Chapter 128 Can This Be Called a War?
I was busy at work today, so I can't write five chapters in a hurry. Sorry! I will continue writing five chapters tomorrow!
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"Avro" fired smoke bombs at the German artillery positions.
The earliest smoke bomb was invented by a British officer named Motley in 1849. He used silver nitrate and ferric hesperide as chemicals, but the effect of this smoke bomb was not ideal. The smoke it produced could only make the enemy feel "smoke".
Charles used a formula improved by the Germans two years later. They used potassium nitrate and sucrose as chemicals. The smoke intensity was more than ten times that of the original smoke bomb, and the cost was low and the raw materials were easier to obtain.
What Charles had to do was to fill these chemicals into rockets, and then the pilots would launch them into the "dangerous area".
The German machine gunners stationed in the artillery positions were soon confused by the smoke and could not see the planes in the air, but the pilots could still see the towering gun barrels in the positions when they looked down.
Then, rocket planes swooped down, firing rockets between their wings into the artillery positions.
Although rockets were not accurate, they were numerous. Each plane carried ten rockets, and more than ten planes carried hundreds of rockets.
These rockets bombarded the artillery positions, and the German artillery was instantly in chaos.
Suddenly, a fire broke out in the smoke, and the red ball looked like a pile of firewood.
It was not firewood, but a truck transporting ammunition.
There were only two vehicles parked in the entire artillery position, and a rocket hit one of them by coincidence. There were even more than 20 shells in its trunk that had not been unloaded in time.
The artillery officer blew the whistle and ordered the driver to drive the car away, but the driver could not do it. The rocket hit the cab and there was flames everywhere. Even the joystick to start the car could not be taken out.
Several soldiers rushed over and tried to grab wet coats and engineer shovels to try to put out the fire, but it didn't work. The fire was still getting bigger and bigger.
This frightened the soldiers, and the rescuers dropped their tools and ran away, but it was useless.
"Boom!"
After a loud bang, the bomb in the rear compartment exploded, and the fire spread to the nearby shells, triggering a series of chain explosions.
Flying in the air, Carter only glanced at the fire below, and then focused his attention on the German planes, which were fleeing around under the pursuit of "Avro", but they were destined to become targets without weapons.
Carter caught up with the enemy planes calmly, aimed and pulled the control stick...
General Cross looked at the chaotic rear and the planes that were hit one after another from the sky, and felt inexplicably powerless.
This was an unfair war. The German army had superior manpower and much better quality, but it was like a punch on cotton, completely powerless.
And the enemy's fragile infantry hid in the trenches and did nothing, just occasionally popped up and pulled the trigger a few times!
Can this be called a war? This is simply a one-sided massacre!
After a long time, Cross gave the order in a muffled voice: "Retreat!"
The staff officer had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. Anyone could see that the soldiers were suffering meaningless casualties. As soon as he received the order, he immediately passed the order over the phone.
...
Albert I and General Charles did not figure out the situation until the German army retreated. It all came too suddenly.
Looking at the German army retreating like a tide, Albert I did not even know what happened: "Are they scared away by airplanes? Or cannons?"
In his opinion, the French artillery fire was unsustainable. Once they opened fire, it almost meant destruction... The German artillery fire would immediately suppress them in the opposite direction.
The next time should be the most dangerous time: the French artillery fire was silenced, the German infantry took advantage of the situation to attack, the enemy and us fought hand to hand, and soon the Belgian army would collapse across the board.
The German army is winning, as long as they hold on for a while longer!
Albert even considered whether to open the sluice gates. He thought this might be the only way to save Ypres.
However...
The German army retreated miraculously!
Albert I had a lot of questions in his mind:
Why did they retreat?
Why didn't the German artillery fire?
Why did the French 75 gun chase the Germans?
General Charles didn't understand at first, until he raised his telescope and looked in the direction of the German army, and found that all the German balloons had disappeared, not a single one was left.
"It's the plane!" General Charles said excitedly: "The plane won again, they blew up the balloon!"
Albert I followed Charles's gaze and found that there was nothing above the German army except white clouds and the French "Avro".
He couldn't help but exclaimed: "God, Charles doesn't even need us to win this battle!"
This is not accurate, the Belgian army is still useful.
At least they can dig a trench there to form a line of defense, and occasionally there are a few enemy warriors who pass through the artillery barrage, and they have to deal with them.
Otherwise, if these "slippery fish" were allowed to penetrate the artillery positions or threaten the king and the headquarters, it might also create some chaos.
Albert I did not know that a small group of French reinforcements were coming at this time. Their commander rode a tall horse, followed by a cavalry of more than 200 people.
He was Foch, who was respected as a famous master by the French army.
When Foch received the order to "stop advancing", he was very dissatisfied, or more accurately, angry. Foch could not help cursing:
"This is ridiculous!"
"Ypres is waiting for our reinforcements. There is no ridiculous "flash flood" ahead. The bridge is right in front of us, it is right there!"
"We can arrive tonight, but we have to wait here until tomorrow!"
"He did this because he clearly hoped that the Germans would capture Ypres!"
Foch even suspected that Gallieni was bribed by the Germans to give such an unreasonable order.
But this does not seem right. Gallieni saved Paris. If he was bribed by the Germans, he should cooperate with the Germans in Paris instead of driving them out!
So, Gallieni hoped that the British reinforcements would arrive first?
Or was there any other consideration?
Foch, who did not know why, decided to personally lead a team of cavalry to Ypres to find out!
Foch was worried all the way. He even considered whether to disobey the order and pull up the reinforcements at all costs.
However...
Soon he found out that his worries were unnecessary!
When he rushed to Ypres, he saw France winning.
The whole sky was filled with planes painted in the French tricolor. The Germans fled in panic under the bombardment of artillery, and the incomplete bodies of German soldiers were everywhere in front of the positions...
This was a nearly perfect victory, and the casualties of the Allies were almost zero!
Thanks: Muqiu Jiuyue, Maoxuan, and Shuyou 20170902134251903 for their rewards, thank you very much!