Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 186 Veterans will not die
De Gaulle lay trembling behind a pile of corpses; he was no longer gripped by fear, but by a profound despair.

He watched his soldiers, the young men who had shouted "For Gaul!" with him that morning, being slaughtered like livestock, and he could do nothing but watch helplessly.

And their battalion commander, the man who had been so spirited just moments before, was now lying not far away, his eyes vacant.

He kept muttering to himself, "Impossible, this can't be."

This battle has completely exceeded their comprehension.

Their pride in courage, discipline, and aggression proved utterly inadequate in the face of the cold barbed wire and the dense automatic fire.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

It's unclear who shouted it first, but the word spread like wildfire among the surviving soldiers.

The instinct for survival ultimately overwhelmed the soldiers' sense of honor and discipline.

The soldiers began to flee desperately to the rear, pushing aside their comrades who stood in their way and stepping on the bodies of the wounded, wanting only to escape this hell on earth as quickly as possible.

The entire attacking formation instantly collapsed, turning into a chaotic rout.

The 75mm magic cannons, which had been pushed onto the street in preparation for an attack, were unable to deploy quickly due to the impact of the retreating crowd.

The artillery company commander in charge of supporting this street yelled at the other soldiers to give way to the magic cannons to avoid friendly fire, but no one was listening.

De Gaulle was also swept up in the crowd and was forced to retreat backward.

He glanced back at the blood-stained barbed wire and the corpse hanging on it, still swaying slightly, and felt as if his soul had been ripped out.

As the fleeing Gallic soldiers thinned out on the streets, the 75mm magic cannons, which had been blocked at the back, finally got the chance to fire.

The artillery company commander waved his arms and shouted hoarsely as he directed his gunners.

"Quick! Push the cannon up! Target! That three-story building ahead! Bomb it flat!"

The gunners, who had barely managed to regain their footing amidst the surging crowd, immediately began frantically operating their guns.

With the combined efforts of numerous gun crews and passing infantry, the heavy wheels of the two 75mm magic cannons slowly rolled forward on the streets littered with corpses, crushing flesh and bones with a sickening sound.

The soldiers of the training assault battalion also quickly spotted the two magic cannons that were being pushed up in the distance.

"It's enemy artillery!"

"Shoot them down!"

In an instant, countless gun barrels in the buildings on both sides of the street turned around and locked their attacks on the artillery units exposed in the middle of the street.

Bullets rained down like a storm, striking the gun shield and scattering dazzling sparks with a series of crisp clanging sounds.

The surrounding infantry, in order to cover the magic cannons that had not yet retreated, also mustered their courage and provided covering fire from the side.

They didn't care whether they could actually threaten the enemies inside the building; they just opened fire first.

Infantrymen were constantly being hit by stray bullets as the magic cannons advanced, falling down screaming, but new soldiers immediately took their place.

Under high pressure, the two 75mm magic cannons were finally in place.

The gunners tried to hunch their bodies behind the heavy gun shields, while a gunner locked his sights on the three-story building at the end of the street through his scope.

Based on their previous observations, it was the automated firepower located in multiple positions within this building that completely thwarted their infantry's offensive.

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the three-story building, Sergeant Bowman, who was in charge of commanding the core firepower group, also saw through his binoculars that the muzzle of the enemy's magic cannon was slowly lowering.

The dark, gaping muzzle of the cannon seemed to be staring down at them like the eyes of death.

"Oh no! They're about to open fire! Everyone evacuate! Get out of this building!"

Sergeant Bowman's heart sank, and he immediately roared out the order to evacuate.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers in the room immediately grabbed their weapons and left through the firing port, then turned and ran towards the stairwell.

The five soldiers in the heavy machine gun team also wanted to take the valuable MG08 heavy machine gun with them, but the heavy tripod, when extended, was simply unable to pass through the narrow doorway.

"Never mind that! Let's go!" the assistant gunner urged anxiously.

"No! We can't lose this!" The machine gunner stubbornly shook his head, trying to fold up the tripod.

Upon seeing this, Sergeant Bowman immediately rushed over to help.

"Quick! Give us a hand! If the battalion commander finds out we've lost this precious gem, he'll skin us alive when we get back!"

He helped to separate the gun from the tripod while laughing and joking.

However, just as they were in a flurry of activity, commands from the Gallic artillerymen right in front of them began to ring out continuously.

A cannonball, its body engraved with complex magical runes, was neatly loaded into the cannon barrel.

"Loading complete!"

"Fire!"

"Boom! Boom!"

With two deafening roars, the barrels of the two 75mm magic cannons jerked backward.

The moment the shell left the barrel, the inscription on it suddenly lit up, leaving two visible pale blue streaks in the air as it hurtled towards the three-story building.

The explosions occurred almost simultaneously. Intense flames instantly engulfed the entire front of the building; the brick and stone walls were as fragile as biscuits in the face of the magical cannonballs.

After the smoke and dust from the explosion had dissipated somewhat, everyone was stunned by what they saw.

The front wall of that three-story building, along with the floors of the second and third floors, disappeared completely, as if wiped away by an invisible giant hand.

Sergeant Bowman and the entire heavy machine gun squad, along with the MG08 heavy machine gun they were trying to salvage, disappeared completely under the collapsed bricks and tiles.

One of the most important core firing points on this street was completely destroyed.

The gunners of the 75 Magic Cannon Group cheered and quickly loaded two more shells, firing again.

The remaining structure could no longer support it, and with a tooth-grinding creak, the entire building collapsed, turning into a pile of black smoke-filled ruins.

This scene greatly boosted the morale of the Gallic soldiers who had just been on the verge of collapse.

Long live the artillery!

Long live Gaul!

Encouraged by the officers, a new batch of troops that had not suffered many losses came up from the rear and launched another attack on the barbed wire positions.

After destroying the greatest threat, the magic cannons wanted to continue supporting the infantry, so they aimed their cannons at the sandbag bunkers in the streets.

But they soon found themselves embarrassed to discover that, due to the close proximity, the maximum depression angle of the 75mm magic guns was not enough for them to directly bombard the low bunkers.

Even so, without the firepower suppression from the high ground, the defensive pressure on the training assault battalion suddenly increased.

The Gallic soldiers advanced at a significantly faster pace this time.

They were no longer pinned down in front of the barbed wire as before, but began to carefully move through the narrow passages left between the barbed wire fences, constantly launching attacks on the buildings on both sides that were still firing.

Another group of engineers took this opportunity to rush to the front of the barbed wire under the cover of the infantry and began to use huge iron clamps and explosives to break down these obstacles.

The situation on the entire battlefield seemed to have reversed at this moment.

Temporary camp headquarters in Charleroi South City.

Morin frowned, staring at the huge system map in his field of vision.

On the map, the red arrows representing the Gallic soldiers formed a large spearhead again in the central area, launching a fierce attack on the 1st Company's defense zone once more.

A soldier's badge representing a heavy machine gun squad flashed a few times before going completely out.

Morin's heart sank as well; he didn't need to ask to guess what had just happened there.

He cursed under his breath, grabbed the phone on the table, and made a direct call to the field artillery battalion outside the city.

"This is the battalion headquarters! I need to see your battalion commander!"

"Captain Morin, that's me!"

On the other end of the phone, the artillery battalion commander's voice sounded somewhat muffled against the backdrop of booming artillery fire.

From the moment the Gauls launched their full-scale offensive, this 77mm field artillery battalion never stopped. Their main task was to suppress enemy assembly areas on the east and west flanks of the city.

Many of the Gauls' attacking troops were hit by a barrage of artillery fire before they even entered the city.

This did indeed alleviate a lot of pressure on the 2nd and 3rd teams.

"Quick! Do you have any ideas on how to bombard the enemy directly in front of our defensive line inside the city?"

"Captain! This is very difficult!"

The artillery battalion commander paused, seemingly thinking about something, before quickly continuing:

"The streets in the city are too narrow! Even if our entire battalion concentrates fire, the shells will spread too wide, and most of them will probably be blocked by the rooftops and won't hit the streets at all!"

The artillery battalion commander explained at the top of his lungs.

"Moreover, from our current position, we can't see the situation inside the city at all. Relying solely on coordinates for blind firing is too inaccurate! We might even blow up our own people!"

Maureen fell silent.

He understood that the artillery battalion commander was telling the truth; with the artillery technology of that era, it was indeed a tall order to ask for precise artillery support in a complex urban environment.

However, he couldn't send the field artillery battalions into the city to engage in firefights with the Gauls, since the city's flanks still needed artillery support.

In the end, Maureen abandoned this unrealistic idea.

"I understand. Continue to suppress the enemy on both flanks and relieve their pressure."

"Don't worry, Battalion Commander!" the artillery battalion commander shouted back, "We just knocked out three of their 75mm magic cannons that were preparing to enter the city! The pressure on the east should be much less!"

After hanging up the phone, Morin turned to Kleist and Manstein.

"Make sure the 4th Company, which is in reserve, is ready to support the 1st Company at any time."

"Yes!" the two replied immediately.

After giving his instructions, Morin didn't say another word. He picked up the MP14 submachine gun leaning against the wall, turned around, and strode out of the command post.

He had to go to the front lines himself to see for himself.

(End of this chapter)