Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 884 Red Pants Are France

The complaints are all complaints, the problem still needs to be solved. In order to treat the wounded soldiers of the expeditionary force, Martin gathered the doctors and nurses belonging to the three divisions, and set up a separate field hospital next to the expeditionary force headquarters.

This time I didn’t dare to make a big fanfare. There are actually more than 100 doctors and nurses in the three divisions, but they can only deal with the wounded with minor injuries, and the seriously wounded have to give up. This has nothing to do with morality.

On August 12th, the battle became fierce. Frenzi invested all 105 divisions and launched a full-line attack on the flank of the German First Army. The three divisions in southern Africa also went into battle. At this time, tactics such as outflanking and outflanking have become meaningless. , the troops were too dense and had lost the space to turn around and outflank. Under the cover of artillery and machine guns, the soldiers launched a collective charge with bayonet-mounted rifles. A battalion was wiped out in a blink of an eye, and an average of one regiment was lost every hour. The battle lasted until noon, and the 301th and 201st divisions were completely disabled and had to withdraw from the battlefield, leaving only the [-]st division to fight alone.

Not alone, the British Expeditionary Force is also gritted its teeth and persisted.

"Gentlemen, hold on, we have suffered heavy losses, and the Germans are not much better. They are already at the end of their strength. They only need to launch another attack to defeat the enemy in front of us. His Majesty is waiting for our good news. ——" Frenzi is already red-eyed. Before that, Frenzi wanted to preserve his strength, but now he has paid such a high price to defeat the enemy in front of him. A hearty victory is the only way for Frenzi to redeem himself.

"We need more powerful artillery to suppress the enemy. With our current firepower, we can't defeat the First Army." Haig, who was still eager to fight a few days ago, finally felt the combat effectiveness of the German army. The strength of the world's number one army is indeed Well-deserved reputation.

Haig's troops participated in the morning's attack, and indeed made some progress. They once captured the frontal German positions, but were recaptured by the crazy German troops.

Compared with the German army, the artillery unit of the British army is not weak in equipment, but the quality of artillery is far from that of the German artillery, so it cannot achieve the desired effect. The French artillery with better quality loses in the caliber of the artillery. The miss fires fast, but the range is short and the power is small, which poses no threat to the German artillery positions.

"Marshal, we can concentrate all the artillery and use it to carry out key breakthroughs on the German positions. As long as we break through one point, we can penetrate the German defense line." Martin actively suggested that many exercises in southern Africa have proved that artillery units are still It needs to be used intensively to achieve greater effect.

"That's right, our artillery has not played its due role. Concentrating all the divisional artillery, moving the position of the 4.5-pound artillery forward, and using [-]-inch artillery to concentrate attacks can achieve better results. "Smith Dolling agreed with Martin's suggestion that the poor British army is really not familiar with the current large corps operations.

"Our 12 divisions have more than 4.5 200-inch guns in total, and they will definitely be able to suppress the German artillery." Haig also agreed that the battle has been fought for this point without reservation. Ability may be a problem, but loyalty to the British Empire is no problem.

"Then do it, gentlemen, and get your troops ready to attack at two o'clock in the afternoon." Frenzi readily agreed, and in the face of the mighty German First Army, the British Expeditionary Force was finally united.

In September, the French sun was scorching hot, and the weather was extremely hot. The generals in the headquarters had electric fans and cold drinks, and the troops on the front line could not even eat hot meals.

"Eat more lads, we may not be able to eat our next meal." A white sergeant of the 201th Division seized the time to eat canned food at the junction of the [-]st Division and the British [-]th Division.

The can was found from a dead African soldier. The unlucky ghost was hit by a stray bullet and died on the spot just as he jumped out of the trench. The body fell less than ten meters before the starting position. He hooked his backpack back, and there were four cans and two servings of individual food in it.

"Southern Africa is really good to these guys, why don't we have these cans—" A corporal with a beard is also hurrying to eat. The individual food of the British Expeditionary Force actually includes two boxes of canned food, which are luncheon meat and Peas, but in the individual food of soldiers in southern Africa, the canned food is beef and fish.

"The cans distributed by the military are purchased from southern Africa, so this is normal." The sergeant was thoughtful, with a cigarette in his ear, which was also produced in southern Africa, and the helmet he was wearing was also from just now. It was picked off from that unlucky ghost.

The British Expeditionary Force also has helmets, but they are ugly ship-shaped helmets, which are obviously less protective than the standard steel helmets in southern Africa.

The helmet worn by the sergeant has a groove formed by the bullet.

If this were replaced with the ship-shaped helmet equipped by the British Expeditionary Force, the helmet would definitely be shattered directly. The ship-shaped helmet could only defend against fragments produced by shells, or stray bullets with exhausted power, and could not defend against the frontal impact of bullets at all.

In fact, the standard steel helmets equipped in southern Africa cannot defend against the frontal impact of bullets. Even if the bullets cannot break through the helmets, the soldiers' cervical vertebrae will be torn off by the powerful impact of the bullets, and the result is the same.

But if the bullet hit the side, or the dome on the top of the helmet, the result would be quite different.

"It seems that southern Africa is really good. If I can live until the end of the war, I am going to visit southern Africa. If it is as good as the second lieutenant said, I will immigrate to southern Africa." The bearded corporal's favor towards southern Africa is increasing , Southern Africa is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom and is also part of the United Kingdom.

"Why do we have to wait until the end of the war? When I was in my hometown, southern Africa was called a backcountry, but in France, the Lee Enfield we used was produced in southern Africa, and the bullets we used were produced in southern Africa. The individual food we eat, the cigarettes we smoke are all produced in southern Africa, and even our clothes—” The sergeant opened the collar of the bearded corporal, and it was indeed made in SA.

"Southern Africa is also a British territory. It's normal for us to use products from southern Africa—" The bearded corporal was not sure if this was normal, but the industrial capabilities of southern Africa were undoubtedly quite strong.

"The troops composed of these Africans are equivalent to the National Guard in southern Africa-no, it is lower than the National Guard-" The sergeant also did not understand the military system in southern Africa.

"Militiaman?" The bearded corporal guessed.

"Lower than the militia, the militia is at least white—" Actually the sergeant wanted to say slave soldiers, but Britain had abolished slavery.

"That's cannon fodder temporarily recruited, just like us." The bearded corporal was careless, and didn't realize what the problem was behind it. The same was true for France. After the war broke out, a large number of troops were mobilized from the colonies.

"How could it be the same? Didn't you notice? The soldiers in the southern African army are all Africans. What does that mean?" Sergeant enlightened.

"What?" The bearded corporal was at a loss, his brain cells were obviously not as developed as the hair system.

"It means that southern Africa only uses Africans as cannon fodder, and their officers are white. Have you noticed the battle in the morning? White officers in southern Africa do not charge with the troops, only low-level African officers will join the troops Charge, do you still think we are the same now?" The sergeant's expression was filled with pity, he seemed to have forgotten that he was also very pitiful.

"MMP—" The bearded corporal realized that he was as cannon fodder as the African-American soldiers.

"If we are in southern Africa, at least we can be officers who don't have to charge with the troops—" The sergeant smiled wryly at himself, and now it is too late to realize this, let's get through this war first.

At the rear of the front line, the 4.5-inch artillery positions were finally set up. Following Frenzi's order, more than 200 artillery pieces launched a saturated attack on the German positions.

"All of you, stand up, mount your bayonets, and get your grenades ready. Engineer shovels are better than bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. After charging, you have to run faster than rabbits, preferably so fast that the bullets can't even chase them. Come on you, go up and kick the ass of the Germans hard, I have the best vodka for you, one bottle per person, even if you are injured, it's okay, the big breasted nurses in the hospital will take good care of you, if you die in battle , I will take your corpses back, the Lord will take good care of your family and kill the Germans!"

On the nearby 201st Division's position, a white officer was boosting morale. There were several large boxes of vodka on the ground next to him. Vodka is the best prize on the battlefield, and it can make soldiers forget all their fears.

"Kill the Germans!"

"victory!"

"Long live!"

The soldiers shouted, the sergeant and the bearded corporal were dumbfounded.

"What the hell, I thought these people couldn't speak English." The sergeant thought carefully, as if he didn't say anything inappropriate in front of these African-American soldiers.

"Boys, stand up, assemble, and get ready for battle—" The officers of the Fifth Division also began to mobilize before the battle. These officers were rather sad, and they wanted to charge with the troops, even if they were noble children.

The company where the sergeant and the bearded corporal are located is the son of a baron. He is now wearing a conspicuous uniform and a bright feather on his helmet, probably because he is afraid that the German precision shooters will not notice him. .

Compared with the Baron's son, the officers of the 201st Division wear the same clothes as the soldiers, even the weapons are the same Lee Enfield, and they don't have the shiny riding boots and the symbolic command knife, which guarantees their Cannot be accurately sniped.

The British noticed this problem during the Second Boer War, and then British troops switched to the current khaki uniforms.

However, the French army still retains the tradition of red trousers. Before the outbreak of the World War, the then Minister of War Messimi suggested that the French army should replace the red trousers. This suggestion was strongly opposed by the French generals. Thinking that "it is absolutely impossible to cancel the red trousers, the red trousers are France."

(End of this chapter)