Verdun Meat Grinder (5)

As the sun set, the once noisy battlefield gradually quieted down. In the first half of the night, there was no moon, and only the night wind blew quietly across the battlefield.

Between the France trenches were communication trenches. These trenches served both to facilitate the French Army retreat and to allow reinforcements to come forward. At night, these communication trenches became crucial defense points for both sides, serving as potential enemy attack routes.

Soldiers on both sides would occasionally throw a torch into the trench for illumination, so that anyone passing by would be spotted. The ground on both sides of the trench had originally been a minefield. Of course, during the daytime fighting, very few mines remained in these minefields.

In the darkness, France sappers quietly left the trenches, carrying baskets full of landmines, and entered the minefield.

During the day, the France minefield had been largely cleared by Prussia and England conscripts with remarkable efficiency. The Britain and Prussia ran back and forth across the minefield, effectively destroying it quite thoroughly. Now, taking advantage of the moonless first half of the night, the France went out to lay more mines.

However, this job was also extremely dangerous. Although the Britain and Prussia did an excellent job clearing mines in the minefields during the day, it was hard to say whether they had missed anything. In such darkness, the France engineers could only rely on the faint starlight to see things vaguely, so they naturally couldn't find the unexploded mines. Whether they would encounter them or not was entirely up to fate.

So the battlefield was quiet for the first half of the night, except for occasional explosions and flashes of light – France engineers who came out to lay mines had accidentally encountered mines that had survived the ravages of the Britain and Prussia.

However, as the moon rose, the France engineers withdrew. In the latter half of the night, new activity gradually emerged on the battlefield.

Some Britain soldiers, and Prussia conscripts selected by lottery, underwent about half an hour of intensive training. Then, each of them was given a shovel and a probe and kicked into the minefield—the occasional explosions from the minefield had told them that the France must have been doing something despicable in the dark.

As for what despicable things the France had done, the Prussia and Britain were initially worried that they would launch an attack under cover of darkness. Although launching an attack on such a moonless night would be very difficult, and might even be a waste of ammunition, the France were always cunning, and who knew what they were up to. So the Britain and Prussia were on high alert for most of the night, but the France did not launch a night attack.

Since the France weren't out launching a night raid, they couldn't possibly be out for a starlight stroll and contemplating life. So the question of what the France were doing in the first half of the night was immediately answered, "Those despicable, cunning France were secretly planting landmines in the minefield under the cover of darkness!"

If the France could lay landmines at night, then the Britain and Prussia could naturally do the same. So the Britain sappers, and the Prussia sappers chosen by lot, were driven out of the trenches and crawled toward the minefield under the moonlight.

So the night passed slowly, with the first half of the night filled with the commotion caused by the France, and the second half by the even more commotion caused by the Britain and Prussia.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, the British Army and Prussian troops launched their usual new attack. The method of attack was still the same: artillery bombardment, artillery bombardment, then infantry charge (this time it was a real charge). However, there was a slight change: while a group of Prussia conscripts charged forward with bayonets to clear the mines, in the trenches there was a group of heavily armed soldiers, under the command of an officer, aiming their rifles at their vests.

Yes, after a night of deliberation, the Prussia finally came up with a good idea: using detachments to boost the soldiers' morale in battle.

Under the guns of the overseers, the Prussia conscripts did indeed display extraordinary bravery. They disregarded the potential landmines beneath their feet (after all, were the guys who went out to clear mines last night being watched by overseers? Who knows if they were just lying around in the minefield?) and sprinted forward, knowing that those behind them would really shoot.

Amidst the deafening roar of exploding landmines, the Prussia army charged headlong into the barbed wire that the France had hastily repaired overnight.

As usual, they were first shot at by the France with volleys of gunfire in front of the barbed wire, then by the France cannons with Little Melon, then by the France with slingshots, and then by the France with Claymore. The remaining Prussia conscripts were then killed by the Prussia war sergeants.

Then another wave of Prussia charged up. If they could capture one trench each day, they could take the high ground in a few days, and once the high ground was taken, the gates of Verdun would be opened.

The same story played out with the Britain, except that the Britain were too embarrassed to set up a supervisory team, and there was almost no difference.

After fierce fighting, by noon the Prussia had broken through two more trenches. But they were quickly driven back by the French Army counter-attack, which was supported by more artillery. Then they charged back, and were driven back again... It wasn't until sunset that they finally gained a foothold in the third trench.

After breaking through the trench, the Prussia ceased their attack and began to fortify their defenses, seemingly intending to advance cautiously.

The fighting was fiercer on the Britain side, with the battle for the third trench lasting until sunset. By the time the Britain repelled the last France counterattack, it was almost dark.

Like the Prussia, the Britain decided to consolidate their position today and continue tomorrow. Although the casualties on both Britain had been alarmingly high in the past two days—a rough estimate of over 30,000 dead Prussia wounded in just two days—such losses were truly rare in Europe history. However, they were now very close to their "key objective." With a little more effort, it seemed they could reach that high ground. Therefore, both the Britain and Prussia felt: we can hold on a little longer.

However, what they didn't know was that the third trench was very different from the first trench. The third trench was connected to the fourth trench not only by communication trenches, but also by very well hidden tunnels.

These tunnels were originally communication trenches, simply covered with wood and then with a thick layer of earth, and the exits were camouflaged. The repeated counterattacks by the French Army meant that the Prussia had no time to inspect these things.

The gunfire from both sides gradually subsided after sunset, and then, naturally, the same old drama from the previous night resumed: in the first half of the night, the France came out to lay landmines, and then boom, boom; in the second half of the night, the Britain and Prussia came out to dig them up, and then "boom boom boom boom boom..."

Just as the Britain and Prussia were triggering the "boom boom boom boom boom..." scenario, squads of the French Army were sneaking through tunnels toward the third trench.

As dawn approached, the "boom boom boom boom..." drama between the Britain and Prussia was nearing its end, but at that moment, the French Army artillery suddenly opened fire on the third trench occupied by the Britain and Prussia.

Even the France cannons had limited effect on the trenches, but the sound of the cannons was a signal. As soon as the cannons fired, the France soldiers, bayonets at the ready, would first cross the barbed wire along the trenches, then jump onto the ground and charge towards the enemy on the other side.

Neither the British Army nor the Prussian troops expected the day's battle to begin with a France attack. They quickly prepared to organize a counterattack, intending to first launch a defensive counterattack, and then... However, unexpectedly, many clods of earth collapsed in their trenches, revealing numerous tunnel entrances, from which large groups of France soldiers charged out with bayonets.

With the combined forces of the British Army and Prussians working together, both sides quickly collapsed. The French Army then launched a counterattack, even recapturing the second trench and dragging the Britain and Prussia over with considerable effort. Many of the cannons prepared to support the offensive were also destroyed.

Moreover, the French Army firepower increased again, with larger cannons, clearly over 12 pounds, joining their ranks. Shrapnel shells also appeared on the Verdun battlefield for the first time. When the Britain and Prussia launched their counterattacks, large numbers of their French Army were killed on the battlefield by these shells.

After suffering heavy casualties, the Britain recaptured the third trench they had just lost. The Prussia, on the other hand, almost lost even the second trench.

When the day's fighting ended, the Britain tallied their losses. Over the past three days, the British Army had lost 20,000 men. Even considering the 30,000 non-English-speaking British Army they had just brought from Hanover, these were all truly elite troops, and such losses could not be made up for by conscripts.

The Prussia, however, suffered greater losses in terms of numbers, especially in today's battle, where they lost about 20,000 men. In total, Prussia has lost 40,000 Prussia in the past three days.

Although that "important goal" doesn't seem far off, many people are already questioning whether it's necessary to continue fighting like this.