Chapter 482 The Enemy Has Changed Its Tactics!

Crown Prince William's order soon reached the front line, and the morale of the front-line troops was instantly boosted.

Colonel Witold, the commander of the 51st Infantry Regiment, who was responsible for the main attack, excitedly clapped his hands with his staff to celebrate, and then shouted to his subordinates in the trenches: "Gentlemen, it's time to end this battle. Taking Verdun means that we have successfully survived! Do you understand?"

The subordinates responded happily: "Understood, Colonel!"

They did understand that the victory of a certain battle meant the end of the war.

Then they would be rewarded according to their merits, and they might be transferred back to the rear to rest for a while.

No one would want to stay on this battlefield full of blood, death and stench for a while, even if it was just for a while.

Delicious food, comfortable environment, and women...are all waving to them.

As long as they persist in fighting this battle, all the beauty will no longer be a distant dream!

Colonel Witold took out his pocket watch and watched the pointer jumping on the dial under the faint starlight.

Finally, the pointer pointed to half past nine.

The originally quiet world suddenly became noisy. The long-silent cannon roared again, and shells streaked across the sky and hit the French fortresses and fortifications.

In the dark night, these shells seemed to be bombarding aimlessly, but Colonel Witold knew that they were carefully grouped:

Large-caliber heavy artillery was responsible for bombarding the fortress;

Small and medium-caliber howitzers bombarded trench fortifications and enemy artillery positions;

Indirect-fire mortars were responsible for targets hidden behind the fortress.

All these guns were calculated and even tested during the day, so that they could attack better at night.

Of course, poison gas bombs were mixed in the shells, the purpose of which was to panic the French soldiers and force them to fight wearing gas masks.

The artillery fire lasted for more than half an hour, the air was filled with the choking smell of gunpowder, and the dust raised covered the few stars tightly, and the world fell into darkness again.

Colonel Witold thought this was a good thing.

If they can't see clearly, the enemy wearing a gas mask is no different from a blind man.

Seeing that the time is almost up, Colonel Witold blew the whistle, and the soldiers climbed out of the trenches in rows, holding their guns and crouching to the high ground where the Souville Fortress was located in front of them.

The sound of artillery was still exploding, that was the artillery indicating the direction for the attacking German army to prevent them from getting lost in the dark.

This was also a deliberate attempt to confuse the enemy: as long as there were shells exploding on the battlefield, the French soldiers dared not take off their gas masks.

These fools, Colonel Witold was proud of himself, and when they realized it, it was too late, and the bayonets had already been inserted into their chests!

However, what could they do?

If they dared to take off their gas masks, the artillery might really fire a few gas bombs.

Colonel Witold began to sympathize with these French soldiers, who had no other choice but to be defeated.

What surprised Colonel Witold was that this attack was easier than any other time. The troops had approached the top of the mountain without any resistance.

They must have escaped, and Colonel Witold was a little anxious.

This was not a good thing. If they were allowed to escape back to Verdun to fight street battles, it would be a troublesome matter.

Thinking of this, Colonel Witold waved the Luger pistol in his hand and shouted: "Speed ​​up and don't let them run away!"

(The above picture shows the German-made Luger P08 pistol, which was successfully developed in 1899 and selected as the standard pistol by the German army in 1908)

The soldiers responded and rushed to the top of the mountain at the fastest speed with bayonets.

There was still no one, even the trenches were empty, and they were left intact.

The German army cheered. They didn't expect to break through the last line of defense of the French army so easily, which almost meant the defeat of the French army. Next, they only needed to chase after them to win.

"Keep going!" Colonel Witold felt something was wrong. Things shouldn't be like this.

The soldiers followed the order and crossed the top of the mountain with their guns. Some soldiers circled around the Souville Fortress, as if they were trying to find its entrance.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire rang out, and dozens of German soldiers in the front fell down. The soldiers behind were frightened and fell to the ground.

But before they could react, a grenades with green smoke had rolled to the top of the mountain and then exploded amid the German exclamations.

"They are below." The soldiers shouted to Colonel Witold, their voices full of fear. They didn't like this accident.

Colonel Witold responded without thinking: "Those are just remnants, kill them..."

Before he finished speaking, Colonel Witold realized that he was wrong.

The French 75 guns fired shells at the top of the mountain one after another, lifting the German soldiers lying on the ground into the air one by one.

Colonel Witold moved forward with difficulty in the artillery fire, and then he saw the flames coming out of the muzzles. There were at least dozens of guns, all deployed at the foot of the mountain, in the blind spot of the German howitzers.

What happened?

Colonel Witold felt a chill. Did they change their tactics?

Impossible, no one would give up the high ground, not to mention that there was their fortress here!

At this time, several Molotov cocktails were thrown below by the Germans, and Colonel Witold finally saw clearly in the fire that the French army had dug trenches below to build a line of defense!

Although Colonel Witold was quite surprised by this, he was still relieved.

The distance was only more than 30 meters, there was not even a barbed wire, and the German army was in a high position. A charge could break into the defense line and destroy them all.

Stupid French people, Colonel Witold did not hesitate, took the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it with all his strength.

"Beep..."

The whistle penetrated the sound of artillery and explosions and reached the soldiers' ears. The soldiers shouted, got up from the ground and charged at the enemy's defense line with bayonets.

They were very fast and the team was very dense. They rushed towards the French defense line like a group of ants.

Just as they were about to break into the trench, there was a sudden "boom" explosion, and the air was full of "swoosh" sounds made by small objects flying by.

At the same time, the screams of German soldiers were heard one after another.

Colonel Witold looked closely and saw that the soldiers who had just rushed towards the enemy majestically had fallen to the ground in groups. Some of them covered their faces, some held their heads, and some rolled on the ground and scratched their bodies, each in pain.

"What is that?" Colonel Witold was horrified.

It could knock down all the charging soldiers in an instant. There were at least hundreds of them, and Colonel Witold didn't even see it clearly.

Colonel Witold was unwilling to accept it, and didn't believe that there was such a thing.

He blew the whistle again and personally led the remaining soldiers to rush down...

"Boom boom"

"Boom boom boom"

...

A burst of explosions.

This time Colonel Witold believed it.

At least dozens of small objects hit him, his face, body, and legs were everywhere, his whole body was in pain and he lost his ability to fight instantly, but it was not fatal!