26-April-7-May/1915
As soon as the bombardment ended we rushed out of the shelter and ran straight to the trench exit, the air was thick with dust and the stench of explosives filling everything as we quickly pushed into the ground between the second and third trench.
Our advance was fast and almost without complications, since as we were about to enter the third trench the barbed wire was already broken, completely destroyed by a shell, we watched the French stumble out of their shelters and started shooting them right there.
While many of the French had been trapped inside the shelter.
As we entered the third trench we saw the massacre that had taken place, there were… pieces of French soldiers everywhere, it was clear they hadn't managed to reach their shelters and had died from the explosions, the place was filled with body parts, arms… legs… blood… entrails…
Without a doubt this was the worst part of trench warfare, dying from the sheer force of an artillery shell.
While the French were still trapped inside their shelters we kept moving and tried to check if the machine guns they had set up were still functional, but they had been damaged by the shells and several parts were broken, so they would be useless if French reinforcements arrived.
More German troops began arriving at the French fortifications and gunfire started echoing everywhere, so we took positions and waited for any French reinforcements to show themselves.
After waiting for a while, the French soldiers we had trapped came out with their hands raised, they had surrendered, they had no way out, especially with thousands of German soldiers already inside the trenches fighting those who were coming out of the shelters.
Not knowing what to do, we stayed in place, as more time passed the situation became calmer, we watched some flee toward their rear camp while many captured French were being marched back toward our lines.
While we waited for orders, they finally came, we were to advance and see if we could fight in the French rear camp and force a retreat.
So letting other groups move ahead first, after receiving the order we climbed the slight hill in front of the trenches and began observing the French rear camp where there was complete chaos, their troops were totally disorganized.
But the problem was our numbers, the French could easily reach hundreds thousand in that rear camp and here we were at least tens of thousands who had fully broken through the three trench lines while handling our wounded and prisoners.
''Come with me… spread out… advance in groups, use the shell craters for cover, we need to take advantage of this'' I said as I tried to organize the lower ranking officers nearby who didn't know what to do.
I started giving orders to the captains and lieutenants around me, explaining what we would do and that our mission was to spread out as much as possible while advancing and push as deep as we could into the camp to force the French to retreat.
As the rest of the troops divided into groups, I did my best to coordinate squad tactics as we moved, covering our flanks while advancing toward the French camp.
At the first sign of resistance we opened fire, giving cover so other groups could keep advancing, and then repeating the same process again and again.
Those ahead provided cover while we kept pushing forward, killing French soldiers abandoning the camp in large numbers, trying to get vehicles and trucks moving while we advanced at a steady pace.
After several minutes coordinating movements and avoiding grouping up to not become easy targets, we finally entered the camp.
There we found hundreds of wounded while nurses and doctors tried to stop us from entering the tents.
''Ignore them… keep moving, secure supplies and wherever they store ammunition, don't let them evacuate it'' I said while looking at the doctors blocking the entrance to the field hospital.
''Does anyone speak German?'' I asked looking at the medical staff.
''I do'' said one of the doctors, covered in blood.
''Everyone inside is now a prisoner, stabilize them, I will leave guards, if anyone is armed they must hand over their weapon immediately or we will go in by force to disarm them'' I said as I called over an Unteroffizier.
''Major?'' said the Unteroffizier, looking around.
''Secure this hospital, no one enters or leaves unless ordered by one of my superiors or someone with a direct order'' I said.
''Jawohl'' he replied, calling his men as they began securing the hospital.
After that we kept advancing, hearing another firefight nearby that seemed to be happening inside one of the French ammunition depots.
They had barricaded themselves inside and it would not be easy to get them out, the building was made of concrete and we had nothing to throw inside, and we did not know if there were explosives or artillery shells, one wrong shot and we would all be blown apart.
''Surround it and take cover, only fire when you see a body, the rest keep advancing'' I said as I began maneuvering with my men and other units deeper into the rear camp.
Finally we reached the area where the French vehicles were, where a large portion of their forces were getting into trucks or loading crates.
I dropped to the ground with several of my men while the other forces continued advancing.
My eyes immediately locked onto one person, the driver, and in an instant my sights were on his head as he sat behind the wheel trying to escape.
I pulled the trigger, feeling the recoil against my shoulder, and in a blink I saw the glass shatter, covered in blood, leaving nothing visible behind it.
After that I aimed at another vehicle loaded with crates that was trying to get out while weaving between French soldiers who were running, but I focused on the shot, calculating the movement of the vehicle and aiming where it would be when the bullet arrived, after cycling the bolt I fired again and the round hit its mark, shattering the glass and killing the driver, who kept accelerating and ran over a French soldier with the vehicle.
More shots rang out and the French began to fall, and several rounds started coming back at us while some of ours went down, but we kept advancing without stopping until we began to seize and capture the French vehicles and saw that the camp was already being abandoned.
But here we faced the biggest crossroads, either keep the momentum and try to take as much ground as possible or simply stop, since we had already captured a large part of the French equipment in the area.
We also did not have the option to infiltrate, since without our camouflage suits we would be easy targets if we tried to push further, and once they realized what had happened they would try to close the gap as fast as possible.
So I made sure everything was secured and we prepared defenses in case of a counterattack, while prisoners were taken from those who had not managed to flee or from the wounded, bringing them to the medics but making sure they prioritized German soldiers first.
Almost an hour passed before more troops finally began to arrive, I do not know where they came from but reinforcements had finally reached us and started pushing forward, trying to exploit the break in the French lines and maneuver deeper.
Unfortunately, that lost hour had been enough for the French to begin fortifying other areas, so we had to keep advancing and fight town by town, trying to prevent them from digging new trenches, although in several pushes that same day we noticed they were digging further back, so we had to keep pushing.
By the afternoon most of us were exhausted, after taking three trenches, fighting all day and enduring artillery, I was completely drained and barely had any strength left in my muscles, a single day on the Western Front felt far worse than several days behind enemy lines.
The next day, after sleeping, we were ordered to remain in the rear and I began counting my losses, I had lost twenty two jaegerkommandos in the battle, a considerable number for a single day, but considering we had faced artillery, machine guns and multiple engagements it was low compared to other units that had suffered losses of fifty percent or more.
Considering I had not yet been reinforced from my losses in the Eastern Front, I was down to barely two hundred men, so these losses were significant, especially since I had lost three Unteroffizier in the fighting.
I honestly do not know how many casualties we inflicted, but we definitely killed French officers, since they were our priority targets in every engagement.
As the days passed the front shifted slightly, German lines pushed deeper into French territory and moved close to surrounding Verdun, it came very close to the German army breaking the front completely and taking the city, but the French arrived in massive numbers.
It seemed they had moved troops by train from other sectors to reinforce the area, weakening other parts of the front, so new offensives were already being planned for when more French attacks came, since reports said battles like this were happening all along the front.
Where massacres were repeated, tens of thousands of French dead, some sectors collapsing in the north forcing retreats, other attacks failing completely and others where counterattacks succeeded in pushing the front in our favor.
But recently we were farther from Paris than ever, as the front near Paris had fallen back heavily when trenches gave way after a week of intense bombardment and wave after wave of French and British colonial troops smashed against the defenses, although Entente casualties supposedly reached hundreds of thousands in just a few days of fighting.
Our losses were not far behind, although the numbers varied depending on the source.
There was also news that chemical weapons had begun to be used, preparations were underway to deploy chlorine gas, and it did not take long before we saw the gas troops, a group of scientists responsible for overseeing the deployment of gas across the front.
They quickly issued us gas masks, and by the next day gas bombardments began against the newly built French positions.
I watched from a distance the horror as the gas seeped into the French trenches, and from where I stood I saw how thousands died from that cursed weapon.
Luckily we were finally given a break from frontline operations, I was told there might be a medal for my actions with my men, and we were soon reinforced with fresh troops, men aged twenty to twenty three who had just finished training, bringing my group up to around a thousand men alongside the jaegerkommandos.
Honestly, I did not like being reinforced with recruits, I preferred veterans with experience, since now I would have to deal with panic from new soldiers, but my complaints were ignored, veteran troops were needed to hold the line and carry out counteroffensives.
So I focused on training future snipers, as I had finally been given a training camp near the front where many of the best marksmen were sent to me, forcing me to handle the logistics of sixteen thousand men while training more soldiers than I had ever commanded before.
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