Chapter 310 Grenade Defense

Amid a shrill whistle, the Ottoman army launched a charge.

There were two directions:

To the west of the defense line was the 65th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Militia Regiment trapped in the "A" corner, with a total strength of more than 7,000 people.

To the east of the defense line was the 70th Infantry Regiment, which was urgently transferred, with a total strength of more than 3,000 people.

The enemy tried to strangle Charles' troops in the cradle with this two-sided attack.

Charles lay behind the parapet of the trench and watched all this with a telescope.

This was the first time he faced the enemy's charge.

There were dense enemies everywhere in front of him, wearing fez hats, roaring loudly with murderous intent, rushing towards the defense line like a red tide, and the bayonets emitted a little cold light in the sun, as if eager to drink the enemy's blood.

(The picture above shows an Ottoman soldier wearing a fez during World War I. The fez was not banned until 1925)

A thought flashed through Charles' mind. Charles realized that he seemed to be an "invader", while the enemies on the opposite side who were charging with their chests puffed out were the righteous army that wanted to drive the invaders out of the country.

If the plot of movies and TV shows is followed, the Ottomans should be the final winners.

But Charles quickly put this idea behind him. He knew it was a lie to deceive people.

War is fought in reality. If the righteous army is bound to win, Mongolia would never have conquered such a large territory.

The enemy was getting closer and closer. When they entered 200 meters, Charles could even see the curved beards on their mouths like two sickles in the aperture of the telescope.

Tijani was lying more than ten meters away from Charles. He waited until then and shouted: "Fire!"

The staff officer who had been prepared for a long time immediately blew the whistle.

Almost at the same time, gunshots rang out on the defense line, rifles made "bang bang" sounds, Maxim machine guns fired wildly, and dense bullets flew towards the enemy group like raindrops.

The Ottoman army, which was charging quickly, seemed to be blocked by an invisible big hand and suddenly stagnated. Blood and screams followed, and the soldiers rushing in front fell to the ground in various weird postures.

However, the Ottoman army turned a blind eye to this. The front row fell, and the back row still shouted and rushed forward, faster and faster, almost at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

Several times, Charles thought they were about to rush into the trench, but they were blown back by the barrage of grenades under Tijani's order.

This was Charles' advice to Tijani.

Before the enemy attacked, Tijani frowned with the intelligence delivered by the seaplane.

"The enemy probably has more than 10,000 people, Colonel, and an unknown number of artillery." Tijani's voice was filled with fear: "They actually gathered so many troops in such a short time, and they attacked from two sides. Our troops are seriously insufficient."

If it is only attacked from one side, the 3,000-man army defending a 6-kilometer defense line is not much different, but if it is from two sides, in principle, the number of soldiers defending should be doubled.

As long as one side cannot be defended, the 105th Infantry Regiment will be in vain.

Charles thought for a while and asked Tijani: "General, have you noticed that the popularity of helmets in the Ottoman army is very low, and most of them wear that kind of... cylindrical hat."

"That's called a fez, Colonel." Tijani smiled bitterly, and said with self-mockery: "Despite this, their helmet popularity is still much higher than ours."

France did not have helmets at this time, and the soldiers still wore red military caps. They even needed to use hat covers to cover the bright color to make themselves safer.

Charles said, "Hmm," "What I want to say is that grenades may be very effective in killing them."

The enemy has no helmets, and has no tactics or awareness to avoid grenades. Of course, this is the best time for grenades to shine.

Tijani looked at Charles helplessly, "Colonel, have you ever considered this: grenades can only be thrown about 50 meters, so it's dangerous to do so."

Charles understood what Tijani meant.

In this era, it is important to eliminate the enemy outside the range, especially for the defenders. It is taboo to let the enemy get close to them. Once the enemy rushes into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat, the defensive advantage will be lost.

And 50 meters only takes a few seconds if the speed is fast, and it will rush to the front in the blink of an eye.

Charles replied: "Then, we need to place a wire mesh about 30 meters away to delay the enemy's actions."

Tijani said "hmm", thought for a while and nodded thoughtfully: "Good idea, if there is a wire mesh about 30 meters away, the people rushing in front will definitely slow down subconsciously, but the enemies behind will not slow down, and they will be crowded together at about 50 meters waiting to be bombed!"

This is also the reason why Tijani put the enemy at a distance of 200 meters before firing. He couldn't wait to try whether this new tactic would work on the battlefield.

He who advocates the art of war didn't seem to think that if this attempt failed, he and the 105th Infantry Regiment might be waiting for death.

Fortunately, actual combat proved that this tactic was effective.

(If the Ottomans also had grenades, this tactic would obviously be ineffective, because the enemy could also throw grenades into the trenches at this distance)

The momentum of the Ottoman army slowed down significantly in front of the wire mesh, and the front-line soldiers took off the marching blankets on their backs while running in the rain of bullets.

This was the best way to deal with the barbed wire at that time. Spread out the blanket and throw yourself on the barbed wire, and your teammates can step on your body and rush to the enemy's trench quickly.

However, grenades with smoke coming out of the tail rolled in the air and were thrown towards the crowd.

Some of the Ottoman soldiers knew that it was a grenade, but they were untrained and didn't know that they should lie down to avoid it at this time. They chose to ignore it and continue to rush forward.

"Boom!"

"boom!"

…

Amidst the explosion, the Ottoman soldiers were blown to the ground.

Many of them were not injured, some had their heads bruised and bloody, some had their stomachs pierced by shrapnel, some were blinded by the bombing, and they all fell to the ground rolling and wailing.

Charles felt chills in his heart. He had never observed this human tragedy at such a close distance. All kinds of painful and cruel scenes and shouts were intertwined to paint a picture of "purgatory on earth."

But that was not the case with the soldiers.

In their eyes, this scene is "victory", "strength" and "safety".

Their morale was greatly boosted, and they raised their rifles and aimed at the enemies in front of them who were still capable of fighting but were stunned by the explosion.

"Bang! Bang!"

…

After a series of gunshots, the Ottoman soldiers fell into a pool of blood one by one, clutching their wounds.

Finally, the enemy retreated like a tide.

At this time, the corpses of Ottoman soldiers were lying in front of the trenches. Some were still crawling with difficulty and were covered in blood.