands of tons of aerial bombs were dropped, hundreds of bridges were destroyed, railway lines in the German rear were paralyzed, dozens of warehouses, dozens of German command posts and artillery positions were destroyed. , destroyed more than 2,100 artillery pieces of various calibers, and killed and wounded more than 43,000 German soldiers.

Among them, the 14.5mm heavy machine guns were the most deadly shooting along the trenches. The screeching sound of the bomber jumping from the air was called “death howl” by the German soldiers in fear.

For this kind of volley attack, the German side seems to have few ways to deal with it. They can only try their best to urge the rear to produce and transport more small and medium-caliber rapid-fire guns and heavy machine guns, drive the enemy bombers to fly higher, and avoid the damage caused by strafing along the trenches. Heavy casualties.

The penetrating power of the 14.5mm heavy machine gun is very strong. Even if there are many German soldiers hiding in the anti-gun holes, the 14.5mm heavy machine gun bullets can still penetrate the soil layer on the side of 400mm, and set off among the densely packed German soldiers. A **** storm.

Under the indiscriminate bombardment of the planes of the Ocean Empire, the German soldiers could only hide in the trenches and shiver. The feeling of powerlessness and despair slowly grew and lingered.

December 22, 6:00 am

Somme River Front Command

Marshal Li Shuanzhu and the senior commander of the Anglo-French Allied Forces came here. There were many stars in the headquarters, and there was no brigadier general badge on their shoulders, so they were not qualified to stand in the headquarters.

Today is the first day of the Somme Front’s “Operation Leaky Cauldron” operational plan.

As the name suggests, “Breaking the Pot” is derived from the ancient Chinese meaning of breaking the pot and sinking the boat. It intends to open a big gap in the German defense line by fighting to the death, which is of great significance.

For this day, the British and French forces have waited for more than 110 days and nights.

For this day, Imperial Marshal Li Shuanzhu cast all 300,000 troops in, a stud.

For this day, Emperor Li Fushou personally reviewed all the battle plans and doubled the air bombardment originally scheduled for 8 days.

For this day, the Anglo-French coalition forces and the Ocean Empire Army troops mobilized 2,860 large and medium-caliber artillery pieces to prepare for 5 days and 5 nights of artillery bombardment on the German positions. A total of more than 1.8 million rounds of artillery shells were prepared.

Whether    can work or not depends on this hammer trade.

The 300,000 troops of the    Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force as the main assault force were all gathered behind the 27-kilometer-long position on the Somme River line, including two fully-staffed armored tank divisions with a total of more than 960 tanks.

Among them, there are more than 320 elite T-5 “Tiger” tanks, which are the arrows in the entire attack and the most powerful iron fist, and will play an irreplaceable and important role.

According to Li Fushou’s words; “Marshal Li has prepared three axes for the Germans. The first move is aerial bombardment, the second move is artillery coverage, and the third move is tank group assault. This series of moves even requires the Germans to have steel beans. It’s smashed, if these three axes don’t work, the imperial army will not need to continue to increase troops to Europe, it’s clear that it can’t be beat! But this probability is not even 1/10.”

The words are full of infinite self-confidence.

Looking at his watch, Marshal Li Shuanzhu did not seek the opinions of other senior officers. His eyes turned to the dark sky ahead where the night had not yet faded away, and he said in a deep voice; “Order; the second phase of the operation plan for breaking the cauldron is officially launched; the whole line of artillery bombardment will be launched. .”

one order

All the officers in the staff picked up the phones in their hands and gave orders to the other end of the phone line in a hoarse voice; “The commander of the expeditionary army command, immediately launch all-line shelling.”

Between

The ground of the artillery positions in the rear shook, and the boiling fire of the artillery shells formed a fire dragon several 10 kilometers long, shooting countless artillery shells into the night sky.

On the 27-kilometer long front, a crimson fire network was interwoven, and then an earth-shattering explosion sounded on the German trench positions, like rolling thunder.

Barbed wire, minefields, trenches, and dark fortresses were all submerged in artillery fire, reflecting a terrifying apocalyptic scene.

In accordance with the customs of European warfare

The artillery preparation before the war took several days, and the longer the time, the more tragic, bloody, and cruel the next war would be.

The Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force has a total of 300,000 elite troops, which is only enough to launch a large-scale attack on the Somme River.

(end of this chapter)