Germany does not seek survival

It seems that Rommel was deeply impressed by the British army's dense phalanx charge formation full of classical style in the Battle of the Somme.

The area between the positions of the 7th Guards Company and the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment was littered with shell craters from 150mm howitzers. All the soldiers were running quickly in the middle of the night, each with their eyes fixed on the person in front of them, quickly crossing the knee-deep shell craters. The ground was bumpy and rugged, and one could easily fall if they were not careful.

At this time, Faust could vaguely see the Defoy Woods in his eyes. The originally dense forest had been razed bare by the fierce bombardment of the French army. The shells cut the dense forest like straw, leaving only hundreds of half-broken tree stumps standing there.

Thousands of French soldiers were rushing forward through a shallow trench. The soldiers of the 16th Infantry Regiment opened fire at the trench, but the not-so-intense firepower did not cause the French much concern.

Before the 7th Guards Company reached the shallow passage trench, an inaccurate grenade fell into the ranks and exploded.

Fortunately, Rommel asked the 7th Company to maintain a particularly loose formation, so these inaccurate shells did not cause many casualties.

Next, the closer the 7th Company got to the De Foy Woods, the more stray bullets of various kinds they received, one after another, without stopping.

A storm of steel roared around Faust, "Bang! Bang!" Sparks flashed in the darkness like dense raindrops. "Woo! Another round of shells!" Faust instantly determined from the increasingly sharp whistling that the shells' trajectory must be near him.

The shells used by the French to suppress trenches and attack bunkers were all equipped with delayed fuses and would not explode immediately upon impact.

So Faust immediately came up with a very bold idea.

Faust listened to the sound of the cannonballs breaking through the air and concentrated his attention. He found the shadow of the cannonballs, then jumped out on his own initiative and caught a cannonball with both hands in mid-air.

Then, before the shell's delay fuse exploded, Faust threw the shell back in the direction it came from.

"Now—attack with me—"

Faust was the first to give the order to attack, and Rommel calmly commanded the assault team to launch a short assault forward.

Adolf yelled in a serious tone:

"The moment of decisive battle has arrived. Now is the final blow. The fate of all nations will be decided. The future of the German world depends on our attack. Brothers, believe me, attack!"

The mustache man's rhetoric was indeed useful, and many soldiers felt a sense of sublimation from it. If they forgot about the individual, they would no longer be afraid.

Faust ran out alone. His speed was so fast that before the French army could react to the appearance of German reinforcements on their flank, Faust had already jumped into the shallow and narrow passage trench and started a crazy killing spree.

Wherever Faust went, the enemy's blood and flesh flew everywhere. The French soldiers lined up in the narrow passage trench, as if they were lined up, waiting for Faust to come and reap the harvest.

The Seventh Company also launched a skirmish charge in a fan-shaped formation, some alone, some in small groups, running towards the battle.

The shells raised a curtain of dust that rose high into the sky around them. The fighters' anger grew stronger as they moved forward, and the strong desire to fight bravely and kill the enemy pushed everyone forward.

The wave of the 7th Guards' charge was like a group of ghosts, passing through the drifting white smoke and across the flattened depression, giving the French army a sudden and major surprise.

The French were caught off guard, and many officers were disarmed and captured by the Seventh Company that suddenly approached from the flank before they could react.

Above the passage trench, two companies and one platoon of defenders from the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment were now aware of the arrival of reinforcements. No one was hiding anymore and they all launched a fierce counter-attack, completely ignoring the French machine guns that were still firing 400 meters away.

The soldiers rushed out of the trenches and jumped into the French passage trenches. Rifles and bayonets were not very useful in such a narrow place. The most convenient combat tools were pistols and engineer shovels.

Faust's eyes were like a pair of lenses, moving forward quickly. Following the perspective, he could see countless French and German troops starting to engage in close combat.

Chapter 7: The Sausage Song

The battle was incredibly bloody. Some people smashed the enemy's head with their pistols from a distance of just a few centimeters. Some people hugged the enemy and fell into the mud. Some people grabbed the enemy's eye sockets and dug out their eyeballs...

At this time, Faust noticed that there was a heavy machine gun at his feet.

Faust simply lifted the heavy machine gun with one hand. The French army had not yet used up their best ammunition belts and the barrel was still steaming. Faust picked up the hot iron thing and fired again. Amidst the violent vibration, Faust directly carried the heavy machine gun and destroyed several French fire points outside the trench.

The French were horrified.

What kind of battle is this? What kind of battle is this!

The French commander was completely confused about the situation. Previous reconnaissance had clearly shown that the German defensive strength in the Defoy Wood area would not exceed one thousand men. But what was the situation now?

The German army is definitely more than a thousand people!

It was so strong, it must be at least a regiment of defenders. Considering that the French lost several tanks and hundreds of casualties overnight, the German army in Defouilly Wood might have become a division in the past two days.

The French army had begun to stop the attack. Behind the French, a field of white flares rose, which was a tactical sign of retreat. After seeing the white flares, groups of French people began to flee.

Hundreds of French soldiers fled the Bois de Foy, and in less than half an hour the battle was over.

The Germans took control of several firing points where the French had evacuated from the Bois de Defoy and began to use machine guns to fire at the French retreating in the open ground.

The fleeing French soldiers were shot and fell while running, and in a moment the ground was covered with corpses.

Rommel and Adolf participated in another Faustian magical success this time, and this time the victory was even greater. Nearly a thousand German soldiers rushed out to chase the French.

The French army lost several fortified positions to the Germans in a hurry. Not only were all the German trenches in the De Foy Wood recaptured, but the Germans also took the opportunity to occupy several old positions that originally belonged to the French army.

At the last moment, Adolf followed Faust and jumped down the hillside of the Defouilly Woods. Many French soldiers fell at the bottom of the hill and now raised their hands in surrender.

Adolf pointed a Lupe pistol he had found at the French army and said, "Come here, Frenchmen, raise your hands!"

Faust picked up a heavy military canteen from the French soldier. He opened the lid, raised the canteen, poured it over his head, and then he found that it was filled with wine.

"The French have a substantial supply reserve..."

This incident made Faust realize that it was almost impossible for Germany to win the First World War from a material perspective. Even if the German army won more tactical victories, it would not be able to truly defeat the Allies.

At this moment, a shocking burst of gunfire suddenly came from beside Faust.

The man with a mustache screamed and fell to the ground. Faust reacted immediately. He used his body to protect Adolf and threw out the kettle, which immediately knocked down a French soldier who was lying on the ground and secretly shooting.

"Adolf, where were you shot?"

There was a hole on the mustache man's upper arm. He lay on the ground, biting his lips and groaning in pain. Faust immediately tore off his uniform and bandaged him.

During this period, other German soldiers also arrived. Rommel ordered the 7th Company to stop the attack and stop while he was ahead. He just watched the remaining French retreat behind the French second line of defense.

Rommel ordered his men to control and clear the battlefield. He said with restraint: "Don't fight too long, don't pursue blindly. If the sun rises, the French will soon find out that we have far fewer troops than them."

The mustache looked at Faust gratefully and said, "My life is yours."

Faust thought quietly in his heart, Little Mustache, I don’t want your life, I just want you to stop having any weird ideas that defy the heavens.

The battle came to an end, and the sun had risen slightly above the horizon. The light of the sun shone on the white snow in Saint-Quentin, and the reflection made countless corpses brightly visible.

The bodies of the French soldiers were lying on the ground. The ordinary soldiers were wearing thick woolen coats, and the officers' winter clothes were made of real fur.

In comparison, the quality of the German military uniforms was much worse.

The uniforms of German officers are made of recycled cashmere from old wool products, while the uniforms of ordinary soldiers are made of paper fiber blended cloth with 60% pulp added, which is not very wear-resistant.

Rommel ordered his men to carefully collect the coats from the French corpses, and Faust also led his men to several occupied French positions to check the spoils.

Faust first checked an underground artillery command post, which appeared to have been left by French artillery officers not long ago.

There was a huge gramophone on the table. Faust gently turned it on, and a cheerful melody floated out from the spinning record player. It was the "Sausage Song" that was very popular in the French army:

"...? Here, let me give you some blood sausage, some blood sausage, some blood sausage?

?To the Alsatians, Belgians and Lorraine?

?As for the British, there are none?

?As for the British, don’t even think about eating a bite?

?Because they are all deserters and cowards?..."

The broken song left a haunted impression on Faust, and he threw the gramophone to the ground. It creaked a few more times before falling silent.

The bunker was comfortably furnished; there was even a small fireplace with pipes and tobacco on the mantelpiece, and of course there were armchairs arranged in a circle.

"The French really know how to live."

The soldiers of the 7th Company who followed Faust in for inspection all made unhappy complaints. They did not expect that their lives in the trenches were so difficult, while the French had it much better.

The German soldiers were allowed to choose some spoils of war themselves. Faust picked out a bag full of bread, two clean clothes left by French officers that were just the right size, a metal pot of whiskey, and some jewelry and perfumes produced by the French Champagne-Grégoire company.

Faust didn't understand why there were women's things in the French trench shelters. Perhaps they were the warm memories of the French officers during their vacation in Paris.

But this hit the German army's sore spot, because unlike the French army after the Battle of Verdun, the German army had almost no rotation holidays.

There was a kitchen in the side room, the supplies of which filled Faustus with awe as he examined them.

There was a whole box of fresh raw eggs inside. Faust and the soldiers of the Seventh Company sucked many of them on the spot.

The shelves along the walls were filled with cans of beef and pork, thick, sweet jams, and bottles of coffee essence, tomatoes, and onions.

In a word, everything the German army did not have was available here.

Think about the miserable life of the German soldiers in the trenches, think about the bean soup that everyone had to queue up to get, which contained sawdust, and the limited supply of black bread. As for coffee and jam, they could only get them once every few months.

In the rear areas, many families of German soldiers starved to death during the turnip winter at the end of 1916.

You don’t know until you compare. Compared with the French army’s material conditions, the Germans, who had just won an epic victory, hung their heads and looked listless.

Near the underground bunker, Faust also found two brand new cannons.

In their hasty retreat, the French had no time to take the two cannons away or destroy the artillery. They simply buried the cannons with branches and snow, and they were immediately dug out by Faust.

In addition, there were many other miscellaneous spoils of war. Rommel also talked to several commanders of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. After everyone cleaned up the battlefield, they re-counted the German losses.

A total of more than 120 German soldiers were killed and more than 400 were injured. Most of the losses were on the side of the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. It can be said that after a bloody battle, everyone was injured.

An officer of the 16th Infantry Regiment was seriously wounded in the fighting; shrapnel severed his fingers and injured his legs, leaving him with a limp.

After Rommel told the 16th Regiment about Faust's miraculous act, many people did not believe it, but this officer with a broken finger had just witnessed Faust's heroic feat of jumping into the French trench and killing people indiscriminately.

He dragged his wounded back to Faust, saluted him and said:

"I'm Corporal Richard Sorge. I salute you. Our entire squad witnessed your heroic act. If necessary, we can testify to your military achievements. We all saw you defeat dozens of French soldiers. Perhaps... perhaps those Frenchmen were still asleep, huddled together, and you chopped them down one by one with your shovel..."

Chapter 8: The Spartacus Letter

Allied planes flew over the German army from daybreak, and heavy artillery continued to bombard the new positions occupied by the German army, but the intensity was reduced.

In the cold wind and falling snow, the bored German soldiers divided up the canned food left by the French. After the victory, the spoils were rich, but the Germans still felt that victory was a long way off.

Faust sighed in his heart again. It was these demoralized German soldiers in front of him who had held their positions firmly in the Battle of the Somme last year and killed 60,000 British people in one day.

Everyone still remembers that the Allies organized nearly three million front-line field troops to launch the attack.

That was probably the largest human wave charge in the thousands or even tens of thousands of years of human war history.

The Allied artillery and barrages covered the sky, covering the infantry's advance. The infantry charged in horizontal lines. The spent shells could be piled up into a towering mountain, and the dead people in the autumn could cover the entire mountain.

The offensive tactics of the British and French forces were too rigid. The Germans only needed to set up machine guns in the trenches and fire. One heavy machine gun could kill dozens or hundreds of people. Due to killing so many people, the German heavy machine gunners even suffered a mental breakdown and cried to the British army, begging them not to come up and die again.

Faust followed Corporal Sorge into the trenches of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. The trench at the forefront of the position was two meters deep, and the fortifications were built very tightly and solidly. It should be said that even when the morale of the German soldiers was extremely low, they still followed the rules and regulations to do what they were supposed to do.

After a great victory, most of the soldiers still had expressionless faces.

Corporal Sorge was a little sad: "When will the war end? The Spartacus Letters says that the most worthless thing in the world is to make a worker's son walk a thousand miles to kill a farmer's son..."

The Spartacus Letters.

The book mentioned by Corporal Sorge awakened many memories of Faust.

The Spartacus Letters is the public opinion platform of the left-wing elements of the Social Democratic Party, the largest political party in Germany.

The history of the German Social Democratic Party is full of glory. It was founded by Marx himself and became the world's largest socialist party before the outbreak of the European War. It was also the largest party in the German Parliament. It also controlled a large underground trade union and funded many left-wing organizations including the Russian Bolsheviks.

But when the First World War broke out, the German Social Democratic Party, which nominally represented the interests of the proletariat, was driven by patriotism and nationalism and immediately chose to support Germany's participation in this unjust war.

The German Social Democratic Party immediately split internally. The majority of centrists and right-wingers supported the war, while only the left-wing represented by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg opposed the war.

These radical anti-war leftists were called "Spartacists" by the Germans.

On May Day last year, the Spartacists secretly planned an anti-war march in Berlin. As a result, the march was violently suppressed by the empire, and the Spartacist leaders Liebknecht and Luxemburg were arrested and imprisoned.

The imperial government was worried about the impact on public sentiment and morale, so except for Liebknecht and Luxemburg, it did not continue to hunt down the remaining Spartacists.

The remaining Spartacists published the newspaper "Spartacus Letters". As the morale of the German army became increasingly low, this tabloid, which had previously been ignored, began to circulate widely within the German army.

Faust casually asked Corporal Sorge: "The Spartacus Letters? It's quite interesting, Corporal. If you have this book, you can lend it to me."

Corporal Sorge replied: "Of course, no problem. I can give it to you."

The target audience of "The Spartacus Letters" was probably those people within the German army who might be inclined towards revolution.

Faust thought that his bravery alone could not change Germany's overall defeat. If Germany was ultimately defeated, then by controlling a group of German soldiers who might support the revolution, he might be able to gain the upper hand in the ruins of defeat.

The Germans were left with only a numb look in the ever-tense war.

Even if some people's hands were frozen and covered with black and purple sores, even if fleas, bedbugs and rats kept crawling out of some people's cotton coats, they remained unmoved and did not have any emotional fluctuations.

Such an army cannot win a world war.

Two scenes suddenly emerged in Faust's mind, both from his own memory:

The first scene is the May Day parade in Munich before the outbreak of the war. Red flags are fluttering in front of Marienplatz, covering the sky. Emotional workers are pouring into the streets to fight for their bread. Faust is among them. He follows a woman in a long skirt and black curly hair, striding forward with a red flag held high.