The Verdun Meat Grinder (2)

Although he said "I'll consider it," Joseph had no intention of weakening the defenses in exchange for increased offensive power during a full-scale attack. Since the Britain cannons hadn't arrived yet, he figured he should hurry up and make the tortoise shell even stronger.

However, Joseph had almost finished preparing the dirty tricks he had in mind for those that could be used, and even creating the conditions for those that couldn't—it still wouldn't work. But there was still time, wasn't there? He felt uneasy if he didn't create something; perhaps he should create a spectacle?

Of course, Joseph knew that wonders could harm the country, so he decided to continue building fortifications. Thus, Joseph built a whole bunch of fake targets in one go. He also forced the Directory to place a large number of new orders with the "Military-Industrial Consortium" to fill the gaps in the arsenal caused by misappropriation.

In addition, Joseph arranged for someone to send urgent reports to Napoleon every day, demanding that Napoleon come to his rescue immediately. However, Napoleon and his army moved slower and slower, while the Britain cannons gradually arrived.

"That bastard, he's just thinking of letting the enemy run amok here first, until they're exhausted, and then he can come and take advantage! I'm sure that's what he's thinking, definitely!" Joseph made this judgment angrily after receiving Napoleon's reply, "The road conditions are too poor, the soldiers are too tired from crossing the Alps, the weather is bad, anyway, they haven't launched a major attack yet... I don't understand why you're panicking?"

Joseph's judgment was indeed very correct. Napoleon thought the same way, and Joseph himself believed that if the fortress commander were still Joubert, he would most likely have advised Napoleon to do the same. Since he would do it, Napoleon would certainly do it too!

After the cannons arrived, the Britain began their attack using the same tactics they had employed in Liege. The old tactics, of course, were: bombardment, bombardment, and more bombardment. Yes, the infantry didn't charge immediately; they waited for the cannons to slowly bombard the defenses for several days, until they had destroyed most of the existing fortifications.

Joseph watched with amusement as his decoys crumbled under the Britain artillery fire, while simultaneously calculating how much gunpowder, how much cannon barrel life, and how much time the Britain had wasted.

However, the time wasted was actually the most useless, because Napoleon ordered the troops to stop and rest again. It is said that Napoleon complained to his chief of staff, Berthier, "What are the Britain doing? They're so slow! We've already dragged this out, and they're still dawdling there!"

The Britain spent several days bombarding the decoys that Joseph had spent days building up, gradually reducing them to rubble. Then they told the Duke of Brunswick, "The rest is up to you. You take this section, then we'll bombard it for a few more days. It won't be long before we take Verdun."

The Prussia, brimming with confidence, adopted an offensive posture. After all, the section of the zigzag breastwork in front had been utterly destroyed by the Britain's relentless artillery fire. Capturing it shouldn't be too difficult.

Just as the Prussia formed their attack formation, the Duke of Brunswick saw through his telescope that some France soldiers were peeking out from behind some broken breastworks.

"The France are really brave, holding their ground there all this time. But once we attack, they can't stop us with these broken breastworks," the Duke of Brunswick thought to himself, and then gave the order to attack.

Prussia soldiers advanced towards the French Army breastwork in skirmish formation, and the French Army began firing at the Prussians. The Prussians then provided cover fire with volleys of gunfire as the skirmishers continued their advance.

Suddenly, a series of explosions occurred, and several Prussia soldiers fell to the ground clutching their legs.

"What is this?" Brunswick was taken aback.

"These are landmines," replied Major George Cavendish, the Britain liaison officer sent to the Duke of Brunswick. "We encounter these all the time in Ireland. But it seems the landmines here in France are much less powerful."

The Duke of Brunswick suddenly remembered that the Poland seemed to have used similar things. However, in order to ensure that their underground supply lines through Prussia would not be severely damaged, the Poland mainly used these things on Russia territory. Therefore, the Prussia had mostly only heard that the France had such a despicable contraption, but very few Prussia had the opportunity to actually ride in one of these "homemade planes."

In their previous battles with the French Army, the Prussia had also encountered the Army of the North, which was not part of the Bonaparte system. They were not equipped with such a despicable weapon. Therefore, this was the first time the Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces had encountered such an insidious thing as landmines.

Although the landmines caused considerable losses to the Prussia, they were not enough to stop Prussia advance. The Prussia gradually approached the breastwork, and the French Army soldiers still holding the breastwork turned and fled as the Prussia drew near.

"The morale of the France has also dropped considerably," a Prussia remarked.

"It's quite impressive that they still have this level of morale," Major George Cavendish remarked. "After a series of defeats, the morale of most national soldiers should be extremely low by now. Besides, they're retreating, not fleeing in defeat. Look at the route those France are running; it's not even a straight line."

"Yes, they were running away—I mean, during their retreat, they knew how to dodge bullets; they weren't panicked at all," said another Prussia major general.

"They weren't just dodging bullets," Major Cavendish said. "They were avoiding stepping on their own landmines. I've seen it in Ireland; those Ireland rebels ran like that when they crossed minefields."

"You fought against France- backed rebels in Ireland?" the major general asked curiously.

"Yes, General Blücher, I fought against rebels in Ireland," Major Cavendish replied.

"I've heard the Ireland rebels are quite formidable fighters?" another Prussia officer remarked.

"The Ireland rebels are extremely cunning and ruthless. One of my cousins, Viscount Anderson, died in battle against them because of a landmine," Major Cavendish said. "The France, by comparison, are much easier to deal with. However, today's situation reminds me of Ireland."

By this time, the pursuing Prussia skirmishers had crossed the breastwork, which had mostly collapsed. Of course, as a price, fifty or sixty of them would no longer have to worry about going hungry, and another fifty or sixty would certainly need crutches for the rest of their lives.

Of course, the French Army also paid a price. In the previous exchange of fire, five or six French Army were killed, and during their retreat, another ten or so were killed.

The Prussia skirmishers continued forward; ahead lay the first French Army barbed wire.

The France who ran over all lay down and skillfully climbed over the barbed wire at several pre-arranged locations. In those places, there were small gaps left underneath the barbed wire, just enough for them to climb over.

However, the Prussia skirmishers behind them couldn't do that. Their pursuit would first involve traversing another minefield. Although they didn't know much about landmines before, the bloody sight of their comrades lying on the ground, clutching their feet and groaning, had already shown them what a minefield was.

So after capturing the breastwork, they stopped there and hid behind it to wait. Their orders were simply to seize the breastwork and open a path for the subsequent attack. As for what to do next after capturing it, their superiors hadn't said. At this point, were they really going to stubbornly charge in without taking precautions?

Even after capturing the breastwork, the troops behind could not immediately catch up, because there was a minefield between the breastwork and the main force of the Anglo-Prussian Allied Forces.

"Landmines can be found if you look closely," Major Cavendish said. "After all, tripwires and other obstacles are still visible above the ground. We have a dedicated mine-clearing team, composed of the most experienced personnel, who can quickly clear a safe passage through a minefield."

So the experienced Britain mine-clearing team set off. However, their mine-clearing speed was not as fast as Major Cavendish had said. Of course, this could also be because the major's standard of speed was different from theirs. In any case, the major's servant had already prepared morning tea for him.

"Once we finish morning tea, the passageway should be cleared," Major Cavendish said.

Just as Major Cavendish had predicted, the safe passage was finally cleared by noon. More infantry followed. They planned to use the remaining France breastwork to make some repairs before continuing their attack.

However, what they didn't expect was that this section of the breastwork was actually a decoy, a trap. The location of this breastwork had already been marked by the French Army artillery behind it, and they had even conducted test firings at it before the breastwork was built.

As soon as the Prussia assembled behind the breastwork, the France tore down the camouflage netting covering the nearby eight-pound cannons and immediately unleashed a salvo. These cannons were half-buried in the trenches, with only the barrels above ground, and covered by camouflage netting, making them virtually undetectable from a distance. The salvo wasn't particularly fierce (Joseph hadn't ordered all the cannons to fire, reserving them for future ambushes), but its accuracy was astonishing. Only ten cannons fired, yet all the shells hit their targets precisely, causing dozens of casualties in an instant.