Chapter 109
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August 15, 1920, Bocholt, Er Industrial Zone.
The fierce gunfire finally stopped in the evening. German soldiers poked their heads out of the trenches one after another. Under the leadership of the officers, they began to repair the trenches with shovels in their hands and deepen the anti-gun holes.
Outside the German trenches, large groups of French corpses were piled up outside the positions. Most of the soldiers were killed by the German machine gun fire, so most of them were shot in the chest. A few were unlucky and touched mines during the attack. Their legs were blown off and they fell to the ground without anyone to care about them. They died of excessive blood loss.
These corpses were scattered in the area 10-1500 meters in front of the German positions. The soldiers killed by bullets were mainly concentrated in the range of 50-200 meters. Most of the French soldiers outside this range were killed by artillery shells.
The entire battlefield seemed like hell. The blood of the French soldiers dyed the entire land reddish brown. The battlefield was filled with a pungent smell of blood, which made people want to vomit!
After the French attack stopped, the commander of the Second Division, Model, personally came to inspect the German positions.
Model's expression was very solemn. The German losses were greater than he expected, and most of the casualties came from the French heavy artillery.
At the beginning of the battle, the French did not have such heavy artillery. These heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 120 mm were not added to the battle until later.
What left the deepest impression on the Germans were the two 00mm fortress guns of the French army.
It was unknown how the French army dismantled and transported these things, but these two guns posed a huge threat to the German positions.
The 200-meter artillery weighed 220 kilograms, and the killing range of a shell could reach the size of a football field.
Even if you hid in a gun-proof cave, as long as you were close enough to the explosion point, you would be buried by the huge power of the explosion.
Model did not expect the French army to have such large-caliber artillery at the beginning, so the depth of the anti-gun holes he built was not deep enough to withstand the bombardment of 120-150 mm heavy artillery. However, the French army had such a large-caliber weapon at this time, which made the German situation even more difficult.
Therefore, after the battle, under Model's order, the German army rushed to repair the position and deepened the anti-gun holes to reduce casualties under the enemy's artillery fire!
"General, the French army deployed two regiments in the battle just now, but they were all defeated by us. Their casualties exceeded 5,000 at least!"
Compared to Model's caution and worry, the soldiers at the bottom seemed particularly excited.
The German casualties were about 800, but they brought 5,000 casualties to the French today, and the battle loss ratio of the two sides reached 6:1!
From the exchange ratio, the German army is very profitable!
Moreover, the soldiers hit the French army hard in the battle, which allowed the soldiers to vent their previous anger. Everyone's morale was high at this time. Not only did they not show the imagination of fear of fighting, but they were also eager to fight. Many people even asked to take the initiative to attack at night, give the French army a surprise, and let them see how powerful the German army is!
Model certainly couldn't agree to their request. The reason why the German army was able to cause such heavy casualties to the French army in the white fight was mainly because of trenches and fortifications. The German soldiers hid in the trenches, with trench cover, heavy machine gun fire points for continuous fire suppression, and traffic trenches for their convenience.
The French soldiers were exposed outside when they attacked. Although they had these things, they would not... Following them forward, they were all behind them, and the French soldiers who lacked cover were beaten to pieces under the German defense line, and suffered heavy casualties. This was a very common thing.
Throughout World War I, the front-line positions of the Allies and the Allies were basically like this. Facing the enemy's tight defense, the party that took the initiative to attack would pay a very heavy price when attacking.
And it was precisely because this price was too heavy that both sides could not bear it. In the end, no one was willing to take the initiative to attack, so they simply dug trenches for each other and hid in the trenches to confront each other.
These lessons learned were very profound during World War I, so Model did not intend to take the initiative to attack and ask for trouble.
However, the threat of the two 200mm fortress guns of the French army was too great. If these two fortress guns could not be removed, the casualties of the German army would probably continue to rise!
Just when Model was worried about how to deal with the French fortress guns, the French side was also frightened by the heavy casualties in the daytime attack!
"We can’t fight this way anymore. The morale of the frontline troops is very low, and our casualties are too heavy!"
The French army was quite resistant to the offensive order from their superiors, because they had already experienced the power of trench warfare in World War I. When everyone recalled the experience of World War I, they were all terrified, and no one wanted to go back to that kind of war again!
Attacking the enemy’s position with a tight defense line is almost like filling the pit with the lives of the soldiers, and the pit dug by the enemy is particularly deep. They filled it with 5,000 lives, but there was no hope of filling the pit! The
French army did have more troops than the German army, but even if they had more troops, they could not bear such casualties!
After all, the soldiers are people, not machines. Seeing their companions fall in front of the enemy’s position one after another, they said they would never go to the battlefield again!
"What should I do? General Henry gave me a death order to take Bocholt within three days. If I fail to take it, will he let me off easily?"
The French commander was very angry. He knew he couldn't fight like this, but he really had no choice. If he didn't attack, could he expect the Germans to retreat and give up their positions?
Isn't that a dream?
"At this point there is only one way, and that is to increase the intensity of the artillery bombardment and try to plow all the enemy positions with artillery fire before the soldiers attack. As long as we can destroy their firepower points, our attack will be much easier!"
"Yes, this is a solution, but I think we should apply for tanks to fight. After all, tanks are thick-skinned and tough, like a mobile fortress. With the cover of this thing, the infantry don't have to worry about being shot by enemy machine guns!"
Since the order they received was a death order and the battle had to be fought, the French generals started to rack their brains and began to think of ways to use various methods to capture the German positions.
However, they were not the only ones who were thinking of ways. Model was also thinking of ways.
In the evening, Mainz, who was stationed in Dortmund, received a telegram from Model.
In the telegram, Model reported on the battle situation during the day and mentioned the difficulties faced by the German army.
Because of the lack of heavy artillery, their artillery firepower was much weaker than that of the French, and because the French artillery positions were built by the French. Behind the trenches, it was difficult for the Germans to knock down the enemy's heavy artillery, which brought great difficulties to Model.
Mainz took the battle report very seriously. The Germans lacked tanks, heavy artillery, and aircraft, but the French had all of these, so Model must be under great pressure.
At this time, the French still had 200mm heavy artillery, so the pressure on the Germans would definitely be even greater!
He had to do something for Model, otherwise, even if Model held the position, he would probably suffer heavy casualties!
Thinking of this, Mainz turned on the system! _Feilu reminds you: Three things to do when reading-