Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 150 Master Lu

"Da da da da da!"

With the firing of twelve MG14 light machine guns as a signal, the remaining rifles and dozens of MP14 submachine guns of the 1st Company opened fire simultaneously, and the ear-piercing gunfire instantly tore through the night sky.

A dense hail of bullets lashed down on the unsuspecting Flanders soldiers.

Since there were no tracer rounds, the enemies at the forefront fell in droves, as if swept by an invisible scythe.

Blood and bits of flesh splattered everywhere under the pale light of the searchlight.

This sudden and intense barrage completely stunned the Flanders.

They had no idea where the bullets came from; they only saw their comrades falling one after another into pools of blood.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack on the flank!"

"It's a Saxon heavy machine gun position!"

A Flemish officer, who was further back and reacted faster, shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to organize his soldiers to fight back.

They quickly identified the source of the fire and immediately organized about a company of soldiers to surround the grove where Morin was.

This scene was also displayed in real time on the map in Morin's Vision.

"Trying to outflank me, huh?" Morin muttered to himself.

If it had been a heavy Maxim machine gun, they might have actually succeeded.

However, the soldiers of the 1st Company were equipped with the lightweight and flexible MG14 light machine gun.

"Tell the 2nd Platoon to move to the left side of the grove! Prepare to suppress the enemy's flank attack!" Morin ordered the messenger beside him.

The soldiers of the 2nd Platoon of the 1st Company immediately sprang into action.

The machine gunners picked up their machine guns, while the assistant gunners carried ammunition boxes, and quickly moved to the other side of the woods.

The whole process was smooth and effortless, just like they had practiced it countless times on the training field.

During this process, they finally understood why they had to practice the 400-meter obstacle course every day on the training field.

Why do we need to be fully armed for a 5-kilometer cross-country run?

Everything was for today.
The soldiers lay down, set up their guns, and took aim.

Second Platoon Leader Barak also took out the signal guns that were part of the equipment given to the platoon leaders and fired a flare in the direction from which the enemy was flanking them.

Bright flares rose into the sky, trailing long plumes of flame, illuminating the area below as if it were daytime.

About a company of Flanders soldiers, with their guns at the ready and crouching low, cautiously made their way into the woods.

Their commander had a bad feeling the moment he saw the flare go up.

But he had no way out and could only grit his teeth and continue to command the attack.

He figured the Saxons' heavy machine guns couldn't be moved quickly, and if they could take this 'heavy machine gun position' from the flank, victory would still be theirs.

However, he was clearly unaware that the enemy force in front of him was already equipped with light machine guns.

A hail of bullets, like whips, swept in from an unexpected direction once again, instantly shattering their attack formation.

Perhaps it was the darkness and the flickering flares that made the soldiers less acutely aware of the tragic deaths of their comrades than they would have during the day.

This Flanders infantry company actually managed to charge forward despite the fierce firepower of the 2nd platoon of the 1st Company.

But in the end, they still couldn't create a miracle.

After suffering more than two-thirds casualties, the company completely collapsed.

Their counterattack was like a wave crashing against a reef, shattered into pieces.

Just as the 1st Company was engaged in fierce fighting, the remaining troops of the Training Assault Battalion, led by Kleist, arrived at the battlefield.

Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately deployed two attack echelons, organized by company, and launched the battle from the front, in accordance with the combat regulations previously established by Morin.

The three newly arrived companies, like three reefs suddenly rising from the waves, completely shattered the Flemish attack.

The roar of automatic firepower instantly resounded throughout the entire battlefield.

The Flanders soldiers, who had just been basking in the glory of their victory in the counter-offensive, were now completely stunned.

They originally thought they were facing only a group of scattered and defeated soldiers. Who would have thought that so many Saxon troops with fierce firepower would suddenly appear from the front and the side?
This firepower was even more terrifying than when they had previously used heavy machine guns to mow down the Saxon charging columns inside the fortress.

Kleist, accompanied by the other officers of the battalion, jogged over to Morin.

This tall former Imperial Guard officer, though he had already witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield, still looked excited and eager for battle.

"Sir! The entire battalion is ready for battle! When do we launch our attack on the fortress?!"

"?"

Molin looked at him and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Am I out of my mind? How could I possibly lead you guys to attack the fortress?" Morin said irritably. "My orders were for you to come up and provide backup, not to go and die! Do you think that fortress is made of paper?"

"Ah, is that so?" Kleist opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn't say anything.

"Alright, alright, don't think about that now!" Morin interrupted him. "Immediately organize manpower, contact nearby friendly forces, and regroup those scattered troops. Also, bring back all the wounded that can be gathered!"

"What we need to do now is stabilize our lines and retreat in an orderly fashion! Not to go head-to-head with that iron turtle!" Upon hearing that they weren't going to launch an attack, a clear hint of disappointment flashed across Kleist's face.

But he quickly accepted the order and turned to carry it out.

Morin shook his head. He really hadn't expected that his battalion adjutant was such a warmonger.

He turned to look at Manstein on the other side, only to find that the young operations staff officer was looking at the battlefield ahead with an excited expression, just like Kleist had just done.

"No, you want to charge in too?" Morin asked.

“No, sir.” Manstein shook his head, his voice trembling with emotion. “I just… I just finally understand.”

"Understand what?"

"I finally understand why you made us practice that brand-new offensive method, and I finally understand why you kept saying that with the continuous improvement of infantry firepower, a dense formation charge is suicidal."

A strange light flickered in Manstein's eyes, a kind of epiphany after his cognition had been completely overturned.

“In the past, I only heard you say this. Although I thought it made sense, I didn’t have a very intuitive feeling about it.”

“But today,” he looked at the battlefield strewn with corpses, “in just these few minutes, I witnessed firsthand how several battalions of soldiers became utterly vulnerable in the face of modern firepower.”

"I also witnessed firsthand how easily our company's firepower crushed the counterattack of an enemy battalion."

"Sir, you are right. The nature of warfare has been completely changed."

Morin looked at him and nodded with satisfaction.

No wonder he's a future marshal; his comprehension is truly remarkable.

This small-scale night battle was nothing short of a baptism of the soul for Manstein.

It dragged this young staff officer, who was still stuck in traditional war thinking, into the cruel reality of modern warfare.

On the other side, the Flemish counterattack crashed headlong into the hard rock of the training assault battalion, and their newly raised morale instantly collapsed.

The remaining soldiers, abandoning their illusions, scrambled back into their turtle shells.

The gun emplacements on Baxiong Fortress fired a few symbolic shots in this direction, but the shells all landed on the open ground and posed no threat.

By this time, Morin had already led the training assault battalion, along with the three rescued but heavily damaged infantry battalions, to a safe distance.

It was at this moment that Morin learned that the force that had launched the night raid was the 14th Infantry Brigade.

What shocked him even more was that the one who commanded this night raid was none other than Brigade Commander General Wu Suo himself.

And this general was unfortunately killed in the battle just now.

Morin felt a wave of fear wash over him.
If he hadn't acted decisively, leading the training assault battalion to repel the enemy's counterattack, not only those three battalions, but the entire 14th Infantry Brigade would probably have been completely routed.

Just then, a soldier responsible for perimeter security ran back.

"Sir! A large force is approaching from the rear!"

Morin nodded, and led Kleist and Manstein, following the soldier.

Before long, they spotted the vanguard of that unit.

Under the dim light of a lantern, a slightly overweight officer, surrounded by several staff officers, rode at the head of the procession.

Morin felt that the man looked familiar, and after thinking about it carefully, he remembered that he seemed to have seen him in the headquarters of the Second Army Group.

When he saw the major general's rank on the other person's shoulder, he quickly stepped forward and, together with the others, stood at attention and saluted.

"Reporting to the General! The First Training Assault Battalion of the Imperial Guard has just repelled the enemy's counterattack here and is currently regrouping!"

"Morin reported loudly."

The slightly overweight major general returned the salute from horseback, then dismounted and quickly walked to Morin.

After listening to Morin's brief account of the battle, the slightly overweight major general visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well done, Captain Morin. Command heard that the ‘Mötz River Combat Group’ had suffered a setback today, so they sent me with reinforcements. I heard the fighting was fierce here while I was on the way, and we haven’t been able to contact the 14th Brigade’s command.”

He looked Morin up and down, a hint of approval on his face.

"I remember you. When we were at the army group headquarters, I was very interested in you and your training assault battalion. I didn't expect you to be even more outstanding than I imagined."

"General, you flatter me."

Morin said modestly, but in his heart he felt that this person looked somewhat familiar, but it was really hard to see his face clearly in the darkness.

“I’ve heard of your unit before when I was in the General Staff.” The major general glanced at the training assault battalion soldiers in the distance, then walked alongside Morin.

"So you're from the General Staff?" Morin asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes."

At this point, the major general nodded and then extended his hand to Morin in a friendly manner.

"Let's get to know each other again. Erich Ludendorff, Observer of the Operations Department of the Army General Staff, and concurrently Deputy Chief of Staff of the Second Army."

Upon hearing the name, Morin was startled and quickly reached out to shake hands with the other person.

Wow, it's LuMaster!
(End of this chapter)