A Training Exercise, Held in the Desert South of Algiers. June, 1935.
The new, Hotchkiss Tanks of Colonel De Gaulle's brigade had crested the rocky dune and for a moment Charles raised his binoculars to regard the trenches that had been dug by Major General Le Gentilhomme's Foreign Legionaries on the near-martian plain below. In supporting trenches he could see the First and Second Reservist Divisions under the command of Field Marshall Petain, and importantly the Anti Tank Gun brigades that were attached to them, pointing outward from the layered trenches, away from his tanks.
A glint of metal on the sun caught De Gaulle's eye as he lowered the binoculars, and then raised them again. On the other dune were the majority of the First Infantry Division's Armoured Car brigade. He took out his mirror and flashed the command tent below, and then glinted a quick morse to the other dune.
"Attack! Follow the plan!" De Gaulle cried and then he was back in the heat of the tank as the engine roared and the battle was engaged with a swift pincer movement. Dust clouds were kicked up as the armoured vehicles on both sides began their descent down the rocky dunes, whilst beneath them the main body of the First Infantry began their assault.
The Reservist lines were thrown into chaos as Field Marshall Petain was made aware of the attack had finally arrived. The exercise designed so that his troops were defending the objective - a model town built two miles west of his lines. De Gaulle was supposed to attack from the east but it seemed the young colonel had other ideas and had moved to outmaneover the entrenched defender. Petain strode out of his command post, walking quickly in along the and ordered the Anti-Tank Brigades to aim at the light tanks descending on the right flank, whilst the Foreign Legionaries began to fire at the First Infantry Division, the few armoured cars scattered into the melange of infantry, supported the assault by targetting the machinegun nests to great effect.
The tanks moved faster than expected, and as Petain turned and strode back toward his command post, a Hotchkiss roared over the trench, the freshfaced runner infront of him diving to the floor just in time. As the second rolled closer, Petain turned and his eyes widened as the tank blotted out his vision and the tread of the vehicle ran over his head, knocking the venerable field marshall to the ground...
A glint of metal on the sun caught De Gaulle's eye as he lowered the binoculars, and then raised them again. On the other dune were the majority of the First Infantry Division's Armoured Car brigade. He took out his mirror and flashed the command tent below, and then glinted a quick morse to the other dune.
"Attack! Follow the plan!" De Gaulle cried and then he was back in the heat of the tank as the engine roared and the battle was engaged with a swift pincer movement. Dust clouds were kicked up as the armoured vehicles on both sides began their descent down the rocky dunes, whilst beneath them the main body of the First Infantry began their assault.
The Reservist lines were thrown into chaos as Field Marshall Petain was made aware of the attack had finally arrived. The exercise designed so that his troops were defending the objective - a model town built two miles west of his lines. De Gaulle was supposed to attack from the east but it seemed the young colonel had other ideas and had moved to outmaneover the entrenched defender. Petain strode out of his command post, walking quickly in along the and ordered the Anti-Tank Brigades to aim at the light tanks descending on the right flank, whilst the Foreign Legionaries began to fire at the First Infantry Division, the few armoured cars scattered into the melange of infantry, supported the assault by targetting the machinegun nests to great effect.
The tanks moved faster than expected, and as Petain turned and strode back toward his command post, a Hotchkiss roared over the trench, the freshfaced runner infront of him diving to the floor just in time. As the second rolled closer, Petain turned and his eyes widened as the tank blotted out his vision and the tread of the vehicle ran over his head, knocking the venerable field marshall to the ground...
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