Chapter 381 This Is Just the Beginning

General Winter called Charles and asked in confusion: "What's going on? You taught them how to fight?"

Charles realized that the British Military Intelligence Agency had infiltrated the French army, otherwise, the news that Charles helped the First Special Artillery Division win would not have reached General Winter so quickly.

"Yes." Charles gave a good reason: "They are the French army, General."

General Winter smiled and reminded: "This has nothing to do with me, Brigadier General, but you should know that this is not in your interest."

This is indeed nothing to do with Britain. What he wanted from beginning to end was a "remarkable" victory, regardless of whether this victory was won by Joffre or Charles.

General Winter just felt that Charles was not mature enough. He still didn't realize that this was a world that only talked about interests. Sympathy, kindness, ethics... These are all used to deceive the lower-level military and civilians.

Charles replied: "No, this is also in my interest."

This was Charles's test.

"What?" The voice in the microphone was full of doubts.

Charles was sure that this was not pretended, which meant that General Winter didn't know that Christine was loyal to Charles.

This can't be spread, at least not now.

Then Charles changed the subject and explained with another reason: "Do you think this battle is over? No, General, this is just the beginning!"

...

This is indeed just the beginning, and Christine, who is organizing the defense on the Cambrai line, also knows this.

Last night's victory was due to "night battle" and "sneak attack", which was achieved when the enemy was caught off guard. The situation of the 1st Special Artillery Division is still grim:

The German artillery has always had the upper hand.

More than 50 German tanks escaped back. Even without replenishment, they can form a crushing blow to the 118 "Saint-Samond M21" in the hands of the 1st Special Artillery Division.

Although 83 German tanks were captured last night, the French army could not use them to form combat effectiveness.

This type of tank requires five crew members to operate, and they need time to familiarize themselves with the equipment and train to achieve a certain degree of coordination.

What's more serious is that the new German tank is equipped with a 57MM rapid-fire gun. The French army can't find shells for it, and there are not many shells captured.

There were Maxim machine gun bullets, but no K bullets.

…

After analyzing all the problems, Christian thought that he could only rely on the Cambrai Line.

So, he lied to stabilize the Joffre hypothesis and prepare for the attack, but in fact he actively organized defense on the line: pulling barbed wire, reinforcing trenches, building tank bunkers and deploying the "Saint-Samond M21" on the second line...

Everything was going on in full swing in the dark. Christian knew that the Germans were also preparing for a counterattack, and the attack time was likely to be set at dawn.

Gasdon seemed to sense the danger, and he asked Christian nervously: "Can we stop the Germans?"

Christian looked at his watch and replied: "One day, Gasdon, we only need to stop them for one day."

"What?" Gasdon was puzzled. What would it matter if he could stop them for one day?

Christian stepped forward and whispered something in his ear. Gasdon turned his head and looked at Christian in shock as if he was pricked by a needle.

Christian smiled and nodded gently.

Gaston was delighted after confirming: "I'm glad to hear that, General, we should have done this a long time ago!"

One day is the defense time Charles gave Christine.

The First Tank Brigade is on its way to Cambrai, and it will take them one day to arrive, which is the result of Gallieni's coordination.

Charles' troops originally needed two days to assemble and go into battle, but now that Christine is Charles's subordinate, Charles certainly needs to hurry up to save her from danger.

…

The sky gradually brightened, and the Cambrai defense line was shrouded in thick fog. The hustle and bustle of the world and the cruelty of war seemed to be isolated by it, and all that could be seen was a soft white.

But all this was just an illusion.

Suddenly, the whistling of artillery shells crossed the sky, and several shells exploded on the Cambrai defense line.

One of them hit the trench directly, lifting the French soldiers hiding in it and the debris high into the air.

The whistling sound became more and more frequent, and soon it became indistinguishable from each other. Shells hit the defense line one after another, raising pieces of broken mud and smoke.

The landing points repeatedly went back and forth on the Cambrai defense line, over and over again, like a mud rake used for farming, carefully combing every inch of land.

The continuous shock waves continued to collapse the tunnels, and piles of French soldiers were buried in the soil and lost their lives.

The trenches were blown beyond recognition, and the mud and corpses were mixed together and dyed into a shocking red by blood.

Even the tanks hidden in the bunkers were not spared. They were either directly hit by the shells and blown into pieces, or buried under the ground by the "earth waves" that were raised and disappeared.

The bombing lasted for more than an hour. When the artillery finally stopped, the Cambrai defense line was covered with layers of stacked craters, and the world seemed to have become another look.

Charles's rule of "no long-term artillery preparation before tank attack" was obviously not applicable to the German army.

Because the German army had an absolute advantage in long-range artillery fire, they could easily suppress the French army's 105MM howitzers.

Christine almost crawled out of the dirt pile. The trench near the headquarters was hit hard by a shell, and the fallen sand blocked the tunnel entrance. The guards had to use engineer shovels to dig from the inside to the outside to escape.

Spitting out the mud in his mouth, Christine climbed up to the edge of the trench and raised his telescope to see that German soldiers were rushing towards this side like a dark cloud.

There were about sixty new tanks at the front.

Damn it, Christine cursed, this means that the Germans have been replenished, and they may have more tanks.

The German infantry followed closely behind, with bayonets already mounted on their rifles, obviously ready for hand-to-hand combat.

There were also teams of artillery, pushing 77MM artillery to follow the troops.

This was a common tactic used by the German army during the attack. They used 105 howitzers to suppress the French 75 guns, and then used 77 guns to approach and shoot at the French fortifications and machine gun positions on the battlefield.

If it weren't for Charles' mortars, the French army would have suffered heavy casualties in this attack.

"Get ready!" Christine ordered loudly.

The signalman passed the order with flags, and the French soldiers came out of the dirt piles one by one and set up their rifles and machine guns in front of the trenches. They unscrewed the safety covers of the grenades and placed them within reach. The mortar gunners found a flat ground to use as a gun platform.

In the back, the surviving "Saint-Samond M21" drove out of the bunker with the sound of the engine, and aimed the muzzle and gun barrel at the enemy pressing forward.

A great war began!