Chapter 74: The Most Lethal Weapon of All
After two weeks of nonstop harassment via the use of constant shelling, sabotage, and just general humiliation. Bruno estimated that the inexperienced commander would have broken by now. And would no doubt be ordering a suicidal charge to eliminate the enemy before they could continue their assault.
Meanwhile, Bruno stood at the front lines, alert and ready. While his older brother Ludwig stood by his side. The man had dark circles around his eyes, clearly having not received a good night's sleep since the siege began.
No doubt kept awake by the ceaseless thunder of guns in the background. Bruno gazed upon his older brother and the poor state he was in. Making a comment as he did so, while gazing off into the fog which permeated in the distance. Preventing him from seeing what was happening beyond its boundaries.
"You better drink some coffee, or snort some cocaine. Because any minute now, the enemy will begin making their advance. The fog is the perfect cover for them to assault out trenches, and they won't have another opportunity to do so...."
Ludwig looked at his brother as if he was some kind of inhuman monster. The man was as energetic and as spry as a man could possibly be. Was cocaine really the answer to this? This was naturally not the case. Bruno was simply accustomed to war at this point.
But cocaine was indeed a stimulant that was issued by not only the German Army but all other major militaries across the world to keep their soldiers energetic and awake while at war.
A practice that would only fall out of favor after the Great War ended due to the side effects that became immediately apparent because of the overwhelming number of soldiers who were issued the substance in their ration kits.
Ludwig quickly did as Bruno suggested and sure enough the Red Army had begun its assault not long after. While Ludwig was waking himself up by adding cocaine to his coffee. Bruno had ordered a random machine gunner to fire a burst into the fog. In doing so, a scream could be heard. No doubt a soldier of the Red Army had been struck by the burst of fire.
Because of this, Bruno blew his whistle, signalling his troops to drop what they were doing and to prepare the counter for the enemy charge.
Thousands of men rushed to the edge of the trenches, with their rifles resting on the sandbags as they began to open fire into the fog. Meanwhile, Bruno pulled his luger out of his holster and chambered a round by pulling on its toggle lock action.