Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 12: The breath of the devil
Focus, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Tank Brigade, Tank Brigade of the British Army's First Group Army looked at everything in front of him angrily in his "Matilda" II tank.
He really couldn't figure out how the invincible tank unit he had always been proud of had fallen into this embarrassing situation.
After the six Matildas were blown up by the Germans, the high morale of his own troops, which was brought about by the smooth destruction of the opposing anti-tank artillery, plummeted. And he was scolded by Colonel Glenn. His own troops became the laughing stock of all infantrymen.
So in order to wash away the shame and re-enhance morale. In this assault, he desperately put all the "Matilda" Type 2 into the front line, and the "Matilda" Type 1 also rushed out to follow.
What I didn't expect was that the infantry didn't accompany them at all, and they all rushed to the front of the tank. I felt a sense of shame after being completely ignored. I quickly ordered the other tanks to shoot at full speed and chase the infantry.
But the speed of "Matilda" is too slow, and because the continuous marching track is also very worn out, even the second type can only run up to 12 kilometers per hour on this soft field. Let alone those one type. As a result, not only did he not catch up with the infantry, but his tanks also opened up a distance. When his "Matilda" II finally caught up with the infantry, the "Matilda" I in the second row was still there. Toss about 200 meters away.
Those infantrymen finally suffered the pain of abandoning themselves to charge alone, and they were beaten to the ground by the Germans. When I was about to order the tank troops to advance to the Germans, the infantrymen surrounded their tanks. I really don’t know what they thought. Now they are all infantrymen, so they can’t move at all, so they have to stay where they are. Shoot at the Germans. Major Fuchs really wanted to open the top cover and drill out to drive the infantry out, but the "dangdang" sound of German machine gun bullets hitting the tank turret forced him to give up this idea.
Xu Jun looked sadly at the struggling British infantry soldiers who were constantly rushing up. It was the stupidity of the British officers that caused all the chaos now. Seeing this, Xu Jun ordered Mueller who was drooling on the side with excitement.
"Let's get started."
"Yes! General." Then Mueller fired a red flare into the air.
The British infantry at the forefront of the position suddenly heard a sharp scream of artillery shells. They screamed and wanted to disperse the dense formation, but this once again aggravated the chaos.
The British soldier lying in the middle watched the cannonball fall in front of him. To their surprise, the legendary horror scene of flying flesh and blood did not appear. The artillery shells did not explode after being inserted into the soil, but billowing white smoke came out, and the soldiers and tanks were enveloped in a piece of smoke.
The screams of the second round of shells when they flew were even worse.
"Mortar! Concealment!" an officer shouted.
But the soldiers can't take care of anything anymore. There is a large piece of white smoke all around. The Germans are still shooting frantically, and lethal bullets fly out of the white smoke like migratory locusts. Nothing like this Passive beating can destroy morale even more.
The mortar fired by the mortar was still a smoke bomb, but the smoke emitted by the smoke bomb was a strange yellowish color. Soldiers nearby were coughed violently by the heavy smoke, and some even held their hands. The eyes cried. A series of such shells were hit into the crowd. In an instant, the British assault group coughed and cried.
"My eyes!"
"Cough cough cough, help, I can’t breathe. Cough cough cough."
The British officers looked at the thick smoke in front of them with horror, covering their eyes and noses, and rushing out, and then rolling painfully on the ground.
"Poison gas", a terrifying term appeared in their minds. Suddenly the German shooting stopped, and the officers saw in the smoke that German soldiers with gas masks rushed towards them with bayonets, which made the officers firmly believe that the smoke was poisonous gas.
"Retreat!" an officer screamed.
He took his head and fled to his position. The soldiers behind him were overjoyed when he heard this command, and immediately got up from the ground and turned and fled back.
The retreat of this small team caused a chain reaction. All the British soldiers began to turn around and run away. The soldiers who had been exposed to the smoke also endured the pain and supported each other and ran back desperately. They wanted to leave this **** as soon as possible and find a good doctor. The retreat became a rout.
Major Fuchs was frightened in his tank and his legs were weak. The smoke had penetrated into the tank from the vents and various crevices. The pungent smell and painful eyes caught him in fear In his memories, his two brothers died in the gas battle of World War I. At this time, there was already a scream of other car crew members in the headset.
"Retreat, retreat quickly." Major Fuchs screamed into the radio and his pilot.
"No way! I can't see the road, and we are all around us."
Other trains also reported the same situation. Major Fuchs felt that his respiratory tract was burning like fire, and he couldn't care about anything now.
"Abandon the car! We must get out of here now. All the unmovable cars abandon the car. Get out of the smoke. Retreat! Retreat!" Major Fox screamed with his painful neck. Then he opened the top cover and drilled out, with the crew members who had also been smoked enough to crawl and flee towards his position.
Those "Matilda" outside of the smoke put on reverse gear because of bad conditions, and when they heard the retreat command, they reversed at full speed and fled back to the starting point.
Colonel Glenn felt very depressed from the beginning of the offense. How did the infantry get to the front of the tank?
"But that's okay. The glory of the British Empire is to go forward courageously, rushing to the front of all the troops. God prefers infantry." Colonel Glenn thought. He watched the brave young men rushing towards the enemy's position with a roar, and he couldn't help but think of his scenery during World War I. It was the same at that time, really miss.
The strange thing is that the German position turned out to be quiet. "What the **** are you doing? Did those stupid Germans stunned by the gunfire ahead, so that my soldiers can easily win." Colonel Glenn thought happily.
After the Germans opened fire, Colonel Glenn didn’t worry too much~ IndoMTL.com~ His team seemed to have rushed to a place only 100 meters away from the Germans. The Germans opened fire now too late. If you keep up, you will be able to break the distance of one hundred meters, and victory is in sight.
But the subsequent development of the situation surprised him. Their brave infantry boys actually blocked the tank.
"Damn it, why are you so crazy, what is the battlefield commander doing?" Colonel Glenn shouted angrily.
When the German smoke bombs hit the infantry group, Colonel Glenn was still wondering at the time. What kind of tactic was this? But when he saw the chaos at the edge of the smoke through the telescope, the horrible memory of 1917 returned to his mind.
"It's poison gas! The **** German used poison gas on us. Hurry! Get me the headquarters! Give me the gas mask! Fortunately, there is no wind today. God, God! Damn German!" Glenn The colonel was frightened incoherently.
At last, a calm staff officer approached and reminded "Colonel, what should I do now? Pull the team back?"
"Yes! Retreat, let them retreat! Quick! Let them retreat!" Colonel Glenn yelled desperately after reacting. But before his order was issued, the team was already defeated.
"Shell! Call the artillery to shell the Germans! Drive those shameless Germans into hell!" Colonel Glenn shouted to the staff.
"Colonel! The artillery battalion called. They were bombarded by German large-caliber artillery and suffered a lot."
The news finally caused Colonel Glenn, who was about to collapse, to fall to the ground.