Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 42: Long Live the Charge
Pierre's nightmare finally came true.

Late at night, he was on rotation and had just found a safe corner to squat down and take a nap when he heard the distinctive whizzing sound of a series of bullets passing over his head.

Having not rested for twenty hours, he regained consciousness almost immediately and threw himself to the ground, not even daring to pick up his hat which had fallen off.

"Get up, Major Pierre!"

An unexpected voice came from the other side of the trench. It was Colonel Patrick: "The Empire has finally launched a counterattack. This is a great moment to prove the morale and courage of our Farlan soldiers!"

A bad premonition suddenly arose in Pierre's heart.

He stared at Colonel Patrick who was shouting like that with his silver-gray eyes, and kept shouting in his heart, wanting him not to say that damn stupid thing.

But this is obviously useless.

He saw Patrick take the officer's sword inlaid with blue gems from the guard beside him, and then draw the sword from its sheath. The shining blade was full of the red light of fire.

A mysterious ripple covered Patrick's entire body, amplifying his voice dozens of times.

Patrick's voice began to echo throughout the trench, and Pierre, who was closest to him, covered his ears in pain.

But he still heard Patrick's order.

"Second Infantry Regiment, assemble!"

"Everyone, prepare to attack!"

"Start now, 180 seconds countdown!"

Immediately afterwards, the sound of trumpets or whistles was heard in every trench.

The commanders of the 2nd Infantry Regiment clearly received direct orders from their superiors and began to use various means to gather their soldiers.

The sound of stepping on water and wooden planks being trampled continued in the trench. Pierre picked up his hat that had fallen on the ground with trembling hands. In his big eyes, which others said looked like those of a woman, there was only distrust of Patrick.

He rushed to Patrick's side and said, "Colonel, there must be a reason why the Empire didn't attack until now! More than two-thirds of the soldiers in our infantry regiment are not suitable for fighting at night. No matter how much you want to attack, you have to wait until daytime!"

"fart!"

Patrick glared at his adjutant. Having participated in several wars, he would not agree with Pierre's statement: "Only by launching a charge at a time like this can we completely thwart the arrogance of the imperial invaders!"

"Alsace and Lorraine belong to the Republic and will always belong to the Republic! I am a Farlan, and I will not allow the Empire to insult my honor as a Farlan!"

The conversation between Patrick and Pierre was clearly transmitted to the inside of the entire trench by the sapphire amplification core, so that before Pierre could refute, he heard a deafening roar from the entire trench.

All the soldiers and commanders of the 2nd Infantry Regiment approved of their leader's statement.

Sixteen hours ago, they easily captured the entire imperial border line and three regular defensive trenches.

Now, they were full of enthusiasm, looking forward to recreating their previous glory in the charge two minutes later.

"Crazy! All fucking crazy!"

Pierre realized that Patrick had been blinded by the desire to attack and ran towards the stable without looking back. He knew that it was impossible to stop this idiot and his soldiers from going forward to die.

The Empire's machine guns would mercilessly tear apart the bodies of all the Farlans, turning these vanguards that the Republic had spent years cultivating into a pool of mud that could never be recovered.

He had to rush to the positions of the other infantry regiments immediately and warn them to hold off on the attack.

At the very least, they had to put pressure on Patrick to prevent him from launching an attack in the middle of the night.

But he was too late.

The narrow one-way communication trench was packed with soldiers, while the trench used for launching the attack was filled with soldiers looking for their squadrons. They made it difficult for Pierre to move forward, and even accidentally cut the shoulder strap of his backpack with a bayonet during the shoveling.

But Pierre no longer cared about his bag of medicine and the national flag. He gave up the idea of ​​moving in the trench, climbed out of the trench along the ladder, and took cover of the earth slope behind him and began to run wildly along the trench.

At this moment, Patrick's voice once again resounded throughout the trench.

[Second Infantry Regiment! 30 seconds left before attack!]

[Everyone, bayonets!]

That's too late!

Pierre ran wildly, crossing trench after trench, looking for the signs of the 1st and 3rd Infantry Regiments in the darkness.

Behind him, countless pitch-black bayonets still protruded into the night, and in the red light of the flames were the shadows of more soldiers.

They twisted and trembled in the light, looking like ghosts struggling in hell.

Finally, an officer stopped Pierre who was running wildly.

"Pierre! What are you doing? Why is the 2nd Infantry Regiment charging?"

"Michelle!"

Pierre turned around and fell directly to the ground, hitting Ma Peng's wall with a dull sound.

"Colonel Patrick is crazy. He thinks our men can break through the Imperial firepower network under the cover of night and capture Mulhouse!"

He endured the pain and yelled to his good friend Michelle, who was in the same military academy as him, "Where is the commander of the third regiment? Aren't they with you? Quickly ask him to stop Colonel Patrick!"

Michel did not answer immediately. He paused, then looked in the direction of the Second Infantry Regiment's base and spoke slowly.

"You're a step too late..."

He pointed in the direction from which Pierre had come.

Countless soldiers in blue coats rushed out of the trenches under the dazzling light of torches.

They shouted, roared, marched with long strides, and raised their spears as they rushed towards Mulhouse, which was less than a mile away.

Colonel Patrick raised his command knife high, and the blade emitted a dazzling cold light, like an arrow, and stabbed straight towards Mulhouse as his horse galloped.

"It's over..."

"It's all fucking over..."

Pierre held his head in his hands. He could already imagine the end of the Second Infantry Regiment.

Michel didn't know why he was so excited, but two minutes later, accompanied by the roar of the Imperial machine guns and the orange light sweeping across the battlefield, he understood the reason for Pierre's excitement.

The soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, lined up in neat rows, fell like wheat under the fire of machine guns.

No one could run out of fifty meters and still stand on the ground. Almost everyone was pinned to the ground by the machine gun fire and could not move.

As for Colonel Patrick...

The Empire's machine guns weren't aimed at him at all, as if they had deliberately let him go, and were only firing at the soldiers behind him...

Then, he rushed alone into the fire network composed of four machine guns.

(End of this chapter)