Battlefield of All Sides

Chapter 189 Troop Status
Knowing that he was a German officer this time, Li Mu was only surprised for a moment, then hurriedly dressed and went out.

Speaking of which, the German military uniforms during this war were not very good. They were pure field gray, and the hats still had a little legacy of bright features. I also wore flat-brimmed hats. The hats of ordinary soldiers are all made of iron. With a thick old-times split, small cap with a pointy point staring at it.I don't know what kind of blended material the clothes are made of. It's comfortable to wear, but it's still a bit stuffy after a long time.

And it’s almost summer now. Although it’s Europe, the weather is already very hot. When he came out of the fort, the heat of the sun had already radiated out. When Li Mu came out wearing a hat, the soldiers walking beside him immediately stopped and faced Li Mu saluted.

Li Mu also immediately returned the gift, and immediately glanced around.

Standing at the entrance of the fortress, what you see is actually a very deep trench. The depth of the trench is perhaps two meters. There are wood fillings on both sides and at the bottom of the tunnel. It looks very solid.

A short distance from the fortress is a fork, and there is a vertical passage several meters long leading to the next horizontal passage.

These trenches are not very wide, but they are deep without exception. Li Mu can't see the situation of the positions above the trenches at all.

After waving the soldiers to disperse, Li Mu walked out of the tunnel alone, but another chestnut-haired soldier walked over.

"Major, you're awake, you just saw Thomas gathered us together, is there a new mission?"

The speaker was not tall, had black hair, and had a deep voice. He seemed to be the soldier who had spoken to Thomas before.

Li Mu looked over him and saw soldiers gathered in various trenches under the urging of whistles.

Soon there were a lot of people here, Li Mu looked around carefully, and finally saw the scale clearly.

The people I lead almost have a reinforcement battalion, and all [-] people are under my leadership.

This is also in line with his position as a major, but there are only a few hundred people, on such a battlefield, they will disappear in just a moment.

Of course, Li Mu would not show such an attitude towards these soldiers. He just announced an order to everyone and prepared to move to the second-line position ahead.
However, when this sentence spread, everyone had some indescribable hesitation on their faces. Li Mu was surprised for a moment, but he also figured it out.

The reason why everyone has such an expression is most likely because of the previous Battle of Verdun. Maybe they didn't go to that battlefield, but they must have known about it, and the Somme front line has such tight defenses, Now they began to mobilize troops to garrison and defend. They naturally knew what they were going to do.

But after listening to Li Mu's order, none of them came up to inquire. They just lowered their heads and went back to pack their things. It was Ralph, the corporal who had been following him before, who saw something and came over directly and asked Li Mu. road.

"Major, we are transferred there at this time. Is there going to be a war on the Somme?"

Li Mu's eyes flashed, but he didn't speak, but Ralph seemed to understand, and said with a nervous smile: "Major, can you let the brothers write a letter here, send it now go back?"

When Ralph actually said this, Li Mu's pace of going to check the situation stopped immediately, and he turned to look at the other party, but Ralph suddenly lowered his head.

Li Mu pondered for a moment before nodding his head: "You can convey this matter, and besides, call all the officers under me."

After Li Mu said this, Ralph was obviously happy, and immediately nodded and ran away. Li Mu looked at his back, but looked around with a sad expression.

Unexpectedly, these soldiers would be here, and they knew that they might not be able to go back. The news of the Battle of Verdun might have spread, and in the battle that followed, they might also feel that the scene they were about to face would be difficult. It is almost the same scene as Verdun.

Of course they guessed right, in front of them, a purgatory on earth was waiting for them to enter.

But it is impossible for them to explain all these things, they will not believe it, and they will go against the subjective wishes of the battlefield.

Seeing those soldiers distributing papers one by one, finding those who could read and write suicide notes for them, Li Mu always felt a little uncomfortable.

But right now Li Mu also climbed up the small stairs in the trench, and it was the first time he came to the ground, and when he looked up, there was still a position covered by trees, and it was flat and peaceful at the same time.

However, people from the surrounding positions began to climb out of the trenches. They packed up their things and began to walk south under the orders of their commanders.

There is the direction of the Somme, and obviously they are also the troops that will also start to move forward.

Li Mu just looked at them and said nothing. At this time, several officers came up from the trenches and walked to Li Mu to salute.

Looking at their military ranks, Li Mu knew that they should be officers under him, but he didn't recognize them, so he immediately asked.

"How many of you are?"

"Major, my name is Hans. I'm the company commander. This is Frank, and this is Jonathan."

The person who came was a blond man. He pointed to the other two officers beside him and introduced to Li Mu. Obviously, these were all officers in his hands.

"Major, you just came to us. There are some things you don't know, and we will be happy to answer them for you."

The battalion commander named Hans said to Li Mu with a flattering face. Obviously Li Mu was an officer who had just airborne, and now they thought it was Li Mu who wanted to inquire about the situation.

Li Mu also asked some questions, but what he talked about most was about the upcoming battle. Li Mu asked a few people to help, but Frank stopped Li Mu suddenly.

"Major, we will naturally pay attention to this matter, but we have recently removed a few Maxim heavy machine guns from above, and we don't know how to use them. Can the major help us to take a look?"

When Frank said this, Li Mu became interested at the moment. He hadn't checked the weapons of the people here carefully, but now he heard the famous Maxim machine gun. Sometimes the system will still provide help.

After talking about this, Li Mu went to check the situation with them. When he saw the water-cooled heavy machine gun, Li Mu touched it, and the system really gave us the method of use and the arrangement of the battlefield.

Li Mu demonstrated immediately, and how to arrange crossfire, the officers benefited a lot, and of course they patted Li Mu's horse.

But Li Mu discovered another thing at this time. Apart from the basic military uniform, the soldiers here only carried rifles, bayonets and grenades.

Although these equipment are enough to arm a soldier, the same is true for the soldiers of the entire regiment. Apart from that, there are only a few heavy machine guns.

I don’t even have a concept of a light machine gun or anything like that.

After reading these, Li Mu understood why the casualties in the First World War were so tragic. Basically, it was because of the crude weapons, the rough tactics, and the only way to compete for positions was to charge collectively.

However, Li Mu couldn't change this matter, so he just urged the soldiers to hurry up and prepare for dispatch.

So when the sun was high in the sky, the whole army set off. Li Mu rode forward together. The troops passed through this position, turned over a small hill, and headed for a position further ahead. .

Li Mu hadn't seen the forward position yet, but suddenly there was a loud and deafening sound, and the horses under his crotch were a little uneasy. Look in the place.

Li Mu looked the same way, and saw a busy figure in the gap between the trees, and among them were cannons as thick as oil barrels.

After the rumbling sound, there was a dense tinkling sound, which was the sound of shell casings colliding.

Through a wide field of vision, Li Mu saw bullet casings all over the ground. The yellow bullet casings were just thrown on the ground, even covering a large area.

And these artillerymen were still reloading.Li Mu was also taken aback when he saw the current situation.

But the other officers were not surprised, and Hans chased after him to explain to Li Mu.

"Major, this is the daily work of the artillery positions. The British and French have bombed before, and now it's our turn."

……

(End of this chapter)