Chapter 423 Molotov Cocktail

The battle was one-sided as soon as it started.

The German soldiers were holding shovels instead of weapons, and their rifles were piled up under the torches with the muzzles facing up.

When the gunshots rang out, the German soldiers immediately dropped their shovels and ran towards the guns, but bullets whizzed in and knocked them down in a pool of blood.

The Germans couldn't even extinguish the torches, because grenades were thrown into the trenches one by one, and at the same time the French 75 guns also fired, and the shells hit the trenches accurately one by one, instantly blowing out a strip of smoke.

The nearby torches were also blown away by the fierce artillery fire, and only a few of them were left, roaring in the night wind, illuminating the panicked Germans.

The French did not give them a chance to escape, and soon the artillery fire began to extend, throwing groups of German soldiers into the air and then dropping them heavily.

At this time, the tanks came up from the darkness with a "clack clack". Behind each tank was a group of French soldiers. They raised their guns and fired while advancing, shooting the surviving German soldiers one by one.

Compared with the daytime battle, the night battle seemed more cruel because Charles ordered not to take any prisoners.

Tijani was a little surprised by this. He hesitated and said, "I thought you wouldn't do this."

In Tijani's eyes, Charles has always been a positive image, and he is very kind. He is even immature. It seems that Charles can't say "no prisoners".

But Charles' tone is surprisingly firm:

"We are an interspersed force, General."

"More importantly, the situation of the night battle is unclear. Once it gets into a melee, our mechanized troops may suffer heavy losses."

"This determines our life and death. We can only do this!"

Tijani was silent for a while.

He understood what Charles meant. The visibility at night was poor. The soldiers could only see a figure. They couldn't tell whether the other party was shooting or raising their hands to surrender.

If there is any hesitation and the enemy sneaks into the French army, it will be fatal.

"I agree." Tijani answered with difficulty.

Compared with the German army's use of poison gas on the battlefield, what does it matter if no prisoners are left?

Tijani used this reason to convince himself.

...

The tracks of the tanks rolled over the bodies of the Germans and the air was full of blood and gunpowder.

In the red light of the swaying torches, the rags hanging on the tracks were vaguely visible. It seemed to be dripping with blood, and there were clumps of things falling down, and it was unclear whether it was minced meat or mud.

Because the German army did not have time to widen the trenches, the "Charles A1" easily crossed the trenches and continued to advance.

The torches were extinguished one by one by the French soldiers. At this time, they would undoubtedly illuminate the tanks and make them the target of the enemy's artillery.

The world fell into darkness again, with only artillery fire blasting out bright lights in front, like lightning before a storm.

The German fortress never opened fire.

They could not fire. Before, they could vaguely see the French tanks under the torches, but in front of the tanks were the fleeing Germans, in extremely dense groups, and the tanks almost crushed them forward.

If they fired at this time, even if they hit accurately, they would accidentally injure many friendly troops.

After just a moment of hesitation, the few remaining torches were extinguished one by one, and the fort gunners could only stare blankly at the endless darkness outside the observation hole.

…

After Major General Marcus fell on the front line, Staff Officer Rolf immediately took over the command of the defense line.

He knew that the first line of defense could not be defended at the moment the battle started, so he decisively abandoned it and retreated to the second line of defense with his men.

This line of defense is the last barrier of the outer fortress. 100 meters behind is the fortress defense circle. If it is breached, the outer fortress will be completely useless.

"Hold on!" Rolf shouted amid the sound of artillery fire: "The enemy tanks can't see us, they don't know where to shoot, we can stop them!"

Rolf believed that the enemy pushed the tanks onto the battlefield at night, in addition to blocking bullets for the charging soldiers, another purpose was to try to scare off their opponents and make them collapse and flee.

We must not be fooled, Rolf told himself, they have no night combat capability, they are paper tigers!

However...

A faint flame arced in the darkness and fell into the trench, and after a crisp sound of broken glass, a huge fire suddenly rose.

Two German soldiers were ignited, they waved their arms and shouted, rolled and jumped, and the surrounding soldiers hurried forward to try to put out the flames, but unfortunately they were affected, and another person was hugged tightly by the "fire man" and also fell into the flames and screamed and couldn't break free.

Rolf exclaimed: "What is that?"

But this was just the beginning. Before the German army could react, another flame rolled in, and the trench was instantly on fire.

The German army was burned and screamed. The trench was like a crack from purgatory, full of death, pain and despair.

At this time, the sound of machine guns and artillery of the tanks rang out. They accurately shot bullets and shells on the parapet and sandbags of the German trenches. The German soldiers lying behind them were killed in rows with screams.

Rolf realized at this time that he thought too simply. Charles had a way to make the tanks have night combat capabilities. Even if this night combat capability had limitations, it was enough to deal with a pure trench defense system.

...

This was the "magic weapon" that Charles used to persuade Colonel Estiny.

Colonel Estiny, who had a full understanding of the "Charles A1", continued to persuade Charles in the command center:

"General, I still hope you will carefully consider night combat."

"The 'Shire A1' is a light tank. It is only 5 meters long including the tail bracket."

"The enemy's trenches are about 2 meters wide, so the direction of the enemy's trenches must be determined."

"Otherwise, let alone fighting, the tank would be risking its life just by marching on such terrain, and there would be no need for the enemy to blow it up!"

Charles understood what Colonel Estini meant.

"Shire A1" must cross exactly 90 degrees perpendicularly to the direction of the trench in order to pass.

As long as it is deflected even just a little, the tank may fall into the trench and become unable to move, and the tank crew will either die or be injured.

(Note: The Renault tank is 1.75 meters wide and can easily fall into a 2-meter wide trench)

This seems easy to do during the day, but it is an impossible task to avoid it in the dark night, especially the trench is not a straight line, it is in an irregular "Z" shape, and there are dense traffic trenches.

"We can avoid this by using infantry coordination." Ciel replied.

"No, General." Estini shook his head: "The tank soldiers can't hear the infantry shouting in the roaring engine..."

"I didn't say to use shouting to coordinate." Charles interrupted Estiny: "We can use Molotov cocktails."

"Molotov cocktail?" Estini was stunned: "What is a Molotov cocktail?"