My Italy - Chapter 659 Disadvantages of Two-Front Warfare

“attack!”

After the bombardment, a British officer held his command knife high in his right hand and a pistol in his left hand, shouting offensive slogans while being the first to step out of the trench. .

Rows of British soldiers followed the officers with weapons in hand, shouting and rushing out.

“The enemy is attacking!”

At this time, the observers on the position roared and blew a shrill whistle.

The German officers and soldiers in the anti-gun cave also came out one after another, preparing to meet the enemy’s attack.

Koper also took his Mauser 98 to his station. At this time, his heart had calmed down. With the blessing of God, he was not hit by the shell.

Koppel, who had been a primary school teacher before the war, was drafted shortly after the war began. After a period of training, he became a qualified soldier, so he was sent to the 7th Army in February this year and became a soldier of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Company, 2nd Platoon and 1st Squad of the 31st Division under it. And there were several others assigned with him.

At that time, I heard veterans say that the one they fought before was so tragic that only more than 80 people were left after a company captured Paris, and more than half of them suffered casualties. Later, a lot of troops were added one after another. When their new batch of reinforcements arrived, their 3rd company was fully staffed.

Later, with the help of veterans, they learned a lot of battlefield knowledge. For example, when you are suddenly hit by artillery fire, squat on the ground instead of lying down or standing. Also, be sure not to smoke when you are on duty at night, otherwise you may be the victim of someone on the opposite side, etc.

Through the teachings of veterans, Koper grew up very quickly. In more than two months, he already looked almost like other veterans. What he lacked was the consideration for a real battle.

Soon the enemy launched an artillery bombardment. After three consecutive days of artillery bombardment, their company suffered heavy casualties, with more than 30 casualties. They continued to suffer too many casualties. He heard from others that some companies lost more than half. Their casualties mainly come from heavy artillery, especially large-caliber artillery of 150 mm and above. They do not need to hit as long as they are within a certain range, they will cause casualties.

Koper saw with his own eyes that one of his comrades was killed by a 170mm artillery shell six meters away from him at a distance of ten meters. He was also affected, but it was nothing serious.

At this time, when he was waiting for the enemy to come up, he heard the voice of the platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Hans. “Bartley took your squadron to the third row of positions. The three rows of anti-gun holes were attacked by large-caliber artillery shells.”

Although it was not mentioned later, all the soldiers present knew that there was no one in the third row.

“We’re the only ones in the same class?”

At this time Bartley expressed his doubts.

“The first platoon has also sent a squad. You should hurry up and take people there, otherwise Captain Otto (company commander) will be angry.”

“Yes, I will take people there right away.”

“Assemble the class.”

Koppel quickly followed his squad leader to the third row on the right, when the British were almost within range.

At this time, the clear sound of machine gunfire rang out. This was the company’s only suppressive weapon, the Revery light machine gun. I heard it was imported from Italy, but the caliber is not the Italian’s 6.5mm, but their German 7.92mm caliber.

“Fire.”

At this time, seeing that the enemy had entered the shooting range, squad leader Bartley gave the order to fire. Coppell aimed at a British soldier and pulled the trigger, and the man fell down. At the same time, intensive gunfire rang out throughout the trenches, and German soldiers were relying on the trenches to fire.

The attacking British officers and soldiers continued to rush towards their position with their backs bent, even if people kept falling, they did not care.

At this time, Koper observed another wave of soldiers rushing out of the British position in the distance. Why did the British go crazy? Attacking like this desperately, I am afraid it will be difficult today.

While soldiers from Britain, France and Germany were fighting a bloody battle around Paris, General Kluck, as the supreme commander of the Paris area, had already sent a telegram asking for help to the Chief of General Staff, General Moltke.

Although the Western Front campaign did not achieve the goal of directly withdrawing France from the war, Moltke did not lose all trust in the Kaiser’s heart because of the capture of Paris, so he still served as the Chief of General Staff.

Faced with Admiral Kluck’s request, Moltke certainly sent reinforcements as soon as possible. In fact, the British and French were preparing to launch an offensive in Paris, and the German intelligence agency had long been aware of it. After all, they would gather an army of millions of people, and the Germans would definitely be able to see such a big movement of personnel and materials as long as they were not blind.

And Britain and France did not think of completely concealing their intentions, because they could not hide it at all.

However, Britain and France are concealing another aspect, and they are very successful, that is, they conceal the number of people. German intelligence agencies and aerial observations estimated that Britain and France prepared 650,000 troops to attack Paris. In fact, the German intelligence agency’s estimate was correct. There were indeed 650,000 uniformed soldiers assembled.

But there were still 150,000 people who did not wear military uniforms at all. They entered the assembly area wearing labor uniforms. This was something that the German intelligence agency did not expect. British and French troops actually slipped in as laborers. And in order to prevent exposure, these pretended workers actually dug trenches, repaired roads and bridges, etc. The British and French took great pains to conceal the number of troops.

As a result, in the face of Britain and France, which did their best to hide their secrets, the German intelligence agencies were much worse. At least they did not find anything wrong.

However, the mistakes of the intelligence department harmed Xiao Maoqi, because he only prepared an army reserve of 150,000 people.

Some people may say that since we know that the opponent is going to launch an offensive, why not prepare more reserves.

Because the number of troops is limited, even Germany, which is well prepared, can also form a limited number of troops. After all, soldiers also need to train for three months, not to mention that the formed troops also need sufficient equipment, which all takes time. It’s impossible to form a rifle division. Isn’t that a crime?

Therefore, Germany currently has only 1.78 million troops and needs to deal with problems on the east and west fronts. In addition, people must be stationed along the North Sea coast. There are still some troops left in the country. In addition, the occupied areas also need troops to maintain law and order. After all these zeros were finally settled, it was impossible for Little Maoqi to leave too many reserves in his hands.

Considering the military and political importance of Paris, Moltke has given it the highest attention. Its troops are the largest in the German army, and weapons and equipment are also given priority to be replenished.

So now, apart from giving the 150,000 reserves in his hand to General Kluck, he doesn’t have many cards to play.

However, although he could not give Admiral Kluck much direct support, he could still give a lot indirectly, and the most effective one was to put pressure on Britain and France from the other side.

At this time, Moltke thought of his allies, the Italians, and there was no better ally than Italy.

“Your Majesty, we have now found out that Britain and France have assembled nearly a million troops to attack the Paris area where we are stationed. However, our army only has more than 400,000 people here, and including our reserves, it is only nearly 600,000. , Now the Paris defenders are under too much pressure, and we hope to allow our Italian allies to put pressure on France from the south.”

At this time, Moltke told the Kaiser about the current difficulties encountered by the German Army.

After hearing what Little Maoqi said, William II thought for a while and replied. “I will send a request for my country to Italy, Julius. I can agree to all your requests, but I want Paris in our hands. Do you understand?”

It is obvious that Paris holds great importance in the heart of William II. Whether it is military, diplomatic, or political, occupying Paris can satisfy the subjects of the empire and make other countries carefully consider their attitude towards Germany, so Paris must not be lost.

Facing William II’s words, Little Moltke saluted and replied. “Thank you for your support, I will not let you down.”

At this time, Xiao Maoqi understood that this was the emperor’s last tolerance for him. If Paris was lost, then he, the chief of general staff, would be done with it.

“Very good, I’m waiting for your news.”

When Xiao Maoqi finally returned to the staff headquarters from the palace, he saw his secretary anxiously running to him with a telegram.

“Chief of the General Staff, this is a telegram from the Eastern Front.”

Moltke received the telegram, which showed that Russia was ready to move on the Eastern Front and was expected to launch an offensive within a week.

At this time, Xiao Maoqi almost went dark. The disadvantages of fighting on these two fronts were now clearly demonstrated.

“Call the staff officers immediately, I want to hold a meeting.”

“As you command!”

I didn’t write the third chapter yesterday, but there are too many things going on today, so I can only write one chapter. I’m sorry to keep you readers waiting for so long.