Chapter 340 The Strength of the Charles Force

The next morning, nothing recovered.

The long front line of Ypres is extremely terrifying. There are almost no living creatures here. Birds, insects, ants, and even extremely tenacious rats and cockroaches have disappeared.

There are corpses everywhere, human, animal, and plant. There is a strange smell in the air. I don't know if it comes from the residue of poisonous gas or the decay of corpses. At a glance, it seems to be the end of the world.

The headquarters of the 79th Infantry Division of the German 26th Army is a semi-enclosed bunker fortification.

The division commander, Major General Jonas, was sitting on the shell box, drinking coffee and reading the French newspapers sent by the signal corps.

In fact, you can guess without looking at him that the poison gas war launched by Germany has been widely reported all over the world, and without exception they are all condemnations:

"Gas warfare is inhumane and we should ban its use!"

"This is a human tragedy, it brings the dark side of human beings to the extreme!"

"Poison gas warfare will destroy mankind. No one can control this demon, and the Germans are no exception. They will surely suffer backlash!"

…

Major General Jonas smiled softly. He put down the newspaper and Shi Shiran stood up. He leisurely took a few steps with the coffee cup in his hand. His eyes jumped over the perforation and towards the French defense line one kilometer away.

These fools, Jonas thought, your army is losing, will of course describe the gas as demonic.

What is the difference between it and machine guns and cannons?

Aren't they all fatal?

Do they think that a bullet that blows a person's brains out, or a cannonball that throws a person into the sky and splits him into several pieces instantly, or that a shrapnel rips open his stomach and makes him die slowly in pain, are these more humane than poison gas?

At this moment Major Ralph returned with his troops, the reconnaissance party sent out by Jonas.

Ralph climbed into the bunker, stood up before Jonas, and reported:

"General, make sure there is no poisonous gas left in the front."

"The French 43rd Division is in front of our army. They have no intention of fighting and are ready to retreat at any time."

"but……"

Jonas kept looking at the French defense line and asked in a cold voice: "But what?"

"The 105th Infantry Regiment, General." Major Ralph replied: "They said that the 105th Infantry Regiment has reinforced the 43rd Division. The specific location is not clear."

"105th Infantry Regiment?" Jonas was stunned. This number seemed familiar.

Then he suddenly turned his head and looked at Ralph: "Ciel's troops? You mean that Charles is in front of us?"

"No, General," replied Ralph, "it was indeed Charles's troops, but they said Charles was not here. He was probably in command in Paris."

Jonas said "Huh" and nodded slightly.

This is reasonable, otherwise, as long as he orders the release of poisonous gas, Ciel will become a corpse or be injured and captured.

After thinking for a while, Major General Jonas turned to his staff and said, "Send a message to General Stephen to request an attack on the enemy's defense lines."

"Yes, General." The staff officer responded and immediately gave the order to the communications corps.

Major General Jonas has been requesting an attack since yesterday, now for the fifth time.

Jonas thinks this is an opportunity. The enemy has been completely demoralized by the sudden poisonous gas. This is the best time to attack, even if it takes the risk of being affected by the residual poisonous gas, it is worth it.

War will inevitably involve dangers and casualties. At other times, to achieve such a victory, the price may be dozens or even hundreds of times higher.

However, General Stephen always responded:

"Relax, Jonas, we don't need to rush."

"If you can win the first battle, you can win the next one too."

"We should gain experience from this, and then we can better defeat the enemy and achieve a comprehensive victory!"

…

These words sound right. As long as the enemy does not find a way to deal with the poison gas, the German army will always win.

However, Jonas is still worried about missing out.

Now, the enemy has sent Ciel's troops up. Could it be that Ciel has found a way to deal with the poisonous gas?

No, Jonas quickly dismissed that idea.

If Charles had found a way, he should not have been hiding in Paris but with the army.

Soon, the staff responded with a telegram: "General, General Stephen agreed to our request, but he believes that we should start with a conventional attack."

Jonas said "hmm" to express his understanding.

Due to the hasty launch of the attack, the German army did not have sufficient poison gas reserves. They needed to use "good steel on the blade".

Jonas raised his telescope and observed for a while. He found that the enemy on the opposite side seemed to be building fortifications, and some dust was faintly raised in the sky above the trenches.

Jonas took out his pocket watch, looked at it, and ordered: "Everyone is ready, attack in ten minutes!"

"Yes, general!" the staff officer responded and quickly ran to the trench to give the order.

The orders were passed down loudly, and the German soldiers immediately stood up and packed their belongings. Some of them loaded bullets for their rifles, some emptied half of the over-full water bottles to reduce the weight, and some stuffed a few more grenades in their satchels.

Then, each of them stood in front of the trench with their guns in hand and waited quietly.

Breathing gradually became heavier, bayonets gleaming in the sun.

The commander loudly comforted the soldiers as he walked: "Relax, boys! They have been frightened by the poison gas. This time is the same as before. We just need to rush up and occupy their defense line, that's it!"

"Hold on!"

"Hold on!"

…

"Now!"

A sharp whistle sounded instantly, and at the same time, the shells whistled over their heads and hit the enemy positions fiercely.

The German soldiers shouted loudly as they climbed up the ladders and then stumbled along the muddy ground of Ypres towards the enemy trenches.

They hoped that what the commander said was right, that this battle would be as easy as before, and they hoped that it would be like this in the future.

But this was not the case. The enemy's counterattack firepower was very fierce.

To be precise, it was not fierce, but accurate. Their bullets seemed to have eyes, constantly killing important units such as officers, machine gunners, and medical soldiers.

This made the German army more and more heartbroken as they rushed forward:

Without officers, they lost command and even more leaders.

Without machine gunners, there was no fire cover.

Without medical soldiers, all they thought about was lying alone in the crater after being injured and waiting for death to come until the end.

For the soldiers, they almost rushed to the enemy's defense line to die, and died tragically!

...

Major General Jonas, who was watching the battle, also felt it.

The enemy had no more machine guns, nor dense artillery shells, but strangely, it seemed to be pressing the German army, giving everyone, including Major General Jonas, an invisible pressure.

Is this the strength of Charles' army?

Major General Jonas was puzzled, what exactly was Charles going to do?

Why did he send such an elite force to the front line to face the poison gas?