"Get down, everyone, get down...avoid the artillery fire and hide in the blind corner on the south side of the trench...You bastard, why are you doing anything, squat down..."
"Lower your head... Everyone lower your head... Open your mouth... Block your ears... Are you deaf? You are really deaf..."
"Damn it, is this the artillery battle that adults are talking about? Damn it, I'm not afraid of you..."
The bloody battle at Stone Bridge Highlands finally began. When the main force of the Fourth Brigade of the Thorn Flower Division appeared in front of the brothers of the task force battalion, the Austrian army fired a dense artillery salvo without any hesitation.
The Thorn Flower Division is truly worthy of being the most elite noble division. The 76 artillery pieces fired intensively at one time were all explosive shells. You must know that no matter how powerful the army in this era is, they use a mixture of solid artillery shells and explosive shells. The complete popularization of explosive ammunition would not be achieved until the Franco-Prussian War four years later.
This was the first time that Xiao Letian's officer corps and the Hamburg recruits faced a real artillery salvo. This earth-shattering, almost doomsday-like scene scared everyone silly. No matter how well they had been mentally prepared before, When they encounter a real artillery battle, they will have an illusion of invincibility from the bottom of their hearts.
"The sky is falling apart... The gates of hell have been opened... I don't want to die, I want to live..." Suddenly a Hamburg recruit who had an emotional breakdown stood up and was about to escape out of the trench, but the Chinese squad leader Tian beside him Big Pao Zhan grabbed his belt.
"You bastard, you're dying... Squat down, squat down for me..." Just as the two were entangled, a bomb exploded less than 20 meters away from them. .
Mud flew like a heavy rain, whizzing shrapnel shot up in the air, and the blast of air knocked the two of them to the ground.
"Squad leader! How are you... There is blood all over your back... Oops, a large piece of meat has been removed from your buttocks..."
"What! What did you say? I can't hear..." Tian Da Pao Biao's ears were full of popping sounds. Compared with the injury to his ears, the one on his butt was nothing.
"Keep your voice louder. Didn't you have lunch this morning? You, you, you... hold this bastard down. If it doesn't work, tie him up. Is all your previous training in vain?"
As they were talking, suddenly there was another ear-piercing scream in mid-air, and Steven, the most angry and admired troublemaker of Tian Da Cannon, rushed up with a tiger pounce.
"Squad leader, be careful...the enemy's second wave of bombings is coming again..."
A group of people lay tightly at the bottom of the trench, trying to get as close to the trench on the south side as possible. This was the blind spot where the shells exploded, and fragments and shock waves could not reach here.
At this time, Xiao Letian was hiding in the third trench. There was a temporary explosion-proof bunker here. It was actually an enlarged trench, with a layer of tree trunks and a layer of soil on top, and then tree trunks and another layer of soil. It took five layers to get a suggested headquarters for Xiao Letian.
Originally, according to Xiao Letian's request, he wanted to go to the first trench to stand with his brothers in person, but he didn't expect that King Yi, Lord Long, and even all the officers and soldiers agreed. Even Lord Long moved his hands, and he held Xiao Letian's wrist veins felt a soreness and numbness rushing through his body, and Xiao Letian couldn't move even if he wanted to.
As a last resort, he could only watch his brothers being bombed from behind. "Damn it, damn it! Is this a real artillery battle? Only 76 field guns can create such a huge formation. In the previous movies, there were ten thousand guns." The scene of the salvo was not as spectacular as it is now..."
"Damn it, no matter how good a Hollywood director is, he can't even dream of filming such a realistic war scene. It's so enjoyable, it's really enjoyable...Brother Shi, Mr. Long, take a look. This is what I call an artillery battle. You have to remember it." , this is the mainstream of future wars. If we don't catch up, I'm afraid the next artillery battle will be in Beijing, under the Forbidden City..."
Xiao Letian shouted amidst the sound of cannons. King Yi and Lord Long were used to him going crazy from time to time. What about Hollywood, what about directors? Just don't ask, Xiao Letian will definitely not give you the answer.
But putting aside the crazy words in Xiao Letian's words, the remaining facts are still very intriguing. Especially Yi Wang, he had never seen the scene of thousands of cannons firing. He had also seen the scene of hundreds of cannons firing in the artillery battle between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Hunan Army.
But what we see today is absolutely different from what we saw before. The current artillery technology in Europe has already advanced rapidly. Old front-loading artillery is queuing up to be refurbished, and the latest breech-loading rifled cannons are beginning to spread in large numbers.
When no one in the Qing Empire knew what rifling was, not only artillery in Europe had already popularized rifling, but even muskets had already been rifled. Not to mention the proliferation of artillery shells and new styles, all of which come together to present such a horrific scene of destruction.
"God, if wars are fought like this in the future, will there be a way for us martial arts students to survive? I can't withstand a bullet in my whole life of martial arts, let alone this kind of artillery bombing..." Just as Long Ye sighed with emotion At that moment, there was a sudden bang, and a shell fell right on the command post. The violent explosion almost shattered the top cover.
"Sir, be careful..." Long Yehu rushed forward and crushed Xiao Letian under him. Xiao Letian almost died from the pressure. His chest was close to the earth and his heart could feel the shock caused by the explosion. Debris fell from the bunker above the head, making the entire command headquarters a mess.
"Let...let me go...I'm going to die...This kind of explosive bomb mainly relies on fragmentation...it can't blow up our bunker..."
"Bah, bah, bah..." Xiao Letian stood up and spat out the dirt in his mouth. At this time, he suddenly found that there was a silence between heaven and earth, which was so quiet that it made people feel uncomfortable.
When Xiao Letian picked up his binoculars and looked south, he saw that about one regiment of the Austrian army had pulled out a long line of skirmishers and began to move forward in small steps towards the trench.
"Get ready to fight... The enemy's skirmishers are rushing up, everyone is ready to fight..." Without Xiao Letian giving an order, the first trench was already ringing with orders one after another.
Just south of the highlands, Count Tablis and Baron Penca were standing side by side on a slope. They were holding telescopes like two statues, staring motionlessly at the battlefield in the distance.
"Very good, that's it. You must strictly observe discipline and control the rhythm when charging in skirmishes... That's right, that's right. Let's speed up now. The children should be warming up... Don't be careless. You must control the rhythm. Wait until They rushed to fifty meters away from the trench, and then let the second wave of charging soldiers begin to take action..."
The old earl seemed to appreciate the quality of his soldiers very much. This charge was indeed as rigorous as the textbook said. However, Baron Penca beside him was not so cautious. He put down his telescope and shrugged his shoulders.
"Dear sir, are you a little too worried? After such a large-scale bombardment, how many enemies are left alive? Even if they have trenches to hide, can they still avoid the fragments and the shock wave of the explosion? You know this All the equipment allocated to us by the Second Emperor's Ministry are explosive ammunition..."
While Baron Penca was chattering, he suddenly noticed that the old count's hand holding the telescope was trembling slightly, and the expression on his face became a little strange.
Pengka subconsciously raised his telescope to look at the battlefield, and when he saw it, he exclaimed, "What? How could this happen? Why are there so many enemies..."
Yes, in his sight, densely packed heads emerged one after another from the edge of the trench that should have been completely destroyed.
Although those faces were a little confused and frightened, they did not flinch. In a short time, countless rifles were set up on the edge of the trench, and the black muzzles were pointed at the advancing charging crowd.
Not only that, but what's even more annoying is that these Prussian soldiers actually had the time to repair the trenches. I saw countless engineering shovels flying up and down in the gaps created by the bombing, and the dark and soft soil was piled up and slapped on the gaps. The trenches are repairing themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"How could this happen? There were ten rounds of shelling just now. More than 700 shells were fired, which almost caught up with their strength. How come there are still so many people alive? Are there not two battalions stationed? But two regiments ……"
But this is no longer the time to be indecisive. The Austrian army's skirmish line of more than a thousand people has now transitioned from small steps and brisk walks to trot charges. All the soldiers have tightened their rifles and have serious expressions on their faces. .
When the charging crowd advanced to sixty meters away from the trench, almost all the commanders drew out their sabers and collectively shouted, "Shoot... charge... long live the king!"
Bang bang bang... There was a burst of thunder on the ground along the Austrian charging skirmish line, and the thick white smoke of gunpowder instantly covered the entire skirmish line. But they only had one chance to shoot, and the muzzle-loading muskets simply couldn't be loaded on the move.
"Charge...Long live the king!" More than a thousand Austrian troops shouted and charged forward. All of them had sharp bayonets in hand. They were mentally prepared for hand-to-hand combat.
Just after they strode through the smoke belt, they heard a strangely accented German voice on the other side saying "Fire...free fire..."
There was the sound of gun bolts being pulled, followed by a burst of intensive gunfire, and the Prussian killing feast officially began.
Bang bang bang bang... The sound of continuous Mauser gunfire could still be heard as a single shot at first, but in the end it became one continuous sound, just like the sound of a raging ocean tide.
The bullets were pouring down like a heavy rain. This group of Hamburg recruits and Eastern officers had already forgotten their fear, or in other words, their minds were completely blank.
Shooting has become a subconscious action. Fire, then pull the bolt to eject the cartridge case, load new ammunition, and then fire again. A complete shooting cycle does not even take three seconds.
The Austrian army suffered a lot this time. The thin skirmishers were torn to pieces in an instant, countless soldiers were beaten into sieves by bullets, and the distance of 60 meters turned into a slaughterhouse of death.
"Fire, fire, fire... Don't be stingy with ammunition. This time we are bringing double the number of bullets. Let's kill as hard as we can..."
...
