Chapter 480: Facing the Enemy
Major General Lacoste stared blankly at the map, his gaze complicated.
He even began to suspect that the man in front of him, Charles, was an imposter—a German spy whose goal was to make them lose the war!
Otherwise, who would voluntarily ask to let go of their geographical advantage and allow the enemy to occupy the high ground?!
Charles seemed to see through Major General Lacoste's thoughts. He gave a soft smile: “General, if you are already certain that you cannot stop the German advance, why not try my method?”
Major General Lacoste suddenly came to his senses.
If Charles was an imposter or a German spy, he wouldn't need to do anything—he could simply wait, and the 2nd Army would be wiped out by tonight!
Realizing this, Major General Lacoste let out a soft sigh: “But Brigadier, the result of this approach would put us in a completely passive position.”
He pointed to the defensive line that Charles had drawn:
“If we set up our defenses here, the Germans standing on the mountain top could easily toss grenades into our trenches, while we, being in a lower position, would find it difficult to retaliate.”
“In other words, the enemy can easily wipe us out with grenades.”
Charles replied calmly:
“I don’t think so, General.”
“The regular trenches do have the problem you mentioned.”
“But if the trenches are of varying heights, it’s a different story.”
Major General Lacoste looked confused: “Varying heights?”
Charles nodded and casually took out a piece of paper and pencil. As he drew a diagram, he explained:
“This is the slope of the mountain, and we’ll build our trench at this position.”
“When constructing the trench, we’ll pile all the dug-up earth to the upstream side, causing the upper side to be much higher than the lower side.”
Major General Lacoste suddenly understood and exclaimed:
“The Germans' grenades will be blocked by the higher upper side!”
“Or they might land over the upper side and fly into the trench on the other side?”
Charles nodded.
This essentially created a “blind spot”—a blind spot where grenades couldn’t land, even if the Germans were close and on high ground.
On the other hand, French soldiers in the trench could easily toss grenades up to the mountain top by simply standing up.
Major General Lacoste’s eyes immediately lit up. In this case, the French would actually gain the initiative, even though it appeared that they had conceded the geographical advantage.
Colonel Klein seemed to sense something and added: “Also, the German artillery—they won’t be able to hit this side.”
Major General Lacoste froze for a moment and then became ecstatic: “That’s right! The enemy’s howitzers will be blocked by the mountaintop! This area is their blind spot! My God, we can even ignore the enemy’s artillery, and that’s over a thousand cannons!”
“Not only that,” Charles pointed to a spot below the mountain, “We can place our artillery at the foot of the mountain.”
Major General Lacoste nodded repeatedly, his voice growing excited:
“Yes, Brigadier, this is brilliant.”
“The foot of the mountain is still the Germans' artillery blind spot, so placing our artillery here is very safe, but they’ll be able to target the Germans charging up to the mountaintop.”
“It’s unimaginable that just moving the defensive line back by a few dozen meters could bring so many advantages.”
“And before this, no one had thought of this. Only you, Brigadier!”
Major General Lacoste’s gaze toward Charles shifted from suspicion to admiration.
No wonder he was known as the “Mars of France”—Charles had turned decay into brilliance!
The Germans would be caught off guard. In the darkness, they would be disoriented, not even knowing where the grenades were coming from!
Lieutenant Jules, who had come with Charles, also looked at Charles in shock, a trace of sorrow in his heart.
Had the French used this tactic from the start, they might not have lost the first defensive line, nor would they have suffered such heavy casualties. Colonel Derion and those comrades...
Charles, however, remained calm, as if he had just mentioned a trivial matter.
This wasn’t a tactic that Charles had come up with—it was the “reverse slope tactic” used by modern volunteer armies when facing artillery with overwhelming superiority: retreating from the mountaintop and building trenches on the reverse slope would immediately nullify the enemy's direct-fire artillery, including tanks.
Although indirect-fire artillery could still reach the position, they couldn’t hit the precise target without knowing the exact location.
Once the enemy took the mountaintop, the volunteer army would leap out of the trenches and launch a counterattack. Soon, both armies would clash in close combat, and the enemy’s advanced equipment would be useless, leaving only bayonets to fight it out.
The reason European and American countries didn’t adopt such a tactic was that their battles were always air-to-air, tank-to-tank, and never involved bayonet fights when the enemy had superior equipment.
Gradually, Major General Lacoste’s smile faded as he seemed to think of something.
“Brigadier,” Major General Lacoste said with worry, “Our trenches are too close to the mountaintop, still in a lower position. If the enemy launches a reckless charge...”
The German troops gathered at Verdun were their elite forces, commanded by the German Crown Prince himself. It was said that 17 of the strongest divisions had been reinforced from the reserve army.
These troops were bold and aggressive, capable of using close combat to wipe out the remaining 7,000 men of the 2nd Army, like crushing ants.
“So we need this,” Charles nodded toward Lieutenant Jules.
Lieutenant Jules understood and carefully took out a square object from his bag, placing it on the table.
Major General Lacoste leaned in to take a look. On the front, in French, was written: “This side faces the enemy.”
“This is a directional mine,” Charles said as he tapped the mine’s casing. “Each of these directional mines contains about 800 steel balls. Once detonated, the steel balls scatter like bullets toward the enemy, with a range of about 100 meters.”
Hearing this, Major General Lacoste quickly withdrew his hand, as if burned by fire. His eyes were filled with fear as he looked at Charles and said with difficulty, “800 steel balls? A range of 100 meters?”
Charles nodded confidently:
“It will turn all nearby enemies into a sieve in an instant.”
“We don’t need to see the enemy or aim at them. All we need to know is that the enemy is there, then we trigger the explosion.”
This was almost tailor-made for this battle.
Major General Lacoste swallowed hard: “How many of these directional mines do you have, Brigadier? How much, how much do they cost?”
“Free of charge.” Charles spread his hands with generosity: “The first batch of 10,000 mines is already on its way. They’re free; I’m giving them to you, for Verdun, for France, and for the soldiers’ lives!”
This was the perfect moment to win the army’s favor, and Charles wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.
Major General Lacoste was immediately moved. He stepped forward, gripping Charles’s hand tightly, and said with excitement:
“Thank you, Brigadier. Thank you so much!”
“You are France’s savior, the true savior!”
“No one can care about our lives like you, only you!”
Everyone around them looked at Charles with admiration and gratitude. After all, just moments ago, they were wondering how to escape, but now they knew that not only could they preserve their lives, but they might even turn the tide and win!
“It’s what I should do,” Charles scanned the room with his gaze: “You are the bravest men, heroes, the elite of France. You deserve this. Long live France!”
“Long live France!”
“Long live France!”
...
The crowd followed Charles’s lead, some of them moved to tears.