Chapter 336 Yellow-Green Fog

In mid-April, there was a breeze in Ypres in the early morning, and the humid sea breeze still carried a chill.

Within the Allied defense lines, most of the soldiers were still sleeping. Only a few sentries were hiding under the trenches, yawning and staring in the direction of the Germans.

Suddenly, a wall of yellow-green smoke as tall as a person rose up in the no-man's land. This wall of smoke slowly drifted toward the Allied defense line in the direction of the wind.

Felix, who was on sentry duty, rubbed his eyes. He thought it was because he had not slept all night and had vision problems.

After confirming again and again, he turned to his comrade who was sleeping against the trench with his rifle in his arms and asked: "Klein, wake up, did I see it wrong? Yellow-green fog."

Klein muttered: "You must be wrong, the weather is very good these days, there will be no fog!"

"It's true, right in front of us." Felix kicked Klein: "Get up and take a look."

Klein frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with Felix's behavior. He had lived in this area since he was a child and had never seen any yellow-green fog. This must be Felix's excuse to wake him up. It was a poor excuse. Excuse.

However, when Klein stuck his head out, he actually found a yellow-green fog rolling towards them like a tide. It was only a hundred meters away from them.

Klein exclaimed, "It doesn't look like fog."

"What is it if it's not fog?" Felix asked.

"I don't know!" Klein replied.

"Maybe we should report this to our superiors..." Felix suggested.

But before he finished speaking, Felix smelled a pungent smell. He couldn't help coughing, his eyes felt burning, and his throat seemed to be burned.

The same goes for Klein.

Felix immediately realized that this was the "credit" of the "yellow-green fog", which had such a big reaction before they even "flooded" in front of him.

The word "poison gas" popped into Felix's mind, and he made a prompt decision, pulling Klein and running back along the traffic trench.

As Klein ran, he shouted intermittently: "We want to inform the others..."

"It's too late!" Felix replied.

After notifying others, everyone will be "drowned" in the poisonous gas. They should notify the troops on the second line of defense, so as to avoid greater casualties as much as possible.

Facts have proved that Felix was right. Only a few dozen of the more than 3,000 people on the first line of defense survived because they were unprepared.

Behind the second line of defense, there were far fewer casualties because of the timely notification of sentries.

Even so, more than 100,000 Allied troops in the Ypres salient, including the British Fifth Army and the French Twentieth Army, all retreated, and a 10-kilometer-wide gap appeared in the defense line.

In this battle, the German army released a total of 6,000 cans of 180,000 kilograms of chlorine gas, poisoning 15,000 people, including 5,000 deaths.

The German XXVI Corps followed the gas and rushed towards the gap. It easily occupied the Allied positions and advanced to the Ypres-Comine Canal without encountering any resistance.

(The picture above shows a close-up view of poison gas in World War I. Since chlorine gas is denser than air, it can be deposited in low places for a long time, maintaining continuous damage to the enemy)

…

At the Army Group North headquarters, Foch got up on time at six o'clock as usual. After washing up for a while, he started jogging around the village today.

This is a habit that Foch has maintained for many years. He believes that to ensure the attack speed of the troops, a strong body is essential.

Although as a general he no longer needs to charge the enemy on the battlefield, he should do so even if it can serve as a small example.

Foch usually ran for half an hour, but on this day he had to interrupt.

Just when he was about to take a sip of water after running half a circle, Morini ran towards Foch in a panic and shouted in panic: "General, if there is an emergency, you must return to the headquarters immediately."

Foch was quite dissatisfied with Morini's performance. As a soldier, especially a staff officer at the Army Headquarters, he should remain calm at all times.

Morini did not realize this. He ran to Foch and reported breathlessly: "Poison gas, General, it's poison gas!"

Foch said "Oh" with dissatisfaction in his tone: "Did Charles mention the poison gas again?"

This guy is not done yet. He was warned last time. This information may have been released intentionally by the Germans in order to disrupt the morale of the Allied forces!

However, Morini shook his head and replied: "No, General, it was the Germans...the Germans released the poison gas!"

Foch, who was drinking water, was choked. He coughed uncontrollably, but looked at Morini with shock in his eyes, and asked with difficulty: "What, poison gas? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Morini nodded heavily: "In Ypres, our army suffered heavy casualties and retreated in large areas. Charles is right, the Germans are indeed preparing for a gas war!"

Foch could no longer remain calm. He threw away the kettle in his hand, turned around and ran towards the headquarters.

…

The news soon reached France, and Paris was instantly in a sensation. Everyone knew that the Germans used poison gas on the battlefield:

"It's an inhumane act and they can't do it."

"This is not war, this is massacre!"

"They are simply demons, unscrupulous murderers and executioners!"

…

Charles was on vacation at home at the time. He took more vacations during this period, and temporarily resumed his routine of taking one day off every two days.

This was Gallieni's decision, considering that Charles needed to rest after returning from the Gallipoli battlefield, and Charles also accepted it happily because he had many personal matters to deal with.

He was sleeping soundly when there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by Laurent's shout: "Colonel, the general asked you to return to the headquarters immediately!"

Charles immediately realized that something was urgent.

This was the first time that Laurent went upstairs and knocked on the door himself instead of waking Charles up through Deyoka.

Charles vaguely guessed that the gas war might have begun, and only this could make Laurent so nervous.

Sure enough, when Charles hurriedly put on his military uniform and went out, Laurent reported with a pale face: "Gas, the Germans used gas, you guessed it right again!"

Charles said "hmm" expressionlessly and took him downstairs.

Deyoka and Camille were already waiting downstairs. They heard some news and were nervously looking at Charles coming downstairs.

Shouldn't Charles be sent to the battlefield again at this time? Camille thought, but she didn't say it out loud. She just stepped forward uncontrollably and stopped Charles.

"Today is your holiday, Charles." Camille's excuse was weak: "You should rest at home!"

"It's okay, Mom." Charles replied: "I'm going to Paris, not anywhere else, I promise!"