CHAPTER 419: AFTER MODIFICATION: CHAPTER 419 BURNING BOTTLE

The moment the battle began, it took a one-sided turn.

The German Army soldiers were holding not weapons, but entrenching tools, their rifles stacked with muzzles pointing upwards beneath the torches.

As soon as the gunfire rang out, the German Army soldiers dropped their tools and ran towards their guns, only to be cut down by bullets that whistled through the air, leaving them lying in pools of blood.

The German Army couldn’t even extinguish the torches before grenades started being hurled into the trenches. Simultaneously, the French Army’s 75mm guns began to fire, shells accurately hitting the trenches and creating trails of smoke.

The nearby torches were blown away by the fierce bombardment, with only a few remaining, flickering in the night wind, illuminating the chaos and retreat of the German Army.

The French Army did not give them a chance to escape. Soon the artillery fire began to extend, hurling groups of German soldiers into the air and then slamming them back down.

It was then that the tanks began to clank forward out of the darkness. Each tank was followed by a team of French soldiers, advancing and shooting as they went, killing any surviving German soldiers.

Compared to daytime battles, night combat was even more brutal because Shire had given the order to take no prisoners.

Tijani was somewhat surprised by this. He hesitated and said, "I thought you wouldn’t do this."

In Tijani’s eyes, Shire had always been a positive and merciful figure, even somewhat naive. "No prisoners" didn’t seem like something Shire would say.

But Shire’s tone was unexpectedly resolute:

"We are a breakthrough unit, General."

"More importantly, the situation in night combat is unclear. If we get into a melee, our mechanized units could suffer severe losses."

"This is a matter of life and death for us, we have no other choice!"

Tijani was silent for a moment.

He understood Shire’s point. In the poor visibility of night, all soldiers could see were shadows—unable to tell if someone was raising a weapon or surrendering.

If there was any hesitation and the enemy infiltrated the French Army, it would be fatal.

"I agree," Tijani answered with difficulty.

Compared to the German Army’s use of poison gas on the battlefield, what did taking no prisoners matter?

Tijani used this reasoning to convince himself.

...

The tank treads crushed over the bodies of German soldiers, the air thick with the smell of blood and smoke.

In the flickering red glow of the torches, the shreds of fabric hanging from the treads were vaguely visible, still dripping blood, with lumps of unidentifiable substances falling off—whether flesh or soil, it was hard to tell.

As the German Army hadn’t had time to widen their trenches, the "Renault A1" easily crossed them and continued to advance.

The torches were extinguished one by one by the French Army soldiers, as they would certainly illuminate the tanks and make them targets for enemy artillery.

The world plunged into darkness again, only the artillery fire ahead breaking through with flashes of light, like lightning before a storm.

The German Army fortifications did not open fire.

They couldn’t fire. Before, they could vaguely see the French Army tanks under the torches’ glow, but now, with retreating German soldiers running densely in front of the tanks, nearly being crushed under them, firing now would result in friendly fire even if they hit their targets.

A moment’s hesitation, and the remaining few torches were extinguished, leaving the fortification gunners staring into endless darkness through the observation ports.

...

After Major General Marcus fell at the front line, Staff Officer Rolf immediately took over command of the defense.

He knew from the moment the battle began that the first line of defense couldn’t hold, so he decisively abandoned it, retreating with his men to the second line of defense.

This line was the last barrier of the outer fortifications, with the fortress defense ring just 100 meters behind. If it were breached, the outer fortifications would be rendered useless.

"Hold steady!" Rolf shouted amidst the artillery fire, "The enemy tanks can’t see us; they don’t know where to shoot. We can hold them!"

Rolf believed that the enemy pushing tanks onto the battlefield at night was just to shield their attacking soldiers from bullets and perhaps to try to scare their opponents into fleeing.

"We mustn’t be fooled," Rolf told himself. "They have no night combat capability; they are paper tigers!"

However...

A weak flame arced through the darkness, landing in the trench. After the crisp sound of glass shattering, a blaze suddenly erupted.

Two German soldiers caught fire, flailing their arms and screaming as they rolled and jumped. Other soldiers rushed to try to put out the flames but were caught in the blaze, with one even getting tightly hugged by a "human flame," failing to escape while screaming in agony.

Rolf cried out in shock, "What is that?"

But it was just the beginning. Before the German Army could react, more flames came rolling in, and soon the trench was ablaze.

The Germans were screaming in agony, the trench turning into a rift from purgatory, filled with death, pain, and despair.

It was then that the tanks’ machine guns and cannons opened fire, accurately hitting the parapets and sandbags of the German trenches, with the huddled soldiers behind them being gunned down in the chaos.

Only then did Rolf realize he had underestimated the situation. Shire had found a way to give the tanks night combat capability, even if limited, it was enough to overcome a purely trench-based defensive system.

...

This was Shire’s "trump card" for persuading Colonel Estiny.

Well acquainted with the "Renault A1," Colonel Estiny continued to advise Shire in the command post:

"General, I still hope you will reconsider night combat."

"The ’Renault A1’ is a light tank, only 5 meters long including the rear support frame."

"And the enemy’s trenches are about 2 meters wide, so we must determine the direction of the trenches."

"Otherwise, just moving in such terrain, even without enemy interference, would be hazardous enough to destroy the tank!"

Shire understood Colonel Estiny’s point.

The "Renault A1" had to align perfectly perpendicular to the trench to cross it.

With the slightest misalignment, the tank could fall into the trench, rendering it immobile, and the crew would be either dead or injured.

(Note: The Renault tank is 1.75 meters wide and can easily fall into a 2-meter wide trench.)

While this seemed easy enough during the day, avoiding such hazards in the pitch-black night was an almost impossible task, especially with the trenches being irregular, zigzagging, and filled with numerous communication trenches.

"We can avoid this issue with infantry coordination," Shire answered.

"No, General," Estiny shook his head. "Tankers inside the roaring engines can’t hear the infantry..."

"I never said we’d use verbal coordination," Shire interrupted. "We can use Molotov cocktails."

"Molotov cocktails?" Estiny was stunned. "What are Molotov cocktails?"