"Da-da-da-da-da!"
Signaled by the opening fire of twelve MG14 Light Machine Guns, the remaining rifles and dozens of MP14 Submachine Guns of the 1st Company opened fire simultaneously, the harsh gunfire instantly tearing through the night sky.
A dense rain of bullets mercilessly lashed out at the group of completely unprepared Flanders soldiers.
Since there were no tracer rounds, the enemies rushing at the front fell down in swathes, as if swept by an invisible scythe.
Blood and shattered flesh splattered everywhere under the pale light of the searchlights.
This sudden and fierce firepower completely stunned the Flanders men.
They couldn't figure out where the bullets were coming from, only seeing their comrades fall one by one into pools of blood beside them.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack on the flank!"
"It's a Saxon heavy machine gun position!"
A slightly further back and quicker-reacting Flanders officer yelled hoarsely, trying to organize his soldiers for a counterattack.
They quickly determined the source of the firepower and immediately organized approximately one company of soldiers to envelop the small patch of woods where Morin was located.
This scene was displayed in real-time on the map in Morin's vision.
"Trying to outflank me, huh?" Morin murmured to himself.
If they had been using clumsy Maxim Heavy Machine Guns, they might have succeeded.
But the 1st Company soldiers were equipped with the light and flexible MG14 Light Machine Guns.
"Tell the 2nd Platoon to shift position to the left of the small woods! Prepare to suppress the enemy's flank attack!" Morin ordered the Dispatch Rider beside him.
The soldiers of the 1st Company's 2nd Platoon immediately sprang into action.
The machine gunners picked up their machine guns, while the assistant gunners shouldered the ammunition boxes, quickly moving in rapid strides to the other side of the woods.
The entire process was fluid and effortless, as if they had practiced it countless times on the training ground.
During this process, they finally understood why they had to practice the 400-meter obstacle course day after day on the training ground.
Why they had to perform the 5-kilometer Armed Cross-Country fully equipped.
Everything was for this moment.
As the soldiers dropped prone, mounted their guns, and aimed, 2nd Platoon Leader Barak also took out the flare gun issued to Platoon Leaders and fired a flare toward the direction the enemy was enveloping.
The bright flare rose into the sky with a long tail flame, illuminating the area below as bright as day.
Approximately one company of Flanders soldiers was cautiously creeping toward the woods, rifles in hand and backs bent.
Their commander knew instantly that things were not looking good when he saw the flare ascend.
But he had no retreat, so he could only bite the bullet and continue to command the attack.
He figured the Saxon heavy machine guns couldn't move quickly, and if they could take out this 'heavy machine gun position' from the flank, victory would still be theirs.
However, he clearly did not know that the enemy force before him was already equipped with a weapon like the Light Machine Gun.
A whip-like torrent of bullets swept over them from the unexpected direction again, instantly breaking their attack formation.
Perhaps the darkness and the flickering flares made the soldiers' perception of their comrades' brutal deaths less visceral than during the day.
This Flanders infantry company actually pressed forward stubbornly against the fierce fire of the 1st Company's 2nd Platoon.
But they ultimately failed to achieve a miracle.
After suffering over two-thirds casualties, the company completely broke.
Their counter-charge was like a wave crashing against a reef, shattering into pieces.
Just as the 1st Company was fighting fiercely, the rest of the Instruction Assault Battalion, led by Kleist, arrived on the battlefield.
Without hesitation, they immediately deployed into two attack echelons by company, according to the combat drill previously formulated by Morin, and entered the fight from the front.
The three newly arrived companies acted like three reefs suddenly rising from the waves, completely smashing the Flanders attack.
The roar of automatic fire instantly echoed throughout the entire battlefield.
The Flanders soldiers, who had just been immersed on the edge of a counter-charge victory, were now completely bewildered.
They had thought they were only facing a group of scattered routed soldiers. Who could have expected so many fiercely firing Saxon troops to suddenly appear from the front and the flank?
This density of firepower was even more terrifying than when they were sweeping the Saxon charge columns with heavy machine guns inside the fortress earlier.
Kleist, along with the other officers from the Battalion Headquarters, scurried over to Morin's side.
Despite having witnessed the brutality of the battlefield, this tall former Imperial Guards officer still wore an expression of eager excitement for battle.
"Sir! The entire battalion is combat-ready! When do we attack the fortress?!"
"?"
Morin looked at him, unable to decide whether to laugh or cry.
"Am I out of my mind? How could I lead you to attack the fortress…" Morin snapped. "My order was for you to come up and provide support, not to go and die! Do you think that fortress is made of paper?"
"Ah, is that so…" Kleist opened his mouth but ultimately couldn't say anything.
"Alright, alright, stop thinking about that!" Morin interrupted him. "Immediately organize the men, contact the nearby friendly forces, and re-gather the scattered units… Also, bring back all the wounded we can collect!"
"What we need to do now is stabilize the line and retreat in an orderly fashion! Not butt heads with that iron turtle!"
Hearing that they were not launching an attack, a clear look of disappointment flashed across Kleist's face.
But he quickly acknowledged the order and turned to execute it.
Morin shook his head, having truly not expected his Battalion Adjutant to be such a War Maniac.
He turned to look at Manstein on the other side, only to find the young operations staff officer staring excitedly at the battlefield ahead, his expression identical to Kleist's moments before.
"Wait, you want to charge too?" Morin asked.
"No, Sir." Manstein shook his head, his voice slightly trembling with excitement. "I just… I finally understand…"
"Understand what?"
"I finally understand why you made us practice that new method of attack, and I finally understand why you always said that with the continuous improvement of infantry firepower, dense column charges are military suicide."
A strange light flashed in Manstein's eyes—the kind of sudden enlightenment that follows a complete cognitive overhaul.
"Before, I only heard you say it. I thought it made sense, but I didn't have a direct, intuitive feeling."
"But today…" He looked at the corpse-strewn battlefield ahead. "In just these short dozen minutes, I personally saw how several battalions of soldiers became vulnerable in the face of modern firepower."
"I also personally saw how the firepower of just one of our companies easily crushed the counterattack of an enemy company."
"Sir, you are right. The nature of warfare has fundamentally changed."
Morin looked at him and nodded with satisfaction.
Worthy of being a future Field Marshal; his comprehension is high.
This small-scale night battle was nothing short of an ideological baptism for Manstein.
It brutally dragged the young staff officer, who was still stuck in traditional warfare thinking, into the harsh reality of modern combat.
On the other side, the Flanders counterattack, having smashed its head against the hard reef of the Instruction Assault Battalion, instantly lost the morale it had just built up.
The remaining soldiers abandoned their fantasies, scrambling and crawling back into their tortoise shells.
The gun emplacements on the Barchon Fortress fired a few token shots toward the area, but the shells fell into empty space, posing no threat.
This was because, by this time, Morin had already led the Instruction Assault Battalion, along with the three rescued, severely depleted infantry battalions, to retreat to a safe distance.
It was also at this time that Morin learned that the unit that had launched the night raid was the 14th Infantry Brigade.
What shocked him even more was that the commander of the night raid was none other than General Wussow himself.
And this General had unfortunately been killed in the recent fighting.
Morin felt a shiver of post-fear…
If he hadn't made the decisive move to lead the Instruction Assault Battalion to repel the enemy's counterattack, not only these three battalions but the entire 14th Infantry Brigade might have been completely routed.
Just then, a soldier responsible for the perimeter alert ran back.
"Report, Sir! A large force is approaching us from the rear!"
Morin nodded and followed the soldier with Kleist and Manstein.
After a short while, they saw the vanguard of that force.
In the dim lamplight, a slightly plump officer, flanked by several staff officers, rode a horse at the front of the column.
Morin thought the man looked familiar. After careful consideration, he remembered having seen him at the Second Army Group Command Post.
When he clearly saw the Major General's rank on the man's shoulder, he quickly stepped forward and, along with the others, stood at attention and saluted.
"Reporting, General! Imperial Guards First Instruction Assault Battalion has just repelled the enemy's counterattack here and is currently gathering our forces!"
Morin reported loudly.
The slightly plump Major General returned the salute from horseback, then dismounted quickly and walked up to Morin.
After listening to Morin's brief summary of the recent battle, the Major General clearly looked relieved.
"Well done, Captain Morin… Command Post heard that the 'Meuse River Battle Group' attack was unsuccessful today, so they sent me with reinforcements. I just heard the intense fighting on the road and couldn't contact the 14th Brigade Command Post…"
He looked Morin up and down, a look of approval appearing on his face.
"I remember you. I was quite interested in you and your Instruction Assault Battalion when I was at the Army Group Command Post. I didn't expect you to be even more outstanding than I imagined."
"You honor me, General."
Morin said modestly, but he felt that the man looked incredibly familiar, though the darkness made it hard to see his face clearly.
"I heard about your unit when I was at the General Staff," the Major General said, looking at the Instruction Assault Battalion soldiers in the distance, then walking parallel with Morin.
"You were with the General Staff, Sir?" Morin asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes."
At this point, the Major General nodded, then extended his hand to Morin in a friendly gesture.
"Let me reintroduce myself: Erich Ludendorff, Observer from the Army General Staff Operations Department, concurrently serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Second Army Group."
Hearing that name, Morin was shocked, quickly reaching out to shake his hand.
Holy cow, it's Master Lu!
(End of this Chapter)
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