Chapter 842 Big Bang

The rain stopped in the early morning.

The fog filled the forest, like the light smoke exhaled by the earth, and like a white ghost silently shuttling among the trees.

The air was filled with the freshness of grass and trees, mixed with the scent of dew. The breeze blew the dewdrops down the grape leaves, blending into the earth and disappearing without a trace.

If it weren’t for the war, Mount Mombech would be a fascinating place.

But the shrill whistle broke the beauty and tranquility, a flock of wild pigeons were scared away, and American soldiers poked their heads out of the fortification tents one by one.

More than a month of training taught them how to set up tents, which should be set up in foxholes or trenches so as to save their lives during enemy artillery attacks.

“Get ready for battle!” Patton shouted to the American soldiers, “Pick up your weapons. It’s time to teach the Germans a lesson.”

The troops became tense in an instant. The soldiers checked their equipment in a hurry, and the tanks in the bunkers started rumbling.

Some people wanted to pack up the tent, but were stopped by Williams.

“Pick it up when you can come back alive.” Williams said rudely, “Otherwise you won’t need it.”

The soldiers laughed; such jokes helped them relax.

In fact, Major Williams was very nervous. He briefly summarized the current situation:
The enemy occupied an advantageous position from a high position.

The visibility was very good after the rain stopped, and the enemy could easily kill targets hundreds of meters away.

The slope was covered with mud soaked by rain, and the soldiers had difficulty even climbing up, yet they had to rush up and occupy the enemy’s position in the hail of bullets!

He ran to Patton and whispered, “Lieutenant Colonel, is this Charles’ order?”

Williams worried that this was Pershing’s own decision.

“Yes.” Barton nodded affirmatively:
“I have confirmed with the Brigadier General (Pershing), it was Charles’ order.”

“And he’s confident in this offense, although I don’t know why.”

“So, follow the order!”

Williams took a deep breath and seemed to have made up his mind: “Yes, sir.”

The Charles had never been defeated since the war began, so this time would be no exception.

Thinking of this, Williams waved his hand and shouted, “Follow the tanks, move forward!”

The tank tracks creaked as they passed through the crowd and lined up in front, then slowly drove towards Mount Momberg two kilometers away at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour.

American soldiers followed closely behind in groups of three or five, holding rifles.

They felt the difficulty of the attack on the way. The mud under their feet made it difficult for them to move forward. Sometimes they fell into the mud and even had to rely on the help of their comrades to pull their feet out, which made it difficult for them to keep up with the tanks.

Before they had even gone halfway, more than a dozen tanks were stuck in the mud and unable to move.

Major Williams frowned, his firm belief wavering again:
What the hell is Charles doing?

In this situation and on this terrain, is there any point in attacking?
Even if we can successfully occupy the position, I’m afraid we will suffer heavy casualties!
There was a sudden sound of artillery fire. It was the American howitzers and 75mm guns. They were clearing the mines and barbed wire buried by the German army in front of the position.

Shells exploded in large numbers on the slope ahead, stirring up patches of mud and water, and the ground instantly became bumpy.

Under the command of the signal flag, the tanks formed a steel defense line at the foot of the mountain, and the infantry hid behind the tanks and lay on the ground to prepare for the attack.

Williams was even more confused.

It is a big taboo for troops to concentrate in front of the enemy’s position and not move. The enemy may call in a large number of artillery fire to cover the area at any time, and the US troops will suffer heavy casualties before they even attack.

But soon, Williams understood why Charles did this.

The Germans’ long-range howitzers had suffered heavy losses and they were no longer able to organize large-scale artillery fire to provide coverage.

More importantly, Charles’ “radio bomber” is still flying in the sky.

Once the German howitzers opened fire, they would be ruthlessly suppressed by the “105 truck gun”.

However, this was not a solution, and in the end, an infantry charge was needed to occupy the high ground in front of them.

Williams hid behind the tank, half-knelt and held a telescope to observe the German troops under fire, thinking about the possible difficulties that might arise in the charge.

Suddenly, there were bursts of explosions.

“Boom!”

“Boom boom boom!”

……

Like an earthquake, the whole earth was shaking and trembling. Williams almost fell down and the telescope was thrown aside.

“What the hell is going on?” Williams looked towards Mount Mombeh in confusion, where plumes of smoke were rising into the sky and continuing.

“Boom boom boom!” The sound of explosions continued.

artillery?

There is no artillery with such powerful power.

what is that?
A new device invented by Ciel?

But whatever it was, Williams knew the Germans were finished.

An explosion of this magnitude and power would flatten the entire hilltop, and the German soldiers guarding it would be shocked to the point of bleeding even if they were not killed.

After a while, the explosions finally stopped and a shrill whistle sounded.

Williams yelled, “3rd Infantry Battalion, move forward and kill them all!”

The morale of the American soldiers was greatly boosted, and they rushed towards the heights with bayonets pointed and shouting.

……

In the back, Charles was observing the scene through a telescope in the trench, with a satisfied smile on his face.

The German army hardly fought back, and even the survivors were so stunned by the explosion that they probably didn’t even have the strength to pick up their weapons.

Pershing, who was lying beside him, was still in shock from the explosion. He finally reacted, with some fear in his voice: “How much explosives did you bury, Lieutenant General? They are like a volcanic eruption!”

“More than 200 tons.” Charles answered: “We dug 20 pits in total, both on the positive and negative slopes, and each pit weighed about 10 tons.”

Pershing nodded, then felt something was wrong: “When did you bury it?”

Charles smiled and said, “You guessed it right. I buried it before I handed over the position to you.”

Pershing looked bitter.

In other words, the U.S. troops stationed at Mount Mombeh were also sitting on explosives, but they didn’t know it.

Everything was within Charles’ expectations. He knew that the US military could not stop the German attack, and he also knew that the Germans would eventually occupy Reims and these heights.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance.” Charles put away the telescope: “This is the only method I can think of…”

“No, no, I don’t mind, Lieutenant General.” Pershing was excited and excited: “I am honored. I mean, we can participate in this plan. This will be a great victory for us. You gave us this opportunity…”

“I have to remind you that you may need to be cautious.” Charles interrupted Pershing.

“What?” Pershing didn’t understand.

He looked at the high ground and saw that American soldiers were already bombarding the German defense line with mortars, but the Germans still did not fight back.

Pershing didn’t think there was anything to be “cautious” about. The overall situation had been decided, and all that remained was for the U.S. military to go up and reap the fruits of victory.

Charles said calmly, “I buried 20 piles of explosives, and it seemed that only 17 of them went off just now!”

Pershing was so startled that he almost dropped the telescope in his hand.

(End of this chapter)