Anyone with a bit of military knowledge knows that in an area that the opponent is determined to hold, after the defender's position is occupied by the attacker, the next problem the attacker needs to face is the opponent's counterattack.

Counterattack can be understood from the literal meaning. It is also a military attack, and any military attack will be difficult to be effective without adequate preparations in all aspects. When counterattacking to regain the lost position, what we need to face is that we have already done so.

Be prepared and prepare for a massacre of the enemy. Because of its tragic nature, counterattack is often desperate and extremely sacrificial.

In the long march, in the carriage of a bumpy Lightning command vehicle, the heat drawn from the engine made the temperature inside the carriage reach ten degrees, which was as pleasant as spring, but for the people in the carriage

But there is no pleasant feeling at all. Anxiety fills everyone's heart.

Although this place is still hundreds of kilometers away from the front line, at this moment, the fully enclosed compartment of this lightning truck is the mobile headquarters of the expeditionary force. As the brains of the expeditionary force, it is natural that it has arrived on the battlefield and started preparing for the first counterattack.

The teacher was worried.

The difficult problem facing Cai E at this time was: the First Division was preparing to counterattack, and the German army was also preparing to defend. Regardless of the fact that the other side had already prepared, there were still too many problems.

"… Therefore, the extension of our preparation time means giving the enemy more time to prepare for defense. It seems that the key to the problem now is that we should seize the time, not only to be fully prepared for the attack, but also to be as soon as possible

Let's start without giving the enemy more time to prepare."

When Xu Shuzheng proposed an immediate counterattack plan, Cai E's brows were still furrowed. In fact, in his heart, he still thought that fighting this battle would be relatively reluctant. Of course he knew that the military was now at its peak, and he should rely on the officers and soldiers to

Desperate for war, they immediately launched a counterattack against the Germans and regained the French positions occupied by the Germans in the morning.

But... now, what they are facing is the world's largest army power - the German army!

Originally, at the beginning, for Cai E, he had pinned his hopes on the nine divisions of the expeditionary force to be invested in a certain front at the same time, using a certain point of absolute manpower and firepower superiority to forcibly break through the German positions and penetrate deep into the German army.

Once a breakthrough is achieved during the attack, the sharp sword of the expeditionary force will be blunted, and it will naturally be possible to withdraw from the battlefield.

But at that time, what the whole world saw was the outstanding performance of the expeditionary force in the battle. The world's perception of the Chinese expeditionary force generals would be greatly changed, and the majesty of the Chinese expeditionary force would also be demonstrated in one battle.

Even, in his opinion, it is better to take the initiative to attack than to stay in the trenches and endure the bombardment of the German super artillery.

Therefore, he tended to attack rather than defend. But now, the First Division, which was the advance force of the expeditionary force, was suddenly thrown into the battlefield. It disrupted his plan. Among the expeditionary force, the one with the strongest combat effectiveness was not

The First Division consists of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Divisions. These three divisions are the main force of the Jiangsu Army. They had outstanding battlefield performance during the Battle of Jiao'ao. Compared with the First Division, their officers are more

Younger, more offensive, and highly proactive on the battlefield, the presence of a large number of outstanding non-commissioned officers also makes them strong in grassroots combat coordination capabilities. Because of this, in Cai E's original plan, the 4th, 5th, and 6th Infantry Divisions

It will serve as the sharp knife for the assault, but now, the plan has been completely disrupted.

Although the First Division is the elite of the Central Army, can they break through the German positions and regain the French lost ground? While he is worried in his heart, he clearly knows that now, even as the commander of the expeditionary force, he cannot

It is impossible to change the French plan. This battle is of great significance to the expeditionary force. It can be said that it directly determines the future of the expeditionary force. Can the First Division take on the responsibility?…

"Send a telegram to He Sui, telling him that he must launch a night attack tonight, and order him to seize the German defense line at all costs! Let him go to the front line in person. If... he cannot accomplish the task, there is no need to mention it. Please come to see him.

Live and die together with frontline officers and soldiers!"

After the extremely cold and oriental order came out of Cai E's mouth, Cai E looked at Xu Shuzheng.

"Youzheng, is there anything else you want to repeat?"

After thinking for a moment, Xu Shuzheng said in a low voice.

"Call all the officers and soldiers of the First Division! Tell them the significance of this battle!"

As night fell, in the trenches nearly two meters deep, groups of soldiers with helmets on their heads walked forward along the zigzag-shaped traffic trenches. In the night, tracer bullets continued to drag out red and green trajectories in the night sky.

In the distance, dull explosions kept coming, and every time there was an explosion, the night would be lit up.

The sound of gunfire and artillery seemed to be the only sounds in the world.

From ancient times to the present, night has always been a friend of the attacker and the attacker. When the battlefield begins in Europe, the best time for both the attacker and the defender to adjust their deployment is at night. Once night falls, the battle begins.

Both sides were busy hurriedly adjusting their personnel, weapons, ammunition and supplies. At the same time, they were nervously listening to the ominous noises on the opposite front. They were mentally speculating about what kind of terrible scenes they would encounter tomorrow. In the meantime, there might be the rumble of artillery fire.

.

However, as we all know, such shooting at night is nothing more than harassment.

The flares that have just been put into use, although the illumination effect is not good, have at least changed the process of night encounters to some extent. For the defender, the flares are friends, but for the attackers, the flares are enemies.

, as the rumbling sound of artillery echoed in the night sky, the dazzling white light emitted by the illumination bombs continued to illuminate the earth, completely displaying the war zone that was blown into the moon's surface before the eyes of the world.

"It's Chinese!"

In the trenches, those French soldiers covered in gunpowder smoke and mud could clearly see through the light of flares that the troops taking over their positions turned out to be the legendary squadron.

Compared with the depressed French soldiers, the officers and soldiers of this army entering the battlefield seemed a little excited. However, for these Chinese who had traveled thousands of miles to come to France, this night was destined to be tense and exciting, with all kinds of complexities.

The emotions were mixed together among the officers and soldiers.

After a long wait, they are finally about to officially enter the battlefield! Although this is a long-awaited battle, people's instinctive fear of death still mixes excitement and fear in the hearts of these soldiers. Under the guidance of the division commander

After struggling hard, Petain finally agreed to Li Guohui's plan. The attack plan was completely arranged by themselves, but the position they attacked was a mixed position with the French. To be precise, the French had no regard for them.

Don't worry, on the surface, the French troops who were in the same trench with them at this time seemed to be follow-up troops, but in fact, they were to prevent the Chinese ** troops from being unable to hold their position, thus giving up their positions and causing a devastating blow to the entire front.

Even in the face of the distrust of the French command, the entire First Division still devoted themselves wholeheartedly to pre-war preparations. In the end, the First Regiment of the First Division of the Expeditionary Force was selected as the assault force of the entire division. One step

The infantry of the regiment were scattered on the battlefield no more than one kilometer away.

Different from the mass sea charge that the French army is accustomed to, what they adopted was a focused penetration attack that had been drilled many times in the country. In the country, in order to deal with the European battlefield, various units of the expeditionary force specially broke through the barbed wire fences and built forts.

They carried out targeted training in the area. If you don’t believe it, they also cooperated with special weapons adapted to the attack and breakthrough. The grenades, short rifles, submachine guns and light machine guns widely used in the "Jiao'ao Incident" are naturally indispensable weapons. In order to break through the barbed wire fence

In this area, every infantry unit is equipped with blasting tubes and light flamethrowers for attacking fortresses. This series of weapons is far ahead of other countries. In addition, the trained officers and soldiers of each battle group insist on attacking at all costs.

Spirit. In this era of 1916, there was no doubt that they were one of the most capable infantry groups in the world....

As for the infantry tactics of Britain and France, the European powers, in the eyes of the expeditionary officers and soldiers, they are really too backward. In the past, when fighting on skirmish lines, they were required to have the maximum number of rifles to overwhelm the opponent's firepower when shooting at each other. But now

It is no longer time to compete for the number of rifles! Machine guns and other automatic weapons have completely suppressed the rifles. The past tactics of carrying out multiple assaults in succession to break through the position defense in a narrow frontal area have little effect. And it is extremely dangerous.

It is possible to waste huge amounts of troops.

Of course, at this time, no one would understand these midshipmen, and no one would notice what these midshipmen were about to use. Compared to their tactics, the law officers were more concerned about this.

A variety of new weapons used by the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

There is naturally nothing novel about the short rifle imitating Mauser. What really caught the attention of the French was the submachine gun carried by the Chinese Expeditionary Force that fired 9mm pistol bullets. Although they did not know much about that kind of automatic weapon, the officers with a keen sense of smell,

I am still aware of the impact of this weapon on trench warfare, and then there is the light machine gun that feeds from the left magazine. It is far stronger than the Chauchat light machine gun. After a series of comparative tests, compared to the

It looks much rougher, and its reliability and shooting accuracy are not good enough. The center of gravity of the gun is forward and the weight of the Chauchat light machine gun. The Type 2 light machine gun is reliable, has high shooting accuracy, and the center of gravity of the gun is stable. But the French still don't have it.

Accepting this "exotic caliber" weapon, after all, for the French, their equipment and logistics system must be uniform - even if one or two pieces of high-quality equipment are sacrificed.

However, for the French soldiers on the battlefield, they can now look at the novel equipment with greedy eyes, but this time, they are more gloating about their misfortune. Now someone finally goes to them for them.

dead.

In a trench more than two meters deep, Liu Zishan was leading his platoon quickly through the twists and turns of the zigzag trench to enter their forward position. At this moment, the more than 40 men under his command

For the soldiers wearing helmets, their foreheads under the helmets were already covered with sweat. On this front where it had just snowed, this sweat was obviously due to nervousness.

At this time, the sky and the earth were completely white, and the white light scattered by the illumination bombs launched by the Germans illuminated the trenches. At this moment, Liu Zishan clearly saw that the trench where they were attacking was right in front!

At that time, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the First Division had entered the forward trenches through more than ten communication trenches. They were sitting on both sides of the trenches, and everyone was making final preparations.

The First Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force is a new unit in the establishment of the Chinese Army. In fact, it was not established until the establishment of the Expeditionary Force, and its predecessor was an organized unit of the First Army of the Army. In Lan

During the formation of the mountain battlefield and the expeditionary force, Xu Shuzheng recruited key personnel from the Officer Education Corps to enrich this unit. Both experience and fighting will were first-rate among the Central Army. At this time, they all leaned on the trench wall and drank in a controlled manner.

While drinking the water in the kettle, it was rare to hear any other sounds except a low gasp.

"Confirm the beneficiary list again. If you don't fill in the correct beneficiary list for the insurance, you will not be able to get the 800 yuan insurance benefit!"

After entering the trenches, Liu Zishan once again confirmed the insurance policies of the soldiers in the platoon. This is the guarantee provided by the State Council for the expeditionary force. It coordinates the Huaihai Insurance Company to provide soldiers with a battlefield insurance. Although the insurance money is provided by

The soldiers personally bear most of the responsibility, but compared with the 400 yuan sacrifice pension provided by France, this 800 yuan is enough for an ordinary family to live for more than ten years. Combined with the French pension, it can make a family live for seventeen or eighteen years.

They will be worried about life, and it is precisely because of this that the expeditionary officers and soldiers can fight on the front line without any worries. Even for some soldiers, sacrifice is not only an act of serving the country, but also an act of filial piety...

After Liu Zishan issued the insurance form to the soldiers, who filled it out by themselves, and then helped them conduct an inspection, he handed the insurance form to the company chief. Then, like the soldiers, Liu Zishan also entered into an anxious wait. However,

Compared with ordinary soldiers who can only stay in the trench and wait quietly for the next battle, he can stay in a bunker of only two or three square meters that can accommodate several people. As soon as he enters the bunker, he starts

Started writing a diary.

"Today, March 11th, the fifth year of the Republic of China, the battle is about to start in three hours. Maybe I will never see the sunrise tomorrow again, but who can deny that this battle will determine the fate of China.

A battle for human reputation..."

After writing a short diary with passion, Liu Zishan did not stuff the diary into the pocket of his military jacket as usual, but put it into a personal belongings bag on the side. The company would eventually collect it together and then hand it over to

The same goes for letters and suicide notes from battalions, regiments, and soldiers. If they are unfortunately killed in action, these will be mailed to their families as their relics.

After stuffing the diary into a personal belongings bag with his military rank number written on it, he took out a photo of his fiancée. Looking at the smiling face in the photo, Liu Zishan couldn't help but touch the girl in the photo. He had never been there before.

After arriving in France, he would write a letter to Lin Xi every day.

"... My responsibility to the country requires me to fulfill my duties on the battlefield. I have promised my soldiers that I will not force them to do things they cannot do. Once the order to attack is given, I will be the first to do so.

The first one to jump out of the trench, the first one to rush towards the enemy, maybe, this is the last letter..."

While writing the letter, Liu Zishan kept looking at the girl in the photo, as if he wanted to imprint this girl into his mind. At this moment, the company's correspondent came over.

"Sir, orders from the company!"

"This is Huwazi..."

In the trench, Song Qingyun showed off a photo to the surrounding comrades. In the photo, a woman wearing a floral cotton-padded jacket in front of an adobe house was holding a one-year-old baby wearing a tiger head hat. The woman had a smile on her face.
To be continued...