Major Focos, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment of the 1st Tank Brigade of the 1st Army of the British Army, was in his "Matilda" 2 tank, looking angrily at everything in front of him.

He really couldn't figure out how the invincible tank force he had always been proud of could have fallen into such an embarrassing situation.

After the six Matilda were blown up by the Germans, the high morale of their own troops due to the successful destruction of the opposing anti-tank artillery plummeted. And he was scolded by Colonel Glenn. Own troops became the laughing stock of all infantry.

So in order to wash away the shame and re-boost morale. In this assault, he put all the "Matilda" II into the front line, and the "Matilda" I also went out to follow.

What I didn't expect was that those infantry didn't accompany them at all, and they all ran to the front of the tank. I felt a sense of shame after being completely ignored. He hurriedly ordered the other tanks to shoot at full speed while chasing the infantry.

But the speed of the "Matilda" was too slow, and because the continuous marching tracks were also very worn, even the second type could only run 12 kilometers per hour on such soft fields, let alone those of the first type. As a result, not only did they not catch up with the infantry, but their tanks also distanced themselves from each other, and when their "Matilda" II finally caught up with the infantry, the "Matilda" I in the second row was still tossing 200 meters away.

The infantry finally suffered the pain of abandoning their own charge, and were beaten to the ground by the Germans and could not hold their heads up. When he was about to order the tank troops to advance towards the Germans, the infantry actually surrounded their tanks, I really don't know what they thought, now they are full of infantry in front and behind, left and right, and they can't move at all, so they have to stop where they are and shoot at the Germans. Major Focos wanted to open the roof and drill out to drive the infantry out of the way, but the constant "popping" of German machine-gun bullets on the turret forced him to abandon this idea.

Xu Jun looked sadly at the struggling British infantry who were still rushing up, it was the stupidity of the British ** officer that caused everything in the current chaos. When Xu Jun saw this, he ordered to Mueller, who was drooling with excitement on the side.

"Let's get started."

"Yes! Checkmate. Mueller then fired a red flare into the air.

The British infantrymen at the forefront of the position suddenly heard a sharp whistling of cannonballs, screaming to break up the dense formation, but this once again added to the confusion.

The British soldier, lying in the middle, watched as the shells landed in front of him. To their surprise, the legendary horror footage of flesh and blood did not appear. The shells did not explode when they plunged into the dirt, but billowed white smoke, enveloping both soldiers and tanks in a cloud of smoke.

The second round of shells came with an even more poignant scream.

"Mortar! Take cover! An officer shouted.

But the soldiers could no longer care about anything, and there was no more demoralizing than this passive beating, with a large cloud of white smoke hanging around them, and the Germans were still shooting wildly, and the deadly bullets flew out of the white smoke like locusts.

The mortars fired smoke grenades, but the smoke was a strange yellowish color, and the soldiers in the vicinity were choking on the smoke and coughing violently, and some of them were covering their eyes and crying. One after another, such shells were hit into the crowd. In an instant, there was a rush of coughing and cries from the British assault group.

"My eyes!"

"Ahem, help, I can't breathe. Ahem, ahem. ”

The British officers watched in horror as soldiers rushed out of the smoke in front of them, covering their eyes and noses, and then rolled on the ground in pain.

"Poison gas" is a terrible term that comes to their minds. Suddenly, the Germans stopped firing, and the officers saw in the smoke German soldiers in gas masks rushing towards them with bayonets, which made the officers even more convinced that the smoke was poison gas.

"Retreat!" An officer screamed.

He fled with his head to his position, and his soldiers behind him were overjoyed at the order, and immediately got up from the ground and turned to flee backwards.

The retreat of this small contingent caused a chain reaction. All the British ** people began to turn and run, and the soldiers who were smoked by the smoke also endured the pain and supported each other and ran back desperately, they were now bent on getting out of this hell and finding a good doctor. The retreat turned into a rout.

Major Focos was so frightened in his tank that his legs went limp, the smoke that had burrowed into the tank through the vents and various crevices, and the pungent smell and the painful eyes that began to hurt hooked his memories of fear, and his two brothers died in the gas battles of World War I. At this time, there was already a scream of other crew members in the headset.

"Retreat, retreat." Major Focos yelled at the radio and his own driver.

"No! I couldn't see the road, and we were surrounded by our own people. ”

The same situation was reported by other car groups. Major Focos felt his respiratory tract ache like fire, and he couldn't care about anything now.

"Abandon the car! We have to get out of here right away. All groups that cannot be moved are abandoned. Get out of this smoke. Fall back! Fall back! Major Focos screamed, pulling at his neck in severe pain. Then he opened the roof and got out, and fled in the direction of his position with the crew members who were also choked by the smoke.

The "Matilda" type outside the smoke had already put up reverse gear when they saw that the situation was not good, and as soon as they heard the order to retreat, they immediately reversed at full speed and fled back to the starting point.

Colonel Glenn was depressed from the very beginning of the attack. How did the infantry get in front of the tanks?

"But that's nothing. The glory of the British Imperial Army was to march forward and rush ahead of all the ranks, and God favored the infantry. Colonel Glenn thought. He watched those brave young men roar and rush towards the enemy's position, and he couldn't help but think of his own scenery during the First World War, when it was also like this, what a nostalgia.

It is strange that the positions of the Germans turned out to be motionless. "What the hell are you doing, those stupid Germans were knocked unconscious by the artillery fire in front of them, so that it seems that my soldiers can easily achieve victory." Colonel Glenn thought happily.

After the Germans opened fire, Colonel Glenn was not too worried, his team looked like they had rushed to a distance of only 100 meters from the Germans, the Germans were already too late to fire, and now as soon as the tanks followed, they could immediately break through the distance of 100 meters, and victory was in sight.

But then the situation developed and he was shocked. Their own brave infantry lads turned out to hold back the tanks.

"Hell, why is this such a bombardment, what the hell is the battlefield commander doing?" Colonel Glenn shouted angrily.

When the Germans' smoke bombs hit the infantry group, Colonel Glenn was still wondering, what kind of tactic was this? But when he saw the chaos on the edge of the smoke through his telescope, the horrific memories of 1917 came back to his mind.

"It's poison gas! Damn the Germans gassed us. Fast! Pick me up HQ! Give me the gas mask! Luckily there was no wind today. Oh my God! Damn the Germans! Colonel Glenn was frightened and incoherent.

Finally, a calm staff officer on the side stepped forward and reminded, "Colonel, what should I do now?" Pull back the team? ”

"That's right! Retreat, let them retreat! Fast! Let them withdraw it! Colonel Glenn reacted and shouted desperately. But before he could give the order, the team had already been defeated.

"Shelling! Call the artillery positions to shell the Germans! Beat all those shameless Germans to hell! Colonel Glenn shouted to the staff officers.

"Colonel! The artillery battalion called, they were bombarded by German large-caliber artillery and suffered heavy losses. ”

The news finally brought Colonel Glenn, who was about to collapse, to the ground.