.

In his own situation, Forbeck ordered the Ninth Army to start digging the trench army's attack. The German army had no excavation tools, so the soldiers had to search for iron in nearby villages. The troops did not undergo positional war training. At the beginning, they only dug shallow pits to provide temporary cover. But soon, the trench was more than two meters deep, and they began to disguise and connect the trench.

After two days of crazy construction without sleep, the position of the Ninth Army turned into a solid defense line covered with trenches, tunnels, shelters and barbed wire. At this point, the trench warfare began. Compared with the trenches before the war, these trenches were wider and deeper, and the defense system was extremely powerful.

After being equipped with a large number of machine guns, the entire Rafa became an impregnable fortress. The commanding height of this fortress is the 371 Highland, which is located in the northwest of Rafa and overlooks the entire city of Paris.

The French army's current strategic deployment, capturing Rafah was the top priority of the entire military operation. France believed that as long as Rafah was still in the hands of the Germans, the French army could not carry out any action, so it must be seized.

After a brief adjustment, the French army accelerated to approach Rafa. In order to capture Krafa as soon as possible, the French commander specially dispatched troops and formed a third army, with Galieni taking charge of the main attack on Rafa. This army consisted of the 21st and 17th divisions and the 3rd artillery regiments, equipped with heavy artillery for siege.

So the 160,000 French troops began to siege Rafa, including 182 large 11-inch siege cannons, 600 and 372 machine guns, completing the siege of Rafa.

In order to change the situation of the German army in Rafale, the German army supported Rafale with most of its troops. However, the German army made unfavorable progress in fighting with the French troops responsible for blocking German reinforcements. Although it restrained the French army on the front, it could not break through, which put the German army in a more isolated situation.

Soon, the German army lost all the outer defense positions. At that time, the defenders had four personnel, 11 artillery pieces and 1,262 machine guns. Forbeck's countermeasure was to defend Rafa and wait for reinforcements to come and rescue the siege. Of course, if possible, the French forces would be eliminated.

At the city of Rafa, both crazy armies vowed to defeat their opponents at all costs. The French army regarded Rafa's gains and losses as the key to the success or failure of the entire war, while the German army, who were defending the city, was in a situation of fighting against the water. Therefore, their battle here was very fierce from the beginning.

Although the German army was defeated repeatedly and retreated, they caused heavy casualties to the attacking French army with their tenacious resistance through solid fortifications. In the battle for Rafah, the French army spent a day to achieve this goal at the cost of 17,400 casualties.

When the casualties data was delivered to the French base camp, the French generals were shocked and thought that the front line report had been wrong, which might have been a zero extra due to a typo. On the surface, at the city of Rafa, the strength of the French and German armies was almost the same, and each had their own strengths. The officers and soldiers on both sides were also famous for their fierceness and tenacity, but the combat between the two armies was completely opposite.

The French army was the side that took the initiative to attack. Galieni was a famous victorious general of the French army. He had experienced many battles and was always famous for his fierce fighting. At that time, it was also famous. The German army carried out defense and had an absolute disadvantage in number. Folbeck was unknown at the time. Although he successfully approached Paris, he was still regarded as luck rather than as a manifestation of his strength. Therefore, even the General Staff of the German Army believed that Folbeck had only been with him for a week, so he advocated fierce battle with the French army.

The French army aimed to strike while the iron was hot and seize Rafa. So, Galieni commanded the Third Army to launch a general attack on Rafa. Before the general attack, the French army demanded the German defenders to surrender, but naturally was rejected by Forbeck. Then, the French attack on the 371 Highlands kicked off the prelude to Rafa.

Faced with the attacks of French suicide squads, the German army refused to give in with the fortifications built, condescending and tenacious resistance, resulting in the French offensive leaving only casualties and no progress.

The German fortifications were extremely strong, and the French shells only injured the surface and could not destroy it. The reasonable trench group structure allowed the German firepower, especially the machine gun firepower, to form a dense firepower network, which the French army could not overcome this steel barrage.

In order to reduce casualties, the French army immediately changed to a night attack, but it still achieved little success. The number of casualties continued to rise sharply. Galieni's two divisions suffered heavy casualties and had to fill in some volunteer troops. The fierce battle did not shake Galieni's fighting spirit at all.

He claimed that one less German army was surrounded, and the French army could do as much as they needed to supplement. That's the case. After three days of attack, the French army suffered more than 30,000 casualties, but more than 60,000 soldiers were added. When fighting at his doorstep, the French really fought more and more.

On the third night of the fierce battle, Gallienni, who had already been red-eyed, decided to take a gamble, launch a large-scale strong attack while the night was dark, and used the "meat bullet" tactic he claimed to attack from the front, so the most intense attack began.

A surviving German soldier described the scene in the Book of Law: "A landslide composed of living people rolled towards us, and French rushed out from the valleys and gullies. Rifles and machine guns were fired one after another, and the barrage blocked everything, making the French soldiers unable to open their eyes. They advanced, pounced, jumped up and ran forward, and then fell down.

"The German trenches were covered with wounded and dead French soldiers lying on the ground, mixed with the sound of gunfire and explosions, and the wails of the wounded. The French army's attack wave was still surging. The French army's successors charged in the body of their companions. The fierce battle lasted until late the next night. The French army suffered casualties, but only occupied some of the trenches on the frontier positions, and the 371 highland was still in the hands of the Germans.

In the past week's attack, the French army suffered more than 8 casualties, accounting for about 12 of the total force and the German army also had 1 casualties.

+1 In front of the highland, the French army's corpses were piled up and the morale of the French army was affected.

This situation forced Gallieni to give up his strong attack on the 371 Highlands and instead strengthen his attack on other defensive areas of Rafale. Wait for a breakthrough before attacking.

The French attack was defeated, which boosted the morale of the German army. The German General Staff made the land plan to use Rafah's favorable terrain and solid fortifications. On the one hand, it restrained enemy troops such as the French Third Army to increase the German army's advantage over the French army on other battlefields. On the other hand, it held on to wait for assistance, and while continuously consuming the French army, it created a situation in France in one battle.

After the failure of the strong attack, the French base camp's combat intention became clearer: Rafah must be occupied as soon as possible. Because as long as the battle in Rafah ended victoriously, the third army could be freed from Rafah. Then they joined forces with other French troops and launched a decisive battle with the German main force in Paris.

If the above-mentioned combat intentions fail, the consequences are nothing more than this: First, the Third Army continues to consume under the city of Rafale. Severe reduction in personnel will make it difficult for the German army; Second, if the German army cannot be completely eliminated, France will not be able to win the war. By the time the German army recovers, the results that France has already achieved will inevitably be lost.

Soon, the French Third Army began its second strong attack, and the main target of the strong attack was still ground. For this strong attack, the French army built a new artillery position on the periphery of Rafah in advance. It was equipped with a batch of 13-inch large-caliber siege artillery. Unlike the first strong attack, which started with the tide-like charge of infantry, in the second strong attack, the French army focused on artillery battles.

The German army was in a disadvantaged situation, and they did not have any large-caliber artillery. So they were suppressed by French artillery, and casualties began to rise sharply.

At the forefront of the 371 Highlands, under the cover of artillery fire, the French army used the method of digging tunnels to approach the German positions and then carried out blasting. The nearest of these tunnels was only less than meter from the German positions. However, the German army had long noticed this, and they either fired artillery or threw explosive packs to block the French army. At the same time, they also followed the French army and used digging tunnels to approach the French positions and destroyed the French army's fortifications.

There were many fierce battles, and the two sides were stalemate at the frontier positions of the 371 Highlands. The French army used all methods. But the German army still firmly grasped the 371 Highlands. The participant wrote later: "This is not a struggle between people. It is a struggle between people and steel, burning oil, explosives and corpses."

The French army's two defeats in the attack caused a strong response in France. The military was extremely dissatisfied with the deaths of nearly eight officers and soldiers, and they attributed this to Galieni's incompetence. Many people asked him to be replaced. Galieni's residence was attacked from time to time, and the glass windows and tiles on the roof were often smashed by stones. He also received about 2,400 letters asking him to resign or commit suicide.

However, what is even more severe for France is that now, the pressure on the French army has begun to become increasingly greater. The commander-in-chief of the French front line frequently asked the French base camp: If the situation of Lafayette still did not change significantly within half a month, the French army would be unable to resist the German attack. In some places, the comparison of military forces has dropped to 1:2. He also wrote a letter to Gallieni in his personal name, asking him to capture Krafa as soon as possible and reverse the increasingly unfavorable situation for the French army.

At this moment, in order to capture Rafa, France took a desperate bet. The French army launched its third strong attack, and its main target was the 371 Highlands, and the suicide squad was the suicide squad. Before the suicide squad went on a war, Gallieni personally saw them off and encouraged them to sacrifice their lives for the country. The suicide squad took advantage of the night and secretly approached the German positions in a dense formation, trying to break through the German frontier positions by surprise.

However, the German army had already discovered the movements of the French army. When the suicide squad approached the front, the German army suddenly turned on the searchlight and fought against the enemy with fierce firepower. Although the suicide squads were all brave, they could no longer move forward and were knocked down one after another. Gallieni organized several attacks in succession, but they were all repelled.

There were countless trenches built on the 371 Highland, and the fortress was covered with barbed wire with favourable spikes. Several fortifications were carefully built in the gap between the highland and the nearby hills. There were also strong fortifications on the hills near the 371 Highland, and trench lines to defend against the French attacks. The German army repelled the French attacks again and again with favorable terrain and solid fortifications, effectively blocking the French advancement.

That night, the French army concentrated all its forces to attack the 371 Highlands. The battle was extremely fierce at that time. French soldiers all over the mountains rushed towards the top of the mountain, one round after another, without any gaps, and both sides could no longer distinguish the batches of shock waves. On the hillside, there were firepower of cannons, machine guns, rifles and grenades. Tens of thousands of French soldiers were stomping on the ground. More people stepped on the bodies and wounded soldiers and charged continuously. Flew everywhere, and corpses were buried.

Gallieni ordered the artillery to continuously shell out German fortifications, and even injuring the French soldiers approaching the enemy fortifications. "Since the French attacked the Fortress of Karenbu, they may not have seen so many dead bodies piled up in such a small empty question. The French corpses were very ugly because their skin turned yellow and showed a very unnatural appearance. No dead body was intact. In the accumulation of shells and shrapnel and shattered guns and knives, fragmented limbs and skeletons were everywhere."

After a desperate battle in the 5th place, a company of the French army finally boarded the German position on the 371 Highlands. At this time, they found that the Germans had been killed or injured in the trenches. Then, the French army fought with German soldiers who fought back in other German fortifications on the 371 Highlands. People used bayonets, butts, stones, and even teeth and hands tore.

It was not until about 5 a.m. the next day that the French army occupied the 371 highlands.

It has been exhausted. It can no longer withstand the French attack. There is only one line of defense. More than 20,000 defeated soldiers have been huddled in the last line of defense, waiting for the upcoming bad luck.

After occupying the 371 Heights, the French took the initiative on the battlefield of Rafa. From the 371 Heights, the French bombarded the German positions with heavy artillery. Then, the French army took steps to capture a series of German peripheral fortifications, and then occupied more and more German positions. Forbeck knew that if there was no accident, today would be the last night. The severe situation made Forbeck feel like killing.

In the war in the 20th century, chemical weapons were different from ordinary conventional weapons, and chemical weapons: the special sword that was increasingly terrifying with the development of high technology, which was daunting and even terrifying. Before World War I, chemical weapons only appeared in war prophecies and science fiction articles, but the war finally made it run out of Pandora's box and harmed humans in one go.

After the outbreak of World War I, all parties involved in war were trying to win the enemy with the most fierce actions and the most terrifying weapons in the shortest time. Therefore, while large-scale military offensives were round after round, scientific research aimed at improving the lethality of weapons was also underway. In particular, Germany, which was trapped in the east-west battle, was urgently developing new weapons.

The double-edged sword attributes of science and technology are fully reflected in Ferbert, a professor at the University of Berlin, Germany. He was an expert engaged in artificial synthesis research and has achieved great achievements in the research of chemical balance and gas reactions. His research work plays a very important role in fertilizer production.

However, in January 1899, it was this Jewish scholar who proposed to the German military that he used poison gas to kill the enemy. The specific content was to send poisonous gas clouds to the enemy's positions. The German military responded quickly and immediately established a research institute dedicated to developing gas, led by Haber.

For Harber, the current research is really too simple, so the development of poison gas soon entered the experimental stage. They first chose the flock as the test object, and German Emperor William II visited the test site. After the test began, a 75mm caliber field gun and a huge naval gun were almost dull at the same time. The sound was dull. These two full-gased shells fell near the flock. After the shell exploded, a slightly green-yellow cloud-like smoke slowly rose up, moved along the ground, slowly drifted towards the flock along the wind, and covered the flock. After the smoke dissipated, people saw that all the sheep were dead.

Immediately afterwards, in January, the shells were transported to the eastern line. Forbeck was particularly fond of this kind of ammunition, so he asked for a thousand pieces. Unexpectedly, he would use the final dirt. Compared with the French, the Germans have always worked harder.

After nightfall, the German special chemical team started to place poison gas tanks at night. The 20 tons of gas with a specific gravity of more than 3 air were first filled into 1,000 steel tanks, and then divided into 150 groups, dispersed and placed on the front line. The toxic gas smoke began to disperse.

A light green and yellow cloud of smoke, about one person tall, overflowed from the German trenches and slowly floated towards the French position. No one knew what it was. After the smoke drifted to the position, the French army began to feel unbearable suffocation, and their eyes, nose and throat seemed to be burned by acidic substances. So people shouted desperately, moaned in pain, and fell down one after another.

An eyewitness recalled the scene at that time: "When the first thick fog enveloped the entire ground, people were so exhausted that they struggled desperately, the initial feeling was shocked, followed by fear, and finally the army was panicked. The people who could still move ran away and tried to run in front of the qi that was chasing them, but most of them were futile." The first group of French African troops were attacked by the qi, and these lower-level officers and soldiers from Senegal retreated in fear.

The French army on the latter front did not know what was going on for a moment. "Everyone couldn't understand what these Africans were saying, but judging from their coughing and pointing at their throats, it was obvious that if they were either poisoned, they were scared out of fear." The white French commander, who still didn't know the truth, ordered them to return to their positions in a tone of "killing without any reason", but was beaten to death by black soldiers.

On that night, about 315,000 were injured by the air, and 25,000 of them died. A French officer recorded what he saw and heard in the Book of Law: "What is terrible is that poisoned people will slowly suffer from torture and die. I saw hundreds of soldiers placed in the church yards in order to let them breathe as much fresh air as possible and slowly relieve the poisoned lungs.

This is the most terrifying scene, and the doctors can do nothing. "Fa first realized that the Germans used a new weapon. The effect of poison gas was unexpected by Germany. When the poison gas dissipated, an unmanned defense zone with a width of 10 kilometers and a depth of 7 kilometers was left on the French position. The German army only sent a few troops to enter the place tentatively. However, this group of German troops was easily blocked by a French army with weak combat power.

In the subsequent counterattack of the French army, the German army wearing gas masks used overwhelming machine gun fire to send the attacking French army back to their trenches after paying a huge price. When they saw the French army fall down one row after another in the fire net he organized, the German machine gunners were shocked.

Soon, the German General Staff learned the news and was overwhelmed by Folbeck's feat, but they did not know that the French revenge would come soon and be much more intense.
Chapter completed!