Just as during the American Civil War, the Northern Army gave the Southern Army the nickname "Red Neck", and when the World War broke out, the British called the German "Forrest", and the Germans called the British "Tomis".

Now the Germans have become "Jerry", this meme does not originate from "Cat and Mouse", which was not released in 1914.

In any case, James, who lost his gas mask, finally has a simple version of the "gas mask", although it looks a little disgusting, but compared to life, James can accept it even if it is a little disgusting.

As Heywood prepares for battle, a soldier named Lasker next to him is scrambling to put on his shoes, and when he finds the poison gas coming, Lasker is smearing whale oil on his feet, which is to cure trench disease.

Trench disease is a fungal infection that results from a soldier's feet being exposed to cold and damp conditions for long periods of time, and if left unchecked, it can lead to gangrene and, in severe cases, amputation.

Comparatively speaking, in southern Africa, because of better protection, soldiers are issued with boots that are connected to the boots, and the chances of contracting trench disease are not great.

The Anglo-French forces and the Germans were really miserable, many officers and soldiers on the front line were infected with trench disease, and last winter, about 20,000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force were infected with trench disease, and the situation of the French and German troops was even more serious.

Military doctors in southern Africa intervened in time to discover that applying whale oil could cure trench disease, so many officers and soldiers gathered together to rub whale oil on their feet during the battle, which has become a scene on the front line.

Another scene on the front line is the soldiers gathering to catch lice for each other, especially on a sunny afternoon, when a bunch of soldiers gather together like monkeys basking in the afternoon sun, and the appearance of concentrating on catching lice is simply overwhelming.

Equally annoying with lice are rats, for the officers and men of the Southern African Expedition, rats are more annoying than the Germans, these guys are everywhere, bite everything they can bite, blankets, sleeping bags, backpacks, and steal food from officers and soldiers, they can even bite the iron sheet on the outer layer of canned food and steal cans, larger rats grow bigger than cats, scurrying around in the trenches, destroying and spreading diseases at the same time, the trenches are a hell for the soldiers, but a paradise for mice.

The yellow-green smoke finally swallowed up the entire front, and the soldiers with gas masks did not dare to come out, the effect of gas masks has not been effectively verified, and no one knows whether gas masks can provide effective protection, inhale less air, and at least feel safer psychologically.

There was still a violent coughing sound, not every section of the defense line has an experienced veteran like Heywood, there are many guys who are as careless as James, if there is no veteran like Heywood by his side, the consequences can be imagined.

Several Indian legionnaires on stretchers ran quickly through the trenches behind Heywood, followed by a doctor with a medical kit and a delicate but stumbling nurse.

Doctors and nurses are the most respected people of the soldiers, they are present in all battlefields, after the southern African war, 25 teachers and students of the Johannesburg Medical School and the University of Nyasaland have died in the battle, George V sent a telegram to Wilhelm II for this reason, protesting the behavior of pointing guns at doctors and nurses, and the brothers finally agreed that under no circumstances, at any time, the two sides of the war shall not include medical personnel in the target of attack, this verbal agreement is much more effective than the so-called "Hague Convention" in black and white.

For the world's great powers such as Britain and Germany, the Hague Convention is a joke.

Before the poison gas had completely drifted through the trenches, German soldiers wearing gas masks appeared in front of the position, and in the yellow-green mist, the German soldiers with gas masks were like devils out of hell, their rifles in their hands had been loaded with bayonets, and they had come to the barbed wire fence in front of the position, and were trying to cut the barbed wire with pliers.

In order to better improve the warning effect, the soldiers in southern Africa hung a lot of tin cans on the barbed wire, and when they touched it, they clanged and made a chaotic sound, which was as sensitive to the soldiers as the whistle of a charge, and all kinds of light and heavy machine guns on the position opened fire almost simultaneously without the officer's order.

Click, click, click-

The crisp burst was a universal machine gun with a bipod mounted.

Tom –

Long burst fire is a general-purpose machine gun that uses a tripod, and because the barrel is longer, the sound is more muffled and powerful.

Bang!

A single burst of fire came from Lee Enfield, but countless rifles firing at the same time could also have a suppressive effect similar to that of a light machine gun.

The results are amazing!

The attacking German army probably did not expect that with the help of poison gas, the position of the Southern African Expeditionary Force would still have so many soldiers with combat effectiveness, and the soldiers who were cutting the barbed wire were defenseless, and hundreds of people were knocked down in an instant, and before the others could react, dense mortar shells roared with the screams of death, and the front of the position was suddenly covered by orange explosions and violent smoke within 50 to 200 yards.

This is much more spectacular than the yellow-green smoke just now.

Of course, the lethality is also much higher.

The attacking German army collapsed almost instantly, and in just ten minutes, nearly 4,000 German troops were killed and wounded, and more than 2,500 were killed.

It was only after withstanding the first wave of the German offensive that the commander of the front troops informed the rear command that the Germans had used poison gas in the offensive.

After receiving the report, the rear command continued to report to the division command.

The division headquarters reported to the General Headquarters of the Expeditionary Force, and the General Headquarters of the Expeditionary Force reported the situation to the British Expeditionary Force Command, and it was already an hour later when the British Expeditionary Force Command's telephone call reached the British front-line position.

The call didn't go through.

On April 7, the British Expeditionary Force and the Germans suffered losses of more than 10,000 men, and the Expeditionary Force lost more than 5,000 men in one position in front of Ypres.

The 2nd Cavalry Division, which did not lose much in the battle, was also forced to retreat, and from November last year, the Germans did not take Ypres for half a year and suffered 300,000 casualties, and with the help of poison gas, the Germans captured Ypres in just one morning.

Fortunately, the Germans did not have time to expand the results of the battle, the 11th Division in Calais and the 104th Division in Dunkirk in time to fill the British line, the Germans only advanced two kilometers before being held to the death, the attacking German army had no artillery, the defending Southern African Expeditionary Force did not have trenches, and the two warring sides fought to the death in the fields of Flanders in the spring flowers.

It was not until April 10 that the follow-up units of the British Expeditionary Force arrived in Ypres, and the French sent reinforcements, and the front was firmly established.

Also on April 10, the second phase of the Battle of the Dardanelles began, and Roque landed four divisions at Bolayel on the Garibaldi Peninsula, which was less than five kilometers wide, completely cutting off the retreat of the Ottoman Eighth Army.

"The 402 and Annan forces were responsible for sniping the Ottoman reinforcements, and the 501st and 502nd divisions advanced towards Cape Hess, the terrain of Cape Hess is complicated, we can actually stand still, trap the enemy in the mountains of the Garibaldi Peninsula, and at most three months, we can force the Fifth Army in the encirclement to surrender." Ian Hamilton was lying half of his body on the sand table, the Garibaldi Peninsula on the sand table was densely packed with pennants of various colors, each pennant represented an army, the pennant representing the Ottoman troops was black, the pennant representing the British troops was brown, the pennant representing the French troops was blue and gray, the pennant representing the Anzac was khaki, the pennant representing the Southern African Expeditionary Force was iron gray, and the pennant representing the Sultanate of Najd was white.

"Ian, although the Ottoman forces are not strong enough, we don't have much time, after annihilating the Fifth Army, we have to control the Dardanelles, and then continue to attack the Bosphorus, three months, enough time for the Ottomans to requisition more troops, strengthen the defense in the Bosphorus, we must rush to the Ottoman Empire before the Ottoman Empire reacts, and completely annihilate the Ottoman Fifth Army." Roque also knew that Ian Hamilton's plan could reduce the casualties of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, but the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force did not have time to slowly grind with the Fifth Army.

Since Roque left Belgium, although the Southern African Expeditionary Force had not suffered major losses, it was dragged down by the British Expeditionary Force on the battlefield and retreated, and Roque was anxious to capture Constantinople overnight, and then put on his wings and fly back to France.

If the Germans continued to advance, the flames of war would relapse into France, which would be a serious blow to the confidence of the Allies.

"Then order the Anzac and the 29th Division to launch a counteroffensive against the enemy, the Fifth Army now has a maximum of 30,000 men left, and we can swallow them completely." Ian Hamilton is a qualified staff officer, and he doesn't stick to his own ideas, but follows Roque's train of thought to fill in the gaps.

From the outbreak of the Battle of the Dardanelles to the present, while the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force suffered heavy losses, the Ottoman Fifth Army did not have a good time.

Before the outbreak of the battle, the Ottoman Fifth Army had only 87,000 men, and after the first phase of attrition, there were now up to 30,000 troops left to hold on.

The four divisions that had just landed in Borayère were all integrated divisions, with a total strength of more than 60,000 troops, and although the Anzac suffered heavy losses, the 29th Division still had a certain combat effectiveness, and there were two integrated divisions in Roque's hands that were not put into battle, namely the 13th Division drawn from Egypt and the 19th Division that arrived in Europe a month earlier.

These two divisions were Roque's last reserves, and Roque would not go into battle until it was absolutely necessary.

What a good habit!