My Italy - Chapter 678 Battle of Nice (5)

The capture of Colin Bridge was bad news for the French army.

First of all, the two divisions at the Bro Pass had no way to retreat. Secondly, without the strength of these two divisions, the French army had a shortage of troops on the northern front.

Faced with the crisis on the northern front of Nice, General Ebert, as the Sixth Army, certainly took it seriously. He first sent a message to Lieutenant General Giovanni, the commander of the Nice region, asking him to send at least one division of troops to reinforce the northern front. line, and he will draw troops from Toulon and Marseille to supplement him.

It was obvious that General Ebbett discovered the danger on the northern front, and that an additional division of troops could prevent the northern front from being penetrated.

Of course, the increase in troops does not mean that the French army has given up its troops at the Bro Pass, so it is also very important to recapture the west side of Colin Bridge.

On the west side of Colin Bridge is a hill that continues to Les Carrennes, and the road goes along the hills and leads to other places through Les Carrennes.

At this time, a fierce battle was going on on a hill two kilometers west of Colin Bridge.

Seeing that the enemy was only twenty meters away from him, the defender officer immediately shouted: “Grenade! Still a grenade!”

Following the officer’s shout, a wooden handle grenade flew out of the position, and an egg grenade also flew towards the position.

Then two dense explosions sounded, accompanied by various screams. However, amidst the explosions, the attacking French army suffered greater losses.

After all, they had no cover to avoid and could only resist (this was the last charging distance), while the Italian army had fortifications that could avoid most shrapnel damage.

However, before the Italian officers and soldiers in the position had time to rejoice, they were ready for hand-to-hand combat. At this time, every soldier pulled out the bayonet and stuck it on the gun.

Each of them had studied and trained in bayonet fighting and knew the importance of courage in hand-to-hand combat. It can be said that they know the theory and operation of hand-to-hand combat clearly, but the only drawback is that there is no actual combat. As for the effectiveness of hand-to-hand combat, you can only know after fighting it.

At this time, as the French army rushed into the position, hand-to-hand combat officially began.

“Ah!”

An Italian soldier yelled, took a step forward, raised his rifle with a bayonet and pierced the chest of a French soldier who was about to jump into the trench. Then the French soldier dropped the rifle in his hand and tried to grab the enemy’s rifle, but the opponent pulled him back and kicked him. At this time, he found his next enemy and ignored the French soldier who was stabbed by him.

At this time, the French soldier curled up and coughed continuously. The bayonet pierced his body, causing severe damage to his lungs. A large amount of blood flowed into the lung cavity, which also caused the French soldier to cough continuously. In addition, the damaged lungs were affected, so the pain forced him to curl up. If he does not receive effective treatment within ten minutes, his life will end. It was obvious that this was impossible in the heat of battle, so his fate was sealed.

And he was not the only one on the battlefield who had the same fate. French soldiers wearing dark blue clothes and red trousers, Italian soldiers wearing gray-green military uniforms.

I want to complain about the French army’s military uniforms. They are still wearing blue clothes and red pants for fear that others will not see them. The tough-minded British lobster soldiers were all taught clearly in the Boer War. Who in Europe did not change their general uniforms to be less conspicuous, but the French army refused to change their uniforms and did not teach them a painful lesson. Turn a corner.

However, in general, there were more French soldiers wearing dark blue clothes and red trousers. More than 70% of the corpses lying on the ground were French soldiers, while only 20-30% of the corpses of Italian soldiers were.

There are two main reasons for this result.

On the one hand, under someone’s guidance, the Italian soldiers became more sophisticated in bayonet fighting tactics and were able to use coordination to fight bayonets in groups of three. Although the Italians are not as tall as the French, but with cooperation, they are enough to deal with the French soldiers fighting alone.

The second is weapons. In addition to bayonets, the Italian army also has pistols, engineer shovels, and submachine guns as close combat weapons. If you are anxious, you can also lift a light machine gun to shoot.

Compared with the French army, the defenders’ firepower was much stronger. If you want to capture this position, you need to spend your lives.

Here we need to give a grand introduction to the Italian submachine gun, the M1913 submachine gun. The gun was designed by Wille Parosa, a firearms expert at the Turin Arsenal.

The total length of the gun: 796 mm

Barrel length: 348mm

Total gun weight: 3.922 kg

Caliber 9mm, uses 9x19mm pistol ammunition

Ammunition supply method: 20/30 rounds magazine

Rate of fire: 380 rounds/min

Initial velocity 370m/s

Range 140 meters

In appearance, this gun looks a bit like the MP18 because they both have a left magazine slot. In addition to this, they also wrap the sleeve around the barrel.

In terms of performance, this submachine gun is quite outstanding. As the world’s first submachine gun, it must be someone who is behind it. As for who it is, it needs to be kept secret.

When the position entered hand-to-hand combat, the defenders’ artillery, which had not opened fire, opened fire at this time.

75mm mountain artillery, 105mm mountain artillery, and 82mm mortars fired continuously. They formed a barrage in front of the formation, preventing enemy troops from reinforcing.

Facing that his reinforcements were blocked, the French commander was furious, and immediately under his order, he began to counterattack the defenders’ artillery.

The rumbling cannons blasted towards the defenders’ artillery positions, and explosions sounded near the artillery positions.

The defenders’ artillery faced the enemy’s artillery counterattack and immediately moved the artillery. The carriage waiting aside quickly mounted the artillery and moved to the next position.

But despite this, there were still losses of two artillery pieces and more than thirty artillerymen.

The opponent has an absolute advantage in artillery, so they can only choose to fight guerrillas.

However, the French artillery did not sit back and relax. Although the number of defenders’ artillery was very small compared to the offensive force that could not be reinforced by divisional artillery, the sky was dominated by Italy.

At this time, several black figures appeared in the sky, and the observing French soldiers immediately sounded the air defense alarm.

At this time, the officers and soldiers of the 37mm anti-aircraft gun team immediately increased their vigilance. Although they also know that this anti-aircraft gun has low attack capability against aircraft, it is their only professional anti-aircraft weapon, which is better than not allowing enemy aircraft to be unscrupulous.

At this time, when the French army was facing a formidable enemy, six DF-3 aircraft descended on them.

“shooting!”

At the officer’s command, 37mm anti-aircraft guns, makeshift machine guns, and even rifles all banged away.

In the face of the enemy’s anti-aircraft firepower, the two aircraft pounced down at this time, and they focused on an artillery position that was not well concealed.

At this time, under the rain of various bullets, the two planes looked like two flexible dragonflies, passing through the rain of bullets and rushing directly towards the artillery position. At this time, beneath the plane, a 30-kilogram bomb was about to be launched.

Puff puff

Boom boom…

Two bombs hit the target accurately below. One of them hit the ammunition box with incredible luck, and the successive explosions turned the place into a hell on earth, and the officers and soldiers at the artillery position suffered heavy casualties.

The position was uneasy, and the attack was not going well either. The French troops who entered the position climbed out of the trenches and ran to the rear.

In hand-to-hand combat, the French officers and soldiers were educated by the Italian army. The Italian soldiers, who were smaller than them, gave them a good lesson in skills and firepower.

The submachine guns spraying bullets in the trenches, as well as the bayonet tactics of the three men, made the French man unable to withstand it.

The failure of the attack, which suffered huge casualties, also required this unit to take a rest. When they regrouped, they would inevitably launch a more violent offensive.

The French attack at Colin Bridge was blocked. This was not the only bad news. The even greater bad news came from the Burrow Pass.

At this time in Xifeng, French officers and soldiers were constantly fleeing. Under the full attack of the 11th Army, the Xifeng defenders were unable to withstand the enemy’s superior firepower and troops. A rout is like a dam bursting. As long as it occurs in one place, it will spread very quickly.

Neither the French army’s supervising team nor the constant propaganda of patriotic enthusiasm could withstand the blow that caused most of the casualties. In addition, with the help of the Italian army, they also received news that the Colin Bridge had been captured. To be able to persist for so long under such circumstances is already an extraordinary performance.

At this time, watching his soldiers attack the top of the West Peak, Lieutenant General Caviglia finally let go of half of his worries, and then asked his soldiers to pursue the enemy all the way to Colin Bridge.

“Give an order to the 24th Infantry Division and ask Major General Odolovan to lead the 24th Division to pursue me all the way to Colin Bridge. I will completely annihilate the Burro defenders.”

“As you command!”

Under the order of Lieutenant General Caviglia, the 24th Division, which did not participate in today’s battle, immediately followed the enemy and rushed towards the Colin Bridge.

The Battle of Nice presented a breaking point.