August 15, 1920, Er Industrial Zone, Bocholt.
The fierce sound of gunfire finally stopped in the evening, and the German soldiers poked their heads out of the trenches one after another. Under the leadership of the officers, they began to repair the trenches with shovels and deepen the gun holes.
Outside the German trenches, patches of French corpses were piled up on the periphery of the position. Most of the soldiers were killed by German machine gun fire, so most of them were shot in the chest, and a few were more unlucky. During the attack, he struck a mine and had his legs blown off. He fell to the ground without anyone caring about him and died of excessive blood loss.
These corpses were walking in the area of 10-1500 meters in front of the German positions. The soldiers killed by bullets were mainly concentrated in the range of 50-200 meters. Most of the French soldiers beyond this range were killed by artillery shells.
The entire battlefield was like a Shura hell. The blood shed by the French soldiers dyed the whole land reddish brown. The battlefield was filled with a pungent smell of blood, which was nauseating!
Model, the commander of the 2nd Division, personally came to inspect the German positions after the French attack ceased.
Model's expression was very solemn. The German losses were greater than he expected, and most of the main casualties came from French heavy artillery.
At the beginning of the battle, the French army did not have such heavy artillery. These heavy artillery with a caliber exceeding 120 mm only joined the battle later.
What left the deepest impression on the German army was the French army's two 00mm fortress guns. I don't know how the French army dismantled and transported these things, but these two artillery guns posed a huge threat to the German positions.
The 200-meter artillery weighs 220 kilograms, and the damage range of a shell can be as large as a football field. Even if you are hiding in an anti-gun cave, as long as you are close enough to the explosion point, you will still be hit by the huge power of the explosion. buried.
Model did not expect that the French army would have such large-caliber artillery to participate in the battle at the beginning, so the depth of the anti-gun holes built was not deep and could only withstand the bombardment of 120-150 mm heavy artillery. However, at this time, the French army appeared like this A super-large killer weapon, which made the German army's situation even more difficult.
Therefore, after the battle, under Model's order, the German army seized the time and began to repair their positions and deepen the artillery holes to reduce casualties under enemy artillery fire!
"General, the French army invested two regiments in the battle just now, but they were both disabled by us. Their casualties exceeded at least 5,000 people!"
Compared with Model's caution and worry, the soldiers at the bottom seemed particularly excited.
The German casualties were about 800, but they caused 5,000 casualties to the French army today, and the battle loss ratio between the two sides reached 6:1!
Judging from the exchange ratio, the German army made a lot of money!
Moreover, the soldiers beat the French army in the battle, which allowed the soldiers to vent their previous anger. At this time, everyone's morale was high, and not only did they not show up, Although they were afraid of fighting, they were still full of fighting spirit. Many people even requested to take the initiative to attack under darkness to surprise the French army and let them see the power of the German army.
Of course, Model could not agree to their request.
The reason why the German army was able to inflict such heavy casualties on the French army during the White Fight was mainly due to its reliance on trenches and fortifications.
The German soldiers were hiding in the trenches, covered by trenches, with continuous fire suppression from heavy machine gun fire points, and there were also communication trenches to facilitate them.
The soldiers were exposed when attacking.
Although they had these things, they would not follow them forward, so they were all behind them.
The French soldiers who lacked cover were beaten under the German defense line.
Loss of armor and heavy casualties are very common in the frontline positions of the Allied Powers and the Allied Powers throughout World War I.
Faced with the enemy's tight defense, the offensive side will attack.
At that time , they paid an extremely heavy price, and it was precisely because this price was too heavy that both sides could not bear it.
In the end, neither side was willing to take the initiative to attack, so they simply dug trenches for each other and hid in the trenches to confront each other.
It was already very deep during the First World War, so Model did not intend to take the initiative to ask for trouble.
However, the threat of the French army's two 200mm fortress guns was too great. If they could not get rid of them. With two fortress guns, the German casualties may continue to rise!
While Model was worrying about how to deal with the French fortress guns, the French army was also frightened by the heavy casualties suffered during the daytime attack!
"The battle cannot be fought like this. The morale of the frontline troops is very low. Our casualties are too heavy!"
The French army was quite resistant to the offensive order from their superiors, because they had already experienced the power of trench warfare in World War I. Everyone recalled the experience of World War I and felt intimidated by the game. No one wanted to go back to that kind of situation. Went in the middle of the war!
Attacking the enemy's position with a tight defense line almost cost the lives of soldiers to fill the hole, and the hole dug by the enemy was extremely deep. They filled the hole with 5,000 lives, but they didn't see any trace of it. Hope to fill the hole!
The French army does have more troops than the German army, but no matter how many troops they have, they can't bear such casualties!
After all, the soldiers are humans, not machines. Seeing their companions coming one after another! They fell in front of the enemy's position, and they refused to go to the battlefield no matter what!
"What to do? General Henry gave me a fatal order to capture Bocholt within three days. If I couldn't capture it, would he make it easier for me?"
The French commander was very angry. He also knew that he couldn't fight like this, but he really had no choice. If he didn't attack, could he expect the German army to retreat and give up its position?
Isn't that a dream?
"Now there is only one way, and that is to increase the intensity of the artillery fire, and try to plow all the enemy's positions with artillery fire before the soldiers attack. As long as we can knock out their firepower points, our attack will be much easier.!"
"Yes, this is a way, but I think we should apply for tanks to go into battle. After all, tanks are thick-skinned and thick-skinned like a mobile fortress. With the cover of this thing, the infantry will not have to worry about being attacked by enemy machine guns. Shot!"
Since the order received was a death order and this battle had to be fought, the French generals started to use their brains and began to think of ways to use various methods to capture the German positions.
However, they were not the only ones who were thinking of ways. One of them, Model, was also thinking of a solution.
In the evening, Mainz, who was stationed in Dort, received a telegram from Model.
In the telegram, Model reported the battle situation during the day. Let's take a look at the difficulties faced by the German army.
Due to the lack of heavy artillery, their artillery firepower is much weaker than that of the French army, and because the French army's artillery positions are behind the trenches built by the French army, it is difficult for the German army to destroy the opponent's heavy artillery. , this problem brought great difficulties to Model.
Mainz paid great attention to it after receiving the battle report. The German army lacked tanks, heavy artillery, and aircraft, and the French army had these, so Model would definitely be under great pressure..
At this time, the French army still has 200 mm heavy artillery, so the pressure on the German army will definitely be heavier!
He must do something for Model, otherwise, even if Model holds the position, he will suffer heavy casualties. Come on!
Thinking of this, Mainz opened the system!