Fox of France

As the sun set, the already noisy battlefield gradually quieted down. There was no moon in the first half of the night, and only the night wind blew quietly across the entire battlefield.

Between the trenches of the French, there were traffic trenches. These communication trenches can not only ensure the retreat of the French army, but also can be used for the troops behind to come forward for reinforcements. And at night, these traffic trenches are the possible attack routes of the enemy that both sides must guard against.

Soldiers on both sides threw a torch for lighting into the communication trench from time to time, so that if someone wanted to pass by here, they would definitely be able to find it. On the ground on both sides of the traffic trench, there were originally minefields. Of course, during the daytime fighting, there are very few mines left in these minefields.

In such darkness, the French engineers quietly left the trenches with baskets full of mines. Came to the minefield.

During the day, the French minefields had basically been cleared extremely efficiently by Prussian and English conscripts. Those British and Prussians ran over from the minefield, ran over, ran over, and ran over again, and they had already destroyed the minefield very efficiently. Now taking advantage of this moonless first half of the night, the French went out to lay mines.

But this job is also a very dangerous job. Although the British and Prussians did a great job of clearing the minefields during the day, it is hard to say whether their work was missed. In such a dark surrounding, the French engineers could only rely on the faint starlight to see a little bit of things. Naturally, they couldn't find those landmines that hadn't exploded. Whether they will encounter these things depends entirely on fate. arranged.

So throughout the first half of the night, the battlefield was very quiet, but many times, there would be sudden explosions and flashes of light—that was the French engineers who came out to plant landmines accidentally encountered and survived under the iron heels of the British and Prussians Down mines.

But as the moon rose, the French engineers retreated. In the middle of the night, there were gradually other movements on the battlefield.

Some British soldiers, and Prussian conscripts chosen by lot. After about half an hour of surprise learning, each of them had a shovel and a probe stuffed into their hands, and they were kicked into the minefield. The sound of the explosion had told them that those Frenchmen must have done something dastardly in the dark.

As for what despicable things the French had done, at first the Prussians and the British feared that they would attack them in the dark. Although it is very difficult to launch an attack on such a moonless night, it may even be a waste of ammunition at all. But the French are always cunning, God knows what they're up to. So the British and Prussians waited in full battle for most of the night, but the French did not launch a night attack.

Since the French did not come out to engage in night raids, it is impossible for them to come out to walk under the stars and think about life. So the question of what the French were doing in the middle of the night immediately had an answer: "These despicable and cunning Frenchmen just planted mines in the minefield while they were in the dark!"

If the French can come to lay mines at night, then the British and Prussians can naturally dig mines at night. So those British engineers, as well as those drawn by the Prussian lottery, were driven out of the trenches and crawled towards the minefield under the moonlight.

So this night, in the first half of the night, the rumblings caused by the French, and more rumblings caused by the British and Prussians in the second half of the night slowly passed.

The next day, at dawn, the British and Prussian troops launched a new offensive as usual. The way of attack is still bombardment, bombardment, and the infantry rushes after the artillery bombardment (this time it is really rushing). However, there are still some changes. The change is that when a group of Prussian mobilized soldiers rushed up to clear the mines with bayonets, there were still a group of soldiers with live ammunition in the trenches, under the command of an officer, holding their guns and aiming at them. Vest.

Yes, after a night of thinking, the Prussians finally figured out a good way to use the supervisory team to improve the enthusiasm of the soldiers in combat.

Under the guns of the supervising team, the Prussian conscripts were indeed extraordinarily brave. They don't care about the mines that may exist under their feet (after all, did the guys who went out to clear the mines last night have a supervisory team watching, God knows if they paddled there in the minefield?) and rushed forward, because they knew that those behind them Guys can really shoot.

Accompanied by the rumbling explosions of landmines, the Prussian army slammed into the barbed wire fence that the French had mended overnight.

As usual, in front of the barbed wire, they were first shot by the French volleys, then shot by the French cannons, then bombed by the French with "little melons", and then swept by the French with "broadswords", and then the rest remained. All the Prussian conscripts were killed by the Prussian Superintendents.

Then the next group of Prussians rushed up again. Because, if a trench can be captured every day, then in a few days, they can take the high ground, and once the high ground is taken, the gate of Verdun will be opened.

This kind of story is also staged on the British side, except that the British are too embarrassed to get a supervisory team out, there is almost no difference.

After fierce fighting, at noon, the Prussians broke through two more trenches. But it was quickly driven back by the counterattack French army supported by more artillery. Then they rushed back, and then they were driven back again... It was not until the sun was setting that they had a firm foothold in the position of the third trench.

After breaking through this trench, the Prussians stopped their offensive and began to consolidate their defenses on the spot. It seemed that they planned to come step by step.

The British fought a little more intensely, and the battle for the third trench continued until sunset. It was almost dark when the British repelled the last French counterattack.

The British, like the Prussians, should consolidate their position today and continue tomorrow. Although the casualties of the British and Prussians in the past two days were a bit frightening, Mao estimated it. More than 30,000 people were killed or injured in two days. Such a loss is really rare in the previous history of Europe. But now they are very close to the "key target". If you try harder, it seems that you will be able to reach that high ground. Therefore, both the British and the Prussians feel: We can hold on a little longer.

However, they don't know that there is a big difference between the third trench and the first trench, that is, the one connecting the third trench and the fourth trench is not only a traffic trench, but also very well hidden. authentic.

These tunnels were originally traffic trenches, but they were covered with wood, covered with thick soil, and the exits were camouflaged. The repeated counterattacks of the French army also made the Prussians forget to check these things at all.

The sound of guns and artillery from both sides did not stop until the sun went down, and then naturally the old repertoire of the previous night continued: in the first half of the night, the French came out to lay mines, and then boom, boom; in the second half of the night, the British and Prussians came out to dig mines , and then "Boom boom boom boom boom..."

Just when the British and Prussians triggered the "Boom Boom Boom Boom..." plot, teams of French troops were passing through the tunnel and touching the third trench.

At dawn, the British and Prussian "boom, boom, boom, boom..." plot is basically coming to an end, but at this time, the French cannons are suddenly aimed at the British and Prussians. The third trench occupied by men opened fire heavily.

Even the French cannons had limited damage to the trenches, but the sound of the cannons was also a signal. As soon as the cannon sounded, the French soldiers held their bayonets, first crossed the barbed wire fence along the traffic trench, then jumped onto the ground, and rushed towards the enemy army on the opposite side.

Neither the British nor the Prussian army expected that the day's battle would start with the French's attack. They hurriedly prepared to organize a counterattack, planning to play a defensive counterattack first, and then... But they didn't want to, in the trenches on their side, suddenly there was a Many pieces of soil collapsed, exposing many tunnel crossings, and then a large group of French soldiers rushed out with bayonets.

Under the combination of inside and outside, both the British army and the Prussian army soon collapsed, and then the French army took advantage of the situation to counterattack, and even once regained the second trench, and dragged the British and Prussians over with a lot of effort. Many of the artillery supporting today's offensive operations were also damaged.

Moreover, the firepower of the French army has become stronger again. Larger cannons, obviously more than 12 pounds, have also begun to join the French army. Shrapnel also appeared on the battlefield of Verdun for the first time. When the British and Prussians launched a counterattack, large numbers of their soldiers were killed on the battlefield by such shells.

After paying huge casualties, the British recaptured the third trench they had just lost. As for the Prussians, they almost lost even the second trench.

When the day's battle was over, the British took stock of their losses. In the past three days, the losses of the British army had reached 20,000. Even considering that 30,000 British troops who could not speak English had just been brought in from Hannover, but all the losses were real elite troops, and such losses cannot be made up for by those mobilized soldiers.

But the Prussians lost even more in terms of numbers, especially in today's battle, the Prussians alone lost about 20,000 men. After all, Prussia had already lost 40,000 men in the past three days.

Although that "important goal" does not seem to be far away, many people are already considering whether it is necessary to continue fighting like this.