Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1069

Chapter 1069 Night Battle

Although he knew that reinforcements to the second-line trenches would be death, Admiral Galwitz still bite the bullet and issued a reinforcement order. The Somme was a **** battlefield. The British could not retreat with 60,000 casualties a day, and the Germans could not retreat either.

The 45th and 72nd divisions of the German army entered the traffic trenches and waited quietly for reinforcements after the shelling.

As soon as the 40-minute shelling time came, the sound of shelling stopped abruptly.

in the first time

The bombers swirled in the sky and dived down one team after another. The lowest distance was only 20 to 30 meters away from the trenches. They swaggered down the trenches, and dropped bombs one bomb after another into the trenches.

A bomber in front just pulled up and took off, followed by another bomber in the back, and the cycle repeats.

In the German trenches ravaged by artillery fire, the vast majority of the German soldiers were lying in disorder before they had time to hide in the anti-artillery holes. Most of them had been buried by heavy dust. In some cases, the situation was slightly better, and the bombed head “buzzed”, standing up and swaying left and right, losing the sense of direction.

at this time

The bomber’s precise bombing and frantic strafing along the trenches caused far more damage to the German troops than the whole line of artillery bombardment. Every bomb that was dropped in the trenches and exploded would fly into the sky with countless stumps and broken arms.

The   heavy machine guns fired frantically, and it was a string of flesh and blood alleys. The thick blood mist that emerged turned this place into a **** of death, with countless casualties.

Just 10 minutes

After hundreds of fighter planes raged wildly, one team after another returned. They would return to the rear airfield to reload and continue to fly over the Somme River, strangling any German troops and artillery positions found in the air.

The faces of the 45th and 72nd divisions of the German Army who were trying to reinforce forward turned green. On the second-line positions in front, they only saw one enemy plane after another dive bombing and shooting frantically. The German troops on the position were as quiet as all It was like being killed in battle, and there was no movement at all, and there was no such thing as an air-to-air combat.

The tactical coordination of the   Ocean Empire was too tight. As soon as the artillery bombardment on the whole line stopped, the bombers circling in the air dived down one after another, and the response did not even take 5 seconds.

At this time, the German soldiers in the trenches were completely dumbfounded, unable to resist at all, and suffered a one-sided massacre.

After 10 minutes

The rumbling sound of artillery in the distance sounded again, and the few fighter jets that were still bombing and strafing along the trenches scattered like frightened birds, and rose to the sky at full speed for the first time.

Then I saw the densely packed shells smashing hard, drowning the second-line German positions in a cloud of explosive smoke.

this…

Bullying with pure firepower, can this battle still be fought?

A question arose in almost all German commanders, and then they felt a chill down the back of their spine, as if they smelled death.

After    25 minutes of heavy artillery shelling, the artillery positions of the British and French coalition forces came to an abrupt end again.

And the bomber hovering in the air, the fighter swooped down again, repeating the scene half an hour ago…

It was also ten minutes, and the armored troops in this attack had already rushed to more than 30 meters away from the German trenches. A large number of soldiers poured out and threw a round of grenades in unison, which fell into the trenches and blew up the sky.

Then the soldiers rushed over and jumped into the trenches like dumplings, followed by screams like crying fathers and mothers. At this time, the German trenches were a **** scene, blood mixed with thick mud, everywhere. They are all broken limbs, broken arms and corpses.

When the soldier stepped in, it went directly over his ankle.

The strong blood in the entire trench was choking and nauseating. Many soldiers fell down without standing still, and came face to face with the wreckage. Under the shock of the heart, the strong nausea came into their hearts, and they vomited wildly regardless of it.

The attacking soldiers from the rear stopped in time, ran to the front, turned around, and vomited wildly. They didn’t jump down without saying anything. They just carried guns along the trenches to search for the remaining German enemies, and vomited disgustingly as they walked.

Not surprisingly

At about 3:00 pm, the attacking 1st Corps of the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force successfully occupied the surface positions of the German 2nd line of defense, killing and injuring more than 50,000 Germans and taking more than 10,000 prisoners.

Those clever German soldiers hid in the anti-gun holes, and at least they survived, but the hellish scene in front of them made these German soldiers unable to raise the slightest resistance, and basically surrendered obediently.

The    tank armoured units crossed the German second-line positions and advanced 3 kilometers to establish a defensive line, but there was no continuous attack.

This is because the tragic scene on the second-line German positions had a huge impact on the minds of the soldiers on the side. Many soldiers had serious symptoms of discomfort, and many of them were scared to pee their pants.

In this case, there is no way to continue the attack.

After the war, this German trench was filled with bulldozers as a whole, and it was called “Hell Trench”.

The troops of the 45th and 72nd divisions, which were reinforced by the German army, narrowly escaped, and returned home in vain. They hid in the rear three-line trenches and shivered, waiting for their unknown fate.

The winter dusk in Western Europe came early. By 5:30 in the evening, the sun had set, and the sky was howling, bringing a chill to the Somme that had experienced too many deaths.

The two fronts of the German army were successively broken in one day. When the news came, all the Allies were in an uproar. It was impossible to believe that the Royal Army of the Ocean Empire could achieve such a remarkable victory.

This is a German, not an American made up of a militia, who was defeated like this, this subversive victory sounds like a myth!

“This is the power of innovative tactics. The Germans could kill and wound more than 60,000 British troops in one day with their heavy machine guns. The Imperial Royal Army bombed in the air for 16 days, shelled for 5 days and 5 nights, and then carried out a tank and armored group assault. The close coordination of the infantry and artillery, the perfect air-ground integration tactics, in the case of occupying absolute air superiority, broke through the two strong German defense lines in one day, killing and injuring more than 100,000 people, why is it unacceptable? Is our record watered?” Li Shuanzhu The marshal asked in surprise.

Admiral Bian Chunsong also laughed when he heard the words, and said:

“It is not surprising that many people in this world cannot accept the rise of empires, both European conservatives and Chinese scum.

The homeland of China is weak, impoverished, wars are frequent, and the warlords are divided, which further deepens the impression of the outside world.

to be frank

I also overestimated the German army. The left hook tactic that was originally intended to break through the left flank of the Karl Hills was not played at all, and the breakthrough to the second-line position of the German army was achieved.

Tomorrow’s battle

The key point is to cooperate with the British and French forces to expand the occupation of the German second-line positions, and try to break through the last line of defense and drive the Germans out of French territory. ”

“Well, it’s hard to imagine how good the air-ground tactic is. Tomorrow, we will continue to arrange battles that can be solved by consuming ammunition, so there is no need to be polite to the Germans.”

“Be humble and obey orders.”

“By the way, have the frontline casualties been counted?”

“Returning to the commander, the statistics have been made. Today’s battle damaged 57 bombers, 35 fighter jets, 37 T-5 tanks responsible for the main attack were destroyed, and half-track armored vehicles and other equipment were lost in varying numbers, casualties. The total number was 11,350, of which 1,782 were killed and more than 9,560 wounded.”

“Oh, why is the casualty ratio so big?”

“Returning to the commander, most of the more than 9,560 wounded were officers and soldiers who jumped into the trenches for the first time. After suffering a huge mental shock, they were in a trance and had a serious wartime emergency response. They were weak and sweaty, and their hands and feet were sore. The nightmares were repeated, accompanied by more serious adverse symptoms, so these officers and soldiers have been urgently sent to the rear.”

This kind of large-scale wartime stress symptoms on the battlefield is rare but not uncommon. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British 3rd Army had suffered huge casualties, which is completely understandable.

Think about it

The young soldiers suddenly jumped into the trenches with piles of corpses. The piles of corpses did not even reach the waist. There were cruel scenes of broken limbs and arms everywhere, and the visual impact was too great.

“Get some drinks for the soldiers, and arrange some girls to relax. The Germans are always a strong opponent, and they won’t give in easily. Be fully prepared.” Marshal Li Shuanzhu instructed.

The two were discussing, and the staff officer of the headquarters came in to report that the German army launched a large-scale counter-offensive in the dark, and the two sides were fighting fiercely.

So, Marshal Li Shuanzhu and General Bian Chunsong came to the staff hall and listened to the report of the staff officer while watching the sand table.

For the German night attack, the expeditionary force was well prepared.

After Xu stopped advancing at 3:00 p.m., the expeditionary force established a temporary defense line with foxholes as the mainstay behind the German second-line positions, with T-5 Tiger tanks as firepower points, and simple defense facilities such as barbed wire were set up.

The nighttime aircraft could not be dispatched, which was the only chance for the Germans to counterattack.

The German 2nd Army took out the preserved artillery to attack, but the German artillery was quickly suppressed by the superior firepower of the Allied forces.

Covered by night

The German army concentrated three divisions to carry out a local attack. The frontline battle was very fierce. The German army even used 37mm and 76mm field guns to cooperate with the German soldiers to attack.

But in the dark night, it was difficult for the cumbersome 76mm field gun to achieve any results. Instead, it was destroyed by the direct fire of the tank guns that quickly counterattacked, causing great losses.

The fierce night battle continued until dawn

The three German divisions in charge of the attack left behind more than 14,000 corpses and retreated in embarrassment. They attacked all night and failed to break the simple line of defense based on tank firepower. Instead, they encountered bloodshed.

The biggest disadvantage is that the German 76mm field artillery is flat and direct, and it cannot break the frontal armor of the T5 Tiger tank. However, the 76mm artillery equipped by the Tiger Tank can bombard the opponent with one hit, and the heavy machine gun equipped by the tank is even more dead. reaper, thanks

A Tiger tank is equipped with three heavy machine guns, a coaxial machine gun, a front-seat course machine gun, and a 14.5mm heavy machine gun on the top of the turret, which can vent firepower on the German army without any scruples, and let them taste the power of modern heavy weapons .

Comparing the two, you can see the difference.

(end of this chapter)