Chapter 524: Failure that Cannot Be Admitted

Colonel Albert was shocked by the scene he saw as soon as he rushed out of the trench on horseback.

There was blood and corpses everywhere. The infantry rushed forward with bayonets. The crowds of people were like ants. They howled and stepped on the corpses of their comrades, but were hit by dense bullets and holes were made in their bodies.

Blood splattered and screams were heard everywhere.

Some of them were shot through the body and fell to the ground, covering their wounds, crawling hard while wailing for help.

Some were hit in the head, and their heads exploded like watermelons, spurting out shocking liquids of various colors.

Others had their hands broken. He knelt on the ground and picked up his limbs in disbelief, as if he wanted to put them back.

…

The dense bullets still raked back and forth on the battlefield like a sieve. It was not the Germans who decided life and death, but this invisible hand hanging in the air.

Colonel Albert did not hesitate. He drove his horse faster and shouted to his men behind him: "Forward!"

Having participated in the Boer War, he knew that the advantage of cavalry was speed.

Only with a fast speed could one avoid the enemy's aiming, otherwise, one man and one horse would be an excellent target for the enemy.

Colonel Albert tried to lower himself as much as possible. Bullets flew over his head and around him with a "swoosh" sound. He could even feel the strong wind and the temperature of the bullets.

In the interval of controlling the horse to move forward, Colonel Albert looked up and observed the direction from which the bullets came.

He was surprised to find that the German positions that were originally thought to be a ruin had turned into bunkers at some point.

The enemy's firepower was in a ladder shape.

The front row was the lowest, and three or more trenches were formed along the bottom of the slope. There were countless machine guns on each layer of trenches, and the bullets were three-dimensional in the upper, middle and lower levels, which pressed the charging troops to death.

The entire front line of defense, which was tens of kilometers long, was like this. They were like the sickle of the god of death, reaping lives crazily.

This is wrong, Colonel Albert thought. This is charging at the enemy's gun muzzle, which is simply seeking death.

We should stop!

Colonel Albert turned around and shouted to his subordinates: "Retreat, immediately..."

Before he finished speaking, a row of bullets hit Colonel Albert's warhorse.

The warhorse, which was running at high speed, fell to the ground with a scream. The huge momentum even made the warhorse roll on the ground. Colonel Albert was thrown out fiercely, but his left foot was hung on the stirrup and could not break free.

A scream.

Colonel Albert's left foot was torn off abruptly. It was twisted behind him at a weird angle and pressed under his body. The other end was still pressed in the body of the warhorse, without any consciousness.

The severe pain almost made Colonel Albert faint. He gritted his teeth and took out a revolver from his waist. He looked at the warhorse beside him, which was breathing heavily and spewing blood from its mouth. He stretched out his trembling left hand and gently stroked its mane, comforting it intermittently:

"It's okay, you are brave, you tried your best!"

"You did a good job!"

...

The muzzle gently pressed against the warhorse's head, and with a "bang" blood splashed everywhere. The warhorse exhaled its last breath, relaxed like a deflated ball and completely collapsed to the ground.

Colonel Albert looked around, and the rain of bullets was still whistling in the air. The cavalrymen were knocked down one after another, and many frightened warhorses raised their hooves and rushed into the offensive line of the infantry, causing chaos again.

No one will come to save me, Colonel Albert thought, they have too many people to save, and they are simply too busy.

Thinking of this, Colonel Albert raised the revolver with difficulty and pointed it at his head, using up his last bit of strength to pull the trigger!

…

In the half-buried bunker behind the defense line, Haig held up a telescope and watched all this quietly, his face solemn.

Haig was very surprised by the German resistance. At this time, he realized one thing: the command had seriously misjudged the German defense line, and the German position was not bombed into ruins as they thought.

At this time, the correct approach should be to immediately stop the attack and re-evaluate, and then formulate another feasible combat plan or cancel this unrealistic plan.

However, Haikou has already boasted, and doing so is equivalent to admitting defeat, admitting that he made a mistake in command and admitted that he was not as good as Charles.

Especially the last point, "not as good as Charles" is absolutely not allowed.

What the tank can do, the cavalry can definitely do, they must do it!

Haig gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order the troops to continue the attack!"

"Yes, continue the attack."

A series of life-threatening whistles sounded, and another group of British soldiers shouted and climbed out of the trenches and rushed towards the enemy.

Unlike before, this time the cavalry attacked together with the infantry. They launched a rapid attack from the flank of the enemy's defense line along the Somme River, trying to open a breakthrough there.

However, all this was in vain.

Cavalrymen and horses were made of flesh and blood, and they were vulnerable to the rain of bullets made of steel.

After a few rows of bullets knocked down hundreds of horses in the front row, the bodies of people and horses would form a barrier, preventing the subsequent cavalry from passing at high speed.

Then, another group shot another group of bodies, and the cycle continued.

There were more and more obstacles, and finally it was impossible to gain a foothold.

Telegrams flew into Haig's hands like snowflakes:

"The cavalry can no longer attack unless people clear the bodies on the route."

"The enemy is well prepared and there is no sign of insufficient ammunition."

"We can't attack like this, it's meaningless!"

...

But Haig turned a deaf ear and called Nivelle.

"How's the situation?" Haig asked.

"Not good." Nivele replied tremblingly: "The Germans' firepower was much stronger than expected, and we suffered a lot of casualties."

Nivele couldn't figure out why the Germans still had such firepower after a week of continuous shelling!

How did they do it?

Haig was not thinking about how to avoid these casualties. He was more worried about the news getting to the media.

"This is a military secret, do you understand?" Haig said coldly: "It cannot be known to the outside world, otherwise it will affect the public's confidence in victory, and thus affect the morale of the troops."

"Understood, General." Haig's words were exactly what Niveller meant.

As long as they finally make progress, even if it is just a small step, it will prove that their offensive plan is correct.

As for the number of casualties, that is the soldiers' business and has nothing to do with them.

(Note: It is a historical fact that the casualties on the Somme were concealed. There were more than 60,000 casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, but the British and French media did not mention this bloody massacre at all. It was published in the "Daily Express" two days later. This report is extremely positive and optimistic about the war, telling people that the army is winning on the Somme battlefield)

After putting down the phone, Haig stared at the map for a while.

Then, without waiting for the staff to speak, he coldly ordered again: "Prepare for the next attack!"