Trench Bolts and Magic

Chapter 91 New Career Paths for Civil Engineers!
At 11:30 p.m. that night, Morin was woken up by a messenger and rushed to the battalion headquarters.

This was the last meeting before the battle, mainly to align schedules and clarify the final attack time.

Inside the tent, Major Thomas's expression had completely shifted into 'battle mode'.

"Gentlemen, we have just received orders from the division headquarters."

He took out a gold pocket watch and placed it in the upper left corner of the map.

"The unified attack time for the entire division is set for 7:15 a.m. tomorrow."

"The field artillery battalion assigned to our regiment will begin a 15-minute artillery preparation bombardment of the outer fortifications of the target town at 7:00 AM."

This time is around dawn, which is convenient for artillery to conduct observation and fire correction.

Major Thomas's gaze swept over everyone: "In other words, we only have tonight to carry out the earthwork."

"In addition to the 4th Company, which was in reserve, the other three companies set off after the meeting and carried out earthwork operations in different areas at the same time to shorten the impact distance."

"Yes, Major!" Morin and the other two company commanders replied in unison.

"By the way, have someone come and take these things back later."

Major Thomas pointed to a large pile of burlap sacks outside the tent.

"The quartermaster in the camp managed to get these for you. They were originally used to store wheat flour and other supplies, but now they can be used as sandbags to reinforce your fortifications."

At this point, Thomas then directed everyone to look at the map, and as he marked it, he said:
"There's one more thing. Before nightfall, the regimental headquarters organized another close-range reconnaissance mission, and they just sent over the reconnaissance intelligence."

"The garrison had already built a trench around the town. The town's high elevation must have made them aware of the division's troop movements, so during the last reconnaissance, they discovered that the enemy was defending the town's perimeter."

"This also means that we will be facing a prepared enemy."

As Major Thomas described it, Morin also saw that the system map had been updated, with markings indicating a moat around the town and the identification tags of two company-level units appearing.

Major Thomas also looked up at Morin and asked:
"Lieutenant Morin, is it dangerous to continue the earthwork under these circumstances?"

Upon hearing Major Thomas's question, Maureen pondered for a moment and then shook his head.

"Major, I've tested the soil here. It's easy to dig and has good cohesion. After digging, the trench walls will remain vertical or nearly vertical, so our earthwork will be very fast."

"Secondly, when operating at night, it is actually difficult for the enemy to notice the digging hundreds of meters away in an environment with limited visibility. As long as we can ensure the depth of the digging operation and keep the soldiers completely covered by the trench, there is no problem digging to a depth of two or three hundred meters."

"Besides, you yourself said the enemy is already prepared, so a sneak attack is definitely impossible. Therefore, each company should just focus on digging forward steadily. As long as you keep the soldiers under control and prevent them from peeking out recklessly, trust me, the enemy's defensive firepower will have little chance of harming us."

"At the same time, I suggest that each company set up a guard team, with soldiers who can see well at night following the civil engineering team, and then be responsible for guarding the direction of the town. If the enemy really wants to rush out at night, we can just rely on the trenches for defense."

Morin patiently explained these details, and everyone else listened very attentively.

The reason is actually quite simple: in this era without nighttime light pollution, visibility at night is actually very poor.

Not to mention that this small town only has streetlights inside.

Outside the town, the entire area was shrouded in night, with only a hazy moonlight shining on the ground.

In this situation, the defending soldiers' field of vision is considered high if it's 100 meters.
After the meeting ended, Morin rushed back to his company and then sent someone to retrieve the sacks.

After the three platoons of soldiers were woken up and assembled, he personally led the third platoon, which was the main force for digging, and the second platoon, which was used for rotation, and quietly left the campsite, heading towards the town.

Meanwhile, the 1st Platoon, reinforced with heavy machine guns, under Claude's command, led two heavy machine gun teams and quietly advanced under cover of darkness, preparing to provide forward cover for the upcoming earthwork operations.

Tonight, only a crescent moon hangs in the sky, casting a hazy, clear light that is barely enough to make out the path beneath one's feet.

Morin personally led the three platoons of soldiers, maintaining a tight formation, and silently advanced across the undulating wilderness.

Each soldier wrapped their canteen, mess kit, and other items that could make noise with strips of cloth, and held their rifles close to their chests to avoid the clanging of the weapon slings and metal parts.

While it's difficult to see military maps clearly under such lighting conditions, Morin's system maps remain unaffected.
About 800 meters southwest of the town, Morin stopped.

This is a relatively flat open area. Further ahead, the terrain will begin to rise gently towards the town.

This is an ideal starting point for assignments.

"Three platoons, deploy on the spot!" Morin ordered in a low voice.

Platoon leader Ram immediately directed his soldiers to quickly disperse according to the plan they had practiced countless times before.

Based on the actual terrain and the general outline of the enemy's defensive line shown on the system map, Morin personally planned the digging route for them.

He divided the 80 soldiers of the 3rd platoon into eight digging points along a parallel trench baseline to be dug, with exactly 10 people at each point.

Then everyone lay down on the ground.

"Okay, let's start the homework!"

As Morin gave the order in a low voice, the soldiers at the front of the eight rows almost simultaneously dug their entrenching tools into the ground directly in front of them.

"Pfft."

"Pfft."

The soil in the Meseta Plateau in central Iberia is, as Morin said, suitable for earthwork.

Not only is it quick to dig, but you also don't have to worry about sparks flying everywhere when you dig with a shovel, or the sound carrying far.
After several days of intensive training, the soldiers of the 3rd Platoon had managed to barely master the prone digging technique. They first dug a shallow pit in front of them, then piled the excavated soil in front of them to form a simple cover, and gradually dug out the most basic prone firing cover.

They then continued digging deeper, upgrading the prone firing bunker into a kneeling firing bunker that could provide better protection.

And finally completed a standing firing bunker that could accommodate one person.

Once a single bunker is completed, the real challenge has only just begun.

Starting from their foxholes, the soldiers began digging narrow access trenches towards the town, following the zigzag route planned by Morin.

This zigzag digging path can effectively prevent enemy shell fragments and machine gun fire from causing penetrating damage to the entire trench.

Meanwhile, Morin lay on the ground, watching the approaching trench on the system map stretch forward continuously, and occasionally sending people to correct the direction.

Time passed by minute by minute.

After digging for nearly 100 meters, eight independent approach trenches, advancing in a zigzag pattern, finally reached their designated positions.

After Morin issued new instructions, the soldiers began to change their digging direction, no longer digging forward, but digging horizontally to the left and right.

Finally, around 1 a.m., the eight separate approach trenches were completely connected, forming a crooked but complete first parallel trench.

"Alright, 2nd platoon, move up! 3rd platoon, move down and rest!" Morin gave the order again.

The second platoon, which had been waiting at the rear for a long time, immediately entered the first parallel trench that had just been completed, led by platoon leader Barak, through the four approach trenches on the left, and took over the digging work.

The exhausted soldiers of the 3rd Platoon quietly withdrew through the four access trenches on the right side, taking the time to rest and replenish their water.

Using the first parallel trench as a base, the soldiers of the second platoon quickly moved forward again, following the same zigzag path, and began a new round of digging.

Their task is more challenging, requiring them to excavate over a longer distance.

The soldiers of the second and third platoons took turns working in this way.

When one person gets tired, the other immediately takes over.

Meanwhile, the others kept filling sandbags with the excavated soil and piling them up on the side of the parallel trench where they were facing the enemy.

Apart from the muffled digging sounds and the soldiers' heavy breathing, no other sounds could be heard at the entire excavation site.

The soldiers of the 2nd and 3rd platoons were like a machine that had not yet been broken in but was tireless, stumbling and swaying under Morin's command.

This time, after advancing approximately 250 meters, the second parallel trench was also successfully constructed.

At this point, the straight-line distance to the town was less than four hundred meters.

A tense atmosphere began to fill the air.

Everyone instinctively softened their movements, and the digging sounds became even fainter.

They dared not be careless in the slightest, for fear of alerting the enemy who was nearby.

However, based on Morin's experience participating in nighttime bunker construction training before the crossing, he knew that at this distance, unless one was just playing around with rocks, the noise from simple earthwork wouldn't travel very far.
Finally, at a distance of only about 180 meters from the enemy trenches on the outskirts of the town, the soldiers in charge of the earthwork completed the construction of the third parallel trench.

This parallel trench also has another name—the assault initiation parallel trench.

From the top-down view of the system map, the three parallel trenches and eight adjacent trenches dug by the 1st Company in the darkness were actually dug crookedly and could not be described as standard or aesthetically pleasing at all.

In particular, the last parallel trench was 180 meters further from the enemy's defensive line than the 150 meters that Morin had hoped for.

But Morin knew that this was the limit his company could achieve at this stage.

After all, it had been less than a month since they began to accept these new tactics and training.

The fact that such a rudimentary trench system could be built so quietly and silently under the enemy's nose in such a short time is itself a remarkable achievement.

The town's garrison remained completely still throughout, and there was no indication of enemy movement on Morin's system map.

Therefore, he couldn't immediately tell whether the enemy had noticed anything amiss.
After leaving a few observation posts to keep watch in the direction of the town, Morin also had everyone retreat to the first parallel trench to rest in a cramped space.

Nothing went wrong that night; the sentries deployed around the town failed to spot the attack trenches that had been dug so close under the cover of darkness.

Or rather, they simply couldn't see very far before sunrise.

As the sun shone its first rays from the east, it was 6:50 a.m.

There are only ten minutes left before the scheduled artillery preparation time.

Except for the 3rd Platoon, which was in reserve and waiting in the first parallel trench at the rear, the remaining two platoons of the first echelon had all entered the front-line assault trench.

Two MG08 heavy machine gun teams also set up their machine guns on the heavy machine gun platforms built at both ends of the parallel trench where the assault began, and then covered them with a layer of canvas.

Behind the battlefield, unlike in the past, three observation balloons were launched at once.

Inside one of the balloon baskets, Crown Prince George and General Mackensen were watching the town gradually illuminated by the sunlight through a bulky optical observation instrument.

“It’s about to begin,” Georg said.

(End of this chapter)