Chapter 480: This Side Faces the Enemy

Major General Lacoste looked at the map blankly, his eyes a little complicated.

He even suspected that the Charles in front of him was a fake and a spy for the Germans, aiming to make them lose the war!

Otherwise, who would take the initiative to ask the troops to give up their geographical advantages so that the enemy could occupy the high ground? !

Charles seemed to see through Major General Lacoste's thoughts. He smiled softly: "General, if you are sure that you can't stop the German attack, why don't you try my method?"

Major General Lacoste suddenly came to his senses.

If Charles is a fake or a German spy, he doesn't need to do anything, he just needs to wait, and the 2nd Army will be completely annihilated tonight!

Thinking of this, Major General Lacoste sighed lightly: "But Brigadier General, the result of this will make us completely passive."

He pointed to the defensive line position drawn by Charles:

"If we build the defense line here, the Germans can easily throw grenades into our trenches from the top of the mountain, but it will be difficult for us to counterattack because we are at a low level."

"In other words, the enemy can easily kill us with just grenades."

Charles replied calmly:

"I don't think so, General."

"Ordinary trenches do have the problems you mentioned."

"But it's different if it's a trench with different heights."

Major General Lacoste looked confused: "What's the difference between high and low?"

Charles nodded, took the pen and paper and drew a diagram while explaining:

"This is the slope of the mountain. We should probably build trenches at this location."

“The soil excavated when constructing the trench was all piled upstream, which caused the upper side to be much higher than the lower side.”

Major General Lacoste suddenly understood, and he exclaimed:

"Grenades thrown by the Germans would be blocked by the high upper side."

"Or will it go over the upper side and over the trench and be thrown to the other end?"

Ciel nodded.

This is actually an artificial construction of a "dead spot" into which grenades cannot be thrown, even if the Germans are close enough and at a high altitude.

In turn, French soldiers in the trenches could easily throw grenades to the top of the mountain as soon as they got up.

Major General Lacoste's eyes lit up instantly. In this way, the French army took the initiative, although on the surface it seemed to have given up its geographical advantage.

Colonel Klein seemed to see something. He added: "There are also German artillery. None of their artillery can hit this side."

Major General Lacoste was stunned for a moment, then beamed with joy: "You're right, the enemy's howitzers will be blocked by the top of the mountain. This area is their blind spot. God, we can even ignore the existence of enemy artillery. There are thousands of artillery."

"More than that." Charles pointed his finger at the bottom of the high ground: "We can place artillery at the foot of the mountain."

Major General Lacoste nodded repeatedly, his voice becoming excited:

"Yes, Commodore, that's great."

"The foot of the mountain is still a blind spot for enemy artillery. It is safe for artillery to be deployed here, but they can hit the Germans who rush to the top of the mountain."

"It's hard to imagine that just moving the defense line back a few dozen meters will bring so many benefits."

"And no one thought of this before. Only you, Brigadier!"

Major General Lacoste looked at Charles from initial suspicion to admiration.

As expected of Charles, who is called French Mars, this is simply turning decay into magic!

The Germans would be caught off guard, and in the dark they would be so disoriented that they wouldn't even know where the grenade came from!

Major Jules, who came with Charles, also looked at Charles in surprise, feeling a little sad in his heart.

If the French army had used this tactic from the beginning, perhaps the first line of defense would not have been lost, and they would not have suffered such heavy casualties. Colonel Delion and his comrades...

Only Ciel looked calm, as if he had said something insignificant.

This is not what Charles came up with. It is a tactic used by modern volunteers when facing artillery with absolute superiority: reverse slope tactics.

Actively giving up the position on the top of the mountain and constructing trenches on the reverse slope can instantly render the enemy's direct-fire artillery useless, including tanks.

Although the cannon can hit it, it can only hit it blindly without knowing the exact location of the target.

Once the enemy troops enter the position on the top of the mountain, the volunteers will jump out of the trenches and launch a counterattack. Soon the two armies will be strangled together and enter hand-to-hand combat.

At this time, all the enemy's advanced equipment will be useless and only bayonets can be used.

The reason why European and American countries do not have such tactics is because their battles are always aircraft against aircraft and tanks against tanks, and they never consider the tactic of bayonet against human life when the enemy's equipment is absolutely superior.

Gradually, the smile on Major General Lacoste's face calmed down, and he seemed to have thought of this.

"Brigadier General." Major General Lacoste said worriedly: "Our trenches are too close to the position on the top of the mountain and are still at a low level. Once the enemy launches a desperate charge..."

Gathered in Verdun were the elite German troops, commanded personally by the German Crown Prince. I heard that 17 divisions with the strongest combat effectiveness were drawn from the general reserve force to reinforce them.

These troops dared to fight and charge. Hundreds of thousands of people used hand-to-hand combat to kill the remaining 7,000 people of the 2nd Army, which was like trampling an ant to death.

"That's why we need this." Charles raised his head towards Major Jules.

Major Jules understood and took out a square object from his satchel and carefully placed it on the table.

Major General Lacoste stepped forward to take a look and saw written in French on the front: "This is the enemy."

(The above picture shows a directional mine, which is simple to make and cheap, but has amazing lethality, especially for mass killing)

(The above picture shows the steel balls inside a directional mine)

"This is a directional mine." Charles stepped forward and patted the mine body, introducing: "Each such directional mine is equipped with about 800 steel balls. Once detonated, the steel balls will be dispersed and fired in the direction of the enemy like bullets, with a range of about 100 meters."

Hearing this, Major General Lacoste's hand, which had been touching the mine body, was instantly retracted as if it was burned by fire. With fear in his eyes, he looked at Charles and said with difficulty: "800 steel balls? Range of 100 meters?"

Charles nodded affirmatively:

"He will instantly shoot all enemies that approach into sieves."

"We don't need to see the enemy, nor do we need to aim. We just need to know that the enemy is there and then detonate it."

This is almost tailor-made for this battle.

Major General Lacoste swallowed his saliva: "How many of these directional mines do you have, Brigadier General? If you need them, how much do you need?"

"Free." Charles generously spread his hands: "The first batch of 10,000 is on the way. No money, I'll give them to you for Verdun, for France, and for the lives of the soldiers!"

Now is the time to gain the goodwill of the army, and Charles will not miss this good opportunity.

Major General Lacoste was instantly moved. He stepped forward and shook Charles' hand tightly, saying excitedly:

"Thank you, Brigadier General. Thank you very much!"

"You are the savior of France, the real savior!"

"No one can be like you, no one will care about our lives, only you!"

The people around him also looked at Charles with admiration and gratitude. After all, they were just thinking about how to escape, but now they know that they can not only save their lives, but also turn defeat into victory!

"This is what I should do." Charles swept his eyes across the audience: "You are the bravest people, heroes, and the elite of France. You deserve this. Long live France!"

"Long live France!"

"Long live France!"

...

The people around him followed Charles' shouting, and some were so moved that they burst into tears.