Chapter 538 Anti-Tank Trench

It was raining heavily in Namur, and the whole city seemed to be shrouded in mist. In the afternoon, it was as gloomy as the night, and only a few people could be vaguely seen in the rain a few meters away.

However, many people in the city cheered in the rain. People held hands and formed a circle, dancing a cheerful folk dance to the music and rhythmic applause, shouting while dancing.

People told the Germans that this was celebrating the arrival of the rainy season, but it was not the case.

They were celebrating the sound of artillery outside the city, celebrating the French army's attack on Namur, and celebrating the long-awaited Charles' troops coming to the city.

The people gathered together whispered in the rain:

"Are you sure it's Charles's troops?"

"Of course, did you hear the fierce bombing? They said there are at least 10 artillery regiments, and the Germans are being beaten! Their doom is here!"

"Will they attack us at the last minute?"

"Don't worry! Remember Charles' statement against Ghent?"

"Well, if the Germans are against us, Charles will definitely not let them go! They dare not do that!"

...

(The picture above is a scene of Belgian folk dance)

In addition, the Belgian guerrillas and the people also took the initiative to attack the German army. There were either explosions in the garage or fires in the warehouse. Accidents occurred one after another.

...

At the Hewan District Command, Lieutenant General Nicolas was busy asking for help from all over the country through telephones and radio stations.

But to his disappointment, no place could reinforce Namur in time.

"The battle lines are tense everywhere, Lieutenant General." Falkenhayn replied to Nicolas: "Whether it is Verdun or the Somme, they have no extra troops and equipment. I will organize a reinforcement as soon as possible, but it may take three days."

Lieutenant General Nicolas couldn't believe his eyes when he received the telegram.

Three days, it would take three days for the reinforcements to arrive?

After most of the day's artillery battle, the only three artillery regiments in his hands were dead or wounded, and only two artillery battalions were still combat-ready.

The others were either blown up by rocket launchers or suffered heavy casualties.

If the remaining soldiers were gathered and the faulty artillery was repaired, perhaps an artillery regiment could be barely put together.

But what's the point?

The reorganized artillery regiment still had no power to fight back, and could only watch them being blown up and paralyzed one by one!

Lieutenant General Nicolas cast his helpless eyes on the river bend under the rain, where there were craters of all sizes, the artillery bunkers had disappeared, and there were crooked artillery wreckage everywhere.

Why is this so?

These are all invincible 105MM howitzers!

They have never lost in an artillery battle since the war began, but now they were blown to pieces without even seeing the shadow of the enemy.

…

Across the river bay, Charles had just arrived in Namur from Verdun.

The tunnel of the headquarters was a little damp, and some places were still leaking water. The ground was as muddy as walking into a swamp.

But these are not important. What is important is that this place is safe, and basically no enemy shells can hit here.

Under the pungent smell of kerosene lamps, Charles looked at the battle results estimated by the artillery observer with interest.

Tijani excitedly reported:

"We destroyed at least two enemy artillery regiments."

"There were almost no casualties on our side, only one rocket launcher vehicle had a temporary malfunction and could not be evacuated in time and was blown up."

"But all personnel were evacuated, and the only injury was a sprained foot that affected walking."

Charles was not surprised, because vehicle-mounted rocket launchers that could maneuver quickly were almost "immortal", although they were very fragile and would be shattered to pieces by a shell.

However, he was quite confused about being able to destroy two German artillery regiments.

"Did the German artillery retreat?" he asked.

"No." Tijani answered very simply: "If the German artillery retreated, they would not be able to block the passage, which was not what they wanted."

Charles did not speak.

In fact, the German artillery had a choice. They could use their range advantage to retreat to a point where the 105MM howitzer could block the passage, but the rocket launcher could not hit it because of insufficient range.

In this case, Charles could only suppress it with bombers and let the armored forces advance under the artillery fire.

War is like this. You can't hope to launch an attack in a nearly perfect enemy-friendly state. Danger is inevitable.

However, the German army did not do so.

After thinking for a while, Charles seemed to understand that the Germans knew nothing about rocket launchers. They didn't know the range of rocket launchers, so they couldn't make the right response based on their weaknesses.

"They didn't deploy them in a dispersed manner?" Charles asked again.

Tijani shook his head again: "No, no."

Cluster deployment against rocket launchers will certainly cause heavy casualties. Howitzers are precious things. Any casual hit or rubbing against the side may cause them to malfunction.

If the Germans deployed the artillery in a dispersed manner, the rocket launchers with insufficient accuracy would need to consume more ammunition and take longer to achieve the same results.

However, the Germans still did not do so.

This can be regarded as a welfare package for the launch of new equipment. Charles thought that after the Germans understood the data of rocket launchers, the artillery battle would not be so smooth.

...

Erwin looked at the heavy rain outside the headquarters and breathed a sigh of relief: "We seem to be safe."

"What do you mean?" Lieutenant General Nikolas, who was worried, asked: "Aren't we in danger? The enemy can attack our defense line through the blockade at any time, Lieutenant Colonel!"

And it was Ciel's armored force. He even thought Erwin was joking.

"No, General." Erwin raised his head toward the observation window and answered seriously: "This rain saved us. It at least bought us time. Our reinforcements will arrive in three days."

Lieutenant General Nicholas thought of something, but he was still not sure: "You mean, rain will make the ground muddy and make the environment unsuitable for tank operations?"

"This is one of them." Erwin slowly walked back to his desk, pointing to the two fortifications in front of the defense line on the map and explained:

"More important are these anti-tank trenches."

"I built two in total, one of which is within the range of our army's 77MM infantry gun."

"The other one is within the range of our infantry's K-bomb."

"I was worried just now that the French army would use sandbags to fill in the anti-tank trenches and force a breakthrough."

Lieutenant General Nicholas said "Oh", and his tight forehead gradually unfolded: "With this heavy rain, the anti-tank trench will turn into a pile of mud and puddles, and it will be as difficult to fill up as a swamp."

Erwin added: "Even if it is filled in, the foundations on both sides will easily collapse, which will trap the Shire's armored forces!"

Lieutenant General Nicholas nodded slowly and turned to observe the heavy rain outside the window.

Not long ago he was cursing the damn weather, but now he wished it would rain harder and longer.