Chapter 24 Retreat
Lu Mingfei kept pulling the bolt and then pulling the trigger. Every time he pulled the trigger, a heartbeat disappeared in his detection.
But there were too many people on the opposite side. Even if Lu Mingfei pulled the bolt until sparks flew, he could not kill all the French. The sweat on his forehead mixed with dirt and dripped onto the ground along his cheeks. His eyes were sore from aiming for so long.
Although the barbed wire in front of the trench was already in tatters, it still posed some obstacles to the French. They had to push or climb over the barbed wire to move forward. The barbed wire was covered with torn clothes and bloodstains.
The barbed wire that Lu Mingfei and his men pulled at the risk of their lives was not in vain after all. It bought them precious time. People kept coming out of the shelters, lying on the trenches and firing at the French.
Those French people probably didn't expect that there were still so many people alive in this trench that was almost bombed into ruins.
At this time, Maxim's voice sounded, and the French who were rushing in like a tide began to fall down in groups under Maxim's shooting, forming a gap, but it was soon filled by the French behind them.
The roar of the machine gun was deafening, and bullet casings kept jumping out of the barrel, scattering on the ground with a crisp sound.
The artillery positions on the Prussian side finally launched an attack. The shells fell in front of Lu Mingfei and his team's positions. Lu Mingfei saw a French soldier who was climbing over the barbed wire being hit by a shell. His entire body completely disappeared, leaving only two intact hands still tightly grasping the barbed wire.
Under the terrifying firepower of artillery and Maxim, the momentum of the French offensive was suppressed. Before Lu Mingfei and his men could breathe a sigh of relief, the Maxim on their side suddenly went silent.
The French took this opportunity to come again.
"Grenade! Throw the grenade quickly!" Kaczynski roared as he looked at the approaching French, his voice a little hoarse with anger.
Lu Mingfei pulled out a grenade from his waist and threw it towards the incoming French. The grenade drew an arc in the air and then exploded among the enemy group. The huge shock wave threw the surrounding soil and human body fragments into the air.
But without the suppressive fire from the machine guns, it would be almost impossible to stop the French with just the bolt-action rifles and a few grenades in their hands.
In the end, those French people stepped over the barbed wire and rushed towards Lu Mingfei and his group. A French soldier raised his gun, and the bayonet on the tip of the gun emitted a deep cold light, and stabbed towards Lu Mingfei like a meteor.
Lu Mingfei rolled over to avoid the attack. The French soldier's bayonet was stuck in the ground. Lu Mingfei took this opportunity to pull out an engineer shovel from his waist and slashed at the French soldier.
In such a narrow tunnel, the bayonet on the rifle was not as useful as the sharpened engineer shovel. Before the French soldier could raise his gun again, Lu Mingfei's engineer shovel had already hit his chest.
The sharp engineering shovel instantly cut open the French soldier's chest, and blood gushed out like a fountain, splashing on Lu Mingfei's face.
At this time, Lu Mingfei had completely lost his mind. His face was distorted like a devil from hell. He chopped the French soldier's chest with the engineering shovel in his hand again and again, even though the French soldier's heart had stopped beating long ago, until the French soldier's chest was chopped into a pile of mud.
At this time, a man grabbed Lu Mingfei's collar and began to pull him back. Lu Mingfei immediately looked behind him with a ferocious look, and was about to chop behind him with the engineering shovel in his hand.
But when he saw that it was Kaczynski who was pulling him from behind, he immediately stopped what he was doing. He looked at the blood-stained engineer shovel in his hand and the bloody corpse under him, and then he realized what he had done.
His whole body began to tremble constantly, and he almost dropped the engineer shovel in his hand. He could no longer deceive himself by saying that this was just a game.
The real touch, the temperature of the blood and the weight of the corpse all reminded him that this was not a game, but a war where it was either you or me.
Kaczynski kicked a French soldier, pulled out the engineer shovel stuck in his chest, and then wiped the blood that splattered on his face.
When he saw Lu Mingfei sitting on the ground and shaking, he slapped Lu Mingfei and yelled, "Boy! Now is not the time to be afraid! Retreat! Retreat to the trenches behind!!!"
Kaczynski used another engineer's shovel to knock down a French soldier, and then ran to the rear, shouting to retreat as he ran.
Kaczynski's slap woke Lu Mingfei up. He immediately got up and followed Kaczynski towards the trench behind.
The trenches are divided into three parts. The front trench, where Lu Mingfei and his team are, is used for reconnaissance and defense against the first attack.
When the front trenches could not be defended, they would retreat to the supporting trenches a few hundred meters behind them. Behind the supporting trenches was a reserve trench which was the last line of defense.
"Throw all the grenades!!!" Under Kaczynski's command, Lu Mingfei and others threw all the grenades on their bodies behind them. The grenades drew an arc in the air and explosions continued to sound behind them.
These grenades bought them some time, and they ran as fast as they could to the supporting trenches behind them, which had received the news the moment the French attacked and were ready to attack at any time.
When they saw Lu Mingfei and his men fleeing in panic, they immediately used machine guns to cover their retreat, and the machine gun bullets rained down like raindrops.
Under the cover of machine guns, Lu Mingfei and his men successfully hid in the trenches, and the French soldiers also stopped their attack under the attack of machine guns and artillery.
However, they still occupied the trench where Lu Mingfei and his team had stayed before, of course, if those dilapidated tunnels could still be called trenches.
Lu Mingfei was lying in the trench with his hands still shaking slightly. He was still thinking about the French soldier whom he had chopped to pieces just now.
"It's okay, kid. This kind of thing is inevitable as long as we are on the battlefield." Kaczynski patted Lu Mingfei's shoulder comfortingly, but his voice was tired and helpless.
Lu Mingfei turned his head and looked around, and found that several figures who had been in the same trench with him had disappeared, but fortunately Paul, Klopp and others who had a good relationship with him were still safe.
He didn't ask where those people were going. The answer was obvious and there was no need to ask such a stupid question.
At this time, their company commander Bell came over with an extremely serious and heavy expression.
"They are going to launch a counterattack soon, and they want us to join in." The company commander's words were like a basin of cold water poured over Lu Mingfei and the others.
The slight sense of relief that Lu Mingfei and the others had just felt for escaping death was instantly extinguished.
"But we just retreated!" Paul stood up angrily and grabbed Bell's collar and yelled. They had just escaped death and now they had to go back to die.
"I'm sorry... but orders are orders. I asked them for a few packs of cigarettes. The attack will be in about an hour. You can take this opportunity to have a good rest." Bell lowered his head in shame. He was a good company commander and he didn't want his soldiers to die, but as he said, orders are orders. The only thing he could do was to give them a few packs of cigarettes.
Paul let go of Bell's collar and sat down again weakly.
(End of this chapter)
