Chapter 34 The Attack Begins (Two in One) "The rain has finally stopped." In the woods of Corre, a young French soldier stopped what he was doing, looked up at the finally clear sky and sighed. His uniform had long been stained by rain and mud, and the dirt on his face had formed black streaks from sweat. His wet hair stuck to his forehead, making him look even more disheveled. The continuous heavy rain not only flooded the German tunnels, but also flooded their trenches. He looked down at the trenches full of mud and water, sighed, and continued to scoop the water out of the trenches with his helmet. His fingers had begun to turn white and wrinkled due to being soaked in water for a long time. "Don't be happy so early, boy. This is not a good sign." An older French soldier next to him reminded him. His name is Stephen, and he is 46 years old. Stephen's face is full of frost and wrinkles, and he looks very experienced. He usually takes care of other young soldiers, so other soldiers affectionately call him "Dad." When Stephen spoke, his slightly hoarse voice revealed a deep sense of fatigue. "I'll scoop it out later. Sit down and rest for a while." Stephen shook off his helmet that was soaked with water and put it back on his head. There were still a few drops of water hanging on the edge of his helmet, shining in the sun. Then, he crawled into a hole dug in the trench wall next to him. The hole was higher than the bottom of the trench, so no rainwater seeped in. "Are we not going to have to worry about this water?" the young soldier asked, his voice full of doubt and uneasiness, his eyes still fixed on the trench filled with mud and water. "As long as there are no Prussian submarines hiding inside to launch torpedoes at us, we can wait and see." Stephen replied indifferently. He forced out a slightly helpless smile, which made the wrinkles on his face more obvious. Hearing Stephen's words, the young soldier also crawled into the dry pit.
Digging a simple hole in the trench wall to hide in is not allowed in the army, because any small artillery shell can collapse the hole and bury all the soldiers inside alive. But they are willing to take the risk if it means they can get a good night's sleep in a dry place. "I really don't understand why a young man like you from a big family would join the army. If I had a family like yours, I would have been living a life of luxury and debauchery." Stephen looked the young soldier up and down. His eyes showed a hint of curiosity and doubt, as if he was trying to find out the secrets deep in the young man's heart. "My family had a lot of wealth before I was born, so I had things that many people would never achieve in their lifetime, but all this wealth and everything I have was given by this country, so I want to do something for this country." The young man's eyes were firm, revealing an unshakable determination. "What a good guy." Stephen exclaimed as he looked at the young man whose eyes seemed to be shining. There was a kind of appreciation and approval in his voice. "Dad, do you think those Prussians will really attack us? I saw Prussian planes flying over us for reconnaissance yesterday." Although the young soldier had a firm look in his eyes, he was still a little nervous inside. This was his first time on the battlefield. "Don't worry, there was a Zeppelin flying over our heads yesterday, but it was shot down. You didn't see that the airship turned into a fireball in an instant, it was so bright, like a little sun." Stephen comforted. Although his voice was calm, there was a hint of pride in his tone, as if he also contributed to the victory of that battle. "Come, let me show you the balaclava my godmother knitted for me. She said in the letter that she learned it from the British and it took her a long time to complete it." Stephen took out a black balaclava from the bag he placed in the hole and put it on his head, introducing it to the young man. The hood covered his entire mouth and nose, leaving only a pair of sparkling eyes exposed, making him look like a bank robber. "Godmother? Stephen, you have a godmother? Isn't she very old?" The young man looked at the hood curiously, which was something he had never seen in his family. He reached out and touched the texture of the hood curiously, which was made of wool. "No, she is only 22 years old this year, a young and beautiful girl. Although I have never seen her, I believe she must be very beautiful. I wonder if I can meet her during my vacation and spend a wonderful night with her." Stephen grinned, with a hint of longing and amusement in his smile. "Twenty-two years old? Godmother? Never met her? Sleep with her?" The young man had a lot of questions on his face. He understood every word Stephen said, but why did he not understand them together? He frowned slightly, trying to understand the meaning of Stephen's words. "Why, didn't they arrange a wartime godmother for you?" Stephen looked at the young man with a question mark on his head and was a little surprised. There was a hint of surprise in his eyes, as if he thought this was something unbelievable. "No, what is a wartime godmother?" the young man asked, shaking his head. There was a hint of confusion in his tone, and it was obvious that he was completely unfamiliar with this term. The so-called "wartime godmothers" were originally a group of women recruited by the French government. They adopted unknown soldiers and sent them comfort items. Later, they became a propaganda tool of the government. Sometimes, soldiers would fight bravely on the front lines because they were afraid of being scorned by their godmothers, which was even more effective than the supervision of officers. Most of the time, the so-called "godmother" was just a woman the soldiers had never met, who often wrote letters to encourage the soldiers to fight bravely and not be afraid of sacrifice. But there were also a few lucky ones who could find their "godmother" in bed during their occasional leave. "You don't know about Lubos from the camp next door. He has 44 godmothers. Every time he complains to us that the vacation time is too short and he can't sleep with every godmother." When Stephen said this, there was a hint of ridicule and mockery in his tone. The young man listened carefully to everything Stephen said like a curious baby. All of this was new to him. His eyes were full of curiosity and excitement, as if every word could bring him new discoveries.
While they were chatting, a whistling sound came from the sky. Stephen's face changed drastically when he heard it. He immediately pulled the new soldier to the ground. Suddenly, the sky collapsed and the world seemed to collapse. The horrible explosion resounded through the world, and the soil in the trenches poured into the air like a fountain, and then fell like raindrops. In addition to the terrible explosions around, there was also the sound of 210mm shells breaking tree trunks and branches or uprooting large trees. The broken tree trunks had not yet fallen to the ground, but were thrown into the sky by the next explosion in mid-air. The shock wave of the explosion made their ears buzz and even breathing became difficult. The Killing Fields Project officially begins. The bombardment lasted for nearly two hours, but these two hours seemed as long as a century to Stephen. After the bombardment ended, he still couldn't believe that he had survived this horrific bombardment. The bombardment had plowed almost all of the surrounding ground, and the original trench had become a ruin. Stephen dug away the mud covering his body and climbed out of the hole with difficulty. His body was still shaking after the violent shock, and his ears were filled with roars, as if the world was collapsing around him. Miraculously, the small hole they had dug in the trench wall did not collapse under the fierce bombardment. But for some reason, the young recruit who was originally protected by him was now protecting him. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Stephen vaguely saw the recruit's pupils turn golden and his body become as hard as steel. He felt a strange power surging in the recruit's body. Stephen turned his head to look at the new recruit who had climbed out of the pit with him, trying to find out what was wrong. However, the new recruit looked normal, as if nothing had happened. Stephen shook his head, wondering if he was blinded by the bombardment and had hallucinations. According to convention, the infantry should launch an attack after the bombardment. He had no time to think whether the scene just now was an illusion or he really saw something strange. He picked up the rifle that fell to the side, lay on the trench that had been completely destroyed, and aimed outward. However, the Prussians did not appear as he expected. Instead, what appeared in their sight was a series of heavy mortar shells. These shells were not as powerful as the 210mm shells, but they were more accurate. The French soldiers who survived the bombardment of the 210mm artillery fell down one after another under the precise attack of these mortars. Stephen saw his comrades who were originally gasping for breath in the trenches fall down one by one, their flesh and blood were blurred, and the scene was horrible. Not only the front line, but also the French artillery positions in the rear were attacked by poison gas bombs. The air was filled with a pungent chemical smell, and some artillery positions that were not attacked by poison gas bombs were unable to conduct effective artillery reconnaissance. The shells they fired missed the target and they could only watch helplessly as their own positions were overwhelmed by artillery fire. In just a few hours, the first line of defense of the French positions was in danger. Lu Mingfei and his comrades who were hiding in the tunnel heard the sound of artillery fire outside and knew that the battle had officially begun. They began to carefully check the guns in their hands, not leaving out any parts, to ensure that the guns were not rusted due to moisture. Everyone had a solemn look on their face. They had been in these dark tunnels for too long and all they wanted was to get out, even if death was waiting for them outside. They tied white armbands on their arms to distinguish between friend and foe on the battlefield. Officers wore their hats backwards to avoid being recognized by the enemy and becoming the target of concentrated fire. The moment the bombardment ended, Lu Mingfei and his comrades rushed out of the tunnel like tigers and ran towards the French position. Instead of charging together, they advanced in small groups, a tactic that would be used on a large scale in the next world war. Kaczynski was the leader of Lu Mingfei's team. He held a large-scale map of the French fortifications in his hand. The Prussian army prepared such a map for each officer so that they could act accurately on the battlefield. Lu Mingfei and his team followed closely behind Kaczynski and ran towards the Omon Forest next to the Kore Woods. It had been heavily bombarded and was the best target for an assault. When they approached to within a hundred meters of the French position, the French sounded the alarm and opened fire on them. As the Kamaitachi Field unfolded, Lu Mingfei discovered that there were not many soldiers firing on the opposite side. There were some faint heartbeats coming from underground. They were all soldiers who were buried by the shelling but had not died immediately. Some French soldiers pulled the trigger desperately, but no bullets came out because their gun barrels were blocked by the mud raised by the artillery fire. The weak resistance was quickly eliminated by Lu Mingfei and his team. They also found several French soldiers in the trenches, holding their heads and looking at everything around them in horror. These soldiers had dull eyes and trembling limbs, obviously suffering from shell shock from the previous bombardment. The French first line of defense was breached. Stephen survived the bombardment again, and this time he was sure that what he had just seen was not an illusion.
The young recruit pressed him down again, his uniform torn to pieces by shrapnel. Through the torn cloth, Stephen saw the recruit's bronze-hard skin gradually returning to its original white and soft appearance. The recruit's pale golden pupils were dim, and his face was hideous and in great pain. Beads of sweat as big as soybeans kept dripping from his forehead, mixed with blood, and slid to the ground. Stephen saw that the recruit's fair skin was covered with bloodstains, and in some places the flesh was turned out. It was obvious that he had not completely withstood the bombardment just now. "Are you okay, Moreno?" Stephen quickly climbed up from under the young man and checked on him. "I'm fine..." Moreno replied weakly, with a hint of reluctance and fatigue in his voice. "Damn it! I'll take you to the lieutenant colonel!" Stephen looked around. Everyone else had been torn to pieces by the previous bombardment. Now only the two of them were still alive. It was impossible for the two of them to resist the approaching Prussian soldiers, so Stephen carried Moreno on his back and ran to the rear, to the shelter where De Leon was stationed. De Leon, who was staying in the R2 shelter, was listening with a heavy heart to his adjutant reporting the recent damage to him. At this time, the R2 shelter was in chaos. A shell had just hit it head-on, killing a lieutenant and seriously injuring nine soldiers. One of the seriously injured soldiers had been frightened mad by the shelling when he was dug out. He ran around laughing and screaming. "Report to the Colonel! The two shelters R4 and R5 were hit, and the two platoons of soldiers inside were wiped out!" Thank you for the 1100 points reward from Luohong Fengye Thanks to John Doe for the monthly ticket Thanks to the book friend 854***340 for the two monthly tickets Thanks to 1231231245 for the monthly ticket Thanks to Rin1_ for the monthly ticket Thanks to Shitface Wuren for the monthly ticket Thanks to Shadow Chuan for the monthly ticket Thanks to the supplier Fugui for a monthly ticket Thanks to the book friend 20240213012253493 for the monthly ticket Thanks to the book friend 20240119072136409 for the two monthly tickets Thanks to 御板10086 for the monthly ticket (End of this chapter)
