The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 529: Chapter 414: Central Breakthrough_2

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan, apart from a small number of Army Group commanders and generals, the real central breakthrough plan was kept secret even from some important brigade generals who did not know the true destination of their troops, and could only obey the temporary orders from their superiors.

At the same time when the real main force launched the attack, some Russian forces also conducted feigned attacks in the northern region, attracting the attention of the some of the Russian army.

This successfully paralyzed the Russians, who had no preparations for the impending German offensive.

When Ivanov, the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Army, discovered something was wrong and ordered the strengthening of defenses around the Vistula River, it was already a bit late.

On the banks of the Vistula River during summer, the trees are verdant, the grass is lush, and the temperature is not scorching, making the scenery very beautiful.

However, accompanied by the roaring and fierce bombardment of over 1,000 German artillery pieces, the short-lived peace in the area disappeared once again as the war engulfed the entire land.

The bright light caused by the explosion of shells illuminated the destroyed Russian positions and the panicked and fleeing Russian soldiers.

The Russian artillery wanted to retaliate, but faced suppression from the German artillery. Faced with such a situation, the Russian artillery positions either remained silent during the war or were destroyed by the German artillery.

Although by this time Russia had already received some aid, the actual amount allocated to each division of the frontline Russian army was not that much.

On average, each German artillery piece could receive hundreds of shells per day, but the number of shells fired by each Russian artillery piece would not exceed ten per day.

With a gap in their numbers in terms of artillery and a disadvantage in the number of shells, the Russian army lacked the support of artillery, and under the attack of the German army, they had almost no room to fight back.

In World War I, the most effective weapons for defense were heavy machine guns and artillery. But for the Russian army, machine gun bullets and artillery shells were the most easily consumed and precious things.

The German bombardment lasted for several hours, with the Russian artillery responding only in the first half-hour.

For the remaining hours, Russian defensive positions were subjected to the fierce bombardment of German artillery, with occasional bursts of fire illuminating the land and highlighting the screams and pain of Russian soldiers.

That was not the end of it. Following the bombardment that lasted for several hours, the next to appear were the German airplanes.

A year ago, these Russian recruits were illiterate farmers. They were shocked by the iron birds spewing death and fire above their heads, as if they were the pets of the Grim Reaper seeking lives, causing great harm to the morale of the Russian soldiers, who buried their heads in the trenches at the sight of German planes, fearing that death would take them away.

Although several years had passed since the advent of airships, Russia also possessed its first batch of airplanes.

The crimson Vistula River proved the cruelty of this battle, and the river's surroundings prevented residents from daring to eat fish for a long time.

Speaking of the German poison gas bombs, there was a small twist in this charge battle that shocked many people.

After the last use of poison gas bombs on the Western Front caused heavy losses to the British and French forces, the Germans quickly decided to use poison gas on the Eastern Front too, to make the Russians suffer.

.net

The poison gas used by the Germans at this time was choking chlorine gas, which was three times heavier than ordinary air.

When the gas was released, the heavy gas cylinders had to be opened by a special team to measure the wind direction. The yellow-green smoke, entangled together, floated above the ground and rolled forward as it was gently blown by the wind.

However, this poison gas release team clearly did not consider the sudden change in wind direction, which caused the rolling poison gas to suddenly be blown back to the German positions by the changed wind direction.

After the poison gas entered the trenches along the ground, it soon spread throughout the German positions, causing many unprepared German soldiers to die painfully of asphyxiation.

According to secret German statistics, this poison gas accident led to the deaths of several hundred German soldiers, making it a major accident.

In order not to affect morale and to prevent the army and the public from doubting the safety of such taboo weapons, the German General Staff chose to keep the matter strictly confidential.

This real historical event was not revealed until many years after the end of World War I.

Of course, this accident could not affect the large-scale use of poison gas by the German army.

The day after the accident, the German army used poison gas again on the Eastern Front, causing great suffering for the Russian troops.

Together with the dense firepower of the German army, the Russian troops that filled the gaps suffered more than 100,000 casualties within two days, leaving the Russian Southwest Front extremely precarious.

It is worth mentioning that the Germans' blatant use of poison gas caused the price of gas masks to soar.

Britain, France, and Russia began purchasing gas masks from Australasia while also starting their own research and development of gas masks.

The current market price of gas masks has doubled, but the purchase orders from Britain and France are still in high demand.