“Fall back! Have the artillery regiment limber up the guns and pull them back at once!”
Seeing his forward-deployed artillery positions blanketed by enemy fire, Major General De Gisel shouted himself hoarse as he issued order after order, but it was already far too late.
The Bilijin artillery had been blown into utter chaos, flesh and blood splattered everywhere. They did not even have time to fold up the gun spades, let alone drag the cannons back.
Colonel De Yoka, commander of the Bilijin 4th Division’s 3rd Regiment and the man directly responsible for this offensive operation, was at that moment personally leading his last few hundred men, crouching near the shattered artillery position—in the ruins of several buildings at the northeastern corner of the town.
He was much closer than his superior, Major General De Gisel, and saw the miserable state of his own side far more clearly. Naturally, he was even more anxious than the major general.
Seeing his artillerymen thrown into disarray, he hurriedly adjusted his deployment and urged his soldiers to hold their ground. “All infantry, hold your positions to the death! Buy time for the artillery to withdraw!”
One messenger after another braved enemy machine-gun fire and shrapnel, weaving between the ruins and urging officers at every level to carry out the regimental commander’s orders.
The Bilijin infantry still had a little courage left. Relying on the fact that they had already occupied part of the town’s corner, they were not willing to retreat so easily.
But just then, Colonel De Yoka vaguely noticed that in the twilight, quite a few German figures had already appeared on the southern side of these streets, advancing toward them in scattered groups. Clearly, the enemy infantry had seized the opportunity to launch a countercharge.
“The Germans actually dare to counterattack this decisively? They’re not even planning to wear us down first like the previous two waves?”
At the sight, De Yoka’s blood was stirred. He decided to stand his ground and strike back, no matter what—at the very least, he had to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy’s manpower.
Even if the enemy was good at elastic defense, this was not how elastic defense was supposed to be used! The Germans were too arrogant!
They had not even worn the attackers down to exhaustion, yet they dared launch a full counterattack so rashly. Then he would let them learn the power of machine guns!
The handful of heavy machine guns the Bilijin army had just deployed inside several buildings at the northernmost end of these streets immediately began spitting tongues of flame with a “tat-tat-tat,” sealing off the road.
The German infantry charging north from the southern end of the street were indeed temporarily suppressed. They began seeking cover and spreading out.
Though it was impossible to tell in the darkness how many men had been killed or wounded, it at least greatly slowed the German countercharge.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last. The Bilijin heavy machine guns had only been firing for a few minutes when a flash of fire suddenly appeared from within the broken wall of a house opposite them.
A 77mm shell shot straight toward one of the ruins where a heavy machine gun was hidden, and with a boom, blasted half a wall into collapse. The Bilijin heavy machine gun inside was instantly buried alive.
De Yoka’s face was full of shock. He had no idea what had just happened.
True, a few minutes earlier he had already learned that the Germans had artillery, but how could artillery appear in such a position?
Even if it was a quick-firing gun using direct fire, shouldn’t it be placed in an open artillery position?
How could even cannons be deployed inside building ruins? Did this world have artillery that could be flexibly deployed indoors?
A mere seven or eight seconds later, the position that had flashed with fire just now fired another shot. This time, the shell flew straight toward De Yoka’s location—he had temporarily stationed himself in the ruins of a church at the corner of the town, with messengers running in and out, and the enemy’s hidden observers had long since discovered that this was an important place.
And so Colonel De Yoka, still carrying with him to his death his unanswered confusion, was blown into pieces and sent to another world.
The 4th Division’s 3rd Regiment, having lost its commander, fell completely into chaos. Those very few German direct-fire guns were still hiding in certain ruins on the southern side of the long street, firing once every seven or eight seconds or every few dozen seconds like they were calling names, and every shot always managed to catch something.
With the Bilijin heavy machine guns no longer suppressing them, the German infantry finally charged up nimbly in loose formation, maintaining excellent tactical spacing and avoiding heavy casualties from concentrated enemy fire.
The remnants of the Bilijin attacking force, their morale utterly collapsed, lost all control. They scrambled and crawled out of the town, fleeing madly back the way they had come, and were cut down in a brutal pursuit. This regiment had already suffered continuous attrition earlier; now, it had practically been annihilated as an entire regiment.
“Quick, you lot, bring the horses over and hitch them to the gun carriages! Pick two Schneider quick-firing guns in good condition and haul them back! Don’t leave them here to be bombarded by Britannian cruisers! No need to bring too many! We don’t have many shells! If we take too many guns, there won’t be enough ammunition for them anyway! But take away every 75mm shell you can find on the position!”
On the other side of the battlefield, Lieutenant Ballack, deputy commander of the German cavalry company, shouted at the top of his lungs, directing large numbers of draft horses and even warhorses to pull the gun carriages together. Just like that, they dragged away two of the Bilijin army’s cannons that were still relatively intact.
He was also strictly carrying out Colonel List’s orders.
Before this wave of counterattack, the colonel had already assigned the tasks:
The main body of the 16th Regiment’s artillery company was responsible for countering the enemy artillery positions that had been lured into deploying forward. But two guns were detached and separately deployed in the ruins south of the contested blocks, choosing two positions with good fields of fire for direct-fire use, so as to eliminate enemy fire points during the counterattack.
The infantry of the 16th Regiment’s 4th Battalion, which had previously been used as a reserve the entire time and had now rested enough, were brought up as the main assault force for the counterattack.
As for the cavalry of the divisional reconnaissance company, they contributed their horses to swiftly clear the battlefield after the battle and seize and haul back the cannons the enemy had left behind.
The German and Bilijin armies’ cannons differed in caliber by two millimeters, and their shells were completely different. Therefore, the colonel knew that dragging back too many enemy guns would be useless. Two would be enough.
After all, there was only so much ammunition temporarily stored at the enemy artillery position. If they took more guns, there would not be enough shells to go around.
Lieutenant Ballack had never fought such a wealthy battle before. His soldiers did not even need to kill anyone; all they had to do was clear the battlefield and directly drag away cannons and shells.
The more jobs like this in the future, the better!
“Sir! My unit has completed the mission perfectly! We brought back two 75mm quick-firing guns, along with three hundred shells, and captured more than twenty artillery prisoners.”
When he returned to the command post to report, Lieutenant Ballack’s face was full of joy as he reported to the colonel.
The colonel nodded in satisfaction. “Well done. But for this battle to be won so thoroughly, Lelouch, your idea was also indispensable—how did you think of temporarily tearing off the blast shields on our 77mm guns and hiding the cannons indoors?”
Hearing this, Lieutenant Ballack looked at Lelouch again, but this time there was nothing in his eyes except genuine admiration.
As it turned out, just before this enemy attack, Sergeant Major Lelouch had once again offered the colonel a small suggestion. At the time, Lieutenant Ballack had also heard it with his own ears from the side.
The German army’s 77mm field guns originally did not have the ability to be deployed indoors, because all cannons of this era had frontal blast shields, which were quite cumbersome in size.
A 77mm gun could not even be pushed through the double doors of an ordinary civilian house, so indoor deployment was never considered at all—unless it was a professionally designed and constructed fortress gun emplacement.
But just before the operation, when Lelouch heard the colonel discussing “luring the enemy deep, then counterattacking to seize their guns,” inspiration struck. As the icing on the cake, he advised the colonel to simply select two 77mm guns, remove their blast shields, and greatly reduce the overall dimensions of the guns for more flexible deployment.
Now this move had indeed worked, so Lelouch naturally had to take the opportunity to play the prophet after the fact and show off his thought process:
“In truth, my thinking was very simple. At the time, I thought: our 77mm guns clearly have a muzzle velocity much higher than the Schneider 75mm, yet the final range of the two is about the same. In reality, that’s because the 77’s maximum elevation angle is too small.
“And because the maximum elevation angle is small, the gun body can be made lower, and the blast shield can correspondingly be lower and smaller. This was originally one of our army’s advantages. But how could we push this advantage to the extreme? I thought we might as well remove the blast shield entirely, then make use of the low profile of our gun carriage to push it directly into collapsed buildings and deploy it wherever there was space.
“This way, we can make maximum use of concealment. And since it’s indoor fighting, the outer walls and cover already provide bullet protection. If an attack can penetrate a brick wall, then that last thin sheet of iron definitely won’t stop it either. In that case, why keep such a superfluous thing?”
Lelouch explained his thinking eloquently. Colonel List, Lieutenant Ballack, and the other officers all found it quite enlightening.
This line of thought could not only be used this time, but could also serve as a reference for friendly forces in the future. It ought to be written into the urban warfare experience summary of the artillery manual.
Thinking of this, the colonel could not help casually asking, “How is your writing? Could you write a supplement to the artillery manual introducing this new tactical experience? This would be very beneficial to you grassroots officers. It can help you accumulate credentials quickly.”
For someone who had received higher education, writing an article was naturally not difficult. As long as there was substance and a template, it could be done.
Lelouch did not need to think much before accepting directly. “Don’t worry, sir. I’m a university graduate too.”
But there was no rush for this kind of thing. It could be discussed later.
For now, they had just won a local victory. The officers and men deserved to celebrate properly and seize the time to rest in shifts, so as to meet the even more brutal battles to come.
Colonel List also understood well the art of commanding troops, so he immediately announced extra rations for the men:
“Ballack, when you occupied the town, did you check the stores we seized? Was there any alcohol? This is the first victory since the troops arrived. If there’s alcohol, bring it all out to boost morale.
“It’s already completely dark. The 4th Division’s artillery has also been completely wiped out and captured by us. De Gisel suffered such a disastrous defeat this round that he probably won’t dare come again immediately. We should be able to have some peace in the first half of the night.
“But in the second half of the night, we’ll have to be on high alert. By my calculations, Victor’s Bilijin 6th Division will definitely be able to reach the battlefield by then.”
Lieutenant Ballack hurriedly said, “Understood. I’ll go prepare it right away. That cellar we requisitioned as the telegraph room used to be the wine cellar of a manor in town. There’s some champagne and cognac inside.
“And the church where the enemy was temporarily stationed just now also has a cellar storing communion wine.”
This area was already at the westernmost edge of Bilijin territory, bordering Frankia, so the local specialty alcoholic drinks were more or less the same.
In theory, only the sparkling apple wine produced in the Picardy-Champagne region had the qualifications to be called champagne. In reality, sparkling wines from the surrounding provinces all borrowed the name as well.
When the colonel heard there was champagne, his eyes immediately lit up. “Excellent! Champagne is perfect for this occasion, and its alcohol content isn’t high. Open it all! Save the cognac for later!”
The German army of 1914 had very high military quality, but it also had no shortage of bad habits, mainly in the way equality between officers and men was far inferior to that of their enemies.
Officers often physically punished and beat soldiers. Military law was harsh, and the difference in food treatment between officers and soldiers was also enormous.
Although Colonel List was skilled in battle, he was not exempt from this common practice. The champagne distributed to the soldiers was only one bottle per squad, with the squad leaders left to divide it themselves.
Each man could not even get one or two liang’s worth. The soldiers held out their iron mess tins to receive the wine, and it was gone in two mouthfuls.
However, because of Lelouch, the platoon he belonged to received special treatment: two bottles per squad.
After Lelouch received the alcohol, he had his subordinate Sergeant Klose distribute it, while also reminding him, “Keep an eye on those other unconscious sergeants. If they wake up, call me. Leave some wine for them too. I’m the acting platoon leader now, so I also need to get familiar with the team as quickly as possible.”
Klose immediately agreed without hesitation, saying he absolutely would not let anything go wrong.
During the lull in the fighting just now, Lelouch had also learned some things from Klose. Mainly, these were things from before he woke up at noon today, including why he had been poisoned by the enemy’s tear gas, and why the other noncommissioned officers had also been poisoned.
Klose told him everything he knew. He said that in the morning, when the communications platoon had just arrived in town, the enemy in the town had not yet been completely cleared out, and there were still French troops putting up scattered resistance.
Lelouch and several other noncommissioned officers had entered the town’s telegraph company office—similar to the post and telecommunications offices in 1980s China where telegrams could be sent—in order to inspect the equipment and lines.
Who would have thought there were still remnants of French resistance nearby? They threw several gas grenades. Because the room was sealed, the men repeatedly tried to open the door and rush out, but some had already been choked until their breathing stopped.
However, tear gas was generally not lethal. Those people had been unconscious for an entire afternoon, so they should be waking up by now.
After giving Klose his instructions, Lelouch himself was given preferential treatment by the colonel and brought to dine with the trusted officers.
When he transmigrated over, it had only been one in the afternoon. Now it was already seven or eight in the evening. And considering that he had been poisoned and unconscious for a while in the morning, in reality, he had not eaten anything for the entire day.
He saw the colonel, two battalion commanders with whom he was on good terms, the regimental staff officer, the confidential clerk, and Lieutenant Ballack all seated around a long table. The table had been set as lavishly as possible, with food such as cured meat stewed with potatoes and cabbage fried with sausage.
Lelouch’s growling stomach could finally hold out no longer. He sat down at the foot of the table and began eating.
At the entire table, aside from one confidential clerk who was a second lieutenant, everyone else was at least a first lieutenant. He was the only one who was not yet an officer.
But none of the officers of the 16th Regiment dared look down on him. They were all quite friendly toward him.
Perhaps it was because his telegraph warning had saved the entire regiment’s officers and men from being swallowed by the flood.
Lelouch wolfed down three whole sections of sausage, then suddenly thought of something. However, considering table manners, he waited until the colonel had finished eating before asking:
“Sir, I heard that when you brought the whole regiment here by forced march, you also rescued several hundred Bilijin civilians along the way. Have those people eaten?”
The colonel froze for a moment. Clearly, he had not been concerned about this issue. He asked around on the spot, and finally, a regimental logistics officer who was responsible for the matter answered that they had only given those people some potatoes.
This was wartime, after all. The troops themselves had only brought three days of field rations, and the meat they were eating now had all been seized locally in town. How could there be any surplus grain to share with refugees?
After hearing this, however, Lelouch could not help rolling his eyes as another plan formed in his mind:
“Sir, I have a suggestion. Since we don’t have any spare military rations to give them, and they didn’t have time to bring food with them when they fled, why don’t we release a batch of Bilijin civilians and let them go to the Bilijin army’s positions to seek a way to survive?”
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P.S. I signed a contract, so today there’s another four-thousand-character update.
New book seeking comments, follows, collections, votes, and recommendations.
If you can help increase the number of active one-yuan supporters and get the book onto the rankings, I’d be even more grateful. (I heard that nowadays even a two-cent paragraph reward can count for the rankings, but I haven’t tried it myself, so I don’t know. Those who know can give it a try. Two cents can’t even subscribe to a thousand characters, so you can’t get cheated or suffer a loss; it’s purely to boost the number of active supporters on the rankings.)